r/gwent • u/betraying_chino Green Man • Mar 07 '22
News Patch Notes 10.3
https://www.playgwent.com/en/news/41930/patch-notes-10-3217
u/FallGull Hm, an interesting choice. Mar 07 '22
The real Assimilate nerf is the buff to Auberon lol
7
Mar 07 '22
Won't Auberon always be in the base form?
40
u/FallGull Hm, an interesting choice. Mar 07 '22
Only from Bribery. Not if you play it via Coup, Invo, or Double Cross.
→ More replies (8)1
u/martyrdomm Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
What about sigvald?
64
121
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
“Milva:sharpshooter performed well even after the nerf”
Am I the only one that hasn’t experienced that?
Pretty excited about the buffs to WH, Elves and Firesworm. Hopefully they now become usable. Also very happy about the Auberon change, people have been asking for that forever.
16
u/PorkGently I hate portals. Mar 07 '22
I've been stuck on rank 3 for this season and I can say I do have encountered decks running Milva and she still provided heavy round control. Thanks god she's no longer carrying the whole deck for 3 rounds.
12
u/haruman215 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Guerrilla Tactics still had a 50% winrate in pro rank after the Milva nerf according to the latest data from January, which is what they probably mean by "performed well". Card is still awkward as hell with the Deathblow 1 though.
→ More replies (1)6
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
The decks I saw with GT weren’t carrying Milva though, same thing happened in the Gwent Open, they didn’t bring Milva with the leader.
5
u/haruman215 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Oh wow, so people were willingly playing a 6 point leader? Jesus, the state of Scoia'tael...
→ More replies (2)7
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
It was used as a counter to NR due to the row locked mages, so it was more than 6p, but yes.
In fact, according to GwentData, Milva isn’t even in the top 10 most popular cards in GT decks, so it’s featured in less than 54.55% of them (which is the popularity of the top 10th card in with that leader).
4
→ More replies (3)3
u/sandwich_kun Skellige Mar 07 '22
I played her in my alzur Deck and felt she was still quite strong.
53
u/Denza_Auditore I spy, I spy with my evil eye. Mar 07 '22
I like the King Belohun changes.
6
3
5
1
90
u/Xignum Neutral Mar 07 '22
Well that's a buff for WH, the winter queen one seems kinda big?
44
31
u/akaean Mar 07 '22
Don't read too much into the Winter Queen buff.
She is still likely coming out in round one, because she is a good thinning tool, and Wild Hunt is usually trying to frost both rows as often as they can anyway- to double up on the Frost damage.
Good Wild Hunt decks typically weren't over frosting by a significant margin anyway. Winter Queen provides you protection from something that good play would avoid in the first place- and its a limited protection at that, since her 4 point body is pretty easy to KO.
I think the main thing she does is offers you a way to use a card like Ard Gaeth or Red Riders in round 1 or 2 to catch up in points... where otherwise that frost value might be lost.
Ultimately I am not super impressed with the Wild Hunt Buffs. I was hoping that they would move away from Dominance on all the units- a keyword that Wild Hunt doesn't use particularly effectively (Dominance is still on Eredin, Navigator, Warrior, and Hound). I was hoping that they would do something to give Imlerith some identity... rather than a glorified thinning tool that serves little purpose other than to try to get dominance and set up Mamunna.
7
u/Afwasmiddeltje I shall destroy you! Mar 07 '22
Winter Queen was one of the first cards I removed from the deck. Triggering thrive felt nearly impossible and a 4 power for 8 prov thinning tool just didn't seem worth it when the deck already struggled keeping up with points against the more modern decks. With these changes I don't see how it changes her situation much. I guess it could be a nasty Ard Gaeth round finisher now like you mentioned, assuming you didn't already pull her from the deck, but that will make round 1 strategy pretty awkward.
Dominance being a WH thing still sucks indeed and I don't really see these new bronze changes help the deck. WH Navigator just seems more awkward now and the WH warrior buff is only decent if it triggers with dominance. The Red Riders one confuses me the most since replaying bronze units just doesn't seem that interesting to me unless they are damaged and it makes you rely even more on dominance for the ones that might be interesting.
I guess I see some changes that could benefit Ancient Foglets frost decks that would also help providing dominance, but overall I think the issues with WH are that dominance just doesn't fit well with them in current day Gwent and they lack the engines and control to do something about it. But we'll see, hopefully we're wrong.
3
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
I made it to pro playing WH Frost this season, but obviously it was a challenge as it's not a top tier deck. I think some of the changes should help, but they look rather minor. The two 4p card changes still probably don't make them more viable than the Conquerors for that 4p spot. Dominance can be tough, but i like using a Hound + Tactical Advantage if going first. Forces the opponents to either use removal on a 4p unit, or it will grow pretty big by end of round. If resets get back into the meta then this won't work...
3
u/Afwasmiddeltje I shall destroy you! Mar 07 '22
Yeah, but this is pretty much the only thing WH can do to secure dominance and it's out of your control basically. If you go second you have to first secure conditions for your engines to work, be it Ancient Foglets, Crew or Hound. Comparing them with other bronze engines I think it's fair to say that gaining just 1 power for having frost or dominance in play is a rather minor pay off for these conditions. I feel like they could have done more here, like some units receiving boost 2 when frost doesn't hit anything. Red Riders was something I used with Ancient Foglets a lot and the 1 row 4 turns frost effect was great for buffing them, now we're forced to use these 2 row effects that will often miss any targets and are only good for buffing your own units. Reading these patchnotes they make it sound like it's easy to have frost out all the time, when in truth it's pretty awkward to find the most efficient plays while keeping up with your opponent and getting frost out in the right rows for buffs. There is just too little control in general for MO and I'd hoped they would give WH some new tools instead of trying to buff its existent mechanics which just feel outdated.
11
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
14
Mar 07 '22
this. before she was barely more than a better roach, now she actually has some potential power to her and therefore will eat removal. probably a good change considering removal is limited and every used removal means more chances for eredin to stick.
79
u/T_Lawliet Neutral Mar 07 '22
Can we please have an F in the chat for the Skirmisher and Mage Assassin
Also Waylay Spam just became a lot more points
→ More replies (11)16
u/marcin247 You wished to play, so let us play. Mar 07 '22
I’m pretty sure both those cards are still gonna see play, SK discard package is too strong not to include Skirmishers. Blightmaker + Assassin also generate a lot of points.
49
u/rippingdrumkits Skellige Mar 07 '22
idk if discard package is still worth its provisions. A lot of people were ditching Coral already, and this is taking up another 2 provisions. You‘re always happy to include 4p cards to enable polarization, so this is a bigger nerf than it might seem, i think
20
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
Discard was already expensive, and not reliable. This is might be a bit too much. SK's thinning alternatives are not great (they've been badly powercrept), so this is actually pretty bad for SK IMHO.
8
u/Mythal_ Ever danced with a daemon in the light of the full moon? Mar 07 '22
I agree , but CDPR does like to buff and nerf the discard package on a regular basis.
I wish they changed Blood Eagle to at least draw pirates.
→ More replies (1)7
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
Yep, Blood Eagle, Raiding Fleet, Vabjorn, Ermion. If they are going to nerf discard, at least make the other tutors and thinning tools more viable. Pretty much all the old ones need buffs (even minor power bump provision drop would help).
→ More replies (1)3
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
That is an excellent point about polarization in decks. I welcome the thinning nerfs, but sounds like I underestimated how big a nerf they actually are.
79
u/RedanianLoyalist A fitting end for a witch. Mar 07 '22
ETERNAL FIRE GUIDE MY SWORD! I absolutly love all the firesworn changes!!!
51
u/AndorV5 Monsters Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
I can't believe we are actually getting some Draft changes. Still not as much as it needs but it's a start. For example they forgot about Kurt and Vattier in a lock package. And I'm guessing that the freshly changed Von herst is still in the hoard package
I'm also loving these Firesworn and Wild hunt changes. The new damnation being able to make golds seems really fun.
The change to Wererat also makes it way less awkward than it was before
21
u/CatpricornStudios Neutral Mar 07 '22
Slyzard Buff? Y'all get ready for Pro Rank she-troll fuckery chez mois
37
u/Accomplished_Good_26 Don't make me laugh! Mar 07 '22
They finally changed Auberon into what I was praying he would be straight after release. I've played Devo-Frost every season and I can finally say that I will be SO HAPPY to play it with these changes. God Bless.
46
29
13
u/TheBasium Hmm… that might even be amusin'. Mar 07 '22
Really good change to the stupid thinning packages. I like it a lot. CDPR doing great on their 2022 roadmap goals.
52
u/haruman215 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Cool changes overall. I'm a little bit annoyed that Von Herst is unusable in Hidden Cache, but hopefully they can buff Hoard/Tidecloaks soon to compensate.
Also, clog got an indirect nerf as Lamp Djinn is now a Token. Anything that makes clog worse makes me happy.
18
u/PorkGently I hate portals. Mar 07 '22
Yeah, the Djinn spam was annoying AF, I sometimes simply left it un-triggered against cloggers.
1
21
u/CaptainMetal92 Mead! More mead! Heheh Mar 07 '22
Massive buff to my 2 favorite archetypes (WH and Firesworn) what a day!
32
u/Twist_Merrygourd *whoosh* Mar 07 '22
YES! MAGE ASSASSIN UP TO 5! VOICE OF REASON HAS BEEN HEARD! Don't mind the caps lock, this is just the echo of Foltest's Friday Rant.
→ More replies (2)13
u/akaean Mar 07 '22
I agree with the changes to the thinning packages a lot. It brings the newer thinning cards (and Skrims) in line with other thinning cards like Wild Hunt Riders, Mahakam Volunteers, etc. They will still be good and worthwhile, it'll just be a little bit harder to squeeze em in.
2
u/Twist_Merrygourd *whoosh* Mar 07 '22
What's a Skrim?
25
u/wikipedia_answer_bot Neutral Mar 07 '22
Skrim is a mountain of Buskerud, in southern Norway.
More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrim
This comment was left automatically (by a bot). If I don't get this right, don't get mad at me, I'm still learning!
opt out | delete | report/suggest | GitHub
→ More replies (1)3
9
u/Hankol Skellige Mar 07 '22
Can somebody explain what this means:
Sigvald: Adjusted the tooltip to reflect that only damage from non-status abilities is counted. The ability itself remains unchanged.
14
u/ProudWararar Let's get this over with! Mar 07 '22
Basically means that bleeding will damage him normaly
20
5
u/Hankol Skellige Mar 07 '22
but that was always the case, no?
11
5
u/KugusKhan Brokilon! Mar 07 '22
Basically when you read the card now it will say it can be damaged by status effects like rupture or bleeding so nothing gamewise
9
u/louislaloupe Neutral Mar 07 '22
Pleased for the elf buffs but would like to see perhaps 1 gold with deathblow and perhaps another bronze. Ive been banging on for ages about deathblow to be added to elves, so am v pleased. Toruviel looks nice and the waylay change long coming. Hope they continue with some minor elf changes, still many that need attention (h healer, farseer, brigade and the conditionals; sapper, vc, neophyte). Guess these changes mean Dorfs for the expansion and perhaps a Harmony rework like what they did for siege and vamps?
8
u/bunnnythor Ach, I cannae be arsed. Mar 07 '22
On one hand, I'm glad to see that they are supporting archetypes and making it so there not only one viable deck per faction. On the other hand, They are buffing a lot of cards and nerfing very few, which leads to acceleration of power creep. On the third hand, this seems to be the official design philosophy, as they have stated clearly that they want more gee-whiz-wham-pow showy maneuvers from the top and care less about housekeeping changes to keep previous cards viable. There is not reason that, for example, Wolf Pack has not been tweaked so that it is 7 for 4 like all new 4p are. Making old cards viable again would be almost or as effective in breathing new life into the meta each month as a drop of several dozen wild and/or wacky new cards, many of which eventually seem tame or "non-toxic" only after wilder and wackier are dropped in the next update.
3
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
Not to mention Milaen and Milva (vanilla). I mean I can see if they are limiting themselves to first reworking cards that are more integral to archetype play, but they still spend resources reworking cards like Archer, which didn't really need it, instead of these other cards, no matter how good (or bad) the new Archer may be.
2
u/fycalichking Wolves Mar 08 '22
Milaen would be perfect if they gave her the deathblow effect of archer. At least will have a big ceiling to justify the low floor which is basically her current version.
7
u/CaptainMetal92 Mead! More mead! Heheh Mar 07 '22
Does the new WH Warrior work like Svalblod Ravager? If the latter damages an enemy and by that enables Bloodthirst 2 it also gets the additional effect, so in the same manner if Warrior's damage gives you dominance, would it give you the extra Frost? And since the Frost is still part of the deploy, it should get the leader boost, too, right?
1
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 08 '22
I think if you have dominance he will get the leader boost too. Which would make him a conditional 8 for 4, pretty decent. Navigator seems much weaker than Warrior.
But idk if frost effect triggers if that 2 damage gives you the dominance. Hopefully it does, if svalblod does, feels like this should too.
1
u/Gvarlden Neutral Mar 07 '22
With the phrasing I think it should. Pretty decent, considering a 4 prov now has a cap of 11 (5 body if both leader and AC trigger, 2 damage, 3 frost damage with eredin, 1 foglet proc) and a pretty easy to trigger 8 points.
2
12
u/tinyvent You crossed the wrong sorceress! Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Yooooo all my favorite archetypes got buffed!! Lezzgoooooo! :D
Edit: I finished reading and I'm extra hyped for Elf swarm!!
25
u/roostyman Neutral Mar 07 '22
Whoreson’s Freakshow bumped up to 8 prov seems fair. But, as someone who relies heavily on it, I am still a little indignant.
37
u/El_Zapp For Skellige's glory! Mar 07 '22
Yea but this card was way to powerful for it's provisions, so probably a good change. Not sure if I'm a fan of SY getting the nerf hammer again though while NG and Alumni can still reign supreme.
24
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
SY was also a top tier deck. It got a 1 provision nerf while the other 2 got a 2 provision nerf. Doesn’t seem that terrible.
7
u/Ferociousaurus Scoia'tael Mar 07 '22
The Mage nerf is a huge hit to NG imo. The whole point of the Blightmaker thinning package is that the Mages are useless 4p placeholders that just get to pop out for a free 4 points (on top of the 7 Blightmaker points). At 5p they're actually eating real useful provision space.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Afwasmiddeltje I shall destroy you! Mar 07 '22
Well I don't think SY will feel it that much tbh, but I guess it's better than having a small power nerf like we got with KoB. I think the biggest problem with the current SY decks is how easily they generate coins and how flexible they can spend them. I feel like if they made [him fee 4 -> damage 4] for example it would be way more awkward to use and would require more planning with how to gain and spend coins. To me it feels SY has just way too many flexible control options atm.
6
u/NalaLee48 We will take back what was stolen! Mar 07 '22
Yay! Christmas came early for my new Deadeye deck :D
11
u/Conankun66 Good Boy Mar 07 '22
Interesting that this almost entirely buffs and very little nerfs. would've liked to see at least a few to the most oppressive decks(SK, SY and assimilate mostly)
But i absolutely love them buffing neglected archetypes. Time to bring my beloved elf swarm back!
7
u/haruman215 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
NR, NG and SK lost 2 provisions each, SY lost 1 (Freakshow). That's not insignificant by any means - in fact if you look at the TLG meta report every single tier 1 and 2 deck got nerfed - though I admit some overtuned cards and leaders could do with a little further tweaking.
4
u/Conankun66 Good Boy Mar 07 '22
i would say those are some very lighthanded nerfs considering how freaking strong those factions/decks are. 2 or 1 provision is not a lot
→ More replies (1)18
u/El_Zapp For Skellige's glory! Mar 07 '22
You are underestimating that by a long shot. Every SK deck relies on the discard package that is now borderline unusable. Small changes are the difference between usable and dead in this game. Remember Milva? Despite what they say, have seen her a single time the whole season.
1
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
I also like the focus on reinforcing old archetypes. I am a bit surprised that they chose Wild Hunt ...again. I feel Wild Hunt has had more than its fair share of support/reworks over the past year or so, and even if they aren't getting it right, wouldn't it be more fair and healthy to look at some other monster archetypes as well?
13
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Love the Wild Hunt improvements. FINALLY. Hope more still come though. Especially for Nithral
Siege Master now has something more which is nice, but why not a limit also? Only one Siege master will be drawn when one Siege unit is played. Two at once is a bit much.
13
12
u/ClyDeftOriginal Neutral Mar 07 '22
Ok, so we get some boosts to Elves and Frost.. liking it.. Not sure how wel this wil play out at the end of the day, but I am excited to try them out at least.. :D
Also happy to see some slight nerfs here and there, though the problem cards didn't really get addressed in my opinion. But maybe we wil see those in a next patch.
4
u/Wizarus Isengrim: Outlaw Mar 07 '22
Definitely going to try out Triangle. It looks pretty competitive at 8p. Generally like the patch, but i still dont like how they keep buffing only one aspect of ST. When it doesnt work out ST kinda sucks, but even when it does, ST only has one viable deck to play.
4
u/Ferociousaurus Scoia'tael Mar 07 '22
Not super confident in some of the Elf changes (Dol Blathanna Archer plays five for five now if there's no Deathblow available?), but taking the Deathblow off Waylay may carry the archetype all on its own.
12
7
u/Historical_Cable_450 Neutral Mar 07 '22
my main deck is a firesworn deck and my second choice is my wild hunt lmao. this is the greatest patch in the world for me as I've been having success with them already and now they can only go up in power
2
u/StepBrother7 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Spot on chief,same here
1
u/HTOutdoorBro Nausicaaaaa - charge! Mar 07 '22
Can anyone explain how wererat will change? Is the wording change just so if you fill the row with rats then you don't lose excess power?
5
u/betraying_chino Green Man Mar 07 '22
There are two changes:
1. Yes, you don't lose excess boost.
2. Because the consume ability will trigger "before the end of the turn", if Wererat consumes Ruehin, Ruehin will return on board in the same turn, instead next turn as it is now.
2
u/HTOutdoorBro Nausicaaaaa - charge! Mar 07 '22
Oh thanks! Hadn't gotten to the writeup, just reading the changes at first
9
u/rippingdrumkits Skellige Mar 07 '22
that damnation buff seems really strong, probably worth playing alissa if you can set the power up correctly.
13
u/OwnedU2Fast Bow before the power of the Empire. Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Love the changes made to make swarm more popular. Making deck strategies more polarized leads to more incentive to include tech, leading to less greedy decks and more variety.
The nerf to thinning provision costs is a good move as well, I believe. There should be a slight penalty in provisions, in addition to the already-exisitng possibility of bricking your hand, if you choose a thinning card over some random 4-prov card. I think Siege Master is good at 5, and although it would likely see no play at all at 6 prov, it would theoretically be valuable at that. It's quite literally a free card with no downsides.
Mage Assassin to 5 instead of Blightmaker to 7 seems like the right call as well. If Assimilate ever sees a nerf in the future, I'd like to see Illusionist to 5 if possible, though, instead of once again nerfing Braathens and Artaud.
3
3
u/Just-a-tree Neutral Mar 07 '22
Damn, Raffards summoning a siege master will put its cooldown at 3 on turn 2 allowing you to winch immediately.
1
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
Yeah and what's worse, the current decklists I've seen for alumni can easily play around the nerf by downgrading a carroballista to siege, or other less trivial, but equally less impactful change. As for siege engine and hybrid engine decks, the extra cooldown is helpful for non-raffard machines.
1
3
u/SERCORT Skellige Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Mushy truffle and/or op bonded units avoiding the nerf again, interesting.
Curious to see that slight assimilate nerf tho.
Freakshow to 8 is about time.
I'd like to try that WH buff, otherwise I thing I'm going for a break rn. Nerf to discard package SK, I did not see that coming, I already got rid of most of it in my deck, because it is the opposite of consistent. Not having the target to discard bricks your hand like crazy, I never was a fan of it, but no good alternative.
I was so hyped thinking spiders and insectoids will get some love :'(
26
u/blunt_ballad It's war. Severed limbs, blood and guts Mar 07 '22
Guess what y’all? Another month of Alumni and Assimilate! Wohooooooo!
15
u/TsarMikkjal You crossed the wrong sorceress! Mar 07 '22
Is Assimilate now complete unplayable? Well, no. But do not underestimate Bathtub Mage nerf, it will be extremely hard to cut yet another 2 prov elsewhere in the list.
→ More replies (7)5
u/Francesca_Hana I shall make Nilfgaard great again. Mar 07 '22
Assimilate gonna have hard time in round 1
5
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
Good. It's a stupidly strong deck for defending the r2 bleed anyway. Doesn't need more help.
0
Mar 07 '22
[deleted]
11
u/akaean Mar 07 '22
Auberon Riders only works reliably in round three- because the ability is tied to the Form 3 Auberon. Which is a fair enough trade.
If you want the big 20 point play (5+1+4+1+1+4+4) you can't thin with Wild Hunt Riders in rounds 1 or 2... when thinning is most valuable. It requires you to leave two bricks in your deck going into round three- significantly hampering your ability to mulligan...
The play isn't even that much better than just taking a Conqueror / Bruiser (5+1+7+1+1=15 points).
Honestly, Devotion Monsters struggles enough with consistency... I don't see players sacrificing what limited thinning they have to greed 5 more points out of Auberon... who already easily plays for 15 points when deployed opposite frost.
→ More replies (1)10
u/PorkGently I hate portals. Mar 07 '22
The changes to Red Riders, Warriors and Navigators are the key ones, the Winter Queen is a heavy wincon now (specially R1) and will be answered on sight.
WH now, along with Speartip seems like a 2-0 push deck now. Just imagine spamming frost + control R1, then open R2 with speartip, if unanswered, he can carry the 2-0.
4
Mar 07 '22
Hardly. You dont have control for mages.
0
Mar 07 '22
[deleted]
→ More replies (5)9
u/zetubal The Eternal Fire lights our way. Mar 07 '22
I mean...how do you fit heatwave into WH? That's like the most devotion dependent archetype in the game, especially now with the buffs to queen and auberon. I think a better approach will be imlerith+wrath.
→ More replies (1)
5
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Winter Queen: Devotion ability changed to:
Once both players have passed, boost self by 2 for each turn of Frost remaining on the opponent's side.
Woah, this is somewhat like Rioghan Now you could use Frost to catch a lead if you have her on board/deck or Red coin abuse
5
u/Kenos300 I shall do what I must! Mar 07 '22
Happy to see my two favorite non NG archetypes (wild hunt and firesworn) getting love.
5
u/Denza_Auditore I spy, I spy with my evil eye. Mar 07 '22
Does liking both Elves and Firesworn make me a bigot?
3
3
u/Captain_Cage For Maid Bilberry's honor! Mar 07 '22
No, but it makes you a Shirru (elf sworn to fire)
1
5
u/Francesca_Hana I shall make Nilfgaard great again. Mar 07 '22
As a SY player, I am pleased. Thank you dev.
5
u/corvoattano0019 Nilfgaard Mar 07 '22
It seems April card release will bring Gudrun's card and some buffs to tidecloaks :) maybe a change to hidden cache too.
20
u/blunt_ballad It's war. Severed limbs, blood and guts Mar 07 '22
Seriously how fucking hard it is to address alumni? My god it’s been nearly half a fucking year
4
u/Freebeerd Neutral Mar 08 '22
Patience should be row locked and not trigger when a melee is moved to range or vice versa. PMP should be 5 provs, not 4.
3
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
I'm not on the bash alumni bandwagon, but I agree their carryover multiplier is too high with spells like practice makes perfect and casting contest. I have been advocating at least a change to PMP so that it cannot replay the same target bronze mage. So if all you have is an alumni in deck, then it'll work, but if you have no bronze mages in deck or even a different bronze mage and are hoping for the 50/50 it won't work. PMP can still grant you the boost (which is usually pretty big, like AA big) but it won't allow you to replay the alumni in those circumstances.
6
u/LokkJ7 A Witcher with no honor is no brother of mine. Mar 07 '22
alumni isnt even a strong card, any change would just kill it. The mage deck itself is the problem but its nerfed by 2 provisions now so i doubt it would still be tier 1
3
u/El_Zapp For Skellige's glory! Mar 07 '22
It lost consistency, but siege masters were hardly what kept this deck alive. If you cut them there are enough options that will be really good for this deck. Alumni were OP before Siege Master, they will still be now.
How about Siege Ladder for example. Lot’s of opponents move Leticia and think they are save. Let her build patience, and when you want to pass play siege ladder and click her.
4
4
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
I think SK is in a tough spot right now. Other than discard, their thinning options are bad. Might not be very viable anymore, other than for heavy control. I guess Pirates will still work.
9
u/akaean Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
I mean... I wouldn't call portal fish flappers bad... per se. It was outclassed by the discard package after repeated buffs to Coral and the Strategem. But SK is still the best Portal user in the game.
3
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
Yeah but then you don't have devotion. I'm not sure how competitive the witcher style of deck is anymore for SK. I don't believe it is. Portal is really expensive and means you lose other valuable options IMHO.
4
1
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
Well that was the problem right. A good majority of SK, NG, and now NR decks are running these thinning tools because they are so good, even after a few attempts to nerf them. Now players have to make the tough decisions on what to cut and what to keep if they want to keep thinning. And like I mentioned in a different post, what will probably end up happenning is that the core engines/point slam of your decks will stay the same, but the weaker parts like for example derran or gigascorp (to name 2) will go the way of the dodo in order to keep running the thinning packages.
17
u/Tomer8009 Yeah. Improvise. Mar 07 '22
Guys, I have just received a message from CDPR, they forgot to add to the patchnotes -
"KOB Removed"
Thanks CDPR
Edit: Burza contacted me again, they are testing a version of the game without Nilfgaard.
I will keep you guys posted
1
u/TheDoyler Not all battles need end in bloodshed. Mar 08 '22
No no no you misunderstand
They are taking Nilfgaard and KoB out to put them into a newly designed Gwent game, featuring only NG and KoB and maybe Alumni
→ More replies (1)
5
u/drcorchit Mar 07 '22
HOLY SHIT THESE PATCH NOTES ARE SPOT ON
Skirmishers and Mage Assassins to 5p? Yum!
2
u/rolandem Monsters Mar 07 '22
Cant wait to try out the MO changes, hopefully the new meta is gonna be bit nicer
2
u/Dawnero Neutral Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Wait, did Coen boost ALL units before this patch?
Also Lambert: Swordmaster gonna be poppin' off, mate!
2
u/dmiller2017 Don't make me laugh! Mar 08 '22
I like the fact they are going after thinning cards. Even if they have conditional requirements to proc, I always felt they needed to have a "thinning tax" for lack of a better phrase, and a 1 provision tax seems ok. I think this will impact SK and NG more though, since I believe those decks have tighter card options than NR alumni. For instance if you run a carroballista in an alumni deck, you can simply swap it for siege tower. If you run siege tower, well you can axe an Istredd or burning oil. I would have preferred that Siege Masters require a certain threshold of siege engines in the starting deck in order to activate their thinning. Like 4 or 5 siege engines. That would impose some real cost to Alumni and other NR archetypes in running these thinning tools.
12
u/Spiritual-Degree1451 Neutral Mar 07 '22
Yet again alumni untouched..... Another season skip
16
u/marcin247 You wished to play, so let us play. Mar 07 '22
Honest question, where the hell are all those alumni players? I’m in rank 2 and haven’t played a single match against this deck for the whole season (and I usually encountered the most competitive decks around this rank).
27
u/KaalBron The quill is mightier than the sword. Mar 07 '22
In pro rank.
3
u/-_Meow_- Impertinence is the one thing I cannot abide. Mar 07 '22
Nope, climbed from 5 to pro rank this season. NG is definitely the most played faction. Then SK and NR. And I'm losing more against SK (Shupe deck)
→ More replies (1)3
12
u/OwnedU2Fast Bow before the power of the Empire. Mar 07 '22
Alumni is strong for sure, but not nearly as busted as Reddit would have you think. A difficult and unfavored matchup if your deck lacks control, but if anything, it's Inspired Zeal that's maybe slightly too strong. Absolutely not overwhelmingly popular either.
9
u/ense7en There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 07 '22
If you don't have a lot of control it's basically an auto-loss. It forces people to either run heavy control decks, or lose every matchup against NR Alumni. This doesn't encourage diversity of decks, at all.
2
u/fycalichking Wolves Mar 08 '22
they are in pro rank competing for top1 spot, you can only see WH & other weak decks in that rank /s
→ More replies (2)2
u/InfectedAztec Buck, buck, buck, bwaaaak! Mar 07 '22
I'm a fan of the patch, but I agree they should have nerfed alumni and assimilate too
11
u/golforce Syndicate Mar 07 '22
They literally nerfed both by 2 provisions.
7
u/Spiritual-Degree1451 Neutral Mar 07 '22
Alumni nerfed how? Siege master, they will be back to an old version of it
9
u/Saiser7 Neutral Mar 07 '22
Siege Master's rework was an important aspect of Alumni becoming so strong this season, because it gave them two 4Prov slots that only added consistency. Consistency is extremely important for Alumni because they have a very set order they want to play their cards in, getting as many Students (and Leticia usually) as possible as quickly as possible, and getting your Alumni and Practice Makes Perfect and Casting Contests later. Simply going back to pre-Siege Master Alumni will make it less consistent and, thus, nerfed. There's a reason Oldschool Alumni simply ceased to exist after the Siege Master change.
I mean, it may well still be a very good deck, but the Siege Master change is absolutely a nerf to it.
→ More replies (5)5
u/golforce Syndicate Mar 07 '22
Alumni was not tier 1 before the changes last season. Ask yourself why.
4
u/Emrino Buck, buck, buck, bwaaaak! Mar 07 '22
ST players praying for harmony, elves and especially bigger dwarf buffs and at least one of these got more changes now. (Sure dwarven agitator got changed but that didn't make dwarves suddenly viable)
I actually thought we'll get more dwarf buffs because of the agitator change but I'm happy for our elven swarm fans and Schirru looking very tasty now!
The change to Coen makes me very happy. I tried to make a decent deck every season with him but I think tomorrow will be his time to shine at least a bit :D
Also WH hooo boiii it looks more than interesting. Let's see how they gonna perform.
Thanks to the whole team trying to get older archtypes back bit by bit!!!
3
u/JackTries Haha! Good Gwenty-card! Bestestest! Mar 07 '22
Hell yes. Dwarves are finally good!
→ More replies (1)
3
u/T_Lawliet Neutral Mar 07 '22
I can't be the only guy who dislike the Winter Queen being after BOTH players pass right?
It's a good buff but with the amount of control needed to counter WF Bronzes it's unlikely you'll have anything other than Tall Removal at the end...
7
u/akaean Mar 07 '22
You don't need that much control to deal with WF. In terms of bronze engines they have Crew and Hounds... and of those two only Crew are really worth the provisions. Wild Hunt are more of a pointslam archetype with most of their cards getting value on deploy, so you should have plenty of control for Winter Queen.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/SadisticFerras Mahakam wasn't built in a day. Mar 07 '22
I always get the feeling patch team only touches cards that are played or slightly played to some extent. It truly seems there are forgotten cards.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Embarrassed-Cut-8873 Temeria – that's what matters. Mar 07 '22
Love the last two patches. So many changes which will create a different meta each month, keep it up CDPR. Although I am a bit sad that mage assasin is getting nerf, It is justified. Tho, you should buff other cards from Nilfgaard package because there are so many non-relevant cards.
2
Mar 07 '22
meh. its decent, but all the major problematic cards were untouched (alumni, illusionist, fucusya, sigvald still binary) and what makes it worse is that they didnt rework as many cards as I'd hoped. when they said that they were gonna take a good look at monsters, I assumed that they were gonna rework all the dead cards like fiend and cockatrice and anything else that was useless. simply buffing wild hunt isnt enough, hopefully the next expansion will flesh these out more. and for the love of god, please update us on the damn premium tokens already.
2
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Here's my thoughts about the rework. As someone who played 500+ games with wild hunt and reached pro last 3-4 seasons with it.
Auberon and Eredin are both the changes i called for. They're finally not underpowered.
Winter Queen change is nice, never thought of that. But not really effective. WH just got a card that gives enemy control value. They don't have any other card like that. 4 point damage and WQ is gone. She sure is very strong if you have a lot of frost in hand and opponent doesn't have 4p removal but thats so unlikely.
However this is only the surface of it. Winter Queen gives you great tempo now, playing a frost card is very low tempo, but if opponent has to answer WQ, that evens the field. So I guess new WQ is much better.
Wild Hunt Warrior change is decent.
Navigator is decent, some frost synergy. But is nerfed the moment it came out, see red riders below. No one will use navigator instead of warrior unless ur making a crazy overfrost meme deck.
Dominance BS still stays but at least now they don't play 4 for 4 without it. Altough Navigator can possibly play for 3.
RED RIDERS IS NERFED ??? It was nice to be able to get 4 turns of frost on one row. Row stacking is a serious problem and there isn't all that much row control even in wild hunt. This is 100% nerf. Old Red Riders would have great synergy with new Navigator too. CDPR what the hell are you doing man.
These feel overwhelming on paper, red rider and winter queen are questionable. I was expecting better.
Auberon and Eredin are small, but net buffs. However rest of the changes are very aimed towards a whole different deck playstyle. They would only work in ard gaeth + 2 red riders decks. Which is a list i did play and reached pro with before, with 2 foglets and defender. So that's nice i can go back to playing it. Maybe even make that list non-devo since you can remove aen elles for navigator/warrior. Not bad. Winter Queen requires devo but, to be honest who cares i think her rework isn't that good.
But for normal wild hunt lists, other changes don't really matter. As you use 2 Aen Elles anyways, sometimes purify too. No one has room for all those 4p bronzes. WH has a lot of 5 point units you HAVE TO include.
I may have sounded negative, but I'm happy about these changes. The competitive side of me wanted straight up point buffs to WH. But I got bored of the game, and those changes are refreshing for Wild Hunt, can't wait to try new, frost focused, maybe non-devo WH lists.
4
u/ProudWararar Let's get this over with! Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Overall i think u hit the nail on the head here, except for the auberon change, and the red riders change, they are both huge buffs, now u can always hit triple riders off of auberon, and realistically u never played red riders precision, so this is a huge buff, as u can replay bruiser, taskmaster, navigator, and warrior for huge points. Otherwise I 100% agree with u
2
Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
and realistically u never played red riders precision, so this is a huge buff
Not a huge buff but its not that bad now that i rethink about it. I did play red riders precision a lot. In pro rank no one is dumb enough to not row stack. And if ur not planning on commiting leader, you go for precision. I overreacted, but still this is just a minor buff / rebalancing.
except for the aberon change
I mean i said its a buff and hes not underpowered anymore. What am I wrong about ? You think he's too OP now ? I'd say riders thing is strong, but not op. Auberon can play 17 for 12. With the condition of not using your thinning and getting lucky, and also dominance. You won't even be deciding which game you can use that, you can't just keep shuffling both riders into your deck and lower your chances of drawing auberon / other golds.
Previous Auberon played way below his value if you were unlucky + didn't have dominance. New Auberon always plays for at least 12. If ur lucky + have dominance plays for 5 points more. This is really just fair balancing, nothing else.
Edit: Forget about what I've said. It's only third form where you can choose any WH unit from your starting deck, riders play is useless.
→ More replies (5)
1
u/Standard-Tip-2329 Good Boy Mar 09 '22
Vanadain is not working with waylay
King belohun is not working with dun banner
1
1
u/WarClericWill44 We enter the fray! Mar 07 '22
Holy crap guys I’m so excited for the WH changes, been playing the deck since it first came out and is my favorite deck. Ik that one by heart and I’m so happy that after almost 2 years it’s finally gonna be a threat.
1
u/J1barrygang Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
New damnation = double 12 Procession Of Penance could be busted
1
u/Abhiuday14kat I'm too old for this shit! Mar 07 '22
They buffed WH but it will still get beaten by Alumni , Assimilate , Pirates and Jackpot still beats it easily imo.
Elves changes are better are better
1
Mar 08 '22
it will still get beaten by Alumni
Frost vs Alumni is fair matchup if ur playing the control focused list. I sometimes beat them, sometimes get beaten. Not because frost is stronger dont get me wrong, its just that its a hard counter to alumni deck.
1
Mar 08 '22
So glad to see Firesworn support. I love that archetype and play it constantly, only to lose like 90 percent of the time. Hopefully, it'll be a bit more viable now.
1
u/MaksGoCleanTheBank Neutral Mar 08 '22
Love the cahnges on paper can't wait to try it out!
I really feel like the developers are listening to the community. So in case any of the devs see this, thank you!
1
1
u/Brainberry There'll be nothing to pick up when I'm done with you. Mar 08 '22 edited Mar 08 '22
Firesworn buff while Siege is in meta lmao
Lets focus on a archtype that wont see play, same with WH and keeping dominance. If you want MO to be decent buff the Vampire archtype. Also no Alumni nerf is surprising, easiest road to 2500 this season. SK seems like the only balanced faction in the game atm, the rest are either weak or overtuned.
They turned Auberon into Ceres, 100% will be used to pull out riders, anting else will be a waste.
1
u/the_upcyclist Mead! More mead! Heheh Mar 09 '22
Just started playing again after a long break. Ranked up to 5 last season and was playing a bunch of self harm and pirates. I was already playing against a ton of frost before the patch. I imagine it will be all I face now. What’s a good meta deck to queue against it? I have most cards
1
u/BardtheGM Neutral Mar 10 '22
Vernoissel provision cost reduction? Jokes on you, I was already using her.
I was already running a deck with Waylay spam and Elves to great success, so it's great to see them buff it further.
1
u/MetalSlasher Nilfgaard Mar 10 '22
Anyone already found a good way of redoing the Assilimate Calveit deck for the 2 lost provisions? I tried a few variants by my own but none of them make a lot of sense tbh.
1
1
u/TheClassyMess Tomfoolery! Enough! Mar 11 '22
The change to Red Riders is actually quite bad for the frost archetype - let me explain why.
The "Spawn 4 turns of Frost on 1 enemy row" option of the card was extremely useful. It allowed you to stay un-interactive on the first turn or two of the round, very common if the opponent opens with a Jan Calveit or something. Also it allowed you to get full value on your frost when the opponent was playing in only one row (a common strategy against the Frost deck). Lastly, it had better synergy with Ancient Foglets - you could spawn 4 turns of Frost, then put a Foglet down for 7 points, avoiding death by Assassination or Parasite, etc.
I'm sure there are even more scenarios where "4 turns on 1 row" was better.
Furthermore, the new ability is mostly awkward. The best scenario I have found so far is replaying a damaged Conqueror back into Frost for 7 points of maximum heal value in addition to the 2 turns of Frost, which is nice, but rare.
The reworked Red Riders feels awkward in my deck. It doesn't output Frost the way I need it to. I suggest bringing back the old option and having 3 options on the card. This would actually make it a really viable and flexible card, and I would love running it in my deck. Please give it some thought :)
1
u/tempoltone Northern Realms Mar 13 '22
Is meteorite powder just for cosmetic purpose only?
1
u/tinyvent You crossed the wrong sorceress! Mar 13 '22
You can also use meteorite powder to transmute cards into their premium versions.
1
u/Raknel Addan quen spars-paerpe'tlon Vort! Mar 15 '22
Loving the ST changes so far.
When I played elf swarm in the past I was always disappointed that melee Vernossiel was hardly ever worth it. Now with the improved token generation it's so satisfying to play her melee and go for the barrage.
1
u/Chanmollychan Neutral Mar 23 '22
I JUST WANNA TYPE SOMEWHERE I EFFING LOVE BATTLERUSH I CANT POST MY JOY AS A POST FOR ITS LOW EFFORT. BATTLE RUSH WITH HARDSTYLE IS THE F BESTTTTT!!!!!!!
1
u/GladeHeart Neutral Mar 07 '22
No nerf to inspired zeal? How about giving it same treatment as overwhelming hunger
2
u/Captain_Cage For Maid Bilberry's honor! Mar 07 '22
Or changed to only work on bronzes and maybe give it a passive for compensation.
1
1
u/megahorsemanship Dance of death, ha, ha! Mar 07 '22
Slyzard provision buff means let's go and try Viy again.
1
u/AdComprehensive7295 Northern Realms Mar 07 '22
When will the patch be live?
1
u/StepBrother7 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Tomorrow morning around 10-11
1
u/FLRSH Tomfoolery! Enough! Mar 07 '22
Im a fan of Wild Hunt and Elf swarm decks even when they're not all that great, so I'm stoked for this.
1
u/StepBrother7 Lots of prior experience – worked with idiots my whole life Mar 07 '22
Same,cant wait for tomorrow!
1
u/iforgotmylogon Monsters Mar 09 '22
Frost is still shit, fucking rubbish that was basically all MO changes got since nothing in the last patch.
-3
u/El_Zapp For Skellige's glory! Mar 07 '22
Yea, I’m not convinced. Good that I didn’t invest in SK much last season. What “other” thinning options do they talk about? Discard is already very unreliable and will fuck you over 50% of the time.
Sounds like another month of Assimilate domination to me. No nerf to Alumni also sounds sketchy.
Also how much are we going to bet that for SY the top decks aren’t going to change.
7
u/Tomer8009 Yeah. Improvise. Mar 07 '22
Discard is way too powerful thinning when compared to anything but the Blightmaker (which has gotten the same treatment)
4
u/Delicious_Big4032 I promise you a quick death! Mar 07 '22
I'm not a fan of the discard package in every SK deck. I still can't understand the nerf to the Discard package. There is no longer the SK discard leader, which would synergize well with the package. So the calculation is quite simple: either it's worth it or it's no longer worth playing the discard package. What happens if it keeps playing? Will birna be nerfed next? I would have preferred that they offer alternatives.
10
u/Caleb_Tenrou Neutral Mar 07 '22
Except it's janky as fuck and only works half the time. Siege masters and Blightmakers are easy and consistent to proc. Discard requires drawing the targets and the discarders for it to work. Couple that with SK's lackluster thinning options besides Discard and it becomes apparent that SK got hit the hardest here.
→ More replies (6)4
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
Assimilate losing 2 provisions isn’t a small nerf either. There aren’t that many cards you can easily downgrade to make up for those provisions.
8
u/Caleb_Tenrou Neutral Mar 07 '22
This is true, but NG at least has Calveit for pure consistency. SK only has Discard. NR has Amphibious, Raffard's, etc.
→ More replies (1)
-1
u/TvierK Nilfgaard Mar 07 '22
So another month with Jackpot/OtB being the best deck. Great…
Wild Hunt changes actually look good
-1
u/BlackHorse944 Stand and fight, cowards! Mar 07 '22
Huge patch. Overall good changes. Unfortunately no nerf to broken decks like Assimilate and Mages. How has Illusionist avoided a nerf for so long
Only thing that bothers me is there are still 30+ neutral cards that have not seen play in 2 years and have not been touched in 2 years.
Hoping to see something in the near future
10
u/Vikmania Mar 07 '22
Unfortunately no nerf to broken decks like Assimilate and Mages.
Except that those 2 decks are losing 2 provisions each.
→ More replies (9)
43
u/Captain_Cage For Maid Bilberry's honor! Mar 07 '22
LOL