Howdy folks!
Posting this guide here at the request of members of the "Ol' Army Aggies" Clash Royale Clan. If you aren't interested feel free to ignore! There are also currently 4 spots available if you are looking for a clan to join. Just be sure to mention you are an aggie when you request. If you need trophies lowered post that here.
Battle Deck:
Summary and opening moves: This deck operates by using high efficiency cards such as hordes/log to build an elixir advantage for RG to be played with support. Keeping track of what cards your opponent has in their deck, understanding if your opponent is holding a card back and keeping track of opponent elixir count are all critical to success with this deck. Counting opponent elixir is easier than it sounds and just takes practice/a knowledge of how much certain cards cost.
Assuming your opponent does not play a card before the initial 10 elixir then the following are the best opening moves in order of preference.
1) Spear Goblins in bottom right or left corner.
2) Tombstone in upper center (should be three spaces between edge of tombstone and the river). Potentially pull hog/golem from either side. If the opponent picks it off from the other side of the river back it off a square but for now place high.
3) Skarmy behind a tower. Just a cheap play that forces opponent to react and doesn't waste elixir.
If the opponent does play something before you hit 10 elixir then react as appropriate.
The opening move should almost never be RG since we only want to play that when an elixir advantage has been built. There is also no need to play it generally until we understand what deck we are facing. Until then make positive elixir trades.
Strengths: Has counters for almost all cards. Strong verses decks without good crowd control. Allows for comeback 2-1 wins when one tower has been taken out as defense ramps better than other decks with the king tower active. When I am playing against a deck that does a ton of damage to one tower quickly I will sometimes let the tower fall to put myself in this position rather than try to hold on and lose 0-1 at the very end.
Weaknesses: Crowd control, inferno tower, lavaloon.
General strategies and VS tricky decks:
1) Royal Giant Placement: While most players put the RG as far up as possible or at the very back there is a strategy I do not see used very often. Wait until 10 elixir and place RG one square back from the river. As soon as you hit 5 elixir play minion horde as far forward as possible. This puts RG as the target of the tower while if inferno tower/dragon are played the minions will be their target instead of RG. When pulled off vs inferno it's beautiful and devastating.
2) VS Golem: Always push lane opposite golem. Tombstone should be played up and offset from center away from golem to get it to draw golem to center. Goal is to force your opponent to split their elixir between two lanes as you can handle a golem on its own with just the tombstone and mpekka.
3) VS Spell Bait: This is a very hard deck to win against and draws should be considered successes. This generally requires a hail mary. Build to 10 elixir throughout the game and play the RG with the strategy in #1. It is critical to be patient, do this with am gain elixir advantage, make sure you have just taken out the princess/that it is off cycle and do not play minion horde until you can hit your Hail Mary play.
4) VS Exnado: The minipekka must be saved to take out the executioner. Aim to use your hordes when executioner has just been taken out or play the opposite lane.
5) VS Three musketeers: Upon opening elixir collector drop immediately push either tower with all 10 elixir to jump out to a big damage lead. After that the RG may not even be played for the remainder of the game. Instead chip away at that tower with spear goblins and strategic fireball/log use. If they split musketeers I like to use FB/Log to take out two and Skarmy for the third. That is 9 for 9 but usually you can take out other troops with the FB/log at the same time and skarmy takes out a musketeer/knight combo.
Card by Card with possible replacements:
1) Royal Giant: Win condition #1
2) Fireball: Utility. I highly recommend watching a youtube guide for advanced use as it will highly impact the success of the deck. This one is a year old but held up pretty well. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clash+royale+fireball+guide
3) MiniPekka: Tank killer and win condition #2
4) Log: Utility, horde counter.
5) Tombstone: Golem/Hog/Balloon counter.
6) Skeleton Army (Goblin Gang/Guards): Tank killer/Goblin barrel counter.
7) Minion Horde: Use defensively then help with counter push. Win condition #3.
8) Spear Goblins (Dart Goblin/Archers): Heavy poke, often ignored for a couple hundred cheap damage. Air defense.
Conclusion: This deck has been my main for over a year and a half. In Grand Challenges I range from 4-8 wins consistently while I have reached 10 wins once. While not a meta deck it does have some advantages, especially for FTP players trying to climb the ladder.
First, the deck is light on legendary and epic cards. This allows for easier maxing of the rest of the deck. Following that line of thought, the legendary and epic cards in the deck do not need to be maxed to be effective on the ladder. Log is effective at level 2 and skarmy is always going to die to zap and do a ton of damage if it hits so neither are critical to upgrade quickly to gain crowns. Second, several of the cards are "stable" as they have been around a while and are unlikely in my opinion to be nerfed out of the ability to use them (see RG, fireball, spear goblins, log). Finally, mini pekka and spear goblins just got a buff.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have. If there is anything you experience differently or anything I could add please let me know. Have fun out there and let me know how the deck works for you and/or if you made any changes that you think make it play better.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
Posting this guide here at the request of members of the "Ol' Army Aggies" Clash Royale Clan. If you aren't interested feel free to ignore! There are also currently 4 spots available if you are looking for a clan to join. Just be sure to mention you are an aggie when you request. If you need trophies lowered post that here.
Battle Deck:
Summary and opening moves: This deck operates by using high efficiency cards such as hordes/log to build an elixir advantage for RG to be played with support. Keeping track of what cards your opponent has in their deck, understanding if your opponent is holding a card back and keeping track of opponent elixir count are all critical to success with this deck. Counting opponent elixir is easier than it sounds and just takes practice/a knowledge of how much certain cards cost.
Assuming your opponent does not play a card before the initial 10 elixir then the following are the best opening moves in order of preference.
1) Spear Goblins in bottom right or left corner.
2) Tombstone in upper center (should be three spaces between edge of tombstone and the river). Potentially pull hog/golem from either side. If the opponent picks it off from the other side of the river back it off a square but for now place high.
3) Skarmy behind a tower. Just a cheap play that forces opponent to react and doesn't waste elixir.
If the opponent does play something before you hit 10 elixir then react as appropriate.
The opening move should almost never be RG since we only want to play that when an elixir advantage has been built. There is also no need to play it generally until we understand what deck we are facing. Until then make positive elixir trades.
Strengths: Has counters for almost all cards. Strong verses decks without good crowd control. Allows for comeback 2-1 wins when one tower has been taken out as defense ramps better than other decks with the king tower active. When I am playing against a deck that does a ton of damage to one tower quickly I will sometimes let the tower fall to put myself in this position rather than try to hold on and lose 0-1 at the very end.
Weaknesses: Crowd control, inferno tower, lavaloon.
General strategies and VS tricky decks:
1) Royal Giant Placement: While most players put the RG as far up as possible or at the very back there is a strategy I do not see used very often. Wait until 10 elixir and place RG one square back from the river. As soon as you hit 5 elixir play minion horde as far forward as possible. This puts RG as the target of the tower while if inferno tower/dragon are played the minions will be their target instead of RG. When pulled off vs inferno it's beautiful and devastating.
2) VS Golem: Always push lane opposite golem. Tombstone should be played up and offset from center away from golem to get it to draw golem to center. Goal is to force your opponent to split their elixir between two lanes as you can handle a golem on its own with just the tombstone and mpekka.
3) VS Spell Bait: This is a very hard deck to win against and draws should be considered successes. This generally requires a hail mary. Build to 10 elixir throughout the game and play the RG with the strategy in #1. It is critical to be patient, do this with am gain elixir advantage, make sure you have just taken out the princess/that it is off cycle and do not play minion horde until you can hit your Hail Mary play.
4) VS Exnado: The minipekka must be saved to take out the executioner. Aim to use your hordes when executioner has just been taken out or play the opposite lane.
5) VS Three musketeers: Upon opening elixir collector drop immediately push either tower with all 10 elixir to jump out to a big damage lead. After that the RG may not even be played for the remainder of the game. Instead chip away at that tower with spear goblins and strategic fireball/log use. If they split musketeers I like to use FB/Log to take out two and Skarmy for the third. That is 9 for 9 but usually you can take out other troops with the FB/log at the same time and skarmy takes out a musketeer/knight combo.
Card by Card with possible replacements:
1) Royal Giant: Win condition #1
2) Fireball: Utility. I highly recommend watching a youtube guide for advanced use as it will highly impact the success of the deck. This one is a year old but held up pretty well. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clash+royale+fireball+guide
3) MiniPekka: Tank killer and win condition #2
4) Log: Utility, horde counter.
5) Tombstone: Golem/Hog/Balloon counter.
6) Skeleton Army (Goblin Gang/Guards): Tank killer/Goblin barrel counter.
7) Minion Horde: Use defensively then help with counter push. Win condition #3.
8) Spear Goblins (Dart Goblin/Archers): Heavy poke, often ignored for a couple hundred cheap damage. Air defense.
Conclusion: This deck has been my main for over a year and a half. In Grand Challenges I range from 4-8 wins consistently while I have reached 10 wins once. While not a meta deck it does have some advantages, especially for FTP players trying to climb the ladder.
First, the deck is light on legendary and epic cards. This allows for easier maxing of the rest of the deck. Following that line of thought, the legendary and epic cards in the deck do not need to be maxed to be effective on the ladder. Log is effective at level 2 and skarmy is always going to die to zap and do a ton of damage if it hits so neither are critical to upgrade quickly to gain crowns. Second, several of the cards are "stable" as they have been around a while and are unlikely in my opinion to be nerfed out of the ability to use them (see RG, fireball, spear goblins, log). Finally, mini pekka and spear goblins just got a buff.
I am happy to answer any questions you may have. If there is anything you experience differently or anything I could add please let me know. Have fun out there and let me know how the deck works for you and/or if you made any changes that you think make it play better.
Thanks for reading and good luck!