Renfri Imprisonment is still here, after several nerfs during the last few months the deck is still strong, all you need is changing a few nerfed cards into new and reworked ones. After several months now everybody knows that the best leader from Renfri is Play bronze card and Kindness, because this decks lacks of consistency and very often you will end up with one gold card in your deck.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Find Spotters round one, look for gold cards, especially Runemage, as he is super useful in round one.

Round 1:

From red coin you can abuse since your deck is based on pointslam. From blue coin just make huge tempo with Spotters and force your opponent to pass.

Round 2:

Thanks to Yrden and many long round payoff cards you can go for long round 3.

Round 3:

Against pointslam decks you can try to use your leader abilities early to give yourself chances to find Kindness from Renfri, this passive on it’s own is almost as strong as the Harmony scenario.

Matchups

Mirrors:

Last say can be crucial because with last say your opponent is forced to decide if he wants to play Triss or Yrden first.

Other factions:

Against NR: You can try to stack armor on one unit, e.g. Nauzicaa.
Against SY: Keep locks for Salamandra Mages, they are their best engines. Unless you are on red coin, then don’t be afraid of using one lock on Disciple.
Against SK: Just try to deny their Aerondight value, if you win round one then bleed as much as you can.
Against ST: Two fast locks and Kindness are the way to win long round 3, so you can often use two leader charges and play Renfri fast (only after Runemage)
Against MO: Just play Spotters, they should be good enough to deny their frost value. Also do not stack one unit because of Imlerith’s Wrath.

Details

Good against:

Reavers, SK Flurry

Bad against:

NG Assimilate

Win condition:

Long round with Meteor Shower and Yrden. Renfri into ‘play bronze’ and Kindness

Card replacements:

Nope.

Devo Syndicate, one of most famous Syndicate decks ever, now it got new tools to play including Little Birds and Sigi fit perfectly to this deck. Birds are super good spenders with at least two coins to two points ratio. Sigi helps with the only thing Devo Syndicate ever struggled, consistency. With those two and a lot of good high end cards mixed well with control tools now you get super strong deck.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Look for Disciple and for gold cards, there is only one brick but it’s painful to actually get bricked. In later rounds you definitely want to keep Drill in deck, because he is guaranteed from Sigi, which means you can combo it either with Shady Vendor, Dip in Pontar or Plunder to clear opponent’s board.

Round 1:

Usually you don’t want to fight for round 1, just play disciple, set up carryover with Inquisitor and try to leave the round as fast as possible.

Round 2:

Defend the bleed with whatever is necessary but try to keep at least one huge power play for round 3 (Hemmelfart or Sigi). If you won round 1 just go straight for long round 3.

Round 3:

Set up as many gangs as possible to have cheap Sigi and good coin spending ratio thanks to Birds. Use the golds, win the game.

Matchups

Mirrors:

Play your Sigi after your opponent played Sigi so your Drill can kill his Drill.

Other factions:

Against NR: Don’t be afraid of long round, your control tools are enough to win, just use Whoreson and Drill to win 2 rounds.
Against NG: Do not stack buffs on one unit, also try to avoid playing into a huge Igni. Also from red coin you can use Professor round one to deny them Spotter value.
Against SK: Because of Sove you are super unfavoured, you should try to win round one and push them round 2 because you should be losing long round 3.
Against ST: Remember about Cat Witcher Saboteurs, try to secure last say to kill their Lake Guardian with Moreelse.
Against MO: Just try to not overcommit too much when you are on blue coin since they always want to abuse. Losing to frost on even is fine, you should still be winning.

Details

Good against:

Frost, Reavers, Any ST

Bad against:

SK Flurry, NG Imprisonment

Win condition:

Long round 3 with engines, Sigi into Drill with crime card.

Card replacements:

Nope.

Do you like to win on even? Of course you do and so am I! Our beloved flexible leader is once again out on the streets with Aerondight as its payoff. New raid cards have good synergy since you can leader Wolves. With new mighty warrior Sove it’s possible to tempo pass when you slam him with Junod aside on pulled unit. To reuse the potential of Ulula’s beloved we play Sigdrifa’s Rite, so a 23/27 immune unit is once again on our board. Besides these combos the deck has discard package with payoff as Magic Compass.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Beasts

Round 1:

On red coin you smorc with Sove possibly, on blue try to win with bronzes.

Round 2:

Always push here so you make sure your Aerondight still grows.

Round 3:

Big Aerondight should do it.

Details

Good against:

Engine decks

Bad against:

Pointslam decks

Win condition:

Mostly Sove and other golds

Card replacements:

Nope.

Don’t you recognize your old mates? Reaver Hunters are back to the game, with some beta flavour still being in the deck. At first the new NR cards seemed really bad but it turned out to be one of the strongest archetypes in Gwent. Boholt, Adalia, Locations and Idarran allow you to easily swarm at least 8 reaver hunters melee row each round. Locations also provide a lot of carryover value, especially with Dwims and Reinforcements.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Find echo cards, Idarran and at least one create card (Adalia or locations).

Round 1:

Play Idarran, then play location or Adalia, swarm at least 5 Reaver Hunters and tempo pass your opponent. If you have access to both locations it’s better to use Truffle round one since Garrison provides much more points so it’s better for later rounds.

Round 2:

If you won the round just bleed your opponent, try to 2:0, you always overswarm in long round 3 so it should never be super long. If you lost just defend the bleed using carry over from location and more Reaver swarming cards.

Round 3:

If round 3 happens then just use whatever you have left, probably the second copy of Amphibious Assault.

Matchups

Mirrors:

The first say is very good, winning round one and 2:0ing opponent feels like a good way to go.

Other factions:

Against NG: Do not stack your buffs on a single Reaver.
Against SY: Make as huge tempo round one as possible, matchup is really unfavoured and you need to win round one.
Against SK: Try to deny their Aeron value with big tempo plays.
Against ST: Just force them to use leader abilities as fast as possible, your Reavers are good targets.

Details

Good against:

NG TH, ST Gift

Bad against:

SK Flurry, NG Imprisonment

Win condition:

2:0ing opponent, tempo engines

Card replacements:

Nope.

Wild Hunt this patch has got new cards though it didn’t make the archetype much stronger, yet it is still fun to play and watching frost biting units. The most significant change (and only) this patch is making Imlerith’s Wrath tall punish while having frost on unit’s side. Tir Na Lia gives carryover in Red Riders, which combo with Foglets. Caranthir Golden Child with Eredin’s help can grow up to 31 points. We also have a new engine, Aen Alle Aristocrat for more frost and what is more important – Order with movement. Slave Trader and Tir Na Lia’s boost is another option for control.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Winter Queen, you can mull Wild Hunt Raiders to combine them with Auberon.

Round 1:

You want to win round 1 so your Caranthir can be played on last say R3 and more important you don’t get bled out of his frost counter.

Round 2:

Drypass

Round 3:

Setup engines and show them how threatening winter can be.

Details

Good against:

Pointslam decks

Bad against:

Engine, Greedy decks and NG because of armor

Win condition:

Gold cards

Card replacements:

Nope.

This patch’s reworks were directed into a new boost archetype! The strategy is to get round control so you ensure that your power plays will end up in round 3 rather than getting bled out. Our deck relies on comboing boosts on a single unit so your Ornate Censer Beauclair and Ivar payoff work as huge point swings, combined with Guillaume and Milton ending up at 20 points per unit on your board. Besides this main gameplan there is some pointslam in Blightmakers and Ramon.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Knickers, Mage Assassins

Round 1:

Win round with possibly bronzes like Blightmaker and Spotter.

Round 2:

If your opponent was resisting, Ivar should make his push much more awkward here, otherwise you drypass.

Round 3:

Enjoy hundreds of points!

Details

Good against:

Engine decks

Bad against:

Decks with Yrden

Win condition:

Golds

Card replacements:

Nope.

Scoia’tael is still here, maybe after several nerfs it’s not as strong as it used to be last month but definitely have some power punches in hand. Because of the Simlas nerf we decided to switch one powerful card with another, including Zoltan Warrior, who has 3 tags and works very well with the Scenario and also allows you to abuse red coin or helps with defending the bleed without committing the Scenario.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Just look for your golds, especially Saskia, she is the most important round one card in your deck. Do not forget about Milva, if your hand seems decent you can skip mulligans.

Round 1:

Play Saskia, play as long as possible, try to win the round with good harmony engines. Gameplay is the same for red and blue coin, one difference being that using leader ability from red coin is much better than doing it on blue.

Round 2:

You have a very good long round 3 so passing here and going for long round 3 is very often the play. While being bled try to keep your Scenario and at least two harmony cards to proc it. Sometimes when you are 100% certain that your opponent is about to bleed till the last card then you can mulligan out scenario and protect it that way.

Round 3:

Just win long round with Scenario and harmony engines. Or finish short round with Lake Guardian.

Matchups

Mirrors:

From blue coin you can try to wait with Saskia until your opponent plays her, just try to not get abused.

Other factions:

Against NR, move their Idarran, and keep other movement cards for Reaver Hunters.
Against SY I would recommend bleeding round one since they often give up round one easily and going for long round 3 with their Sigi into Drill might be devastating for your harmony engines.
Against NG long round should be favored for you so try to win round one with Saskia, they have a lot of steam this round so it might be really difficult.
Against MO just don’t be afraid of the long round, you have better engines than them.
Against SK from blue coin do not start with Saskia because they can remove her with flurry pings, set up some harmony engines first.

Details

Good against:

Reavers, NG Renfri

Bad against:

Devo SY, SK Flurry

Win condition:

Long round with scenario, Lake Guardian

Card replacements:

Nope.

Though it is Autumn some decks in Gwent like Symbiosis rise up from the shadows and making it fun to play once more. New cards improve Vitality process such as Naiad Fledgling and Frog Mating Season. There is control option with the new Naiad Pondkeeper, so the archetype has more control than only Rebukes. Aucwenn gives carryover as Nature tag into Naiads and is an engine itself. Though it’s an engine deck in the best case you should play mid-long R3 so you don’t fill your rows entirely.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Bountiful Harvests

Round 1:

On red coin you can drop Aucwenn to gain a chance for winning on even, otherwise play bronzes.

Round 2:

If you kept Aucwenn then you easily defend or push with other Naiads as well.

Round 3:

Forest Protector, Simlas or Eithne should give you enough points.

Details

Good against:

Pointslam

Bad against:

Control and greedy decks

Win condition:

Golds

Card replacements:

Eithne -> Gezras, Frog Mating Season makes row ready in 2-3 turns.