With the new update in Witcher 3, many fans are either replaying the game or playing it for the first time. That means that Gwent, the card mini-game that comes very early in the gameplay, is once more a matter of great joy... and great frustration.
There are people who love Gwent almost more than they love Witcher 3, and there are people who don’t know Gwent well enough yet! It can be very confusing and frustrating to understand which card goes where and does what in the beginning, but once the player gets used to it, Gwent will be one of the highlights of the Witcher 3 experience.
5 Not Collecting Them All
One thing that doesn’t sound like a problem, but it most certainly is, is how many cards the players collect during the first couple of hours of the game while they are around White Orchard. Many players either completely forget that merchants sell Gwent cards, or they think that they only need to get the more flamboyant hero cards in order to win at the card game.
Not only is this incorrect, but it can be one of the reasons that they will get so frustrated with the game that they will just disregard all the quests that have to do with it. Getting all the Gwent cards from all the merchants, even though it sounds a bit too much, is the way to go.
It is very hard to make any other Gwent deck apart from the Northern Realms one that the player starts with, up until much later in the game, so, in the beginning, the player has to make sure that Northern Realms gets as many cards as possible, even if they are doubles, so they can choose the style of game they want to play. Also, even if the cards are not Northern Realms, the collection of them should start as soon as possible if they ever want to have a chance at building proper decks for all the factions.
4 The Biggest One Is Not Always The Best
While in the beginning, the cards that are a 5 and up might seem to be the best choices, that can go wrong very soon.
Getting the most points in the round is the ultimate goal in order to win, but just putting cards with no abilities in the table is going to soon become very tiresome for the player, who might win a couple of games but will not understand how the game is played and will end up losing from stronger opponents.
A combination of cards that have higher numbers, with the addition of some cards with abilities that can be combined and good use of the weather cards and the spies, is the secret to a good game of Gwent. This might take some time for the player to master, but it is much better to fail and try again than it is to just use all the fives and sixes and win some rounds but have no clue why their opponent suddenly went from a 30 to a 50 score with just one card (that might not even have a number).
3 Spies Don’t Always Tell Lies
In fact, in Gwent, spies don’t tell lies at all but add two additional cards to the player’s hand. There have been many a time when fans find themselves wondering how both players had the same number of cards and suddenly the opponent has plus two or four cards. It might be mostly a Nilfgaardian trait, but the beginning deck of Northern Realms can use spies as well – and if they are used cleverly, they can make all the difference.
Even if the player doesn’t have a spy, they can wait for their opponent to throw one and then use it themselves with the decoy card (which brings back to the player's hand a card from the table). In the same way, if they have only one spy, they can use them more than once. The same result can happen with the revival card (which brings back to the player's hand a card that has been discarded).
2 Not Keeping Eagerness At Bay
If the player gets a hero card, two eights that become sixteens when together, a spy, a revival card, and a commander’s horn, it is normal that this player will get up on the chair/couch/bed and do a little victory dance – especially if said player is new to Gwent. But, there is a big danger when the cards are too good. In fact, the danger is more than one.
Firstly, the player must absolutely hold themselves and not throw their good cards in the beginning or show what their plan is for the rest of the game. If, for example, they want to play with siege engines, then laying them all out at once might not be the best idea because if the opponent throws a rain card, they are done for.
Secondly, if they win the first round but the other player has one or more cards than the player, it is probably best to lose the second round without dropping a card on the table and keep the “big guns” for the third and final round.
Lastly, good cards are usually good when combined. If the player wants a superb game, it’s better to discard the “irrelevant” cards, even if they are big in number, and go for a specific strategy.
1 Different Gwents But Still Friends
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and Gwent in Witcher 3 are two very similar but also two very different games. Starting with the fact that the first one is an online and much more complicated version than the card game in Witcher 3. The player still has factions, abilities, weather cards, etc., and also has time, a real-live opponent who might be a bigger fan than the player and a plethora of rules. But the most important difference is that in Witcher 3, Gwent fun, while in Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, it is all the fun.
That means that whenever a Gwent: The Witcher Card Game player comes back to (or comes for the first time) in Witcher 3 and Gwent, the road is going to be bumpy. Being an excellent player of the online game will most certainly help with understanding the logic of Gwent in Witcher 3 (and vice versa), but ultimately, the player has to remember that fewer choices in abilities and cards mean that the creativity in finding ways to win has to go up a level.
Also, playing against a computer instead of playing with a real person means that the player cannot scream to the TV that “there is no chance they had that good of a draw!”.
The Witcher 3 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.