Opinion of current state from a returning players perspective.

I apologise if this is too long or not to your liking in advance.

Hello everyone. For what it's worth i thought I'd share my perspective as someone who returned to the game after a long layoff. I need to make a point at this time something that will make sense at the end but keep this in my mind. I'm a NG main. It's my go-to faction and my favourite one. Please don't auto hate go to the end you'll understand why i put this disclaimer.

I've been playing Gwent since beta on the PS4 and stopped for a long while after it launched on andriod due to some personal problems. I have been occasionally playing to keep up this past year and to get back into it but couldn't keep the same level of previous interest.

These past few weeks i have played a tremendous amount of Gwent, daily, not so much because I fell in love with the game again but rather the opposite. We'll come back to this later.

I had a lot of catching up to do. A lot of new cards and a lot of new mechanics. Lot of trial and error. Lot of losses and learning phases. Not once did I watch a youtube video or browse net decks or meta lists. I enjoyed the process of learning. But ultimately it was a learning phase with a lot of errors on my part.

I was going to write an indepth analysis of my experience and the game state but as i was writing it at this moment i thought it would be better to just cut it to point.

And that point is Renfri and NG.

Im not sure how many of you remember a very long time ago Old Speartip was a controversial card. Yes. A 12 point uninteractable slam was a problem. Because you just played it from your hand and it was 12 big huge points with no set up. It was adjusted several times to placate the tempo it bought when played. If you remember let me know.

They both have similar provision costs but one is clearly night and day above the other.
Of all my years playing this game, enduring artifact decks, weather spam, unitless decks and OP cards that were hotfixed the same week, in all my years never have I been as frustrated as this card has made me feel.

Back to why i have been playing so much this week. Its because the level of frustration these matches caused me. Yes i know its not good but spending hours crafting a homebrew deck, playing several games enjoying all the new cards and faction themes, wins losses didn't matter, go back improve deck, change this or that etc. It is what it is, win some lose some. It was gwent as usual until i met this card and its decks.

The first experience i had with this card AND the type of decks it was run in was after i ranked up from 13 or something to rank 4 using a updated version of my old tactic deck with the new Steffan. My opponent was some Nilfgaard deck with a new Slave Driver, Nauzicaa and Spotter ability. I was being point slammed from left and right, round 1, round 3, 10+ plus bronze, gold cards that boosted me then stole my entire points next turn, goodness I could barely keep up.
Eventually by some miracle of God I'm still keeping up in round 3, 1 card left each. Vilgefortz one of his many huge ass cards, in the lead by 13 or so points, no tall units to get Igni or removed, pretty safe and confident. And then this monstrosity comes down for something like 24 point swing and fucks me right in the ass. No lube.

I spent the next 20 minutes reading this card and each of its abilities only to realize there was no counter to this card and it was actually stronger before and had been nerfed. This version that just fucked me was the nerfed version.

Okay so clearly I suck at Gwent, i need to get good as the kids would say, so i keep playing and i see new raid decks, nice, new thrive support, nice, new harmony immune engine, very nice.

All is good i can get over this one nonsense card, the rest is good right? Right?! It was until I had my first taste of being gangbanged by a group of Reavers against my will. However i could interact with that deck and disrupt their play and eventually i looked forward to meeting them after i learned their weaknesses to test my adjustments.

And then it happened again. This time there was a bloody Shupe in there. As if Renfri wasn't enough oh no we need Shupe to kick me in the nuts while I'm down. NG Renfri. Not once not twice, 9 or 8 out of 10 matches was varying versions of NG Renfri. Mostly either bronze soldiers or boost and steal or a combination.

I eventually cue into a Monster and Scoia'tael deck. Finally something other than NG Renfri. Bleed and hand buff. Cool let's go yes yes.
This was not the typical handbuff or bleed deck i was expecting. Both players use all ability round 1 and go hard. Real hard like i insulted their mom or something. And you know what they both had in common? That's right. Runestone Mage. Oh yeah and Renfri.

As someone who mains NG and loves the faction, as i said in the beginning, as a die hard NG fanboy even I cannot condone or support the nonsense bronze cards and buff and remove gold cards. My faction is OP but i am sad because i do not want to play this filth and make my opponents feel like i feel. I take no joy using these cards and refuse to use this deck. And for me to use NG in a honourable way i have to use less inferior cards which cannot compete in the meta unless i include these broken cards so i am basically locked out of playing NG. Either i join the darkside or get shafted by using anything else.

Final thoughts. NG bronze package/combo is still post patch OP. Ivo is broken in boost decks and NG boost decks in general are OP more so now with Yrden nerf. Renfri is a pain in the ass. Now you combine all this shit together and you get a monstrosity that pushes you away from playing.

RIP siege engines.