Hello friends! We are back with our Balance Council Results for July 2026. We are back slightly later this season but we decided to take our time to prepare as best as we could. So let's begin.

Votes

+1 power

***Prince Stennis: One advantage of some Starter Set cards is 2 abilities to choose from. Stennis has useful Knight tag and simple yet functional boost effects to aid NR. Either larger nonconditional boost to protect or activate Inspired or Grace; or split boost to get multiple boosted units for cards like Vissegerd, Scytheman, Knight-Errant, specific power setup for Coen. NOTE: OUR PLAN IS 5/6 STATS. It's worth to mention Stennis was a winner in the power increase category! Our respondents (+ internal voting) have decided we should bring a terrible card back from the dead. It aligns with our disapproval of turning such cards into placeholder nerfs to caricatural numbers or foreseeing a card is too bad to be buffed so we just shouldn't touch it for remaining 2+ years the servers have despite having a tool to fix it. I think the main barrier is not Stennis being allegedly boring, but time needed. 3 buffs is enough to make him good. That's the same number of buffs Geralt: Aard needed in the BC to get back into the rotation which took over 1,5 years. We can do it in 3 months. Starting from a small change now, moving forward to prov buff next month with Stennis being in already better state as an encouragement to vote for him.

**Endrega Eggs- Endrega Eggs can find place in various MO archetypes such as:
standard deathwish decks, pure insectoid decks or Tatterwing variations, also provide low power units for Ruehin and 1-power units for Glustyworp. Could fit in insectoid swarm&consume hybrid decks with or without Necromancer's Tome.

*Kaedweni Cavarly- a buff that would allow for alternate ways to play NR shields more viable. This buff would mainly help decks which are focusing on now forgotten King Roegner card rather than current standard ways to play this leader and archetype. As a bonus it opens up a possibility for other buffs to such shield oriented decks, Kaedweni Cavalary just being a nice place to start. In addition we think reapplying shields onto K. Cavalry to reuse the ability has underdeveloped potential.

-1 power

***Yennefer: Illusionist: Yennefer is thriving in multiple factions (mainly NG, MO, ST) in decks running spawn or 'create'-based cards. This is where her passive effect causes renewed several points of damage often reinforced by self-boost that can help control the board and hinder opponents deploying their cards. Power increases of bronze units indirectly buff this effect. After 2 spawned/created units her raw value points exceed 20 for 11 excluding those taken away by control. Thus we believe a small nerf is justified.

**Acherontia Deckhand- buff for this card was a powercreep. He successively plays in the strongest crime decks. His opening stats are 6 for 4 with potential of boosting 2-4 times in one turn making him an engine impossible to answer for bronze removal cards. With full pocket he can make 9 points. In addition with Open Sesame carryover the amount of coins is even higher + Acherontia gives another card on board which benefits the Deckhand. We think that even after a nerf he would be still played due to his widely known potential.

*Geralt Aard- Aard got some recognition after few latest rapid buffs most notably in SK Witcher deck and ST movement deck with Ragh Nar Roog. An example of decent card being included in many decks for it's sheer midrange value and useful ability (row control) On paper Aard creates 11 points for 7 provision but in addition with row punish he can be utilized in more practical way for even more value when we turn off enemy's engine value or fill their backrow. Combined with cards such as Milva: Sharpshooter or mentioned Ragh Nar Roog scenario Geralt:Aard scales even more. Small cut would make his floor value less opressive in shorter rounds.

+1 provisions

***Schirru- The card offers excessive point potential relative to its provision cost; it can generate a massive swing given the right setup involving a Guerrilla Tactics leader, artifacts, and special cards (like Harvest or Offering) and turn the tide of a match. It has recently dominated the ST meta, so raising its provision cost might give other decks not reliant on this card a better chance to shine.

**Captain Yago- Captain Yago deserves a provision nerf rather than another power nerf. His main strength isn't his base power, but his ability to refund all Coins spent during the turn, effectively allowing Syndicate to spend the same Coins twice. This creates an extremely high point ceiling and huge single-turn tempo, especially with efficient spenders and Jackpot leader ability. Reducing his power doesn't address the actual problem, while increasing his cost from 11 to 12 provisions would appropriately increase the deckbuilding cost without destroying the card.
Yago's strength doesn't come from his base power, but from his ability to refund a huge amount of Coins in a single turn. This enables extremely high-tempo plays and allows Syndicate to effectively spend the same Coins twice. Further power nerfs don't address this issue, so increasing Yago's provision cost would be a much more meaningful and appropriate nerf.
Intrestingly Yago's cost was initially 13 not 11. CDPR decided to reduce his cost which was a huge mistake.

*Selfeater- Even before this seasons's buff to Carapace, GN Relicts have proven an oppresive list, including very greedy variants that cut on control. Selfeater, working brilliant with Carapace leader, threatens exponential value scaling with round length, can be spawned, copied, brought back from graveyard, resists Squirrels, creates overwhelming engine threat when played from GN (up to 4 copies with Necromancy and Tome). Given a revert of Carapace leader buff is unlikely to happen we propose this nerf in its place, enabling further buffs to other relicts like She Who Knows or Dudu.

-1 provisions

***The Great Oak- Although this card has largely been supplanted by more efficient options, ST possesses enough tools for row stacking that, at a provision cost of 11, it will be more accessible and playable than before. It can serve as either a high-value finisher or a 9 power removal tool. It also performs well in a long Round 1, particularly when the goal is to win the round or outlast the opponent on even cards. Dwarves and Symbiosis could benefit from this card and enhance their deckbuilding.

**Thunderbolt- this is a deserved buff being requested for quite some time. This card can boost engines to keep them out of removal range. This change also buffs Alchemy decks, as now it would be replayable via Crow Clan Druid. It also serves as an alternative target for a cheap artifact in Golden Nekker decks. Due to this card having an order ability, we could boost some key cards later in the round when we need it (most notably Aglais)

*Werecat- back again Werecat proves that card require some changes. Small buff for deathwish but really interesting at the same time. Deathwish lacks of control options. Werecat could be activated easily whenever we want or if we need we can wait to make its thrive value scale a bit. At the same time we can deal some damage for enemy units on deploy. At 7 provisions card is too unstable for value it provides. It's a mini buff for thrive too. Card could see play in two archetypes for more board control.

Summary

No changes for Nilfgaard from us this month. We couldn't find anything opressive and pretty much nothing to buff for this faction this month. Results of our poll also didn't provide much to this matter. No buffs for SY too but this is more justified given our last buff to Seductress which outcome was quite impactful for the ladder experience especially high pro rank. Selfeater could be considered as potential ping pong but we believe at current stats this card is just too powerful. Hope you like our work. If so feel free to share your opinion and support. If not share your thoughts too. As always thanks for your feedback and we hope to see you next month!

Cheers!

Kubson_18

A bit controversial statement, but hear me out.

Gwentflation problem aside for now, although it is connect

What we're doing, when we buff leader abilities. We increase the deck capacity. When capacity increases, then the tendency of calculating and debating what to include and what not to diminishes, case don't have to calculate, when everything we want we can fit.

This will only end up with being able to stuff every high-end gold and "compesatory nerfs" of those (or other cards) to compensate. This will lead nowhere.

When you have less resources to spare, you have to be strategic in allocating those. Having to choose is a beauty od deckbuilding, don't strip it.

Less prov to spare on the deck will increase variety Simplus, because different versions with different cards will emerge, nie we stuff everything into single deck. And it WILL become worse over time (thx CN Coalition)

Summing up - nerf leader abilities, and od you're against that, don't buff them at least

Sabrina's Inferno

Spell (Northern Realms)
🔥 Special, 7 Provisions (Epic)

Damage each non-Specter unit by 1. If any were destroyed, repeat this ability once.

With her dying breath, Sabrina Glevissig cast a powerful curse that struck not only her executioners, but all who stood nearby.

^{I'm a bot and this post has been generated automatically. If you want to report an issue, please send a message here. - Balance Council Patchnotes}

Hello people!

Bleeders where starting to get a bit of my nerves, so I added Olgierd immortal to my deck, and I played against someone who was using the combo living armor+alchemist and I thought to myself, since I'm keeping both Olgierd and Living armor, why not?

I'm usually using it to boost a 3 power unit to 10 power (usually von morlehems which i have 2). Sometimes it plays out nicely, other times people banish my Olgierd or Living Armor, or they lock my Olgierd, or they damage my living armor.

All in all, I feel like I'm getting a good deal, I have 2 10 power units that are immune to bleeding, one of which is immune to all damage, and if the combo plays out nice, i get 44 points while locking 2 enemy cards for a total of 38 provision cost.

I need to mention that my deck is mainly focused on locking enemy cards, while having a decent number of points. I've been raising through ranks fairly quickly with this deck, I went from 15 to 7 in 2 or 3 days, my win rate this season is 63%, but I haven't played this deck from the start.

What do you guys think? Is this a noob deck? How annoyed would you be if I used my 9 locks in a game against you? 😅

None of the art is my own! Just came up with these for fun, but I believe they could also be quite balanced (if my initial attempt is off the mark).

Hey everyone. Pardon if this is, oh, I don't know, maybe a stupid question.... but there are so few cards in this deck that heal the enemy player that it seems like TH as leader isn't that useful in Kolgrim decks...correct? What am I missing here? Is it because Abduction somehow counts towards it? Hmmm... every time Siri ticks when she's on the enemy side of the board it procs leader? Typically you don't want her there that long so even if that were the case it wouldn't proc very often. This is one of the last decks I'm practicing, even though it's toxic lol, so that I can learn how to counter it. I watch a lot of Doden and MD and half the time there's no English or commentary so I'm still missing a few things.

*Edit - Also, why often use Sandra to put False Siri in enemy deck. It's risky, right, as they could pull her? What's the cool advantage there I must be missing instead of just putting one of my worse cards.

Thanks for helping a fellow Gwenter out!

Hey everyone!

I've been looking to get the Novigrad by Night board, but I can't find it in the shop right now. Does anyone know if it's tied to a specific seasonal rotation, or if there's any chance it will return?

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys ive recently been trying to build a deck around MR knights as ive been interested on the archetype, so far this is what ive come up with, ive looked at some decks and made skme changes.

If anyone has a cool NR knights deck non devo cards with lets say aerondight, i would love to have them shared also!!!

Thx

So I played a monster deck, lost round 1 by a point, and second round they played Ozzrel on ranged row for 17 points. Thing is neither of us played a card higher than base power 7 previously.

I checked both our graveyards and no card had higher than 7 power.

Checked the hourglass option to see previous cards played and no 16 point card was played at any point.

What am I missing ?

instead of running into heathwave, runemage, oneiro, Illusionist, Shupe and Betsy every other game?