Author: Adam Gazovic

Organizers of different esports tournaments often employ the Swiss system format. Whether it’s CS:GO, Dota 2 or Rocket League, there’s a good chance the tournament’s group stage is handled via the Swiss system. But how does it work and what exactly is it that makes it so popular among a wide variety of games?Origins and alternativesThe format dates back to the late 19th century. It was developed specifically for chess tournaments as a substitute for previously used formats, such as round robin, where each player plays each other once, or knockout, where the player who loses a match is eliminated…

As always, a new month means a new patch for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, and with it a fresh set of different changes ready to shake up the power balance. This month, similarly to the January patch, we’re seeing a smaller number of changes to refresh already existing cards that are underperforming while also addressing a few cards that are a bit too strong according to the data and player feedback. The theme of the update this time is witchers. Let’s dive in and see what changes and reworks are coming our way.NeutralsBerengar – Power changed from 9 to…

2023 didn’t start the best way for Gwent. Slowly after the announcement by CD Projekt Red about the end of content drops and the official esports scene at the end of 2023, we’ve unfortunately seen a few of the notable content creators and competitive players shift their focus away from Gwent. Fortunately, the situation seems to have slowly stabilized. The Gwent community has reconciled with the future prospects and most of the players – both casual and competitive – have decided to give it everything in 2023. We’re also seeing an influx of new players thanks to the release of…

With Day 1 of Gwent World Masters concluded, we learned the names of the four best players who were going to battle it out for the victory. In the first semi final, we had Danirai, surprisingly the only remaining Pole, facing his tournament nemesis from Colombia – Poisound. The second bracket was set to be a battle between the Turkish Gwent superstar Kerpeten and Canadian underdog Spellingbee.If you’re looking for a recap on how Day 1 unfolded and analysis of the decks each player brought, check: Gwent World Masters 2022 – Day 1 RecapDanirai faces his nemesisThe quarter finals saw…

The first December weekend is upon us, and with it, the most anticipated Gwent tournament of the year – the World Masters. And that means not only two days of intense competitive matches between eight of Gwent’s best players, but also the highly anticipated announcement of the 2023 roadmap, the reveals of 12 new cards, and, of course, the patch notes for the new update. For now, though, let’s focus on the action that Day 1 brought us.The format of the World Masters is very straightforward. The eight players who qualified for the tournament throughout the year are first facing…

New month, new update and a new set of balancing tweaks is here. October was a season of huge numbers, big point slam cards and meaty Geralt finishers, therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that the changes that were talked about first were nerfs to Yrden and Igni.NeutralsGeralt: Igni Default power limit changed from 35 to 40.Initiative power limit changed from 20 to 25.Geralt: Yrden Ability changed to: Deploy (Melee): Reset the power of all units on a row.Adrenaline 2: Reset the power of all units on an allied row instead.Running one of these two cards was a huge…

A brand new expansion titled Chronicles approaches and, as usual, CD Projekt Red decided to share with the community what they’ve been working on in advance. In this article, we’ll go through the newly announced cards that will join the ranks of Northern Realms, discuss potential strategies and try to evaluate whether they’re going to make ripples on the surface of the meta or they’re about to sink like a stone and be never seen again. Before we get into that, though, please remember that some of the values might change a bit before the update’s release on October 4th.Crinfrid…

Although it might not feel that way to some, we’re already halfway through the September season of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. The meta shifted quite a bit compared to what we’d been seeing in August and it’s mostly due to the numerous big changes made to Nilfgaard’s Soldiers archetype. What better time to break down exactly what made Nilfgaard the faction with by far the highest pick rate among the Top 500 players — and why we’ve seen its considerable growth in popularity throughout all ranks. Source: GwentData.comLet’s start by looking at the numbers. The graph above makes it…

Why Gwent’s current meta is ripe for creative decksIt might not feel that way, but it has been nearly a month since we were freed of the Renfri-dominated meta. The time of sword and axe; when every Gwent player kept waking up at night covered in sweat. That time of madness and disdain, when hearing ‘batiste’ three times a match was a fairly common occurrence.Since then, fortunately, the state of the game was improved significantly, we’ve seen the much needed Renfri adjustment that left her in a good place, some minor nerfs to Pirates (though Corsair still plays for a…

September’s here and with it a new update for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. The recently released patch notes contain a lot of changes – some smaller, other, such as the Nilfgaard Soldiers rework, surprisingly big. In this article, we’ll go through all that’s changing, highlight the most important stuff that you should keep an eye out for, and provide some wild predictions about what’s going to change in the new ranked season meta.Scoia’tael gets affected by Neutral cards changes- Alissa Henson – Provision cost changed from 7 to 8.- Garrison – Provision cost changed from 9 to 11.Ability changed:…