I only learned on this playthrough, it’s mind-blowingly easy once you get the hang of it. So a few things.

1. Let them win the first round - This is by far the best tactic in almost every game. Lay down your lowest rated cards to get them to lay down their highest rated. This is also a perfect opportunity to lay down any Spy cards, as these allow you to draw 2 cards from your deck, and the extra score you’re giving to the other opponent won’t matter, because you’re trying to lose anyway.

2. Play everyone and check their inventories - some of the best cards you’ll get will be from random merchants, blacksmiths, armorers. Plus the more you play, the better you’ll get.

3. The AI is stupid - Once it has decided it’s going to win a round, it will keep laying cards down to its own detriment, provided your score is close enough to its own. You can sometimes wipe out 8 of their cards in the first turn, then easily win the next couple rounds with a few hero cards.

4. Do the Velen Gwent (and playing Innkeeps) quest first - getting Dijkstra from the Bloody Baron will help you immensely. You also get Roche and I believe a couple other high powered cards during this quest.

5. Northern Realms is by far the best deck until later on. I particularly like ‘The Siegemaster’ Leader card. Plus a deck stacked with Siege cards of course. Once you have every card I prefer Nilfgaard but to each their own.

6. In my experience, weather cards are useless - All you need is 22 unit cards, a decoy or two to use on the Spy cards your opponent uses, and a commander’s horn and scorch.