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Basic Gameplay for Beginners

Welcome, Aretuza Novice, to our course Basic Gameplay for Beginners! The lessons in this course are aimed towards complete Gwent beginners. We will introduce you to the basic rules and card mechanics of Gwent. You will learn about rows, different types of cards, keywords and many other factors that make playing Gwent a unique experience. After completing this course, you will be able to play and understand Gwent, as well as move onto more detailed content that we have prepared for you in our other courses.

Contributors: Writing: lordgort & SwanDive; Review: Easha Dustfeather.

 

Introduction

Gwent cards can refer to categories or contain keywords. Together, they make Gwent gameplay complex and rewarding. This lesson is an introduction to categories and keywords.

 

Categories & Tags

Categories are the tags that appear below a card's name in mouseovers or on full viewing, such as "Human" or "Bandit." Card abilities can refer to one or more categories.

For a list of all tags currently in the game, see our Aretuza Glossary entry for "Tag".

 

Special categories

There are nine main categories that appear on special cards: Alchemy, Bomb, Crime, Nature, Organic, Raid, Spell, Tactic, and Warfare.

Gwent cards can reference one of these categories instead of all specials, like Ermion playing an Alchemy card from your deck or Menno Coehoorn doing the same for a Tactic card.

 

Unit categories

There are many more unit categories than special categories. The Monsters faction alone has the following categories: Beast, Crone, Cursed, Demon, Dragon, Elf, Insectoid, Mage, Mutant, Necrophage, Ogroid, Plant, Relict, Specter, Vampire, Warrior, and Wild Hunt. That's quite a list!

A unit can have multiple categories or refer to others. For example, Siege Master is a Human Soldier. (Note: A card's "race" is always mentioned first.) As a Human, it is affected by Draug. As a Soldier, it synergizes with Ronvid the Incessant

Some unit categories also go "tribal", so to say, meaning that the more you play of that unit category, the more synergy you can create. Elves and Dwarves in Scoia’tael often trigger additional effects, when another one of their unit category enters the board, enabling you to quickly overrun the enemy, if you get enough units of that category on the board. For example, take a look at Dwarven Mercenary and Isengrim Faoiltiarna.

 

Artifact categories

Artifacts generally do not have categories, except for Scenarios, Locations and Traps. Traps are exclusive to the Scoia’tael faction and there are cards such as Iorveth and Elven Scout that interact with or depend on Traps. Additionally, all Traps have the Ambush and Spring keywords. Scenarios, on the other hand, depend themselves on the cards you play, while Locations can interact with the cards you already have on your side of the board (Stygga Castle) or with the cards in opponent’s graveyard (Gorthur Gvaed).

 

Keywords

A keyword is shorthand for a longer piece of rules text, which at the same time represents a specific game mechanic, that can be referenced by other cards.

An example ability would be: “Destroy an enemy unit with Order”.

For a list of all keywords currently in the game, see our Aretuza Glossary entry for "Keywords".

 

Faction-specific keywords

A handful of keywords are specific to one faction. Ambush is specific to Scoia'tael, Thrive appears only on Monsters cards, and Bloodthirst is exclusive to Skellige. 

Other keywords are heavily concentrated in a single faction. Out of twenty cards with Deathwish, a full seventeen can appear only in Monsters decks, while Nilfgaard has the majority of Spying cards.

 

Order and related keywords

Order is strategically the most complex keyword in Gwent, and Aretuza Academy has created an entire lesson about Order and its related keywords Zeal, Charge, and Cooldown, because of that complexity.

 

Conclusion

  • Categories appear below card names on mouseover
  • Other cards can refer to categories, creating interactions in a deck
  • Units can have multiple categories
  • Keywords are shorthand for a longer line of game text
  • Some keywords are faction-specific, while others are universal

 

Author

Green Cricket

Green Cricket Green Cricket is Aretuza Member

Green Cricket is one of the heads of Aretuza, creating an environment where players and content creators can thrive and continuously improve themselves. In addition to his work at Aretuza, he runs a Gwent YouTube channel for beginners and advanced players alike. He teaches how to become better at Gwent and offers one in-depth Gwent guide each week as inspiration.