Hey guys! My name is Blaze Stone and I’m back with another guide for you all!
Today, I will show you guys my Miner Bandit Poison Control deck which I have been rocking with in Challenges and Tournaments!
Miner Bandit Poison Control Deck
Card Breakdown
Miner: Miner was my first Legendary card and though I don’t use it nowadays on the ladder, I still love to use him in challenges and tournaments. IMO Miner is a most unique troop because it can be spawned anywhere in the arena! (Also, if you notice it is the only troop which spawns from the ground XD). Miner is the main win condition of this deck. A lone Miner can easily deal a few hundreds of damage and when couple with Poison or any troop, it can be devastating. It is also good in killing princesses, pumps, spawners and even glass cannons like Musketeer and Wizard.
Bandit: Bandit is my newest legendary card and currently sitting at lvl2 (Legendary chest and draft chest). Bandit is a bit underused at the moment because most of the players have not seen her true potential. She is fast, cheap, decent health and moderate damage. So she is great in cycle decks or chip/control decks or more exactly as most call it: Blitz/Burn deck. She is invulnerable while dashing so in order to use this properly always place her at least 4 tiles away from her target. Treat her as a Secondary win condition. however, don’t depend on her for too much damage. I recommend you to visit this guide by Exordium: http://clash.world/guides/clash-royale-Bandit for more info.
Poison: Poison is my all-time favorite card and I will soon try to write a guide on how to us it properly. As for now, Miner+Poison will be your most used offensive combo. Miner deals the damage and Poison mainly kills the troops which are used to counter the Miner along with dealing damage to the Tower. Poison is also the strongest counter to Graveyard in this deck. So when up against Graveyard try not to use Poison on offense. More tips about this below.
The Log: The Log currently is a staple in nearly all challenge decks. Mostly because of the popularity of Hog-Log Bait decks in challenges. (Log is used to counter decks which try to bait The Log out, ironic isn’t it?) Now much to say about The Log as everyone knows how to use it.
Minions: As I have said in my earlier guides, I use Minions in nearly every deck I create because they are so versatile. Split Minions behind a Tower for chip damage, couple them with Miner for a cheap yet Tower threatening Mini-push, use them to kill Mini tanks and non (or weak)-splash damaging glass cannons. And I have to say this: ‘Roses are red, Minions are blue, they can fly and will crush you!’
Goblin Gang: This card is steadily rising in popularity. They are so versatile than Minions. Actually, the role of Goblin Gang (GG, as I will call them throughout the guide) is pretty similar to that of Minions. The difference between the two is that GG has more DPS than Minions while Minions can fly as compared to GG which are ground.
Electro Wizard: This guy is a God! He is so amazing on defense as well as offence. The recent nerf has done much to reduce its popularity and effectiveness. Use him to resent infernos, princes and Sparky! Electro Wizard will mostly be used on defense first and then followed by a Miner or Bandit (both in double Elixir) as a counter push. He is great when coupled with Miner as his stun-effect will make the re target the Miner instead of him or other troops. It can also counter a Hog if you place him directly on top when Hog is two tiles from the river in order to take only 1 hit. Also, his spawn damage can kill small swarms.
Inferno Tower: The best defensive building currently IMO. Use to kill hogs, giants, P.E.K.K.A.s, golems and hounds effectively. Just remember to keep protected from cheap troops use to distract. Also, try to place it far from river, near the cross-fire zone.
Card Substitutions:
This deck contains 4 legendary cards and most of you might not have them so I offer some substitutions. However, the gameplay can change a bit.
Miner: Miner is a unique card as I stated above so there aren’t any effective substitutions. Sorry, if you haven’t unlocked it yet.
Bandit: Bandit is a card that can be used on defense as well as offense with equal effectiveness. However, there isn’t a card which offers both the abilities. So, I will give you two options instead. Opt for Knight if you want a more defensive gameplay where you will have to rely solely on Miner as win condition. Or sacrifice a bit of your defense for Battle Ram if you want a more offensive gameplay where you use both Miner and Battle Ram as win-conditions.
The Log: Zap, of course. However, against Log-bait decks I recommend using GG to counter Goblin barrels instead of Zap as they are more effective because Zap no longer counters Zap completely.
Electro Wizard: Musketeer is the best substitution for Electro Wizard right now. Except for spawn damage and the ability to target 2 troops at same time with stun effect, Musketeer can perform same role as Electro Wizard. Also, I don’t recommend ice Wizard instead of Electro Wizard as they are way different and ice Wizard isn’t a good choice for challenges.
Now that we have completed everything about the cards lets proceed to the game plan.
General Gameplan:
3:00-2:00
Here, you will analyze what kind of deck your opponent is using. If you he places pump the he is mostly likely using Golem, if he places Tombstone he may be using Lavaloon, if he uses Goblin Barrel he is using spell bait and if places Bowler he is most likely using Graveyard Bowler-nado. Try this method in order to get a glimpse of his deck by only seeing his single card.
The best ways to start a game are:
- Splitting GG behind the king.
- Splitting Minions behind the king.
- Sending a lone Miner.
- Sending a lone Bandit.
Try to play slow and less offensive.
2:00-1:00
This is the time when the real battle actually starts. Try to deal as much chip damage as you can with Miner and the cheap troops (using Poison less for saving Elixir for defense) and keep your defense strong with Inferno Tower, Electro Wizard and Bandit. Try to fully analyse his deck and play style as well as the counters and way he uses them against Miner and Bandit.
1:00- 0:00
This is the period where you really start becoming offensive. Try to use Bandit and Poison in every Mini-Miner push. Don’t let down your guard however and keep your defense decently strong. Launch counter pushes with Miner after every successful defense in order to keep up the pressure.
Overtime:
This is the period where Miner and Miner decks really shine. In this period, the players become really defensive and rely on mostly spells for finishing of the towers. The main reason for this is that it is extremely difficult for troops to get past the enemy defenses. However, Miner doesn’t face this problem much. As long as you can keep on cycling Miner as fast as you can while not letting the defense down ( which is really easy because the troops of this deck are not that costly and are only very fast and fast. So cycling and pressuring is really easy) as well as changing the Miner placement every time by being creative, you cane asily take any Tower out.
Against popular challenge decks:
Golem Beatdown: Golem decks are costly and rely heavily on pumps. So as long as you keep on destroying pumps and pressuring them on the other lane with Mini-pushes which can’t be ignored, you can easily win because the opponent can’t build up a strong push and the lone Golem will be killed by Inferno Tower easily.
Lavaloon: The technique is pretty similar to the above one. Keep on pressuring and you will win easily. Inferno Tower for hound and Electro Wizard and/or Minions for Balloon and support.
Miner Poison: Pretty annoying match up against this deck because the game play is almost the same. Whoever is fast in cycling and creative in placement will win the game. Pretty clutch matches.
Hog-Log Bait: Easy but annoying match-ups. Keep Log reserved for barrels and be aware of the occasional deep barrels they may use against you. They mostly push with Hog+GG which can be counter by Electro Wizard and Inferno Tower (I know it is -2 Elixir trade but Electro Wizard survives with decent health so opponent will counter it so the trade gets balanced.) They counter Miner and Bandit with skarmy so keep your Poison reserved and try to pre-Poison.
Graveyard: Keep your Poison reserved for Graveyard. However, it is difficult to damage without Poison, another technique is out cycling them quickly with your cheap troops after pushing with Miner+Poison and recycling back to Poison. This tactic is a bit risky though.
Tips and Tactics:
- Whenever you are using GG, try to split them up. They split up in the ratio 4:2. So split them in such a way that the 4 Goblins help go in the lane you are pushing while 2 go in the other lane. The opponent will ignore them 99% (the 1% who don’t are wasting their Elixir). The two Goblins will deal 100+ damage easily and this will eventually add up to a surprising amount which may help you take down a 2nd Tower if you lose one yourself.
- Bandit can be used with Minions or GG for alternate offense.
- Electro Wizard placed in middle of arena can help defend both sides if opponent is using double lane pressuring.
- A surprising way to get a 2nd crown while using a Miner deck is this: place Minions near your Tower and collect Elixir and then send a Miner on the 2nd Tower. Then quickly place Bandit+GG in the middle of the opponent’s area when both towers target Miner at the place where u place RG or 3M. If you have Poison, then Poison the whole area. I know this is over-committing so I only use it in double Elixir time when opponent places Golem or Lava hound so opponent is really low on Elixir. This push is so strong and surprising that it catches the opponent off-guard and can quickly deal tons of damage even if opponent tries to counter the push because Bandit and GG being quite fast go (dash for Bandit) straight to the Tower and you already have Miner and Minions. And Poison helps if opponent places Skarmy, GG or Minions because they will die quickly. And most of the time opponents Rage quit. This tactic allows me to win 2-0 while using a control deck against a beat down deck (surprising, eh?).
Thats all folks! Hope you guys enjoyed reading the guide and try out this deck in challenges! Ask me about anything in the comments!
By Blaze Stone
