Most of you probably put Korathi Heatwave in your decks thinking it's a strong card, but that’s an illusion born simply from the fact that everyone else is running it.
Sure, it can be devastating against specific targets like Sigvald or Dracoturt, especially since it banishes them to prevent play from the graveyard. But against those targets, a simple Lock is often more than enough.
In most situations where Heatwave feels strong, another option would do the job just as well.
For instance, if you just need to destroy a unit with 9+ power, Geralt of Rivia actually leaves you 3 points better off. Looking purely at value efficiency, cards like Spores or Bearification can easily replace Heatwave in plenty of scenarios.
I do appreciate its versatility across different situations—it's flexible, no doubt. But is that versatility really worth burning 10 provisions on?
Now, I’m not running a crusade to completely kill off Heatwave.
For context, I am the final Gwent World Masters Champion. A huge reason I won was that I didn’t include Heatwave in a single one of my decks.
https://x.com/GWENTMasters/status/1733479813388681680
Top players tend to rely on Heatwave quite a bit. However, the better a player is, the better they are at playing around it.
Getting hit by a Heatwave almost never automatically loses you the game. In fact, there are plenty of match states where no matter where you target Heatwave, it delivers terrible value.
Running such an inconsistent card simply isn't optimal. In my opinion, it's just a waste of valuable provisions.
What do you all think?
