gwent cheating? or am i doing something wrong?

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

i have read the guide and faqs both here and on other sites yet i feel like gwent i cheating. last time i played a "card" game was FF8. how is it an opponent can have used 3 cards but the number in their deck has only dropped by 1? how do you beat opponents who seem to have nothing but 10's when at best you have 1 or 2 8's?

 

this game is not making any sense what so ever. i can "see" how you win but everytime i am winning they start pulling out OP cards?

 

also can all opponents do that auto-win? i have had a few nilfgaardian empires use some kind of "oh by the way we win" feature something about a guaranteed win in a tie?

 

i have not found anything solid on this. how do you end a round without using all your cards?

Edited September 10, 2016 by DarkHarmonixer

[Pirelli913]

Gwent, unfortunately, is a game that if you don't play it regularly, you won't get better cards. In White Orchard when you first unlock Gwent, from then on out, you should play whenever and where ever you can. It's not a hard game, but more a luck of the draw. More often than not, people you encounter later in the game have better decks. This game was meant to be played when you first unlock it and let you "level up" (find better cards) as you unlock additional Gwent quests.

 

That said, if an opponent plays a card that draws allies, it'll draw both allies in the hand he currently has AND the full deck on the right. So if an opponent has ONE Crone of Crookback Bog in his hand, but TWO more in his deck and he plays that one, all three will get played on the battlefield. You'll eventually learn the ropes of Gwent. Took me a while, too. And I'm sure it took everyone else a while as well. I personally love Gwent and play everyone I can.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

i am trying to get the card from the palace in Vizima. just now he somehow used a snowstorm yet his 10 card did not lose any points.

 

this almost does not even seem worth the time. can you get better cards without playing? or do you somehow have to beat OP players to get decent cards?

Edited September 10, 2016 by DarkHarmonixer

[Redgrave]

Sounds like your opponent is using a Monster or Scoia'tael deck. Those decks have cards that if you use certain ones, will allow them to pull the same type of cards from their decks and hands. What's the deck you're using now? If you're still in the beginning then you're probably facing an opponent that has much more cards than you.

 

Nilfgaard has a leader card that if there's a tie, it auto-wins. Not all decks have this.

 

As far as not using all your cards, how many do you have? You probably need to go out and buy more so you can win more. The strategy of Gwent is basically let your opponents use up as much cards as they can during the first couple of rounds, with it being fine if you lose one round. Then you just use as many cards as you think you should to outnumber theirs. If it's not the final round then try to use a moderate amount because a lot of the times the opponent will try to outnumber yours which means sacrificing a lot of their cards in the process. In the case of Monster decks, hero cards and Biting Frost are your best bet because hero cards aren't affected by debuffs.

 

The best starting deck is Nilfgaard but eventually Monster and Northern Realms become very good. Monster just lets you use a lot of cards and win in the numbers advantage plus with buffs you get crazy boosts. And Northern Realm has spy cards that if you have more than two in your hand then you are pretty much guaranteed a win.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

i noticed the "hand-shake" doubles the card points i do not want to miss any cards. this is one mini-game i will ONLY DO ONCE. guess i can skip this vizima douche for now since he is not missable. been trying to beat this dip for almost an hour. i will win 1 round then bam he does a 2 for 1.

Edited September 10, 2016 by DarkHarmonixer

[Redgrave]

i noticed the "hand-shake" doubles the card points i do not want to miss any cards. this is one mini-game i will ONLY DO ONCE. guess i can skip this vizima douche for now since he is not missable. been trying to beat this dip for almost an hour. i will win 1 round then bam he does a 2 for 1.

 

Yep, those are for dual cards. If you have four of them with a value of 2 in your hand you can play all of them and it will add up 8 points. Just be careful when playing those since sometimes the opponent will have a card that kills those kinds of cards when played. Since you're just starting out it's going to be difficult but once you get more cards and utilize the buff cards Gwent can be really fun. Be sure to use your Leader ability too, since those can help a lot in the end too. Just be warned that you can only use Leader abilities once.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

i can wina round with a lot of cards left then this dumass yanks out a bunch of 10 cards that are unaffected by any weather conditions. it says he is using nilfgaard deck.

 

finally beat that pecker but i got Foltest instead of Emhyr var Emreis leader card (according to guide)

Edited September 11, 2016 by DarkHarmonixer

[damon8r351]

That nobleman in Vizima uses the Nilfgaard deck, which has the special ability to automatically win any game that would normally end in a tie. Each deck has a special ability, and the deck you're probably using, the Northern Realms deck, has the special ability to draw a new card for each round. Also, he has some power 10 cards with the special ability to not be affected by weather cards. You have to highlight a card on the board using the D-pad and press to read its special abilities in text. Takes the guesswork out of figuring out what the symbols mean, and will help you understand that he's using his deck's card abilities against you and not really cheating. Also, that particular player is ridiculous, I only beat him with the rare confluence of him getting a bad shuffle and I getting a perfect shuffle.

Nilfgaard has a leader card that if there's a tie, it auto-wins. Not all decks have this.

 

Incorrect. The leader card that particular NPC uses has the ability to view 3 cards in your hand. The ability to auto-win a tie is a special ability inherent to the Nilfgaard deck, regardless of what the leader card is.

finally beat that pecker but i got Foltest instead of Emhyr var Emreis leader card (according to guide)

 

I got the same card. The guide is wrong.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

thank you all for the info and now he is done, i just have to get all the cards that are missable so i do not have to deal with him again. so far Death March is not too bad, all my deaths (very few) were my own fault, like falling from a ledge that i noticed too late. some how he ran out of cards in the 2nd round and we were both at 1 to 1. so i was guaranteed the win at that point having 2 cards left.

I got the same card. The guide is wrong.

ok good was worried for a minute there.

Edited September 11, 2016 by DarkHarmonixer

[Pirelli913]

i am trying to get the card from the palace in Vizima. just now he somehow used a snowstorm yet his 10 card did not lose any points.

What you describe here sounds like he played a hero card. Hero cards are immune to all attacks. Was it outlined in gold and the "10" circled in a kind of crown? If so, it was a hero card.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

What you describe here sounds like he played a hero card. Hero cards are immune to all attacks. Was it outlined in gold and the "10" circled in a kind of crown? If so, it was a hero card.

yeah, i think so. he is the one that has given me the most trouble all game so far.

[Taliesin_2943]

i forget where i found the guide that helped me but it gave a strategy for the monster deck that will let u win 9 out of 10 times by using the very tricks that they are using on u like if u have all the vampire cards in the deck and u place 1 itll draw them al out majorly boosting ur deck if i remember right the strategy is 

 

use monster deck have all the vampires, the sisters, basically all the monster cards that can pull the like out of ur deck and hand and afew spy cards and ur gold cards like gareth and such because nothing effects them and afew weather cards mainly sunny day so u can kill their status and just nuke them but only in the second round u wnna bait them in round 1 to use all there best cards while ur using ur not so great but decent yet expendable cards and usually u should win just by overpowering them but sometimes it fails 

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

the blacksmith in oxen keeps using monsters and my deck which has a lot of hero cards always decides to only use the 1-5 cards. i could easily have a full 10 hero cards but no the RNG is favoring his "cheat" cards and gimping me. really starting to HATE gwent

[Pirelli913]

use monster deck have all the vampires, the sisters, basically all the monster cards that can pull the like out of ur deck and hand and afew spy cards and ur gold cards like gareth and such because nothing effects them and afew weather cards mainly sunny day so u can kill their status and just nuke them but only in the second round u wnna bait them in round 1 to use all there best cards while ur using ur not so great but decent yet expendable cards and usually u should win just by overpowering them but sometimes it fails 

The ONLY spy card the monsters deck can get is the 0 hero card, the Mysterious Elf, from Gremist, the master alchemist in Skellige. The only other way to get hero cards in your monster deck is if your opponent plays Norther Realms or Nilfgard factions and you have either decoys in your deck or you use Yennefer to revive them the second/third round.

 

the blacksmith in oxen keeps using monsters and my deck which has a lot of hero cards always decides to only use the 1-5 cards. i could easily have a full 10 hero cards but no the RNG is favoring his "cheat" cards and gimping me. really starting to HATE gwent

How many unit cards are in your deck? You only need 22 to be able to start a match, so if you have more than 22 and some are really low level, remove those cards from your deck for a higher chance of using your better cards.

[Taliesin_2943]

The ONLY spy card the monsters deck can get is the 0 hero card, the Mysterious Elf, from Gremist, the master alchemist in Skellige. The only other way to get hero cards in your monster deck is if your opponent plays Norther Realms or Nilfgard factions and you have either decoys in your deck or you use Yennefer to revive them the second/third round.

 

How many unit cards are in your deck? You only need 22 to be able to start a match, so if you have more than 22 and some are really low level, remove those cards from your deck for a higher chance of using your better cards

actually your hero cards are non deck specific u can have all your gold cards in any deck you want they are gold rimmed and are immune to status effects unless they changed this in the last few weeks

[Cleggworth]

the blacksmith in oxen keeps using monsters and my deck which has a lot of hero cards always decides to only use the 1-5 cards. i could easily have a full 10 hero cards but no the RNG is favoring his "cheat" cards and gimping me. really starting to HATE gwent

Hero cards are not as good as they first appear. Whilst they are not affected by negative effects they aren't boosted by positive ones either. You can't swap them with decoys, you can't revive them with a medic and they aren't boosted by a commanders horn. My deck only had yennefer and the mysterious elf in it. Northern realms with a load of spys is massively OP. Those blue stripe commandos will beat pretty much everything

[Pirelli913]

actually your hero cards are non deck specific u can have all your gold cards in any deck you want they are gold rimmed and are immune to status effects unless they changed this in the last few weeks

I never said hero cards can only be used in one deck.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

yeah i need to post a list of what i have compared to the book since it says i am missing 6 in Velen.

[jaehyun1009]

Hero cards are not as good as they first appear. Whilst they are not affected by negative effects they aren't boosted by positive ones either. You can't swap them with decoys, you can't revive them with a medic and they aren't boosted by a commanders horn. My deck only had yennefer and the mysterious elf in it. Northern realms with a load of spys is massively OP. Those blue stripe commandos will beat pretty much everything

Scorch can shit on your strat, though. Hero cards are still very good because they are immune to it.

[Cleggworth]

Scorch can shit on your strat, though. Hero cards are still very good because they are immune to it.

The likelihood you have all 5 out at once is rare. 3-4 will do the job just as well. A few medics in your deck can revive some as well so being scorched will never knock you out of the game completely. It's not just the commandos either. The dragon Hunter, although only 3 cards can be just as effective. Northern realms is very strong on siege as well. The bare minimum deck, spies , decoys and medics and you can pretty much use your entire deck in a game, some more than once

Edited September 14, 2016 by Cleggworth

[awf9495]

the blacksmith in oxen keeps using monsters and my deck which has a lot of hero cards always decides to only use the 1-5 cards. i could easily have a full 10 hero cards but no the RNG is favoring his "cheat" cards and gimping me. really starting to HATE gwent

 

When going against a monster deck early on, put an extra blizzard or two in your deck - almost feels like cheating if you draw one and your opponent doesn't have a Clear Weather.

 

Just for general advice, card advantage is the key to victory in Gwent and the reason spies, medics, and decoys are so invaluable.  Don't be afraid to throw one of the first two rounds, but when you do try and force your opponent to keep playing cards of their own.  Spies may seem like a cruel joke at first, but not only do they let you draw 2 cards for the price of 1, they also force your opponent to either play another card or pass on the round.  Medics will allow you to feint with a powerful card in round one in order to force your opponent to play another (possibly powerful) card, but work even better on enemy spies or units with special abilities (like Villentretenmerth).  Decoys are versatile and allow you to do quite a number of things. It is best to use them on spy cards your opponent plays so that you can use them yourself on your next turn, but they can also be used on a medic in order to resurrect two cards.  If you have no other use for a decoy, they can be used to pull a powerful card back into your deck in order to force your opponent to play another card in a round you decide to throw.  Lastly, Leader Abilities are good for forcing one more turn and I often used them early, particularly early in the game when most leader abilities just weren't that good. Remember, throw one of the early rounds but force your opponent to play as many cards as possible while you hold on to as many of your own powerful cards.  This is the quickest route to victory in my experience, and later on you will be able to just bulldoze most opponents with card advantage and power.  FYI, I found a spy/medic Nilfgaard deck to be the most powerful in the game.

[Cleggworth]

When going against a monster deck early on, put an extra blizzard or two in your deck - almost feels like cheating if you draw one and your opponent doesn't have a Clear Weather.

 

Just for general advice, card advantage is the key to victory in Gwent and the reason spies, medics, and decoys are so invaluable.  Don't be afraid to throw one of the first two rounds, but when you do try and force your opponent to keep playing cards of their own.  Spies may seem like a cruel joke at first, but not only do they let you draw 2 cards for the price of 1, they also force your opponent to either play another card or pass on the round.  Medics will allow you to feint with a powerful card in round one in order to force your opponent to play another (possibly powerful) card, but work even better on enemy spies or units with special abilities (like Villentretenmerth).  Decoys are versatile and allow you to do quite a number of things. It is best to use them on spy cards your opponent plays so that you can use them yourself on your next turn, but they can also be used on a medic in order to resurrect two cards.  If you have no other use for a decoy, they can be used to pull a powerful card back into your deck in order to force your opponent to play another card in a round you decide to throw.  Lastly, Leader Abilities are good for forcing one more turn and I often used them early, particularly early in the game when most leader abilities just weren't that good. Remember, throw one of the early rounds but force your opponent to play as many cards as possible while you hold on to as many of your own powerful cards.  This is the quickest route to victory in my experience, and later on you will be able to just bulldoze most opponents with card advantage and power.  FYI, I found a spy/medic Nilfgaard deck to be the most powerful in the game.

This is spot on. It isn't just putting down cards and hoping your number ends up being higher than theirs. There is no flexibility in strategy with hero cards. You play one, that's it

[jaehyun1009]

The likelihood you have all 5 out at once is rare. 3-4 will do the job just as well. A few medics in your deck can revive some as well so being scorched will never knock you out of the game completely. It's not just the commandos either. The dragon Hunter, although only 3 cards can be just as effective. Northern realms is very strong on siege as well. The bare minimum deck, spies , decoys and medics and you can pretty much use your entire deck in a game, some more than once

3 is too risky to rely on, because one scorch can wipe out 3 turns you used to powering up your cards. Also, that 7 rated close combat card with scorch (villentrentenmeth?) will obliterate the blue stripe commandos. You'll own the round if you execute your game plan and predict your opponent's cards and moves successfully, but it relies too much on luck and what card the opponent has.

 

My problem with Northern Realms deck is the lack of medics. Only 2 medics you have are yennefer and the dun banner. It's best at the beginning and certainly one of the better decks, but I think it loses out to Nilfgaard once you have better cards.

 

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying non-hero cards and commander's horn aren't important to succeeding in Gwent, because they are. However, it's too risky to rely on tight bond.

Edited September 14, 2016 by jaehyun1009

[awf9495]

This is spot on. It isn't just putting down cards and hoping your number ends up being higher than theirs. There is no flexibility in strategy with hero cards. You play one, that's it

 

I do think that there are essential hero cards though, mainly Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, and the spy for neutral and the 10 power medic for Nilfgaard. I used the other 3 10 power heroes in my Nilfgaard deck but would have gladly traded them for 3 more Young Emissaries.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

yeah been trying to keep thoise in the deck (spies, medics, etc) just beat Vernon with spies, medics and decoys