Payfecta Deck: A 3.3 Elixir Miner Princess Plan

By Clash World · Deck Building · Oct 13, 2026 · Updated Oct 16, 2026

AI Overview: In 2026 the Princess’s best list wins 65.1% and the Ice Wizard’s wins 64.6%, though his Hero freeze was cut twice this fall, and the Mini P.E.K.K.A has only one of six lists above 50%.

Last Updated: October 2026

Key Points:

• The deck costs 26 elixir, which is 3.3 on average, and it was old school and very strong in the past.
• Princess has a best list of 65.1% over 3,500 battles, and her Evolution was buffed on August 4.
• Ice Wizard’s best list wins 64.6%, and his Hero freeze was cut on September 16 and October 6.
• Mini P.E.K.K.A had no change, and only one of six printed lists is above 50% (best 60.6%).
• Miner lost Crown Tower damage on July 6 (49 to 39), and Poison lost it on June 1 (184 to 168).

The Payfecta List, Priced Card by Card

Here’s the thing: this deck was very strong in the past but fell off with the Miner’s drop in power. After the Ice Wizard and Mini P.E.K.K.A buffs, he thought it had become far stronger, and he counted it as one of the top three legendaries.

Check the table for each card’s cost and how it holds up in 2026.

A deck that depends on buffs can lose them again. The negative effect: the old comeback came from specific buffs in that patch, and the Ice Wizard’s Hero lost freeze time twice this fall, so a player who trusts the old story may find the Ice Wizard weaker than described.

What Changed in 2026

The Princess is strong at 65.1% for her best list, and her Evolution got a buff in August. The Ice Wizard is strong at 64.6%. The Mini P.E.K.K.A is the soft spot, since only one of six lists is above 50%. The Miner hits towers for less.

Claims, rechecked. The Princess deals 140 damage to a tower, and that The Log does 96 to yours. Those figures are from an old level system and cannot be rechecked, though the Princess’s 65.1% best list and The Log’s 35 tower damage today show the cards have changed.

The rest of the cards. Poison hits for 168, not 184. The Log hits for 35, not 41. The Inferno Tower is steady with a best list of 65.8% and no change. Goblins were reworked on August 4, with a best list of 59.9%.

Card pages: Miner, Princess and Ice Wizard.

The Ice Wizard can hard counter Graveyard Poison. The negative effect: that role was true for the old meta, and today a player should check how a Graveyard deck is built before counting on it.

How to Play It Today

Here’s the thing: use the Miner on Pumps and Princesses, but you can also send him to the tower and Poison what the opponent is likely to protect. Poison pairs with the Miner and is fine on defense. If they rush with a Giant and a Horde, the Inferno Tower plus Poison can give a plus one trade.

Tips. The Ice Wizard’s slow pairs well with high damage per second cards like the Mini P.E.K.K.A or Goblins. Use him against Minions and a Minion Horde for 3 elixir.

Translation: put the Princess in the back, in the opposite lane of a beatdown push. The Ice Wizard stops a Balloon from getting any hits when used one on one. The Ice Wizard and Mini P.E.K.K.A together can shut down a Golem for a counter-push. Protect the Princess without overcommitting.

Elixir math: the Inferno Tower takes 5 of the 26 elixir. The other seven cost 21, 3.0 each, which keeps the deck cycling.

Try it yourself: want to see how it feels? Open the Clash Royale Deck Builder, where Payfecta Deck is waiting. At 3.3 elixir on average it is a clear example of its style; just remember it has no 2026 win rate behind it.

The Mini P.E.K.K.A is one of the main tank killers here. The negative effect: with only one of six Mini P.E.K.K.A lists above 50%, a deck that relies on the card as a tank killer may find the Inferno Tower is doing most of the work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Payfecta good in 2026?

Princess’s best list wins 65.1% and Ice Wizard’s wins 64.6%, but only one of six Mini P.E.K.K.A lists is above 50%, and this exact list has no tracker sample, so read it as direction.

What is the average elixir cost?

Add the eight costs and you get 26; that is 3.3 per card.

What is Payfecta?

An old school deck name for the Miner, Princess and Ice Wizard plan.

Where does the Princess go?

In the back, in the opposite lane of a beatdown push.

How does Poison work on defense?

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.

Hey guys Lolman here with another deck guide!

Today I will be talking about the old-school payfecta deck which was VERY strong in the past but started being rather bad with the fall of Miner.

With the recent Ice Wizard and Mini P.E.K.K.A buffs, this deck in my opinion has become far stronger than it was a few months ago. I’ve had a lot of success playing this deck.

It’s counters quite a lot of other decks with relative ease!

Now enough blabbing and onto the actual deck!

Payfecta Is Back!

Cards Breakdown

Miner

Main win condition of this deck! You will want to chip the Tower down with Miner.

Use Miner on Pump and Princesses if you get the chance. However you can trick them by sending the Miner to the Tower and simply Poison what your opponent is likely to protect + Tower getting value, preventing a counter push most the time and killing the Princess, Pump etc.

Poison

Spell that usually will be paired up with your Miner. Don’t hesitate to use this on defense if the situation calls for it. For example, if your opponent rushes with Giant + Horde, you can use Inferno Tower + Poison to counter that push for a +1 trade.

Here in this situation, I used a defensive Poison because I knew the Pups will tank for Balloon from Tower and Ice Wiz as well, along with the Inferno Tower. So I use Poison in order to kill them and damage the Balloon, allowing Ice Wizard to slow it down, preventing over 1500 damage from my Tower!

Ice Wizard

With the recently buff, this card in my opinion is currently one of the top 3 Legendaries in the game because of its ability to hard counter Graveyard Poison.

1v1, he prevents a Balloon from getting any hits on the Tower. Using him to counter Minions and Horde is very effectively for 3 Elixir due to the damage buff.

Ice Wizard in this current meta is a beast. Also, the slow effect when paired up with high DPS cards like Mini P.E.K.K.A or Goblins synergizes really well in mitigating damage done to your Tower.

Princess

Mainly for instant chip damage. You will do 140 damage to opponents Tower and Log will end up doing 96 damage to your Tower.

Ideally you want her down in the back, opposite lane of a beatdown push! That way they cannot deal with her with the push and must commit Elixir down on other lane to counter her. Otherwise she will do quite a bit of work to your opponents push.

Try to protect her if possible as long as you don’t overcommit doing so.

Mini P.E.K.K.A

One of your main tank killers in this deck. This card not only can be used on offense but also on defense too.

Because you have the Inferno Tower, I’m not afraid to use him on offense to either tank for my Miner or vice versa and whenever I want to apply a lot of pressure on say the other lane of my opponent. Vs beatdown decks especially!

Ice Wizard + Mini P.E.K.K.A can also shut down a Golem quickly, allowing for a deadly counterpush after the +1 trade.

Here I’m using the Mini P.E.K.K.A to do some damage and exert pressure. I was able to identify all of the opponent’s cards. When he Logging my Princess, I realized that he didn’t have any distraction for my mini P.E.K.K.A so I rushed with Goblins+ Mini P.E.K.K.A and was successful in doing a LOT of damage.

Inferno Tower/ Minions

Having the Inferno Tower lets you have the freedom to use your Mini P.E.K.K.A on offense.

Initially, I tried this deck with Minions instead of the Inferno Tower. You can use both versions of the deck. Depending on if you prefer the faster cycle but higher chance splash can destroy your defenses. Or if you want a slower cycle but with more solid defenses.

Be aware of your opponents spells. Don’t give Fireball, Lightning value with your Inferno Tower for an example.

Goblins

These bad boys are usually what you pair up with your Miner.

In this deck, I avoid using lone Miner pushes. Adding Goblins if you know opponents Log is out of cycle. Goblins have massive DPS if they get to the opponents Tower.

You can also counterpush. Say opponent uses Hog and you have full HP on towers? I would use gobs or Mini P.E.K.K.A then Miner on the counterpush with my finger on the Log, using Miner to tank for the counterpush.

The Log

Self explanatory, one of the most versatile spells in the game.

Can be changed out for Zap, it’s up to your preference.

General Gameplay

Early game (Start -> 2 minutes left)

This deck is more of an aggressive deck than anything.

That being said, don’t start off with a Miner, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Gobs and Poison push. You will want to save your Miner or Poison in case they got a Collector or 3 Musketeers.

I’m not against using a Miner at the start. Sending it to the non Tornado-able spot because getting the King’s Tower activated can be quite bad for you.

Though if you keep placing your Miner here and your opponent keeps predicting it then switch it up because more than likely it’d be a false prediction by your opponent. Be aware enough to switch up your Miner placements each time.

So early on, learn your opponent’s deck, learn what cards you need to keep in cycle with your opponent’s cards.

You will be cycling faster than them most of the time so it won’t be an issue. Ie- Log for Barrel, ice wiz for hound, Mini P.E.K.K.A, gobs or Inferno for Hog. Poison for 3 Musketeers. Cycling will be rather easy with this deck, that being said don’t cycle the cards you need unless you got no other option.

Mid Game­ (2 – mins till x2 Elixir)

Around now is where predictions come to play.

Your opponent Skarmies your Miner? You can place Miner directly in front of your opponents Tower and then Log about a second later. It would clear away the Skeleton Army, allowing your Miner to chip and do the chip from the Log as well!

Prediction Poisons are great too provided you are ahead of Elixir. Poison on Skeletons on defense or a Knight? That’d not something I’d advice. So depending on what your opponent defends with, it’s okay to prediction Poison sometimes.

Try to get some damage down. Outcycling your opponents counters. Destroying pumps, defending and counterpushing.

Late game (2x Elixir till the end).

Here you will cycle cycle cycle. You will want to cycle Miner Poisons of course.

Princess at the bridge is a move I’d do if the opponent’s Tower is below about 1200 HP. Other than that I’d always Princess in the back in order to draw out a Log or something.

If your opponent puts a tank? Princess opposite lane in the back.

So by continually chipping away at your opponents towers you want to get that 1-0 victory.

This deck is very good at preventing damage. Combined with the DPS of the Goblins, Inferno Tower and Mini P.E.K.K.A along with the Ice Wizards slow make it a very solid defense.

Just keep cycling Miner + Poisons. Princess at the bridge to chip till you whittle the opponents Tower down to 0.

Match-ups

Here I will organize the matchups from the hardest one to the easiest one.

Lavaloon– Inferno Tower and Ice Wizard offer quite a lot of Lightning value to your opponent. If they run Fireball, then you are more than likely to be able to easily beat them, but if Lightning is there, you have to be aware of it.

Try to place Inferno so that it locks onto their Balloon rather than Hound if you can afford to wait, then Ice Wizard the Minions or Log the Gang.

Use Princess on the opposite lane so they cannot Arrows the same lane they’re pushing.

If you have a lot of troubles with this, you can change Inferno Tower to Minions or Minion Horde even as Arrow bait. Where they have to decide to either Arrows your Princess or Minions. However this change will make your deck far more vulnerable to splash.

Golem Lightning – Similar to the previous one. Vs this deck make sure you apply pressure opposite lane.

Take down your opponent’s pumps and don’t be afraid to Poison defensively in order to keep your towers safe!

I usually like to take out pumps with Miner to Tower then Poison on Pump. Make sure you Princess opposite lane of Golem and do NOT offer Lightning value with your Inferno Tower + Ice Wizard. That’s definitely a *no no*.

You can also alternate between using the Mini P.E.K.K.A on the Golem or Inferno on Golem and Mini P.E.K.K.A on support for an example.

Siege- Siege is really tricky, especially X-Bow

Ideally you want to Inferno Tower on top of the X-Bow. This will probably work the first time or second as well but afterwards it’s not a realizable way to counter your opponents X-Bow.

So you can simply Miner the Tower, Poison + Log X-Bow and Tower. This mitigates X-Bow damage, doing 840 damage. As well as have it’s timer shorten by aiming at the Miner.

You can also use maybe your Ice Wizard or Mini P.E.K.K.A on whatever they send your way and also tank for the X-Bow.

You deal with X-Bow for 6 Elixir. Opponent can either react or defend Miner and you will also deal with say the Ice Golem, Mega etc coming your way. Or even a Mini P.E.K.K.A depending on which variant they are running.

Also don’t give Fireball or Rocket value.

3 Musketeers- Not a hard match-up!

Get rid of the pumps, hold onto Princess for Horde and 3m.

If they 3m in back? Princess bridge of 2m lane and Log. This takes off a LOT of the 2m’s HP before they even pass the Tower. You can deal with the lone musket with just Goblins overall a +2 trade assuming you’re fine tanking 1-2 musket shots on Tower.

Just don’t let them build an Elixir advantage.

With the Heal nerf, 3M Heal is all but dead so you don’t need to worry about that either!

Inferno Tower, Goblins and Mini P.E.K.K.A are all good Ram answers!

Balloon cycles

You NEED Inferno Tower or Ice Wizard for the Balloon so be aware of opponents cycle. Princess other lane, etc.

This match-up can be easy if you play well. 1v1 lone Ice Wizard vs Balloon. Balloon only gets death damage onto the Tower.

Log bait- Log bait is seeing a little rise! It’s not really an issue for this deck.

You will most likely cycle faster than them. Switch up Miner placements and continue Miner poisoning and avoiding their Miner (Knight) prediction and you will be fine.

Try and catch their Princesses in your poisons.

Taking out a Princess with a Miner Poison push. Miner (3) for Princess (3), drew out an Ice Spirt and a Knight so thus the Poison was essentially an even trade!

Hog cycles – Very easy match-up!

Goblins, Ice Wiz, Inferno Tower, Mini P.E.K.K.A. All solid answers to a Hog.

Avoid Lightning and Fireball value and you will be golden. This match-up shouldn’t pose much of an issue to you at all if any.

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So that’s it. My take on payfecta.

With the recent buff to Ice Wizard and Mini P.E.K.K.A, I think this deck is very solid and a good enough bet to take with you to the 20 win challenge if you get practice with it.

You do need to learn how to play this deck because it has a bit of a skill cap but when you do learn how to play with it, you can consistently defeat quite a lot of other decks with relative ease.

So that’s it for this guy. Cheers.

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