META SNAPSHOT #7
10.11

Hello good folks of Gwent, it's Axii here! Welcome to another meta snapshot by Team White Frost! Patch 10.11 came out roughly 2 weeks ago with the necessary changes to prepare us for Gwent World Masters in early December 2022. That said, we did not witness new cards or crazy reworks but only tweaks and balance changes to some over-tuned cards. The meta seems to be diverse, with each faction having at least a somewhat decent archetype that could compete at the highest level. Nilfgaard remains the most popular faction, while also achieving the best winrates. It turns out that Renfri and Triss make a fantastic duo on the battlefield, who would've thought? Skellige and Monster are the 2nd and 3rd most popular faction, respectively. Despite the most recent buffs to the Symbiosis archetype, Scoia'Tael still falls behind in play rate.

Without further ado, let's dive into the meta snapshot of Gwent November season!

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TIER LIST SUMMARY

Tier 1

  • NG Renfri Double Cross Pointslam [8.75] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/9226ab214c3e868c08403ec1e8a562be

  • SY Sigi Collusion [8.5] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/05f09644a6a00a39abb8daefae733bfc


Tier 2

  • NG Knights [8.25] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/5d4822aae281eb8f271eb6f96885c998

  • NR Knights [8.25] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/a4da76038727d712d9328ea90d5b2b41

  • SK Raid Warrior [8.25] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/833602d44068ad4c502db23f368de2e9

  • MO Wild Hunt Devotion [8.25] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/45804243869b3d23044b8266c6dade7b


Tier 3

  • NR Reavers Spam [8] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/9cb534eef890f63312df392ed1163ce7

  • ST Symbiosis Devotion [7.75] https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/b62c73ba3fe4243fb3a24a1cb80b15df


Honorable Mention

  • SK Magic Selfwound https://www.playgwent.com/en/decks/b0e36097c0c43079263b49b10b239e45

TIER 1

Renfri Double Cross Pointslam [8.75]

Another patch, another month of which Nilfgaard stays on top of the meta with Renfri. As the "Imprisonment" leader ability was recently nerfed, we have switched back to Double Cross, and that's how a Nilfgaard meta deck was created. This deck has everything: thinning, pointslam, control, removal, consistency, high-swing tempo cards; ... which makes it a very strong list in the current meta.

We love the Guillaume, Milton and Ivar package. It provides a ton of points that works in all matchups, and is quite easy to execute in almost every game. Spotters and Sergeant are still very strong to abuse, even at 6p. Teaming up with Ramon and Slave Driver is the way to go.

Sigi Collusion Cove [8.5]

This is a mid-range devotion list that can set up Gang tags to maximize the value from Sigi and Collusion. With the recent nerf to Sigi, we have to include Collusion to effectively combo with Tunnel Drill.

As a devotion list with Pirate's Cove leader ability, it's not that difficult for this deck to set up gang tags. The deck has a lot of synergies, and the Golds package can vomit a lot of points on play, especially the Sigi into Collusion and Tunnel Drill power play. Coins generation is stable for the deck, with KoB and plenty of bronzes to profit from.

On the other hand, mulligans can be tricky. KoB, Drill and Collusion are considered bricks. Drawing any of these cards in unfavorable rounds can easily result in a loss. If the bricks happen too often in your games, 1 Little Bird can be exchanged for an Eavesdrop to fix your hand, although not entirely guaranteed.

TIER 2

Nilfgaard Knights [8.25]

This is a solid list that utilizes the "boost opponent" archetype with some of the best NG bronzes, alongside some control tech options that might surprise the opponents.

It's fairly straightforward to talk about the game plan of this deck: just boost your opponents! The deck has some tempo plays and thinning combos that would be nice to draw in R1. The standout point of this deck is its removal values. Vilgefortz and Ivar play for huge points, while Black Blood and the leader ability go well with each other to create an instant removal play.

Surrender is the tech option to target Reavers and row-stacking in general. Aguara is a flexible tech, with the ability to lock or unlock a key card from either side of the board. However, there isn't real control in the deck, making some matchups unfavorable, especially against binary decks like Cultists spam.

NR Knights [8.25]

With the recent nerfs to Geralt: Yrden, Geralt: Igni and the lower playrates of Syndicate Self-poison; NR Knights thrived, both playrate-wise and winrate-wise.

The list vomits crazy points if key cards are undisrupted, especially if you are on blue coin and are able to grow your Aerondight. On red coin, with just Immortals, Damned Sorceress and a few bronzes, you can easily contest the round or even threaten to win on even.

The deck has a decent amount of engines to go for a long round. However, even in a short round, Damsel in Distress with 2 knights and leader charges can vomit 50+ points if unanswered.

Raid Warrior [8.25]

Recent changes in the Patricidal Fury leader ability made bloodthirst abilities much easier to execute. Similar to previous Raid Warrior lists, the deck plays around Highland Warlords to enhance subsequent raid special cards.

The most noticeable changes are Feral Bonds, Champion's Charge, Djenge and Sove. These cards require specific bloodthirst conditions to optimize their values. Thanks to the new Patricidal Fury, the SK player can freely set up bloodthirst 1, 2, 3, 4 or even more; which fully enables mentioned cards.

Although Sove was recently nerfed, we believe that while Raid lists are extremely strong in the Control aspect, it needs more proactive points on its side. And while Tuirseach Invader is already pretty decent, a 20-point immune unit that also thins can be a great addition. This list runs 2 bronze beasts for backup reasons. Feel free to swap one out for another raid special or warrior if necessary.

Wild Hunt Devotion [8.25]

Wild Hunt devotion has always been a solid tier 2 deck. The deck has strong engines, good pointslam values and a lot of movement, which counters Reaver decks and to some extent, NG Renfri with Triss. As Spotters got tweaked with the armor removal upon clicking order, White Frost has become a bit more popular and more competitive when appearing on the ladder.

On the other hand, the deck doesn't have that many control tools, which might be a problem against engine-heavy decks. At the same time, the deck has very limited consistency, of which replacing a Red Riders and Slave Trader with 2 Wild Hunt Riders would help a little bit. However, we prefer this greedier list and trust that the players believe in the heart of their cards.

TIER 3

Reavers Spam [8]

"Yes, we love Reavers. It's the best archetype that CDPR has come up with for a long time. The deck is strong, extremely rewarding and requires lots of thinking with each and every card played. It shows how powerful the North is and is an undisputed representative of the entire Northern Realms."

...

Said no one ever!

...

Despite a lot of nerfs, the deck still finds decent success as a tier 3 deck. If you don't have plenty of control/movement tools; or the ability to vomit 30 points in 2 turns; or the ability to clog their front row; chances are you will struggle against this deck.

With the provisions nerf, we have to tweak a few cards here and there, but overall the game plan and deck execution should stay exactly the same as last patch.

Have fun hunting!

...

(guys stop playing Reavers, seriously)

Symbiosis Devotion [7.75]

This Symbiosis list has a lot of engines that aren't easy to deal with.

Key cards like Aucwenn, Eithne and Freixenet can produce a lot of points in a medium to long round without much difficulty. While creating points on the board, Simlas with double Bountiful Harvests and Dunca can provide some carryover for subsequent rounds as well.

With the recent buffs to Symbiosis, we are seeing more plays of the archetype. However, the archetype still has some flaws that prevent it from reaching tier 2 or tier 1 or the meta. First of all, the deck is highly vulnerable to Igni or Yrden. At the same time, as a devotion list, there are no tall removals or Heatwave built-in, which will make it suffer a lot in this meta.

Honorable Mention

Magic Selfwound

This is a surprise decklist that we got from a Meta team member.

The idea of the deck is to play golds R1, Lippy in R2 and continue to play golds in R3. With perfect execution, the deck can play Magic Compass in R2 with 2 cards in the deck and again in R3, both times optimizing the "Legendary" component of the card.

This deck wins R1 frequently since it is allowed to play top-end golds, has a cheese combo of Defender-Sukrus for surprise value and performs well against non-NG and non-SY decks.