Nilfgaard, also known as Ceas’raet in the Nilfgaardian language, is the most powerful and influential imperialistic state known to the world’s history. It’s known for its talented commanders, witty strategists, spying agents and sneaky assassins. In Gwent, this faction is known for its more control-oriented playstyle and it uses locks to prevent their enemies from using their abilities and destroys them with deadly poisons.
For today, I’ve brought to you a Nilfgaard combo deck built around the Enslave leader ability and Damien de la Tour’s ability to re-enable it. Let’s take a closer look at the list and see what kind of role each card plays in it!
War Council, Treason, Assassination, Imperial Diplomacy and Tourney Joust
These Tactic cards are mainly used to boost Enslave’s power, but are also useful by themselves. Because most of the cards in this list interact with enemy units one way or another, War Council and Imperial Diplomacy are usually safe plays if there are no units to manipulate.
Imperial Diviner, Cantarella and Dazhbog Runestone
Imperial Diviner is mainly present for her Purify effect to deal with Locks and Bleeding and she is especially useful for removing the Defender status from enemy units. She also has the Assimilate keyword which can provide a few extra points in conjunction with Imperial Diplomacy, Cantarella or Dazhbog Runestone. Dazhbog Runestone and Cantarella are also fairly safe plays if enemy units are absent.
Geralt of Rivia, Vanhemar and Sweers
Geralt and Vanhemar are the main removal cards for bigger and more valuable units. While Sweers doesn’t look very impressive, he can be very useful for dealing with smaller cards that would be capable of doing a lot of damage if left unchecked: Redanian Archer, Lyrian Arbalest and Kaedweni Revenant to name a few. He also generates a small amount of card advantage, which is the main leverage of the deck.
Dorregaray of Vole, Serrit and Auckes
Dorregaray and Auckes have the ability to Lock an enemy unit to prevent it from using its ability and set up a target for Vanhemar. Note that these are the only cards in the deck with a guaranteed Lock, so they should be used wisely. Serrit is mainly keeping company for Auckes, but is worth quite a number a points if Auckes is still in your hand.
Impera Brigade and Doadrick Leumaerts
When played on the Melee lane, Impera Brigade summons a copy of itself from your deck, providing a few extra points for the round and thinning your remaining deck to make it easier to find the combo pieces later, while Doadrick helps to cycle through your cards more quickly.
Damien de la Tour, Letho: Kingslayer and Petri’s Philter
These are the main combo pieces and the card advantage generated by them is usually enough to win the match. These cards shouldn’t be drawn until third round. The ideal hand for the final round would have both Damien and Letho and at least one of the Philters. Doadrick and War Council will be useful as well, if one or two of the combo pieces are missing. Lastly, some form of removal, such as Assassination or Treason, is always good to have available.
Strategy
During the final round, the order the cards are played in is crucial, as every decision might affect the outcome of the match. Doadrick is usually the card I like to start with, so he gets the most uses from his ability if I need to find a specific card. Otherwise, I usually start with a Philter or Imperial Diplomacy. I you're not sure what to do next, Petri’s Philter is often a safe play, as most decks don’t run Artifact removal. At this point, if your opponent plays anything even remotely valuable with at least 4 power, don’t hesitate to steal it with Enslave if you haven’t used the ability yet; you can re-enable it anytime by playing Damien de la Tour, activating the Philter you played earlier and giving him Zeal before your opponent gets a chance to Lock or remove him. If you already have the second Philter in your hand, play it before Letho so you can transform him into another Damien and repeat the process to generate more value.
The idea for this deck came from an arena draft where I had Petri’s Philter and Gaunter O’Dimm and I started thinking what other cards could benefit from this not so often played Artifact. I want to point out that I am still dealing with a limited collection, which is why Vattier of Rideaux is not included in the deck. I hope my quick Tour (pun intended) through the cards was clear enough and that you’ll enjoy playing this list! Thank you for joining me today and have fun on the Gwent ladder!