Gwent: To Everything - Turn, Turn, Tournament!

Gwent: To Everything - Turn, Turn, Tournament! is a secondary quest in the Blood and Wine expansion.

The Great Beauclair Gwent Tournament

The Great Beauclair Gwent Tournament

It is Count Monnier's supreme delight to announce a gwent tournament of his organization. Those wishing to take part should register at the Pheasantry. Please note this tournament features a new faction developed by Count Monnier himself. Let the games begin!

Players[]

Major

Others

Walkthrough[]

The quest can be started by finding the posting on any notice board in Toussaint, a pamphlet that can be found in a few places, or directly speaking to the tournament host at The Pheasantry's balcony.

Talk to Martin Monnier who will allow Geralt to take part in the tournament on the condition he plays the Skellige Gwent deck. Agree and he will give you the basic deck, which will start the Gwent: Never Fear, Skellige's Here quest if you don't already have it - that quest will guide you to other players from who you can win the rest of the cards, which you have to do, as you won't be allowed to play until you have a strong enough deck. Once you collect enough cards the quest will update to say that you can enter the tournament.

Note: Even if you have enough Skellige cards to take part in the tournament, it's best to first complete Gwent: Never Fear, Skellige's Here, as then you can be sure you have all the cards you need.

Important: Be sure to play the Innkeep as quickly as you can, as once you have enough cards to enter the tournament, The Pheasantry will be inaccessible, so you will not be able to play her and thus obtain Draig Bon-Dhu until it is over.

Once you are ready go back to Martin Monnier. You may take note of some unhappy dwarves when you reach the place, but don't worry about them right now. Talk to the guard to present your deck and he will let you in. Martin Monnier will ask how you feel about the deck, but regardless of your response he will be certain that you will win and introduces you to the other players, after which the tournament begins.

The Skellige Deck[]

The deck can be best described as "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" and relies heavily on luck. It has access to both Muster and Tight Bond cards as well as it's own unique Mardroeme cards, however including Gwent neutral cards it can only have up to 2 medic cards and only 1 spy card. Thus it's difficult to draw the cards you need to use a proper strategy, as it's likely you will end up with an impaired hand.

Kambi is good but can also be disappointing if it gets revived during a 3rd round using the decks special ability. The one exceptionally strong card is Cerys - it uses Muster to call all Shield Maidens, who in turn have Tight Bond, resulting in an instant 46 attack strength. Like every Tight Bond card, it is weak against Scorch effect cards, but don't worry, the developers knew how poor the deck is and made sure the opponents rarely use these effects. There is a relatively consistent strategy to make the deck work:

Decoys are your friend[]

Decoys are the only way to make this deck strong without pure luck, so be sure to equip all 3, as they can be used to reuse your opponents Spy cards. Even if your opponent does not play Nilfgaard or Northern realms, they still allow you reuse the Birna Bran medic card and/or Scorch unit cards like Villentretenmerth and Clan Dimun Pirate.

Play them with Muster cards[]

By selecting Crach an Craite as the leader it is possible to reuse Muster cards in another round by using Decoys. Problem is that the Skellige deck has only access to 1 set of Muster cards which is the Light Longship and Cerys cannot be reused as it's a hero card. However, if you also have Hearts of Stone expansion you can add the Gaunter O'Dimm cards to the deck. Thus you can use the following strategy - after you draw your cards be sure to exchange all duplicate Muster cards for something else like usual. However, if you draw both Gaunter O'Dimm (gwent card) and Gaunter O'Dimm: Darkness (gwent card), then keep both as you can use Gaunter O'Dimm in another round to reuse the Darkness without the help of a Decoy.

When the round starts, play both Light Longship and Gaunter O'Dimm: Darkness. If you also have Olaf and/or Olgierd von Everec you can play them in the ranged row to boost their strength. Now recall 1 Light Longship and Gaunter O'Dimm: Darkness card with your Decoys. In the next round use Crach an Craite to reshuffle your cards and use your Muster cards again. If you used Olgierd or Olaf in the first round you can use a medic to revive them, but be sure to do it BEFORE you reshuffle your deck. A problem is that the card may get revived in the Close combat row, but if you still have a spare Decoy you could use it to change the cards position to the Ranged row.

Even if this strategy does not ensure you a round victory, it will at the very least force your opponent to use up more of his/her cards thus increasing your chance of winning in the 3rd round. Just don't use Crach right before the third round, or you'd be effectively giving up on the deck's global ability. And remember to use your Muster cards before your spy card if you do draw it, else it may draw more of your Muster cards which would be a waste.

The Tournament[]

Losing any of the matches naturally eliminates you from the competition, but you will still be locked into the quest until the entire tournament completes. There are Checkpoint saves to take advantage of, but really only one opportunity to use them without closing the entire game - keep this in mind if you want to win the whole thing.

Important: Winning the tournament will count as "Proof of Wisdom" for There Can Be Only One.

Geralt's first opponent is Hamal ogn Dangbahli who plays the Monster deck. He will propose to raise the stakes - gamble your silver sword for a chance to win a steel one from him, which you can refuse if you wish.
If you agree but lose, Martin Monnier will buy it back for you, but Hamal's deck is pretty weak and like other NPC players he is likely to play his Kayran (gwent card) in the Ranged row instead of Close Combat row, so he's not much of a challenge.
If you agree and win, your reward will be Blave and an extra 100.

A scene then follows and two of the participants are disqualified. Provided that you're still in the tournament, your next opponent will be Ambassador von Hinn. He doesn't have a particularly strong deck, but he does play the Nilfgaardian deck and so it's almost inevitable that he has spy cards, so try to save a Decoy for that.

Win or lose, the protesters you saw earlier at the door barge in and you will have to fight 3 of them in a fistfight. Or rather, you can only use your fists, but all three of them hit you with clubs and you're in a tight space, which makes for a ridiculously hard to survive fight. Luckily you can consume food, drink potions etc, but it still takes a lot of dodging until only one dwarf is left. Ultimately though, losing only gives one red mark in the objectives log and you don't miss out on anything else.

Note: As of Patch 4.0 the Dwarves can now be fought using a sword.

Either way, Geralt has a calm down talk with the dwarves and they turn friendly after he name-drops Zoltan Chivay. It is decided that their leader will enter the final, and if you're still in the tournament, it's time to play Martin Monnier in what is now the "pre-final". He also plays the new deck and thus it's a more even match. Winning it puts you into the final against Yaki Rafiberg who has the Scoia'tael deck. The quest completes after the final match.

The reward now depends on how far you progressed:

If you won all matches: 250, 1000 and The Victor's Cup
If lost only against the dwarf: 150, 500 and The Victor's Cup
If you lost any other match: 50 and 100

Journal entry[]

One day, Geralt came across a notice board with information about a gwent tournament organized by Count Monnier and to be held at the Pheasantry. The witcher, as everyone knew, was not one to turn down a bit of card playing, so he decided to join the event. Little did he know what surprises awaited him there...

Count Monnier was a man as enterprising as he was creative. He and his brother Igor had decided to perfect gwent by adding a fifth faction: Skellige. The count announced that, if Geralt wished to take part in the tournament, he would be given a basic Skellige deck but would have to build it up himself. To acquire more powerful cards, Geralt had to find and defeat gwent players in Toussaint.

Geralt's deck was deemed worthy by Count Monnier and thus the witcher qualified to enter the tourney. Players from all over the world were to take part in it along with him. There was a nobleman from Novigrad, the Nilfgaardian ambassador, an Ofieri merchant, a contestant from Skellige and the organizer of the tournament himself, Count Monnier.

If Geralt loses early in the tournament:

Despite Geralt's best efforts, he failed to emerge victorious at the tournament. Playing his cards well did not, however, turn out to be his only worry during the tournament. While they played, outside the building where the tournament was held a group of tradition-minded lovers of the old rules of gwent gathered to protest the addition of a new faction. After a short fight, the situation was brought under control and the two sides sat down for talks.

If Geralt wins all "regular" rounds in the tournament:

Geralt proved himself the best gwent player in Toussaint by defeating all comers at the elite tournament. This was doubly happy news, for the tournament might never have come to any conclusion at all. A group of opponents of the new Skellige faction had decided to show up to express their discontent. A tense altercation took place, but luckily both sides kept their cool.

If Geralt wins the final round against Yaki:

Geralt played a final match against a dwarf named Yaki. He knew very well this was a game of key importance, for not only was victory in the tournament at stake, but also Count Monnier's honor and the fate of the new faction he had introduced. In the end, Geralt defeated the dwarf and Yaki proved himself an honorable player by admitting defeat and remaining calm. If only all conflicts in the world could be resolved over a hand of gwent...

Objectives[]

Meet with the tournament's organizer.
If you don't have a strong enough deck:
- Find other gwent players and win stronger Skellige faction cards from them. 24/24
- Return to Count Monnier and get qualified for the tournament.
Come back after two days and join the tournament.
Enter the tournament.
Win the tournament.
Fight the dwarves.

Hints and Tips[]

Once you have free access to Corvo Bianco, pay for the general refurbishment of the house to get the Majordomo as a practice partner, so you can test out the Skellige deck.
The following list is a good build with some tips and tricks below.

1x Geralt, 1x Ciri, 1x Yennefer, 1x Mysterious elf, 1x Villentretenmerth, 1x Olgierd, 1x Ermion, 1x Dandelion, 1x Hjalmar, 1x Cerys, 1x Birna, 1x Olaf, 1x Clan Dimun Pirate, 1x Kambi, 2x Young Berserker 3x Light Longship, 3x Clan Drummond Shield Maiden, 3x Clan an Craite Warrior (total 25)
Special Card: 3x Skellige Storm, 3x Decoy, 1x Commander's Horn (Total 7)

Grand Total: 32

Strategy[]

Throw the 1st round to ensure you make use of the Skellige 3rd round bonus of receiving 2 random cards, as well as removing some cards from the opponent's deck unless you have spy cards that can also aid in dragging out the 1st round gaining cards while the opponent is losing cards.
You need to mulligan (replace the card with another) away multiple searchable cards down to one. If you have Cerys, then Mulligan away all the shield Maidens.
Mulligan away young berserkers if you don't have Ermion in the opening hand (but keep Ermion if there are no Berserkers).
You need to have at most ONE Skellige Storm because it decreases the power of the opponent's back row, very effective against Nilfgaard and opposing Skellige.
Always use Bran as Leader because Skellige opponents always use Crach and players take less damage from the effects of the Skellige Storm.
Mulligan away a Clan an Craite Warrior if it is the only one in the opening hand UNLESS there are ways to draw more cards (using opponent's spies).
Decoys are for three situations:
- Re-use Birna
- Bounce and use an enemy spy
- Save a Tight Bond unit (their sums are easy targets for scorch)
In certain occasions, players will only play two rounds to win. In most cases, one round must be lost to drain more resources from the opponent. In the third round, the player gets two random cards back from the graveyard due to the Skellige faction's unique ability, giving the player an advantage.
When using Kambi in combination with decoy's you can gain extra cards of a strength of 11 that can not be countered with Scorch unless you have a medic card then it might be wiser to use decoys there.

Notes[]

A letter from Count Monnier's brother can be found near him on the balcony, and a letter written by Yaki in the name of all protesters can be found around the tables on the square outside.
Yaki has also posted a notice in Francollarts, apparently looking to start his own tournament.

Trivia[]

Name of the quest is a reference to Turn! Turn! Turn! song.
The Monnier family name is a reference to Damien Monnier, the real-life designer of Gwent.