Gwent: Crimson Curse Adds the Monstrous Svalblod as a Faction Leader
Gwent: Crimson Curse is the first official card expansion for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, and released on all platforms just two days ago. In addition to over 100 new cards, the expansion also adds a new faction leader for each of the five factions. CD Projekt Red has now revealed the fourth among their number; Svalblod, the new Skellige faction leader and a terrifying ancient god.
Gwent: Crimson Curse Brings Svalblod as a New Skellige Faction Leader
Svalblod is the fourth new faction leader to be revealed for the Gwent: Crimson Curse expansion. Although the expansion has already launched, there is still one new leader yet to be revealed. CD Projekt Red has so far unveiled three other new leaders; Dana Méadbh for the Scoia’tael, Anna Henrietta for Nilfgaard, and Dettlaff van der Eretein for the Monsters faction. The Northern Realms leader has yet to be revealed.
In his role as the new Skellige leader, it’s clear that Svalblod features an aggressive and reckless play-style. His Order damages one of his own units by 1, and he has 5 Charges. Once he exhausts all of his Charges, he can Spawn a Bear Abomination unit and Summon it to a random one of his rows. Thus, Svalblod vents his rage on his own, but periodically also bolsters their numbers.
Svalblod is certainly an interesting choice for the leader, although he does fit in somewhat with the other new characters. He is an ancient god, in a similar fashion to the new Scoia’tael leader, although in his case he is revered by a bloodthirsty cult of werebears. These ‘Vildkaarls,’ as they are known, made a brief appearance during The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Svalblod himself was only vaguely mentioned. He is almost forgotten, after all, even among the Skelligers. His bloodthirstiness certainly fits the theme of Crimson Curse, however, even if it’s a different take on the theme than Dettlaff and his vampires.