Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG

ESC Card Gaming is happy to present our new Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG!

With January the competitive season of Gwent starts again with a patch that introduced only one big change in the Meta, the Witcher Madoc, the bomb expert.
Compared to December, the Ladder landscape has however undergone several changes, despite the few innovations in the game.
Several high-performance deck engines from last season lost ground, to the benefit of faster and more aggressive decks.

Tier 1 is occupied by only one deck: Northern Realms Witcher Swarm.
The strength of the deck lies in its ability to produce points quickly, attacking opponents with a series of very quick Tempo plays.

In Tier 2 we find a whole series of decks much used in this first part of the Season, useful for entering the pro ladder or for those who want to compete in pro rank. We find Lippy Gudmund, Viy, Keltullis, already known decks; the new entry is the No Unit Scoia’tael with Madoc, an oppressive Red Coin deck. Control decks like this have significantly reduced the number of Precision Movement in the ladder.
Nilfgaard also loses positions, Lockdown due to the decrease number of Viy and engine decks; Assimilate due to the few Mirrors matches.

Finally, Syndicate is back! We decided to put Congregate and Hidden Cache in Tier 3, as they perform fairly well in various match-ups currently in meta, even if the faction continues to have bad ones.

Team ESC selected for this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG the decks based on the statistical data collected within the players.
This work is the result of an analysis performed on the basis of these data; based on them we have selected the decks with a higher percentage of attendance and win rate.

TIER 1

Witcher Swarm

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/86167ff2a7544fcc668e8ace2828e706

AUTHOR

Yami8

INTRODUCTION

Witcher Swarm climbed the tier ranking, becoming the only Tier 1.
The deck produces a huge amount of points and has few negative match-ups.
The deck has changed very little since last season, although the meta is definitely different, a deck that is so aggressive and fast in its plays definitely takes the first place in our Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG.

STRENGTHS

A very strong push thanks to cards like Keldar and Vesemir: Mentor plus the carry over that Erland of Larvik gives us, which we should always use in round 1.
A very strong short round 3, in which you will ideally arrive with the Witcher Trio and the Leader’s ability, this will make us score a huge amount of points that can even rival Lippy‘s short round.
The deck is very solid thanks to the many Tutors.

WEAKNESSES

Weak against Yrden.
Many cards have Adrenaline to 4 or less making the fourth or fifth round a very difficult part of the game.
Few control tools except for Geralt of Rivia and Boiling Oil.
The lack of Erland and its tutors to be able to draw him in round 1 can be compromising for the match.

TACTICAL CHOICES

Remove Geralt of Rivia and Boiling Oil to insert Geralt: Yrden and a second copy of the Radovid’s Royal Guards.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

TIER 2

Lippy

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/55070f23d1fb98315f7bb168e74c7398

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

Lippy is one of the most played decks in the Ladder and is one of the most strong decks in this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG.
The deck is capable of producing points very quickly, with a series of effective tempo plays.
On Red Coin is often oppressive, since Lippy‘s advantage is the possibility of being able to spend a lot in the early rounds.

STRENGTHS

This deck is capable of abusing the Red Coin; since it can spend a lot of resources to win the first round and then pilot the game.
Cerys an Craite is a card capable of producing many incontestable points, on short rounds it still remains one of the strongest plays in the game.
The deck can thin a lot, mostly thanks to its solid Discard package. It’s really difficult to miss something.
The use of two tall removals, such as Korathi Heatwave and Curse of Corruption, can be decisive in difficult match-ups, Viy and Witcher Swarm as examples.

WEAKNESSES

It often risks to brick, even playing Snowdrop, which helps to fix the hand; the danger of having some poor playable hands, always exist.
This deck does not enjoy a very strong long round, especially against some decks in meta which use different engines. Losing round 1 can decide some match-ups.
It can suffer the match-up against Lockdown, losing the Leader is a heavy malus for a deck like Lippy.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can insert Snowdrop, to improve your draws, removing one between Totem and Curse of Corruption. It depends on what is in the meta and on your needs.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Keltullis

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/7f4634a9a5f881b3d7dd342e76480827

AUTHOR

Quigon96

INTRODUCTION

Keltullis offers an excellent response to this mutable meta, thanks to the deck’s ability of adapting itself to various situations.
This archetype is not easy to master, because it requires a great knowledge of the opponent’s deck, but once this is done, it allows you to reach peaks that other monster decks currently can’t reach in this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG.

STRENGTHS

Thanks to the charges of the leader’s ability we can protect our most important cards, or keep them for a possible short round 3.
If you start the game first, the Ciri: Dash card, used within the first 2 plays, allows you to push your opponent to use his best cards between the first and the second round.
Nithral is a great addition for medium/long rounds and can often generate more points than Keltullis itself.
It is very versatile because it has a good short, medium and long round, it is up to us to decide which direction we want the game to go, based on our opponent.

WEAKNESSES

When it wins it doesn’t generate a huge difference in points, so if you don’t play your cards well, you risk losing by a couple of points.
When it pushes the opponent, it is difficult to know when is the right moment to stop, so you need to be very sure about which cards you want him to play.
It suffers the decks with many removals for high bodies.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can put in Marlene De Trastamara, to have more solidity against Lockdown. You can also vary the bronze package as you like by inserting for example Alzur’s Thunder.

DIFFICULTY

Difficult

Viy

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/e124dc5679f5e22b3480e0f6dbf80a54

AUTHOR

Invictatop

INTRODUCTION

The January’s patch did not bring any card balances, so this deck still remains one of the best choices for Monsters in this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG; managing to still find a strong space in the meta despite the many counters.
The deck is based on point slam and the strategy can be summed up in a few words: “Play Viy, Consume Viy”, thanks to our consume engines, which prevents any interaction between the cards of our opponent and Viy.

STRENGTHS

A high number of tutors which guarantee us consistency.
Very difficult for the opponent to interact with Viy.
Has the ability to easily win the first round and push the second, thanks to the Scenario too.
Ihuarraquax can counter an opponent’s high provision cost card, such as Geralt: Yrden or Lippy Gudmund.

WEAKNESSES

The little control we have, almost makes it impossible to destroy the enemy’s engines.
Suffers the enemy’s tech cards such as Spores, or tall removals.
It suffers the locks and consequently the match-up against Lockdown.
It has great difficulty in long rounds against engine decks like the Scoia’tael Movement and the Witcher Swarm.

TACTICAL CHOICES

We don’t feel like recommending any particular changes, if not the inclusion of some tech cards, such as Spores, which can be useful in Mirror Matches.
You can remove The Beast to add a second Barbegazi and upgrading something else.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Warrior Patricidal Fury

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/1cced7ce461cbfa98fe53b065fa65e70

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

Skellige still remains one of the most solid factions, capable of having two different archetypes in high Tier in this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10.
The only alternative to Lippy is the Warrior Patricidal Fury, a deck that is capable of challenging strong archetypes such as the current Witcher Swarm.
Warrior is one of the few Devotion decks still in the meta.

STRENGTHS

The deck is capable of producing a huge amount of points, thanks to its bronze cards, the best performing out of all the game.
All of the damage abilities available to the deck almost make it a control deck too difficult to pilot, but it offers many possibilities to the player.
The Witcher mini pack in combo with the Location gives a greater consistency to the deck and to its points.

WEAKNESSES

The deck plays with Devotion, and that’s not quite an advantage in this meta. You have to be careful against Viy, Keltullis, those decks where cards such as Korathi Heatwave can make a difference.
The deck does not like to spend important cards in Round 1, without a spendable hand you will risk of not being able to invest in the first round in order to win.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can swap Svalblod Totem for the Location and the small Witcher pack.
You can take out an An Craite: Greatsword for another copy of the Bear Witcher.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

No Unit Madoc

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/a640b98e894f8b7ea2aa446eb8da0d27

AUTHOR

Gigifacile

INTRODUCTION

Although the January’s patch only introduced a single new card, it immediately became fertile ground for the creation, or we could say the mutation, of the control archetype for excellence, the No Unit.
The inclusion of Madoc in the list allows us to play cards with the Bomb tag, so far ignored as they are extremely weak but thanks to the presence of this Witcher, we have the possibility of playing them for more points than their actual cost.
It’s one of the most strongs decks in this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG.

STRENGTHS

Good on both long and short rounds.
Strong against tall decks, such as Viy or Nature’s Gift, thanks to cards like Geralt: Professional, Korathi Heatwave and Curse of Corruption.
Putting no units on the board, will put the opponent in a situation in which he will not be able to use his removals, since he will often have no targets.
It’s an auto-win against engine decks, as the deck allows us to remove anything that arrives on the board.

WEAKNESSES

The deck suffers a lot when it doesn’t have the last say in order to play Gord without any problems, so you are often forced to win round 1.
Weak against swarms decks, as it doesn’t play cards to punish more than one unit at a time.

TACTICAL CHOICES

As mentioned above, the deck is the natural evolution of last season’s No Unit Precision Strike, with the only difference that this variant does not play cards capable of generating carry-over in favor of stronger removals.
If you prefer the classic list with Sheldon Skaggs and Harald Gord as your finishers, then you can find it at this link: https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/8e7df57921c7e3a6091294b2306831e0

DIFFICULTY

Difficult

Deadeye Movement

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/29feda35ae422b452b239de0cf1de9ff

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

Scoia’tael seems to have lost effectiveness compared to last season. Some decks, such as Precision Movement, are rarely encountered in ladder nowadays.
One deck that has remained constant is the Elf Movement, thanks to its Tempo plays and its attitude to have 3 strong rounds.

STRENGTHS

The deck has an important number of Tempo plays, such as Feign Death, Vernossiel, Gaetan or Novigradian Justice.
The deck does not particularly suffer from the loss of the Leader against Lockdown. Tokens can be spent both in round 1 and in the push phase.
The Elves archetype has one of the most effective pushes currently in meta.

WEAKNESSES

While the deck performs well over a long Round 3, it’s not always enough to win against archetypes like Swarm Witcher. There is also a risk of filling the rows in too long a round.
Missing essential cards like Feign Death, Vernossiel, or Novigradian Justice risks ruining the game.
There are no control plays.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can think of removing Gezras, there are many versions of the deck that do not play it. In that case it may be correct to insert cards such as Ele’yas or Isengrim Faoiltiarna.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Assimilate

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/07fa5c1f8ad8cb9ffb3d9f3e32763b62

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

The characteristics of this deck are its adaptability in many match-ups and the important number of engines at its disposal.
Nilfgaard is a faction that has lost positions compared to last season. The main alternative to Lockdown is Assimilate, a deck that potentially has more points than any other Nilfgaard archetype.

STRENGTHS

The Leader allows us to steal an important play from the opponents, also forcing them to do certain plays.
A lot of Engines.
The deck adapts to multiple match-ups, it takes advantage of the strength of the opponents.
Angouleme is a very strong card against opponents playing Artifacts. Especially in Nilfgaard mirrors.

WEAKNESSES

The deck has very few Control plays.
Playing Masquerade Ball with a small number of Aristocrats forces us to keep them for the right time. It is often possible to fail to finish the Scenario.
Outside of Joachim de Wett and Coup de Grace the deck doesn’t have a very strong short round.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can insert Yennefer’s Invocation in place of Angouleme if there aren’t many decks in Meta that use Artifacts.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Lockdown

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/56fac1a1f9d2ff7464a39714be571ed6

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

Nilfgaard is a faction that has lost positions compared to last season.
Lockdown remains a very effective anti-meta Leader. Currently there are many different versions of the deck, with or without Masquerade Ball. Players are looking for the best version to rank, we offer you a standard list you can work on.

STRENGTHS

Lockdown remains one of the strongest Leaders in the game. Removing the Leader of the opponents can often break their gameplay.
The deck manages to have many responses to the opponents’s engine thanks to the many locks.
A solid pack of tall removal.
Coup de Grace in combo with Joachim de Wett gives a solid point base to a faction like Nilfgaard, even in a hypothetical short round.

WEAKNESSES

The deck suffers from a lack of points. Losing round 1 and being pushed can put Lockdown in trouble.
Korathi Heatwave on Masquerade Ball is always heavy in the economy of the deck.
Suffers from swarm decks that don’t give interesting targets to our removals.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can insert double copies of Hunting Pack in place of two Ard Feainn Crossbowman.
There is a different version, which introduces a pack of more anti-meta cards, and which uses cards such as Warritt, Viper Witcher Alchemist and Cantarella, useful for breaking the opponent’s power plays.
Then you can find it at this link: https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/10c4999597905982e3fbc392cc17e253

DIFFICULTY

Medium

TIER 3

Congregate

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/c3e2079fca5841372ee5363f25044970

AUTHOR

AnthonyTheStampede

INTRODUCTION

Congregate is the second leader of the Syndicate, besides Hidden Cache, which can perform very well. The swarm archetype in question can, in fact, generate an important amount of points both in the long and in the short round, if you dose the available resources well.

STRENGTHS

The deck develops many points in the long round by combining the swarm mechanics with the engines of the Intimidate pack.
Fallen Knight if ignored can generate a lot of points.
Dies Irae turns out to be among the best performing faction’s Echo.
He can withstand the push well thanks to plays like: Leader + Whoreson Senior, Ulrich + Fallen Knight and Novigradian Justice.

WEAKNESSES

Because of no tall removal and limited control of the board, it has particularly bad match-ups.
It is a devotion deck with practically no variant as regards the gold package, therefore very readable.
Fallen Knight is a card very vulnerable to large removals such as Korathi Heatwave, Yennefer’s Invocation, Morkvarg: Heart of Terror, etc.

TACTICAL CHOICES

The list is almost immutable, but you can consider removing Brawl Tavern even if it can potentially be a big removal and in some fortuitous cases a win condition. In its place we could make room for, for example, Sir Skewertooth or Roderick De Wett.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Hidden Cache

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/9b1615467d6899cafbda2100e4206477

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

Syndicate is currently, without any doubt, the worst faction. It still has the ability to perform well, based on who plays it and which match-ups they encounter.
Hidden Cache remains a Leader that, if not countered, can produce a large amount of points in combo with the various engines that take advantage of Hoard.

STRENGTHS

Engines, a lot.
Philippa Eilhart, one of the strongest cards in the game.
The poison package gives the deck some control feel. Maraal and Korathi Heatwave are two precious Tall removal.

WEAKNESSES

Draw Dependent. Without Oneiromancy there is always the possibility of not drawing golds.
Witcher Swarm is a big counter, Tier 1 deck at the moment.
Without Jacques, the deck loses its effectiveness in the short round.
One word: “Economy”. Understanding how much you can spend in the various rounds based on the matchup is the key.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can consider cards like Jacques Miraculous Child, Dire Mutated Hound, and Oneiromancy. In that case you need to make room by removing valuable cards such as Maraal (useful against Viy or Witcher Swarm), Sewer Raiders or Adalbertus Kalkstein.
The deck is flexible according to the needs and the match-ups.

DIFFICULTY

Difficult

Special Mentions

Arachas Swarm

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/721c5af6dcb1ac27add260569c783492

AUTHOR

Movius

INTRODUCTION

The gameplan is very simple: fill the board with drones, then consume/upgrade them with Chimera and Bone Talisman.The deck has a good long round and a great push, unfortunately it is very vulnerable to Geralt: Yrden and has a terrible 3-card short round.

STRENGTHS

The points of the leader, more than the very good tempo play with our bronze package, allow you to win round 1 quite easily without investing too much.
No engines.
No Block / Remove Target. Lockdown and Precision Strike are not our enemies.
The deck push is very fast in terms of points, it manages to put many units in the field and buff them very quickly. Few decks can resist a push that puts 18 pieces on the field in 4 cards and then buffs everything with Yennefer of Vengerberg.

WEAKNESSES

Geralt: Yrden blow us up.
Decks that can spam single point ping such as Patricidal Fury, can remove most of our drones and pin us down.
Some decks, like Witcher Swarm, simply score too many points for us.

TACTICAL CHOICES

Geralt: Yrden. As strong as it is also a risk, the opponent doing Coup De Grace on him is one of the few ways to lose against Lockdown. You can consider putting another tall removal, such as Course of Corruption, or another soft removal, such as One-eyed Betsy.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Our Meta Snapshots represent the set of decks considered competitive by our Team Analysts, decks specially selected to reflect the Ladder’s meta.
These decks are chosen based on several criteria: frequency at which specific archetypes are encountered in Ladder, win rate of the selected lists, ratio between negative and positive match-ups, personal tastes of our Competitive Players.

Tier 1 = This section contains decks that tend to define the meta, to be competitive against other Tiers 1 and not to be disadvantaged starting from Blue Coin. They provide a favorable match-up against the lower Tier decks.

Tier 2 = This section contains decks that are less consistent than Tier 1 even if with a high win rate, slightly lower than those in Tier 1. They have a slightly higher amount of negative match-ups.

Tier 3 = This section contains decks that can have a good win rate but suffer the match-ups against decks of the upper Tiers.

Special Mentions = Decks difficult to pilot, but in the right hands they can compete against the upper Tiers. Eventually, they have the advantage of the surprise effect which should not be underestimated. Usually these decks are not recommended for inexperienced players.

Star symbol meaning:
The increasing number of stars indicates the strength that the deck expresses within the Tier of belonging. The greater the number of stars, the greater the force expressed.

Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG

ESC Card Gaming is happy to present our new Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG!

Tier 1 is occupied by only one deck: Northern Realms Witcher Swarm. The strength of the deck lies in its ability to produce points quickly, attacking opponents with a series of very quick Tempo plays.

Finally, Syndicate is back! We decided to put Congregate and Hidden Cache in Tier 3, as they perform fairly well in various match-ups currently in meta, even if the faction continues to have bad ones.

Team ESC selected for this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG the decks based on the statistical data collected within the players.This work is the result of an analysis performed on the basis of these data; based on them we have selected the decks with a higher percentage of attendance and win rate.

TIER 1

DECKLIST

AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

STRENGTHS

A very strong push thanks to cards like Keldar and Vesemir: Mentor plus the carry over that Erland of Larvik gives us, which we should always use in round 1.

A very strong short round 3, in which you will ideally arrive with the Witcher Trio and the Leader’s ability, this will make us score a huge amount of points that can even rival Lippy‘s short round.

The deck is very solid thanks to the many Tutors.

WEAKNESSES

Weak against Yrden.

Many cards have Adrenaline to 4 or less making the fourth or fifth round a very difficult part of the game.

Few control tools except for Geralt of Rivia and Boiling Oil.

The lack of Erland and its tutors to be able to draw him in round 1 can be compromising for the match.

TACTICAL CHOICES

Remove Geralt of Rivia and Boiling Oil to insert Geralt: Yrden and a second copy of the Radovid’s Royal Guards.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

TIER 2

DECKLIST

AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

STRENGTHS

This deck is capable of abusing the Red Coin; since it can spend a lot of resources to win the first round and then pilot the game.

Cerys an Craite is a card capable of producing many incontestable points, on short rounds it still remains one of the strongest plays in the game.

The deck can thin a lot, mostly thanks to its solid Discard package. It’s really difficult to miss something.

The use of two tall removals, such as Korathi Heatwave and Curse of Corruption, can be decisive in difficult match-ups, Viy and Witcher Swarm as examples.

WEAKNESSES

It often risks to brick, even playing Snowdrop, which helps to fix the hand; the danger of having some poor playable hands, always exist.

This deck does not enjoy a very strong long round, especially against some decks in meta which use different engines. Losing round 1 can decide some match-ups.

It can suffer the match-up against Lockdown, losing the Leader is a heavy malus for a deck like Lippy.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can insert Snowdrop, to improve your draws, removing one between Totem and Curse of Corruption. It depends on what is in the meta and on your needs.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

DECKLIST

AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

STRENGTHS

Thanks to the charges of the leader’s ability we can protect our most important cards, or keep them for a possible short round 3.

If you start the game first, the Ciri: Dash card, used within the first 2 plays, allows you to push your opponent to use his best cards between the first and the second round.

Nithral is a great addition for medium/long rounds and can often generate more points than Keltullis itself.

It is very versatile because it has a good short, medium and long round, it is up to us to decide which direction we want the game to go, based on our opponent.

WEAKNESSES

When it wins it doesn’t generate a huge difference in points, so if you don’t play your cards well, you risk losing by a couple of points.

When it pushes the opponent, it is difficult to know when is the right moment to stop, so you need to be very sure about which cards you want him to play.

It suffers the decks with many removals for high bodies.

TACTICAL CHOICES

You can put in Marlene De Trastamara, to have more solidity against Lockdown. You can also vary the bronze package as you like by inserting for example Alzur’s Thunder.

DIFFICULTY

Difficult

DECKLIST

AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

STRENGTHS

A high number of tutors which guarantee us consistency.

Very difficult for the opponent to interact with Viy.

Has the ability to easily win the first round and push the second, thanks to the Scenario too.

Ihuarraquax can counter an opponent’s high provision cost card, such as Geralt: Yrden or Lippy Gudmund.

WEAKNESSES

The little control we have, almost makes it impossible to destroy the enemy’s engines.

Suffers the enemy’s tech cards such as Spores, or tall removals.

It suffers the locks and consequently the match-up against Lockdown.

It has great difficulty in long rounds against engine decks like the Scoia’tael Movement and the Witcher Swarm.

TACTICAL CHOICES

We don’t feel like recommending any particular changes, if not the inclusion of some tech cards, such as Spores, which can be useful in Mirror Matches.

You can remove The Beast to add a second Barbegazi and upgrading something else.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

DECKLIST

AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

STRENGTHS

The deck is capable of producing a huge amount of points, thanks to its bronze cards, the best performing out of all the game.

All of the damage abilities available to the deck almost make it a control deck too difficult to pilot, but it offers many possibilities to the player.

The Witcher mini pack in combo with the Location gives a greater consistency to the deck and to its points.

Tier 1 is occupied by only one deck: Northern Realms Witcher Swarm.
The strength of the deck lies in its ability to produce points quickly, attacking opponents with a series of very quick Tempo plays.

Team ESC selected for this Gwent Meta Snapshot #10 – ENG the decks based on the statistical data collected within the players.
This work is the result of an analysis performed on the basis of these data; based on them we have selected the decks with a higher percentage of attendance and win rate.

Scoia’tael seems to have lost effectiveness compared to last season. Some decks, such as Precision Movement, are rarely encountered in ladder nowadays.
One deck that has remained constant is the Elf Movement, thanks to its Tempo plays and its attitude to have 3 strong rounds.