With the release of new cards and especially with the January’s patch notes, the Meta has changed completely.
Therefore, the new Gwent Meta Snapshot #16 – ENG by Team ESC is already here!
Syndicate once again finds itself as a first place as a faction. Despite the (small) nerf suffered by King Of Beggars, the combination with Savolla or Salamander always manage to put this faction in an advantageous position.
His Jackpot leaves no doubt: with cards that control the opponent’s board and plays that guarantee dozens of points… Perfect combination!
What about Nilfgaard? “Everything changes so as not to change anything”… His Assimilate has remained unchanged for months but is able to compete against everyone thanks to his versatility.
Monsters and Northern Realms are always at the top thanks to the Vampires archetype for the first one and Wizards for the second one.
High Tier 2 for Skellige and his archetype: Alchemy. It produces a lot of points and has few negative Match-ups.
Last but not least we have Scoia’tael which is suffering a lot… After dominating the previous Meta, Milva: Sharpshooter’s apparent small nerf has penalized it extremely: one point less of damage causes the whole archetype to lose its control power.
Therefore suffers from all the decks that field many Engines, such as Alchemy, Vampires, Assimilate and despite Saskia: Commander which is unable to produce enough points to counter the opponents … Will the Squirrels be able to recover from this blow?
Enjoy our Gwent Meta Snapshot #16 – ENG and tell us what you think!
Introduction by Camun86 e QuiGon96
TIER 1
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/0308707348f833da323c98105ea1ee91
AUTHORS
Elquellora_ / WhiteWolf19__
STRENGTHS
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Jackpot is the leader with the strongest passive ability in a faction, as it transforms the excess earned coins into upgrades for the units, which would otherwise be lost, this also makes it extremely easy and intuitive to use for our Gwent Meta Snapshot #16 – ENG.
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King of Beggars allows you to pay the various Tributes “for free”, as he gives back up to 12 Coins, entering directly from the deck at the end of his counter, offering the possibility to spend them through his Fee ability.
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King of Beggars in combo with Savolla is the currently strongest tempo-play in the game and guarantees Syndicate a very strong short round.
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The flexibility of the leader in addition to control elements such as Whoreson’s Freak Show, Whoreson Junior and Moreelse, allow you to remove the enemy engines and, at the same time, put points on the board.
WEAKNESSES
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The First Round is too dependent on the draws and the possible absence of fundamental engines such as Saul de Navarette and Ludovicus Brunenbaum.
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Devotion causes the deck to lose consistency, as there is a lack of direct tutors (there is only Vivaldi’s Bank, which is conditioned by the order of the cards in the deck) and removals such as Korathi Heatwave.
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Long Round is less strong than other meta decks.
TACTICAL CHOICES
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Possibility of including Philippa Eilhart as an additional control tool.
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Possibility to play the version without Devotion, with the addition of a direct tutor such as Royal Decree and the Korathi Heatwave removal tool.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/5145ca9f00efe2ec8cc0b938cd46c3a1
AUTHORS
JJ_GG / QuiGon96
STRENGTHS
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With the addition of Jan Calveit, the deck received a tool to play all the Gold cards during a game, so the last 2 rounds are way more solid.
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The Double Cross leader offers multiple possibilities, useful for resisting pushes in round 2 by the opponent or to give the final point-slam in an attempt to make a 2 – 0.
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Artaud Terranova allows us to play an opponent card to which we have assigned a spy tag during the game, thus giving another good gameplay option and offering us a play for many points.
WEAKNESSES
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Mirrors are treacherous and must be played with cunning, a long round risks filling the board.
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Assimilate tends not to score points if the opponent’s deck is a no unit, as it does not give the ability to copy and put a spy tag on useful units.
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Does not have a good ability to control the opponent, which is why we must aim to score more points than the opponent, so we suffer tall removals.
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Using Jan Calveit in the first round is dangerous if you don’t win it, as you will be forced to use a lot of gold during the opponent’s push.
TACTICAL CHOICES
It is possible to insert Korathi Heatwave to give more control to the deck.
Alternative decklist: https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/424c215beff9b8a7ccd374d2f487c518
Gwent Meta Snapshot #16 – ENG
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/9dc9c48713dbe951baa29cc66419525d
AUTHOR
Yami8
STRENGTHS
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The deck is very consistent thanks to many tutors.
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The push in Round 2 of this deck is very strong, we will often go to revive 3 Fleder with Witches’ Sabbath, then followed by Unseen Elder and Orianna. Not many decks can keep this amount of points under push.
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Very strong short Round 3 finisher: Regis: Reborn.
WEAKNESSES
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The deck is very vulnerable to Geralt: Yrden and Geralt: Igni.
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The only real deck control tool is Korathi Heatwave.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/ef9816f70a625ff6b155858b0d601654
AUTHOR
mickg
STRENGTHS
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With initiative, you can immediately set your own engines, which if not answered will dominate the round, while generating carry-over.
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The number of engines available makes it difficult for the opponent to try to remove them all, also thanks to the possibility of playing two in one turn with Raffard’s Vengeance or Chapter of Wizards.
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Donimir of Troy is one of the most annoying Defenders, and if not resolved with a Purify, you will have enough time to develop the Patience of Ban Ard Students, Aretuza Students and Leticia Charbonneau.
WEAKNESSES
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The three charges of our leader have very specific targets. It is therefore essential to be able to give the Zeal to Alumni by protecting the necessary cards at all costs.
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The setup of Donimir of Troy and Leticia Charbonneau can often be difficult and too slow, especially if you are forced to play red coin or under a push.
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The only direct responses to the opponent’s cards are Seltkirk of Gulet and Margarita Laux-Antille. If you can’t get the Ban Ard Student’s patience high enough, it may be difficult to remove the key cards for the opponent’s strategy.
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Some of the best cards in the deck cannot be targeted by Amphibious Assault. In this sense, you can fell the nerf to Raffard’s Vengeance.
TACTICAL CHOICES
It is possible to remove Donimir of Troy and Leticia Charbonneau and play Principe Anséis and Istredd instead.
Alternative decklist: https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/340d49342246978732d65d0254b49c9c
TIER 2
Decklist:
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/00e5bd17ec5d56ab1c91322e5b205449
AUTHORS
AnthonyDJ96 / blackCat.Rules
STRENGTHS
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The deck prefers long rounds thanks to the Bonded ability of the Crow Clan Preachers which, in combination with Gedyneith and the Mushy Truffle, is able to generate a significant amount of points.
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Due to the discard package (Coral, Birna Bran) the deck is consistent, managing to draw the most important cards.
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Versatility granted by the presence of cards such as Fucusya, Freya’s Blessing, Bride of the Sea.
WEAKNESSES
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The deck finds enough provisions for only three important control cards, which are: Geralt: Igni; Korathi Heatwave; Gigascorpio Decoction.
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It is vulnerable to tall punishers.
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Failing to draw the discard package with the blue coin in Round 1 often leads to losing with even cards.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/67cafda09f2a4fc5a99b6161b71e8415
AUTHOR
ILBESTIO
STRENGTHS
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If you manage to get to a sufficiently long Round 3 and with the last play on your own, the deck is able to score more points than most of the archetypes present in the meta.
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Except for Roland Bleinheim, Azar Javed and Salamander, we can invest all the other cards to ensure that we win the Round 1.
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With our leader or with the Mushy Truffle, we can protect ourselves by making it even more difficult to resolve the scarabs summoned by Azar Javed.
WEAKNESSES
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Failing to hide our intentions could lead the opponent not to let us win the first round and to force us to play the fundamental cards for our strategy in round two.
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Not being able to play some of our cards in the early rounds makes game management very difficult. Furthermore, not drawing even one of our key cards can affect the outcome of the game.
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Most of our points in round three are concentrated on Roland Bleinheim, who if resolved makes it difficult to win the game.
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Having to win the first round and protect Roland Bleinheim in the third round requires a very good knowledge of the meta.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/1099321f4d966f7fdc4e3f54612de695
AUTHOR
Clauz86
STRENGTHS
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Has the best short Round 3 in all the game.
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Solid leader and synergistic and impacting micro-combos.
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Decent long round if you were to lose the last say.
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Very flexible thanks to the tech cards to be inserted to counter the meta (Xavier Lemmens, Shaman).
WEAKNESSES
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It depends too much on the draws in the Round 1.
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Power Plays already known and not very customizable.
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The combo is easy to prevent and very susceptible to unfavorable RNG (Imperial Diplomacy on Regicide Round 3).
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Cards that counter other Nilfgaard decks in the meta by extension also counter Hyperthin.
TACTICAL CHOICES
Madoc and the Bombs package can be inserted in place of Soldiers and Rutilia by adding control elements but losing all the flat points in the first two rounds.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/fa2f2943b9ac5b19a503ab0369185efa
AUTHOR
Yami8
STRENGTHS
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Thanks to the tempo plays of the deck, both with bronze and gold cards the deck can easily abuse the red coin.
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The hand in Round 1 is always fully playable, which puts many decks in the meta in a difficult spot; forcing them to overcommit.
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Ihuarraquax is a win condition in many matchups, for example, remove the Syndicate King of Beggars takes away a lot of points from the opponent’s deck.
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Easy to play.
WEAKNESSES
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The deck has virtually no control tools other than Dorregaray of Vole and Drowner.
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Very “match-up dependent”, in fact in some match-ups, such as against Nilfgaard, if you fail to win at even cards there will be little hope of winning the game.
Gwent Meta Snapshot #16 – ENG
TIER 3
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/ad41173cfce878c7193be4d7e4911cbf
AUTHORS
JJ_GG / DMG-Rictal
STRENGTHS
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If Crach an Craite is not resolved, it allows the deck to have almost total control of the opponent’s board, so it will be easy to remove all the enemy engines.
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Fucusya offers excellent flexibility, allowing us to recall our win conditions in more than one round (Covenant of Steel, Crach an Craite and Morkvarg: Heart of Terror).
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The deck allows you to play both long rounds and short rounds as King Bran’s passive offers us very strong tempo plays.
WEAKNESSES
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The deck suffers a lot from the no units archetypes.
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If you are unable to use the discard package effectively, many points will remain stuck in the deck.
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To make the most out of the leader’s passive, you need to have at least Terror of the Seas and Dimun Light Longships in your hand at the beginning of the game.
DECKLIST
https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/0b1bd91033f9991cd828f5684ace2fa5
AUTHOR
QuiGon96
STRENGTHS
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During the round in which Saskia: Commander is played, it manages to generate many engine points and at the same time the deck is thinned.
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Has a very strong round thanks to the combo with Alzur, thus having great push potential.
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The leader in combination with Milva: Sharpshooter allows you to remove the enemy’s 4-body engines in the same turn that you set your own.
WEAKNESSES
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You only have 2 strong rounds, the ones mentioned above, and therefore has difficulty in the third round if you lost the first one.
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Alzur’s combo is fragile to graveyard manipulation.
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Very bad match-up against Nilfgaard.
TACTICAL CHOICES
Cursed Scroll can be played as a tactical advantage.
