Introduction
In this article I’d review Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Community Patch June 2026 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.
It was the 25th council we formed Coalition with Shinmiri and published our balance 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. There is also an analysis of how Balance Council works in practice: What Gwent Balance Council Does? Successes, Failures and Democracy Analogies
Before Patch
In June Season 2026 I didn’t play enough games to reach high scores and learn ladder meta, therefore the decks part would be omitted. June was the month of probably the biggest community tourney this year – BAM Cup finals and I’ve made an extended decksheet from this event.
Both %wr and highest MMR charts show that Syndicate was the strongest faction in June 2026 Gwent season; 10th score is higher than ST 2nd. The main deck used was Lined Pockets Crimes. SY was followed by NG and NR at comparable power; based on fMMR tail in the chart I’d say NG was easier to reach high score with. Main NR deck was still NR Zeal Viraxas netdeck from last season with just Redanian Knights cut out. Given that this deck barely existed 3 months ago before Shinmiri climbed to 2.6k fMMR and MetallicDanny buffed Viraxas for the upcoming month, we can see that sleepers may still be around. And also that the impact of even a couple of nerfs to strong decks is so often exaggerated.
Rvs3 won the season and crossed 10.7k MMR milestone. Also he achieved 2.7k fMMR with Syndicate.
Rvs was kind enough to share his peak decks with us:
- SY | Lined Pockets Acherontia Casimir
- SK | Battle Trance Dracoturtle Trolde
- MO | Tatterwing Ragnarok
- NR | Viraxas Zeal (Philippa = Anseis before Kimbolt prov nerf)
Also the runner-up Bart933 kindly shared his peak decks for this summary:
- SY | Jackpot Yago (2682)
- SK | Blaze of Glory Warriors (2674)
- NR | Devo Knights (2649)
- NR | Shupe Imposter Yennefer (2607)
Balance Council Results
(++) great change
(+) good
(/) acceptable
(-) bad
(–) very bad
Nerf Brackets
-1 Power Decreased
Madam Marquise Serenity (3 -> 2)
(++) Explanations
Brewess: Ritual (4 -> 3)
(/) In the context of the more essential Giant Toad provision nerf, Brewess: Ritual -1 power is probably a bit too much for a single month. The Urn of Shadow strategem is unbalanced with a few cards and Brewess: Ritual is the most stable of these – at 3 power still would be nuts in this context.
However from red coin this -1 power would be severe against decks favored in long round against Deathwish, mainly threat overload stuff.
Eithné: Young Queen (6 -> 5)
(/) Placeholder. Harmless, but I’d have preferred a real nerf instead.
Professor (7 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Captain Yago (4 -> 3)
(++) Explanations
Casimir Bassi (6 -> 5)
(++) The only specific nerf to the strongest deck of the season. Casimir would come down at 8 if at zero coins now, which gives a chance to play around tall removal like Geralt of Rivia.
Priscilla (6 -> 5)
(+) I don’t feel like Priscilla + Shani combo was the very decisive part of Zeal Viraxas netdeck power, but a plausible nerf, essential along with Kimbolt for any possible meta shift.
Frenzied D’ao (5 -> 4)
(/) We have addressed NG Constructs specifically in the preceding patch with Imperial Golem provision nerf, therefore this change comes as a surprise. Frenzied D’ao nerf would make Constructs less attractive in all factions; main Constructs decks like ST Forge w/Mahakam Marauder or Tactical Decision w/Rience, would be nerfed as much as more niche NR Constructs w/Winch.
Phooca (4 -> 3)
(/) First step of 3p/4c plan. I’m not sure what to think about it – a +2 per turn scaling engine amongst 4-cost units hasn’t been tested since Imperial Marine and Witch Apprentice release times (Gwentfinity balance is underrated…). This one though is slower, easier to remove and requires proper thrive curve. Probably this change wouldn’t be great, moving the meta even more into instant answers + pointslam core builds, but we will see.
Cintrian Knight (4 -> 3)
(++) It still puzzles me why a part of the community regards Knights as underpowered and deserving straight buffs to cards already run in figured out and solid enough netdecks. I achieved 2.6k+ in many seasons with Devo Knights, even 2.7k two months ago when Redanian Knight got buffed to 3-power. Plausible revert.
+1 Provision Increased
👑 Blood Scent (17 -> 18)
(-) Blood Scent is a 12 raw points leader with an upside of enabling some Bleeding reliant cards which can play above the curve, like Fleder. Unlike typical pointslam leaders, sometimes Blood Scent plays below raw points value for example in very short rounds where bleeding is wasted.
This change shouldn’t be too harmful in the short term, but Vampires can easily be buffed via thematic cards rather than leader ability. Leader buff promotes old, often uninspired Vampire decks of midrange character rather than new approaches. At the moment Vampires get more spice, BS leader revert would become consideration, which in the end would bring nothing but a waste of a buff slot and missed opportunity to shake up meta with a real nerf.
👑 Carapace (15 -> 16)
(/) Along with Blood Scent, Carapace provision cap increase is a testimony of powercreep. While protection is usually worth extra value, relative to Fruits of Ysgith buffed to 165 cap, Carapace often feels like having too low raw points. Carapace is used in Ogroids, Relicts to protect Selfeater and a great amount of threat overload builds (Triple Tugo, Keltullis, Dagon…). Not nonsense balancewise, but some of these decks getting more popular could be bad for ladder experience due to binary character.
Damsel in Distress (14 -> 15)
(++) Explanations
Ravanen Kimbolt (12 -> 13)
(+) Kimbolt got nerfed mainly due to omnipresence of Zeal Viraxas netdeck, where he is the main win-condition card. Kimbolt is an open-ceiling threat, which wins the game on the spot when unanswered. Okay nerf, some alternatives to consider were Raffard’s Vengeance nerf, Siege Master provision increase or Inspired Zeal provision cap decrease.
Figgis Merluzzo (10 -> 11)
(-) Bringing Figgis in line with other Defenders which got provision nerfed to 11 cost recently. In my opinion though this change works against variety, because unlike Donimir, Cave Troll, Covenant of Steel or Ffion, Figgis was very uncommon and is simply a weaker card by itself. This provision nerf would discentivize decks like Syanna Aglais or some niche Brouver Threat Overload builds.
Coup de Grâce (9 -> 10)
(-) We were the coalition which suggested Coup buff to 9 compensated by some nerfs. Coup remained at 9 for a few months and now gets reverted to 10 cost. Coup is a high variance card, which at 10-cost sees very little play because there are higher floor alternatives. The exception are decks playing Joachim de Wett, like Aristocrats.
I think the Coup nerf to 10 works against variety at this point – Echo GN is disabled again and ever popular Enslave 6 would just cut Coup for a more stable card in this provision region.
Sandstorm (6 -> 7)
(-) Confirming Sandstorm as a placeholder card. As I said in the previous month review – not a perfect placeholder in my opinion. Negative rating of this change though is not about Sandstorm -I think that current meta state calls for real nerfs rather than using placeholders because it feels really stale when it comes to character of archetypes used.
Abordage (5 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Giant Toad (5 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Imperial Practitioner (5 -> 6)
(/) Controversial nerf – the upside is discentivizing binary Practitioner Spam decks like Tibors which are a menace especially for new players. The downside is that Practitioner is a really interesting and rich effect card which can be used to build for example spicy Assimilate decks.
Buff Brackets
+1 Power Increased
Yustianna an Craite (5 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Adda: Striga (7 -> 8)
(+) We polled this card, but it was Shin’s pony rather than mine. +1 power to Striga has double utility in the context of the combo with Mysterious Puzzle Box – you can consume Djin without Carapace charge and consume Thing with just 2 charges rather than three.
On the flipside, with each power buff Adda turns more into high variance midrange card to include in stuff like Fruits of Ysgith decks, hoping for opponent to play a token like Morvran Voorhis (22 points) and consuming own Fruit or other token on the last say otherwise (15 points)
Cerys: Fearless (3 -> 4)
(–) At 4 power Cerys: Fearless is a very strong card; all that is needed is a deck in which she can make points from healing in the summon turn and preferably next turns. If a threat card is deployed in the Cerys: Fearless turn, then it’s also possible to overload the opponent’s control.
This revert was popular and doomed to happen because Golden Nekker Selfwound is not recognised as strong by a good deal of the community and is unpopular on the ladder. Also some players get the impression of Cerys:Fearless being weak by including her in Svalblod Sigvald netdecks, where she simply doesn’t fit.
Isbel of Hagge (5 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Imlerith (3 -> 4)
(+) A mild buff. I’ve seen this card played in Big Boys Koshchey already and I think those are relatively popular amongst players looking for “easy wins”. Imlerith buff may make these decks feel even more overwhelming (in terms of pointslam, not necessarily winrate), but otherwise the card is quite interesting for various possible synergies (Naglfar, Dol Dhu Lokke, MO Hyperthin…).
Ludovicus Brunenbaum (5 -> 6)
(+) Ludovicus was unplayed and a buff is welcomed. With ~15 for 7 points potential, Ludovicus can be played in threat overload decks, especially Jackpot to avoid overprofit. Fun fact: when Ludovicus tribute is used Jackpot decks, King of Beggars gets buffed by overp
Sly Seductress (4 -> 5)
(++) Finish of the 2-step change, indirect buff to Madam Marquise Serenity, Adriano The Mink, Passiflora and Mushy Truffle.
Sea Serpent (1 -> 2)
(++) Sea Serpent is a payoff card for Rain decks, which was too weak to see much play, but as a filler for Corrupted Flaminica value at times. I’m not sure if I prefer this or provision buff.
Maerolorn (4 -> 5)
(++) Maerolorn is a deceiving card which on paper always looks better than in reality as long as the analysis is not deep enough. 11 for 4 on Harpy Egg ?!?!? Maybe, but:
- you need to stick the Egg on the board
- you still need to have a consume card on top of Maerolorn in hand; you usually play Maerolorn instead of another Deathwish unit in R1 and instead of another consume unit in R3. If the Deathwish unit gets locked and you have Maerolorn instead of another DW unit in R1 you lose the round on the spot.
- Maerolorn would be totally useless in decisive rounds if you rely on Succubi and Dettlaff: Higher Vampire. Also it is hard to have polarized enough R3 hand and bronze Deathwish unit for Maerolorn at the same time; you’d everytime just prefer to have 2 consumes and gold DW units / Succubi.
- If you get to play Harpy Egg + Maerolorn + Endrega Warrior, its 9 + 11 + 5 = 25 points in 3 cards; ~8 points average. Then you likely follow-up with another Deathwish unit. Maerolorn points are not instant, tempo abuse wouldn’t be the case unless you start to commit leader charges instead of playing consume units, but that’s a short-legged strategy.
I really like this buff.
Svalblod Ravager (3 -> 4)
(++) Explanations
-1 Provsion Decreased
👑 Imperial Formation (17 -> 16)
(++) Explanations
War Elephant (11 -> 10)
(++) Explanations
Geralt: Yrden (11 -> 10)
(+) Geralt:Yrden seen no play since Adrenaline got added to its effect. Being unable to counter a green finisher severely limits the utility of Geralt: Yrden. Buffs to unplayed cards are always nice, but I’m very sure that even after one more provision buff Geralt: Yrden wouldn’t be stable enough to return the cost on average.
Kolgrim (10 -> 9)
(–) Seeing reverts like this I’m not enraged, but just hopelessly bored. At 9-cost Kolgrim would be playable straight from Renew again rather than via more sophisticated Assire setup and includable in Golden Nekker Clog which even without Kolgrim was one of strong Nilfgaard options (for example 2662 fMMR from Yaro8 in April).
Caretaker (8 -> 7)
(+) Caretaker could be a utility card to use in metas where multiple statuses are applied (lock NG…), but usually a little bit of internal purify synergy is needed to make it really worthwhile. Caretaker can for example support greedy Relicts decks, where on top of dealing with locks it is possible to get rid of doomed, or NR decks with Griffin Witchers – there are many options!
I’m curious to see Caretaker vs 6-cost purifiers competition this season – if Caretaker prevails then maybe the power buff was better.
Lady of the Lake (8 -> 7)
(/) Finish of 2-step change which started with power nerf last month. Overall Lady of the Lake becomes a bit stronger card. This change is meant to incentivize more experiments with Echo cards, but in the short term just provides genuine pleasure of having one more free provision in established Oneiromancy + Aerondight netdecks. These perhaps can be addressed with direct nerfs in the concept.
Bone Talisman (7 -> 6)
(++) One of those risky buffs which are doomed to be tried at some point. The same story was for example Kikimore Warrior or Whisperer of Dol Blathanna to 4 power. In comparison to these though I like that Bone Talisman promotes Swarms and setup + payoff play rather than engine vs instant answer gameplay which dominates in Gwentfinity. This buff is risky balancewise because of Bone Talisman 18 points ceiling, but even if revert proves essential, the decks built this month would get a chance to diversify the meta in the future.
Trollololo (7 -> 6)
(+) Trollololo for the most part of Gwent history was unplayed but for maybe early tries with Priestess decks. When Onager got released, Trollololo became an overcosted version of it which plays into tall removal and isn’t triggered by leader ability; the only upside was maybe more survivability and trigger of Lyrian Arbalests in some decks.
Now in Gwentfinity Trollololo (6) would become cheaper than Onager (7) and a really good card in my opinion. Interesting buff with a small risk of threat overload Shieldwall with Vysogota, Mobilization Arbalests and some other binary stuff getting too popular.
Sirssa (7 -> 6)
(++) Explanations
Prize-Winning Cow (6 -> 5)
(+) Not the most interesting card but for exerting psychological damage. Prize-Winning Cow would fit best in Northern Realms decks with strong Orders, where cards like Ves, Ildiko or Siege Support can turn it into a stable finisher / reach card.
Summary
All changes ordered by number of votes and attributed to factions and voting coalitions could be found in the BALANCE COUNCIL RESULTS SHEET.
Out of 13 changes we recommended with Shinmiri this month, 12 got through – thanks for your support! The missing change is Baccalà – support of three-stars provision nerf recommended by Violet.Kiramman.
20 of 40 changes were suggested or supported by MetallicDanny, Zong and Ofir 8, Violet.Kiramman 4, but none without support.
July 2026 Gwent Patch is almost free from purely impact driven changes or reverts. The exceptions are Kolgrim and Cerys: Fearless coming from a distant past, but at least Cerys is not that popular. Kolgrim revert was a surprise and probably can be attributed to Independent Coaltion – check out their youtube post.
I’d prefer more real nerfs – for example I’d really like to see Baccalà +1 provision; right now Shupe Imposter got no nerfs and Shupe Formation / Soliders only leader revert. With the exception of Bone Talisman, Kolgrim and Cerys: Fearless, the buffs shouldn’t have much impact on competitive meta, therefore meta shift should have been done more with nerfs.
Another observation from this months BC process is that buffs for Nilfgaard has quite low support in the community. Many cards which we regard as harmless are unpopular because of association with hated archetypes. Community is way more keen for buffs to midrange NG cards, which however turns this faction to pointslam + control mess.
What New To Try?
MO | Deathwish GN Tome with Maerolorn, Carapace Adda Striga Puzzle Box, Fruits Midrange / Beasts Adda Striga, Arachas Swarm with Bone Talisman
NG | Isbel Threat Overload
NR | Stockpile, Mobilization Prize Winning Cow Arbalests and GN Shieldwall Vysogota with Trollololo, War Elephant Henselt + Priscilla Stockpile, Griffin Witcher + Caretaker
SK | Lots of buffs, but no new concepts
ST | Simlas Bone Talisman, Sirssa Schirru, Handbuff and Harmony.
SY | Jackpot Engines with Ludovicus, Sly Seductress Spam
Closure
July 2026 Patch has its flaws, but is attractive enough for another round of Gwent and the balance should be no worse than last month.
See you on ladder!