On release the game is planned to have a 10 hour single player campaign which costs money but rumors say it’s gonna be CDPR level of quality. (Rich story, 100% voice acting, meaningful choices etc.)
Other than that much of the game’s F2P structure is copied from Hearthstone but more rewarding and more streamlined.
There will be a wipe when the game enters open beta but you do get to keep some things:
Other than converting the rank to packs after the wipe, the rank reward themselves are pretty generous.
But be careful that there’s a big balance patch coming soon which will make these lists inaccurate, so before you craft anything, it’s better to wait for the upcoming stream on March 14th and see what’s up. Northern Realms and Nilfgaard are getting revamped and Nekker based monster decks are getting nerfed, from what is known so far.
In general the most cost effective cards to craft are epics (purple square in the corner) which are as crucial as the legendaries if not more, but with the crafting cost of one legendary you can craft 4 epics. So usually it’s best to be patient until you get 1 legendary in a pack which is useful for a strong deck archetype, pick it between the 3 and then craft the epics needed for that specific deck. Also don’t craft Ciri (the epic) and Decoy as you get them for free in levels 18 and 20. In any case if you have no idea what legendary to pick from a pack you can always ask knowledgeable players before picking.
Also remember that you can have up to 3 copies of the same bronze framed card but only 1 silver and 1 gold, so once you get a specific silver or gold, it won’t benefit getting another copy of it.
The cards would probably still be useful after the patch.
Assumes you don’t have the legendaries required to play highly specific builds.
The order within the tier matters.
Neutral top priority:
Ciri (You get her at level 18 but if you are playing F2P it’s worth it to craft her ASAP. She will make you win more and those extra wins will cover those 200 scraps in no time.)
Yennefer: The Conjurer
Witcher trio (cost 600 scraps though…)
Neutral lesser priority:
Johnny (A combo that enhances Ciri’s value- When you can’t utilize her ability to return to the hand in the match anymore, Johnny swaps her with a different card with more value than 6)
Northern Realms top priority:
Shani
Priscilla
Nenneke
Radovid (8 str that can also hit golds. Kills YenCon and Ciri!)
Northern Realms lesser priority:
Nothing for now
Scoia’Tael top priority:
Eithné or Brouver Hoog (Both are good, but each for a different deck direction)
Yaevinn (Card advantage is always good)
Scoia’Tael lesser priority:
Toruviel
Monsters top priority:
Dagon
Crone trio (cost 600 scraps though…)
Woodland Spirit
Caranthir (If going for a weather deck)
Katakan (If not going for a weather deck)
Monsters lesser priority:
Ice Giant (If going for a weather deck)
Giant Toad (If not going for a weather deck)
White frost
Merigold’s Hailstorm
Skellige top priority:
King Bran (If going for a discard deck or a standard deck)
Ermion
Sigrdrifa
Restore
Olgierd (Neutral but benefits from Skellige’s passive ability and the blacksmiths)
Birna Bran and/or Donar an Hindar (Depends on which slot you have spare for them, a gold or a silver one)
Draig Bon–Dhu (Only for very specific builds)
Skellige lesser priority:
Champion of Champions (For builds that don’t use the middle row)
Nilfgard top priority:
Cantarella
Morvran Voorhis
Cahir
Stefan Skellen
Bump because the game has been growing rapidly and CDPR are going to market it heavily in 2018 when it’s officially out of beta (and with the massive single player campaign).
Yesterday they announced the biggest update yet is going to come mid December. They have a dedicated page to the 100+ new cards that will be added.
