Hey, it’s Nebula (formerly NebulaNoodle)! Anyone remember me?! It’s ok if you don’t. This deck I’m going to show you has been around in the meta for around 2 months now, ever since the release of Firecracker.

It is an extremely pressuring deck, used by many top pros, and this is my interpretation of the deck, along with watching pro replays. It’s super fun to play and I hope you’ll try it out.

✅ Pros: Can basically out-cycle anything, very good vs. many meta decks, high pressure

❌ Cons: Very high skill cap, weak to Lavaloon + Golem

Hog Earthquake Deck

Hog Rider

Your main win condition and source of damage.

Use along with Ice Golem to punish a Hound/Golem/whatever in the back in the opposite lane, or as a counter push along with Skeletons, Firecracker, or whatever else you have remaining.

Really try and cycle him as much as you can, especially in single elixir, because it will be much more difficult to get a hog hit in 2x or 3x elixir.

Ice Golem

Your mini tank.

He serves many roles: kiting air troops and ground troops alike to the opposite lane when a beatdown push is coming, tank for Mini Pekka or Hog on offense, protection for Firecracker on defense.

For 2 elixir, an incredibly versatile card and great for positive elixir trades, which is what this deck is all about.

Mini P.E.K.K.A

Big beefy defensive card and offensive counterpusher too.

The little Pekka, once overshadowed by his mother and overshadowed by Lumberjack, is now arguably the strongest card in the meta along with Magic Archer. The insane amounts of damage plus the high health, for only 4 elixir, means it can slot into almost any deck.

Ice Golem + Mini Pekka is just as dangerous as Ice Golem + Hog, and should be treated as a pseudo-win condition.

Try and cycle him as fast as you can when dealing with pushes as there is no building in this deck, by distracting support with Bats and Skeletons.

Firecracker

Your main air defense.

Despite her being susceptible to Arrows, Firecracker is extremely good at dealing with swarms and pushes and is very effective at making positive elixir trade.

Her only weakness is that she can activate the King Tower very easily when playing a high-ish level player, but apart from that she works very well.

Remember that she dies to a Log one level above her so try getting her leveled up quick.

Try and protect her as much as you can from Miners or anything else by placing Skeletons or Ice Golem, especially vs. Miner Balloon decks or LavaLoon.

Keep in mind she does move back so you don’t need to overcommit protecting the Firecracker! Treat her like a Princess.

At the bridge, she can deal some damage to the crown tower when places correctly at the bridge but this is inconsequential in the view of the whole game, and will come along very rarely.

Don’t try using her like a Magic Archer!

Speaking of Magic Archer, this deck is also very strong with Magic Archer instead of Firecracker, and might be better offensively.

Skeletons

Distracts + cycles.

Ah, the good old three doors.

Extremely good for distracting due to their fast (and not very fast) move speed by placing them at the bridge, one tile further from the middle, on the opposite lane from where the opponent is pushing.

They are usually just for distracting things like Pekkas about to go on your tower and can even be used as a hog defense (Hog will get 2-3 hits, which will then set you up for a counterpush because of your elixir advantage.

Bats

Cycle card + 2nd air defense.

Even though there is no zap bait, these upgraded Skeletons can do some serious work around the arena.

It can kill almost any glass cannon, and can make lots of positive trades. Basically, use it on anything but make sure of your placements! Ice Golem + Hog + Bats is a great high-pressure push if you’re up elixir.

Earthquake

Building destroyer and Hog damage facilitator.

Some people like to replace the Earthquake with Fireball but Earthquake provides massive value for only 3 elixir.

Because of the prevalence of Bomb Tower in the meta, Earthquake can destroy it while dealing chip to your opponent’s tower. This card is singlehandedly responsible for the death of many buildings in the meta, along with the rise of Bomb Tower itself!

It kills Skeletons in 2 ticks and can kill Goblin Gang in 3 ticks.

Cycling Hog + Earthquake is a good strategy late game, for constant damage!

The Log

Snowball has the advantage of being good vs Lava Pups, with this deck being weak to Lava Hound, whereas Log is the safe option vs Bait decks.

Use together with Hog or Mini Pekka to clean up swarms, Tombstones, and the like.

Card Replacements

Order to level up

Most to least important

→→→→→→→

Hog Earthquake Gameplay:

Best Starting Moves

Ice Golem in the back, Hog at bridge, cycle Skeletons or Bats at back (Ice Golem + Hog, ideally, if they start off with a golem/hound/other expensive troop

Single Elixir

In Single Elixir, you will be wanting to play as aggressively as you can, especially against beatdown.

Make sure to always get earthquake value, by complementing your offensive pushes.

Don’t worry so much about wasting Elixir when pre-placing Earthquake because of its cheap elixir cost and how fast this deck cycles, meaning you won’t be behind elixir, ideally.

Try and get as much chip damage as possible, through Log value and Hog hits, especially, and make your opponent constantly react and make them unable to build up a big push.

Ice Golem + Mini Pekka + Firecracker can deal with a number of pushes, making it your go-to choice.

Try not to be too predictable with your placements and cycle, as a good opponent will recognise this and predict your plays.

Switch up your offensive plays and make your opponent think, especially because of the versatility of this deck. For example, play bats in the back of one lane and ice golem in front of it, then go Hog opposite lane because they will be expecting you to play Hog behind the Ice Golem.

Double Elixir

In Double Elixir, push even harder. Don’t always try and defend, because of how offence-oriented this deck is.

Tower trade if you need to and never hesitate to give up a lot of damage while still using lots of elixir, it’s better going for the second tower later, where you will often have the advantage.

Cycle as many firecrackers as you can, without giving them spell value and protect w/ Ice Golem.

They can live for a long time potentially, giving you constant defence, while you attack the opposite lane.

Triple Elixir

If you get to Triple Elixir, keep spamming Earthquakes with your Hog pushes as much as you can.

Remember that a max Earthquake + Log is 390 tower damage, so keep this in mind when you are whittling your opponents’ tower to lower and lower damage with the odd hog connection.

Don’t be afraid to play high-risk plays, such as an Ice Golem + Mini Pekka at the bridge, when you know your opponent is out of counters and used much more elixir than you in a push.

Spell cycle for the win!

Matchups

Royal Hogs Earthquake Cycle

This deck is probably the most broken in this meta, and is super powerful especially with the fast 3.1 cycle.

However, this deck is 2.6, being so cheap does have its advantages! Outcycle the opponent’s Hunter and avoid Magic Archer damage where possible.

It’s a tough matchup, no doubt about it, due to the lack of a real counter to the Pigs, apart from Mini Pekka. This is why you should always play as aggressively as possible!

OG 2.6 Hog

ALWAYS earthquake the Cannon, it’s a neutral trade + lots of damage.

Always have Mini Pekka in hand for their Hog, and place it so the Hog gets no hits, ideally (4 tiles right in front of your crown tower.)

Count cards so you can react as fast as possible.

Avoid as much Hog damage as you can. Often this matchup will go to deep in overtime so cycle Earthquakes, as your opponent will probably be cycling Fireballs.

Splashyard

Ah yes, classic Splashyard is making a return. This is definitely a pretty tough matchup, due to them probably having either Freeze or Poison, killing your bats/skeletons.

Best bet is to play Firecracker as far away from poison range as possible, while distracting w/ Ice Golem + killing skeletons w/ Log, then counter pushing.

Lava Miner/Lavaloon

This is the hardest of all the matchups by far due to FIrecracker + Bats being your only air defence.

Cycle firecrackers on defence and go all out opposite lane, with everything you’ve got because you have nearly no hope trying to kill their pushes!

Miner WB

Despite Miner’s nerf, this deck is still very strong.

Skeletons, if placed right in front of the Wall Breakers early, can kill them without them touching your tower.

Mini Pekka should be placed on the Miners, and when counter pushing, Earthquake is very handy in killing the Bomb Tower combined with the Hog.

XBow 2.9

This matchup is quite easy because of how fast you cycle, with 2.9 being good because of its fast cycle of XBows, primarily.

Earthquake the Xbow + Tesla while hitting the tower if you can, and because of all the distractions like Skeletons, Ice Golem, and Hog, as well as Mini Pekka shredding the Knight and Tesla, and whatever else, plus Log decimating Skeletons + Archers, this one is easy to handle if you just punish with a Hog when you have outcycled the opponent’s Tesla or they just played it on offence.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this very long Hog Earthquake guide! Hopefully, you will read some parts of it at least and take something out of it.

This Hog Earthquake deck is extremely strong and I urge you to try it, and don’t get put off by how weak it looks at face value because when played right, it is as deadly as anything.

Nebula signing off. Peace out <3