Royal Ghost P.E.K.K.A Deck: A 3.6 Elixir Miner Poison Plan

By Lolman · Deck Building · Oct 15, 2026

AI Overview: This Royal Ghost P.E.K.K.A deck averages 3.6 elixir and plays like a control deck with a heavy wall. In 2026 the Royal Ghost lost hitpoints, 1,210 to 1,152, yet his best list wins 77.0%, though this exact list has no tracker sample. Every card below is repriced and checked against the October 2026 data, one by one.

Last Updated: October 2026

Key Points:

• The deck costs 29 elixir, which is 3.6 on average, with the P.E.K.K.A at 7 and the rest at 4 or less.
• Royal Ghost lost hitpoints on October 6, 1,210 to 1,152; his best list wins 77.0% over 993 battles.
• P.E.K.K.A damage rose from 816 to 842 on July 6; Miner tower damage fell from 49 to 39 the same day.
• Electro Wizard’s best list wins 72.1% over about 1,100 battles, and a Hero version was added in October.
• Guards had no 2026 change, but only one of their lists wins above 50%.

The Royal Ghost P.E.K.K.A List, Priced Card by Card

Here’s the thing: the P.E.K.K.A is the Inferno Tower of this deck, and the deck is control, not beatdown. The idea is simple. Chip with the Miner, Poison what they use to defend, and keep the P.E.K.K.A and Electro Wizard for defense.

Here is each card with its elixir cost and what the October 2026 data says about it.

A control deck leans on a few trusted defenders. The negative effect: the Royal Ghost lost hitpoints on October 6, so another small cut could let more spells and Guards win trades against him, and the whole defense plan would need a new anchor.

What Changed in 2026

The Royal Ghost has 1,152 hitpoints now. The P.E.K.K.A hits for 842. The Miner hits towers for 39, not 49. Zap hits towers for 48, not 58. Poison hits for 168, not 184. Minions, Guards and the Electro Wizard had no change in our notes for 2026.

Claims, rechecked. The Royal Ghost is a better Bandit and a better Dark Prince. The Ghost’s best list wins 77.0%, and the Bandit’s best wins 72.1%, so the claim looks fair, though the lists differ and the sample sizes are small.

The weak spots. Spell nerfs make Miner damage matter, and he was right, since the Miner and Zap both lost damage. Guards have one list above 50% and seven at 42.2% to 48.7%. The old claim of one of the strongest decks has no 2026 sample.

Card pages: P.E.K.K.A, Royal Ghost, Miner and Electro Wizard.

Guards actually counter the Royal Ghost, you just need to surround him. The negative effect: the Ghost’s hitpoints fell, which helps Guards, but if the Ghost gets another small buff, that clean counter may not hold.

How to Play It Today

Here’s the thing: start with the Royal Ghost at the back, Guards split at the back, Minions at the back, and the Miner in a safe spot. Do not cycle the spells, the P.E.K.K.A or the Electro Wizard. Learn the opponent’s deck first.

Matchups. Against Golem and Night Witch, pressure the other lane so the P.E.K.K.A can clean up. Against bait, use Guards and Minions for the Barrel, and Poison the Princess. Against Graveyard, Poison it. Against an X-Bow, tank with the P.E.K.K.A and Miner the back of it.

Translation: use the P.E.K.K.A on defense, and on offense only at double elixir with a damaged tower and an elixir lead. Poison the Princess, the Three Musketeers and their Pump. Always keep a Zap ready to hover over the Miner.

Elixir math: the P.E.K.K.A costs 7 of the 29 elixir. The other seven cost 22, or 3.1 each. Miner the Pump and punish with the Ghost and Guards, saving Poison for defense.

Try it yourself: one click in the Clash Royale Deck Builder puts the whole Royal Ghost P.E.K.K.A Deck list on screen. The average cost is 3.6 elixir. This is a classic build without tracker data, so judge it in your own matches.

The deck hard-counters Mega Inferno Dragon decks, if the Electro Wizard stays safe. The negative effect: Electro Wizard is squishy, and with a new Hero version around, the opponent might also play a stronger one, so protecting yours matters more than before.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Royal Ghost P.E.K.K.A deck good in 2026?

The Royal Ghost’s best list wins 77.0% and the P.E.K.K.A’s best list wins 65.8%, but this exact list has no tracker sample, so test the Guards slot first.

How much elixir does the deck average?

3.6 elixir per card on average (29 in total).

How do Guards beat Royal Ghost?

Surround him, since Guards are shielded and he has to attack to show himself.

Why Minions and not Bats?

When should the P.E.K.K.A attack?

Only at double elixir, with a damaged tower and an elixir lead.

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.

Heya guys Lolman here with a brand new Royal Ghost deck which helped me get a few 12-win challenges.

It’s a variant of a deck guide I made earlier with P.E.K.K.A Miner Poison.

With some subs to make it stronger in this meta, I think this is one of the strongest decks currently.

I can’t think of any good counter decks to this unless you play poorly vs punish decks like 3M or bait decks.

The New Miner Poison Deck – Featuring Royal Ghost

P.E.K.K.A

P.E.K.K.A is now a must in so many decks due to the rise of beatdown decks.

Mega Knight is good but I would much rather run a P.E.K.K.A with some cards to counter swarms.

She’s that unstoppable wall not much can go through, albeit maybe an Inferno Dragon on your P.E.K.K.A while E-wiz is out of cycle is your worst nightmare. (You can still deal with that with maybe Minions + Zap or something).

Only used on defense unless it’s 2x elixir, one of your towers has taken significant damage and you are up in elixir.

Then, I’d drop her at the back same lane because the chances of opponent pushing other lane are slim with that little time left. Typically you can still easily defend as this deck is extremely strong on defense.

Miner: One of the most consistent win conditions.

Miner in my opinion is one of the easiest to play and solid win conditions once you got all of it down.

There are a few things you need to pay attention to like placements etc but those are very easy to get a grasp of.

You want to whittle tower HP down with Miner while defending with other troops, also getting value Poisons off.

Spell nerf means Miner damage ought to be more so always have a Zap hovering over your Miner.

Can also be used to take out Elixir Collectors or Princesses as well!

Zap – Self explanatory card really.

This is for clearing off troops.

E-wiz + Zap for horde etc if needed.

Zap is very versatile.

Learn how to time it to clear all skele barrel skeletons though, can be a bit tricky.

Poison

Should be used on Poison, Princesses, Three Musketeers etc.

It is usually a good idea to save it for defense vs Golem. I always Poison+ Zap Night Witch and Mega Minion with P.E.K.K.A on Golem.

Mega dies and Night Witch is almost dead, Bats don’t stack. Golem dies and very healthy P.E.K.K.A on counterpush.

Poison also is good to get value on Elixir Collector.

Say you Miner Elixir Collector and they use Goblin Gang. Don’t Poison immediately! Wait for them to make a play like drop Three Musketeer at the back or something to Poison Muskets, Pump and tower.

Even if they drop 1M in the pump lane, you still want to do this! P.E.K.K.A is great at countering the 2m so that’s not an issue, get that value.

Royal Ghost

Okay I just wanted to tease you guys a bit by not mentioning him first.

Now Royal Ghost honestly is a better Bandit and a better Dark Prince.

Royal Ghost is far more threatening than a Bandit, has similar HP and actually higher DPS than a Knight!

He is invisible so no troop or tower shoots him during his movement and only shows himself when he attacks first.

Remember that he also does splash damage!
Guards

Right now with the buff, Guards are so much better than Goblins.

Guards destroy P.E.K.K.A, Princes etc.

Guards actually counter Royal Ghost too! All you need to do is just to surround him.

Minions

You can use Bats for a faster cycle but I like Minions ability not to be Zapped away.

Always make sure you don’t drop them on top of your opponents Ice Golem/Ice Spirit.

Typically you cycle them or defend then counter but there are moments I’d go aggressive with Minions.

At this point, I defended his Guards + Royal Ghost + Miner push with my E-wiz and P.E.K.K.A.
Was planning on pushing same lane but saw that Ice Wiz and I knew he had Tornado because no one uses Ice Wiz or exe these days without Tornado.
Playing Miner on same lane tower is not smart. Ihis is why I pushed the opposite lane with Minions+ Miner and he made the mistake of Tornadoing the Miner to the King’s Tower while I did a good 1600 damage to his tower sealing my victory.

Electro Wizard

The #1 Legendary card in the game.

Very very versatile to be honest, his reset and defensive capabilities are really what he’s used for.

E-wiz’s Zap is your savior combo vs Horde behind any huge tank, etc.

He’s great at destroying bait, and resetting the Inferno Dragon and whatnot as well!

He is a squishy troop so protect him!

Gameplan

Early game- (3:00-2:00)

Early on, this deck is a Miner Poison deck.

Despite P.E.K.K.A and other support cards, this is not really a beatdown deck.

P.E.K.K.A is your Inferno Tower and this is a control type deck.

Early on you want to get a feel out of opponent’s deck. Get an idea what cards you need on defence.

Always try to Miner the Pumps and punish with Royal Ghost, Guards etc in combination with Miner rather than Poison because you want Poison on defence.

You also need at least Minions or E-wiz if you are facing a deck with I-drag that might snipe your P.E.K.K.A behind their tank etc.

Get a feel for the deck.

Some decent starting plays in my opinion are:

1. Royal Ghost at back
2. Guards split at back
3. Minions at back
4. Miner in safe spot
5. Wait- Don’t cycle any spells, P.E.K.K.A or E-wiz.

Just try to make a safe play and get a feel for opponent’s deck while getting a bit of chip damage.

If you get a lot of damage? Great! Don’t get over confident and play a more defensively oriented game.

Mid game – (2:00-1:00)

With their deck in mind and a rough idea of their deck cycle, here is where you would want to use your Miners a bit more cautiously.

If you face a deck with Guards and Guards are in cycle, you don’t want your Miners to always land on the tower when they have Guards.

If so you need to take necessary precautions. Like maybe changing up Miner placements or use prediction Poisons!

That being said, before 2x elixir, only Miner+ Poison if you are ahead in elixir!

You should have an idea what cards to save on defence as well! Ie- If you ought to use your P.E.K.K.A to defend pushes or if you say face a Graveyard deck where using a P.E.K.K.A in the back after a successful Graveyard push defence isn’t that bad of an idea. Etc.

Keeping that in mind, while making sure you make positive trades whittle away on the tower HP. Getting value Poisons!

Late game (1:00- End of OT)

Now Miner + Poison pushes should be what you aim to cycle.

Use your cycle cards to get back to Miner while defending and making sure you don’t lose your tower too and then try to get back to your Miner and Poison off whatever they use to defend it.

Make sure to switch Miner placements at this point.

Getting Tornado’d to the tower isn’t that huge of a deal at this point so you should be fine!

P.E.K.K.A, E-wiz etc should be heavily leaned on too.

Vs most match-ups, following that strategy and using Miner Poisons on the tower till the end of game should get you that sweet, easy 1-0 victory.

If you have a tower before 2x, try to work at the 2nd tower without overextending and defending when you can!

Before I go onto match-ups, I want to show you placement of a 1-0 situation, using your Miner in order to get your enemy’s tower without king shooting at him.

Match-ups

Golem Night Witch with Tornado

Now there are 2 variants. One with Lumberjack and one with Rocket.

Either way this deck hard counter both. Just make sure you do 3 things.

• Pressure the other lane if they drop Golem so your P.E.K.K.A can clean up their Golem.
• Punish their Pumps! Don’t Poison it unless you get value or you got no other way of dealing with it. Miner is your number one option.
• In 2x elixir, get Miner chip but almost always Poison on defence unless they Night Witch your Miner. If Miner hits her then you can Poison to get rid of the Night Witch and the Golem push will fall easily.

Follow these and this is a very easy win.

Mega Knight Decks with Inferno Dragon

Can’t stress this enough but, save your E-wiz! Protect him at all costs.

Inferno Dragon is the worst enemy without E-wiz.

So vs this deck a few things to keep in mind are.

1. Don’t overcommit. If they Mega Knight your push and you don’t have enough for P.E.K.K.A…. Well GGWP.
2. Save your E-wiz or Minions, Guards and Zap for I-drag, Bats etc. Guards can take the aggro of the I-drag while your P.E.K.K.A shreds the Mega Knight
3. Zap is the easiest way to destroy the Skeleton Barrel if you face that.
4. Surround opponents Royal Ghost if they urn a Royal Ghost variant.
5. If you are facing Mega Hog, I always try and prioritize the Hog. Use P.E.K.K.A so P.E.K.K.A tanks but hits your opponents Hog.

Like the Golem deck, if you do play cautiously and save the cards you need then you are in the clear as this deck on paper hard counters any Mega Inferno Dragon deck!

Bait control

Not a hard match-up.

Guards, Minions etc for the Barrel.

Royal Ghost renders a defensive Gang useless because one swing kills all the Goblins and the other the Spear Gobs.

Poison off the Princess and you should be golden.

If they use Inferno Tower, honestly don’t bother going to support P.E.K.K.A.

This is control and in the long run Miner Poison will beat their deck as long as you counter their pushes properly.

Play it safe and save a counter for Barrel and you will be in the clear!

Graveyard

Vs this Poison their Graveyard.

If they defensive Poison a counterpush of yours then use Guards, Minions etc on defence vs Graveyard.

P.E.K.K.A on offence as a tank is fine. While Miner chips away at tower.

If Poison was used on defence by them feel free to drop your Poison to get their defensive troops. Usually they will be like, Ice Wizard, Mega Minion, etc. All mid HP troops which will take a significant amount of damage by the Poison!

Getting value like that without much negative effects like a Graveyard Poison punish will be key.

Try not to get your Miner nado’d to the tower early on too! If no Tornado go wild with the placements.

Test out new ones and you will be fine.

Giant Beatdown

Similar to Golem decks, but no need to worry about pump.

If Goison with Prince, use Guards on Prince while P.E.K.K.A kills Giant.

Deadly counterpush potential from your end!

If Giant bait with Horde and Minions etc, then you want to save E-wiz with zap and potentially Poison on defence getting massive value.

They won’t be able to defend your P.E.K.K.A that well on the counterpush, so try to keep your P.E.K.K.A alive with as much HP as possible.

In a nutshell this is the easier version of the Golem match-up.

X-bow

P.E.K.K.A for the X-bow. Tanking.

A maneuver I like to do with P.E.K.K.A tanking is Miner back of X-bow then Poison tower and X-Bow.

In 2x elixir, you can Miner tower and Poison their X-bow while cycling tanks if they manage to kill a P.E.K.K.A.

Predictive plays can play a huge deal too if you are dealing with an X-bow + Inferno Tower deck for an example.

Here I knew he had Inferno Tower in hand so I dropped Guards preemptively and it paid off.
Didn’t even need to Zap and pre-emptive plays like this can be golden. Just make sure you pay attention to their cycle etc.
That Royal Ghost on other lane was like a 2x lane pressure. So he dropped Knight with the P.E.K.K.A allowing my Royal Ghost to go on and shred that tower.

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That’s all I got for you with this deck, not too much more to cover.

If you got any questions please leave them down below I’ll answer them when I get a good look at them.

Lolman out.

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