After the superb response to my first GWENT Deck Guide, it’s time to follow it up with a sophomore entry! The first guide – for my “Nilfgaard’s Choice” deck – was an experiment to see if the in-depth, detailed format would work. Seeing as it’s comfortably been my most-viewed post this year, and I’ve had really positive comments about it, I’m going to say it did – and I’m more than happy to follow it up with another entry!
If this is your first time reading about my experience with GWENT: The Witcher Card Game, then to sum it up briefly: I adore its strategic nature and the world it’s set in, and not only has my play time extended well into the hundreds of hours, but it’s responsible for kickstarting my love for The Witcher as a whole, of which I’ve now read the books, caught up on the TV show, and am working my way through the video games. With the amount of time I’ve put into the game, I thought it’d be fun to write some deck guides that explained not only the card choices, but also the specifics of how I play the deck in-game.
As aforementioned, my first run at this was with my “Create”-based “Nilfgaard’s Choice” deck. For my second deck guide, I was originally going to talk about my signature “Archers Unite” deck that got me to Pro Rank – but that’s going to have to wait for now! That’s because I recently started playing with a new deck concept that’s anti-meta in nature, and handy for countering the plethora of new deck types popping up nowadays. Based around not just a specific Status effect, but instead the whole Status system itself, the “What’s Your Status” deck looks to keep the opponent in check whilst also boosting your own field at the same time. It’s another Nilfgaard deck, yes, I know – but as I say, it felt like an apt time to talk about it, as there’s been a lot of power creep in GWENT recently, and an anti-meta deck might be just the tonic you need to combat that. I’ll keep that Scoia’tael deck for next time!
This deck actually looked quite different until recently, when GWENT made changes to many existing cards. Because of this, I had to restructure the deck significantly, but the main concept remains the same (Steffan Skellen and Cadaverine were two key cards I had to remove, though). It wasn’t ideal that it happened halfway through making this article, as I had to revise quite a bit of it… Ah well. We’re here now, so let’s get into this deck guide!
What’s Your Status
Faction: Nilfgaard
Scraps Cost: 7,100
Card Count: 25 (21 Units/4 Specials)
Gold/Bronze Count: 10G/15B
Provisions Spent: 165/165 (Highest: 14)
GWENT Website Link: Click Here
Short Description: A great counter deck for going up against the meta. The use of status effects and cards that exploit them keeps the opponent in check and quickly racks up your own score!
Why’d You Make the Deck?
The card that sparked this idea was “Thirsty Dame”, which gets a +1 boost whenever an enemy unit receives a status. This is quite a broad requirement, and if you can find a way to get several “Thirsty Dame” cards on your side of the field, then there’s the potential for big boosts when you play other cards that apply status effects. The synergy and field presence is exciting if you do it correctly. As “Thirsty Dame” is in the Nilfgaard faction, which has many ways to employ Spying, Poison, and Locking effects, I decided to create a deck based around those in particular.
Spying is the key one here, with cards such as the “Emhyr var Emreis”, “Fergus var Emreis”, and “Usurper Officer” spreading Spying across the opponent field whilst also boosting the likes of “Thirsty Dame” and “Seditious Aristocrats”. “Vincent Van Moorlehem” and “Philippe Van Moorlehem” can then take advantage of status effects on opponent cards to efficiently neutralise and remove them, which is extremely handy against opponent cards that threaten to get out of hand.
The Poison effect of “Philippe van Moorlehem” is part of this, and other Poison effects within “Masquerade Ball” and “Van Moorlehem’s Cupbearer” compliment it. Originally, Poison was an even bigger part of this deck, with “Stefan Skellen” and “Cadaverine” forming a potent combo. As I have touched upon in the intro section, these had to be removed when the cards were changed, but I thought I’d just mention it briefly here; their removal led to the introduction of “Usurper Officer” and “Van Moorlehem Cupbearer”, which fit into the deck concept well.
The GWENT metagame has been quite a rollercoaster recently, with a lot of power creep. Decks built around specific cards or combos have been commonplace (e.g. “Renfri”, or the sigh-causing “Sihil”). Because of this, the anti-meta nature of my “What’s Your Status” deck has been useful, as it’s inherently built to counter the way the opponent is building their field, making it hard for them whilst seeing your own field boost at the same time. You definitely need to think carefully about which key cards you play when, especially against opponents who play fewer units and rely on special cards – but the solution is usually in here somewhere, which enables you to go into every game with confidence.
Leader Ability
As always, this GWENT deck is supplemented by a choice of Leader Abilities from the relevant faction. From the Nilfgaard selection, “Imposter” is the best fit for this deck.
Not only is the ability to Lock an opposing unit useful in general, but it fits into the theme of this deck of applying status effects, and can activate the boosting effects of cards such as “Thirsty Dame”. Being able to spawn your own version of that card on your side of the field can synergise with other cards in this deck (e.g. “Artaud Terranova” and “Coup de Grace”) to quickly overwhelm your opponent with cards they originally played themselves! The added bonus is that with the amount of status effects you will be looking to apply to the opponent rows, the boost to your version of the card may be considerable!
Sometimes the opponent can supply you with the victory condition, if you duplicate the right card. A good example is the card “Snowdrop” which allows you to draw two cards, and boosts by 2 every time you draw a card. If you lock their “Snowdrop”, and then make further versions through the “Artaud Terranova” and “Coup de Grace” cards I mentioned, you can multiply the amount of +2 bonuses to almost ridiculous effect. This is just one scenario – you can have a lot of fun by locking and duplicating different cards played by the opponent. Look out for the “Thrive” cards that the Monster faction plays, as they are often ideal targets too!
If I had one warning about this, it’s to make sure you keep an eye on the original power number of the card you choose, as that’s the version spawned on your side. If the opponent boosts a card, it can be tempting to duplicate it with the thinking you’ll get that same value on your field – but that can trip you up if the original value was low before boosting. Don’t fall into this slightly embarrassing trap that I’ve definitely not done myself… Yeah, this is all hypothetical. Definitely…
Stratagem
Next up is the “Stratagem” card, which spawns for the player who goes first, balancing the disadvantage of going before your opponent – and it’s often important in the first skirmishes. For this important decision, I’ve chosen the Nilfgaard option “Collar”.
This choice is quite straightforward, as having an extra way of applying Lock to the opponent fits into the status-driven nature of this deck. The Lock triggers the effect of “Thirsty Dame”, and it can stop early-game strategies of the opponent. Additionally, “Collar” is an early-game method of getting the boost effect of “Master of Disguise” going, which can quickly grow to a large value!
Do be aware that as “Collar” will be visible to your opponent, they may play cards early as a decoy to make you lock those, so they can safely play more powerful cards after. Therefore, it might not be the right decision to immediately lock the first unit your opponent plays, depending on the situation. All in all though, “Collar” is versatile and fits into the theme of this deck!
Card by Card
Next up, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of the 25 cards that make up the deck. We’re going to go through every card in order of provision cost, high to low. Along the way, I will give a quick description of the purpose each card plays in the deck! Thanks to The Voice of Gwent once again for their card generator, which I used to make the images below.
To start off, we have this powerful Scenario card. Spawning a “Thirsty Dame” is an obvious win considering the idea of this deck, and the two “Fangs of the Empire” give you access to two doses of Poison. Combined, that’s the potential to remove a unit from the opposing side, and the Poison status gets “Thirsty Dame” boosting too! This strategy happening over multiple turns can give a window for the opponent to counter it, but one way around this is to play “Emhyr var Emreis” (the next card below), which allows you to play two Aristocrats in one turn – and therefore trigger “Masquerade Ball” twice. “Masquerade Ball” can be very helpful to get a strong start to the game and counter decks that look to overpower you, like the recent “Tibor Eggebracht” trend. With the amount of Gold Cards in this deck, don’t be too hesitant to play “Masquerade Ball”, as otherwise you might end up being forced to use it at a less effective moment. It’s best to be in complete control of when it’s played!
“Emhyr var Emreis” also had a big change recently, but it isn’t one that means it’s removed from the deck; instead, the card just plays a different role. The -3 in power level and +3 in Provisions hasn’t been great, but the trade-off is that the card now allows you to play another bronze card at the same time as drawing a card, which means you’re effectively playing two cards at once. This is a good way to establish field presence with a complimentary card that gains boosts from the Spying status that “Emhyr” forces onto the opponent Units – for example, “Seditious Aristocrats”. As aforementioned, the double-play can set off two stages of “Masquerade Ball” for a devastating combo, too! “Emhyr” is one of the most reliable ways of applying the Spying status for other cards in this deck to exploit, so you don’t want to make him too much of an easy target; that recent reduction in power has made it easier to remove “Emhyr”. It is very tempting to play “Emhyr” immediately to get two units on your side, but it’s often better to wait until the opponent has used up some of their removal cards. The Devotion ability is applicable within this deck, but is quite situational. That is to say, it isn’t key to this deck, but stealing a 1-power enemy unit now and then is a nice bonus! Overall, modern-meta “Emhyr” is a glass cannon of status effects.
Another 13-provision card here, and it’s a power play! “Artaud Terranova” is a card you’ll want to save for late-game, once you’ve applied Spying to at least one powerful enemy unit. Being able to play a copy of any enemy unit that’s had Spying applied (at any point!) is a very strong and unpredictable ability for the opponent to go up against, as they won’t know your plot until you play “Artaud”. There are so many ways this can help you in-game, so my key advice here is just to have a plan. Don’t play “Artaud” randomly and realise you haven’t got many great options available; keep your Spying status effects in mind throughout the game, knowing you’ll be playing one of those cards later on. The Assimilate attribute boosts “Artaud” whenever a card not in your starting deck is played, as well, meaning an immediate +1. Cards such as “Masquerade Ball” and “Coup de Grace” activate this, too! “Artaud” is a powerful card, then – however, I would like him to let go of Ciri in that art… !
When I had to remove “Stefan Skellen” and “Cadaverine”, I knew I was losing crucial cards often key to victory, and subsequently had a high-provision hole to fill. After some thinking, I settled on “Usurper Officer”, a card which evolves into “Usurper General” and “Usurper Emperor”. Through this evolution, the card gains Zeal, the ability to spawn an “Operative” on both enemy rows, and finally a boosting quality whenever an enemy unit gains Spying. Because of this, you ideally need to keep “Usuper Officer” held back until Round 3, when it’s most powerful as “Emperor”. This card is a high-value play by itself; you get a high-power card and two 3-power supplementary “Operatives” to take back to your side. If you can wait until you have a field of cards such as “Thirsty Dame” and “Magonel”, though, the Spying status of the two “Operatives” you force on your opponent will have a whole host of extra effects beneficial to you. The Spying boosts of “Emperor” are welcome too, if you can play a card such as “Fergus var Emreis” afterwards!
Another key component of the Spying element of this deck is “Coup de Grace”, which duplicates any unit it hits as long as they are destroyed and/or have the Spying status. Along with “Artaud Terranova” and the “Imposter” Leader Ability, this deck can quickly spawn several copies of opponent cards to create overwhelming strategies – another prime candidate for this is Northern Realms decks with “King Foltest”, who boosts a unit alongside him turn. Get a few of those on your side and the boosts quickly get out of control! There’s a lot of uses for “Coup de Grace”, so have fun experimenting. Just be careful not to back yourself into a corner where it’s one of your last cards and the opponent has no suitable targets; otherwise the 3 damage can look quite embarrassing. As with “Masquerade Ball”, don’t hesitate too long if you see a good opportunity to play “Coup de Grace”.
A brutal and efficient killing machine. This card picks any enemy card with a status and wipes them out, clean and simple. Against this deck, the opponent will do well to have any of their units be clean of status effects, so “Vincent” will usually be able to take out any dangerous threats; and there’s usually a way to apply a status to a particular card if not, too. “Vincent” is especially crucial for removing units with the Veil effect; Veil prevents other status effects being added, which is a huge defence against this deck, but as Veil itself counts as a status, “Vincent” can wipe that smug smirk off their faces. Against decks which like to boost an individual unit, particularly the Scoia’tael or Monster factions, “Vincent” can keep them in check. The big choice is when to play “Vincent”, as if you go too early, you leave yourself vulnerable to any secondary Veil-using threats. This comes from experience, but usually, you’ll at least want to wait to Round 2 or 3 to use “Vincent” and his unrelenting destruction. Have fun…
Here comes one of the most lethal cards of the deck! “Philippe” and his crossbow are ready to dissect opponent fields at will, unless they have a way to remove him quickly. With the Zeal that many other vampires in this deck can facilitate, “Philippe” can immediately start applying Status effects to the opponent, with Locking and Poison being the most potent. Similar to “Emhyr var Emreis”, the key weakness here is that the opponent will immediately be looking to stop “Philippe”, and that 6 power level and lack of Veil makes him very open to Lock or removal. So, you need to balance out how long you wait with the impact “Philippe” can have, as every extra turn is another Status effect to apply. Roughly halfway through Round 3 onwards tends to be the sweet spot of that balance. Protect “Philippe” successfully, and the opponent may well be running from that crossbow – unsuccessfully. Mwahahaha… ahem.
There are some things every deck needs, and removal is one of those. “Treason” is a potential game-changer in that sense, and the Spying effect it applies is an extra bonus which combines well with other cards in the deck. Of course, the way “Treason” applies damage fluctuates, and requires a keen eye on the opponent field to see how power levels are developing, and when is the opportune moment to strike. For example, the Monster faction likes to scare you with high-power cards, and that can give you a lot of ideal cannon fodder. So my main tip here is to pay attention to the way the opponent is building their field – do that, and you might wreck the opposing side because of the way they placed their own cards!
I’ve mentioned how I reconstructed this deck recently, but it wasn’t until I replaced “Cadaverine” with “Van Moorlehem’s Cupbearer” that it all came together again. This keeps the Poison option, but also gives the valuable option of Purify instead (ideal against Veil or Defender units), as well as the substantial, er, substance of a 5-power unit that can boost through Assimilate. It reduces the threat of being left with too many non-unit cards in your hand, and the Poison/Purify toolbox is extremely useful. Additionally, this is another Van Moorlehem unit, which is satisfying in terms of deck coherence!
Many cards in this deck work around opponent cards that have had Spying applied – but for that to work, we need to apply Spying in the first place! “Fergus var Emreis” is one of the most efficient distributors of this, with the activated Devotion allowing you to spread not one, not two, but three Spying status effects at once! Also, this applies 3 separate boosts to cards such as “Thirsty Dame” on your side of the field; if you have multiple cards that boost, then your score flies up quickly. The power value of 7 is strong as well, and the Aristocrat attribute activates “Masquerade Ball”. All in all, “Fergus” is a key element of this deck – just don’t let the triple Spying status make you overconfident. You need to apply them to cards you would like to target later, so don’t do it without thought!
I mentioned the need for removal when talking about “Treason” – and “Coated Weapons” is here for a similar, albeit simplified, reason. It delivers 5 damage to an enemy unit, for those times when you just need to remove a unit with little fuss. The Deathblow effect is something to think about, as it can work both for and against you. If the enemy unit isn’t particularly strong, then placing it on top of the enemy deck can give them a draw they don’t need, which is great for you! However, if you take out a unit with an amazing effect, they’ll get to play it again. So avoid that if possible!
“Mag Torturer” was in this deck for a long time, but similar to “Van Moorlehem’s Cupbearer”, I realised I needed some Purify abilities in the deck to get me out of certain situations. Therefore, I added in “Imperial Diviner” instead to fill that role, with the Assimilate boosts being a nice bonus. Also the art is very pretty, especially on the Premium animated version!
Well, I’ve mentioned “Thirsty Dame” enough times haven’t I? So here we are. Having two copies of this card gives you double the chance to get them successfully boosting from every status you apply to the opponent units. With “Masquerade Ball” too, that’s the potential for three “Thirsty Dame” cards on your field! Though often the opponent will realise your strategy and take out at least one…
In a way, “Seditious Aristocrats” is a less versatile version of “Thirsty Dame”, but as you can only have 2 copies of “Thirsty Dame”… Here’s yet another card that can quickly boost out of control! Existing Spying effects boost “Aristocrats”, and any future Spying status effects do too. Ideal!
OK, so we’ve had a couple cards that boost from Spying (and other status) effects. Now it’s time for “Mangonel”, which instead uses the Spying status to damage the enemy field. The effectiveness of this is subject to the layout of their field (similar to “Treason”), but if you can get the right support network around one or two “Mangonel” units, then every card the opponent plays can come with a damaging cost! “Mangonel” is set-up dependant though, so can easily become an ineffective 4-power unit. So, it’s often one I trade out at the start of each round to attempt to get a better card.
Situational, but also an ideal low-cost play early in the game, which can quickly boost to a power the opponent didn’t expect. Of course, “Master of Disguise” needs a Lock to support it. The card combos well with “Collar”, the “Stratagem” of the deck that gives you sure-fire access to a Lock status. If I am going second and do not have that “Stratagem” available, then “Master of Disguise” is another card I often trade out in my hand selection at the beginning of a turn.
Another “Van Moorlehem” card here! This low-provision card is a bit of filler for the deck, but it does have uses! The ability to copy effects such as Lock and Spying around can pay off for your other cards down the line. Also with the amount of status effects that can appear on one enemy unit due to this deck, the boost can be quite significant. Again, though, this is a prime candidate for a trade-out in your start-of-round hand.
“Thanedd Turncoat” is a very helpful card early-game, with the ability to set up a Spying status without spending a high-provision card such as the two “var Emreis” units. This is a cheap way to activate the effects of other bronze cards and get a good set-up in Round 1 whilst saving your high-provision cards for later on. The potential for a bit of damage every turn is very useful too, and often makes the opponent commit removal to “Thanedd Turncoat” – not realising they need to save that for the likes of “Philippe van Moorlehem” and “Emhyr var Emreis”…
I only recently switched in two copies of “Illusionist” to the deck, but I’m glad I did! We’ve already talked about how the likes of “Artaud Terranova” and “Coup de Grace” can duplicate cards; well, thanks to “Illusionist”, you can also bring back bronze cards from the enemy Graveyard! Before they know it, your opponent could be facing down quite a few of their own cards. If you can get both “Illusionist” units onto the field together, then the unit you spawn isn’t even reduced in power. “Illusionist” is best for prolonging early rounds with the impression of field presence, especially if you’re attempting to bait the opponent into spending their valuable cards too early. Don’t get tricked into keeping two “Illusionist” units for the endgame, though, as there are better options in this deck.
Finally, we come to another versatile unit in the form of – oh look! Another Van Moorlehem card! The Lock ability is the main one you’ll be using here, but don’t completely discount the Bleeding; this is yet another status effect you can apply to the enemy, and even copy around with “Van Moorlehem Servant”! Two useful things about “Van Moorlehem Hunter” are the attributes of Vampire (to activate the Zeal on “Philippe Van Moorlehem”) and Aristocrat (to activate “Masquerade Ball” and be playable through “Emhyr var Emreis”). The crossbow might not be as threatening as that of “Philippe Van Moorlehem”, but it isn’t to be underestimated!
Other Considerations
One of my big decisions for this deck was whether to have any Neutral cards, but I decided to lean into the Nilfgaard faction and retain the Devotion effects of “Emhy var Emreis” and “Fergus var Emreis”, as the triple-Spying qualities of “Fergus” are so effective. You could potentially mix in Neutral cards for a hybrid edition of this deck, however! I’d actually really like to hear ideas for this. Here’s a few cards that might work: “Eltibald” could allow you to work the “Infused” status into your box of tricks; “Gaunter O’Dinn” could combo well with “Philippe Van Moorlehem” for some Doomed-related destruction; and “Maraal” has double-poison capabilities which would fit in well.
Furthermore, I haven’t included “Oneiromancy” here. This is because of a similar reason to my “Nilfgaard’s Choice” deck, in that I need too many other high-provision cards for the win conditions to be reliable, and that leaves little room for “Oneiromancy”. This does mean more risk of not drawing every powerful card in each game, and this issue has cropped up for me – so if you think it’s better to take out a card such as “Usurper Officer” for “Oneiromancy”, that might work for you. My way around not having “Oneiromancy in the deck is to play with the long game in mind – stretch out rounds as much as you can, as this also stretches out the removal capabilities of the opponent, and leaves bigger gaps in their armour for the likes of “Philippe Van Moorlehem” to target later. At the same time, you’re giving yourself more chances to get to every high-provision card in your deck – not to mention it allows “Usurper Officer” to fully transform into “Usurper Emperor”.
Strengths
At the risk of repeating myself, the strengths of this deck are how well it can counter the ambitious strategies of other decks, including whatever the meta has to offer. A deck wants to boost a particular unit to a high power? We’ll remove it with “Vincent Van Moorlehem”. They’re looking to get a large field presence that has widespread boosting? We’ll lock them and even take the boosting units for ourselves with the likes of “Coup de Grace”. Perhaps they think they can hide behind a Defender or Veil unit; well, we’ve got Purify for that. For me, the important thing behind a deck is that it always has the options for victory, as long as you play it correctly – and this certainly has that.
Also, I think a strength of the deck is how it suckers the opponent into thinking they’re safer than they are. Often I start off by setting up a bunch of the bronze units to work together, and whether it works or doesn’t work, it makes the opponent use up their removal, and gets them accustomed to weaker cards. Of course, I can’t actually see the opponent on the other side of the online match, but I often get the impression that when I start dropping cards like “Usurper Officer” and “Philippe Van Moorlehem” in quick succession later on, they’re caught off guard and scrambling to find a way to stop me. I’ve had a lot of victories where the opponent has forfeited early, I suppose because they think they can’t counter the continued barrage from the likes of “Philippe Van Moorlehem”.
Weaknesses
I’ve touched upon it vaguely already, but playing your high-provision cards too early can really scupper this deck. For example, I’ve been drawn into playing “Vincent Van Moorlehem” to win an early round, leaving me unable to counter another dangerous card later on that I needed to save “Vincent” for. Also, if you play the likes of “Emhyr var Emreis” or “Philippe Van Moorlehem” too early, the opponent will likely have ways to stop them quickly, and then you’ve lost important cards before they get up and running. As with most things, it takes experience to fully hone your sense of timing, but hopefully I’ve given a rough idea of which cards to play when (also see the example video later on in this post).
Furthermore, decks with less units in them are naturally tough for this deck, as you need units to target with status effects. However, those sorts of decks are quite rare nowadays, with Scoia’tael trap decks becoming particularly less common recently. If you do encounter a deck with few units, then be smart about saving your high-provision cards and not being trapped with only special cards. “Sihil” decks are of a tangential quality, but do still leave units to target. However “Sihil” brings a lot of removal with it, which is perilous for this deck – this is one of the few times I would recommend to rush the opponent and even keep the game to two rounds if you can. Another time to do this is against the recent trend of “Tibor Eggebracht” decks, when you need a strong platform of units that can’t be beaten down by their damage effects.
Playing Different Factions
This deck can apply a variety of status effects, and some work best against certain factions. The Spying and duplicating strategies are most reliably effective against the boost-happy Monster, Northern Realm, Skellige, and Nilfgaard, whilst you’ll want to focus on Poison to remove threats from Monsters (again) and Syndicate. Meanwhile, Scoia’tael can be tough with their plethora of low-power units, but here Lock status effects can slow them down significantly. All these status effects are effective in some form against every faction, but this is just a guide on which to give particular mind to in each case.
Additionally, other Nilfgaard decks can be tricky battles of similar strategies, but I often find I can come out on top as long as I don’t use up all my duplication cards before they do. It’s a game of patience, in that sense! Speaking of; half the fun of this deck is stumbling across different opponent cards to apply one of your selection of status effects to and/or duplicate. The most satisfying tend to be those who boost themselves, so I recommend testing that out. As I say, copying “Snowdrop” is so effective it almost makes me feel mean… Almost.
Match Approach
A general playstyle I’ve talked a lot about so far is building a field of bronze card units that work well together early on, through the likes of “Thirsty Dame” and “Mangonel”, and activating their passive effects with, say, “Thanedd Turncoat”. This remains a strong way to play this deck, but recently I’ve also developed a second playstyle related to the “Masquerade Ball” card.
If I draw “Masquerade Ball” immediately, I occasionally play it first, and rush the opponent with many bronze cards through it. This can quickly fill your field with cards like “Thirsty Dame” as well as Poison-users of “Fangs of the Empire”, overwhelming the opponent into passing.
My key tip here is, if you play “Masquerade Ball” in round 1, attempt to keep to bronze cards until rounds 2 and 3. That way, you can stretch the game out and reduce the chance of not missing one of your high-provision cards (I talked about this in the “Other Considerations” section, too), as well as being more confident about a round 1 victory. The opponent may be happy to pass, thinking that without “Masquerade Ball” you’ve lost your key win condition. Really, it’s just one of many.
I attempted a similar approach with playing “Emhyr var Emreis” and the accompanying bronze unit immediately, but it didn’t work, as it’s early enough that the opponent usually has options to remove “Emhyr” at a relatively low cost, and before “Emhyr” could apply many Spying status effects. He’s one to save for slightly later in the game.
Summary & Example Match
After all that, maybe you’d like a visual demonstration of how this deck can succeed in-game? If so, then feast your eyes on the following video, which demonstrates me going up against a deck from the Skellige faction.
Within the video, you’ll see how key having Purify readily available is to stop a “Ciri: Nova” with Resilience, which otherwise would’ve made Round 2 much tougher for me to navigate. It’s quite a close game, which is good for showing how to adapt to various game scenarios. As well as this, the match is a good example of saving my powerful cards for the later stages.
Hopefully this video (and, indeed, overall deck guide!) was useful to further understand the way the deck works, after my many words about it! I’m still considering narrated videos for the future, too, so let me know if that’s something you’d like to see.
Well, then, that’s another GWENT Deck Guide done; thanks for reading! I know they’re long, but hopefully the detailed nature of them is of value. If I continue to get positive reactions to this series then I’ll continue to make them; they’re quite a lot of work, but they’re enjoyable to do, especially if they’re helping people out!
Next up would probably (finally) be my “Archers Unite” deck that I keep talking about. If you have any thoughts about decks you’d like to see, or perhaps changes to the guides themselves you’d find useful, then you can leave me a comment below!
Have an amazing day!
WCRobinson 