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Yesterday, we started looking at the highs and lows of Gwent’s first year in release, talking about its state on release, the Mulligan Update, it’s personality programmes and expansions. Now we continue with the philosophy changes we’ve seen, Gwent Masters and Gwent’s user experience, as well as drawing some comparisons as to what it means and talking a bit about the future. Once again, I’ll be joined by Kolemoen and Crozyr to discuss their thoughts.

Thirteen months ago, I wrote my first Gwent article about the then upcoming Project Homecoming, and whether or not we as an audience needed to be worried about the direction it was taking Gwent: The Witcher Card Game based on my experience both as a fan and as a game developer. Though many of us have been playing it for a lot longer, this week Gwent officially turns 1 year old, and we at Team Aretuza thought it is the perfect time to take a look back over the highs and lows of Gwent’s first year in release.

In our fourth Aretuza Spotlight before Gwent Challenger #5, we come to Kolemoen. Kolemoen is one of the competitive Gwent circuit’s most consistent players, a favourite for every tournament he enters, and an opponent everyone wants to avoid. It’ll be no different for the upcoming Challenger, nor for Gwent World Masters, and today we shine a spotlight on the man behind the myth.

Team Aretuza aren’t just bringing three great players to Challenger #5, but will also be providing the official analysis for all games throughout the tournament. Making his Gwent Masters broadcasting debut as one of those analysts is Team Aretuza’s other co-chairman, Green Cricket, who the Spotlight turns on today.

Continuing on the road to Challenger #5, today our Aretuza Spotlight shines on one of the people who started it all: Damorquis, competitive player and one of two chairpeople for Team Aretuza.

When Molegion qualified for Gwent Open #8, we began our Aretuza Spotlight series, to give you more insight into who the people behind one of Gwent’s biggest competitive teams really are. With Challenger #5 fast approaching, we saw a great opportunity to expand the series!

First, the Spotlight turns on Adzikov; one of Team Aretuza’s competitive Gwent players and one of the competitors at Challenger #5.

In the Season of the Draconid, 2019, Team Aretuza and Team Nova reach a great milestone in Gwent content creation: Our 10^th competitive Meta Snapshot comes out today with a wide variety of decks new and updated to represent the meta as it currently stands and some other possibilities to show that the game’s competitive situation is not as dire as you might think.

One-stop access to all the information you'll need about Team Aretuza's Aretuza Open Cup!

What year is it? Are we back in Gwent's Open Beta? Axemen, no wait... Greatswords are back and Lothari has you covered with her brand-new deck guide on Skellige's return to unashamed greed!

With reward points to earn alongside ore, we decided to expand our Top Cards to Craft series to include a whole new article on our recommendations for which leader from each faction to unlock first. As such, the team sat down to discuss which leaders best suit newer Gwent players for each faction. As with other TCTC articles, this whole new article will continue to be updated as more leaders (and more factions) are added to the game.

With April’s Challenger #5 Qualifier complete, every spot for Gwent Challenger #5, the final major before the Gwent World Masters finale, has now been filled. After two days of grueling games of Gwent between 32 of the world’s top players, it was magpie131 who emerged victorious, and Lothari reached out in the aftermath of the qualifier tournament to interview the last entrant into the last Challenger:

In the first part of our series on the Triangle Concept, we looked at the three basic elements of Gwent's triangle and how they interact with each other. Greed beats point-slam because of its much higher point output, point-slam beats control due to control’s limited reach against point-slam’s immediate value and control beats greed because it is able to interact with and shut down important elements of a greedy strategy before it can start to snowball. Now that we know this, we can start to explore how the Triangle Concept is actually applied in Gwent, and this is what we will set out to do in Part 2 of the series, Triangle Application.

Good day, adepts. I’m Lothari, and over the course of this two-part series we will be looking at the Triangle Concept, and how we can use it to improve our understanding of how Gwent works and to refine our deck-building.

At its heart, Gwent is a competitive game, and for those just starting out, making the transition into competitive play can be daunting, not least because it means understanding the ins and outs of terms and systems that might seem very alien. In this article, we will be looking at Gwent’s Ranked progression system and how the game uses MMR to determine players’ positions on the leaderboards.

For players whose in-game resources are tight, knowing which cards give most value for those resources can be difficult. Which cards are the best in a set? Which can be used in the most decks? Which cards from a new set are most likely to let me keep up with competitive play? In this new Aretuza Academy lesson in our Deckbuilding course, we are giving you our recommendations for the top cards to craft of Gwent's new Crimson Curse expansion.

Talk of Gwent’s first expansion has been circulating the community since before release, and after months of speculation, Crimson Curse has finally arrived! Over the coming weeks, experts and new players alike will discover and analyse all there is to know about what the expansion contains and what it means for the future of Gwent, but for now let us provide you with an overview, as we look at what’s new in Crimson Curse.

“Welcome home and welcome back,” were the words spoken by an incredibly excited McBeard, after opening shots of Warsaw, the CD Projekt Red studio and the eight competitors of Gwent Open #8 threw us back into the world of Gwent Masters for the first time in nearly six months.

Team Aretuza player Molegion is set to take part in his second Gwent major at Gwent Open #8 this coming weekend, having won the Open #8 Qualifier last month. In the first of our Player Spotlight series, we take a closer look at who Molegion is.

Hi. I’m Lothari, and this the second half of my Homecoming article. In the first half of the article, we began looked at Project Homecoming's background and began to look into some of the concerns raised about it. In this second half, I will continue to look at the concerns and draw some conclusions based on CDPR's solutions and development strategy.

Hi. I’m Lothari. I have been playing Gwent since the end of the Closed Beta and, having spent some time as a game developer in my day job, not only do I have a good grasp of the game as a player, but also some insight into its development process.

After a long wait, Homecoming is now right around the corner. What we’ve seen so far has made a lot of the community nervous. This is somewhat normal with all games, but with this article I’d like to look into some of the concerns raised so far and whether we actually need to worry.

This article is one of two that will be published over the coming days.

Working on the Gwent Masters circuit since Gwent Open 2, first alongside Merchant and now teamed with Jaggerous, ImpetuousPanda has racked up a wealth of esports casting experience not just in Gwent but in a number of different video games after the last couple of years. Before Gwent Challenger #5 began, on Saturday morning, Panda managed to find the time to talk to Team Aretuza’s RyanGodric, Lothari and Elis about past challengers, the world of professional esports casting and the future of Gwent as an esport.

A mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a warm, cheeky grin, Flake is known and loved as one of the biggest Gwent personalities around, and since Gwent Challenger #4 has been a member of the official Gwent Masters broadcasting team, first as a host, then as a caster.  Before Gwent Challenger #5 got underway, Team Aretuza’s Elis, Lothari and RyanGodric caught up with Flake to talk about his entry into the Gwent Masters circuit, esports caster preparation and much more…

Starting as an analyst in Gwent Open #6, Jaggerous has become a familiar face on the Gwent Masters circuit as an official match caster for all Gwent Opens and Challengers. While on a break from her rehearsal duties leading up to Gwent Challenger #5, Team Aretuza's Lothari, Elis and RyanGodric caught up with Jaggerous to talk about her evolution as an esports caster during her time at Gwent Masters, her position as official Nilfgaard ambassador, the art of the pun and much more…

Though he's been present at every single official Gwent Masters tournament, and certainly never lacks something to say over the course of a tournament weekend, we've never had much of a chance to catch McBeard’s view on events outside of the commentary chair. That is, until now. During the run up to Gwent Challenger #5, Team Aretuza's Lothari, RyanGodric and Elis found some time to chat with the legendary caster about the journey he's taken with Gwent as an esport, the stand out moments from the Gwent Masters season so far and much more...

Over the course of the Gwent Challenger #5 event, Team Aretuza content creators Lothari, RyanGodric and Elis worked hard to bring you more insight into what really makes a Gwent Challenger tournament. In the run-up to the weekend, this included catching up with Ash, McBeard, Flake, Jaggerous and Panda to get their views on proceedings.

In the first of five straight days of content from Team Aretuza, RyanGodric talks to Ash, hosting an official Gwent Masters tournament for the first time, about her time in Gwent, what exactly her job as an esports host entails and much more...

With every new Gwent patch comes excitement, but also a bit of uncertainty. Team Aretuza brings you our Rapid Reaction to Patch 3.2 with insight from lordgort, Lothari, and JMJWilson23 to help navigate the many changes coming to the game.

A new leader and 256 balance changes later, Gwent's 3.1 Patch left the game as much as the player base shaken. Team Aretuza's content creators Green Cricket, Lothari, RyanGodric, shinmiri2 and Zade have come together at the beginning of the month to bring you some deck ideas to soothe your wait for our Meta Snapshot.

Gwent's latest patch, Update 3.1, has introduced some massive changes to the game, including a small but important rework of Northern Realms, seen as the weakest faction since Gwent's launch. That rework has come with some new keywords and tweaks to how old mechanics and keywords work, so Lothari and SwanDive have been hard at work making sure the Aretuza Academy Glossary is up to scratch with the latest changes!

Gwent players from across the world have all flocked to Novigrad, where the Syndicate reigns supreme. The update has added over 90 cards to the game, and with the streets of Novigrad being steadily explored, Team Aretuza’s content creators Argeiphontes, Green Cricket, Lothari and RyanGodric have been looking at deck ideas using the new Syndicate leaders.

The Novigrad expansion is upon us, introducing Gwent players everywhere to a handful of new keywords and mechanics that might, at first, seem unclear. No fear! Lothari and SwanDive have been hard at work, updating the Aretuza Academy Glossary to include all of these and more to make sure everyone can go into the new expansion with as much understanding as possible.

Now that the new starter decks are available, we’re pleased to release the next installment of Top Cards to Craft in the Aretuza Academy, focusing on Gwent’s all-important Base Set. If you’ve ever felt unsure, confused or overwhelmed about how to put your precious scraps to good use, look no further!  Recommendations for Neutral crafts as well as all 5 factions come from experts shinmiri2, JMJWilson23, Molegion and Santtu2x, curated by Lothari, to give you a better idea of how to spend your well-earned resources.

Over nearly an hour, CD Projekt Red laid out a series of immediate and longer-term changes for Gwent, from a rework of the Nilfgaard faction to plans for a mobile version of the game. The Aretuza braintrust, particularly SwanDive, Lothari and JMJWilson, has been hard at work analyzing all the news and I'm here to put it all together in a Rapid Reaction.