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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 (no. of cards) | Type | Combat row | Strength | Special ability | Description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foltest: King of Temeria | Leader | n/a | n/a | King of Temeria | Pick an Impenetrable Fog card from your deck and play it instantly. | Part of the base deck | |
| Foltest: Lord Commander of the North | Leader | n/a | n/a | Lord Commander of the North | Clear any weather effects (resulting from Biting Frost, Torrential Rain or Impenetrable Fog cards) in play. | Purchased from Elsa, White Orchard innkeep (or her brother) | |
| Foltest: The Siegemaster | Leader | n/a | n/a | The Siegemaster | 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 | |
| Foltest: The Steel-Forged | Leader | n/a | n/a | The Steel-Forged | Destroy your enemy's strongest Siege unit(s) if the combined strength of all his or her Siege units is 10 or more. | High Stakes | |
| Ballista | Unit | Siege | 6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Blue Stripes Commando (3) | Unit |  |
4 | Tight Bond | Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard innkeep (or her brother) 2 are part of the base deck | |
| Catapult (2) | Unit | Siege | 8 | Tight Bond | Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard innkeep (or her brother) 1 purchased from Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora | |
| Crinfrid Reavers Dragon Hunter (3) | Unit | Ranged combat | 5 | Tight Bond | Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard innkeep (or her brother) 1 purchased from the merchant in Claywich (after rescuing him) 1 purchased from the merchant in Midcopse | |
| Dethmold | Unit | Ranged combat | 6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| John Natalis | Hero | Close combat | 10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | A Dangerous Game, won from Ravvy's captor at The Golden Sturgeon | |
| Kaedweni Siege Expert (3) | Unit | Siege | 1 | Morale boost | Adds +1 strength to all units in the row, excluding itself. | Part of the base deck | |
| Keira Metz | Unit | Ranged combat | 5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Philippa Eilhart | Hero | Ranged combat | 10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant | |
| Poor Fucking Infantry (3) | Unit | |
1 | Tight Bond | Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards. | 2 are part of the base deck 1 purchased from the merchant in Lindenvale | |
| Prince Stennis | Unit | |
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 | |
| Redanian Foot Soldier (2) | Unit | |
1 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sabrina Glevissig | Unit | Ranged combat | 4 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sheldon Skaggs | Unit | Ranged combat | 4 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Siege Tower | Unit | Siege | 6 | None | n/a | Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant | |
| Siegfried of Denesle | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Sigismund Dijkstra | Unit | |
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 Crow's Perch | |
| Síle de Tansarville | Unit | Ranged combat | 5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| 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 | |
| Trebuchet | Unit | Siege | 6 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Vernon Roche | Hero | Close combat | 10 | Hero | Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities. | Gwent: Velen Players, won from Haddy in Midcopse | |
| Ves | Unit | |
5 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck | |
| Yarpen Zigrin | Unit | |
1 | None | n/a | Part of the base deck |
