The world of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may be excessively massive. From lush forests filled with unimaginable creatures, dangerous oceans and bustling cities, you'll easily find something to do around nearly every corner. Of course, CD Projekt RED had to outdo themselves even further by including a fully fledged card game with easy to understand mechanics, yet depth and complexity to keep you entertained for hours.
The game of Gwent, which you'll learn about quite early in the game, revolves around playing one of four factions, each one with their own bonuses, as well as their own unique cards that fully bolster their distinct style of gameplay.
The basic set up
The rules of Gwent are pretty simple. Each player draws 10 cards from their deck and that becomes their hand for the entire game. Each player may also mulligan two cards. The 10 cards then become the basis of a best two out of three game.
There are three different type of cards; The Leader, Units and Special Cards.
The Leader is essentially your hero card that you choose as part of your deck's faction (Monsters, Nilfgaardian Empire, Northern Realms and Scoia'tael). Each Leader comes with a unique power that can be used a single time during any single match. Each faction will always have the same Leader card persona, but will have four different variants that can either be won or purchased from vendors. These variants will have powers such as allowing you to play certain cards directly from your deck, doubling attack damage of certain cards, or discarding cards you own for cards from your deck. These Leader abilities can turn the tide of a Gwent match in an instant.
Units are what you'll mostly be using during a Gwent match. These cards will be placed directly on the battlefield, according to the type of unit they are. Units are separated into three categories, Close Range, Long Range and Siege. Each Unit card has a number associated with it, which tells the strength of the card, as well as any special ability that gets triggered when played.
There are also special Unit cards called Heroes, which depict many of the main characters of the game. These cards are super powerful and usually have an extra ability that allows them to be immune to certain Special cards.
Lastly, the Special cards will alter the battlefield in mostly negative ways. Each Special card will affect one of the three sections on the battlefield, Close, Long or Siege, and will negate any Units placed there, bringing their total value down to 1. Playing these cards affects both players however, so it's important to know when to play one to your advantage. There is also a Special card that negates all negative Weather cards as well.
The gameplay
Players will take turns setting down Unit cards in their respective field, adding up the points printed on the cards to your overall point pool.
The trick here is knowing which cards to play early, and which ones to hold on to, since those 10 cards will be the only ones you have for the entire duration. Typically, you don't want to go through all your cards in the first round, because you'll end up losing the next two matches.
Once you're comfortable with your points, you can Pass, which means the NPC has a chance to retaliate. If they can't, you win the round. If they can, they win. Simple as that.
Early game strategies
The game sets you up with the Northern Realms deck which is actually a pretty great starter deck. Firstly, that deck's power allows you to draw an extra card from your deck if you've won a round, instantly giving you a leg up on your opponent. Secondly, King Foltest comes with some truly helpful abilities, especially his later variants.
An early card that I absolutely recommend picking up is from the Innkeeper in White Orchard. She has Foltest Lord Commander of the North, which is a helpful Leader card that can negate all negative weather effects.
However, you'll want the next variant, Foltest the Siegemaster. You can acquire this card by winning a Gwent match against the Nilfgaardian nobleman in the gardens of the imperial palace in Vizima (the second major location you visit). He's pretty tough but having the previously bought Foltest card will make the match a lot easier. The reason you want Siegemaster is because that card has the ability to double the power of any of your siege weapons.
The trick then is to build a Siege heavy deck that also has a few Clear Weather cards in it. That way, you'll have immensely powerful cards at your disposal and you can use the Clear Weather card in case your opponent tries to power down your Siege cards.
Strategies of other factions
Each faction has a bonus tied down to it. Like I've stated before, the Northern Realms allows you to drawn an extra card when you've won a round, which is quite powerful. But the other factions have really useful bonuses as well.
Monsters will choose a random Monster-unit card and leave it on the battlefield after each round, giving you extra power without having to actually play a card.
The Nilfgaardian Empire has a helpful perk that allows them to win a round whenever there's a draw.
Lastly, the Scoia'tael has the ability to decide who goes first at the start of the battle. Sometimes it's helpful to go second to see what your opponent puts down first.
It'll be up to you to decide which of the perks make most sense for the type of deck you're building.
