First of all i would like to direct you to a wonderful site that uses cookies to keep note of which cards you have ticked off
http://gwentcards.com/checklist.htmlHave a look it shows you all the cards in the game, the place to get them, the person you need to talk to to play or buy from and it even shows a picture of the card if you click on the card name for example it will have in blue text "click for card image of *insert card name" so you can see it.
One thing to be careful of is if you are cleaning your browser is not to delete the cookies for that page or you will have erased all the cards you ticked off that you already own!Just hit the option button and go to GWENT DECK and look through all your cards and tick them off to the right and once you have done so hit the "Click to refresh dashboard" button and it will clear the table of all cards you own leaving you with what you are left to find.
My advice to you is that if you want to get all the cards and this trophy you do all the quests related to Gwent because you are going to come to a quest called High Stakes where you will need your best cards. A little tip, SPY cards are what you want the most of as they will give you an extra 2 cards in your field deck, they do however give points to the other player but is usually worth it. There are 4 decks in total 1.Monsters 2.Nilfgaardian Empire 3.Northern Realms 4.Scoia'Tael
My favourite is Northern Realms as i have 4 spy cards which one of them is a 0 point score which means i get 2 extra cards but the opponent gets no points. You most definitely need to be careful going up against strong Monster deck players because they can rush you and before you know it the match is over so you really want what is called a Blizzard card and a Close Combat Scorch card in your deck when playing them because the way the Monster deck works some cards when played if they have the same name as any other cards in the deck no matter if they have been drawn in to the playing deck when played they will pull from the entire deck of all cards with that name. How can explain it best, say each player starts with 10 cards but you have a monster deck and you have a special card that i just mentioned, you play that card and you have a deck of 30 cards but only 10 are in play, well forget that 10, if you have any more cards in that deck of 30 with the same name they will all come out on to the field pushing their points sky high so a good way to counter this is to make sure you have a Blizzard card if possible and a close combat Scorch card but wait until they have enough that will amount to 10 points or more after using the Blizzard card (beware special cards with the nice fancy number at the top left do not count towards the 10, here is one for example
) so you want 10 normal cards, hit them with the Blizzard reducing them all to 1 point and then you hit them with the Close combat scorch card because usually he will only take out the highest scoring card but if they are all reduced to 1 point each that means they all get taken out, you want to wait as long as you can before doing this so he/she does not have the chance to try rebuild their score.
Something i would like to elaborate on that the other solution has is that once you have every random card when they stop giving you cards for winning means you have all random cards, well that is partially true. What happens also though is that once you have played and beaten an opponent you will not win any more cards from that same NPC again. So this is why it is handy to make a note on which NPCs you have already beat because instead of giving you another card they will simply give you some sort of item like crafting components instead. So by taking the notes in the diary which i will get on to in a moment you will stop your self from backtracking and playing people for nothing, wasting your time. So just because you get nothing from an NPC may actually just mean that you have already played and beat that NPC.
Now another very handy thing i have been doing is playing every single merchant, smith or anyone who plays Gwent and taking a diary and writing down the location of the person, whether he was a smith, armourer, basic merchant or whatever. I will then write if he sold cards and if i beat him that way if i did not have enough money at the time to buy their cards i would put a cross next to the persons name and location and the same goes if i do not have a good enough deck of cards to beat them, this way i would remember at a later date that i could go back to the person and try again with a stronger deck and buy the cards if i had the money, if i did then i could put a tick next to him/her instead for both winning and purchasing the cards and that way i know i do not need to go back to them.
This is a must read before you start the game if you are going for this trophy.
After the prologue of the game you will go to a place called White Orchard where you will start off in an inn/pub/bar. You need to buy the cards from the innkeeper because SPOILER
Non spoiler version, an event takes place where you can't buy the cards from the innkeeper any more. The next important thing is there is a Gwent tutorial in that first inn in White Orchard which will introduce you to Gwent and give you a basic deck and tutorial to get you started so play him to get those cards and win!
The inn is Just to the left of Woesong Bridge and will have a green stash chest inside it.
Now another event will take place where you save a dude on your way to White Orchard which will open up a merchant just along from the inn/pub/tavern who will have those cards so do not worry if you are past the part where the innkeeper can not sell those cards we wanted any more.
Here is a video explaining the situation for you.
Now another issue players have been having is the Zoltan card which again i have a solution for you via another youtube video :) Some people have had issues where they did not get his card, well as of patch 1.07, some people say they had to wait for 1.08 to come out but here is where and how to get it.
Yet another important thing to complete are the Gwent quest lines as follows.
There are several quests allowing you to battle better than average opponents, which will reward you with cards you can’t get anywhere else (even though random NPCs use them in their decks). Here’s the low down on each of them. All of these quest are missable.
Gwent: Playing InnkeepsYou receive this quest after the tutorial match in White Orchard. Battle Stepjan at the Alchemy Inn in Oxenfurt, the unnamed Barkeep at the Inn at the Crossroads, and Olivier at the Kingfisher Inn in Novigrad. Complete this quest before secondary quest Now or Never, or miss out forever.
Nilfgaardian NoblemanIt’s not listed as a side quest, but it does reward you with a card not found anywhere else, unlike random opponents. Note that you can come back to the palace and beat him at any time; you don’t need to do it on your first visit. This person is found in the garden at the Royal palace.
Gwent: Velen PlayersYou receive this quest by checking the notice board in Crow’s Perch. Battle The Bloody Baron at Crow’s Perch, the Old Sage at Beken, the Boatmaker at Oreton, and the prodigy Haddy at Midcopse. If you do not complete this quest before the conclusion of Family Matters, when the Baron leaves his castle, search his rooms thoroughly after Return to Crookback Bog to find his card and a lead on the next player.
(Note to those who like my self missed out on playing the Bloody Baron you can pick his card up in his office) Gwent: Big City PlayersYou receive this quest by playing Gwent with Vimme Vivaldi, or by checking notice boards around Novigrad. Battle Vimme Vivaldi at the bank in Novigrad, Marquise Serenity at the Passiflora in Novigrad, Sigismund Dijkstra in the Bathhouse in Novigrad and the Scoia’Tael Trader in the camp near Lucian’s Windmill. Complete this quest before Reason of State or risk missing out forever.
Gwent: Old PalsReceive this quest by challenging Zoltan Chivay or Vernon Roche. Battle Zoltan Chivay at the Thyme and Rosemary in Novigrad any time after reporting back to him during Broken Flowers; Vernon Roche at the Temerian Partisan Camp outside Novigrad any time he is not absent due to quests such as A Deadly Plot and An Eye for an Eye (feel free to wander in as soon as you cross the Pontac); Lambert either in The Nowhere Inn during Pulling the Thread (you have to tell him you’ll meet him at your next objective, then talk to him as he walks out) or at Kaer Morhen; and Thaler either during A Deadly Plot or at the Seven Cats Inn thereafter. Complete this quest before The Battle of Kaer Morhen and Reason of State or risk missing out forever.
Gwent: Skellige StyleReceive this quest by challenging Crach an Craite or Ermion. Battle Crach an Craite at Kaer Trolde; Ermion at Kaer Trolde or Gedyneith; Sjusta the Tailor (barber) at Kaer Trolde Harbour; Germist the Druid at Gedyneith after completing the secondary quest Practicum in Advanced Alchemy; and “Madman” Lugos at Kaer Muire. Complete this quest before Battle Preparations or miss out forever.
A Matter of Life and Death [B](CAUTION!)[/B]
Before this i highly suggest making a manual save point because after this quest there is no going back. When you do this quest you will see a ! on the map, this is a game of Gwent where you need to beat 3 opponents and you will not get this cards anywhere else!
The only way to get the Dandelion card is to be victorious at the three-game tournament optionally playable during secondary quest A Matter of Life and Death.
A Dangerous GameComplete this side quest for Zoltan Chivay to receive three cards not available anywhere else. At the end of the mission you can elect to keep the cards or take the money.
IMPORTANT! Keep the cards. Shock TherapyComplete this quest at Gedyneith, harassing a druid into speaking, to receive the Iorveth card.
Gwent: High Stakes I can not stress how much you need to save your game before attempting this because there is also another trophy tied to this
But not just that you will need a very good deck for this for the final opponent so i suggest going for all the other Gwent quests first but also if you are at the main quest where you are to travel to the Isles of Mist you need to do this first, they may have changed it in patch 1.08 but in 1.07 when i went to the Isles of Mist Gwent: High Stakes failed on me so had to go back to an older save to be able to complete it.
The quest is available as soon as you arrive in Novigrad, but you need 1,000 crowns to enter and a tournament-ready deck so do all those Gwent quests mentioned above first and use the link i gave you to find other Gwent players so you can build up a strong deck before you do this. . Warning: This quest is easy failed so make back up saves. Do not spend the night with Madam Sasha; she will steal some of your cards.
Note for Tibor Eggorbracht Card at the Kingfisher Inn in Novagrad. If certain events unfold that you can't get the card from Oliver the innkeeper you will find it in the image below in the same building
So this is my advice to everyone, i have also had word from CD Projekt Red that if the trophy did glitch on you they are working on a fix so that it will pop straight away once the patch goes live without having to start over again
So i hope this has been of some help to you all, i initially started just to give that link to the page where you can tick off the cards you have but thought i would go much deeper in to the solution to try help my fellow Gwent players get the best advice i could give them.
It would be cool if they made a DLC Multiplayer for Gwent where we could all play each other and bet on cards
Happy gaming everyone and good luck on your hunt for your cards, i hope you get them all