I run a dwarf focused deck but mine is more about being able to stay on board through rounds with the ST-specific Zoltan, Defenders, Guards to buff the defenders, Yarpen Zigrin, and the dwarfs that do 3 damage and get +2. Commandos to get double buffs from guards or to get another -3 damage in, and also to heal cards that take chip damage. Barclay Els is a must in that deck, but I don't try to bounce him as much as just having enough dwarfs in my deck to make it very worth playing him. And the mercenaries are actually good because their +2 is after they get reduced from the weather.

The staying power between rounds makes it so that you don't quite lose cards when you play something to push yourself over the edge if your opponent were to pass to gain card advantage. Monster decks do this so often and forget that there's other classes with the ability to maintain units on the board for future rounds. So with Zoltan, at the most they're getting 7 power with Geralt staying.

I also run Iorveth for the fact that he damages/kills gold cards, Yaevinn because he's an absolute killer against breedable Ge'els decks, Lacerate and Scorch because they're Lacerate and Scorch, and Geralt:Igni because that card is insane.