Nekker SY is still having the highest WR this season despite the nerfs, it’s the result of having high versatility – Ciri and Candle give us a lot of carryover value. Bleinheim brothers, poisons, and Drill for control but that’s not all – Azar Javed combined with Candle makes it really tough to get to your cards.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Roach

Round 1:

Try to win round 1 to ensure a long round, since in most cases that results in a win. Committing Drill here might be the key to this win condition.

Round 2:

Setup carryover with Ciri and Candle

Round 3:

Play Azar and boost Scarabs with Candle then set up engines and answer threats.

Details

Good against:

Knights, Harmony

Bad against:

Pirates

Win condition:

Golds

Card replacements:

Nope.

Renfri NG is with us for another month, this patch got new tools for it. You can take a long round with Triss, and go a short round with Sergeants and Slave Drivers. You don’t even need consistency in this deck since your bronzes are as strong as golds.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Look for golds, try not to brick your Gang.

Round 1:

From red coin just abuse, you have a deck built the way that you can easily play all 10 cards in round one. This deck has lots of steam. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that you are supposed to play all 10 cards round one each game, some cards are just kinda bad to be played round one like Ramon, Braathens or Triss.

Round 2:

Play on depending on the hand you have but if you got odd-even passive from Renfri you can easily go for long round 3.

Round 3:

Play units front row for Triss value, your best leader from Renfri should be playing a bronze card and odd-even passive. Your Nauzicaa Sergeants and Slave Drivers should work miracles in round 3. Just try to avoid Igni for more than one unit.

Matchups

Mirrors:

A mirror is heavy RNG dependent but there are some things you can try to do to make it better. First things first, your leader is just 6 points of value, you can try to use it as fast as possible and play Renfri to find odd-even passive (don’t do that if you couldn’t find your Runemage).

Other factions:

Against ST just lock their engines round one and try to find odd-even passive, it is better than their scenario passive, which means you should be favored in the long round after getting it.
Playing two leader charges round one and looking for odd-even passive is also good against NR but in this case, you have to make sure you will bleed out their scenario.
Against MO just lock their Fleders, also keep in mind that you can mulligan away your Renfris Gang because they have their own, which you can copy with Braathens or Informant. Round one in this matchup is crucial, you are favored in long round 3, he knows that he will commit round one to bleed you out and try to win a short round 3 with Regis.
Against SY your short round 3 should be better than theirs, you should always focus on winning round one and bleeding round 2.

Details

Good against:

ST Guerilla Tactics, NR Knights

Bad against:

NG Assimilate

Win condition:

Row stacked units with Triss: Meteor Shower. Renfri. Nauzicaa Sergeants

Card replacements:

Nope.

Harmony is back, maybe not as strong as it used to be in Mystic Echo meta but this deck still has a lot of steam. This deck has everything: control, a good long round with engines and scenario, good short round with big finishers such as Simlas and Lake Guardian.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Look for golds, having access to both Saskia and Vanadain or at least one of them can be crucial for winning round one. If you have access to Vanadain you should consider keeping Waylays in hand because he can put them on the bottom of the deck, just like your stratagem.

Round 1:

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

Round 2:

Depending on the matchup you can either slam scenario and bleed good cards from your opponent while keeping your Simlas or Lake Guardian as big play in round 3.

Round 3:

If it’s a long round just play the scenario into Harmony engines and keep Guardian for the last say. If the round is short just win with a big finisher such as Simlas or 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 just keep your poisons, and try to remove either Immortals in round one or Maiden’s Shield later rounds, Milva doesn’t matter in this matchup since you have only Squires as your leader targets and other units are just bigger.
Against SY you should always try to win round one and bleed round 2, from a red coin it should be much easier, you can just abuse.
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 Vamps remember to use the leader on Nekurats, also Waylays give you more reach on your leader so you can kill 7 power units such as Fleders after the leader.

Details

Good against:

Renfri Vamps

Bad against:

NR Knights

Win condition:

Long round with scenario, Simlas into 3-4 waylays, Lake Guardian

Card replacements:

Nope.

They fight with honor and glory, they fight for their king, their queen, or for Lady Bronwen. Boost them to big numbers so they can be even stronger with Grace.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Look for Oneiro, Amphibious Assault, or Lady of the Lake. Also, try to find the Damned Sorceress Immortals combo, this is the key to winning round one.

Round 1:

Push as hard as you can with your AA, Immortals, Sorceress, Knight Errant. Do not hesitate even going two cards down.  Also, try to set up Vandergrift carry-over. Do not forget that you want your Aeron to grow so try to stay ahead every turn.

Round 2:

You have Aerondight so you want to push this round hard, commit scenario, and Maiden’s shield. Remember, round control and great tempo are your control tools, use them and go as deep as you can. When being bled either try to defend it with Maiden’s Shield or scenario, second card can be your win condition in round 3.

Round 3:

Finish the game with a big Sword.

Matchups

Mirrors:

From red coin push round one, try to win on even. From blue try to leave the round with the least commitment you can. If you won round 1 push round 2 with everything. Round 3 try to brick opponent’s Aeron with shields.

Other factions:

Since this is straight forward deck the games against every other faction look kinda the same. Also, many decks have Igni, they will always get value out of it but you can try to not give them 2 units Igni or something like that.
Against ST keep Heatwave for Scenario and remember that he has only 3 poisons in the deck, purifying poisoned units can brick their second poison. Also do not forget that they have 4 damage from the leader (because of Milva) and there is only one good target for them, try to play Squires boosted or not play them at all.
Against SY you have to keep both Pellars, you gonna need them.
Against NG remember that they have only 3 locks, it might be possible to bait them with bad cards so your better ones stay untouched.

Details

Good against:

ST Guerilla Tactics, Warriors SK

Bad against:

Nekker SY, NG Imprisontment Renfri, Renfri Vamps

Win condition:

Bleeding with Scenario and Maiden’s Shield, Aerondight

Card replacements:

Nope.

Assimilate lives in Gwent’s world as far as the roots can be seen, as usual with new tools – Stefan Skellen – control card with assimilate procs and potential Coup de Grace setup makes this card extremely good. Old tools for copying opponent’s things like Braathens, Vigo, Artaud, and Coup de Grace,  stays the same. New Nilfgaard bronzes make this deck immune to bleed as it was vulnerable in previous seasons and triggers Assimilate even twice with Slave Driver.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

You don’t need mulligans 🙂

Round 1:

Play Calveit and pass after 3 cards, the deck has no tools to compete in round 1.

Round 2:

Defend the bleed.

Round 3:

Nauzicaa Sergeant combined with Slave Drivers gives you huge points.

Details

Good against:

Pointslam decks

Bad against:

Engine decks

Win condition:

Golds, Sergeant package

Card replacements:

Nope.

Warriors SK is a very well-known archetype, it’s been existing in Gwent since forever. Now thanks to the current meta it’s good again. With a lot of carryover you can set up with Highland Warlords and a big power push provided by Eist and leader into Jutta.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Find Highland Warlords, Blood Eagle, and 4 provision warriors such as Invader and An Craite Warrior.

Round 1:

Set up your carryover with Warlords, try to escape the round as fast as possible, committing your golds might not be the best idea even if you are being coin abused. Just set up carryover, set up the graveyard for War of Clans, and escape the round. Losing on even is not the end of the world

Round 2:

Defend the bleed with anything you have, you can still try to set up carryover with Fucusia or Harald into Warlord. Just keep one good card for round 3 (Eist with the leader, Fucusia, or Harald). If you somehow won round one just go for long round 3

Round 3:

Play your remaining cards, should be enough to win.

Matchups

Mirrors:

The last say can be good because there are no big units, which means killing their Jutta with the leader is the best target.

Other factions:

Against ST just remove their engines with your Raid cards.
Against SY you should keep your leader to kill either Roland or Tunnel Drill
Against NR if you are on blue coin against Knights there is no point in playing. Against Siege you should be favored with all those removals.
Against Vamps you remove their Fleders with Raids, also you can try to play around Regis with your Veil units.
Against NG you can try to brick their Slave Drivers by removing every Nauzicaa you will see.

Details

Good against:

SY Kekker, ST Guerilla Tactics

Bad against:

NR Knights, NG Imprisonment

Win condition:

Long round with lots of carry-over. Denying your opponent’s engines.

Card replacements:

Nope.

The deck has good pointslam having great engines as Nekurat, Garkain, and Fleder growing fast. Incubus as MVP here for resurrecting our engines once again. There is not much control so the deck is vulnerable to greedy decks and a much heavier engines than them, though it’s easy to win round 1 and push opponents out of these.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Dig for key cards like Regis, Renfri

Round 1:

Win the round and gain last say for Regis or opportunity for push.

Round 2:

In most cases, you push here with everything you have except Regis, possibly with having the last say.

Round 3:

Last say with Regis with any of Curses and Blessings should ensure your win. Of course Gluttony is the best with him.

Details

Good against:

Pointslam

Bad against:

Control

Win condition:

Golds and engines

Card replacements:

Nope.

This midrange list bows down to the old Munro and Zoltan combo, which was in every Scoia’tael deck, but after nerfs, it has only Zoltan to give us wide reach with leader and body for Oak and Triss. The deck like other midrange decks has very few engines – only Chariots and Agitator, which mostly rely on killing your opponent’s units.

Gameplan

Mulligan:

Bricks, Dig for golds (like a dwarf)

Round 1:

Winning round 1 is cool for pushing but since we are a midrange deck it’s not necessary.

Round 2:

In most cases, you want to push the opponent because of first say and threaten him 2:0 with Triss.

Round 3:

Renfri if haven’t played before gets us here a lot of points, especially with Curse of Greed, which gives Strategems and equals extra body for Triss.

Details

Good against:

Engine decks

Bad against:

Nilfgaard

Win condition:

Golds

Card replacements:

Nope.