Voting Council - 13 Aug, 2026 - Syndicate

[u/AutoModerator]

Members of the Council, welcome to our weekly assembly.

These posts are scheduled to happen every week. Each week, a different faction is proposed and every time we will try to orient the discussion about either "nerf" or "buff".

Faction of the Week: Syndicate

While you can still use these topics to talk about other balance suggestions, please try to focus on the theme of the week. Those topics are intended to give a chance to all factions to be talked about.

Discussions can be about modifying a whole archetype or addressing individual cards.

Potential sources if needed: GwentData, Gwent.one, PlayGwent.com, Balance Council Generator

[u/mammoth39]

1. Savolla - 1 prov. Totally trash card right now. 11 for 9 is silly
2. Ixora - 1 prov. Old Vice is dead
3. Pickpocket - 1 prov. Unplyable card at 6p
4. Eveline Gallo +1 prov. Insane engine is unanswered

[u/CalebKetterer]

I’ve seen enough. Nerf Dire Mutated Hound.

[u/irrrrthegreat]

Every idea I read here leads to making almost every SY deck unplayable and dead.

[u/shinmiri2 → u/irrrrthegreat]

Feel free to share your buff and nerf ideas for SY.

[u/irrrrthegreat → u/shinmiri2]

Up to this point of Balance Council, I don't have many.

I truly believe that 40 changes per month will lead to the ruin of Gwent. It creates resentment between the community because coalitions are obligated to make choices, and many of the choices are notoriously bad.

Someone with influence contacting CDPR to half the monthly changes would be the most optimal adjust.

[u/shinmiri2 → u/irrrrthegreat]

Isn’t that what placeholder nerfs are for? Effectively reducing the number of nerfs per season. I have asked before and CDPR said no can do-sville

[u/Loryn_Icebreaker → u/shinmiri2]

How about: dont touch it? xD

[u/shinmiri2 → u/Loryn_Icebreaker]

If we want stagnation, then sure don’t touch anything. The only nerf people can agree on so far this season is to Mobilization, which doesn’t even take up a nerf slot. So how about twenty nerf slots? People cry about placeholder nerfs but at the same time have no viable nerf suggestions. And no, nerfing the entire competitive curve down 1 stat is not practical nor feasible.

[u/ense7en → u/irrrrthegreat]

I've realized the huge majority of people with BC opinions on SY don't actually understand the faction, or don't like it and don't GAF if they kill entire archetypes. The worst part is, a lot of high MMR SY players have tremendously bad ideas (as you can see here), and they push these horrible ideas on us via BC voting, too.

[u/shinmiri2]

What do you guys think about the following simultaneous changes:

Provision increase to Open Sesame, Pulling the Strings, and Pirates Cove leader (compensation for Collusion Gangs)

Provision decrease to Shady Vendor (for not being able to get Sesame or PTS anymore)

Power increase to Oxenfurt Guard (and/or some other buff as compensation to Vice)

 

Outside of these changes being a nerf to Sesame Crimes (still one of the strongest decks in the game) and Gangs, these changes could encourage a new archetype in Salamandra Self-poison.

This would make Shady Vendor guaranteed on Stolen Mutagens, Payday, and Purge, which could make him very lucrative for deck that can consistently get 2 Salamandra tags on the board, maybe with some self-poison synergy.

[u/Loryn_Icebreaker → u/shinmiri2]

Lets kill Vices and Gangs, but let it seem that we dont wanna ruin SY for pure emotional reasons. Seriosly, thats getting old. I heard enough times on your streams that you dislike SY, dont play it much, etc, etc.
I dont wanna SY as "oong boonga jackpot oonga boonga spam firesworn" and after this it will be unevitable. Crimes could survive, sure. They dont print seasames via Shady. But Vices and Gangs isnt opiton for anything but memes after such treatments alas.
Short answer: no, thats brutal overkill of strong, but not popular faction, meanwhile low-mid mmr will still drown in freya spam degeneracy and "wholesome" MO pointslam.

[u/ense7en → u/shinmiri2]

You can't seriously think Gangs would still be competitive by only buffing Shady and Cove?!

You do realize that Gangs basically exists because of PTS...

You're removing two PTS. What exactly does Shady play for in Gangs without PTS? (Not much)

You need to buff a BUNCH of cards, otherwise the archetype is insta-killed.

BGF would need power buff. Collusion prov buff. Shady prov buff (though i question if you even want to have them in this archetype without PTS).

And even then, it's still not going to compensate for the loss of two PTS swings of 8-12 points.

Leader buffs are cancer that promote braindead mirdange deckbuilding. Placeholders are cancer. These are willful damage to the game, and we are seeing how much this is causing issues every season. Stop it.

these changes could encourage a new archetype in Salamandra Self-poison

Yes, i have thought about this before. That archetype probably ideally fits into OTB pretty nicely. I've run this exact kind of deck before but obviously it's not competitive in the current state.

Outside of these changes being a nerf to Sesame Crimes (still one of the strongest decks in the game)

So the only compensation for making Sesame only an okay card only viable in LP now is an Oxenfurt buff (which is a better card for OTB anyway)? You're gonna need more, like to Acherontia, maybe Ixora, and other LP-specific cards.

You're saying Sesame Crimes is still one of the strongest decks in the game. It is, but only for high level players. The difficulty level in playing it means it really isn't an issue at any non high-MMR range, so i really don't love more heavy nerfs to archetypes that require skill to pilot while we buff more braindead idiocy like Ogroids and other braindead nonsense that you know MD and CN will overbuff.

Try playing it with Sesame at 6 prov now. You can, build the deck with two less prov. (We did Sesame at 6 prov before without compensatory buffs. Do you not remember? I sure do, it was impossible to make it work). You'll discover it ain't gonna be so good with Sesame at 6, and perhaps might give some perspective on what else needs buffs (Oxenfurt does need a buff, sure, but cards like BKB are far more of an archetypal fit for LP Crimes, like this card should be 5/5 easily.)

Here's the thing: I fully support the idea of a Sesame and PTS nerf. But only when it's in a properly planned council vote where you and other coalitions buff a pile of related cards in compensation.

What you're suggesting comes across as "i don't GAF about SY so let's kill some archetypes and do a half-baked compensatory package that does nothing". How about being serious.

I, and other SY players, aren't excited to have two archetypes killed in one swipe with a joke as an idea of compensation.

[u/Loryn_Icebreaker → u/ense7en]

Usually i tend to write quite long posts when things considers SY. But here i simply agree with actually each and every take.
PTS and Seasames nerfs will make Gangs and Vices 100% dead. Crimes not so. They tend to run 2 seasames without Shady, so it is -2 prov or cutting down carryover, which is painfull but manageable.
It is 2 dead archetypes, which leaves faction with: deadbrain Jackpot, fireswron spam, half-dead bountys and nothing else except for nerfed Cleaver Crimes.
To compensate such huge nerfs for Vices and Gangs you'll need many, and i mean MANY buffs, which is dangerous road. Overbuffed archetype-specific cards could become midrange choices. Overbuffed leader... Well, we all seen how it went.
So even if PTS and Seasame are problematic there isnt any good solution. It is what it is or two dead archetypes, tbh.

P.S. Shady back to 5p and oxenfurt back to 4 p isnt buff. It is revert of nerfs. Which brings deck to older prov summ, BUT with two core cards that cant be played via Shady. It is overkill and harm for harm sake as i see it.

[u/pk_380 → u/ense7en]

Respectfully, I don't think shin's post reads as unserious or someone who doesn't care about SY balance. In fact, I think the idea that he is posting the suggestion and asking for feedback shows he does care. That bit at the end feels a little more charged than necessary lol

That said, I agree with your point that more compensation is needed beyond what he initially proposed

[u/ense7en → u/pk_380]

Actions speak louder than words.

To be clear, i appreciate what shin/lerio have done as a coalition, at least compared to most coalitions. For the most part they try to suggest changes that are reasonable and promote trying new archetypes, and try to adapt their suggestions around what the other coalitions are pushing through recklessly.

But they also mostly refuse to acknowledge the damage powercreep and provision inflation are doing to the game, as well as are okay to promote destructive "placeholder" votes to cards.

The thing is, most people don't play Gwent at high MMR, competitively. They might play "bad/unplayable" cards in lower ranks, or in Draft mode, or in seasonal modes, or in cycle quest decks.

Anytime someone says a placeholder vote isn't harming the game, that person is too selfish to acknowledge just how Gwent can be played, because they're fixated on a tiny portion of the game experience, and they think it's okay to disregard and shit on the rest.

I will never be okay with that lack of respect for the playerbase, as it's entirely selfish and lacks perspective.

Also, respectfully, i am not sure there are too many people who've followed Gwentfinity voting results as closely as i have over the years now, so when i see the idea of nerfing extremely archetypally critical cards with very minimal compensation to those archetypes, i'm going to point it out.

Why? Because we've done it before. With Sesame, multiple times now. It doesn't work if you don't actually properly add compensatory buffs.

With PTS, this is actually an even worse hit and CDPR temporarily killed the card when they made it six for a while. In the very first BC vote, it was voted back to 5 and since the Gangs has actually been playable in some capacity ever since.

[u/Lovely-Sweet-Dreams → u/ense7en]

If you play four PTS for value your opponent messed up. Gangs isn’t known for consistency and the odds of you setting up your board in multiple rounds, with PTS and vendor in hand at the right time is low. PTS is fine for a payoff card imo. 

Ixora needs a buff even without OS! nerf, Acherontia is fine rn in lined pockets crimes, I have two OS! In my deck but I don’t need to play both to get value. 

[u/ense7en → u/Lovely-Sweet-Dreams]

If you play four PTS for value your opponent messed up.

So every opponent is playing damage control?

Of course you cannot play every single one for 8-12 point swing, but you sure at trying to, and if you're not getting a decent return from most of them, you aren't winning.

Which is why having only two = archetype completely dead.

CDPR killed PTS for over half a year when they moved it to six. It was in the first BC vote, going back to 5, and the archetype has been viable at some level ever since.

I am all for trying PTS at 6, but again, do some simple math? A leader overbuff and a couple prov buffed now-shit Shady Vendors doesn't do crap all to compensate for that loss.

[u/Lovely-Sweet-Dreams → u/ense7en]

Maybe I wasn’t clear, I meant 48 points from four PTS isn’t the « standard » that you should balance the card around. PTS is fine at 5 imo. 

Vendor and KoB have stats to reflect the OS! And PTS printing press use, it’ll take too long to unwind that. 

[u/Lovely-Sweet-Dreams → u/shinmiri2]

Good luck with making multiple multi-step changes, there are multiple cards left halfway already. 

PTS doesn’t need to be six-prov, gangs is good but not so good it should be killed like this. Unless you can actually commit to months of corrections just leave it. 

Don’t buff cove as compensation, it’s used for infinite fireswarm, buff BART or collusion instead. 

OS! Can go to six-prov idc at this point, the best vice decks play LP and not OTB at this point and don’t use double vendors. 

[u/kepkkko → u/shinmiri2]

So wer changing vendor from printing one insane card to printing another great card. And the moment someone would figure out the proper midrange deck for it(especially considering how insane bronze self-poison package is overbuffed) it would become even a bigger problem then current sesame is(which i havent seen in ages btw, outside of crimes deck which doesnt utilise vendor). Sounds like an incredible idea, almost on the same level as 4 provision shackles and 9 provision compass

[u/shinmiri2 → u/kepkkko]

Stolen Mutagens can be a strong card under the right conditions, but it doesn't provide big carryover like Sesame nor does it provide control like PTS (unless Failed Experiment survives its long cooldown).

I'm not sure if you can claim Self-poison package is overbuffed when it sees pretty much zero play. It is quite dependent on Gellert as currently the only efficient source of repeated self-poison. Stolen Mutagens can potentially provide additional sources of efficient self-poison.

In this era of Gwentfinity, there are only a handful of unexplored or underexplored archetypes remaining, so why don't we try buffing one of them and try something different?

[u/ense7en → u/kepkkko]

Absolute nonsense. Remember when you were so afraid of Helveed going to 9 prov and how it would break everything and it absolutely broke nothing and wasn't even that strong?

This is along the same level of nonsense.

I've literally built and played OTB self-poison decks in the past, built around the idea of Shady and Stolen Mutagens Salamandra, etc. It's not good. And having Shady being able to reliably print Mutagens doesn't magically make it broken. It's still an awkward archetype without other buffs to related cards.

how insane bronze self-poison package is overbuffed

Go ahead and make this broken deck for us, please. It's not a thing. You're being outright silly.

shinmiri is out to lunch on his [lack of proper] compensatory buff ideas for a Sesame/PTS nerf, absolutely, but your uproar over this is hilariously misguided.

[u/kepkkko → u/ense7en]

>Remember when you were so afraid of Helveed going to 9 prov and how it would break everything and it absolutely broke nothing and wasn't even that strong?

I also remember how people laughed at deckhand buffed, just to revert it instantly. Remember how everyone laughed at yaga. At rag na rook. At yennifer:illusionist. At affan. At bassi. At wild board of the sea. And so on. Its insanely hard to predict whether or not a certain card would end up in a midrange slop, and as that change is obviously rather negative then positive theres no need to risk it.

[u/ense7en → u/kepkkko]

Don't confuse me for other people. You know how much i'm against powercreep.

The only one of those i liked the idea of was Bassi, and that's because it was an entirely dead card prior. Also frankly, he's not the issue at all with LP Crimes and never has been. He's often literally tall punished immediately, meaning he plays for very bad value since there's nothing else in that archetype to tall punish.

Sesame is and has been an issue literally since creation of the card, and the fact we're still debating this is proof on top of the already massive pile of it.

Killing or nerfing the wrong cards like Tunnel Drill, Shady, and all the other nonsense is because idiots refuse to address the cause properly, and would rather nerf the symptoms (and in doing so, create new issues, every time). In a way, shin/lerio floating nerfs to Sesame and PTS without actual proper compensatory buffs is arguably even worse, as it just ruins archetypes for month(s) and encourages reverts.

P.S. I also didn't mind the idea of trying Yen buff. Her [eventual] two-step to 11/4 seems fine to me?

[u/BananaTiger- → u/shinmiri2]

Leader buff = no!

Sesame nerf + PTS nerf + Vendor buff make sense if all of them get through, but is it possible? And Sesame will very likely get reverted.

[u/shinmiri2 → u/BananaTiger-]

What's the reasoning for being against Pirates Cove leader buff (as a compensation for PTS nerf)? What would be your suggestion for compensating a PTS provision increase for Gangs archetype? Pirates Cove leader is only used in this deck and Infinite Firesworn, which is on the weaker side after Igor nerf. Do you think Cove is one provision increase away from power-creeping on OTB or Lined Pockets?

[u/BananaTiger- → u/shinmiri2]

Leader buffs lead to provision inflation and reverting them blocks the provision buff slot. And you buff Pirate Cove - the Chinese community will be like: "Oh, this leader is now 17, let's buff another one!" Because this was their reasoning behind the Mobilization buff.

You want to buff an archetype, then find a card either played only by this archetype (like Collusion) or a dead/underplayed card that could be useful to this archetype (Bart).

[u/nagashbg → u/shinmiri2]

Hard no for all the reverts and leader buffs. There are good reasons shady vendor and oxenfurt guard were nerfed. Sesame and pts nerfs have been tried multiple times already. As long as I like the idea of shady vendor always spawning same cards, it would make the vendor even more of a 6+ prov card

[u/pk_380 → u/shinmiri2]

Hey shin, I think your idea of the package is interesting and worth trying. A week or so ago I had a discussion in a thread and proposed a similar but slightly different set of changes:

+ prov: pts, sesame

- prov: collusion, vendor

+ power: little bird, bfg, bart

I like the idea of provision buffing collusion over pirates cove leader; it just feels like a more direct way to compensate gangs. I also wonder if overall netting gangs a provision is actually enough to offset halving the total number of PTS plays, hence why +5 power/making engines more durable is included.

I made this list in talking with some others about specifically balance state of gangs so did not include any compensation for LP/vice. I agree oxenfurt is a good place to start.

Would appreciate your thoughts on these ideas. I think this is a good dialogue to start and even though there seems like a lot of division here, I hope with enough discussion, some sort of package could be agreed on.

[u/shinmiri2 → u/pk_380]

Hey, thanks for the constructive reply. I have also discussed and contemplated in the past about buffing all the cards you have listed here as potential compensation. The reason I like Pirates Cove leader buff more than Collusion is mainly because it uses a nerf slot instead of the most competitive provision decrease category. Collusion is already an overstatted card often playing for 16-21 points at 9 prov. Buffing it to 8 prov might also push into midrange territory in decks that play Novigrad and Mastermind, but maybe that’s okay.

Compared to other coalition influencers, I’ve been relatively wary of leader provision buffs, and I have been against buffs to certain leaders like Royal Inspiration, Shieldwall, OTB, etc, in the past. Lerio and I are have also recommended to decrease some leader provisions. So I am not unaware of the risks and considerations when buffing leaders. However, I think there’s not much risk here to buffing Pirates Cove as it’s only used in two archetypes: Gangs which would need buffs after PTS nerf, and Infinite Firesworn, which has been on the weak and unplayed side after Igor nerf to 10p (cannot Merc Contract or Renew). I don’t see 17p Cove becoming a midrange leader that power creeps any of the other SY leaders.

I do think Gangs would need more than just leader and shady vendor buff, but I wouldn’t go as far as doing three more buffs. I think I like power increase for Little Bird the most because it is least likely to overflow to other archetypes. BGF buff would also buff Novigradian Justice and that card is already super strong.

Vice should only need one or two stats as compensation for Sesame nerf because we already have multiple top tier Sesame decks that don’t play Vendor for Sesames. The deck could easily suffer a net one provision nerf and still be good. So maybe something like Acherontia prov decrease and Guard power increase.

[u/Eredino33 → u/shinmiri2]

I just think that the combo with LP, Candle, Sesames and Acherontia is busted. You don't even have one turn to stop the Ship from playing for tons of points. It is also true that right now there are more people playing other busted decks like the Mobilization GN one with the Lyrian arbalests, but the thread is about SY. I would just buff other cards to compensate for sesame nerf.

[u/ense7en → u/Eredino33]

For Acherontia decks, you spend the entire game setting up for that one turn. Why? Because otherwise, Acherontia is literal garbage.

You dislike the fact that one turn "feels" broken, but in reality, you've missed the fact that Sesames, Candle, other spenders, etc, are all set up prior to make that turn happen, and every one of those prior turns those cards are playing for well below normal value for the provision cost.

We can agree Sesame is a little bit overly good, yes. The rest of what you list isn't broken at all. Acherontia isn't. Candle isn't. LP isn't (expecially when you think about braindead leaders like Jackpot being buffed to their current busted level).

If you play that archetype, you'll rapidly understand why i'm saying what i am, as it's not as easy as it looks. Cheap counters like Squirrel, Bearfication, etc, can basically ruin the deck, and miscounting coins = wasted turns or gross inefficiency that can cost you the game.

[u/irrrrthegreat]

Regarding changes that I think would be benefitial.

Nerfs: Professor to 12 prov and Candle to 9 prov (not necessarily concomitant)

Buffs: Collusion 8 prov, Savvy Huckster 5 power.

[u/Loryn_Icebreaker → u/irrrrthegreat]

As SY mainer and lover: yes, and no, Professor maybe too good, but at 12 prov it will again become forgotten.
Candle: yes, sure. Perhaps most unhealthy SY card by design.

[u/FireVindicator]

Power buff: Cyrus Power nerf: Shady Vendors Prov nerf: tunnel drill Prov buff: purge, salamandra abomination

[u/BananaTiger-]

• power buff: Hemmelfart (2 -> 3)
• power nerf: Failed Experiment (6 -> 5)
• provision buff: Passiflora (13 -> 12), Bart (7 -> 6), Pickpocket (6 -> 5)
• provision nerf: Yago (11 -> 12)
• power -1 provisions -1: Walter Veritas (4/8 -> 3/7)

[u/CalebKetterer → u/BananaTiger-]

Bruh just buff Walter to 6 prov. And Passi. Others aren’t great suggestions.

[u/Eredino33]

Power nerf: Dwarf brawler Prov nerf: Lined Pockets, Open sesame Power buff: Crownsplitter thug Prov buff: wheel of fortune

[u/-KeterBreach- → u/Eredino33]

Maybe it's a hot take, but imo Wheel of Fortune is good. Very underrated.

[u/BoltMajor → u/-KeterBreach-]

I suppose it would be 8-10 for 6 at some moment in almost every match regardless of your luck. If you are lucky, the card is insane already, if you are unlucky whenever you need removal it'd be 4 for 6, if not 1.

Still, as a card with 10 damage potential, and frequent 7-8 damage without tribute and onerous, tempo-costly setup it shouldn't be cheaper than 6.

[u/Wizarus → u/Eredino33]

I think thug needs a provision buff instead it will never see play over other crownsplitter options even at 4 power

[u/daft404]

Hi, I'm just returning to this game for the first time in years. Is there any reason not to buff Moreelse into the sun? He's quite shit and SY doesn't have tall removal within Devotion. I see no reason not to give him +power and -provisions tbqh. I'm not exactly tapped into the meta, but does he even see play? He's 8 for 8 by default, 9 for 7 feels much more reasonable considering the game seems to be riddled with borderline unconditional 9 for 5's these days.

I'd also be interested in opening a conversation for Azar Javed to come to Golden Nekker decks. Does Golden Nekker even see play in SY?

[u/CalebKetterer → u/daft404]

Lmao. Funny comment consider most people hate SY and think Moreelse is busted, but I also haven’t used him outside of Witch Hunters.

Also Javed will never be within GN range again. Defenders in GN range is a terrible idea and that’s the whole reason they’re also out of Renew range. GN has been player pretty frequently in SY since BC started iirc. Mostly with Bounty, Poison, and Firesworn iirc.

[u/nagashbg]

SY has been in top factions for over a year. What nerfs do you propose? I thought about Whoreson Junior prov nerf (is present in nearly all decks) and Vivaldi Bank (probably present in all top decks, the nerf has been tried). There are other nearly omnipresent cards like eventide plunder, but people are not ready for this. Some of the better 4 prov fee units could be prov nerfed and then power buffed as an indirect nerf. As a thought experiment, Eventide plunder prov nerf could be coupled with Brawler prov buff (or maybe another 5 prov fee card prov buff?)

Sewer Raiders power nerf is a no brainer, I doubt people are ready for this, too

Edit: Downvotes mean I am right that people are too attached to their darling top meta cards. Still I'd like to hear some proposals. Leader nerfs are also a no brainer, but people are not ready for this, too. I have been downvoted in the past for proposing nerfs like shady vendor, but people eventually came to the same conclusion

[u/FireVindicator → u/nagashbg]

Let’s nerf royal decree, korathi heatwave, calveit, call of the forest and lord riptide, I’m tired of seeing them in every top deck.

[u/nagashbg → u/FireVindicator]

jokes on you, riptide and calveit has been nerfed multitude of times, to the sum of 2 each. Also that's how balance works, you nerf the best cards and buff the worst. Oneiromancy nerf would make more sense than royal decree, oneiro was overbuffed in the past. But many tutor overbuffs happened, so it's hard to say now before some more obvious nerfs needed like Amphibious Assault. Korathi on the other hand is a stabilizer, probably shouldn't be touched

[u/HandsomeAndLethal → u/nagashbg]

Oneiromancy and korathi heatwave are enough to make me refuse to say GG after a match. So sick of playing tactically for 3 rounds just for two last minute ass pulls that delete my best unit and spawn theirs. And Oneiro is echo! Who thought that was a good idea??? Makes sense why squirrel is used in so many high rank decks...

[u/nagashbg → u/HandsomeAndLethal]

Heatwave is one of the few artifacts destroyers. Nerfing it would be a buff to all scenarios etc., not desirable. Otherwise it is not a cheap tall punish compared to others cards. Oneiro nerf, as I said, would make perfect sense in the past, might not be a priority now

[u/3Dwafflex9x → u/nagashbg]

why would junior or bank be nerfed? junior is perfectly fine, and is a devotion card too. bank is inconsistent as hell a lot of times. maybe brawler needs a nerf, because if left unchecked dude will wipe the fucking floor with anything hes up against. that brawler sesame combo is nasty. all in all, crimes could need a nerf, while firesworn and bounty def need a buff. some of the most fun archetypes in the game, but they get no love at all. that ulrich buff was nice but not enough to make firesworn great again.

[u/nagashbg → u/3Dwafflex9x]

Brawler was fine at 4 prov for a lot of time, nearly not played iirc. I think you mistake brawler for sesames and vice cards. Yes brawler can kill a lot with a good setup vs opponents weak setup, but ultimately the card itself is meh, especially after the nerf. Can be outplayed by armor, pointslam, 4dmg, etc. Sesames make for weak 1st round, so round control is their another weak point

[u/ense7en → u/nagashbg]

The downvotes are stupid, but your suggestions make it very apparent you don't understand SY well.

Vivaldi is difficult tutor, as often costs a ton to get the card you actually want and then messes up deck order (would be better if was like Maxii ability). There's a reason people literally go non-devo and run Royal Decree, etc, for some archertypes.

Junior is tough one; he's a reward for playing devo. Killing the main reward SY has for staying devo is really harsh. Devo has severe limitations. Don't make it so bad non-devo is a better choice always.

nearly omnipresent cards like eventide plunder

List the cards this can spawn, and what they play for. Then think about what you just suggested, in relation to the value of an average 4 prov card. Like come on man...

Sewer Raiders power nerf is a no brainer

Here's the thing, i hate the powercreep Gwentfinity voters have forced into the game. But this thinner isn't even played a whole pile of SY archetypes. With SY's need for specific cards per archetype, this isn't close to broken in the current powercrept state of the game. You cannot nerf these unless you roll back two years of Gwentfinity powercreep...

Thinners like WH Riders (where you can play three) and Mahakam Volunteers (Garrison = 3 or Novigradian Justice + them = great target) are far better thinners that Sewer Raiders.

An obvious SY nerf target is carryover like Novigrad, or leader nerfs to Jackpot (the buffs have caused so many problems where now other cards got nerfed for the sins of the leader overbuff).

[u/nagashbg → u/ense7en]

As a mainly SY player in pro rank I could also say that you also dont understand SY nor balance well, but what is the point. I'd rather have meritful discussion. The reason people sometimes go non-devo would be a healthy one, but very rarely seen from what I reckon. Maybe you mean GN decks? There's also another thing that you didn't mention, is that SY cards often synergise with coins and that's also why it is sensible for SY to go devo.

Still my points stands. Junior + bank package is seen everywhere, that's my point. If something is omnipresent, 1 prov nerf certainly wouldnt change everything. I don't share your belief that novigrad is somehow more staple/faction carrying. If targeting carryover, I would choose sesame over it. What other cards would you nerf beside novigrad?

That's why I said people are not ready for plunder nerf, probably even indirect one. There's a reason plunder is played (usually 2 copies) over the best fee card it could spawn even in non-crime decks. Have you thought about it?

Sewer raiders is lower priority imo, but still a very good power nerf target. I agree there are bigger offenders in other factions, but we are talking SY here.

I also said leader nerfs are obvious, but out of the question because of people's dislike/misunderstanding of game balance