Hello everyone this is Dart Goblin FTW and I’m excited to say that after a while of testing crazy deck ideas I have come up with one that I had mentioned in the comments earlier.
Sidenote: I pushed +340 trophies getting me into Challenger II with this deck.
Pros:
- Hard to outcycle
- Surprisingly solid defense
- Excellent counter-push potential
- Solid chip damage
- Great support deck in 2v2
Cons
- Hard to master
- One mistake can cost the game
- Somewhat weak to beatdown players
- 4 Legendaries
The Deck
Miner: Clearcut win condition of this deck.
For 3 elixir he’s just one of those cards that you can’t leave alone smacking away at your tower.
He also destroys spawners, including Elixir Collectors (Get it they spawn elixir overtime? Haha ok I’ll stop), Furnaces, Goblin Huts (Paired with a counter-pushing card and/or Poison), and finish of annoying Princesses, low-health troops(Especially with Poisons and Fireball), and those annoying, life-saving crown towers.
Poison: Miner’s best friend.
Remove the swarms, deal a bit more damage than Fireball (For the same cost no less) and deal reasonable damage to the Tower for a reasonable 7 Elixir.
Now, 1 or 2 Poisons isn’t the end of the world, however as a 3 Elixir average cost deck you can cycle a lot of these over the course of the game, and they add up big time.
Burning Miner is one of my favorite synergies, as I favor the chip cycle arch-type, and for the most part is the reason why I have pushed so far up into legendary arena.
Did I mention that the Poison is your medium spell, support killer, secondary building destroyer, and potential reliable OT win con?
Well, yea… 4 Elixir for all of that… pretty sweet right? No wonder it became the meta card.
Lumberjack: Poor guy.
You would think he would replace the Mini P.E.K.K.A and be one of the best cards in the game due to his excellent DPS and run speed, along with decent HP and the fact that he drops a free win-more Rage for you (Seriously, if you have Lumberjack and your deck contains a Rage, make the swap).
I mean, you can treat him like a not flying or not building-targeting 4 Elixir Balloon or another glass Cannon, both of which are successful in the meta and might even be considered important.
And yet, he’s used as frequently as a Musketeer(11.9%), and his usage rate of 12.1% is actually surprisingly close to Mini P.E.K.K.A(12.9%).
His win rate of 59.7%(All of these stats are for ladder, all arenas as of 4/13/18) means in the right decks, he helps you win games, but he’s not being used enough.
I almost never see him in ladder, and it hurts to see this underrated card just kinda get swept past like that. So I made this deck with him in mind.
Now that I ranted over him, let me explain his role: tank killer(few exceptions), defense/support, counter-push guy.
His high DPS takes out Hogs (with 1-2 hits), Giants (+1 Elixir), Royal Giants (+2 Elixir), Golems (Preferably with more than just him but he does do the job), and most mini tanks and support troops.
If you distract with another troop, he will wipe themout even faster, and his speedy legs carry him across the arena in no time.
Pair him with a Miner to make you opponent spend at minimum 4 Elixir just to completely counter your counter-push(Knight+Ice Spirit/Skeletons).
Don’t forget that when an opponent faces a Lumberjack, they have to deal with both his high DPS and Rage. Which one to choose, eh?
Electro Wizard: Once one of the most OP cards in the game, he’s now a much more balanced card.
He’s so versatile in every deck arch-type, and you can’t really get mad at an opponent for using him in their deck (Unless you use Sparky in which case, I feel bad for you).
I don’t think it’s extremely necessary to go over him, so many guides already have.
4 Elixir. Resets troops, charges, infernos, stuns them for half a second, and can attack 2 at once.
Dies to Fireball if not leveled high enough, but like most other support troops, he survives with a sliver of health.
His spawn damage is basically a Zap, so don’t be afraid to use him to take out swarms with his spawn(Just make sure you can defend with him out of rotation).
And never, never ignore a Miner+E-wiz combo. It will take out your Tower, no matter how low his HP is, if that E-wiz is firing Lightning bolts out of his hands and onto the Tower that’s firing Arrows at the Miner, that Tower won’t be firing Arrows for too much longer.
Oh yeah he’s anti-air as well.
Mega Minion: He is so awesome.
For 3 Elixir, he’s your second anti-air card.
He shreds mini tanks (Including Balloon), Lava Hounds, and tanks (With another troop/building).
He will be your backup option to cards your Lumberjack can’t take out like Mega Knight(He won’t survive), and for when he’s out of rotation.
The damage he dishes out with each swing is just incredible for 3 Elixir.
You won’t be able to kite ground troops with him obviously, and he can get distracted so pay attention for distraction Skellies, Bats, Minions, etc.
He’s a rare card as well, so it’s easy to level him up to survive Fireballs on ladder. And don’t get me started with Miner+Mega Minion. 3 extra Elixir can translate into a wasted Ice Spirit, Spear Goblins, Zap, etc. Positive Elixir trades all day with the Mega Minion.
Ice Spirit: Unless Supercell decides to nerf the living daylights out of this guy, you will never convince me that he isn’t the better of the 1 Elixir cards (The Skeletons and maybe Mirror).
IMO the greatest 1-Elixir card, maybe even the greatest Clash Royale card for his versatility.
Want to cycle? Drop an Ice Spirit in the back or the bridge for some nice chip damage.
Want to counter-push? Miner+Ice Spirit deals hundreds of damage if left ignored.
That extra hit on offense? BAM! 1.5 second Freeze.
Buy some time on defense? BAM! Kite with the Ice Spirit, and your troops can clean up.
Retargeting? Ice Spirit. You get the idea.
He also pairs well with the E-Wiz to take out the Minion Horde (Spawn damage+Ice Spirit=Counter-push with an E-wiz. At least +1 Elixir for you, and if they are low on Elixir and you have Miner in hand, massive damage).
Tombstone: Another underrated card.
The cheapest building at 3 Elixir, as a spawner it doesn’t work to chip away the opponent’s Tower (It can never reach on it’s own), but instead it works as one of the few spawners that are solely for defense.
Can tank 2 hits from a Hog, shutting him down, and distracts building targeting troops like Battle Ram, Giant, Golem, Balloon, Lava Hound, Royal Giant (You’re gonna need Tombstone for RG, trust me), you name it.
It’s also your main counter against single aggro units (That get easily distracted) like P.E.K.K.A, Prince, Princess(She attacks so slow), and even Mega Knight to a certain extent (Hopping from 1 spawned skeleton to the next as slow as possible).
There’s a reason why it’s used in Lavaloon decks, it provides amazing defensive abilities against single aggro ground units.
Fun fact: A lone Tombstone will counter a lone P.E.K.K.A at tourney levels. Not really practical since P.E.K.K.A users have swarm removers in their hand but still, it shows the power of the Tombstone. Never underestimate those doots.
Log
Just reading “Log” just makes me think of that little voice saying “Log!” when you cast it.
It’s 2 Elixir, it only targets ground, but it knocks back troops, resets Prince charges, and clears swarms.
It’s so useful that there were decks created just to counter it(Log bait, which bait your Log with swarm troops).
It takes about 4 seconds for the Log to reach your opponent’s Tower when you cast it. Just don’t cast it too far back.
This list is sorted by the priority of which cards I think should be leveled up.
Ice Spirit: Level it up so that its level matches your opponent’s king Tower levels.
If you face level 11’s a lot, consider getting it up to level 11 so that you have the option of dropping it at the bridge for chip damage and more.
Replacements can be any troop under 3 Elixir, Mirror, and Zap.
Mega Minion: Just enough so that it survives Fireball on ladder.
A Fireball 3 levels higher than your Mega Minion will one-shot it.
So basically a max level Fireball will one-shot a level 8 Mega Minion, but will leave the Mega Minion with a sliver of health at level 9(A level 9 Mega Minion will only die to a level 12 Fireball so it is the “safe” level).
So keep your Mega Minion at the minimum 2 levels under Fireball levels.
Replacements are Minions, Bats, or any other high DPS anti-air troop.
Poison: It’s a good thing this deck is really level independent since it is so hard to level it up.
The only real noticeable difference is against Bats and Skeletons.
If they are 6 levels higher, the Poison will take 2 shots to kill them. The Bats and Skeletons will die in the Poison, however your troops will die faster if it’s underlevelled, which will prohibit you from getting that extra damage.
So a level 12 Bats/Skeletons will survive one shot against a level 5 Poison, but will die to a level 6(A level 7 Poison one shots all Bats/Skeletons except level 14s).
Replacements are Fireball and Rocket(Not really recommended).
Electro Wizard: One key interaction and that’s Fireball.
A Fireball 7 levels higher will one-shot the E-Wiz. So a level 9 Fireball will one-shot a level 2 E-Wiz, but a level 3 E-Wiz will survive(Maxing out an E-Wiz is the only way for him to always survive, except for level 12 Fireballs).
Replacements include Ice Wizard, Musketeer, Hunter, Zappies, or any other support troop.
Tombstone: As a rare, it keeps up with another famous 4 Elixir win condition that it counters for +1 Elixir: Hog Rider.
A max level Hog Rider will one-shot a level 6 Tombstone, so playing a Tombstone reactively you really only need it at level 7 yourself.
However if you play it first, then the Tombstone will have lost health and the Hog will be able to one-shot it.
if you play Tombstone reactively, just keep it at level 7. If you prefer to play it passively(Like me), then upgrade it to level 8(level 9 against max level Hogs). Honestly it’s one of the few cards I don’t care to upgrade as much.
Replacements are any other building and swarm troops.
Miner: Honestly, just more chip damage and health.
No key interaction changes so don’t worry about upgrading it too much.
Replacements are Knight, Valkyrie, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Hog Rider, and Battle Ram.
Lumberjack: Again, just more damage and health.
Since Miner is more important however, Lumby’s priority is lower.
Replacements are Mini P.E.K.K.A, and any other tank/support killer.
Log: Get it to level 2. That’s really it.
At level 1 you won’t one-shot max level Goblins, so you really don’t need to level up the Log after that.
You can if you have the extra gold however.
Replacements are Fire Spirits, Zap, Arrows, and Barbarian Barrel.
General Gameplan
Beginning (3:00-2:00):
Figure out your opponent’s deck.
If they run beatdown, pressure lightly and wait for them to drop their tank and pressure the other lane.
If they run siege, counter the X-Bow/Mortar and counter-push.
If it’s control, keep up with them and set the pace for the rest of match.
Don’t worry about dealing damage, just defend and counter-push.
Midgame (1:59-1:00)
You should understand your opponent’s deck by now.
- Pressure hard against beatdown deck; make sure your pushes can’t be stopped cheaply or you will lose at least a Tower, and make sure you save your defensive troops.
- If it’s siege, counter their siege weapon and counter-push. They will have a lot of cheap troops such as Skeletons, Archers, Ice Spirit, etc.
- If they are running control, keep yourself in control. You will most likely have the lower Elixir cost, and will be able to cycle back to your counters and outcycle them.
Start to be more aggressive.
x2 Elixir (0:59-0:00)
Defend as little as possible, but at the same time don’t sacrifice significant amounts of Tower health for your counter-pushes.
If your opponent is just dominating your Miner and you have no way of getting to their Tower, play the long game and defend.
This defense holds very well, just do not give them value Lightnings, Fireballs, Rockets, Poisons, etc.
Know exactly how much to commit on offense, and continue to counter-push.
You will be able to cycle faster, do not give in to the opponent.
Overtime
As a chip cycle deck, you don’t want to be in overtime for too long.
Beatdown decks are deadlier, siege decks are just more annoying as they Rocket cycle you to death, and you’ll probably be in a stalemate with control decks.
Consider Poison your only reliable way to get damage on their Tower
However, you are more likely to win in 3:00 overtime as opposed to 1:00 since it takes so long to chip out your opponent sometimes.
Matchups
Bait decks: Reserve the Log for the Barrel.
Counter Goblin Gang with an Ice Spirit(On their own) or E-Wiz’s spawn, Princess with Miner, Poison, or Mega Minion, Knight with Mega Minion or Lumberjack. If they counter your Miner with Goblin Gang instead of Knight, use Poison. Don’t let them get any damage off from the Barrel as they will try to Rocket cycle you. Their Inferno Tower is useless.
Miner decks: Lumberjack shuts down Burning Miner(Or what I call Moison). You can use E-Wiz, Mega Minion, and/or Ice Spirit if Lumby is not in hand(Just make sure you don’t need them elsewhere).
Hog decks
Tombstone. Mega Minion. Lumberjack. E-Wiz. Ice Spirit if necessary.
There is no way you should lose this matchup they can barely get any damage off of your Tower.
Bridge Spam: Tombstone for Battle Ram.
Toss in an Ice Spirit and Mega Minion if they add a Bandit to the push (Make sure the Mega Minion is attacking the Bandit).
Lumberjack will somewhat deal with the Royal Ghost, Log for their Gang, E-Wiz for the Inferno Dragon.
They don’t have any really good counters to Moison (Maybe the Bandit), so you can usually send Miner+Ice Spirit for some chip damage on the Tower. Ice Spirit connects, and it freezes the Bandit they played to counter the Miner. The Miner attacks the Bandit, crippling her.
If they counter attack with a Ram, Ice Golem, etc., just use Mega Minion(Make sure he actually targets her though). Should be pretty easy.
Giant: Lumberjack, Mega Minion, Tombstone+Ice Spirit all counter a lone Giant.
Take out their support, then counter the Giant, and then counter-push with Miner.
Bonus points for split-lane pushing as they won’t have the Elixir to defend. One of the easier of the beatdown decks to play against.
Double Prince: Obviously split the Princes. Ice Spirit to Freeze both.
Mega Minion and Lumberjack to take out the Dark Prince, Tombstone if the Prince is still alive.
Counter push with Miner and add a Poison if possible.
Shouldn’t be too hard. Just don’t let them accumulate the push.
Siege: X-Bow is so much easier to deal with then Mortar.
Miner/Lumberjack to tank X-Bow shots, Mega Minion to take out the X-Bow.
Distract with Tombstone if necessary.
They will often pre plant troops, make sure to pre-Log properly.
Don’t forget that they will use Miner counters to save their X-Bow.
Counterpush but not too hard as they will catch you with 1 Elixir Skeletons or Ice Spirit or whatever.
Poison their Archers, it’s the closest to chip damage you’ll probably get.
Same goes for Mortar, however Tombstone distracts Mortar excellently.
Do not over commit.
Royal Barbarians: Tombstone and Mega Minion for Royal Giant, Lumberjack and Ice Spirit for Elite Barbarians.
E-Wiz if needed.
If they play both at the same time, advantage goes to you.
Defend, counterpush with a Miner and Log away their Goblin Gang.
Poison their Minion Horde, but only if you can get them. If not, give up on the counter push. Shouldn’t be too hard, just annoying and mind-numbing.
P.E.K.K.A
Tombstone. Mega Minion. E-Wiz. Ice Spirit.
Need I say more?
Mega Knight
Same as P.E.K.K.A.
Watch out for Bats (Ice Spirit them).
Lavaloon
Tombstone to pull both Lava Hound and Balloon. E-Wiz on Lava Hound, Mega Minion on Balloon.
Do not let it get distracted, and never give away value by putting the 2 troops close to each other. Ice Spirit if needed.
Counter-push with Lumberjack, Miner, Poison(If you can), and Log.
Golem
Lumberjack on Golem or support troops, Mega Minion or E-Wiz with Lumberjack, Tombstone for Golem. Ice Spirit if necessary.
Take out their pumps with Miner+Lumberjack/Poison and Ice Spirit (Get some good chip damage).
Do not let them accumulate a push. You will not defend their massive push no matter how good you are.
3M decks: Miner for their pumps, add Poison as well.
If they do nothing for a bit afterwards they are probably trying to play 3M.
Pressure before they can, and cycle back to your Poison.
Lumberjack can deal with 1 Musketeer, he will die against 2. Only use him in the 2 lane as an emergency.
Do not over defend the higher health lane.
Conclusion
This deck is extremely solid on ladder.
Its level independence makes it great to face annoying max level players who think that over-leveling is the key to winning.
I don’t plan on pushing too much more, instead I am focusing on 2v2, where the star of the deck is actually Lumberjack with his useful Rage drop.
It takes a while to master this deck, however once you do master it, it becomes a really powerful deck.
I hope you all enjoyed this guide, and have a clashtastic day!
