GWENT
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.
Neutrals
- Berengar - Power changed from 9 to 12.
Ability changed to:
At the beginning of your turn, if there are no other Witchers on this row, destroy self. - Commander's Horn - Provision cost changed from 8 to 7.
Has a new part of ability:
Boost bronze units by an additional 1 for each gold unit adjacent to them. - Geralt: Axii - Power changed from 5 to 3.
Provision cost changed from 10 to 11.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Seize a unit with power up to the number of allied Witchers on this row. - Geralt: Professional - Ability changed to:
Deploy: Damage 3 units by 1. If you control another Witcher, also gain Zeal.
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 3. If its power is a multiple of 3, destroy it instead. - Trial of the Grasses - Ability changed to:
Set a unit's power to 13. If it's not a Witcher, damage it by 6 and Infuse it with the Witcher category first. - Vial of Forbidden Knowledge: Unsealed - Now has Doomed.
Geralt of Rivia performing the Axii sign as drawn by Manuel Castanon (credit: ArtStation - Manuel Castañón, CD PROJEKT RED - Award-winning creators of story-driven role-playing games.)We’re kicking things off with a great set of changes to the neutral cards. Berengar is seeing a huge buff and will now play as 12 for 6. To compensate for this, his ability will check for allied Witchers at the beginning of your turn, rather than the end, which makes playing him early significantly riskier and gives the opponent initiative to focus on removing other Witchers. There are also changes to two of the Geralt cards that weren’t played much before. It’s great to see both cards greatly benefit when played alongside other Witchers and there’s also a neat lore friendliness with Axii now seizing an enemy unit, mirroring how the Axii sign works in the Witcher books and games.
The tweaks to Trial of the Grasses and Commander’s Horn also succeed at revitalizing forgotten cards while giving them a fun lore accurate effect. The Trial gets buffed by a single point, from 12 to 13, but now also ‘creates’ a witcher when used on a unit without the Witcher tag. The Horn now has the potential to play for 14 points instead of 10 and there’s a lovely interaction that makes the Gold hero cards inspire the regular Bronze soldiers in their proximity.
Monsters
- Necromancer's Tome - Has a new part of ability:
Zeal, Order: Trigger a bronze allied unit's Deathwish. - Yghern - Power changed from 13 to 15.
The Monster faction gets two changes this time around. Yghern gets a two-point power increase which should make it way more attractive to play, especially when paired with Ozzrel. There’s also a buff to Necromancer’s Tome that receives a new order ability that synergizes with the Deathwish archetype. It’ll be interesting to see if the players discover a way for this to shine because previously it was used with Relicts and Vampires rather than Deathwish.
Skellige
- Magic Compass - Provision cost changed from 8 to 9.
- Sove - Provision cost changed from 11 to 12.
- Terror of the Seas - Power changed from 5 to 4.
- Feral Bond - Provision cost changed from 4 to 5.
Crach an Craite sailing the seas in a promotional image for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, credit: CD PROJEKT RED - Award-winning creators of story-driven role-playing games.After managing to avoid any significant nerfs for months, Skellige now gets the short end of the stick. The two decks that were really strong in the meta - Warriors and Golden Nekker Pirates - both take a hit. The former gets an overall three-provision nerf with Sove and Feral Bond becoming slightly more expensive. The latter will see a one-provision nerf due to the Compass change and one power nerf to the Terror of the Seas.
Northern Realms
- Griffin Witcher Mentor - Power changed from 5 to 4.
In the patch notes we’ll find only a singular change to Northern Realms - a nerf to Griffin Witcher Mentor, aiming to reduce the tempo of this card. However, the devs have also addressed a bug that caused Melitele to often end up on the top of your deck after shuffling her back, which effectively translates into less successful shuffles and therefore fewer points. It will be interesting to see how this affects Melitele decks in general and whether there will be some more changes soon.
Nilfgaard
- Assassination - Ability changed to:
Damage a unit by 6. Decrease the damage by 1 for each adjacent non-Spying unit.
Nilfgaard sees a slight buff to Assassination which now synergizes with Spying. A great showcase of a simple, yet amazing change.
Sigismund Dijkstra, the Redanian spy turned Novigrad’s criminal mastermind as drawn by Oleksandr Kozachenko for the Gwent card game (credit: CD PROJEKT RED - Award-winning creators of story-driven role-playing games., Oleksandr Kozachenko (artstation.com)) Syndicate
- Blood Money - Provision bonus changed from 15 to 16.
- Fabian Hale - Power changed from 5 to 6.
- Graden - The Deploy ability now targets the unit with Bounty automatically (Similarly to The Scoundrel).
- Pulling the Strings - Provision cost changed from 5 to 6.
- Shady Vendor - No longer has the Blindeyes tag.
Finishing up with Syndicate; on one side, we have a bunch of smaller buffs for Bounty archetype, and on the other one, two nerfs to the multi-gang deck. As a result, Shady Vendor might now drop out of the ‘auto-include’ category, because not only he no longer has a gang tag, but he also cannot play Pulling the Strings which is now a six-provision Crime.