Gwent's Final Update: CD Projekt's Parting Changes and the Balance Council's Reign

Towards the end of the previous year, CD Projekt Red announced its decision to step back from developing Gwent, the free-to-play collectible card game. While new cards will continue to be added in 2023, it was declared that the card pool would be considered complete after this year, and further balance adjustments would be left to the players.

The recently launched Update 11.10 marks the final update from CD Projekt for Gwent. As explained by Molegion in the overview video, "This is the last developer-prepared content update for Gwent. Following this, we won't be making any further changes to the cards. Instead, we will implement a system, which you can find in the main menu, known as the balance council."

The balance council allows players with at least Prestige 1 status, who have either won 25 ranked games in the current season or reached Rank 0, to vote on changes once per month. Each player can select up to three cards or leader abilities to vote on, with the option to vote for an increase or decrease in their power or provision cost. The votes are weighted, with the first choice in a category counting as three votes, the second as two, and the third as one.

To effect changes, cards or abilities must accumulate a minimum of 50 votes in a month, with a cap of 15 maximum changes in each monthly bracket and a minimum of three. The aim is to maintain a dynamic meta, preventing it from becoming overly predictable while avoiding abrupt changes that render entire decks obsolete.

Presumably, the Gwent team is being redirected to other projects, such as the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, currently in early development following the release of Phantom Liberty, and the game referred to as The Witcher 4, which is set to inaugurate a new trilogy.

Gwent's Version 11.10 update delivers a final round of developer patches, as detailed below:

Neutral:

• Ale of the Ancestors: Now includes the Alchemy tag.
• Ciri: Nova: Added a new part of the ability: Ciri: Nova and Golden Nekker are excluded from this condition.
• Colossal Ifrit: Tooltip corrected to accurately reflect the ability (the ability targets 3 adjacent enemy units, not the opposite row).
• Golden Nekker: Added a new part of the ability: Ciri: Nova and Golden Nekker are excluded from this condition.
• Regis: Bloodlust: On the battlefield effect changed to: Banish the top 3 cards from your deck.
• Sangreal: Now includes the Alchemy tag.
• Tainted Ale: Now includes the Alchemy tag. Can no longer target allied units.
• Crow's Eye: Boost changed from 3 to 4.
• Thaw: Boost changed from 4 to 5.

Monsters:

• Vereena: Boost restriction now only affects enemy units.
• Archespore: Now includes the Cursed tag.

Nilfgaard:

• Affan Hillergrand: Ability changed to: Once all leader Charges are used up, Summon self from your deck to a random allied row. If you control at least 4 units with Flanking, play self instead and gain Zeal. Order: Boost all allied Soldiers with Armor by 1.
• Rosa and Edna var Attre: Updated tooltip to reflect that only unique Aristocrats are counted, and that Spawned copies gain Doomed.
• Deithwen Arbalest: Now has Counter: 6.

Northern Realms:

• Princess Adda: Ability changed to: Deploy (Devotion): Gain Immunity. The first time a Cursed unit enters the battlefield during your turn, boost self by its base power.
• Radovid: Judgment: Added a new part of the ability: Order: Damage an enemy unit by 0. Increase this value by 1 for each time you used your leader ability this game.
• Seltkirk of Gulet: Now includes the Cursed tag.
• Vandergrift: Now includes the Cursed tag.

Scoia'tael:

• Angus Bri Cri: Updated tooltip to reflect that all Elven Deadeyes appearing on your side of the battlefield are boosted (not just those who were Spawned).
• Mahakam Pass: Can now Create any bronze Scoia'tael Dwarves (not only Mahakam Dwarves).
• Pavko Gale: Now has Harmony.

Skellige:

• Otkell: The Deploy ability is now limited to the Ranged row. Now damages self by instances of 1.
• Svalblod: Damage required to Spawn a Svalblod Fanatic changed from 6 to 8.

Syndicate:

• Ixora: Vice requirement changed from 6 to 8.
• Novigrad: Provision cost changed from 10 to 12.

Game Fixes:

• Recommended cards in the Deck Builder once again display their tooltips.
• The Shield VFX should no longer remain on the board in rare cases, after the unit it belonged to leaves play.
• Chort is no longer a common Beast, but an epic Relict!
• Henry var Attre's Spawned cards are now shown in the preview screen.
• Casting Contest no longer disables Grace for bronze units.
• Deithwen Arbalest now only damages one unit at a time when multiple statuses are applied simultaneously.
• Princess Adda and Svalblod no longer react to units moved between rows on the same side of the battlefield.
• Salamandra Mage no longer counts Adrenaline inconsistently when reacting to Tributes.