Characters / Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

Factions

Overall Tropes

• Character Development: Evolving cards depict the stories of important characters in the Witcher series, showing the circumstances that lead to each of their rises in power and how they changed for it.
  Auberon King: "A stunningly beautiful display, this world. But it heralds naught but the end."
  Auberon Conqueror: "I have lived long and seen all, and I am bored with it."
• Faction Calculus:
  • Northern Realms: Powerhouse. Their special mechanic ("Tight Bond") increases the power of each card according to how many of each are played. For example, find all three Blue Stripes Commando cards (normally worth 4 points each for a total of 12) can be laid down together for a whopping triple-fold increase in value (three of 12, for a combined level of 36; which can be doubled again to 72 if you use the Commander's Horn card). This allows you to get unrivalled points value out of a minimum number of cards. Consequently, the primary weakness of the Northern Realms deck is susceptibility to Weather cards and Scorch cards, which can negate the massive power of Bonded cards in a single swoop.
  • Nilfgaardian Empire: Subversive. Nilfgaard relies largely on spies and diplomats to reduce the power of the enemy deck sufficiently that they can be beaten in the long-run, sacrificing early rounds to conserve their deck. They have a few strong stand-alone cards, but lack the sheer power of a Bonded Northern deck. Succeeding as Nilfgaard relies somewhat on having a long-term gameplan and hoping that you do not end up fighting your own spies and that your opponent does not introduce a Spanner in the Works that upends it.
  • Scoia'tael: Balanced. The Scoia'tael have few high-value cards and few ways of multiplying their own strength, but what these cunning guerrilla fighters lack in sheer power or numbers, they make up for in flexibility. Cards with the Agility ability can fight either in the melee or ranged rows, allowing them to "dodge" Weather effects and work around the enemy's gameplan. They lack a strong siege section, but have a good number of medic cards that allow them to reuse their destroyed units and reclaim their opponents' spies. They won't be winning games by huge points margis but they are very efficient at using what little strength they can leverage. However if they allow their enemy to deploy their full might against them, then the Scoia'tael will be resoundingly crushed and the dream of the non-human races with it.
  • Monsters: Horde. The Monsters are characterized by a deck full of powerful heroes that can consume lesser monster cards to increase their power, and a buttload of low-level monster cards with the Muster ability. Much like Monsters in the real world, they can very easily flood the field and get out of control if you do not keep on top of them. Although daunting, the Monsters do have some key weaknesses - chiefly the Biting Frost card, as all of their powerful and plentiful Muster cards are melee-only, so negating their power negates much of the power of the deck overall. They also have no spies or medic cards to speak of. It's a straightforward deck that relies mostly on brute force with little in the way of gimmicks.
  • Skellige: Cannons. Skellige plays somewhat like a hybrid of the Northern Realms and the Monsters, but with a focus on sheer resilience. They have a special ability to mitigate some of the harm Weather effects can do on the deck, a number of cards that can be resurrected by their priests, and strong Bonded showings on the melee and siege sections supported with swarms of ranged units. Skellige is very strong overall, but they are quite reliant on player luck to do well: with no spy or medic cards to speak of and most of their power locked away behind card combinations, some games might be right-offs immediately if you end up with a bad starting hand.
• Story and Gameplay Segregation:
  • Witchers, professional monster slayers, are neutral cards that can be played with any faction, including monsters. On the other hand, the Witcher code states that they're supposed to be "neutral".
  • Ge'els is in the Monster deck with the other Wild Hunt characters despite the fact that his biggest contribution to the plot of Witcher 3 is betraying the Wild Hunt to Geralt. This is especially notable since Avallac'h, another Aen Elle elf who doesn't side with the Wild Hunt, reflects this by being a neutral card and not having the Wild Hunt tag.
  • Similarly, the Bloody Baron is a loyal Northern Realms card despite the fact that he was a deserter who tried to negotiate with Nilfgaard.
  • Several cards are based on Witcher potions and can be used on any unit, even though anyone without Witcher mutations would die if they drank one.
  • The White Frost card. In spite of the fact that it is literally the end of the world, it's a neutral card that can be played by any faction, not just the Monsters.
  • All of the bronze dwarf cards are Scoia'tael cards, and most dwarf cards have benefits dependent on other dwarf cards in play. Thus, several dwarves are placed in the Scoia'tael deck when they weren't actually members or even if they actually opposed the Scoia'tael. This includes:
    • Yarpen Zigrin, who considers the Scoia'tael to be just as racist as the humans they fight.
    • Dennis Cranmer, who was captain of the guard for a Temerian Duke, but isn't in the Northern Realms deck.
    • Zoltan Chivay, which is odd since "Zoltan: Animal Tamer" is a neutral card.
    • Brouver Hoog, who is a leader card despite the fact that he decreed that dwarven youths were not to join the Scoia'tael.
    • The latter two examples combined form a double example of Gameplay and Story Segregation: Zoltan is said to have nothing but contempt for Hoog and his policies but serves under him in-game.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to the hard M for Mature nature of the source material, Gwent is PG-13 to appeal to a larger audience. In the transition, things had to be toned down. For example, The Redanian Elites have been reigned in, instead of being willing to rape for their country, they will... eat worms.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Averted to keep the game's rating low. Notably crass characters such as Thaler and Zoltan's parrot, Field Marshal Duda, aren't allowed to swear every other breath.
  • Vesemir is still too old for this shit, however.
  • Clever wording on some taunts allows characters to come across as obscene without swearing.

Monsters

• The Weird Sisters: A team of three Crones from the Monsters faction. Depending on the order played, they can increase the size of other troops (spin thread), devour another troops to get bigger (draw out) or deal damage to the opponent's troops (cut off).

Nilfgaard

• City of Spies: Or, more aptly, an empire full of them. The most popular jobs in the Nilfgaardian empire are Spy, Assassin and Courtesan. It's heavily implied that there is a major overlap between all three jobs.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Nilfgaard seems to see its rather nasty habits as a means to an end. That end being a more civilized, ordered, and peaceful world. Everyone else begs to differ, however.
• Evil Wears Black: Basically every other faction hates Nilfgaard for their spying, treachery, constant warring, and general habit of trying to conquer everything it touches.

Northern Realms

• Working-Class People Are Morons:
  • Portrayed as superstitious and uneducated outside of rare mages and siege engineers.
  Siege Support: "You Gotta recalibrate the arm by five degrees."
  "Do what by the What now?"
  • The Church of Eternal Fire has cards that are both Syndicate and Northern Realms. They are the most superstitious, racist, and dangerous faith depicted in the game.

Skellige

• Our Werebeasts Are Different: The cultist of Svalblod can transform into werebears in the middle of a battle rage.

The Syndicate

• The Fundamentalist: The Church of the Eternal Fire happily burns elves, dwarves and mages on massive pyres and employs witch hunters. Salamandra is one reason they feel justified in this.
• The Mafia: The Syndicate is made up of three mafia families (Crownsplitters, Cut-ups, and Tidecloaks) plus a few other factions: Salamandra, Blind Eyes, and the Church of the Eternal Fire.
• King of the Homeless: The King of Beggars leads the "Blind Eyes"; a group made mostly of beggars and prostitutes.
• Overlord Jr.: Whoreson Junior. Nobody even bothers with his actual name, Cyprian Wiley, anymore.
• Terrorists Without a Cause: Salamandra seems to have no cause outside of getting money and scaring the pants off all non-magic users.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Whoreson Junior. As stated in-game: "Greasy Hair, Bloodshot eyes, a mess of underworld tattoos and a grin that'll make your skin crawl. That, dear friends, is the description of a monster worse than most you'll find in any forest or swamp. You'll find no man or beast more repulsive in all Novigrad. Nay... the entirety of the Continent."
  From the Rewards Tree entry: Scholars, philosophers, and religious figures have debated since the dawn of time what can cause a man to become evil. His nature, his upbringing, perhaps black magic or poisons? In Whoreson Junior's case it was a thick leather belt which his father lashed at him for any reason at all... and sometimes even in the absence of one. Years of fear, pain, and humiliation scarred the young Cyprian Wiley. Horrible years for which the people of Novigrad must now pay the price.

Scoia'tael

• Anti-Human Alliance: A ragtag alliance of elves and dwarves, brought together by a shared hatred of the racist elements of humanity.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Many of the Scoia'tael's warriors are equally adept at close-quarter combat as they are at archery.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: This faction is portrayed either as racist terrorists or just non-humans who want equality for all races, depending on the card. This can cause a lot of dissonance for those familiar with characters from the book lumped in with Scoia'tael due to being an Elf, Dwarf or other non-human non-monster race.