AI Overview: This Giant Miner deck averages 3.3 elixir and was built to cycle fast in Grand Challenges. It is easy to level on ladder, can out-damage most tank matchups, and has an unstable defense. In 2026 the Giant had no change and his best list wins 71.6%, though this exact list has no tracker sample. A card-by-card breakdown comes next.
Last Updated: October 2026
Key Points:
- The deck costs 26 elixir, which is 3.3 on average, and no card costs more than 5.
- Giant had no 2026 change, and his best list wins 71.6% over 587 battles.
- Dark Prince’s hit speed slowed from 1.3 to 1.4 seconds on May 4, and his best list wins 57.9% over about 1,900 battles.
- Miner hits towers for 39, not 49 (July 6), and Poison for 168, not 184.
- Archers had no base change; their best list wins 70.6% over 695 battles, but the Evolution power shot fell from 168 to 140.
The Giant Miner List, Priced Card by Card
The idea is simple. Defend, counter with the Giant and Dark Prince, and use the Miner and Poison to chip.
| Card | Elixir | Job in the deck | 2026 status |
| Giant | 5 | Tank and counter-push starter | No 2026 change; best list 71.6% over 587 |
| Miner | 3 | Chip damage and counter-attack | Crown Tower damage 49 to 39 on July 6; best list 66.0% over 535 |
| Dark Prince | 4 | Support that charges with the Giant | Hit speed 1.3 to 1.4 seconds on May 4; best list 57.9% over about 1,900 |
| Inferno Dragon | 4 | Tank killer and defense | Evo charge time 9 to 7 seconds on June 1; best Evo list 72.3% over 792 |
| Archers | 3 | Long-range support | Best list 70.6% over 695; Evo Power Shot 168 to 140 |
| Ice Spirit | 1 | Cheap slow and cycle card | Hitpoints 230 to 215 on August 4; every printed list 56.7% or more |
| Zap | 2 | Cheap reset spell | Crown Tower damage 58 to 48 on June 1; Evo Zap 77.0% over about 1,000 |
| Poison | 4 | Spell that clears and finishes | Crown Tower damage 184 to 168 on June 1; best list 68.6% over about 3,800 |
Costs come from the official card list; the right column shows what changed in 2026.
A fast cycle deck lives on predictions and reflexes. The negative effect: the Dark Prince now hits more slowly, and the Miner and Poison do less to towers, so each cycle pays out a little less than when the deck won its challenges.
What Changed in 2026
The Giant is unchanged. The Dark Prince swings a little slower. The Miner and Poison hit towers for less. The Archers’ base card is the same, and only their Evolution lost power. The Inferno Dragon’s Evolution charges faster.
Claims, rechecked. The Miner was still a very good pick despite his nerf. He took another cut this year, from 49 to 39 tower damage, and still has a 66.0% best list, so the line holds with a smaller margin.
The Dark Prince’s best list is 57.9%, modest next to the Giant’s 71.6%. The Miner’s best list wins 66.0%. Zap hits towers for 48, not 58.
Card pages: Giant, Miner, Dark Prince and Archers.
The Inferno Dragon took half his towers with critical damage. The negative effect: the dragon now charges faster, which helps on offense, but it also makes the card a bigger target for an early Zap, and a deck with 26 elixir has no spare spell.
How to Play It Today
If the opponent has many counters to the tank, he switched to Miner Poison and left the Giant out.
Tips. If a three-Musketeer player pumps up at the start, punish with a push and Poison the Pump, using Zap or the Ice Spirit as needed. Against Hog Mortar, split the Archers. Against Golem, keep them together.
Translation: use the Miner as a distraction and chip damager, push in the same lane as an opponent’s Pump to get more Poison value, and split the Archers unless the opponent pushes one side hard. Always keep a Zap or Ice Spirit ready for the support.
Elixir math: the Giant takes 5 of the 26 elixir. The other seven cost 21, or 3 each. A Giant plus Dark Prince push is 9 elixir.
Try it yourself: curious how it plays? The Clash Royale Deck Builder loads Giant Miner Deck for you at 3.3 elixir on average. Tracker data does not cover this exact list, so no 2026 win rate is shown.
Many players call the deck hard to master. The negative effect: with a 3.3 average, every misplay costs a cycle, and a fast deck that loses tempo to a good Fireball or Poison trade is hard to rebuild.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Giant Miner deck good in 2026?
The Giant’s best list wins 71.6% and the Miner’s best wins 66.0%, but this exact list has no tracker sample, so test the Dark Prince slot first.
What is the average elixir cost?
Add the eight costs and you get 26; that is 3.3 per card.
When is the Giant played?
After a successful defense, usually with the Dark Prince.
When should the Giant be left out?
When the opponent has many tank counters. Switch to Miner Poison instead.
How should the Archers be played?
Split them when you can, and keep them spaced out so the opponent gets no spell value.
Original Guide, Kept in Full
The text below is the original page, kept in full. It was written between 2016 and 2024, so some details are out of date. The tips and numbers above use 2026 sources.
Hello my friends, it’s Norbysweg here again, bringing you a fresh deck for the new meta!
Long story short, I’ve has no inspiration for a new deck, so I just watched CaptanPrice and metalbond’s (two Turkish players who specialize in Giant Miner control) replays over and over again, until I made up a deck that would do well against anything it might come across in this new “playground”.
I’ve gotten three 12 wins straight using it, and I’ve come to a deep understanding of all its mechanics, and hopefully you will get the same results too!
As I’ve seen, it works well on ladder too, where a few substitutions can be done if you might want to try it out (Poison for fireball, Inferno dragon for mega minion, etc)!
Pros
- Cycles well at 3.3, 2 ways of punishing and pressure keeping
- Awesome counterpush potential
- Relatively easy to level up on ladder
- Can out-DPS most tank matchups
Cons
- Slightly unstable defense
- Pretty hard to master
- Relies heavily on predictions and good reflexes
Cards Breakdown
Giant – Your main win condition of course, the Giant is a card that will always pair up with the top meta as being the only punishing tank in the game.
For the cost of 5 elixir you get a huge tank that does good damage on its own too! I mostly use the Giant after a successful defense, for a huge counterpush potential with the Dark prince.
Often times I use my Giant at the back, but only if I Know my opponent has their attack out of hand.
Miner – Some would say that he’s your secondary win condition, but often times he will just be your Giant support, the one who takes out defending units when attacking.
In rare cases, such as your opponent having lots of counters to your tank, you should switch to playing Miner Poison and leaving the Giant out of the equation.
Your Miner should mostly be used as a support distractor or chip damager, but he does well on defense if needed.
Dark Prince – The star of this deck, the Dark Prince is a stable defending card and a great punisher, with his fast charge and speed.
His main role will most often be counterpushing, because he will most often get his charge off without taking massive damage, and able to do that after a successful defense.
He pairs up well with most of the cards from this deck, and is still a very good pick despite the nerf he got.
For example, if classic 3musk player pumps up at the start, I push him with the magic punish and Poison his Pump, use my Zap or Ice Spirit if needed, and there’s no way he can defend it!
And please, oh god, always push the same lane where the Pump is, so you can get more Poison value.
Inferno Dragon – Your main defensive troop, I chose him for the potential to bait out spells, huge damage and very high potential at counterpushing.
It might sound weird, but maybe half of the towers I’ve taken with this deck were critical Inferno Dragon damage!
I reacted the same way, because I saw that it acted so much like Prince, and supported the entire push crazy well.
In defense, he has two major roles, or two major ways to use him.
Let’s say the enemy starts with the Giant in the back. From here, you could go Giant Dark Prince on the other lane for a super successful push, or Giant in back same lane, and hope to outdps his push, so you can counterpush after.
Archers – Another great defensive card, these two give you the potential to deal better with air, swarms, and everything else by splitting them.
Their long range couples up extremely well with the rest of your deck.
You will mostly have to play them spaced out from the rest of the troops so the enemy doesn’t get spell value.
I recommend splitting them as often as you can, unless the enemy pushes one side hard (for example, against Hog Mortar it’s the best to split them, because they rely on split pushes, but Golem mostly relies on one side, so place them grouped.
Ice Spirit – Your cycle card.
It pairs up well with most of the cards in this deck.
It helps vs all kinds of defense, including Hog, Graveyard, Giant, 3Musk and most other matchups.
Poison, Zap
Your spells, more info on them later.
General Gameplan
Starting Moves
Probably your best starting move is Archers in the back, or Ice Spirit at the bridge.
If your opponent starts first you want to play accordingly.
If they start passively you do the same with the moves above.
If they focus on one lane you can use Inferno Dragon or Dark Prince.
If they Pump or tank at the back you should punish.
I don’t recommend starting with Giant in the back, only because this deck has more counterpush and punish potential than building up a push.
Attacking
In single Elixir, you will always push from counterpushes or punishes.
A counterpush will usually have the Inferno Dragon, so that means you have a current weakness to swarms.
From here you can either play a Dark Prince, or an Ice Spirit and Zap, but whatever you do and however you attack, always have enough Elixir for Zap.
One of the things that won most of my games were the classic counter attack outplay.
I had my counterpush up, and in most cases some kind of support card took my Giant out, for best results you can just send a Miner most of the time to extend your push.
With your Zap In hand and the leftover troops from your push (most importantly the Inferno Dragon), you have good chances of taking down the Tower.
Basically just extend your push with the Miner just before the Giant dies, and make sure you have your Zap in hand.
If you already used it, that means your opponent shouldn’t have a swarm counter to your Inferno Dragon.
Here’s when Zap tech comes in place.
Your main focus is getting the Inferno Dragon to stay alive long and do the most damage to the opponent’s defense, so you obviously want to protect him from Bats, Minion Horde.
Then there’s no point for Zapping a Goblin Gang for example, when you know they have air counters to your Dragon, it’s only worth it in the last moment of your push, or in critical defense.
Miner & Poison Tech
Something you should always remember, really when to use Miner, when to use Poison when attacking, and this differs from matchup to matchup.
Vs Hog 2.6
If you’re playing vs Hog 2.6 for example, you obviously want to Poison the Cannon and the area between, so any pesky troops don’t distract your attackers.
A prediction Miner on the Musketeer can be a great play, and it’s essential to always save your Zap for Skeletons that might be there to protect her.
The 2.6 usually defends with Cannon in the middle 4-3 placement, and Musketeer on the side.
Vs Mortar Bait
Now for a more complicated matchup like Mortar bait, you don’t want to push all in as they might just Minion Horde it all without you having enough Elixir.
One of the tricks I like to do is do my Giant Dark Prince push, and when I expect the Minion Horde, I just place Archers at the river and Zap them.
Killing the Horde is the most essential part in all of the defense.
From here you can just Miner the Tower’s edge to kill the Spear Goblins he might use, and just save your Elixir for the counterpush he might do.
Don’t use the Miner vs troops like Zappies or Flying Machine, the P.E.K.K.A Hut deck, because he gets no value. Instead, Miner the Hut and Poison the Zappies.
Always use Poison in valuable situations, and Miner their essential support troop/tank killer.
Vs Graveyard
There’s not much reasoning behind Poisoning in attack, but there’s a window for that too!
Once they’ve used their Ice Golem or tanking troop in defense, you can safely use Poison because they have their tank out of hand.
Now for the tricky part, killing a Pump.
There are 2 types of punishing you can do, depending of the opponent’s deck.
- Giant+Dark Prince at the bridge, and Poison the Pump and the swarm troops he defends with (if he uses swarm).
- If your push holds up, you can just send a Miner on the Pump (keep Zap in hand).
When the punish push is out of hand, I like to do the juke Miner Poison on the Pump.
Listen up, they place a Pump.
Instead of sending Miner on the Pump, you send in on the Tower, and immediately Poison the Tower and Pump, and you will magically catch his troops meant to kill the Miner in the Poison!
If you only have the Miner in hand, there’s a cool placement (only if the Pump is played in front of the King Tower!) to use. Send the Miner to the exact top of the Pump, not between it and the Tower. It creates a weird animation, and the Miner will ignore most troops meant to distract him!
Punish Push (Giant+Dark Prince):
- → Miner on the Pump
- → Poison Pump and Tower
No punish push in hand à Miner on the Tower and Poison the Pump
No Poison in hand and no punish push à Miner on the top of the Pump
Defending basics
First, the Inferno Dragon.
He charges up slowly and is vulnerable to Lightning Zap and what else.
A trick I like to use is when your opponent’s push is close to the bridge, make sure there are no troops that kill him quick or stun him, place the Inferno Dragon in the front to get more time to charge up!
This is most valuable against Golem and Hog.
For example, vs Hog Lightning my key defenders are Dark Prince and Inferno Dragon. If the opponent places an Ice Golem at the bridge and prepares, I’ll put the Inferno Dragon as forward as I can, just to not get hit by Lightning and kill the Ice Golem fast, or even the Hog in few cases. Another cool prediction you can use is Dark Prince in the back when expecting a push. This gives him enough time to charge and splash the entire push, before the opponent realizes it’s too late, this is the best counterpush starter.
So that’s all about this deck guys! I’m still searching for solid interactions and tech with it, and I’ll keep you updated in the comments section! I hope you enjoyed it, best of luck using it! See you later!
Sources
Researched from the following (no links, listed for transparency):
- CryptoAIMeta card guides for these cards, built from RoyaleTracker October 2026 samples and SeeMeta 2026 balance changes
- SeeMeta, Clash Royale balance changes 2026 (page updated October 2026), read through search summaries
- Supercell official Clash Royale API, card list (elixir cost, rarity, unlock arena)
- The original clash.world page (2016 to 2024), kept in full below