What is up guys, Corrosive Logic is back again with another deck guide!
A couple of days ago, I spotted a Royal Giant deck on ladder, and decided to give it a try. Naturally since I didn’t play the RG often, I wasn’t going to be very good, so I took the deck out for a test drive at a 100 man tourney…
Long story short, I was coming third before I lost and started tilting at the end! However, it wasn’t in vain as I was able to practice with the deck and afterwards I used it in a Grand Challenge to get 12 wins!
Later I also saw Surgical Goblin win ESWC using this deck, which shows how good it is! I thought he was the original creator of the deck but later I found out that the original creator was DiegoB, also an amazing player who you’ve probably seen before in Clash with Ash’s videos.
I also made a video with the chest opening, gameplay and breakdown of my 12 win run, so check it out below.
So enough of the chit chat and long intro, let’s get down to the nitty gritty strategy breakdown!
Royal Giant Beatdown Deck
Card Functions and Possible Replacements
As with almost all Royal Giant decks, this deck carries the Furnace. It is so complementary with the Royal Giant for a number of reasons.
- First of all, the Royal Giant stays almost at the bridge, shooting at the crown tower, it is not uncommon for it to be targeted by high DPS troops such as Minions, Skeleton Army, Goblins, etc. Unlike the Hog or Giant, these troops will also be beside the bridge, this short distance allows fire Spirits from the Furnace to kill these swarm troops.
- Secondly, the Royal Giant is a 6 Elixir troop, not even counting the rest of the cards you’re going to use to support it. Because of this, your Elixir cost on each push is going to be massive therefore there’s a higher risk of being at an Elixir disadvantage. Fire spirits from the Furnace have to be reacted to, therefore you have more control over the game, even if you are down in Elixir your Furnace can constantly apply pressure and prevent your opponent from saving up for a big push.
- Another card that often complements the Royal Giant is Lightning. Inferno is the obvious counter to RG, so Lightning is a must need in a lot of Royal Giant decks. However, the real MVP for RG synergy are Minions. Every, single, Royal Giant deck…..has Minions, for obvious reasons. It’s most often played to distract the Inferno, but the fact that it’s aerial and fast means that it can kill troops targeting the RG.
Moving on, we have Knight, which rises in popularity to counter Executioners.
Now that we can have a look at the Legendaries, I will also tell you the card replacements.
- First of all, The Log can definitely be replaced by Zap. The Zap provides air defense, a faster reaction to Skeleton Army, and another way to reset the Inferno. I still prefer The Log because it can push back ground troops, allowing your RG to get more shots, and overall its knockback effect is very powerful defensively.
- The Electro Wizard is unique as it can reset the Inferno, but the Musketeer is a possible replacement as it’s range and defensive functions are very similar.
Gameplan – Offense and Defense
At the start of the game, if I’m able to, I’ll place the Furnace 4 tiles from the river. Yes, this means that a Hog could reach my tower on the other lane with a pig push, but if I place it 3 tiles from the river then a Musketeer could snipe my Furnace, which is extremely annoying.
If they do indeed decide to pig push I still have good counters.
First of all, you can actually Log the Hog on its outer side, pushing it towards the Furnace.
Normally I just need to use Ice Spirit + (Knight/Minions/Electro Wizard) to nullify almost all of the damage. From then on, use the Furnace on the side that you have received damage, as it’s the side that you need to defend.
If I don’t have the Furnace in my starting hand, my next favorite play is a Knight at the back. This is a safe play as you are only expending 3 Elixir, and you can also make use of the knight later on.
I don’t think defending is an issue with this deck, you have great cards against practically every deck archetype.
Offensively, your Electro Wizard and Minions are great for killing enemy troops and distracting/resetting the Inferno.
If your opponent is countering with the Inferno. I will try Minions + Royal Giant. If that doesn’t work, I play the RG on its own about 2-3 tiles from the river. This gives me enough time to save Elixir so that when they play the Inferno I can Lightning it straight away, almost always guaranteeing that I do some crown tower damage. The Electro Wizard is also an option if they play the Inferno too close to the bridge.
Skeleton Army is another card that can shred to Royal Giant, so try and always have The Log ready. If your opponent has Elite barbs, then you definitely need to Lightning. A perfect Lightning can hit the Elite Barbarians and the crown tower, with the help of an Electro Wizard or Minions you can finish them off and let your RG wreck havoc.
Barbarians are the best single card counter to RG in this deck, but thankfully we don’t see much of them in tournaments or challenges. If matched up against them, you need to time your Fire Spirits with your RG deployment, then Log them and finish them off with any of your other support units.
Overall that is this deck’s general gameplan. In this guide I’m going to do something different, and actually talk about a few useful advanced strategies with this deck.
Advanced Strategy
Sniping Inferno with Electro Wizard:
If they play the Inferno Tower 2 tiles from the river, you can actually play the Electro Wizard on your side to constantly reset it.
Playing RG at the Back:
There’s a few situations where I would play the Royal Giant at the very back.
First of all, never play it at the back against Giant/Golem/Lavahound beatdown decks. It’s just a terrible idea, your opponents support units will kill your Royal Giant a lot faster than you will kill their higher HP tank.
Against other decks it can be done, as long as you have enough Elixir to defend and maybe have the Furnace already in play. DiegoB actually told me that he plays the RG at the back every time unless he needs immediate pressure. The main reason I would do it is if nothing else is working.
If you are playing against someone really good, and they are countering you every time, then you’ve got to try something different, such as playing the RG at the back. I would only recommend it if you and your opponent are pushing in the same lane. Otherwise, your opponent could rush your other lane and force you to divide your push.
Playing the RG at the back also allows you to outcycle your opponent’s defensive structure. Against RG, you can’t pre-emptively place a defense, as the RG’s range would be too much. Because of this, they can only play it once your RG reaches the bridge. Thus, the RG travels so slowly that it allows enough time for you to cycle to a second RG after they have used their defense against the first one. Obviously this is only doable during double Elixir.
You can also play the RG at the back if you know they are sitting on multiple RG counters. E.g. if a player has both the Inferno and Minion horde in hand, it’s a good idea to play RG at the back so that you can save up enough Elixir to deal with them.
Playing RG at the back is also good when your opponent has a bad cycle, I’ve often done this, resulting in my opponent wasting Elixir. For example, if I’m playing against 2.6 Hog cycle, I could play the RG at the back, on the lane that they have already done some damage on.
Against Hog cycle, the only good play is to rush the crown tower, however if they send the Hog on the same side of your RG you can counter it by playing any of your support units. Yes you will receive some damage but now you have lots of support behind your Royal Giant. As the Hog player their best move is probably to rush the opposite lane, but that tower is on full health and you will benefit on the spreading of damage between your towers.
Forcing more Lightning Value with the Ice Spirit against the Inferno:
After playing the RG 2-3 tiles from the river, you’re saving up for the Lightning but before that, you can play the ice spirit behind the Royal Giant.
This cheap, 1 Elixir card forces your opponent to play something to counter it and stop it from freezing the Inferno Tower.
Not only does this cost your opponent more Elixir, you now have an extra troop that you can Lightning along with your opponent’s Inferno, and crown tower.
They could possible just use Skeletons or their own Ice Spirit to cancel each other out, but if they don’t happen to have a cheap troop they may end up using an Ice Golem or Mega Minion to absorb the ice spirit.
Conclusion
Overall, it’s a very very solid deck in our current meta. Many top players are picking it up and it’s starting to see daylight in lots of tournaments, particularly because it has strong defensive cards against graveyard. I know there’s going to be some immature kid bashing on RG being “no skill” in the comments, but any publicity is good publicity!
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