Introduction
In this article I’d review Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Community Patch September 2024 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 third council I collaborated with Shinmiri and we 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
August season counted only for Crown Points in Gwent Community Masters. I tried to finish high (finally 2nd) and played many games on high MMRs late in the season, therefore I have a fresh meta picture.
Syndicate was the most successful faction on ladder, with Lined Pockets Fallen Knights Igor being the most popular option. I played Gangs Cove, which is also very strong and from my experience had favored mirror, at least against main netdeck. I’ve met a couple of Cove players as well at highest mmrs last days.
Skellige with Pirates Compass as the main deck and Nilfgaard with Enslave/Renfri also were very popular. I used different decks than ladder: Hospitality Ale Calveit and Patricidal Fury Self-wound Pirates.
Other factions were a bit less popular, but still met and varied with respect to deck choice. My Monsters score was Devo Frost (yes, it has 4 spare provisions).
MO| most often Harpies Mourntart, less frequent: Deathwish Nekker, Fruits, Sabbath degeneracies, Koshchey, Tatterwing.
NG | Enslave 6, Renfri Imprisonment/Imposter (for some reason old netdecks).
NR | Shieldwall Nekker, Uprising Coen, Priestess
SK | Pirates Compass, Patricidal Fury Otkell Compass, Warriors (often Blaze of Glory Eist)
ST | Nature’s Gift, Devo Midrange, various Schirru decks.
SY | Lined Pockets Fallen Knights Igor, Pirate’s Cove Gangs.
Balance Council Results
Nerf Brackets
(++) Change I like a lot
(+) Change I like
(/) Okay
(-) Change I dislike
(- -) Change I dislike a lot
This time changes were ordered by the number of votes, from most to least popular (thanks to u/awi3 from Reddit).
-1 Power Decreased
Dimun Warship (3 -> 2)
(++) Good change for a power nerf, brings sth interesting. If we finally land at 1 power, then DW becomes instant triggered with Naval Supremacy.
Torres var Emreis: Founder (3 -> 2)
(+) (explanation)
Musicians of Blaviken (3 -> 2)
(/) A radical way to fight high tempo decks, namely SK Compass Otkell / Pirates. The context of this nerf was also a real (now proven) risk of 3=>4 power buff. Hopefully this change wouldn’t be reverted next patch and we would just move on…
Living Armor (9 -> 8)
(++) As the tail of this bracket shows, placeholder nerfs are not a bad idea.
Traveling Priestess (4 -> 3)
(++) (explanation)
Mage Assassin (2 -> 1)
(++) Blightmaker + Assassin combo was too good; why even bother with playing any concise bronze package when you could have straight up playable 11 for 6 tempo with thinning? Now it opens the space to buff really interesting stuff for Tactical Decision decks, which temporarily got heavy blow with this change.
Nauzicaa Sergeant (4 -> 3)
(–) Hehehehe. Cornerstone to NG overnerf and we would likely get all stuff reverted next patch by the independent community. Hehehehe. And NG players would get mad. Hehehehe. And they cannot play their every season Renfri Midrange or Enslave Ivo. Hehehehe. But they will play it anyway, lose games and get even more mad. Hehehehe. Ping-pong is a matter of culture. Hehehehe.
Yustianna an Craite (6 -> 5)
(–) SHE KILLS EVERYTHING.
Traheaern var Vdyffir (3 -> 2)
Kingslayer (4 -> 3)
(-) Bringing some sympathy for Mill players would probably be the greatest achievement of this balance patch.
+1 Provision Increased
Fallen Knight (5 -> 6)
(++) Syndicate with Fallen Knights, Igor and Hemmelfart became very popular and successful on pro ladder in the second half of the season. Strong and hard to disrupt. Especially Hemmelfart into Fallen Knight play is powerful and nothing will change in this regard after FK provision nerf. As FK had been unplayed at 4 power, community decided to accept this combo and just mitigate overall deck power by increasing FK prov cost. FK prov nerf is also nice because it leaves the space and rationale for other 5-cost Firesworn card: Keeper of the Flame
Fruits of Ysgith (13 -> 14)
(+) I give this change a (+) because nerf bracket is very hard and balancewise this change is okay – I don’t regard Fruits Of Ysgith decks as high-level competitive even though they have some popularity. FoY is a strong leader, but lacking any real support and synergies in cards (Ethereal is great, but usually dies, Griffin barely returns provision cost…). This change would bring a bit more variety.
Slave Driver (5 -> 6)
(++) (explanation)
Jan Calveit (10 -> 11)
(/) On one hand that’s an overnerf in an environment where NG already gets many hits. On the other – what else would make NG explore non-Calveit non-Renfri grounds?
Crach an Craite (10 -> 11)
(-) The most thematic Pirates card gets nerfed because sometimes it sticks and wins the game. I don’t regard Pirates or Ships a problem in Onslaught decks; it is community buffs to Abordage, Vabjorn, Roach, Raiding Fleet which made Pirates (and other SK) efficiently thinning tempo beast. The only part I found problematic about Pirates was tempo from red coin and very high power of bronze plays (for example Abordage into Deranged Corsair could be 14 points for 6 cost + thinning).
Otkell (12 -> 13)
(/) This nerf is meant to target 3x Freya Blessing decks, which indeed were quite strong in August 2024. While I think these decks deserved some nerfs indeed, Alchemy gets an indirect shot. Maybe sth else could have been nerfed from the netdeck (at the point Necrotal picked this option, Magic Compass -1 prov from CN was almost certain), even if it meant a revert?
Novigrad (12 -> 13)
(++) (explanation)
Battle Trance (16 -> 17)
(++) (explanation)
Renfri (14 -> 15)
(-) Normally I would rate this change as okay, but last seasons Renfri decks felt underwhelming to me whenever I faced them; I think my winrate against them was close to 100% in August. And it was in an environment with Slave Driver 5-cost, Blightmaker combo 6-cost, Assassins 2-power, Sergeant 4-power. Long term Renfri probably still deserves a nerf, but currently the priority was very low in my opinion and the branch of Renfri decks gets cut out now but for the strongest ones.
Whisperer of Dol Blathanna (5 -> 6)
(++) Provision nerf with the plan of power buff in the very next council.
Buff Brackets
+1 Power Increased
Etriel (4 -> 5)
Muirlega (4 -> 5)
(+) Welcomed changes. The combo would now play for 8+14 = 22 points with Murilega second, or 8+12+control with Etriel second. Dividing by 2 we get 11 points raw value for 6-cost at best. If disrupted, both card would play just as 8 for 6, possibly game losing. Nothing to be afraid of. The question is what deck could now make use of buffed Etriel + Muirlega? Maybe a midrange Heist? Maybe a Handbuff for extra control? Maybe Precision Strike for damage support? Maybe none? We will see.
Yennefer: Illusionist (4 -> 5)
(+) (explanation) (single + because more Shin’s favorite than mine)
Blueboy Lugos (6 -> 7)
(++) (explanation)
Sly Seductress (4 -> 5)
(-) It is easy to understand where this change comes from. Seductress at 5-cost 4-power is basically unplayable. If buffed to 4-cost, then because of the fee effect it gets into Eventide Plunder pool, which is awkward. Also Passiflora, Adriano and Hidden Cache are not much played.
The consequences though… Madam and Adriano get indirectly improved and as tribute cards would be naturally played with King of Beggars. We land again in tempo pass from the blue coin environment and Jackpot running this strat was the worst which recently happened to SY.
Imperial Golem (12 -> 13)
(++) (explanation)
Magpie (3 -> 4)
(++) This interesting card deserves more play. While it is clear how to make use of it in Round 3 (Yago, Vice…) I wonder how much it can support R1 strat (maybe some Townsfolk?).
Gabor Zigrin (5 -> 6)
(++) Effective +2 power buff in the Resilience application. Card becomes decent, but given how tight Dwarfs are with respect to provision cost, may still not be played. Can be interesting in Golden Nekker Dwarfs as a way to transform tempo advantage into carryover and effectively polarize the deck.
Ves (5 -> 6)
(+) Ves was unplayed and outshined by Ildiko in similar application in Golden Nekker decks. At 6 power Ves really becomes considerable for decks which can benefit from extra Zeals. This card seems to especially fit into Revenants decks, where Zeal could be useful many times and damage from Ves herself may be used to set up a good target.
Bare-Knuckle Brawler (4 -> 5)
(-) Just like Sesames, a choice between two evils, and one could argue the greater one was taken in the current circumstances.
-1 Provsion Decreased
Open, Sesame! (6 -> 5)
(/) Too weak at 6-cost, too abusive at 5-cost due to design flaws (e.g. red coin carryover abuse…). Pick between two evils.
Magic Compass (12 -> 11)
(–) Compass was already played – buff to it feels like a waste. While 2nd order Compass decks would like it, the top ones powercreep.
Casimir Bassi (11 -> 10)
(++) Interesting, but overcosted card. Very good buff.
Shaping Nature (9 -> 8)
(++) (explanation)
Philippa Eilhart (10 -> 9)
(/) I’m skeptical about lowering the cost of cards with such high, sometimes win-condition utility, but I give it the benefit of doubt. Becomes playable in Golden Nekker decks, although it would require a Coins generating leader, which would at least incentivize new deckbuilding experiments.
Teleportation (5 -> 4)
(-) Not that I mind the change itself much, but it would be way better to stop the ping-pong and buff sth interesting instead.
Princess Adda (12 -> 11)
(/) Good change, although personally I don’t find Adda + Cursed very interesting – it is an archetype based on one card with straightforward effect and immunity; a bit cheesy.
Bloody Baron (10 -> 9)
(+) (explanation) (single + because of reasons mentioned in the explanation itself)
Usurper: Officer (12 -> 11)
(-) I think Usurper was perfectly playable at 12-cost; it is 13 points on deploy, having multiple synergies and potentially scaling even ~+3 per turn in perfect circumstances (Ard Feiann clicks, active Emhyr, ‘spying’ cards played from hand). This change would just incentivize more use of Usurper, making a good card very good.
Plague Maiden (10 -> 9)
(++) (explanation)
Summary
All the information about council results: changes by the order of votes, support by influence group, number of changes per faction and attribution is accessible in the Balance Council Result sheet.
CH – China – 12/16
S – Shinmiri&Lerio 11/12
N – Necrotal 11/12
D – Danny – 8/12
New Chinese Balance Coalition in spite of diluted votes for 2-4 slots had very high impact in this balance council. In general, this time fewer indpendent votes got through, but it may be a cyclic event: more independent changes every second season with NG buffs as reverts.
The change with didn’t get through for our coalition is Kikimore Worker – understandable given feedback for this change. Note that in spite of us supporting this change from CN council, it lost the direct rivalry with Kingslayer for the same slot.
Amongst Necrotal picks, Igor didn’t get through, which for me is very surprising given negative sentiment towards Fallen Knights Spam deck. Double nerf to netdeck would be better in my opinion, also knowing that Sly Seductress are 5 power now and scaling terribly well with Bonded against many meta decks.
What To Try?
Monsters | Golden Nekker Overwhelming Hunger Swarm with Plague Maiden, Sabbath Rats Poison with Renew, different Fruits of Ysgith decks.
Nilfgaard | Constructs NG (old list), Hyperthin Golem, Aristocrats with Usurper (nothing new tbf), Enforcers Spying w Usurper (old list)
Northern Realms | Uprising Golden Nekker with Bloody Baron and Frigates, Revenants with Ves
Skellige | Golden Nekker Ursine with Cerys: Fearless and Blueboy Lugos
Scoiatael | Precision Strike Midrange with Etriel and Muirlega, Midrange Heist with E+M
Syndicate | Sly Seductress Spam, Golden Nekker with Philippa, Damage SY Crimes with Casimir, Drill, Whoreson Junior, Vice OtB/Pockets with Magpie, Jackpot Yago with Magpie.
Closure
This patch has some flaws:
- Nilfgaard would be perceived as overnerfed and massive reverts are likely from independent community, maybe even to Mill cards.
- Syndicate gets many buffs and there would be many unhealthy aspects to it: engine overload with tempo pass possibilty, Bare Knuckle Brawlers wiping the board in Vice and Crimes decks, Fallen Knight Spam still strong after 2 provision nerf. Overall SY would still be clear top faction, with many decks standing at the top of the meta.
- If Syndicate engine spam variants become ladder main, then it would narrow meta only to natural control and outgreed, which may be very bad for ladder experience.
- Pirates thematic cards got overnerfed in Skellige, while the main problem was tempo outburst and very easy thinning for Compass. It was adressed only by Musicians -1 power nerf, which again may be subjected to revert in the incoming council (CN community had invert sentiment).
I honestly predict ladder state to be worse than before patch, but nevertheless i’d like to try out wholesome buffs, even if they result in a negative winrate.
Hope you enjoyed the read, see you on ladder!