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 (no. of cards)	Type	Combat row	Strength	Special ability	Description	Source
	Foltest: King of Temeria	Leader	0 n/a	0 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	0 n/a	0 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 village innkeep (or Bram)
	Foltest: The Siegemaster	Leader	0 n/a	0 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	0 n/a	0 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
	Foltest: Son of Medell	Leader	0 n/a	0 n/a	Son of Medell	Destroy your enemy's strongest Ranged Combat unit(s) if the combined strength of all his or her Ranged Combat units is 10 or more.	Hearts of Stone
	Ballista	Unit		6	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Blue Stripes Commando (4)	Unit		4		Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 from the merchant in Midcopse 2 are part of the base deck
	Catapult (2)	Unit		8		Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 purchased from Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora
	Crinfrid Reavers Dragon Hunter (3)	Unit		5		Place next to a card with the same name to double the strength of both cards.	1 purchased from Elsa, White Orchard village innkeep (or Bram) 1 purchased from the merchant in Claywich (after rescuing him) 1 purchased from the merchant in Midcopse
	Dethmold	Unit		6	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Dun Banner Medic	Unit		5		Choose one car from your discard pile and play it instantly (no Heroes or Special Cards).	Part of the base deck
	Esterad Thyssen	Hero		10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Gwent: Big City Players, won from Dijkstra at the bathhouse
	John Natalis	Hero		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		1		Adds +1 strength to all units in the row, excluding itself.	Part of the base deck
	Keira Metz	Unit		5	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Philippa Eilhart	Hero		10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant
	Poor Fucking Infantry (4)	Unit		1		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 trader in Lindenvale 1 from the merchant in Midcopse
	Prince Stennis	Unit		5		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	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Sabrina Glevissig	Unit		4	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Sheldon Skaggs	Unit		4	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Siege Tower	Unit		6	0 None	0 n/a	Random, from playing a craftsman or merchant
	Siegfried of Denesle	Unit		5	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Sigismund Dijkstra	Unit		4		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		5	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Thaler	Unit		1		Place on your opponents battlefield (counts towards their total strength) then draw two new cards from your deck.	Purchase from Innkeep in Arinbjorn
	Trebuchet (2)	Unit		6	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Vernon Roche	Hero		10	Hero	Not affected by special cards, weather cards or abilities.	Gwent: Velen Players, won from Haddy in Midcopse
	Ves	Unit		5	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck
	Yarpen Zigrin	Unit		1	0 None	0 n/a	Part of the base deck