We all know what's being said right now:
– "Oh it's just Heatwave fodder"
– "Spores can deal with it"
-"Geralt Yirden tee-hee"
What (I think) a lot of people don't realize is that R3 is all about direct point trades. If I play a 9pt griffin and opponent destroys it with geralt professional, he just one upped me by 3 whole points. Continue to do that and eventually you'll win the game.
Now let's picture this scenario: SY player has a 10pt jackal on the board,not too big not too small. I have Sabbath and immediately eat it, basically playing Yaga as a 21 on deploy. Now imagine opponent is not a devotion friend and heatwaves the fatty… oh no, right? WRONG! Net gain was -10 for them, since although Yaga was removed, the original Jackal is also gone. So Heatwave didn't repair the damage, it simply softened the blow.
This card will be played in a variety of decks. Even if it doesn't get a big 4p target, the removal alone will be worth it for the final rounds. Just like it doesn't exactly feel good to heatwave a Prince Anseis or a Seltkirt after their order is used, Yaga isn't a great target because half her points were effectively removal. It still needs to be dealt with of course, but it won't be as devastating as taking down a Ozzrel or Imlerith for example.
Thoughts, rebbutals?
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gwent/comments/pyxpc1/having_second_thoughts_about_yaga/
