The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
78 Achievements
2,000
157.5-196h
Gwent Master
Defeat Tybalt and win the gwent tournament held at the Passiflora.
15
4.76%
How to unlock the Gwent Master achievement in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Definitive Guide
This achievement is missable if you lose any match in it and then proceed to lose your saves, including autosaves and checkpoints. Hence, I recommend you have a backup save before beginning the quest, and save at the points mentioned in the guide.
Read my Gwent strategy and tips at the end if you struggle with winning.
Preparation:
Before you can enter the tournament, you must have a sufficiently powerful deck. I am not sure what counts as being good enough, but I played through the Gwent questlines (Gwent: Velen Players, Gwent: Big City Players, and Gwent: Playing Inkeepers) and had a few special cards such as Cirilla, Yennefer, and Vernon Roche.
Note: if you still don't have a powerful deck then try doing Gwent: Skellige Style (found on notice board in Kaer Trolde) and Gwent: Playing Old Friends (Talk to Zoltan Chivay and play him).
You must also pay 1000 Crowns to enter. Money is easy to come by if you loot and sell, or complete witcher contracts.
You will also have to be good at Gwent; the players you must beat have very good decks and play effectively, therefore a lot of practice can help. Playing through the Gwent quest lines will not only get you the cards you need, but also the experience against harder opponents.
Tournament:
Now that you are prepared, go to the Passiflora, the brothel in Novigrad, found to the east of the St Gregory's Bridge signpost (you will be directed if the quest is active).
If you lose any Gwent matches then the quest will not fail, but you will pass the achievement
Enter, talk to a guy (will be shown by quest), pay and pass card inspection. The quest will now begin. There will be a few cutscenes and some conversation, then you will be told to play against the Halfling.
Before you sit down to play, save you game, then talk to the Halfling to begin the match.
I found this to be the easiest match. The Halfling has a standard deck, no harder than players you may have beaten in Gwent: Big City Players. He plays as the Northern Realms.
Once you have beaten him, there will be a plot development, as far as I know it doesn't matter what you say, but I agreed with the course of action.
Now, you will go and play your second match. Again, save before you sit down. This time you will play Sasha, she uses Nilfgaard. I found her to be the most difficult. She has a lot of spies and decoys, which means she will take your spies and use them. Often she will give you the first round, but then has a lot more cards than you, thusly winning the next two rounds. Hence, I suggest you keep trying until you get a brilliant hand, or get lucky.
After beating Sasha, you will not have an opportunity to save before your next match, so make sure you win it, otherwise you will have to go back and play Sasha again. You will play the Half-elf who hates you. He plays as Scoia'tael and plays a typical high end Scoia-tael deck. I beat him first time, so probably not that hard compared to Sasha (unless I got super lucky).
If you beat him then you will have to beat him in a fistfight. The game will autosave before this fight, so don't worry about losing. Thanks to DoubleDRAGON666 for this info.
Now, you will have to beat Count Tybalt at Gwent. You should save before this match. He plays as Monsters. I found him easier than Sasha, but that might just be my play style.
Once you have beaten him the achievement should pop.
Gwent Tips and Strategy:
I'm going to work off the assumption that you understand the rules of the game, and have experience in it. You must also note that this works as an outline to help you. It is based off my own experience and play style. Furthermore, Gwent begins with a certain amount of luck by getting the right cards.
Strategy:
Northern Realms:
My deck has Foltest, the Siegemaster as the leader, and one of each special card (Torrential Rain, Biting Frost, etc..., for this achievement I didn't have decoys, but they are very useful). The rest of my deck consists of cards going down in order of power so that there are 22 unit cards (the minimum required), this ensures I will get good cards.
At the very start you can re-roll two cards. I usually change out cards that have lower than 5 power, unless they have special abilities such as medic. Once the round begins I use any spies I have, and then play my worst cards, simply to get the enemy to place their own cards and waste as many as possible, then I lose that round (unless they use spies and the round is close, in which case I try to win it). The second round is a must win if I gave up the first one, this means going pretty much all in. I can use medics to revive lost cards from the last round, and try to use special cards buff/debuff. If I win the first round then I play this one cautiously, trying to save my most powerful cards for later, or the next round. If I have reached the third round then I go all in.
Nilfgaard:
I found that Nilfgaard is the most strategic faction. While Monsters can have a large amount of total power quickly, it is not as fun or elegant, and is prone to weakness. Scoia'tael focus on having units that can be either infantry or ranged, allowing for choice, it does not have the strength needed. Northern Realms falls down because it is too general and so doesn't have any particular advantage.
Your Nilfgaard deck should have at least all the spies available, Black Infantry Archers, Heavy Zerrikanean Fire Scorpions, Auxiliary Archers, and hero cards such as Yennefer and Menno Coehoorn. Furthermore, having cards such as Young Emissaries and Impera Brigade Guard is useful because each extra one you place gives them all +x power where x is the card's starting power. Also, dandelion is useful because he has war horn. For a leader card it doesn't matter until you have beaten Sasha (she gives you his best leader card).
Average game with Nilfgaard:
As with Northern realms, switch out any cards you think are not useful right now. Ideally you will have a lot of spies.
First Round - Here you want to place all of your spies before doing anything else. The larger your hand at the end of this round the better. If your enemy has also placed spies, and you have a decoy, then take their spy and place it. Furthermore, if you have scorch and you need a better hand, then you can (if their spy is higher power than any other cards out) scorch the card and place a medic such as Auxiliary Archers to use the spy.
Once all your spies are out then you want to win the round if you are 6 points per spy you placed behind then enemy or less. If so then waste a turn by either using a leader power, or placing a weak card. Then if the enemy skips the turn you can place two or three cards and be both ahead on rounds and cards (if you have medics don't be afraid to use high power cards here such as Black Infantry Archers, it is better to have more cards than higher power cards). If the enemy does not skip then you must judge whether it is worth playing more cards or not. It may be to waste their cards, meaning you win the next rounds easily. If they have more points than specified above then just skip the round.
Second Round - This round is a necessity to win if you lost the first one, but not so important if you won it. If you won the first round then this round is only to be won if you can't help but win (if they are terrible). Play your weakest cards first to try and just get them placing all of theirs. If they have 3 cards or less then you may want to just go all in and beat them, otherwise get them to a low amount of cards and then skip the round.
If you lost the last round then you have to win this one. They will go first. If they play a weak card then match it or go one better just in case they skip the round. If they continue then play a hero card (One with 10 or 15 power, but no special abilities), at this point they will likely skip. If they don't skip then you want to go with high power cards. If you have multiple Young Emissaries or Impera Brigade Guards then you can place them now, and even war horn them for enormous points (watch out here, when you have units about 7 or higher the enemy may scorch, therefore you want to use protection. Place a Black Infantry Archer to be scorched in their place, and don't war horn them until a scorch has been used). Make sure you have at least one card left for the next round.
Third Round - at this point you have to win this round. It is possible that you will win because the enemy is out of cards (place your last one(s)). If not then just go all in. Playing hero cards first will mean you are safe from weather cards and scorch, do this first to see what they have. If you have a scorch then you can get rid of their cards because your cards wont be affected (if they are heroes). Place weather cards last and use clear weather last (if you need to use clear weather).
Note: against Sasha this can be difficult because she does the same thing (pretty much). Therefore against her use more decoys; you must have more cards than her after the first round.
Tips:
- Use war horn only if necessary, otherwise save it for later. But, use it if it will save you placing more than two higher power cards.
- Use debuff cards if it will reduce your enemy's power significantly, or will allow you to win.
- Clear weather is useful to save until you really need it, such as if you use a war horn and then they use biting frost, rendering the war horn useless.
- Use leader abilities in a similar way to war horn.
- Apply spies early on so that you know your hand.
- Use decoys to retrieve spies, medics, and special cards such as Villentretenmerth.
- Use scorch cards/abilities when there are multiple enemy cards with the same power (must be their highest power units), as it will take them all out in one sweep.
- Apply medics only when you can retrieve a powerful unit or preferably one with a power. You will have to judge the best card; if you are running out then a spy could be useful, or a unit such as Villentretenmerth, who can be used to take out a lot of enemy units at once (particularly against monsters).
- Apply Hero cards only to counter debuffs and use abilities, unless you really need some more power points.
- Northern Realms are all round, so be prepared for an even fight.
- Nilfgaard has a lot of spies, and some good archers. This makes them very difficult because they get more cards than you.
- Scoia'tael have pretty much no ballistae, this means they are strong in ranged and infantry units, but this means they are easier to control with debuffs.
- Monsters have little ranged units, and are particularly strong on infantry. Their cards usually summon more cards. Thus giving them the first round is often the easiest solution, or use biting frosts.
If there is anything I should add then please comment.
This achievement is tied to the "High Stakes" side quest, which can be triggered by reading a notice board in Novigrad (such as the one close to St. Gregory's Bridge) that posts a "High Stakes Gwent Tournament!" note.
This side quest is essentially a fancy Gwent tournament that Count Tybalt is hosting at the Passiflora Brothel in Novigrad. Before heading there and taking part in the tournament, keep the following in mind:
- There is an entrance fee of 1000 Crowns
- You must have an "above-average" Gwent deck (refer below for more information)
What constitutes an "above-average" Gwent deck? There's a hidden in-game system that tracks the "tournament value" of every card in your collection. It would be far too complicated to list every card's value, so it's strongly advised to simply wait until entering the tournament and completing this quest until you've made significant progress towards your "Card Collector" achievement.
As always though, you can check below for a solid foundation of a valid "above-average" Northern Realms Gwent deck. Make sure to utilize THIS GUIDE for the locations of any cards you might be missing.
- 2x Decoy
- 3x Commander's Horn
- 1x Clear Weather
- 1x Geralt of Rivia
- 1x Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon
- 1x Yennefer of Vengerberg
- 1x Triss Merrigold
- 1x Villentretenmerth
- 1x Vesemir
- 1x Zoltan Chivay
- 1x Ves
- 1x Dandelion
- 1x Mysterious Elf (Avallac'h)
- 1x Vernon Roche
- 1x John Natalis
- 1x Esterad Thyssen
- 2x Catapult
- 2x Trebuchet
- 1x Ballista
- 1x Siege Tower
- 1x Prince Stennis
- 1x Phillippa Eilhart
- 2x Crinfrid Reavers Dragon Hunter
- 1x Dun Banner Medic
- 1x Sigismund Dijkstra
- 3x Blue Stripes Commando
- 1x Thaler
If you've met the aforementioned requirements, head inside the brothel and begin the quest/tournament. There will be 4 opponents that you'll need to beat (Bernard Tulle, Madame Sasha, Finneas, & Count Tybalt) and you'll soon find out that they're no pushovers. If you lose a match to any of these individuals, you WILL FAIL THE QUEST and miss out on the achievement! In order to prevent that, create a manual save before every match as a back-up in the event that you fail to win. Once you've successfully defeated Count Tybalt in the final round, this achievement will finally be yours. Continue on with the side quest for a rather surprising ending though!
If further assistance is needed in locating any of the cards in the deck present above, or if any other general aid for this achievement/side quest is required, please refer to the video below.
*Missable Trophy*
Be sure to create a save game between each match and before starting the tournament. If your deck is too weak and you lose a match it will fail the quest. The only way to retry is to load an older save game.
First you must build a very strong deck of Gwent Cards and then go to the Passiflora (brothel) in the North of Novigrad. Here you can talk to a person in the back of the Passiflora with a side quest marker. Pay the 1000 Crowns fee to participate and the "High Stakes" side quest will start. You must defeat 4 very strong Gwent players to finish the quest.
You can win with any deck, but the Northern Realms deck is highly recommended due to its many spy cards. You may want to wait and work towards the Card Collector trophy first before attempting this. Below are the locations of some very good Gwent cards (they are also used in the video guide):
Recommended Deck: Northern Realms, total of 22 Unit cards and 5 Special Cards
3x Commander's Horn (buy from merchants at Passiflora, Velen Inn at the Crossroads, Oxenfurt Alchemy Inn)
2x Scorch (buy from merchants at Kaer Trolde Inn, Oxenfurt Alchemy Inn)
1x Geralt of Rivia (Gwent: Old Friends, from Thaler)
1x Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon (Gwent: Big City Players, from merchant in the woods)
1x Yennefer of Vengerberg (Gwent: Playing Inkeeps, from Oxenfurt innkeeper)
1x Vesemir (Gwent: Big City Players, from Vivaldi banker)
1x Zoltan Chivay (randomly earned, can be replaced with any other card)
1x Dandelion (Side Quest: A Matter of Life and Death, win match at masquerade ball)
1x Mysterious Elf (Gwent: Skellige Style, from Alchemist after doing his side quest)
1x Vernon Roche (Gwent: Velen Players, beat the player in Midcopse)
1x John Natalis (Side Quest: A Dangerous Game)
1x Esterad Thyssen (Gwent: Big City Players, from Dijkstra)
1x Catapult (buy from merchant at Passiflora)
1x Dethmold (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
2x Trebuchet (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
1x Ballista (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
1x Ves (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
1x Prince Stennis (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
1x Dun Banner Medic (automatically in your deck from the beginning of the game)
1x Sigismund Dijkstra (Gwent: Velen Players, from Bloody Baron at Crow's Perch)
2x Blue Stripes Commando (buy from merchants at Crow's Perch and Midcopse)
1x Thaler (buy from Arinbjorn innkeeper in Skellige)
The must-have / most important cards are: Geralt of Rivia, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Yennefer of Vengerberg, Mysterious Elf, Dun Banner Medic, Thaler, Commander's Horn.
Strategies:
- Always play your spy cards first. Yes, they will add some points to your opponent's score, but you can draw 2 more cards. Don't be afraid to lose the first round if it means you will have 14 cards and your opponent only has 8 cards left. This guarantees a certain win, as your enemy will not have enough cards to keep up with you.
- Keep your deck to the minimum of 22 unit cards and throw out as many special cards as possible. This increases the chance of drawing only your best cards. Keep some Commander's Horn cards.
- The final player uses a Monster deck which focuses almost entirely on Close Combat. Be sure to have 2 Biting Frost cards and some Scorch Cards in your deck. As long as you can play a Biting Frost card your opponent won't stand a chance.
1. First you need to have a fairly strong deck. I came in with a deck with a total strength of 124 and was missed out on the tournament.
2. The entry fee for the game is 1000 crowns , so I advise you to get some money somewhere in advance.
3. Save before the game, because losing will mean failure of the quest. So, the game. I went through almost everything with the North deck, taking Foltest as the king, buffing the siege weapons. The first game will be with the bottom, who also has a North deck, but his Foltest, on the contrary, destroys the most powerful enemy siege unit, so be careful if you play from the precipitation. He himself actively uses siege weapons, so I advise you to get a shower, execution and preferably a couple of spies, medics and Yenifer. The easiest way is to starve him out.
4. The second opponent will be Sakha , but first she will want to talk. (By the way, she will talk to you even if you lose low, but the trophy will not appear). Save yourself, Sakhalin enemy. I used Nilfgaard against her because they have the largest number of spies, giving 2 extra cards. I also advise you to take a couple of stuffed animals, and reduce the total number of cards in the deck to 28-29, so that spies are more likely to appear. She has almost no weather cards in stock, but she does have an execution and a clear weather card, so save the weather cards ( mist and frost are best here). I also advise you to take Villentretenmert, a dragon that kills the strongest melee unit if the enemy has 10 points in melee. Yanaki threw spies to the enemy, he buffed them, added a couple more of his own, and after the frost, all units had 2 points. Thus, I killed the entire line with one dragon.
3. The third was Finneas, a half-elf with a deck of cattle. I used the North and the usual siege tactics. He called a lot of archers, a couple of times to help the Havencar, which after my frost and Willie all died. He didn’t cause any special problems, but before the match there will only be an autosave with him; you can’t save yourself. And after the match, the zealous elf will need to clean his turnips. He hits quite hard and quickly, the counter-strike tactics helped (hold down L2 just before the blow).
4. The match with the Count was also not a problem if you know how to fight the Monster deck. Here you will need 1-2 frosts, 1 clear, execution, Willie and, preferably, at least 1 stuffed animal. A spy won't be superfluous either. The main thing is to remember! If he starts discarding cards of vampires, endriags, ghouls, witches, then the time has finally come. Get the maximum out of him by discarding weak cards, and when you see that the strength of his horde has already gone beyond 100, feel free to throw frost, and then Willie, who will burn all this trash and won't even notice. Then, we return it as a scarecrow and repeat it if necessary.
Walkthrough of the battle with Finneas and gwent with the Count
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qth_KryMoGo