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Meta Snapshot #12

Patch Overview

Update: 17 November 2019; First published: 16 October 2019; Game version: 4.1.0.64

 

Changelog:

 

Contributors

Consultants: Adzikov, Damorquis, Jamedi, JMJWilson23, Kochua, Kolemoen, Molegion, Santtu2x, Sergi2Vamos.
Editors: Apero, Kochua
Manager: JMJWilson23

Tier 1

Decks in this tier have favourable matchups against the majority of lower tier decks and some favourable matchups against other Tier 1 lists. Another criterion is that these decks should be able to win against lower-tier decks on blue coin most of the time.

 

Tier 2

Decks in this tier can beat Tier 1 decks if the player can access its full potential, or are strong decks with a clear counter; in addition, these decks should win consistently against lower tiers.

 

Tier 3

While decks in this tier remain good laddering options that can successfully achieve high winrates, they can struggle to achieve the same winrate when matched up against decks we place in higher tiers. They may make for strong tournament options.

 

Honorable Mentions

Decks here aren't strong or popular enough to be tiered, but have enough potential to be better with the adequate support cards. They may win against unsuspecting opponents and can make for interesting tournament options, but are otherwise worth just keeping an eye on.


Written by Jamedi; Consultation: Damorquis, JMJWilson23 and SwanDive

 

What is a Meta Snapshot?

A Meta Snapshot is a comprehensive list of the decks which are played in a CCG. The decks are ordered by criteria, accounting for their power level through a tier (used by Team Aretuza & Team Nova), star or numerical system. If you would like to discuss our current Meta Snapshot, you can join our Discord server.

 

Which kind of criteria are used to classify a deck into a tier?

While the list of criteria is extensive, here are the most important aspects:

  • Power level is the amount of points a deck can output in comparison to others in the meta. In general, decks of higher tiers tend to have a greater number of unconditional points without depending on what rival decks do.
  • Consistency is focused on the draw dependency of a deck and the amount of thinning this deck has. Better thinning means more consistency, which usually means easier access to higher-value cards. If a deck is too dependent on drawing one or two certain cards but runs no thinning, it lacks consistency.
  • Counterability is the difficulty that other decks have to tech for the matchup against a certain deck and how much they need to sacrifice to improve the matchup. In Gwent, there are a lot of ways to prepare a deck for a concrete matchup and we can expect players to tech against the strongest/most popular decks of the metagame. The capability of a deck to win despite teching plays a role in its tier placement.

The data are collected by the players in several hundred matches and is then translated into the Snapshot. While the normal ladder experience can be different, tiered decks are good to climb the ladder to Pro Rank with relative ease.

 

What is the meaning of the different tiers?
  • Tier 1: Decks in this tier are the strongest, the most difficult to counter and heavily influence how decks in other tiers adapt.
  • Tier 2: Usually this tier covers decks which are still good, but due to some reason, they cannot be qualified as Tier 1. They usually have less strength than Tier 1 decks or have another factor that makes them slightly worse than top tier decks. In some particular metagames, a deck can be Tier 2 due to how easy it is to tech against it.
  • Tier 3: Decks in this category are still viable for climbing the ranked ladder, but they encounter more difficulty at high fMMR. They can still be used as tournament picks (in formats in which you can ban). They may still have favorable matchups versus some Tier 1 decks, but they are usually unfavored. Decks which are inconsistent or too draw-dependent also fall into this category.
  • Honorable Mentions: Here, we put decks whose strength is not enough to be tiered, but which have the potential to be much better with some support. These decks are always worth keeping an eye on. A deck which has been discovered recently and has not been played enough to be tiered can also fall into this category.

 

My experience differs from what you describe in the Snapshot. Does this mean that the Snapshot is not accurate?

Short answer, no. Long answer, there are a huge number of factors that can influence the development of a matchup between two players with their respective decks, which includes player skill, knowledge of the matchup and the respective decks, cards drawn and how they have played the match. Also, it is worth noting that a meta snapshot represents a picture of how the meta is in a particular moment. “Tiers” as defined above are never rigid constructs. In any given day, the meta can shift dramatically.

In general, inexperienced players tend to play worse and with more unpredictable lists. As we move up on the ladder, decklists tend to be more optimized, sometimes influenced by content creators such as popular streamers or the most recent meta snapshot. Reaching Pro Rank, we can expect to face the best possible players with the most optimized decklists.

 

I have a different list from the one shown in the Snapshot. Does this mean that one of the lists is incorrect?

Lists provided in our snapshots are usually stock lists, which are supposed to be a base to be modified according to the meta you are currently facing and your own playstyle. The tech section provides some card replacement options which may be more effective within a particular meta. This normally does not affect a deck’s overall consistency.

 

I haven’t seen this deck which appears in the Snapshot / I play this list or this archetype and it isn’t in the Snapshot.

The Snapshot tries to be as accurate and complete as possible. We release an initial snapshot as soon as the meta has settled after a game patch and make as many updates as possible afterwards. If a deck is not included, it will most likely be added in one of the next updates, as we try to prioritize the most popular and relevant decks. Despite that, we have to skip some decks which are unpopular or are very similar to existing ones. If you would like to be informed about our updates, feel free to check our website regularly or follow Team Aretuza or Team Nova on Twitter or Discord.

 

Are you just including the most popular decks/FOTM lists? Do you keep the best lists for yourselves?

No. While it is true that part of our work is to try and create a representation of the meta that is as accurate as possible and this, of course, includes the popularity of decks, popularity has no impact on how decks are tiered. We do not keep the best lists for ourselves. We are creating meta snapshots to share our collective knowledge of this game and provide players of all levels with a more enjoyable Gwent experience.

 

Do you have more questions? Join the discussion on Discord!


Tier 1

Tier 2

Overview

In previous months, we have seen the rise of decks featuring Shupe's Day Off with the Pincer Maneuver leader ability. These were highly flexible decks that featured strong control elements while also falling back upon the power of some key cards in a shorter round when necessary. With the continued surge in power level of the card pool, Shupe's Day Off is simply too weak in the deck compared to other high cost options when we account for the deck-building restriction. Cards such as Redanian Archer and some of the 4-provision bronzes are too strong to use as singleton copies. As a result, we have a deck that is capable of controlling nearly all threats from the opponent.

 

Essential Cards

  • The biggest enabler to this type of deck is likely Philippa: Blind Fury. One of the key advantages of a deck like this is that it is often able to maintain card advantage when the opponent attempts to push us in Round 2. This is even simpler with the advent of Philippa: Blind Fury, as we can punish the opponent for trying to push us with engines by removing multiple engines at once.
  • Another of our power plays is Prince Anséis, which represents removal on targets that other cards in our deck cannot tackle. A key combo that the deck will often utilize is Deploying Prince Anséis on the Melee row to give it Zeal and following up with our Pincer Maneuver leader ability on the same turn to play Prince Stennis and boost Anséis to 8 points immediately. This provides us with a huge tempo swing that can also remove otherwise impossible engines.

 
Pros

  • Probably the strongest control deck in the game
  • Flexible deck with answers to almost everything; can tech for common matchups easily

Cons

  • Lacks proactive points, especially in the high-provision cards
  • Reliance on draw variance. We play answers to almost everything but we need these cards at the correct moment, else we rely on our leader ability to fetch key cards.

 

Tech Choices

  • Lambert: Swordmaster, Vincent Meis ⇒ Surrender, Síle de Tansarville

Lambert: Swordmaster began its stay in this deck mainly as a tech against swarm decks, but it is also one of our better tools against Scoia’tael Dwarf decks by wiping out Rowdy Dwarfs. An even more effective card against Dwarves (Scoia’tael in general really) is Surrender, which we can tech in if the meta contains a high representation of this matchup.

  

Written by JMJWilson23.

 

7,070 25 23 165

  • 15
    Pincer Maneuver
    Leader
    Pincer Maneuver Order: Play a Northern Realms faction card from your hand, then draw any card. This ability adds 15 provisions to your deck's provisions limit.
  • 7
    11
    Falibor
    Falibor Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 3. Deathblow: Repeat the Deploy ability and decrease the damage by 1.
  • 1
    11
    Philippa: Blind Fury
    Philippa: Blind Fury Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 4, then damage a random enemy unit by 3,2,1.
  • 6
    10
    Bloody Baron
    Bloody Baron Formation. Order: Reset a unit. Inspired: If it was boosted, give it Bleeding for a duration equal to the amount of boost it lost.
  • 4
    10
    Avallac'h
    Avallac'h Deploy: Spawn and play Biting Frost, Impenetrable Fog, or Torrential Rain.
  • 4
    10
    One-Eyed Betsy
    One-Eyed Betsy Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 4. If it has Armor, damage it by 6 instead.
  • 4
    10
    Prince Anséis
    Prince Anséis Formation. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 4. Inspired: Duel an enemy unit instead.
  • 6
    9
    Lambert: Swordmaster
    Lambert: Swordmaster Deploy: Damage an enemy unit and all its copies by 2.
  • 6
    8
    Mad Kiyan
    Mad Kiyan Formation. Order: Damage an enemy unit by the amount Mad Kiyan is boosted. Deathblow: Destroy Mad Kiyan.
  • 5
    8
    Vissegerd
    Vissegerd Formation. Deploy: Gain Charges equal to the number of boosted allied units. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 1. Charge: 1.
  • 4
    8
    Prince Stennis
    Prince Stennis Deploy (Melee): Boost an allied unit by 4. Deploy (Ranged): Boost 4 allied units by 1.
  • 8
    Thunderbolt
    Thunderbolt Zeal. Order: Boost an allied unit by 3. Charge: 2.
  • 2
    6
    Vincent Meis
    Vincent Meis Zeal. Order (Melee): Set the power of a non-boosted enemy to 1.
  • 5
    Alzur's Thunder
    Alzur's Thunder Damage a unit by 5.
  • 6
    5
    Cursed Knight
    Cursed Knight Deploy: Transform an allied unit that is not a Cursed Knight into a Cursed Knight without changing its power.
  • 3
    5
    Redanian Archer
    x2
    Redanian Archer Zeal. Order (Ranged): Damage an enemy unit by 1. Charge: 1. Barricade: At the end of every allied turn, gain 1 Charge.
  • 4
    4
    Aedirnian Mauler
    x2
    Aedirnian Mauler Order (Melee): Damage an enemy unit by 2.
  • 3
    4
    Ballista
    x2
    Ballista Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 1. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2.
  • 3
    4
    Lyrian Arbalest
    Lyrian Arbalest Order: Damage a unit by 1. Charge: 1. Gain 1 Charge whenever you play a card with Orders.
  • 3
    4
    Radovid's Royal Guards
    x2
    Radovid's Royal Guards Formation. Order: Boost an allied unit by 2. Inspired: Give it 2 Armor.
  • 2
    4
    Redanian Knight
    x2
    Redanian Knight Barricade (Ranged): At the end of every allied turn, boost self by 1. Exposed: Move self to the melee row, then damage the strongest enemy unit by 2.

Matchups

Favorable against
Struggles against

Tier 3

Honorable Mentions