Introduction
In this article I’d review Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Community Patch February 2025 generated by democratic voting via Balance Council tool. I’d sketch the situation before the patch, analyze the changes one-by-one and then provide summary and a general review.
Check out the discussion of balance changes on Reddit and for the influencers suggestions before patch check out Vote Map by A_Reveur here.
It was the 7th council we formed Coalition with Shinmiri and published our suggestions on Reddit. I also welcome you to check out ‘Balance Council‘ page on leriohub if you haven’t yet – there is a lot of practical information and my Council philosophy.
Before Patch
(new Top10 fMMR panel added lately to GwentData, it brings lots of complementary insight to %wr data).
As we can see in fMMR chart (but not in global winrate) Monsters were clearly the least competitive faction in January 2025. There were only two 2600+ scores in Top100. Chart leader Zeibinator and 3rd Rosmarella played Midrange Arachas Swarm with Mammuna. Common decks faced on high ladder were Fruits Midrange, Frost (Narutoto) and Deathwish.
Nilfgaard was 3rd best perfoming faction after Syndicate and Skellige, with Enslave 6 and Renfri Tactical Decision being main ladder picks.
Nothern Realms Melitele peak scores from Sergo and Pajabol were impressive, but tail is lower than in the case of Nilfgaard and Scoia’tael. Maybe it was popularity issue – Northern Realms weren’t that common. Perhaps due to Assimilate buffs, typical engine NR decks were met less on high ladder.
Scoia’tael was 5th faction. Sergo played Precision Strike Allgod Schirru, I used Devotion Gift. Also Schirru decks using artifacts and Whisperers of Dol Blathanna, non-Devotion Gift and Renfri/Dwarves Swarm Precision Strike were common.
Skellige was the best performing faction along with Syndicate. Pajabol peak was reached with Alchemy (also Rosmarella and Interloper). My and IloveBears peak was Self-wound. Also Renfri Beasts decks with Kraken were popular and strong. The most popular pick though were SK Witchers – them being underrepresented in top says a bit about their real power at highest level.
Syndicate with Bounty Nekker (Pajabol, Udi) being the main ladder pick followed by Cove Gangs (lerio, Sergo) was arguably the strongest and least polarized with respect to matchups, yet hardest to play faction.
This season Pajabol set new total MMR record: 10.810. You could find exact decks he used in the celebration tweet. I mean, you can drop some congrats too… Check out all-time highscores table for reference.
My peak decks:
– SK Self-wound (vod)
– SY Cove Gangs
– ST Devo Gift (vod)
– NR Falibor Knights (vod1, vod2, vod3)
Balance Council Results
Nerf Brackets
-1 Power Decreased
Renfri (3 -> 2)
(/) Renfri felt somehow stronger than usually for me this patch. Okay change.
Melitele (3 -> 2)
(++) Very good change, Melitele was top performing NR deck this season, maybe because of Enslave buffs.
Angus Bri Cri (6 -> 5)
(++) Explanation
Living Armor (4 -> 3)
(+) Placeholder
Rainfarn of Attre (4 -> 3)
(/) Risky change, Rainfarn was already a very high ceiling card. Now he would die when used with Coup, making it possible to play Rainfarn twice between same units (if opp doesn’t counterplay)
Lord Riptide (10 -> 9)
(++) Explanation
Iris’ Companions (5 -> 4)
(/) Ok change. I preferred direct Iris provision nerf though.
Berengar (12 -> 11)
(/) SK and NR Witchers were quite popular on ladder (although I don’t rate them very high). With Berengar power nerf, they get a bit lower reach and weaker pointslam.
Renfri’s Gang (6 -> 5)
(/) Very likely wouldn’t be played at 10 for 8 statline. Not a great change balancewise, trying to abduct Renfi players from their safespot. Note that Knickers becomes a better Renfri’s Gang if only you can play a 4-cost bronze for more than 7 points.
Dimun Smuggler (4 -> 3)
(/) Explanation
+1 Provision Increased
👑 Shieldwall (15 -> 16)
(-) Not necessary. Shieldwall decks might not top the meta, but were still decent. Shieldwall leader promotes greedy, often binary deckbuilding.
Ale of the Ancestors (13 -> 14)
(++) Very good nerf. Ale Of Ancestors is better than best golds when carryover value is obtained. 5*3 + infusion + protection value + bronze replacement = 25+ points in a long round.
Triss: Meteor Shower (13 -> 14)
(/) Mixed feelings here. This nerf is directed to Renfri NG, there was no other deck running Triss: Meteor Shower. While Renfri Tactical Decision as very popular, successful and easy to play deck deserved some nerfs, maybe Iris + Renfri would have been enough? But okay.
Artaud Terranova (12 -> 13)
(+) Okay revert. Artaud at 12-cost feels too good, even directly playable in stuff like Aristocrats.
Golden Nekker (11 -> 12)
(/) While probably correct in the long term, i didn’t perceive Golden Nekker decks as troublesome right now, with the exception of Bounty Nekker. I’d prefer direct nerf to this deck, but ok.
Jan Calveit (11 -> 12)
(-) I didn’t perceive Jan Calveit as troublesome. Also I think a power buff is considerable to make Calveit decks a bit more resilient to red coin abuse.
Iris von Everec (8 -> 9)
(++) Very good change. Iris was a common card in all successful Renfri decks.
Skjordal Drummond (8 -> 9)
(+) Explanation
Shady Vendor (5 -> 6)
(-) Explanation
Slave Driver (5 -> 6)
(+) Explanation
Buff Brackets
+1 Power Increased
Tyrggvi Tuirseach (5 -> 6)
(+) Okay change. Don’t perceive Tyrgvii as very interesting card though.
Ele’yas (6 -> 7)
(+) Explanation
Brehen (4 -> 5)
(+) Okay change. Brehen wasn’t that far off, but still very often felt inferior to normal tall punishes. Offensive Guerilla used for Brehen means losing 3 points and the card is also very conditional on the board state, unplayable early in the round as removal.
Milva (3 -> 4)
(+) A bit more tempo to this card is welcomed. The downside is Milva gets less counterplay.
Sarah (4 -> 5)
(+) Good buff to decks playing many specials.
Nauzicaa Sergeant (3 -> 4)
(/) Nauzicaa at 3 power felt underwhelming in my games this season.
Maxii van Dekkar (6 -> 7)
(+) Explanation
Magpie (4 -> 5)
(+) Magpie is an interesting and underplayed card, synergizing very well with Vice, Yago or Townsfolk. Good buff.
Ghoul (1 -> 2)
(+) Explanation
Seagull (1 -> 2)
(–) Seagull buff has a special place in Balance Council history. For the first time a change is made explicitly to troll and imbalance the game. February meta will be built around this card. Assimilate can make use of opp Seagulls. Other decks will try to be as green as possible. Probably greedy decks will get more popular, because no timid pointslam will keep up with Seagull value.
-1 Provsion Decreased
👑 Enslave (16 -> 15)
(++) Deserved revert, Enslave is a strong leader ability which need no added provision.
Grand Inquisitor Helveed (10 -> 9)
(++) Explanation
Avallac’h: Sage (9 -> 8)
(–) Already played card, which deserved absolutely no buff in my opinion. As a result decks running Ava + Ale of Ancestors package would net receive no nerf.
Dead Man’s Tongue (7 -> 6)
(+) Explanation
Offering to the Sea (7 -> 6)
(++) Explanation
Redanian Secret Service (7 -> 6)
(-) A sentiment revert to change suggested in previous patch by our coalition. While RSS is barely played at 7-cost I definitely don’t think going back was necessary. Card is just too good in some matchups at 6- and too weak outside very specific decks at 7-cost. Would prefer if the community used buff slots on sth new for now.
Open, Sesame! (6 -> 5)
(-) I accepted the revert of Sesame along Vendor buff as a compromise, so as in the case of every compromise I’m obviously unhappy. Pockets decks would start deckbuilding from Sesame and Novigrad as it was whole last year.
Highland Warlord (6 -> 5)
(–) Not even Primal Savagery.
Vrihedd Brigade (5 -> 4)
(+) Hard to predict how this buff will feel, because for example direct combo with leader is already decent value at 4-cost. Direction worth exploring.
Tuirseach Skirmisher (5 -> 4)
(++) Completing multistep change from previous patch. The idea is to make discard less highrolly and tempo abusive. We will see how it goes.
Summary
All changes ordered by number of votes and attributed to factions and voting coalitions could be found in the BALANCE COUNCIL RESULTS SHEET.
Seagull power buff makes a good part of council irrelevant (Helveed…). When played for full value, Seagull is 5 points + 8 carryover for zero cost. You can also just play for carryover by pinging self, for example from red coin. As Renfri decks not only got overnerfed with Renfri -1p, Iris +1c, Companions -1p, Renfri’s Gang -1p, Triss +1c, but also as a rule of thumb play hard into Seagull, they are supposed to vanish from ladder. Hard to assess how strong Renfri sentiment is; there is a chance we will see massive reverts in the next patch.
Meta is likely to develop to counter Seagulls, not give them body. Timid midrange / pointslam decks are likely to vanish; SK with Seagulls will do the same but better in every aspect. Instead I predict meta to go in more greedy direction.
All our recommendations got through: 12/12. Thanks for your support! Also MetallicDanny suggestions were 12/12. From independent (tell me if you’ve seen these suggested by influential players…) community we have 6 changes: Enslave -1c, RSS -1c, Highland Warlord -1c, Sergeant +1p, Renfri’s Gang -1p and Seagull +1p. 4 reverts, 1 overnerf, 1 troll.
What New To Try?
MO | Fruits with Ghoul into Griffin, Ogroids with Ghoul into Enraged Cyclops.
NG | Enemy boost with Rainfarn + Coup. Hyperthin with Dead Man’s Tongue.
NR | Most old Shieldwall decks are stronger than before after RSS revert and leader provision buff.
SK | …
ST | Guerilla Tactics Movement Nekker and Schirru.
SY | Vice and Townsfolk with Magpie, Classical and Nekker Firesworn with Helveed.
Closure
February 2025 Gwent patch with the Seagull power buff finally recreates the original experience of imbalance after the new expansion drop.
Hope you enjoyed the read! See you on ladder and protect your ears!