Northern Realms Gwent deck

The Northern Realms deck is the default Gwent deck that Geralt starts with at the beginning of The Witcher 3.

Overview

• Faction perk: Draw a card if you win a round.

The Northern Realms deck is built around the idea of staying power and damage output. Each row has a unit card with the Tight Bond ability, allowing you to rapidly build up a score, while three separate Espionage cards help keep a large hand late into the game.

The weaknesses of the deck include great susceptibility to Weather cards, which negate the Tight Bond effectively, and Scorch cards. Losing 64 points is a deal-breaker, if the opponent plays the latter and knocks out two Catapults out of the game.

List of cards

Icon	Name	Type	Combat row	Strength	Special ability	Description	Source
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Foltest: King of Temeria	Leader			Fog	Pick an Impenetrable Fog card from your deck and play it instantly.	Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Foltest: Lord Commander of the North	Leader			Clear Weather	Clear any weather effects (resulting from Biting Frost, Torrential Rain or Impenetrable Fog cards) in play.	Purchase from Elsa, the innkeep in White Orchard (or her brother)
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Foltest: The Siegemaster	Leader			Horn on Siege	Doubles the strength of all your Siege units (unless a Commander's Horn is also present on that row).	Won from the "Nilfgaardian Nobleman" at the Royal Palace in Vizima
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Foltest: The Steel-Forged	Leader			Scorch Siege	Destroy your enemy's strongest Siege unit(s) if the combined strength of all his or her Siege units is 10 or more.	Gwent: High Stakes
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Redanian Foot Soldier	Unit	Close combat	1	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Poor Fucking Infantry	Unit	Close combat	1	Tight Bond	Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	(2 of 3) Part of the base deck Purchase from the merchant in Lindenvale
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Yarpen Zigrin	Unit	Close combat	1	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Blue Stripes Commando	Unit	Close combat	4	Tight Bond	Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	(1 of 3) Purchase from Elsa, the innkeep in White Orchard (or her brother) (2 of 3) Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Sigismund Dijkstra	Unit	Close combat	4	Spy	Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck.	Gwent: Velen Players, won from The Bloody Baron in Midcopse
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Prince Stennis	Unit	Close combat	5	Spy	Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck.	Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Siegfried of Denesle	Unit	Close combat	5	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back close.png	Ves	Unit	Close combat	5	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Vernon Roche	Hero	Close combat	10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Gwent: Velen Players, won from Haddy in Midcopse
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	John Natalis	Hero	Close combat	10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	during A Dangerous Game, won from Ravvy at the Golden Sturgeon
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Sheldon Skaggs	Unit	Ranged combat	4	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Sabrina Glevissig	Unit	Ranged combat	4	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Crinfrid Reavers Dragon Hunter	Unit	Ranged combat	5	Tight Bond	Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	(1 of 3) Purchase from Elsa, the innkeep in White Orchard (or her brother) Purchase from the merchant in Claywich (after rescuing him) Purchase from the merchant in Midcopse
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Síle de Tansarville	Unit	Ranged combat	5	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Keira Metz	Unit	Ranged combat	5	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back ranged.png	Dethmold	Unit	Ranged combat	6	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Kaedweni Siege Expert	Unit	Siege	1	Morale Boost	Adds +1 strength to all units in the row, excluding itself.
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Dun Banner Medic	Unit	Siege	5	Medic	Choose one car from your discard pile and play it instantly (no Heroes or Special Cards).	Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Ballista	Unit	Siege	6	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Trebuchet	Unit	Siege	6	None		Part of the base deck
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Catapault	Unit	Siege	8	Tight Bond	Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	(1 of 3) Purchase from Elsa, the innkeep in White Orchard (or her brother) (1 of 3) Purchase from Madame Serenity at the Passiflora
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Thaler	Unit	Siege	1	Spy	Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck.	Purchase from Innkeep in Arinbjorn
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Esterad Thyssen	Hero	Close combat	10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Gwent: Big City Players, won from Dijkstra at the bathhouse
File:Tw3 gwent card back northern realms hero.png	Philippa Eilhart	Hero	Ranged combat	10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant
File:Tw3 gwent unit card back siege.png	Siege Tower	Unit	Siege	6			Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant