Easy Way to Beat Dagons Cultists Gwent
Renfri not being at the top makes the old deck come back. Since the deck is good independently of round length you can be very passive about winning the first round. Conjurer's Candle makes no worries about spender. Jacques guarantees you payoff from playing Firesworn cards like Cyrus (combined with previously set up Inquisitor) and Mage Salamanders from Tributes. Poisons help with getting rid of high units, especially against Knights.
Gameplan
Mulligan:
King of Beggars, always take mulligans to get golds
Round 1:
Play Eternal Fire Disciple to develop your Inquisitors for Cyrus and try to build coin carryover.
Round 2:
Conjurer's Candle is very pleasant to have here because of Resilience.
Round 3:
Setup Mage Salamanders with Jacques and answer the threats.
Details
Good against:
Engine decks
Bad against:
Greedy decks
Win condition:
Top-end golds
Card replacements:
Nope.
You know how when you go to the gym you basically rip apart your muscle ligaments and they grow back stronger? Apparently getting mauled by a bear demi-god works even better. Selfwound is slipping a bit in the meta, but has still managed to hold on a full 6 months after the Sigvald buff. The only real change is the inclusion of Heatwave, proving to be instrumental in the new Scenario Meta.
Gameplan
Mulligan:
You need Royal Decree, Covenant of Steel and Melusine. Depending on the match up, you either want to save the defender for a big Sigvald R3, or just protect Melusine from Heatwave and drag out R1 as long as possible.
It may be in your best interest to hold onto Cerys depending on your hand. If you can use Covenant of Steel and an Armored Drakkar to both Melusine, you can keep the number of damage instances low, and not pull Cerys, which you ideally want to hold for R3.
Round 1:
This version of the deck is much more straightforward than a previous version with Ihuarraquax, so you don't need to think nearly as hard. Just get a big Melusine and win R1 without using Sigvald, Fucusya, or Sigrdrifa's Rite. Ideally, you hold onto the Mardroemes and prevent Cerys from pulling from your deck.
Round 2:
For the sake of simplicity, assume you won R1 and dry pass for a long R3. You can risk playing Sigrdrifa's Rite on Melusine for Bleed, but now its vulnerable to Heatwave or even worse, Yennefer's Invocation (though in this Meta it's not frequently run, so don't be paranoid about it).
If you lost, try to defend with just Fucusya and bronzes, but use Sigrdrifa's Rite if you really need to. If they are trying to 2-0 you, you can also employ the normal R3 strategy combo (see R3), saving Sigrdrifa's Rite, and take the short R3 with Melusine carryover.
Round 3:
Okay, this is the not so easy part. Sigvald can get really big, but only if you play it properly. Consideration 1: If they've used Heatwave on your defender or Melusine, just pull the other one with Sigrdrifa's or Fucusya. If they haven't used it, pull defender first with one, and then Melusine after. Of course, this is under the assumption that they don't run graveyard hate. The general idea is your Sigvald needs to be protected, so you need to bait the tall removal however you can. Consideration 2: Mardroeme, Knut the Callous, and Cerys all pair very well with Sigvald, but you have to play them properly. Mardroeme plays for 12 points on Sigvald, since he turns the 3 damage into bleeding, and boosts by 9. Knut the Callous, can be worth a lot on Sigvald, but remember that he needs to be at Berserk 5 to do this every turn, which leaves him Venerable to removal. You can always put him next to Melusine or a Svalblood Priest, but then you need to watch his health. Cerys can transfer a lot of damage onto Sigvald, most of which will likely come from Knut's ability or Melusine hurting herself (or both together if you're lucky).
Consideration 3: What do you do with Bride of the Sea?
Bride of the Sea can be used with no rain for a Mardroeme or Mahakam Ale and 4 rain for Sigrdrifa's Rite. You can get only get turns of rain from Melusine and Fucusya, but note that the only way to get 4+ rain on board is with a 4/5 provision pull with Fucusya or a combination of both cards. Melusine can also technically do it by herself, but only if you stack the rains in the same row 3 turns in a row (which obviously takes a few turns of set up). You have a few good targets for Sigrdrifa's, so you can figure out if they're worth more than the points from the Mardroeme or not.
Matchups
Mirrors
Try to get around defender with a purify and Heatwave Melusine early, likely allowing you to win R1, and then bleed out their Sigvald or win the 2-0. Without their Melusine or Sigvald, they should always lose the short R3.
Other matchups
Just bigbrain, use a general plan.
Details
Good against:
Vamps, SY Devo
Bad against:
SY Nekker, Knights, Harmony
Win condition:
Melusine. Sigvald.
Card replacements:
Nope.
Vampires are the only deck which has survived Renfri's nerf – Curse of Gluttony is better by 2 points. The deck has good pointslam having Nekurat being 2 points per turn engine and Fleder growing fast. There is not much control so the deck is vulnerable to greedy decks and a much heavier engine than them, though it's easy to win round 1 and push opponents out of these.
Gameplan
Mulligan:
Roach and second Red Rider
Round 1:
Win round and gain last say for Regis or opportunity for push
Round 2:
In most cases you push here with everything you have except Regis, possibly with having last say
Round 3:
Last say with Regis with any of Curses and Blessings should ensure your win.
Details
Good against:
Pointslam
Bad against:
Control
Win condition:
Golds and engines
Card replacements:
Nope.
Pirates have a well rounded balance of consistency, power plays, and control. The addition of the scenario gives the deck the ability to push in R2 in order to gain a card advantage in R3.
Gameplan
Mulligan:
Mulligan hard to find the discard package. As the deck usually thins to 0 by R3, don't hesitate to mulligan cards not required to win R1. It also helps if Terror of the Seas is in the opening hand. Roach and Compass are easy mulligans as well.
Round 1:
Try to thin your deck with discards while maintaining tempo and generating carryover with the Onslaughts passive ability. Get as much of this carryover on the red coin as you can get away with without falling too far behind for a tempo pass. On blue coin, you can use Crach to win/ take control of the round.
Round 2:
In case you win R1, feel free to bleed with Infinite Voyage, and usually you should get your card back/ gain card advantage with well timed plays and removal of the opponent's key pieces.
Round 3:
Use Magic Compass to usually play Fucusya or if you have last say. If you feel the opponent has a big finisher saved as their last play, don't hesitate to play Kambi thus denying their finisher. The other option is Morkvaarg: Heart of Terror as a tall punish and Wild Boar of the Sea / Hemdall as a wide punish.
Matchups
Mirrors
Try to deny them carryover by moving the An Craite longship or removing it from the board. The other targets to be careful of would be Coral/Birna combo and Crach. Heatwave usually deals with the scenario.
Details
Good against:
Harmony ST, Elves, Engine heavy decks, Mill (in case you already draw Golden Compass)
Bad against:
Cultist NG, Enslave Kolgrim, pointslam decks
Win condition:
Discard package still provides good tempo in R1 without utilizing too many resources. Generating carryover with Terror of the seas serves as tall removal for R3. Thinning to less than 3 cards in R3 helps activate the true power of Golden Compass.
Card replacements:
Nope.
Source: https://www.teamelderblood.com/meta-snapshot/