Gwent has recently underwent a massive rework of its core mechanics. The power level of Bronze cards rose up, Round 3 finishers were slightly nerfed, and most importantly of all, Gold cards have lost their immunity which means they can now be damaged and locked like any other card. As you might expect, changes this massive quickly brought with them numerous overpowered decks, the most annoying of which belonged to the Scoia'tael.
So if you're tired of Control ST players constantly slamming your board with earthquakes, or Mulligan ST players starting the round of with 40 points, you'll be glad to hear that the most recent patch has brought in some much needed nerfs. The list is fairly small, so here are all of the balance changes:
Neutral/General
• Summoning Circle has gained the following Category tags: Doomed
• Stammelford's Tremmors will now summon a Lesser Guardian instead of an Earth Elemental.
• Iris' ability has changed. It is now: Deathwish: Boost 5 random Units on the other side of the Board by 5.
Skellige
• Tuirseach Veteran will now also trigger the Veteran abilities of other Tuirseach Veterans.
• An Enemy moved by the Whale Harpooner will now be Damaged by the number of all Units, including itself, on the row it moved to.
• Clan Tuirseach Axeman Power changed from 3 to 4.
• Herbalist Power changed from 1 to 2.
• Kambi loyalty changed from Loyal to Disloyal.
• Kambi will now spawn Hemdall on its side of the Board.
• Harald the Cripple will now Damage by 2 instead of by 1 on Deploy.
• Harald the Cripple Power changed from 6 to 5.
Scoia'tael
• Sage will now Banish the card it Resurrects.
• Farseer will no longer Boost self when Units in your Deck are Boosted.
• Morenn Power changed from 8 to 7.
• Dwarven Agitator Power changed from 3 to 2.
• Elven Wardancer Power changed from 4 to 3.
• Vrihedd Officer will now Boost self by the base Power of the card from your Hand you Mulligan, not the card you Draw.
• Vrihedd Officer Power changed from 6 to 4.
While these balance changes are quite elegant, I'm surprised there have been no Northern Realms or Nilfgaard tweaks in this patch. Whether this means CDPR considers them balanced or if the Scoia'tael were just a priority, I'm afraid I don't know, but I'm sure there will be more balance changes in the weeks to come as the most recent update has thrown everything into chaos. Until then, make sure to experiment with weird decks as it won't be long before the meta settles on a couple of overpowered decks once again!