[BC#2] The Calm Before the Storm

Hey there! My name's entoxx and I'm just a guy who enjoys playing gwent and is very concerned about the balance and the state of the game. Unfortunately, this topic is not very long to write a separate blog/post on, so I will do it here. Besides its the first time writing something big in this sub.(UPD: I miscalculated, there is actually a lot to write on)

We've all heard about the first BC hitting like a truck and shifting the meta of the game in a grand way. Some were happy that NG was finally nerfed and led the way to some original or control lacking decks. Others were thrilled to hear that compass made a comeback and shed a light on GN decks. Every possible thing has been said already, so I don't see any sense in continuing to scream rants or shed tears of happiness. I would like to focus on the upcoming BC and perhaps tweak some of the made changes. Keep in mind that these are my suggestions and you are very welcomed to write your honest thoughts in the comments.

1. NILFGAARD

Previous changes left a heavy impact on this fraction, as the current winrate is drastically low in comparison to other fractions. In defence of people who voted for the major nerfs of this fraction – Yes, it opened a pathway for any decks and games to feel less oppressive as there isn't that much control. Yes, NG is still playable and has a high PR when compared to other fractions (some people even make cultist decks and somehow win with them). Yes, the majority of archetypes is playable with Assimilate, Hospitality, Mill, Enslave and even Soldiers. However…

With a high PR and one of the lowest WR it creates a devastating combo implying that we need to fix some changes and possibly invest time into creating a playable fraction. Definition of fun and playable cards/decks is subjective to everyone's personal opinion, but there are some existing statistics to back up the premise of tweaking NG.

a) Soldiers Archetype

Soldiers were an A Tier deck with great control, lots of points for themselves and top deck movement (Player would be able to get the majority of the cards they needed + existence of Calveit made the deck even easier to pilot). Then the nerfs came in and Nerfed a lot of cards in that archetype:

Imperial Formation – [-1 prov] Questionable ⚠️

Battle Stations! – [+1 prov] Deserved ✅

Jan Calveit – [-1 p] Incorrect nerf 🚫

Traheaern – [-1 p] Incorrect nerf 🚫 (Shouldn't even be in the game, but thats a different topic)

Slave Driver – [+1 prov] Questionable ⚠️

Imperial Marine – [+1 prov] Deserved ✅

Nauzicaa Sergeant – [-1 p] Questionable ⚠️

Alba – [-1 p] Questionable ⚠️

Starting with some things that I agree on:

Battle Stations! – Agreed, as it was a very powerful card allowing the player to play 2 engines at the same time, instantly proccing flanking. Besides allowing the player to draw 2 more cards.

Imperial Marine – Agreed, as it is a strong engine that in many cases required a removal of 6 instantly. Alligning it to 5 (if used flanking immediately) allows for more control to target this card.

Now a card that I think got the wrong treatment:

Jan Calveit – Not a reasonable nerf, as it will still be played for its Ability, not Power. Even after nerfing it to a 6 or below, it will still be played as its ability is very strong and ultimately game winning. In my opinion, the correct nerf should target his provision, not power.

Traheaern – Power won't change much, as again, it is oplayed for its ability, not power. Since we can't remove cards from the game, an increase to its provision would limit the possible decks he is played in.

Lastly, some changes that are questionable and should be analysed further:

Imperial Formation – It is difficult to understand that a leader nerf was neccessary. For some it may seem so, but counting all the other nerfs to this fration, it makes this archetype barely playable. With regard to other archetypes that used the same leader (Cultists/Tibor or Scenario Spam), this ability should be reverted to 16 prov, as the fear of Cultists is minimal (Affan nerf/15prov scenario/Nerfed bronzes) and the fear of Tibor/Scenario spam is minimal too (The archetype is considered to be a meme in the community and Top 500 players barely witness it, but it is present in the lower ranks). In order to combat these, we should target cards that create spam, not the leader ability that has 16 prov.

Slave Driver – Can't provide a full personal opinion on this card, as it is difficult to understand it with all the nerfs combined. Possibly if we were to revert the changes in this list, we could analyse the impact of Slave drivers. However, I'm leaning towards this nerf as spam of soldiers and imperial marines can be a big threat to the opponent.

Alba – Question to the community: Why nerf only a single card? If we were to nerf a single lock in the NG fraction, why shouldn't we nerf all of the locks? I understand that this is a bronze and the requirement for playing it is minimal (Front row), but only focusing on a single card is not appropriate for the game.. In my opinion that card that creates another copy of Alba should be targeted first. Besides, Even if Soldiers were to return, Alba will still be played for its ability with no regard to its base power (Up to a certain point).

Nauzicaa Sergeant – A change to a single power of the card wouldn't impact the card that heavily. Now, instead of 10p at 6 provs, it plays for 9p at 6 provs. The difference is quite subtle and hardly noticeable. I don't see a clear reason for this nerf, as it doesn't affect the outcome of the match (There are outliers and in some cases a single point can make a difference, but to blame the loss on a single card is not backed up by statistics).

To be continued…

P.S. Thank you very much to those who've read this small article and shared their opinion on this take. Since there are a lot of changes and it takes a long time to describe everything in detail, I would love to hear your opinion about this analysis. If there will be some positive feedback, I would love to create a separate blog regarding gwent or simply cover the changes and future tweaks for the next BC. Anyway, have a great day and hopefully we will see each other very soon:)

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