GWENT: The Witcher Card Game News

Patch 9.0 marks the release of our newest expansion "Once upon a Pyre", but while it definitely steals the spotlight, there are some other changes and improvements coming to the game.

One of them is a widely requested feature to be able to change the look of the "Play" card in the Main Menu, another important one is making the game faster by progressing, even if some visual effects were played and didn't finish yet.

Additionally our developers have a couple of words to say on the topic of new balance changes, and share some insight. Read on that and more in detail below.

Developer comment: First and foremost the main event of this patch is obviously the release of the first of the Price of Power set. To that purpose, we've made a bunch of small changes and adjustments to support it.

The other big event is the long awaited Northern Realms rework! We've decided to move away from design of giving Charges to the profit of the less restrictive and more flexible Cooldown mechanic. Charges as a mechanic stays in the game but from now as a self-contained one.

As a side topic, we keep giving attention to leader abilities to increase the diversity and to give them more identity.

Seasonal modes in April:


08.06. - 15.06. Dual Casting

Once per turn, when you play a special card, spawn and play a copy of it immediately after

15.06. - 22.06. Patience is a virtue!

At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more

22.06.. - 29.06. Battle Rush

Both players have just 8 seconds to complete their turn and 15 seconds to complete the redrawing phrase.

29.06. - 06.07. Double Down

Whenever you play a unit from your hand, play a unit with the same Provision Cost from your deck. Your starting deck is doubled in size at the start of the match.

• Unranked Standard Mode matches are now shown under Training Mode.
• Gameplay speed has been improved by decoupling logic and visuals (The game will no longer wait for all card visuals to finish before proceeding further).
• Search bars no longer require the cursor to hover over them in order to be responsive.

Torrential Rain: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Biting Frost: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Impenetrable Fog: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Avallac'h: Sage: Power changed from 1 to 2.
Provisions changed from 11 to 10.

Avallac'h: Power changed from 4 to 6.

Vaedermakar has a new part of ability:
"If you control Scepter of Storms, increase or decrease durations by 3 instead."

Scepter of Storms: Provisions changed from 6 to 5.

Francis Bedlam: Added Bandit category.

Vigo's Muzzle: Added Spell category.

Commander's Horn: Added Warfare category.
Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Merigold's Hailstorm: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Germain Piquant has a new part of ability:
"Order: Spawn a Cow.
Cooldown: 3."



Ghoul: Power changed from 2 to 1.
Provisions changed from 6 to 5.

Endrega Larva: Power changed from 1 to 2.
Provisions changed from 5 to 6.

Brewess: Power changed from 5 to 6.
Ability changed to:
"Zeal.
Order: Consume an allied unit.
Charge: 1.
Increase the number of charges by 1 whenever you play a Crone."

Whispess: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Weavess: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Fruits of Ysgith: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.

Kayran: Ability changed to:
"Immunity. Deploy: Consume 3 allied units."

Penitent: Ability changed to:
"Thrive.
Deathwish: Summon a random 7-cost from your deck to this row."



Rage of the Sea: Provisions changed from 13 to 14.

Mardroeme: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Sigrdrifa's Rite: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.

Bear Abomination: Added Cultist category.

Hammond: Added Cultist category.

Armored Drakkar: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Eist Tuirseach: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.



Stockpile: Provisions changed from 17 to 15.
Ability changed to:
"Order: Reduce the Cooldown of 3 adjacent Northern Realms units by 1 and Spawn a Volunteer to their row.
Charge: 3."

Priscilla: Power changed from 5 to 6.
Ability changed to:
"Zeal.
Order: Heal an allied unit by 4 and reset its Cooldown.
Inspired: Boost an allied unit by 4 and reset its Cooldown."

Dandelion: Provisions changed from 8 to 9.
Ability changed to:
"Order: Boost a unit in your deck by 2.
Cooldown: 2
Inspired: At the end of your turn, boost the top unit in your deck by 1."

Damned Sorceress: Ability changed to:
"Zeal. Order: Destroy a unit's Shield then boost self by 2.
Cooldown: 2."

Reinforced Balista: Ability changed to:
"Formation.
Order: Damage a unit by 1.
Cooldown: 1
Resupply: Reduce the Cooldown by 1."

Hubert Rejk: Provisions changed from 7 to 8.
Ability changed to:
"Whenever you use an order ability while this card is in your deck, remove a counter from it. When counter reaches 0, summon this card from your deck to your Ranged row.
Counter: 10"

Winch: Ability changed to:
"Boost an allied unit by 5 and reduce its Cooldown by 3."

Cintrian Envoy: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.
Ability changed to:
"Formation.
Order: Look at 3 random cards from your deck and move 1 to the top.
Cooldown: 2."

Foltest's Pride: Power changed from 6 to 5.
Armor changed from 0 to 1.
Ability changed to:
"Zeal.
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2 and units adjacent to it by 1.
Cooldown: 4
Crew: Set Cooldown to 2."

Cintrian Spellweaver: Ability changed to:
"Order: Damage a unit by 1. Charge: 1.
Gain 1 Charge whenever you play a Mage or a Spell."

Aretuza Adept: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.
Ability changed to:
"Whenever you trigger Patience, boost self by 1."

Nenneke: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Shani: Provisions changed from 9 to 10.
Ability changed to:
"Zeal.
Order: Summon a bronze Human unit from your graveyard and give it Doomed.
Cooldown: 7."

Thaler: Power changed from 5 to 6.
Ability changed to:
"Formation.
Order: If neither player has passed and your opponent's hand is not full, both players draw a card."

Siege Support: Ability changed to:
"Deploy (Melee): Reduce Cooldown of an allied unit by 1
Deploy (Ranged): Boost an allied unit by 1.
Order: Give an allied unit Zeal."

Battering Ram: Ability changed to:
"Deploy, Crew: Gain Zeal.
Order (Melee): Move self to the Ranged row.
Order (Ranged): Move self to the Melee row, then damage the highest enemy unit by 3.
Cooldown: 2"

War Elephant has a new part of ability:
"Cooldown: 6."

Ves has a new part of ability:
"Cooldown: 3."

Bombardment: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Síle de Tansarville: Provisions changed from 7 to 6.

Runeword: Provisions changed from 4 to 6.
Ability changed to:
"Create and play a Bronze Northern Realm mage and give it Shield."



Sage: Name changed to Elven Scribe.
Provisions changed from 6 to 4.
Ability changed to:
"Remove a Counter whenever you play a Special card.
Counter: 3
When the Counter reaches 0, boost self by 6."

Farseer is now a Mage.
Boost changed from 2 to 3.



Imposter: Ability changed to:
Order: Lock an enemy unit, then Spawn its base copy in the opposite row and boost it by the number of enemy units with a status on the Locked unit's row.

Courier: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Viper Witcher Adept: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Magne Division has a new part of ability:
Bonded: At the end of your turn, boost self by 1 instead.

Fringilla Vigo now also counts Constructs in addition to Mages.
Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Anna Henrietta is now Ranged locked.
Developer comment: The point of this change is to allow players to choose to use it or not, similarly to Lippy.



Jackpot has a new part of ability:
Whenever an allied unit gives you Coins, boost it by any excess amount gained.

Passiflora Peaches: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Professor: Provisions changed from 11 to 12.

• Three new trees in the Reward Book connected to the Expansion.
• The "Play" card in the main menu now shows the favourite card chosen in the player profile.
• New expansion "Once upon a Pyre" introducing 26 cards to the game.

• Fixed a rare issue where a match could end with a Draw after playing Selective Mutation.
• Fixed a visual issue where after purchasing Fast Travel the total number of Reward Points displayed could be inflated.
• Saskia's Elven Deadeye ability will now correctly target Immune units with random damage.
• Whispess, Weavess and Brewess will now show correct values in the Deck Builder.
• The Berserk multi-step contract will no longer progress incorrectly with Drummond Queensguard.
• Coral will now draw first and discard second as announced in the 8.5 Patch Notes.
• Snowdrop will now prevent players from clicking the Order ability if they have more than 8 cards.
• Allied units affected by Salamander's Poison ability will no longer boost Thirsty Dame.

[h2]Once Upon A Pyre is finally here![/h2]

Containing 26 new cards, bringing fresh strategies to players’ arsenals, and kicking off the storyline behind the Price of Power set. The Once Upon A Pyre expansion is the first expansion of Price of Power set and available for free download right now across all supported platforms.

https://youtu.be/Hd-8-9zcDIo

Find out more about the new cards and the different ways to obtain them right here!

The Season of the Viper has begun and Update 8.5 is available!

Embark on a new Journey with Triss Merigold, and discover what treasures await along the way!
[h2]Seasonal modes this patch:[/h2]

06.05. - 11.05. Switcheroo

• After 2 turns the players switch hands.

11.05. - 18.05. Entrench

• Every played unit has resilience.

18.05. - 25.05. Plus One

• Whenever you play a unit, spawn a 1-power copy of it at the end of its row.

25.05. - 01.06. Trial of the Grasses

• Whenever a unit appears on the board, damage it by 2 then boost it by 4. If it's a Witcher, the damage is not dealt.

01.06. - 08.06. Irresistible Attraction

• Whenever you play a non-Spying unit, move a random enemy unit with the same power to the opposite side.

This season is planned to end on June 8th, 10:00 a.m. CEST.


[h2]Patch notes:[/h2]

Welcome to the 8.5 Patch Notes article.

This update, the spotlight is stolen by the new Journey, featuring Triss Merigold!

By progressing through it, you'll be able to unlock the new leader, as well as unique cardbacks, avatars and more.

8.5 also brings balance changes, that were focused on three goals:

• Making the weaker stratagems stronger and more tempting to choose for your deck.
• Buffing some of the less popular leaders and making them more versatile
• Balancing new cards released in 8.3 update

To top it off, we introduce new Starter Decks, aiming to make it easier and more entertaining for the new players to join the game.

You can read on details and more changes and improvements below.





Enchanted Armor:
ability changed to:
Order: Boost a unit in your hand by 3 and give it 2 Armor.

Ceremonial Dagger:
ability changed to:
Order: Damage an enemy unit by 3 and give it Bleeding (2)

Cursed Scroll:
ability changed to:
Order: Draw a card of your choice, then put a card from your hand at the bottom of your deck.

Armory is now a Location.
Ability changed to:
Resilience.
Deploy: Boost an ally by 6.
Order: Give 3 Armor to an allied unit.

Regis: Provisions changed from 13 to 12.

Land of a Thousand Fables is now a Location.
Ability changed to:
Resilience.
Deploy: Play a Special card from your deck.
Order: Transform a special card in your hand into a random unit of the same provision cost from the same faction.

Operator: Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Armorer's Workshop: Armor given changed from 1 to 2.

Traveling Merchant: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Wagenburg: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Iris: Shade: Provisions changed from 10 to 9.

Iris' Companions ability changed to:
Deploy: Draw a card of your choice, then Discard a random card.
If you have Iris in hand, choose which card to Discard instead.

Myrgtabrakke: Power changed from 4 to 5
Provisions changed from 8 to 7.




Dettlaff van der Eretein: Initial Blood Moon duration changed from 1 to 2.

Unseen Elder: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Archespore: Power changed from 2 to 4.
Ability changed to:
Deathwish: Summon all copies of this unit from your deck to this row.

Foglet: Ability changed to:
Deathwish: Spawn Fog on opposite row for 3 turns.

Ancient Foglet: Power changed from 1 to 4
Provisions changed from 4 to 6.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost self by total duration of row effects on the opposite side.
Whenever you apply a row effect, boost self by it's duration.

Cyclops is not restricted to the Melee row anymore.

Miruna: Power changed from 4 to 5.

Succubus: Category changed to Relict.

Urn of Shadows: Ability changed to:
Order: Trigger an allied unit's Deathwish ability.

Eredin: Power changed from 5 to 6.




Reckles Flurry: Ability changed to:
Order: Split 3 damage randomly between all enemy units ignoring their Armor.
Charges: 3

Mask of Uroboros: Number of Crows changed from 1 to 2.

Coral: Power changed from 5 to 6.
Ability changed to:
Zeal. Order: Draw a card, then Discard a card.
Whenever you Discard a card, damage a random enemy unit by 2.

Dire Bear has new part of ability: Berserk 7: Affects only the opposite row.

Eist Tuirseach: Bloodthirst changed from 2 to 3.

Crach an Craite has new part of ability: Order: Damage a unit by 1.
Cooldown: 2

Armor Up: Provisions changed from 5 to 4.

Svalblod Totem is now a Location and has Resilience.

Bear Witcher Quartermaster now has Zeal.

Terror Crew Plunderer: Power changed from 2 to 3

Terror Crew Axe-wielder: Power changed from 2 to 3.

Harald Houndsnout: Provisions changed from 9 to 8.




Pincer Maneuver: Ability changed to:
Order: Draw a Northern Realms card of your choice, then shuffle a card from your hand back into the deck and Spawn a Volunteer in your Melee row.
Charge: 2

King Foltest is now a Soldier.
Power changed from 7 to 6.
Provisions changed from 12 to 11.
New part of ability: At the end of your turn, boost a unit to the right by 1.

Queen Meve is now a Soldier.
New part of ability: When the Counter reaches 0, boost all allied units by 1 and reset the Counter.
Whenever this unit receives a boost, gain 1 Armor.

Poor Fucking Infantry: Power changed from 1 to 3.
Ability changed to:
Deploy: Spawn Left Flanking Infantry and Right Flanking Infantry on both sides of this unit.
Bonded: Boost self by 3.

Lyrian Arbalest: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Siege Tower: Vitality and boost changed from 3 to 4.

Inspired Zeal: Boost changed from 1 to 2.




Invigorate: Ability changed to:
Order: Boost 5 units in your hand by 1.
Charges: 2

The Great Oak: Power changed from 7 to 8.

Scoia'tael Neophyte has new part of ability:
Order: Transform an allied Elf into Elven Deadeye.

Munro Bruys: Ability changed to:
Zeal. Order: Transform an allied Rowdy Dwarf into a Dwarf Berserker.
Charge: 2

Vrihedd Vanguard: Power changed from 1 to 2.

Cat Witcher Adept: Power changed from 3 to 4.




Morvran Voorhis: Power changed from 6 to 7.

Lockdown: Provisions bonus changed from 13 to 14.

Imperial Formation has new part of ability:
Whenever you play a Soldier, give it 1 Armor for each adjacent soldier.

Damien de la Tour: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Stefan Skellen: Provisions changed from 10 to 9.

Vreemde: Provisions changed from 7 to 6.

Vrygheff: Power changed from 3 to 4.

Vivienne de Tabris: Power changed from 3 to 4

Masquerade Ball will now only progress for Aristocrats played on your side of the battlefield.

Emhyr Var Emreis: Ability changed to:
Zeal.
Deploy: Draw a card, then move a card from your hand to the bottom of your deck.
Whenever your opponent plays a unit, give it Spying.
Order: Seize a 1-power enemy unit with Spying.
Devotion: At the end of your turn, refresh this card's order.

Combat Engineer is now a Soldier.
Power changed from 3 to 4.

Toussaint Knight Errant: Power changed from 2 to 3.

Rico Meiersdorf will now also change his power when he is in the deck.




Back-alley Chemist: ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Give an allied unit Poison and gain 2 Coins.

Horst Borsodi: New part of ability:
Fee 1: Give an allied unit Vitality for 1 turn.

Ewald Borsodi: New part of ability:
Fee 1: Give an enemy unit Bleeding for 1 turn.

Salamandra Mage is now a Mage.

Roland Bleinheim: Tooltip now correctly specifies that a unit needs to gain Poison in order to get Coins.

Cleaver: Armor changed from 2 to 0.

Whoreson Junior: Ability changed to:
Insanity.
Deploy: Damage a boosted enemy unit by 6. Gain a Coin for every point of excess damage dealt.
Devotion: Damage an enemy unit instead.
Fee 3: Destroy an enemy unit with 3 power or less.

Halfling Safecracker: Removed Intimidate
Power changed from 3 to 4.

Damnation: Provisions changed from 8 to 7.

Greater Brothers: Armor changed from 4 to 5.

Professor: Damage changed from 3 to 4.

Pirate's Cove: Ability changed to:
Order: Spawn Sea Jackal on an allied row.
Charges: 2.

Boris: Power changed from 3 to 5.

Grand Inquisitor Helveed: Power changed from 5 to 6.

Keeper of the Flame: Ability changed to:
Deploy: Boost adjacent units by 1.
Tribute 4: Boost all units in this row by 1 instead.
Decrease this card's Tribute cost by 1 for every allied Cleric.

Sacred Flame: Added Firesworn category.

Tiger's Eye: Number of Coins changed from 4 to 5.




Support for 60fps on Apple M1 (Silicon). User can switch between 30 and 60 via Options.
(Search for Power Saving option)

New Journey

• New character - Meet Triss & Condwiramurs Tilly - powerfull mage & talented seer
• Rewards - a lot of rewards to unlock in standard and premium paths
• Contracts - unlock even more ornaments by playing matches with your favourite outfits
• Story - images drawn from Condwiramurs dreams about Triss life, added each week with new quests

New starter decks

Cards with names, tags and keywords containing Latin letters with diacritics (e.g. ą, ê) can now be searched for using basic Latin letters.

Visual improvements for using orders of premium Stratagems. Added new visual effects for Tiger's Eye, Basilisk Venom and Engineering Solution.




Journey story art is now shown correctly on mobile devices.

Game boards are now scaled correctly on mobile devices when previewed in the Play Menu and the Deck Ornament Picker.

Dandelion: Vainglory is now able to target and destroy Saber-Tooth Tiger: Stealth.

Pitfall Trap will now trigger correctly when the opponent plays a Trap.

Sigi Reuven will no longer count the unique gangs from its original deck when played by the opponent through Cantarella.

The Adrenaline effect will now work correctly for Gerd and Salamandra Mage when played from the hand.

Welcome to the Draft update! We know that we've been quiet for some time, but worry not, we didn't forget about the format and we're planning bigger changes in the near future. With 8.5 we introduced changes to existing packages which allow for better balance. We've also added the 12 new cards from the 8.3 update to the roster! Enjoy!


Maddoc special package will only contain 2 Maddoc's and a bomb instead of 3 Maddoc's

New core card: Crach an Craite

The following cards were added to Tribal- Ships & Pirates:

• Holger Blackhand

The following cards were removed from Tribal- Ships & Pirates:

• Hvitr and Aelydia

The following card were added to Defense - Sukrus Package:

• Morkvarg

The following card were removed from Defense - Sukrus Package:

• Giant Boar

Created Mechanical - Discard Package

New Core Card Eist Tuirseach added:

• Enabled Mechnical - Discard Package

New core card Eldain added:

• Enables Traps Package

Core card Gezras of Leyda adjustements:

• Enable Move Package
• Disable Traps Package

Added Malena into Mechanical - Move Package

Removed Paulie Dahlberg from Mechanical - Move Package

New core card - Brouver Hoog:

• Removed Value - Prebuff package
• Added Defense - Armor package

Added Sheldon Skaggs to Value - Prebuff Package

New core card - Unseen Elder

Removed core card - Orianna

New Core Card: Dettlaff van der Eretein

• Increase odds of Bleeding & Weather
• Enables offensive Bleeding

Removed core card - Mourntart

New core card Anna Henrietta:

• Offensive - Poison package enabled
• Mechanical - Create package enabled
• Increased chance for Combo packages

Removed core card Xarthisius

New core Card: Emhyr Var Emreis

Removed core card Usurper

Added Usurper: Officer into the package Mechanical - Disloyal

Removed core card: Trolololo

New core card Queen Meve:

• Adjusted Boost and shield probabilities

New core card: King Foltest

Added King Roegner to Defense - Shield package

New core card: Whoreson Junior

Added Caleb Menge to Offensive - Bounty package

Removed core card Harald Gord

New core card Cleaver:

• Enables Mechanical Intimidate
• Enables Mechanical Tribute

Added Draug into Tribal - Soldiers package

New core card King Foltest enables:

• Tribal - Soldiers
• Mechanic - Thinning
• Unique: Mechanic- Thinning - Blue Stripes package

This time, we introduce some quality of life changes (like the renaming of the tabs in the Quests section), visual improvements (Adrenaline has now additional VFX!), and balance changes. Some of the things, we already made available during last month, like the new Reward Trees and Seasonal Changes. We decided to release them earlier, since they didn't require a client update, so we were happy to bring them in as soon as they were finished. In this update, we're expanding on them even more, adding fresh content to both features.

You can read all the details below.

[h2]
[/h2][h2]Seasonal modes in April: [/h2][h2][/h2][h2]
[/h2]
01.04. - 06.04. Patience is a virtue!

• At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more

06.04. - 13.04. Dual Casting

• Once per turn, when you play a special card, spawn and play a copy of it immediately after.

13.04. - 20.04. Power Shift

• At the start of the match, set the power of every unit in your starting deck to its Provision Cost.

20.04. - 27.04. Battle Rush

• Both players have just 8 seconds to complete their turn and 15 seconds to complete the redrawing phrase.

27.04. - 06.05. Seesaw

• On the end of the player's turn, Damage player's odd power units by 1. Boost player's even power units by 1.

This season is planned to end on May 6th, 10:00 a.m. CEST. 

• The tabs in the Quests section of the Social Panel have been renamed to be more specific.

• Phoenix provision changed from 11 to 10.
• Living Armor provision changed from 11 to 10.
• Olgierd Von Everec power changed from 7 to 8
• Olgierd: Immortal power changed from 7 to 8.
• Iris von Everec provision changed from 7 to 6.

• Wererat power changed from 5 to 6.
• Provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Ice Troll power and provision changed from 5 to 4.
• Queen of the Night provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Succubus power changed from 4 to 5.
• Garkain power changed from 3 to 4.

• Sukrus now has Pirate category.
• Arnaghad armor changed from 0 to 2.
• Derran provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Gerd adrenaline changed from 4 to 3.

• King Belohun provision changed from 9 to 8.

• Ida Emean aep Sivney provision changed from 7 to 6.
• Yarpen Zigrin power changed from 5 to 6.

• Slave Infantry power and provision changed from 4 to 5.

• Tunnel Drill provision changed from 6 to 7.
• Prophet Lebioda provision changed from 9 to 8.

• Seasonal Mode now changes weekly.
• New Seasonal Mode added: At the start of your turn, transform all cards in your hand into random ones that cost 1 provision more
• Two new Reward Book trees celebrating new year in GWENT: The Great Oak and Stalwart Leadership
• Five new Reward Book trees connected to the Master Mirror expansion
• Cards with Adrenaline will now be highlighted when their ability is stronger.

• Fix for random crashes after match on Android
• The "Hide Cards" option is once again consistently available when selecting a card to Create
• Hybrid will now boost itself correctly when Brewess consumes any allied units
• Fixed a rare issue in which a high number of Cahir on the board could desync the game.
• Fixed an issue where discarding a single card on devotion would lower the counter by 2 for Eist Tuirseach.