The Novigrad expansion for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is officially available. This second expansion is available for download as a free content update. This latest expansion welcomes players to a new world of deadly playstyles, devious combos, and even more sinister new archetypes.
One new feature in this expansion is the introduction of the mysterious Syndicate. This newest playable faction offers at least 90 new cards that represent the different sides of Novigrad’s underworld. These include 15 cross-faction cards, which can be used in the decks of already existing factions.
The Novigrad expansion also comes with five new leaders, each with their own unique abilities:
- Whoreson Junior
- Cyrus Hemmelfart
- King of Beggars
- Gudrun Bjornsdottir
- Cleaver
Additional new features in the latest expansion are:
- The pop-up screen for rewards has been redesigned.
- Special cards now produce distinctive sound effects when played.
- Added a "Coming Soon" banner for premium cards that don't yet have animated card art implemented in the game (this applies to certain new cards from the Novigrad expansion).
- Filters in the Deck Builder are now collapsible.
The addition of the Syndicate also brings with it changes to gameplay:
- New status
- Bounty - "Whenever a unit with a Bounty is destroyed, the player who placed the Bounty gains Coins equal to that unit's base power."
- New keyword
- Insanity - "If you have insufficient Coins, a unit with Insanity may damage itself by its Fee amount to trigger its ability."
- Hoard - "Trigger this ability if you possess the specified number of Coins or more."
- Intimidate - "Boost self by 1 or the specified amount whenever you play a Crime card."
- Profit - "Gain a specified number of Coins when this card is played. You may possess a maximum of 9 Coins."
- Fee - "Trigger this ability by spending the specified number of Coins."
- Tribute - "On Deploy, you may choose to spend the specified amount of Coins to trigger this ability."
It is not just new things, as the new update introduces game fixes such as:
- Units from the Crimson Curse expansion that were missing the appropriate voiceovers now have them.
- Fixed an issue whereby secondary categories would interfere with otherwise valid unique primary categories, causing Harmony to not properly trigger.
- Cahir no longer boosts himself when the opponent boosts a unit in their hand.
- The "Basics Mastered" Xbox Achievement, GOG Achievement, and PlayStation 4 Trophy should now properly unlock after completing the final tutorial battle. Players who have already completed the tutorial and but do not have the achievement/trophy credited may get it after re-playing the final tutorial battle.
- Fixed an issue whereby Jan Calveit's chair would sometimes move slightly in the same direction as the player's cursor.
A full list of the changes and improvements included with the update can be viewed here.
