Introduction
White Frost Devotion Wild Hunt is a popular and thematic Monsters archetype with rich mechanics. Easy to play wrong and hard to master. In this detailed guide we would build the understanding of Devo WH from scratch.
Deck / Archetype Definers
As always when deckbuilding we have to start from some foundations and axioms and then logically build the deck around it. Our starter is White Frost leader ability. I’d literally quote Monsters Leader Abilities article here.
- White Frost
White Frost is a synergistic type of leader ability (8 raw points max) with following synergies:
- Frost *** | White Frost adds value to Weather payoff cards – outside specific Frost units (Wild Hunt Aristocrat, Navigator, Eredin, Caranthir…) most notably to Ancient Foglets.
- Wild Hunt ** | Passive part of the leader ability adds +1 point to each Wild Hunt unit played when there is Frost in the opposing row.
- Movement | Not exploited but for maximizing Frost damage value.
The purpose of the White Frost leader ability in Gwent 12.9. is maximizing the value of Frost dependent cards; other ideas are not justified because leader ability is weak and conditional outside value located on cards.
As we can see White Frost value would come mostly from the support of Frost payoff cards. If those cards can play above the Power vs Provision curve, then the deck may be competitive. Next logical step is identifying such cards.
- Caranthir Golden Child
Caranthir is outstanding and to host him we need to guarantee at least extra 3 turns of Frost on both rows. As at least 10 turns of weather would then be applied, the following card is pretty much guaranteed to break even with provision cost, while ceiling is open:
- Ancient Foglet
Double Frost for 5 turns needed for full CGC value gives Ancient Foglet 12 points for just 6 cost floor (assuming AF enters at 4/4 duration). The ceiling is much higher: 10 turns of 2x Frost => 24 points, and bigger numbers are also possible when Frost overshoots. Ancient Foglet is a long round card with high provision efficiency; getting high Foglets value could even be a win condition.
Caranthir and Foglets are the main payoff cards; summing their “over-curve” potential value we see there is indeed a chance for White Frost to be competitive.
Devotion Path
Now going Devotion unlocks access to Auberon 3rd form, Winter Queen buff from Frost and Tir Na Lia passive ability. Each one of those is possibly a win-condition in correct circumstances and Auberon should be able to consistently provide on-curve or above curve point value.
- Auberon: Conqueror
Auberon: Conqueror is a flexible engine card with a high floor. Depending on the chosen target, it could be more pointslam (WH Riders, WH Navigator, WH Bruiser), or engine contribution (Aen Elle Aristocrat, Naglfar’s Crew). WH Riders pointslam play is efficient in vacuum: 6+5+2*4 = 19 (+2 with White Frost passive, +1 for any more WH unit played with Auberon sticking), while the other require good circumstances or long enough rounds.
- Tir Na Lia
In a normal WH deck we can expect Tir na Lia to reach around +8 buff on deploy (max is 10). The order Red Riders spawn is worth 8 raw points. Summing up the numbers we get 16 points for 12 cost. Why this card could be a win condition then?
The first thing to note is value of Tir na Lia as a carryover card, even omitting the passive part which would be discussed later. +8 boost would be replaced by a WH bronze in hand, which usually would be greater value than 8; especially Aen Elle Aristocrat could be triggered in deploy turn with TnL order.
Due to synergies, Frost carryover is effectively worth much more than mere 8 points if cards like Ancient Foglets and WH Navigators are in play. Note that without TnL carryover the hand must generate lots of frost for payoff cards, which may become awkward especially when the round gets shorter.
Finally, the passive. Each extra Frost tick is worth +1 on each Foglet and Navigator to be played in the next round. If enough Frost would already be generated to justify WH Navi in the next round hand, then even if Frost overshoots, the value of each excessive tick may be around ~5 points (Foglets, Navis, Navi from Auberon, Red Riders to replay Navi…)
Therefore Tir Na Lia with high carryover on passive is a possible win condition.
Extended Core
White Frost Devotion to a great deal builds itself. Following article logic, we start from:
and instantly find 6 golds fitting better than anything else:
- Eredin – supports Frost duration payoff cards (+2) and Caranthir: Golden Child (up to +10), while being possibly +2 per turn engine with 12 points practical floor (no dominance, but Frost value assumed) and sometimes extra removal value. Eredin ceiling assuming 8 turns of full dominance value would be 12 + 8*2 + 10(Caranthir) + synergy with payoff cards – sequencing penalty (removing value from other engines) => ~38 points. Perfect fit, autoinclude in Devo Frost.
- Imlerith’s Wrath – a useful removal / tall punishment card. Sometimes control helps, other times Wrath is so bad that deserve being mulled out, even in favor of a bronze card. That’s because Wrath played early effectively removes value from own engines due to sequencing issues; if opponent’s threat doesn’t scale better than +2 per turn (which is value lost on skipping a turn for Foglet/Navi), then Wrath often would be underwhelming). Wrath would be great though vs tall finishers, where it doesn’t interfere with engine development. Autoinclude.
- Naglfar – Frost relies on a couple of crucial cards: Auberon, Caranthir for pointslam, Tir Na Lia for carryover. That’s why a tutor is a must – these cards are irreplaceable. Autoinclude.
- Ard Gaeth – a hidden workhorse, Ard Gaeth provides frost for payoff cards, while in vacuum plays for no more than 12 raw points. Because of being an Echo card, real raw value is a bit higher, because we have to add the upgrade points over a replacement in R2 or R3 hand. Autoinclude.
- Winter Queen – a cheaper Roach with great upside. Could be used for reach, to force removal while staying ahead, or to drypass with Ard Gaeth. Autoinclude.
- Ge’els – tutoring any WH card with +3 points gained? Autoinclude, rather cut Naglfar you highrolly bastard.
The choice of bronze cards is more nuanced; there are many good options but fitting all at the same time is impossible. Wild Hunt decks would mostly differ here. I’d present the part which I view as necessary.
- 2x Aen Elle Aristocrat – very high ceiling (thanks to Frost payoff cards) proactive bronze engine. Could be used in turn with Tir Na Lia order or leader charge for better floor. Very useful when combined with Tactical Advantage / Crystal Skull from blue coin. Good opportunity, no reason to include less than 2x
- 2x Wild Hunt Riders – obsolete for long rounds with high frost duration, but useful to pointslamize Auberon: Conqueror. Usually would be mulled out in R1 because of this reason.
- 1x Wild Hunt Navigator – at least one copy is needed to get extra Auberon option. Navigator is the main Frost duration payoff along with Ancient Foglets. If found, 1x Navigator would be often enough, but 2x is safer and better whenever Foglets are missed in a long round. The tradeoff is lower Tir Na Lia deploy boost and worse topdecks in a short round.
- 1x Aen Elle Conqueror – a cheap proactive waiting card, which is lacking amongst WIld Hunt bronzes.
- 1x Naglfar Crew – value bronze, 7 for 5 floor and +1 for every turn of Frost. Also the only Wild Hunt bronze unit which directly provides Frost for the next turn. Usually 2x is played.
- 1x Red Riders – conditional 8 for 5 in vacuum, but great utility in Devo Wild Hunt. Backups Ard Gaeth; without pure Weather payoff cards are underwhelming. Can be played for Tir Na Lia carryover. 1x is of great use, 2x would make deck smoother and no-unit first plays strategy better, but short round topdecks worse.
19 slots are filled with extended core cards. 6 slots left are flex and depend on personal preference.
Core Properties
- Frost is an engine analogue. Every turn of double Frost is effectively a 4 points per turn engine.
- Caranthir: Golden Child and Auberon into WH Riders are the only classical pointslam cards.
- White Frost is an engine deck in disguise! It needs long rounds to develop full value and should bleed only a handful of better scaling decks. Often the bleed would be soft, trying to get out the low tempo, heavy scaling part with a pass to follow soon.
- Caranthir: Golden Child as a finisher card could be one of win conditions. As C:GC goes tall along with Ancient Foglets and units buffed with WH Navigators, its effective value could be extremely high even without last say. Getting last say isn’t by any means an axiom for White Frost archetype – strategy would depend on matchups.
- Strengths: high floor engines, multiple win conditions, movement tools.
- Weakness: only one removal card, bad scaling into short rounds, loses value to no-unit or armor.
Flexible Slots
Golds
- Unseen Elder – good on paper, but in practice competes for value with Frost engines and has no good moment to deploy.
- Morvudd – pointslamizes White Frost high-end, making short R3 after defending bleed more consistent. As there are many units going tall already, Morvudd doubling Caranthir Golden Child as tall removal target is not that much of an issue.
- Mammuna – too weak
- Witches’ Sabbath – interesting idea, which needs some modifications to the core to clear Sabbath for Aristocrats, Winter Queen and Foglets. Bringing 3 units at one time on the board not only enables huge engine overload, but also instant targets for frost damage on the opposing side. Sabbath version of Frost is less stable, but worth giving a go for variety.
- Cave Troll – considerable as opener proactive play, but overall a waste of provision for little value.
- Yghern (+ Ozzrel) – Yghern as opener can support tempo pass strategies. Combined with Ozzrel, White Frost gets a bit more pointslam value at the high end. Less stable than main variants.
- Lord Riptide – (10p/9c in Sep 2024) – as for Sep 2024 Lord Riptide is autoinclude for almost every Monsters deck. It fits White Frost as well – extra control can help to remove some crucial threats or at least slow them down when the opponent plays around, while pointslam value can support short rounds.
- Nithral – okay because proactive, but not amazing.
- Toad Prince – good card overall, but not fitting White Frost too well (killing denies Frost value usually). To be included when heavily scaling 4p threats are present in the meta (Whisperer of Dol Blathanna…)
- Jotunn – requires swapping two WH bronzes for Ice Trolls, which hurts for Tia na Lia as well as when played from hand (WH bronzes are higher value). Nevertheless, Jotunn pointslam can be useful for short rounds.
- The Apiarian Phantom – proactive opener and that’s it.
Bronzes
- WH Bruiser – Bruiser is generally obsolete in a long round if both leader charges are saved, but otherwise it is a good utility card, sometimes even supporting removal with Frost.
- Aen Elle Slave Trader – high ceiling bronze (also buffed to 4 power in Aug 2024 balance patch). Competes for value with other engines and unlike Ancient Foglets starts from low power. Good card, but not fitting perfectly.
- Naglfar Taskmaster – a tech choice, on average not very strong, sometimes can lose games when topdecked. Note that a resilient card like Ciri: Nova becomes an instant frost target and often plays for effective value much lower than its raw points; in extreme cases can be even negative.
- Wild Hunt Hound – obsolete in decisive rounds WH strategy; best in R1 from blue coin, where is often better than Aen Elle Conqueror.
- Wild Hunt Warrior – simply good card which always could be included, but suffers from not being proactive compared with card like Aen Elle Conqueror
Gameplay Tips
- Best scenario is usually a long round with second say and/or frost carryover on Tir na Lia.
- Don’t try to push with White Frost unless 100% sure it’s necessary!
- Respect your leader charges! Each one is worth much more than mere 4 points! More like >10 in a long round!
- Always wait with leader charges until at least two units are present on opponent’s side.
- Use frost to get Ancient Foglets out of removal range
- Combine Aen Elle Aristocrat with Frost in the same turn in R2/R3. You can play Aristocrat after Frost – would still work!
Example Decks
(for all decks consider Crystal Skull instead of TA if locks are popular)
Natural Wild Hunt
Flex slot here is used for Nithral – proactive Wild Hunt unit which can open the round. Double Red Riders and Naglfar’s Crew should make R1/R2 plans consistent and Bruiser is there for backup movement (outside of being badass).
Wild Hunt Morvudd
Morvudd offers solid pointslam value, especially important in a short round. This version would be better for more guaranteed R3 value in deep push circumstances. There is also a more popular and easier to play version with Bruiser (although I don’t commend cutting a Foglet).
Wild Hunt Clean Naglfar
Finding crucial golds with Naglfar is important. Point gap between a gold card from outside the core and bronze replacement in a long round is very small, some bronzes are often even better.
How crazy is it then to just cut a gold card, leave some provisions unused and keep Naglfar clean? Not too crazy. Assimilated this idea from Kerpeten, list isn’t any worse than classical White Frost – even qualified to Gwent Community Open#3 with it!
Wild Hunt Sabbath
Less stable and overall worse than normal White Frost due to Sabbath variance, consistency issues and some other aspects. Nevertheless, worth giving a try for memes and variety. Sabbath is supposed to return Aristocrats, Winter Queen and Ancient Foglets – the rest of the deck is tailored to not exceed 4 power. Consider swapping Toad Prince with Whispess:Tribute if missing Sabbath too often.
Closure
White Frost Devotion is a thematic and satisfying Monsters archetype – check it out if you haven’t yet, you won’t regret it! It has a high skill cap and requires the player to know exactly what to do since the first play in Round 1. You would likely need to play many games before getting enough hands-on experience.
Don’t skip the text in the article – there are a lot of useful tips. Otherwise you can play hundreds of games without any progress due to misinterpretation of how the deck works.
Have fun!