CDPR, how many tier S archetypes is enough for NG? Why so few for others?

I love this game. I'm an NR main, but I think this affects MO, ST, SY, and also SK to a degree.

When I play as NG, I have multiple tier S or best-in-game archetypes: mill, control (lock or damage with tactics), copyspawn, and now pointslam archetype thanks to the new enemy boost mechanic. Lock, mill, and copyspawn are usually timeless. Others, like hyperthin, might come and go.

As I switch to NR, my main archetype is basically pointslam. There are two different flavors to it: copyspawn, boost. There is a tier B control deck via siege, but my whole deck needs to be built around it. Yes Reaver Hunters are (or were) meta due to that one card. It happens.

(This is not about meta. Every season two or three decks is OP to a degree and becomes meta. It happens.)

But as both NR and NG soldiers and knights recently got a makeover, can you guess who got the better deck?

I main a pointslam NR deck, and I frequently get beat by NG pointslam.

This is the "NG is superior" trend, and it goes down the list:

• Assimilate > Patience
• Tactics > Warfare
• Cultists > Specters
• Deploy > Orders
• Flanking > Crew ("Crew" is the price of getting past an NR countdown tax (!))

Most NG interacts with each other. Invo and Vilgefortz are timeless and also synergistic (Assimilate, mill). It's easy to throw cheap control or mill options in with any deck for NG – poison, lock, tactics – all have excellent 4-5 prov cards. Meanwhile NR has weak damage, one gold 6p lock option, one gold 6p purify option, no poison, and no mill.

We get it, NG is the pretty girl in class, it's the faction most new users gravitate towards. But at what point are you punishing other factions? I don't have the time, resources, or interest to main another faction. Acquiring new factions is a grind. I wasn't here during beta. I've paid for two premium journeys.

I get it, every faction will be better at a few things. Fool me once. But when a new drop with cards that support my main homebrew pointslam (again, NR's primary archetype) gets beaten by an NG refresh, AND they get better use of NR keywords (grace, soldier) AND they get an exclusive new keyword, FLANKING, named after a fucking NR unit? (Literally). It feels like CDPR is saying "why are you spending time & money with THAT dumb faction?"

(For the record lock & mill stops almost all MO, NR, SK, SY, ST engines, Vypper eats graveyards, oppocopy includes oppo's defenders – for lower provs! – and NG has 6dmg bronze special with tactic synergy for any setup cards. Oh, and there's no answer to mill except luck.)

The variety and creativity in making new decks is what sets Gwent apart from other games. So when one faction is consistently arguably better — has more archetypes, consistently more tier A or S decks, more and better tags, fewer dead cards, better synergies, more "answer" cards and more "timeless" cards than all others — it kills Gwent's best feature, and the player's joy along with it.

There is no difference between making one faction more attractive and making every other faction less fun.

Awful lot of users in this sub comment about NG being a pain to play against. Also a lot comment here about taking breaks. Perhaps there's some math to do there.

But hey, it's not my game, I'm just a guy paying for it.