Witcher 3 - Nilfgaardian Empire Gwent Deck Build Strategy - 4K Ultra HD

An overview of my Nilfgaardian Empire Gwent deck, the build along with the strategy and thoughts behind how I set it up and why.
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[@14cole19]

Nice deck but a few pointers. 1.) the point of the deck is to get all of your spies and play them, thus drawing potentially your entire deck. So you need to keep the number of cards in the deck as close to 22 as possible (with certain exceptions). This allows for better draw chance of the spies and all your better cards 2.) get rid of the scorch cards. Especially if you have the dragon because the main deck that scorch is useful against is the monster deck. And their muster abilities are pretty much all on the close combat line. So the dragon will suffice AND he has a good point value too. 3.) only play 1 clear weather, 1 commanders horn and 2-3 Decoy. Again you don’t want your first draw to be all of them so putting multiples in would just be redundant. Plus if you end up drawing most of your deck, you will probably have them anyway. 4.) you could probably get rid off triss. Yes she is a hero but she is only worth 7 and cannot be boosted via the horn, whereas the young emissary cards can. 5.) I like to keep my card total to like 25 or 26. But DEFINITELY below 30. I can’t stress that enough. Otherwise this is a really good deck and it’s actually the main niflgardian deck I run.

[@notjustashadow]

what card do you play instead of Triss? Because if I add 3 emissarys, i have too many cards (like 29) but you said, 25- 26 is good?

[@RivenBelmont]

Can I get your list

[@willzack1180]

They need to make this a real card game. So much fun

[@saberling62]

It came with some game purchases

[@oyvindyt]

.

[@GaleonGuitar]

Will Zack - I'm coming from the future to tell your wish is fullfilled, a standalone version of Gwent exists now. :D

[@rasitcetin90]

Look at Etsy

[@matthewryan2060]

Magic the Gathering is similar.

[@TheRabbitFear]

I never use scorch, unless it's a monster deck I play against since they go heavy on that horn

[@MrCodeslinger]

The enemy only close combat scorch works so well on the Monster deck. Using it then decoying it off and then using it again and again depending on how many decoys you have, then medic'ing it out...ohhh it's poetry in motion that is. :)

[@alexanderlevitsky8336]

Nilfgaard is the top deck in the game. It takes down tight bond and commander's horn mechanics ideally through Scorch and Biting Frost (2x Reg Scorch + Villentretenmerth, 1x Biting Frost) and forces decks like Monsters and Skellige to play its key combos while it just sits back and spy rolls cards (at which it is unmatched) to counter them, and then decide whether or not to invest in a given round and by how much, then divide its board play with its hero cards and monster cards such that it doesn't lose more than one card to scorch (or any at all) during any given round. It has 3x 10 strength unit cards which can be utilized tactically such as one at a time in case you need to commit when you have like 3 in your hand, or used once your opponent has exhausted their card supply after facing lots of your hero cards consecutively. Unlike Northern Realms, it's also not dependent on certain tight bond mechanics and siege commitment with too many (thus more vulnerable to losing 2+ cards to scorch) 6 str siege cards, which are especially vulnerable to Scorch (where the one getting scorched can lose 2 or even more cards to just this 1 card). It also has a medic among its hero ranks, while the Northern Realms heroes have no special abilities. And it has more medic potential (more useful early on when you don't have too many heroes), 4x in total (though it's bad card allotment if you choose that many, you'll more than run out of cards to use it on when your hero roster builds) than Northern Realms, which has just 1, not including Yennefer (I recommend 3 medics for Nilfgaard: the Etoi Archer, Menno, and Yennefer after much experience testing the ideal amount). Just describing a different deck. Skellige has too many different card mechanics going on and creates dependencies where you often won't get desired combos when needed. Its lack of spies is another contributing factor to its weakness, I wish they had made Scoia'teal, Monsters, and Skellige better in this respect or in some competitively equal way, but they are just outclassed by Nilfgaard (#1) and Northern Factions (Second Best) unfortunately on average, making the meta game in Gwent (at least in Witcher 3) kind of boring after a while. Fortunately the opponent decks in the Toussaint tourney play with somewhat inferior iterations of the best setups (even on Gwent Hard mode), and also make dumb plays sometimes (also in Gwent Hard Mode), making it possible to win with a Skellige deck without too much difficulty. My Nilfgaard Deck: Leader: Emhyr var Emreis #4 - The Relentless (Draw from opponent's discard pile - picking spies is ideal). Cards: 2x Black Infanty Archer, 1x Biting Frost, 1x Cirilla Fiona Elen Rianno, 2x Decoy, , 1x Etollian Auxillary Archer, 3x Gaunter O'Dimm Darkness, 1x Geralt of Rivia, 1x Heavy Zerrikanean Fire Scorpion, 1x Letho of Gulet, 1x Menno Coehoorn, 1x Morvran Voorheis, 1x Mysterious Elf, 1x Olgierd von Everec, 2x Scorch, 1x Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen, 1x Siege Engineer, 1x Stefan Skellen, 1x Tibor Eggebracht, 1x Triss Merigold, 1x Vattier de Rideaux, 1x Villentretenmerth, 1x Yennefer of Vengerberg.

[@alexanderlevitsky8336]

Oh yeah, and its unit cards are to be used very evenly divided in combat zones, making it not so vulnerable to opponent's weather cards.

[@alexanderlevitsky8336]

1x Etollian Archer (just 1, not 2), 1x Menno, and 1x Yennefer for medics (3 in total).

[@15000000th]

Dump the Commander's Horns and Clear Weathers, you're basically a Hero/Spy deck. Nice video.

[@MrCodeslinger]

Glad you liked it Ollie. Thanks for watching!

[@shadowhell8378]

the tight Bond ability is one of the best in the game in my Northern realtek are used 5 blue striped commandos each one worth 4 points on his own but when they're all on the field it was worth 20 points

[@muatring]

This + Horn = Rekt. Get Scorched and you're pretty much fucked up.

[@liesdamnlies3372]

You give us a caveat about this not being the only way, but honestly, with all your videos, the logic is the same as I employ. Granted sometimes you can take totally different tacks with your point cards for shits and giggles but overall...spy early, spy often.

[@MrCodeslinger]

Yeah I have to put the caveat in so I can ignore any comments that come in about "that's not how you're supposed to...." build play, etc. [insert deck name here]. I make it a point to respond to everyone and use things like that to find ignoring them acceptable and not have to chalk up me not responding to me just being a dick. :)

[@windi1982]

Finally someone who explains the deck building itself! 👌🏻

[@anashammoud6131]

thats too many cards though, so theres a lower chance of getting a card you want. personally, i would drop 2 of the 3 scorches and 1 of the 2 clear weathers, and because im more of a northern realms guy i only have 2 decoys, so that leaves me with a total of 26 total cards rather than 34, then again im not that good with the nilfgaardian deck so maybe more cards means better chances at winning? no idea

[@vintagecottonon]

Hey bud, Fantastic analysis, in my honest opinion i believe the Nilfgaardian deck is the strongest in the game, what do u think, or do u believe the northern realms deck is stronger? Reasons- - same number of spies as northern realms, higher value for opponent isn't really a problem imo. - 5 Medics as opposed to only 2 for Northern Realms (including Yennifer), opening up incredible synergies and combos. - Extremely powerful leader card(s). - May be others, but these are the main ones i can think of atm. Thoughts? Thanks again for showing your deck builds for all 4 factions man, very insightful. I really hope they fucking add New Game Plus for this game, and more Gwent Quests/Cards in the future expansions. Cheers mate.

[@MrCodeslinger]

willypallmall HK It definitely is a wonderful deck. I think it can be an intimidating deck until you get a handle on it, but once you do it is very fun to play.

[@manuj2868]

Nilfgaard having stronger spies can actually work in your favour. You give the highest spies in the first throwaway round. After that, they get summoned back to you, giving you a humongous start boost.

[@sherlock7127]

@@manuj2868 exactly my thoughts.

[@manuj2868]

Snowyxx- Schilard+Rideaux+Skellen+Commander’s Horn= already 40 points on your side. Add in a few heroes, medics and bonding units and you’ll almost always win. This is how I use my Nilfgaard deck.

[@sherlock7127]

@@manuj2868 actually, thats how i do it too, i use the mysterious elf in my deck too for the extra cards, but schilard, rideux and stellen are my favorites.

[@Illusive1313]

7+ minutes just for the leader is far too long.

[@hpcarlos2255]

HEYNOW ~ Great Guide : I’ve been watching your videos several times looking to shake up my Gwent game & look for different play styles, I just started my fourth round of the Witcher III Goty Pc edition ( awesome Game ) and I’m close to completing Four Gwent factions & I just unlocked Toussaint for the Skellige faction and im thinking of using Skellige faction for Big City Players 🎮 Never tried & why not ✨ I do believe the Northern Relms fits my style best and I have a very high win percentage ( very Rare I lose ) I don’t use weather cards & Scorch much 🤫 Thanx 4 Posting 🇵🇹

[@MrCodeslinger]

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the content on the channel Carlos. Thanks for watching!

[@jeremiegartner464]

The idea with this deck that I think people miss is that this build is very hero heavy which gives high points but only use once. How this wins is scorch's. If musters, horns or even early tight bonds come out you blast with scorch. They can not beat you in points if they have only low point cards out. Just use it before you put your high non heros out or even burn some of yours and medic them back.

[@zozo_kun]

Thanks for the deck, I have not lost a single game using this deck and I have played at least 50 games.

[@7riXter]

4:40 is this ability limited to normal cards or can hero, weather cards or others be brought back as well?

[@zozo_kun]

@@7riXter only normal cards, hero and weather do not work.

[@oldman6916]

​@@7riXter You can use medics to bring back any card except, weather cards like fog or frost,scorch cards(you should be able to bring back the scorch dragon though), and special cards like decoys or commander horns, and hero cards

[@playercris8634]

My Nilfgaard deck is almost the same as yours, but I prefer the Northern Realm Deck, for my playstyle it is better, moreover the spies on that deck have less points and there is the abilty of siegemaster Foltest that is great

[@Arismory]

The weather control in northern realms comes in handy for the later plays.

[@Arismory]

Man,if I had more spy's in this deck,id probably use it over northern realms.Both northern realms and nilfgraad are great all around decks,socia'tel is better as a range focused deck with the option to switch over to close combat if your opponent plays a fog card,that's why I recommend keeping atleast 1 horn card in the deck even if you are using the leader ability,and monsters are pretty much close combat spam.

[@missyjames8887]

Love spies, my northern has a total of 27 cards and all too often I'm ending each game with 2 or even zero cards remaining (have all 4 spies)

[@GStefanes_]

Thank you so much man u helped me A LOT

[@MrCodeslinger]

+Zap Bash Glad to hear it Zap, thanks for watching!

[@GStefanes_]

MrCodeslinger Always glad to watch high quality content, if it weren't for you i'd be doomed on gwent, i used to hate it, but started trying it and loved it, my deck is exactly the same as yours for the northern realms deck, decoys and spys are extremly op, i learned so much from you, just recently bought the season pass, know if any gwent cards or quests are in it? If so, do you plan on making videos about it? I'd be very glad to watch them, thanks a lot man you made amazing content

[@GStefanes_]

MrCodeslinger Oh and one more thing, i tried a shit ton of merchants, armores and blacksmiths for the villentrenmerth card but to no avail, only got some shitty scoia tael and monster cards, do you know if there is an easier way to get it? Maybe if i raise the gwent difficulty? Currently playing on normal difficulty on gwent

[@MrCodeslinger]

+Zap Bash It was the 2nd to last card I got on my 2nd playthrough. The Gwent difficulty has no bearing on what rewards you do or do not receive. It is completely random.

[@GStefanes_]

Well shit, think i'll keep trying on my second playtrough, thanks again

[@bssangha2090]

keep up the good work! 🖒

[@MrCodeslinger]

Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching!

[@BEDLAMITE-5280ft.]

Northern realms deck is so OP.

[@kevinbonin6173]

I go for triss as well. But I give her a 10 in my book.

[@kpallen2768]

While I enjoyed the video and am well aware how late this is...7 FUKIN MINUTES on leader cards?!?!?! Dude just wooow

[@mugiwarano_rishi4595]

Cd projekt red should really make a gwent irl card game like magic

[@MrCodeslinger]

They have one. Search around a bit. Someone (not CDPR) even made printable cards that you can print out on nice card stock and cut into cards to play with.

[@kerimkula1435]

how can i play as nilgaargadian deck with different leaders

[@MrCodeslinger]

Just go into the screen where you put together you Gwent deck and select a different leader to use.

[@janisgustavian]

remove weather cards (-2), remove horns (-2), remove one scorch from specials (total -5 special cards) remove impera brigade guards (-4), tris (-1), remove (total -5 unit cards) add 4 gaunter o'dimm darkness and 2 gaunter o'dimm (+6 unit cards) there, you have a much better deck. the thing with gaunter o'dimm is you play it first even before spies so that it lets you trim your deck.

[@danielsedlarevic8300]

This was before the DLC

[@magister8528]

Same question as on your other videos: Do you have any advice or changes to suggest now that there are more cards with dlcs, e.g. i like to use olgierd von everec instead of triss, do you think this is a good idea? If you could make an update video on all the new cards in the dlcs and how you would change your decks with those new cards, that would be amazing.

[@Jerdakota]

So much time talking about the incredibly obvious power levels of the Leader cards.... >.

[@Harygoole]

gwent on witcher 3 wild hunt is little better than full game. i like idea little harder storing sistem and gambling with merchant for items on the store playing gwent. if i not have money and i need dragon skin leather just on start gwent game i bet something from my inventory around same cost and i pick from merchant item what i like a win. Sword, craft mats..... HOw rarity item i pick difficult of game scaling up or down.

[@OliverParkinson-hk3vm]

Were do to find the relentless card

[@guineapig55555]

Good vid. I'm not a big fan of the 10 point Hero cards in this deck, mainly because their immunity to weather cards and scorch is not really much of an advantage because you also can't double their value like you can with normal cards. And with this deck's drawing potential and large number of medics, I think that normal cards like the emissaries are more useful because of their potential 40 point total combined with a Horn. The 10 point Hero cards also aren't that useful against a monster deck that can quickly overwhelm you in point total. Call me crazy but I also don't like Scorch in this deck either. I think that this deck's drawing potential benefits most from being able to outmaneuver or "trick" your opponent into playing their high level cards, only for you to sneak by in the later rounds with your Horns and Dandelions combined with 10 point normal cards.

[@hr53686]

I dont think its optimal. It has too many scorches and horns so you are heavily reliant on ai to play spies asap on the first turn or getting them on your hand. If you dont then you are stuck with decoys+scorches+horns+medics with a bad draw and you have no way of winning that without any cards to start off.

[@playercris8634]

In fact the only difference in my deck is the number of schorches and horns, I recommend not more than two of each

[@royalsmitty7811]

Which leader did you use before unlocking the last one? I don't want to do the high stakes tournament until I'm completely prepared for it

[@MrCodeslinger]

Depends on your playstyle. Honestly I did almost the entire tournament with the NR deck. You can watch that play out if you want, there is a link down in the video description. The 3rd one for the Nilf deck I like as well, the one that cancels all other leader card abilities is pretty nice.

[@Yummers321]

strongest deck in the game.

[@joshualittlewolfe8550]

Is it just me or is Nilfgaard the best deck in the game?

[@MrCodeslinger]

I like them all, except for the Scoia deck. That one, doesn't really do anything for me.

[@ProjectChaos77]

Where on earth did you get all those spy cards? I only have one and have no clue where to find more. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@MrCodeslinger]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15RUB-aG3Y2mRY3oWyNY1TlfDTRE-ySgNURUfTpMH0XQ/edit#gid=319308422

[@anitaremenarova6662]

Hmmm interesting. I own all 4 physical decks and they all seem to include an extra leader card. Can't remember if it was added later or it's just in the exclusive

[@MrCodeslinger]

Came with DLC that was released long after the video was posted.

[@anitaremenarova6662]

@@MrCodeslinger Figured as much. Eredin's new one is pretty interesting. Emhyr's too, but useless sadly.

[@braindamage1013]

Basically, nilfgaard cards are weak, tje effects however, it's like a change of heart and full of parasitic spies.

[@indiancambel]

Put the 0 medic cards its only 1 point card damage for gods sake

[@aesirclassicpubgm8228]

ayanle cola medic card will allow u to reuse ur used card in previous round. (except special ability cards & hero cards)

[@aesirclassicpubgm8228]

U TALK TOOOO MUCH WASTED 7 MINUTES ON LEADER CARDS ALONE 👎👎👎