The top 16 qualifiers for the last Gwent Open started today, so I thought I'd make a post summarizing the tournament meta. All decks can be found here. Note that there were only 14 total participants, as Bart933 and TLG_KaydenKross (whoever that is, I can't keep these name changes straight) elected not to participate.

Syndicate (14 total decks):

• Lined Pockets (14)
  • w/Sigi (5)
  • w/Graden (10)
  • w/Scoundrel (1)
  • w/Flying Redanian (11)
  • w/Azar Javed (1)
  • w/Philippa (4)

Not too surprising that every player brought Lined Pockets Crimes. Not only is it widely considered to be the best SY deck, it also has been one of the best decks in the game for several months. There is quite a lot of variety in exactly how these decks are built though, with some even cutting the Flying Redanain.

Nilfgaard (14 total decks):

• Tactical Decision Hyperthin (2)
  • w/Heatwave (1)
  • w/Defender (1)
• Imprisonment Midrange Assimilate (10)
  • w/Vincent (3)
  • w/Amnesty (6)
• Enslave 6 (1)
• Double Cross Midrange Assimilate (1)

Most people here are running the Imprisonment Assimilate deck, which was popularized last season. There's a lot fewer Hyperthin decks than you might expect, possible out of fear of it getting targeted. Most interesting is the Enslave 6 deck Witcher_Cat brought and magpie's decision to bring Double Cross rather than Imprisonment for Midrange Assimilate.

Scoia'tael (10 total decks):

• Precision Strike Spells (8)
  • w/Scenario (6)
  • w/Alzur (7)
  • w/Vanadain+Snowdrop (1)
• Nature's Gift Devotion Symbiosis (2)
  • w/Defender (1)
  • w/Gezras (1)

Again, not much of a surprise to see a lot of Alzur ST decks, most of which use Scenario. I like that some of them switched to Alzur's Double Cross to pull Alzur rather than Royal Decree. The two Devotion Symbiosis decks are also a breath of fresh air, as this deck hasn't seen tournament play in several months. Then of course we have Mya-Mon choosing to be the wild card as always and play Vanadain-Renew-Snowdrop for the Simlas Waylay combo.

Skellige (8 total decks):

• Reckless Flurry Control (6)
  • w/Discard Package (5)
  • w/Portal (1)
• Battle Trance Gedy(1)
• Battle Trance Control (1)

The SK decks were mostly Reckless Flurry Control decks we've seen before, with most players opting for the discard package over portal this time around, although not all of them include Wanderers. The two Battle Trance decks are about as different as you could build Battle Trance decks, so I separated them into two categories. The Gedy variant runs Melusine/Dracoturtle/Covenant of Steel and presents a lot of threats that demand answers, while the Control variant plays Heatwave, Axii, Bear Witchers, and Wanderers with the discard package to be more of a Control style deck.

Northern Realms (7 total decks):

• Inspired Zeal Duels (6)
  • w/Siege (1)
• Inspired Zeal Commandos (1)

NR returns to the tournament meta mostly with the duels package, running Seltkirk/Ansies/Viraxas/Gerhart/Shani/Baron at the top end with the mage Students, Marines, and Reinforced Ballista making up your bronze core. John Sally decided to go for a Siege version instead, while Wlastelin brought Commandos.

Monsters (3 total decks):

• "True" Arachas Swarm (2)
• Arachas Swarm Glusty (1)

One month after Relicts dominated the meta, no one brought it to Top 14 qualifiers – not even the Koschey versions that have sprung up this month. Two of these three AS decks are the usual Portal/Crimson Curse/Chimera/Bone Talisman decks that have been around for a while, though Witcher_Cat has included a Zoltan:Scoundrel I thought was cool. The oddball is once again Mya-Mon, bringing a much different deck that looks to get a massive Glusty by using cards like Manticore Venom to line up the opponent's units.

As a footnote, I'd like to point out that while this meta certainly isn't perfect, its diversity is significantly improved from the one we saw at Gwent Open #3 last month, and I look forward to what next weekend's decks look like and what will happen to the meta next month.