Just like Velen had its own roster of renown Gwent players, so does Novigrad, and notable players tend to stake unique cards as proof of their deck’s quality. You know the drill - hunt down players of renown, defeat them, claim their rare cards, and improve your own decks. This page will provide a walkthrough for the quest Gwent: Big City Players in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Page Breakdown¶

Starting Gwent: Big City Players¶

Starting this quest is pretty simple, just find Vimme Vivaldi in the southwestern corner of Hierarch Square in Novigrad, and after throwing a bit of a tantrum he’ll confirm the stereotype he was railing against is correct and admit he plays Gwent. If you want to add another unnecessary step, you can take a gander at the Notice Board near The Golden Sturgeon to find the notice Gwent: Vimme Vivaldi Cheats! warning the public about the duplicitous dwarf. This also starts the quest, but you still have to go talk to Vimme Vivaldi anyways, so there’s no real point in grabbing this notice.

Once started the quest progresses fairly linearly. Unlike Gwent: Velen Players you don’t have any options here, just defeat the opponents in order:

• Vimme Vivaldi
• Marquise Serenity
• Sigismund Dijkstra
• Scoia’tael Merchant

There is one complication, however. Like many secondary quests in Novigrad, the availability of important NPCs is determined by main quest progression. In this case you must start the main quest Get Junior and visit Sigismund Dijkstra in his bath house before you can play Gwent with him. That being the case, it’s best to ignore this secondary quest until that point, whereupon you’ll be able to play and defeat all four quest Gwent players in succession without interruption.

Defeat Vimme Vivaldi¶

First step is to find Vimme Vivaldi along the southwestern corner of Hierarch Square and challenge him to a game of Gwent. Vimme Vivaldi is a good transitional character for moving from Velen-difficulty Gwent to Novigrad-difficulty Gwent, as he plays a rather mediocre Scoia’tael deck. That you’ll face cards with the “Muster” ability and the odd 10 strength hero card should go without saying, but aside from reviving spies you send at him and using weather cards, Vimme Vivaldi’s not too tricky. Trounce him and you’ll earn the Vesemir card, a neutral close combat card with 6 strength and no abilities.

Defeat Marquise Serenity¶

After defeating Vimme Vivaldi, he’ll refer you to Marquise Serenity, the proprietress of The Passiflora. Before you play her, consider buying the Catapult card from her, first, if you haven’t already done so and play the Northern Kingdoms deck. It’s an 8 strength siege card with the “Tight Bond” ability, and while 8 strength is already pretty good, if you get two of them that becomes a combined total of 32 points, and with a Commander’s Horn that goes up to a whopping 64 points. As for Marquise Serenity, she’ll play a decent Nilfgaardian Empire deck, using hero and Spy cards freely, and reviving vanquished Spy cards with Medics on her next turn. A decent Northern Kingdoms deck can simply overpower her, but you do need to be wary of Scorch and other board-clearers like Villentretenmerth - these will become more common as time goes on.

Prove you’ve got the better cards and Marquise Serenity will forfeit the Moorvran Voorhis card, a 10 strength siege card. If you’ve started Get Junior she should also tell you about Sigismund Dijstra’s deck following her defeat, although she’ll use his street name, Sigi Reuven.

Defeat Sigismund Dijkstra¶

This is the only real tricky player in this quest, and it has nothing to do with his prowess as a Gwent player. You obviously can’t play a character you haven’t met yet, and as a big player in Novigrad’s underworld, Sigi Reuven - aka Sigismund Dijkstra - isn’t a person you can just meet on a whim. Instead you must complete the main quest Broken Flowers to point you in Sigi Reuven’s direction, then progress through the follow-up main quest Get Junior to the point where you fight off some thugs in Dijkstra’s bathhouse. After this a lot of chatter will ensue, and you’ll likely end up starting the quest Count Reuven’s Treasure, and once you’ve agreed to help Dijkstra and are tasked with exploring the sewers, Dijkstra will head up to his office near the entrance to the bathhouse. It’s here where you can finally challenge him to a game of Gwent, and as with many important characters in Novigrad, you’re encouraged to play him as soon as possible just to ensure he doesn’t become unavailable again due to new story developments.

When you finally challenge Dijkstra in his bathhouse you’ll find he plays a fairly standard Northern Kingdoms deck. He’s capable of tossing out Spy cards and even using your own Spy cards against you via Decoy, as well as putting some massive points on the board thanks to Tight Bond cards. Still, he’s not a uniquely competent player and if you were diligent in Velen you probably have a stronger Northern Kingdoms deck. Persevere until you’re victorious and this advantage will be furthered by the addition of Esterad Thyssen, a strength 10 close combat hero card for the Northern Kingdoms deck with no special abilities. Dijkstra will also tell you about a Scoia’tael merchant with a unique card that’ll benefit every deck in the game!

Defeat the Scoia’tael Merchant¶

Now that Dijkstra has outed this elven guerrilla, you’ll be able to find him in the woods southwest of Novigrad. It’s a bit of trek, but you shouldn’t encounter anything nastier than Wolves on your way there, and by now these should be little more than nuisances. Find the Scoia’tael merchant and after questioning your obvious Gwent addiction the elf will relent and play you. He’ll field a Scoia’tael deck, which may be on-brand, but it’s also something of a push-over, despite the odd Muster and hero card he’ll play. As long as you’ve got a way to counter weather effects you should be fine, as the Scoia’tael deck is uniquely bad at winning a points match with a decent Northern Kingdoms deck. When you win you’ll obtain Ciri, a 15 strength close combat hero card that can be used in any deck.

You’ll gain 25 EXP each time you defeat a new player, and when you’ve bested them all you’ll obtain the Francesca Findabair: The Beautiful card, a leader card for the Scoia’tael deck.