Unitless Scoia'Tael was already strong and obnoxious to face, but it was bearable due to the reliance on Madoc and the limited damage output that capped the damage at 4 for each bomb (probably a bit more if you add any leader) and the fact that Madoc is (somewhat) balanced due to having to stay on the board for 1 turn, thus giving opponent plenty of opportunities to remove him.
With the addition of Milva this is no longer the case.
The damage output in a single swing, using the unique Scoia'Tael bomb, turns a single 4p x 4 damage bomb to a:
4 bomb
3 Madoc
2 Milva
And 2 damage may not seem as strong, and sure, it is not by itself but we are addressing the whole thing here.
Turning every single 4p card into a 9 of power is absurd, and that is without taking into consideration the leader that also allows for yet another 4 points of damage (or more) if used properly.
What makes this deck unbearable to play against is the absence of units for the opponent to Interact with.
CDPR you added the "At least 13 units rule" because of decks like this that people always hated before, of which, Scoia'Tael was always the biggest offender.
Now Scoia'Tael has 5 "units" that the opponent cannot interact with as easily or it's almost impossible to interact unless you build a deck specifically to counter this strategy.
The units in question are:
Saskia, Saesenthessis, Milva, Sabertooth and Madoc, of which only Madoc is available for all factions.
Combine that with the fact that Scoia'Tael is the faction that can spam the most spell cards of the entire game, having graveyard spell recovery, as well as units that allow you to create even more spells and you have a strategy that gives the opponent little to no chance at all to play.
Scoia'Tael is basically playing with 8 units and the rest are units that commit suicide such as those Dwarfs or fillers that deal any kind of damage.
Scoia'Tael is breaking the "13 units rule" and for some reason they are allowed to.
Wether the opponent is playing a reactive strategy, such as Skellige damage, Nilfgaard Spies, Monsters Frost/Vampires, Syndicate Bounty or a proactive one such as NR Alumni, Monster Consume, SK Druids, SY Fireswarm, this Scoia'Tael has a perfect answers for both of those types of strategies.
Let me give you 2 examples:
Opponent is playing control oriented deck such as lock Nilfgaard:
"Oh, control and lock huh? It would be a shame if all my units were immune or leave the board the same turn, or were impossible to Interact with anything because they are artifacts"
Bomb, Madoc, movement, milva, sabertooth and lots of spells and what is left for the Nilfgaard player to interact with?
Exactly, nothing.
Or maybe if control decks are not the answer, perhaps proactive decks that care little to nothing about the opponent's board will do the trick! Right?
Wrong.
Opponent is playing NR mages / Fireswarm
"Oh so you are not interacting with my board? Thank you, I will proceed to just destroy every single unit you place on the board, now you can't setup your engines and your deck doesn't work without them, I win."
We are returning to the days when Unitless Scoia'Tael was the most oppressing deck around and that was before the "13 Units" rule.
It baffles me that CDPR keeps giving Scoia'Tael units that avoid this rule, by creating units that are basically spells.
Milva was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Enabling to output high amounts of damage in a single turn, while having a unit that secures itself inside the deck.
How to hot fix?
Easy, USE THE DAMN KEYWORDS YOU ALWAYS IMPLEMENT BUT NEVER USE AGAIN!
• COOLDOWN: CD 1 and boom you can no longer spam Milva in one single turn. Keeping her effect intact and the Interaction exactly the same.
• DEVOTION: Strong effects should be tied to faction specific strategies, make them choose between Milva or Madoc. Don't worry, Scoia'Tael has plenty of removal even without bombs and Madoc.
• ADRENALINE: Give her Adrenaline 6 or lower so the opponent can have a chance to at least setup any kind of board or engine. Early stages of the round are always the most vulnerable, disabling the ability to kill everything the first turns makes the opponent able to stand a chance against this oppressive deck and forces the Scoia'Tael player to think plays a bit more.
In conclusion.
This brain dead ST strategy has taken over Gwent already DAY 2 INTO THE NEW PATCH, the community hates this and many refuse to play against that.
It was a mistake, it is okay, maybe you didn't think this through… It's fine. But mistakes should be corrected, specially such a big offender.
A hotfix to Milva is absolutely necessary right now.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/gwent/comments/rbz3hm/milva_needs_a_hot_fix_cdpr_unitless_scoiatael_is/