Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG – March 2021

ESC Card Gaming is happy to present our new Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG!

Thanks to the innovations introduced by the Patch 8.3 the Meta has undergone lots of changes.

Syndicate returns into our top position of the Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG with the Crime Cleaver archetype, based on the ability of the Lined Pockets Leader and the Crime cards.
In the Tier 1 we also find the Monsters Arachas Swarm deck, thanks to its fast and aggressive game-play. The Swarm archetype benefits from the fact that it is very hard to answer by other decks.

In the Tier 2 of our Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG we find the new version of the Warrior Devotion based on Eist and the Leader’s ability of Blaze of Glory.
This version, compared to the previous ones, partially gives up some control tools, in favor of an impressive tempo play thanks to Eist and his ability.
Alongside the Warrior Devotion we find an old friend in the first position: Witcher Swarm. A deck that has been dominant in the last months and that still remains strong despite some nerfs.
Further down we wanted to report the return of the Viy archetype, it’s very solid in this phase of the Meta, because it counters the Top Tier decks really well.
And finally, we have some Nilfgaard decks, which is still based on a Clog Madoc version and the classic Scenario based on a new Leader’s ability, after the nerf to Lockdown.

Scoia’tael slides into the Tier 3, despite the buffs that has been given to the Traps archetype. In the early days, the combination of the Elves and Traps looked devastating, but it lost its strength as players quickly adapted to those mechanics. Traps is a very draw based deck, so draw dependant that it often loses its consistency.
In the Tier 3 we can also find the Dwarfs archetype, capable of making many points but at the same time it’s not capable of interacting with the enemy’s board.

Enjoy our Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG!

TIER 1

Cleaver Crime

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/a4acd114fba2c6ab8235b2bc06729317

AUTHOR

Quigon96

INTRODUCTION

The Crime archetype is the one that benefited most from the changes made with the last patch, conquering the first position of this Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG. Important was the lowering from 5 to 4 provisions of some Crime cards, the buff to Sigi Reuven and Tunnel Drill, the increase of a charge for the leader ability Lined Pockets and the arrival of the new Cleaver card. All of these factors combined have made Crime Cleaver one of the strongest decks of this time.

STRENGTHS 

  • The strength of this deck is in its versatility, in fact, it is a strong deck in the short round as well as in the long one, therefore, by managing the first round, we can take the game in the direction we prefer.

  • Synergy between the Halfling Safecracker, Novigradian Justice and the Crime cards in hand, allows you to win the first round easily, investing mostly bronze cards.

  • The combination of Tunnel Drill with Cleaver, Sigi Reuven and Swindle can generate a huge difference in points by removing units from the opposing board.

WEAKNESSES

  • If you don’t have enough Crime cards in your first hand, it is difficult to understand which cards to invest and especially in what order.

  • This deck has no impossible match-ups, but the most unfavorable ones are against Monsters and Nilfgaard, not drawing Oneiromancy during the game can result in defeat

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • You can replace Korathi Heatwave with Flying Redanian, in this case it is advisable to add a Blindeyes card between Street Urchins or Pickpocket to increase the synergy with Sigi bringing the profit to 9 coins.

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Arachas Swarm

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/cc0b8b10acad0b320d521744d4f8150b

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

One of the main decks of this Gwent Meta Snapshot #12 – ENG is the Arachas Swarm archetype. The deck quickly established itself in the ladder thanks to the speed of the plays it has available.
Arachas enjoys three solid rounds. The archetype is very efficient against some top tiers in Meta, such as Crime Cleaver.

STRENGTHS 

  • The deck enjoys a series of very fast and efficient tempo plays.

  • Arachas Swarm has multiple win conditions at its disposal, in fact, it manages to give its opponents few things to interact with.

  • The deck has an aggressive and efficient push potential.

  • Crimson Curse with the Red coin is a very oppressive card.

WEAKNESSES 

  • The deck suffers a lot Geralt: Yrden and cards that damage the rows, such as Lacerate, Toruviel, etc …

  • The Arachas archetype suffers short rounds 3 if he has used too many resources in previous rounds.

TACTICAL CHOICES

None

DIFFICULTY

Medium

TIER 2

Witcher Swarm

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/c2bb7de5a8458d26f22e903864788a20

AUTHORS

Edo – Simo4dlc

INTRODUCTION

Also this month Northern Realms almost exclusively relies on the Witcher Swarm archetype which, however, is slightly less strong due to the changes to Vesemir: Mentor and, above all, to Lyria Scytheman. The only noteworthy change from last season’s version is the presence of Margarita Laux-Antille instead of Berengar.

STRENGTHS 

  • Very consistent thanks to the presence of the various tutors.

  • Good round 1 solidity due to bronze cards like Griffin Witcher and Griffin Witcher Adept which can generate a large amount of points.

  • The blue coin does not particularly suffer thanks to the Crystal Skull, which in combo with the Griffin Witcher is often oppressive.

  • Important carry over given by Erland of Larvik and Vesemir: Mentor.

  • Excellent both while pushing and in the short round having cards like Keldar and Witcher Trio in combo with the ability of the Leader.

WEAKNESSES 

  • This deck suffers a lot Geralt: Yrden, especially now that Lyria Scytheman forces to have boosted units on the same row.

  • Before Adrenaline 4 it is difficult to find playable cards, even more after the nerf to Vesemir: Mentor.

  • Few interactions with the opposing board.

  • Without Erland’s carryover it is more difficult to manage the game.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • None

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Blaze of Eist

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/48545c4a12aab8d9703cd2e8ec846bcc

AUTHOR

Movius

INTRODUCTION

The Skellige Warrior archetype with Devotion has been with us in the ladder for more than a year now, changing shape from time to time. In this season, the introduction of Eist Tuirseach pushed the choice of the leader towards Blaze of Glory, given his natural affinity with Eist. The gameplan remains similar to the old versions, giving up some control tools, such as Morkvarg or Blueboy Lugos, but gaining a gigantic tempo play in Eist.

STRENGTHS

  • Like all previous versions, the deck offers several control options to limit the opposing engines, as well as numerous units with the possibility of doing 1 or 2 damage, very useful to bring the opposing units within range.

  • The deck is very consistent, Blood Eagle allows you to fetch almost any card, including Eist.

  • The combination of Eist Tuirseach with the leader ability, even without the active Bloodthirst, guarantees the enormous production of 25-26 points, of which 12 of removal. This is one of Gwent’s strongest plays.

WEAKNESSES 

  •  The deck has a hard time winning round 1, because gold cards are difficult to invest and bronze units often don’t keep up with the opponent’s deck.

  • Having to use (almost) necessarily Eist and the leader at the same time, coupled with the problem of not being able to win round 1, tends to be the main problem with this deck; once we lose the first round we will almost always be pushed until we are forced to use Eist, and therefore also the leader, losing a lot of the potential of the deck.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • There are several flexible spots, among the high-cost golds you can add Morkvarg instead of one between Hjalmar and Totem, among the medium-cost golds other good options are Gremist or Gerd, while the bronze package can vary between the Dimun Light Longships and Heymay Protectors or the An Craite Longship.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Viy

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/cf0cb8320bca2c31813c862e84034d63

AUTHOR

Clauz

INTRODUCTION

Despite the nerfs suffered in one of the latest updates, Viy remains one of the best viable archetypes for Monsters, thanks to the changing of the meta and the inclusion of new legendary cards in the latest patch. In fact it is one of the main counters of Skellige Warrior and of the No Unit archetypes in general, and becomes one of the main “antimeta” decks

STRENGTHS 

  • Very consistent short round.

  • Excellent blue coin thanks to the Crystal Skull and Slyzard which allows you not to invest too much consumption in Round 1 and still develop considerable points.

  • At the moment it has almost only favorable match-ups against the major top tiers pushing round 2 with Scenario often grants us the advantage card.

WEAKNESSES 

  • Despite the nerf to Lockdown, Nilfgaard remains a very complicated match-up.

  • Suffers Geralt: Yrden.

  • A bad Round 1 hand often has a negative effect on the entire game’s performance.

TACTICAL CHOICES

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Double Madoc

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/7fb923140309a89c6a3cd1e035fce83d

AUTHOR

Infern-ale

INTRODUCTION

After the nerfs of the last patch to Viper Witcher Mentor and Kolgrim all the clog variants have become less and less popular, but this has made many players lower their guard, making the clog double Madoc version more fearsome than ever.

STRENGTHS 

  • Very strong deck with the red coin thanks to its control plays.

  • It forces the opponent to play around Viper Witcher and Coated Weapon, as a result most of the time he wins the first round very quickly and without using power play.

  • If the opponent does not play the right tools to counter Kolgrim, or wastes them prematurely, it is extremely difficult to get by.

  • It has a high number of thinning.

  • Double Cross leader’s ability, used at the right time, reveals whether the opponent is capable of countering Kolgrim.

WEAKNESSES 

  • Blue coin could create problems, the deck has few proactive plays.

  • The strength of the archetype depends a lot on the opponent’s starting hand.

  • To get to the maximum potential of the deck it is essential to win the round 1 as it is not a very solid deck in the long round 3.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • You could take Rutilia off for the Defender, but that makes the deck slower and Kolgrim less powerful.

  • It is possible to replace War Council and Rutilia with Korathi Heatwave and Assire, to add heavy removal without losing too many points to Kolgrim.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

Assimilate Ballad

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/5b8466ba30f34a0b8d2a54dc8648454a

AUTHOR

Fritzdecat

INTRODUCTION

In the last few days, a new Nilfgaard deck has appeared that combines the old structure of the Aristocratic Scenario archetype with a series of Assimilate cards that increase the strength of the deck in terms of points.

The deck is not easy to play and does not always perform as it should, which is why it does not hold a high tier position.

STRENGTHS 

  • Double-Cross Leader ability leaves us a lot of provisions and often makes our opponents play badly.

  • Location in combination with Cantarella can generate very annoying plays.

  • The Assimilate pack gives the deck greater strength in terms of points.

WEAKNESSES 

  • The deck suffers a lot from those decks with a lot of tempo plays.

  • The archetype suffers a lot from the push of several top tier decks in Meta.

  • This is a very draw dependant deck.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • None

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Imposter Ballad

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/c839737373422d1af37b2baae6c435cb

AUTHOR

Ci_87

INTRODUCTION

After the heavy nerf suffered by Lockdown, the Scenario’s version of Nilfgaard changes its leader’s skill and moves to Imposter, which at this moment in time turned out to be the most suitable faction’s skill for this archetype, as it offers the best points/provisions ratio.

STRENGTHS

  • The Imposter ability is the real added value, targets like Jutta an Dimun give a value of 14 points, if played in combination with Vanhemar or Vincent Van Moorlehem it also allows you to remove the strongest enemy’s unit.

  • Nilfgaard Scenario is a very consistent archetype against some top tiers in meta, such as Skellige Blaze of Glory or Syndicate Crime Cleaver.

WEAKNESSES

  • Like any Nilfgaard decks of this type, it suffers a lot from the opponent’s push so it becomes essential to win round 1.

  • The worst possible match-ups are against Swarm decks which destroy the deck’s strategy.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • None

DIFFICULTY

Medium

Nature's Gift Devotion

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/6a858a311e2cf43c01c2b29f3c448f17

AUTHOR

gigifacile

INTRODUCTION

Whilst the Elven archetype saw the return of Eldain and the dwarfs of Brouver Hoog, no cards were added in favor of the Dryads that could synergize with the Symbiosis ability. Unlike the last season, this deck has lost some potential, due to the new cards added that have raised the level of the other decks.
Despite all of this Nature’s Gift still kinda remains the best performing ST leader.

STRENGTHS

  • Very strong short round with Eithné and Gord, especially when summoned with Call of the Forest or Isengrim’s Council.

  •  If the engines can live long enough, we have a very strong long round as well.

  • The possibility of a very fast and effective push if you have won round 1.

WEAKNESSES

  • Its longer round is weaker than most of the other decks in meta.

  • Lack of strong removals, like Korathi Heatwave, as this is a Devotion deck.

  • Geralt: Yrden.

TACTICAL CHOICES

We can think about putting Figgis Merluzzo and Pavko Gale for Freixenet and Ele’yas to have a stronger long round and more protection for the engines, at the expense of our push plays.
It is also possible to think of changing Morenn with Ciaran, to have a better chance of finding Eithnè from Isengrim’s Council, but it will be more difficult for us to find Ele’yas.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

TIER 3

Elves Traps

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/e3fed1f9e3d4a455de0b9db59ba583af

AUTHOR

Yami8

INTRODUCTION

The latest patch has introduced Eldain, an ideal card to support the Traps archetype, a deck capable of annoying many of the meta decks.
Buff that has been given to some Traps makes them more consistent.
The combination of Elves and Traps can be very dangerous, but the deck is draws dependant, and suffers from the push from some of the top tier decks.

STRENGTHS

  • By playing the Scenario in round 1 you can always, or almost always, win the round; thus ensuring to go for a long round 3.

  • In a long round 3, with a hand full of traps, this deck gives little interactivity to the opponent to play with, managing to make some of the top tier factions like Skellige or Syndicate to play in a suboptimal way.

  • Your last two plays are a huge finisher: Eldain and Vernossiel, which, in an optimal situation, can also manage to score 50-60 points.

WEAKNESSES

  • Very draws dependant, in fact, there will be games where the deck will seem too strong and others in which it will seem not to be able to do anything at all.

  • Suffers from the push; playing the traps in round 2 will greatly decrease the strength of our round 3.

  • You need to know the opponent’s deck to know when to play the traps at the right time.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • It is possible to remove Isengrim Faolitiarna and Yaevinn, to insert Korathi Heatwave.

DIFFICULTY

Difficult

Dwarfs

DECKLIST

https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/fe4a4bf2cece640d9375b2b746948d09

AUTHOR

Invictatop95

INTRODUCTION

The patch that has been introduced this March has introduced 12 new legendary cards to the meta.
Among them we can find Brouver Hoog, a card that managed to take back the dwarfs deck into the competitive scene.
An old friend of the more experienced in the world of Gwent.

STRENGTHS

  • Bronze cards almost always guarantee your victory in round 1.

  • If Brouver manages to stay on the board, it can generate an high amount of points.

  • The armor makes it difficult to remove most of our bronze engines.

WEAKNESSES

  • Weak against tech cards like Yrden.

  • It has few removals against enemy engines.

  • It is a combo deck, if you can’t draw one or even two engines, it can compromise the victory of the game.

TACTICAL CHOICES

  • Insert Engine cards such as Zoltan/Paulie or tech cards like Geralt: Yrden.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

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.

Each Faction does not need to be represented by at least one list.

Consultants and Deckbuilders: Movius00, Gigifacile, Ci_87, Clauz86, Yami8, Fritzdecat, Quigon96, Infern-Ale.

Writers: Fritzdecat, Gigifacile, Clauz86, Ci_87, Invictatop95, Quigon96, Yami8, Infern-Ale, Edo, Simo4dlc.

Management/Editing/Translation: Fritzdecat, Miranda, Giordaniko, Ghostemane, BenDjarin.

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