Gwent 2.0 – This is Gwent from Witcher 3 with fixes to improve the balance of the decks.
Why was rebalancing necessary? Because the power of the decks in the Witcher 3 version was not equal. The Northern Realms and Nilfgaard were too strong because of their spies. Other decks, especially Scoia’tael, were much weaker. The Scoia'tael deck didn’t have strong enough troops or enough effective options for scoring points. The Monster deck was too vulnerable to Frost because of too many close combat troops in its army. The turning of berserkers into bears - Skellige's chief mechanic - was not efficient enough. The unsurprising result was that spy decks won much more often.
We studied all these errors and fixed them. The Northern Realms and Nilfgaard decks were weakened and other decks were strengthened or were given effective tools to fight. As a result, all five decks now have an equal chance of winning. Gwent 2.0 is for players who desire fair card battles! We played hundreds of battles to test the balance, so you can be sure that the gameplay of Gwent 2.0 is much better than that of original Gwent.
SCOIA'TAEL
Its army has become more agile. Additional
guerrilla options were added into this deck (for example, abilities like
Vrihedd's ‘Decoy’ or ‘Scoia'tael Ambush’). ‘Agility’ was also reworked, so now
you can move troops to another row right in the middle of a battle.
MONSTERS
Ranged and siege monsters were strengthened. Now
there is no need to focus on close combat monsters, making this deck less
vulnerable to Frost. Additionally, we added some new abilities (Gaunter O’Dimm’s
‘Contract’, Caranthir's ‘Frost’, Necrophages, Foglet). All of them make Monster
deck tactics much more complex and varied.
SKELLIGE
We added additional berserkers and new ways to
turn them into bears, making the turning tactic significantly more effective. We
also added a new special card ‘Skellige Fleet’ and 3 additional leaders, so now
the islanders have 5 leaders like the other factions.
NORTHERN REALMS
The value of spies was increased, so now careless
spy spamming can do more harm than good; players must wait for the right moment
to get the best use from them. As compensation some ranged and close combat
troops were strengthened, so now players don’t have to rely on siege troops (as
was the habit in Witcher 3). Northern tactics overall have become more varied. Also,
Sheldon Skaggs and Zoltan Chivay got new ‘battle comrade’ ability. Each of
these brave dwarfs can now protect another card from death, especially useful
as the Northern ‘tight bond’ troops were very vulnerable to Scorch.
NILFGAARD
Very strong troops were weakened and the value
of spies was increased. The number of medics was reduced, making it harder to
draw spies from the discard pile and reuse them. As compensation some cards got
a new Emissary ability, which complements the spy gameplay of the Nilfgaardians.
Emissaries can be combined with spies to increase their effectiveness.
FIXED LEADERS’ BALANCE
In Witcher 3 Gwent, some decks had ineffective leaders, while some were
very strong. For example, the version of Emhyr which allows players to "draw
one card from opponent's discard pile to your hand" was the strongest
leader among all the Nilfgaardian leaders and it was used by players in 90% of cases.
At the same time the version which "resurrects one random card from
your discard pile (in your favour) and one random card from your opponent's
discard pile (in opponent's favour)" seemed useless compared to the former,
and therefore was almost never used. The same imbalance was also present in
some other decks. In Gwent 2.0 we improved the ineffective leaders so now each
one in each faction is useful.
CARD BALANCE AND ANOTHER
FIXES
In the Witcher 3 original, unit cards were not
equal in strength. Each deck had a set of around 15 very strong cards, which
players used in every battle with very little variety. Medium and weak cards were
almost never used. We fixed that. Most of the weak cards were either strengthened
(by increasing their power or adding some ability) or removed. In Gwent 2.0
each deck has 32-38 completely useful unit cards, so deck building has become
more interesting. Details can be seen in the photos. Also, the number of weather
cards (Frost, Fog, Rain, Clear Skies) was reduced from 3 to 2 to avoid weather
spamming. Major neutral cards (Ciri, Geralt, Yennefer) have a copy for each
deck (except Monsters).
What is included in this set:
All cards are large at 5.9 x 11.2 centimetres. Suitable protective sleeves are readily available at a size of 6.1 х 11.2 cm (61х112 mm, or search for “French Tarot” size). Thickness of cards - 300 g/m2. Print quality is good and the text is sharp.
We have also created 5 new factions for Gwent 2.0: Redania, Toussaint, Witchers, Wild Hunt, and Velen. Each faction has many new gameplay mechanics, unique battle tactics, appropriate artwork and, of course, good balance. You can find the details about them in our other listings and save on shipping by ordering at the same time, or buy a complete set of all 10 decks.
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