3. Key Concepts

Nilfgaard have only a few faction-exclusive keywords, however they have a lot of synergy with global keywords and statuses such as Lock, Seize and Poison – so I’ll mention those below aswell despite them not being Nilfgaard exclusive. They are as follows:

-Agent. This is a tag that may belong to a unit, just like soldier or human, however sometimes it can easily be mistaken with spying units so I’m going to clear it up here just in case.



-Assimilate is a keyword that fuels one main archetype of Nilfgaard, and it means that the card will boost its self by the specificed amount whenever you play a card that didn’t originate from your deck. This includes any cards that are played after being spawned or created, such as a card played from a Runestone. Assimilate points are also gained from cards played from your opponents deck or graveyard, accessed via cards like Cantarella and Experimental Remedy.



-Poison is a status, which is an applied effect represented by a small icon in the corner of the card and can be removed with Purify. In this case, Poison will do nothing on its own, but if a card with the poison status then recieves poison a 2nd time, it will be destroyed. This status is not exclusive to Nilfgaard however they are one of the best factions at utilizing it.



-Lock means that a cards ability will no longer work. This blocks keywords like Assimilate or Thrive, aswell as stopping Order abilities from being used. If you’re coming back to the game from beta, then Lock works a little differently than before – a locked unit still keeps their statuses. This means you can’t use a lock to remove Resilience, for example. Lock only blocks the cards written text ability.



-Reveal is a bit of an odd one.. It’s not used much but it is still prevalent in a few NG (and neutral) cards. It means that a random (unless otherwise specified) card is shown from the targets deck and then shuffled back. It’s fairly useless on its own, however cards that reveal will then use that revealed card as part of its own effect in some way, for example Spotter will reveal a card from your opponents deck and then boost its self by the revealed cards power. Despite being an RNG heavy effect, there are some cards that reveal from your own deck – which are usually more reliable since you have more control over your deck and can thin it down enough to give you better odds of revealing certian cards.



-Seize is a very powerful ability, once again not a Nilfgaard exclusive but just very well utilized by them, that lets you move a unit from your opponents side of the board to yours. You’ll notice that most seize abilities have a low power restriction, this is due to how big of a point swing seize can achieve. Not only are you gaining the exact amount of points that they lose, but you’re also able to steal an engine to get even more points in the long run. If you thought removal was good, then consider this removal on steroids. You can shut down an enemy engine whilst at the same time getting one yourself!



-Spying is a status that, if on a card text, simply means you play that card on the opponents side of the board. At first you’ll think “why do I want to give the opponent points?!” but in fact spying cards often have very valuable abilities, so the spying status is an interesting way to balance these. However, Nilfgaard has a few cards that gain points whenever you play a spying unit – so the ‘downside’ of giving your opponent points can be overcome.



-Tactic is simply a tag that belongs to most NG Special cards. Like Syndicate have Crimes, Nilfgaard have Tactics. This allows certian other cards to benefit off of playing tactics and they work very nicely with the Leader Ability ‘Enslave’, as you’ll see in section 4.



4. Leader Ability Rundown

Now the basics are out of the way, it’s time to chose the most important part of any deck. The first option presented when making a deck is what leader ability to use. Let’s go through them one by one:

Double Cross (17 Provisions):

Order: Create and play a card from your opponent’s hand.

If you’re planning to use an all-in assimilate deck then Double Cross is the leader ability for you! It’s not the most reliable however it can be very useful as you can use your opponents finisher and you can usually get some pretty good cards if you’re able to work out if your opponent is holding something good. It’s pretty flexible too as you get presented with, assuming your opponent has more than 3 cards left, at least 3 cards to pick from so chances are you’ll get something useful. The best way to use this ability is to wait until your opponent only has 3 cards left – this means you get to see exactly what cards they have allowing you to play around them which can be very valuable. Using it this late also means that you’ll likely have some Assimilate cards on the board too, and since you’re creating a card with this ability then it will activate all of those Assimilate keywords. However when you get to higher ranks then people will start trying to play around it by using their better cards earlier, so I’d reccomend playing it when your opponent has about 5 cards left so you’ll still be able to use their good cards. This ability also is quite generous in provisions, however the downside is that you can never know what you get and it’s hard for it to work exactly with your strategy. This is why other abilities are picked more often as they are reliable and can more easily play into your own gameplan. It’s definitely a very fun ability though and not to be underestimated – as playing 2 cards in one turn can mean some very powerful combos can go uninterrupted.

Its average value varies too much to pin down but you can expect at least 7~ points from the card picked alone, with more points from the assimilate abilities it will activate and being able to see what your opponent has can be very valuable giving an average of about 11 points. If you spot a scorch or igni and play accordingly then it could be the difference between a win and loss, and having crucial information like that can be really nice if you know how to use it. A good card to play with this leader is anything with assimilate. Specifically Glynnis aep Loernach as she gets 2 boosts for each time assimilate is triggered.

Tactical Decision (16 Provisions):

Order: Look at the top 3 cards from your deck and play one.



Tactical Decision is similar to Double Cross in that you’re presented with 3 cards making it flexible, however this one has the downside of not triggering any assimilate abilities or being able to see what your opponent has, but has the upside of selecting cards from your deck which not only means you can thin your deck down to increase your chances of getting better draws later on, but you also have a much better idea of what you’re going to get which makes it much more consistent and allows you to play into your own gameplan much more reliably. It also means you can pull off some 2-card combos without interruption, but they’ll be much better than the ones enabled Double Cross as you will get your own cards to use.

Again, this abilities value can vary making it hard for me to try and get an average, however it’s safe to expect at least 10, from both the card alone plus the unwritten value of thinning (if used in round 1 or 2) and playing 2 cards in 1 turn for a combo. A good card to use with this ability is

Albrich as he can put a card to the top of your deck – meaning you can guarantee what you will get to play – aswell as giving it a 2 point boost if it’s a unit.



Enslave (15 Provisions):

Order: Seize an enemy unit with 3 power or less. This value is raised by 1 for every 4 Tactic cards in your starting deck.



Enslave is among the top Nilfgaard leader abilities as it lets you seize an enemy unit which, as discussed earlier in section 3, is a very valuable ability. The fact this is a leader ability also means that you don’t have to wait a turn to set up a seizeable unit. Lets say that all your opponents units too high power to seize – since you can use this leader the same turn you play a card then you can damage a unit with a card into the range of this ability first and then steal it – meaning you can very often get an Engine or a card with an Order ability, giving you even more points than just the cards power. The big restriction to this leader ability, however, is the way it affects deckbuilding by requiring tactics to get more value. A 3 point seize isn’t great on it’s own so you’ll have to put alot of tactics in your deck to get more value, most often you’ll see people playing 8 tactics to enable a 5 point seize. This is probably the best balance between leader power and deck restriction, however some 6-Seize 12 Tactic decks can work. If you want to get any higher than that then you’ll need to go over 25 cards in your deck which is not reccomended – unless you, like some of us here at Bandit Gang, are a meme deck fanboy.

Its average value is about 10 and 12 points depending on the amount of tactics you’re using. You can seize a 6 for raw points, and if your siezing lower units then you’ll most likely go for an engine which will represent many more points in a long round however there is always the chance you’ll only be able to steal a 3 or 4 that does nothing. Some good cards to use with this ability are, you guessed it, lots of tactics. The best bronze ones are removal options such as Assassination and Tourney Joust or high-point ones such as Battle Preperation. The best gold tactics inculde Bribery, War Council and Royal Decree. Since you’ve already put these tactics in your deck then you’ll want to capitalize on it. The best card to use with this ability with this in mind is Hefty Helge, as it’s a very powerful card if used with lots of tactics.



Imperial Formation (15 Provisions):

Order: Boost an allied unit by 2. Charge: 4. Once all Charges have been exhausted, move a soldier from your deck to the top.



Imperial Formation is an ability that doesn’t have tonnes of synergy but instead focuses on pure points – it can work really well in decks with a lot of engines or order cards that need protecting and being able to move a card to the top of your deck also has it’s uses as we will discuss in just a second. Now I say this with all charge based abilities, but really, having multiple charges means that you can use a few points in earlier rounds just to get an edge if you need to catch up without having to commit one huge ability which can be very useful.

I’d say its average value is 10 points since while you’re getting 8 points through boosts alone, you can use it to keep engines alive which represent even more points, aswell as this you can get value from moving cards to the top of your deck such as, my pick for the best card to use with this ability; Affan Hillergrand. Whenever he is moved to the top of your deck then he summons himself to the board giving you 5 extra points aswell as some thinning.

Strategic Withdrawal (15 Provisions):

Order: Move an allied Nilfgaardian unit to your hand and boost it by 2, then play a card.



As discussed in Section 2, this is a very flexible ability that simply lets you re-play a card to use its ability twice (with a 2 point bonus on the way), or you can pick up a valuable card after playing it in round 1 to use again in round 3, however I’d not reccomend using it in round 1. Any card you pick up, if damaged, will be restored to its base power before being boosted by 2 so you can use this to heal a card if you must. It also purifies the card, allowing you to remove poison or unlock. Just don’t pick up a doomed card – as it will leave the battlefield and disappear.

It’s average value is about 10, considering you re-play a card with an ability worth 8 points. The value can be much more, though, depending on what card you use it with. Some of the best cards to use with this ability are ones with high ability value, including (but not limited to) Vilgefortz, Sweers and Ramon Tyrconnel.



Imposter (14 Provisions):

Order: Lock an enemy unit, then Spawn its base copy in the opposite row and boost it by 2.

Imposter is useful for many reasons, and fills a lot more roles than you may imagine. Firstly, it can lock an enemy unit which lets you shut down an engine. Not great on it’s own, but works well with cards that gain boosts/advantages off of having locked enemy cards. A lock is also a status, which works will with Nilfgaard cards such as a Thirsty Dame. Then you get your own copy of the card, however it is Spawned not Played, so it won’t activate any Assimilate effects. It can be fairly situational but if used correctly it can be very powerful. There are creative ways to use it, such as combining it with Vattier (who Siezes a locked enemy card) to use it as a type of tall removal. Or you could use Operator to give yourself a specific target you actually want, although none of these are 100% reliable.



It’s average value is too hard to calculate since it can be very low or very high depending on what card you target, and it can be tricky to use since it’s very situational. I feel as though it has its true potential undiscovered and at some point a powerful combo may come around in the future. For now I cannot list any good cards to combo it with since it relies on what your opponent plays, and I would advise agaisnt this for now if you are a beginner but it can definitely be very fun once you know what you’re doing and how to target effectively.



Lockdown (10 Provisions):

On game start, disable the enemy Leader for the duration of the battle.

And finally we have the leader ability that sums up Nilfgaard. With only 10 provisions and no synergy then I don’t reccomend using this ability competitively however it can be fun in some seasonal modes or Arena, where the provision limit isn’t in effect. You’ll most likely see this leader creep out at times when another leader is very overpowered, or in the early days of new expansions and patches. It is definitely the most easy ability to use though, so if you just want to test and don’t have time to put thought into a deck then go ahead and suck the fun out of your opponent! It might see use at some point however it’s just too overcosted to be useful right now – but denying your opponents ability can be very good against other leader abilities with similarly low provision bonuses.

It’s average value is ~12 (the average value of all other leaders average values) and can be higher depending on how much your opponent relies on their leader ability. For example against a deck with a 2-Card combo that requires a leader it can be super valuable. There aren’t really any cards I’d reccomend to use in this deck since it doesn’t synergise with any.



Overall I would consider Strategic Withdrawal and Tactical Decision the best ones for beginners since they’re reliable and powerful – Enslave is a contender among the best too however the deckbuilding restriction makes it slightly harder to optimize. Double Cross is definitely the most fun, in my opinion, as it presents mind games and gives you a lot of provisions when deckbuilding.



5. Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best Cards/Combos?

Some of the best single cards are ones such as Damien de la Tour – who allows you to replay your leader ability, and high-removal (and removal-esque) cards such as Leo Bonhart, Shilard Fitz-Oesterlen and Vincent Van Moorlehem.

As for 2-Card combos then Vilgefortz can be used with Tibor Eggebracht, if he’s at the top of your deck, to destroy a 1-Power allied unit and pull out this 13 point lad. Steffan Skellen can replay powerful tactics such as Bribery, and then Letho: Kingslayer can transform into a copy of that card to replay it again. Letho: Kingslayer also works well with many other cards such as Cahir Dyffryn or Damien de la Tour. (Remember that Kingslayer will not repeat a deploy ability, only passive/order abilities. Another small but effective combo is using Assire to put roach back into your deck, making it come out again instantly (although Assire has much better uses, like using it to re-draw your Scenario or other important cards)

If you want to play an assimilate deck rather than a control-focused one then Artorius Vigo can be used to create a Duchess’s Informant. This will trigger the assimilate abilities of your cards twice in one turn. Artorius can also be useful to create other cards that are already 1 power, such as a Doppler or Emissary – another spying unit.

What are the best Meta Decks?

If you want to find some good decks to play in ranked then you can check out the Gwent Deck Library to see the highest upvoted decks people are playing this patch, just make sure to filter by faction. Alternatively there are a couple of other teams who are producing ‘Meta Snapshots’ which give a rough guide of some of the best ranked decks avaliable. If you’re looking for more creative decks then our content team will have videos or future streams with some interesting decks and they’ll be happy to explain and help you understand more about the faction if they’re live!

I hear people using the term ‘Mill’ – What does it mean? Mill is a playstyle (not supported enough to be a full archetype) for Nilfgaard that means removing all the cards from your opponents deck with cards like Viper Witchers to banish them or Matta Hu’uri so they overdraw. Once the opponents deck has been drained – they capitalise on this by either getting a straight up card advantage or using cards like Tibor Eggebracht & Vilgefortz with no downside.

I have no more questions for now, but I’ll update this section when I recieve more. Have a question you want to see here? Let us know!



That completes the Nilfgaard for Dummies Guide. If you have any more questions then comments are open and I’ll be happy to continue updating this & responding as frequently as possible.

The last update of this guide was: 16/05/2020 for Patch 6.2.1



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