The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Special - Draw a card if you win a round.
The Northern Realms Gwent deck is a basic Gwent deck that Geralt starts out with during The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's prologue and is based on heroes from that region. The deck is built around the idea of damage output and staying power.
Overview
The Northern Realms deck has the potential ability to place unit cards with the Tight Bond ability (each affected unit has its strength increased by 100%) in each of the three rows, perhaps all in one round depending on the cards the player draws, which can make a very small number of cards get a very massive score if you lay them down together, which you can then boost further with the Commander's Horn (gwent card). For example, if you can find all three Blue Stripes Commando cards, get all three in your hand and lay them all down, those four cards normally worth 4 each for 12 total are now worth 12 each for a total of 36, which you can then Horn to make them 72. None of the other decks can get point scores this high with so few cards in the base game. This allows Geralt to rapidly build up his score, while three separate spy cards help keep a large hand late into the game. Depending on the draw, players can receive as many as 15 cards from their deck {3 spy cards, opponent uses 3 spy cards which are reclaimed with decoys, mysterious elf spy card, northern realms ability after winning one round} over the three rounds (the Nilfgaard deck could receive up to 16 cards over 3 rounds [3 spy cards, opponent uses 3 spy cards which are reclaimed with decoys, mysterious elf spy card, Emhyr leader ability draws spy card from enemy discard pile]). The main weaknesses of this deck are:
- Great susceptibility to Weather cards, which negate the Tight Bond effectively by reducing all cards in the affected row to one initially; that new value of 1 does still get boosted by 100% per matching card put down, so four Blue Stripes Commandos under the effect of Biting Frost would still be worth 3 each for a total of 9, and the Horn could still increase that to 18.
- Scorch cards or those with a similar effect like Villentretenmerth (gwent card) which remove the highest card(s) in play; this card can be a deal-breaker if the opponent plays it and knocks out an entire set of Tight Bonded cards.
Cards
| Icon | Name (no. of cards) | Type | Combat row | Strength | Special ability | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foltest: King of Temeria | Leader | n/a | n/a | King of Temeria | Pick an Impenetrable Fog card from your deck and play it instantly. | Part of the base deck | |
| Foltest: Lord Commander of the North | Leader | n/a | n/a | Lord Commander of the North | Clear any weather effects (resulting from Biting Frost, Torrential Rain or Impenetrable Fog cards) in play. | Purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) | |
| Foltest: The Siegemaster | Leader | n/a | n/a | The Siegemaster | Doubles the strength of all your Siege units (unless a Commander's Horn is also present on that row). | Won from the "Nilfgaardian Nobleman" at the Royal Palace in Vizima | |
| Foltest: The Steel-Forged | Leader | n/a | n/a | The Steel-Forged | Destroy your enemy's strongest Siege unit(s) if the combined strength of all his or her Siege units is 10 or more. | High Stakes | |
| Foltest: Son of Medell | Leader | n/a | n/a | Son of Medell | Destroy your enemy's strongest Ranged Combat unit(s) if the combined strength of all his or her Ranged Combat units is 10 or more. | Hearts of Stone: bought from the caravan troupe merchant northwest of Carsten | |
| Ballista | Unit |  |
6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Blue Stripes Commando (3) | Unit |  |
4 |  |
Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. |
1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 purchased from the Quartermaster in Perch Crow's Perch 1 purchased from the merchant in Midcopse | |
| Catapult (2) | Unit | |
8 | |
Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 purchased from Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora | |
| Crinfrid Reavers Dragon Hunter (3) | Unit |  |
5 | |
Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 purchased from the merchant in Claywich (after rescuing him) 1 purchased from the merchant in Midcopse | |
| Dethmold | Unit | |
6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Dun Banner Medic | Unit | |
5 |  |
Choose one car from your discard pile and play it instantly (no Heroes or Special Cards). | Part of the base deck | |
| Esterad Thyssen | Hero | |
10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | Gwent: Big City Players, won from Dijkstra at the bathhouse | |
| John Natalis | Hero | |
10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | A Dangerous Game, won from Ravvy's captor at The Golden Sturgeon | |
| Kaedweni Siege Expert (3) | Unit | |
1 |  |
Adds +1 strength to all units in the row, excluding itself. | Part of the base deck | |
| Keira Metz | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Philippa Eilhart | Hero | |
10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant | |
| Poor Fucking Infantry (3) | Unit | |
1 | |
Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 2 are part of the base deck 1 purchased from the merchant in Lindenvale | |
| Prince Stennis | Unit | |
5 |  |
Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck. | Part of the base deck | |
| Redanian Foot Soldier (2) | Unit | |
1 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sabrina Glevissig | Unit | |
4 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sheldon Skaggs | Unit | |
4 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Siege Tower | Unit | |
6 | None | n/a | Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant | |
| Siegfried of Denesle | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sigismund Dijkstra | Unit | |
4 | |
Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck. | Gwent: Velen Players, won from The Bloody Baron in Crow's Perch | |
| Síle de Tansarville | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Thaler | Unit | |
1 | |
Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck. | Purchase from Innkeep in Arinbjorn | |
| Trebuchet (2) | Unit | |
6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Vernon Roche | Hero | |
10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | Gwent: Velen Players, won from Haddy in Midcopse | |
| Ves | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Yarpen Zigrin | Unit | |
2 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck |
