Hey guys, Unstoppable here! Today, I’ve decided to share with you, a (somewhat) new Hog Rider cycle deck that I went 12-0 with in a grand challenge!
It is actually an adaptation of an old deck that was very popular a few months ago that I decided to test with the new Lightning buff.
Expect it to become meta once again among competitive players but also works just as well on ladder.
Here’s the video of my last 6 games, some of which I had to make spetacular plays to win with:
Substitutions
- Hog Rider → Can NOT be substituted without changing the core of the deck
- Goblins → Skeletons or Ice Spirit can be substituted in for a quicker cycle
- Mini P.E.K.K.A → Inferno Dragon can be substituted in for better air but worse ground defense
- Ice Golem → Knight can be substituted in for a more “ladder friendly” version
- Bats → Minions can be substituted in for better air defense but slower cycle
- Princess → Archers can be substituted in if you don’t have Princess
- The Log → Arrows or Zap can be substituted in if you don’t have the Log
- Lightning → Fireball, Poison, and Rocket can all be substituted in for Lightning
General Gameplay
In order to utilize this deck to its maximum potential, you never want to overextend or play reckless Hog Riders.
As for starting plays go, the best ones are: Princess/Ice Golem/Bats behind the king Tower or Goblins at the bridge.
I like to play it slow and attempt to see what counters my opponent may have to my win condition or if they have any win conditions of their own.
During single Elixir, its best to try to just chip at their Princess towers with Hog Rider + Goblins/bat pushes and try not to reveal Lightning unless they have Elixir Collector or use a lot of Elixir to defend my Hog Rider.
Once it reaches Double Elixir, I have usually figured out what counters and win conditions my opponent has so I will go in for Hog + Lightning pushes and attempt to finish off their Princess Tower.
Watch my gameplays with live commentary:
Matchups
Beatdown
Against Golem or Giant, you always want to attempt to save your Hog Rider for when they either use Elixir Collector or play their tank in the back, then you want to hit them hard with Ice Golem + Hog and maybe Goblins or Bats depending on their spells.
Against Lava Hound, its much more difficult but beatable due to the fact that you can spread their spells thin by properly using your Princess and Bats as well as just lightninging their Lava Hound support units.
Hog Rider
Always save your Mini P.E.K.K.A for their Hog Rider and then go in for a counter push either same lane as your defensive Mini P.E.K.K.A or opposite if they are low on Elixir.
If you know how to keep track of what cards your opponent has in their hand you can get away with defending their lone Hog Riders with either Goblins or Bats for a positive Elixir trade and then capitalize with a counter push.
Three Musketeers
A very easy matchup due to the fact that you have both Lightning and Mini P.E.K.K.A which absolutely destroy them.
During single Elixir, save your Lightning for their Elixir collectors and use your Mini P.E.K.K.A on their Musketeer pushes and during Double Elixir you can begin to Lightning their 2 Musketeers as well as Tower because they won’t have time to place any more Elixir collectors and get value from them.
Princess is also a very valuable card in this matchup because most three Musketeer decks use Zap and Miner instead of Log so you just defend your Princess from their Miner with Goblins and get lots of value from her.
X-Bow & Mortar
If you are playing against Mortar on ladder, I would always recommend playing very defensively and attempt to draw since Mortar hard counters Hog Rider.
X-Bow however, is much easier since your Lightning will be able to hit their X-Bow and their Tower which lets you chip at them the entire game and then finish the Tower off with a Hog Rider.
Since most Mortar and X-Bow decks use Log, make sure to utilize your Bats to keep control of the match.
Spell Bait
This is typically a very fair matchup for both sides since you have Log for their Goblin Barrel and they have Tornado/Tesla/Inferno Tower for your Hog Rider.
However you can get an edge on your opponent by defending their Goblin barrels with your Bats or Goblins and then going in for Hog Rider + Lightning + prediction Log (for their Goblin Gang) pushes in Double Elixir and completely outplaying them for the win.
This is very hard to pull off however and the safer way to win would to just continually Lightning their Tower + whatever they put near it like Inferno Tower or Princess.
These games will usually come down to the wire but if you remember what I’ve said here you should be able to pull out a win.
That’s all for this deck guide, if you have any questions feel free to tweet me @Unstoppable_CR or check out my YouTube channel for a more in depth guide. I’ll be doing deck guides weekly so make sure to stay connected.
See you in the arena!
