Hey there! We are back again with another deck guide for Classic/Grand Challenges today. It is called Miner/Ice Golem Balloon Cycle, another off-meta but works pretty well in the 12-win challenges.
Miner Balloon Cycle Deck
Deck Card
- Miner: For this specific deck, the Miner is primarily used offensively as a mini tank for the Balloon and the other supporting units also it can be used to protect defending units by tanking them while defending.
- Inferno Dragon: This card is specifically in this deck to melt the tanky units of your opponent mostly it has a defensive perspective in this deck as it can’t be used much in offence.
- Balloon: Win condition of the deck, you gotta make it connect somehow to win. Deals heavy damage and the bomb death damage also weakens the opponent’s defending troops.
- Zap: Used for the Skeleton Army, Goblin Barrel, Minions, and Bats. If your Balloon has a bit of health and is near to their tower, use it offensively to stun the princess tower to get that 1 juicy Balloon hit.
- Fireball: Used mainly for eliminating opponent’s musketeer, magic archer, electro wizard, also minion horde that hinders your balloon, can be used defensively as well
- Goblin Cage: A defensive building to soak damage and pull heavy hitters towards it so it can spawn the Goblin brawler which helps to defend with his high damage and fast hit speed.
- Ice Golem: A great tanker for the Balloon and overall used as a mini tank/damage soaking card also used to kite the troops and make defending easier, can also be used offensively when paired with the Balloon.
- Mega Minion: Again a versatile card with high damage/medium health, it’s almost like an airy goblin brawler. Used mainly defensively to kill the supporting units of the tank when placed on top of them(as the tank moves ahead). Can also be paired up with Balloon offensively.
Deck Strategy
Opening: Take it slow in the opening of the game, mainly defend/counterattack as you know your Miner Balloon deck will shine in double elixir when you can out cycle them easily. Play ice golem in the back to begin a push or defend their push and then counter-attack which your remaining troops. With this deck, never rush the bridge without knowing opponents deck/cards as it can lead to you losing a tower by giving them positive elixir trades. Also, keep your opponent’s hand in your mind and play.
Attacking: Pair the Balloon with Ice golem/Miner. Also if you know that the opponent has buildings, change your Balloon placement to 1 tile below the bridge (from the corner) as if you place it that way, a centre planted building (3 tiles from the tower, 4 tiles from the river 3×4) will not pull the balloon putting the opponent in trouble if they don’t know about this. The building has to be placed in a 2×4 placement to pull the Balloon. This is a very good trick if the opponent does not know about it. You also use Mega minion with the Miner/Ice golem push to provide support to the Balloon, also you can predict play the Miner if the opponent is playing their Musketeers, Wizards in the same place again and again. Use Fireball so that the Miner can one-shot the Fireball-ees. If the troops/ princess tower is locked to your Balloon and you have a miner coming in, use Zap so that their troops/tower will retarget to your miner.
Defending: When facing beatdown pushes, pull the tank with the Goblin cage use Miner/Ice Golem defensively to Soak the damage from their supporting units while your Inferno dragon annihilates their tank. And then use Mega Minion to finish their supporting units if required, then go for the counter-attack. For hog riders/ram riders use the goblin cage to pull and finish them, Goblin cage gives a good value in these cases, soaking the damage from the riders then spawning the goblin brawler for a counter-attack. 
Once you get a lead in the game, don’t just sit defending, attack the other lane to pressure the opponent as it is a bit hard to defend with this deck without taking damage so, double lane pushes are great for this Miner Balloon deck.
Weaknesses
- X-bow Cycle/IceBow: These decks have 2 buildings, that is why getting through against these decks is very hard, there is still a chance that you could outplay the X-bow cycle but it becomes very difficult to outplay a good IceBow player. With the rocket and Ice wizard, Archers, it becomes hard to penetrate. So, while facing these decks, cycle Fireball as there is very little chance that you will touch their tower by your Balloon, clip Teslas, Knights, Archers with the Fireball.
2. Royal Recruits+Royal Hogs: It’s just too many swarms, you have to decide that you wanna use Fireball for the Royal hogs/Flying machine/Zappies. Our Miner Balloon deck doesn’t have many splashers so, When facing this, use Goblin cage wisely to pull all the hogs, pressure your opponent by fast cycling Balloon, do not let them build up the elixir to put royal recruits as, after that their will be so much on the map and you will be unlikely to defend it.
I hope that this guide helped you to understand this Miner Balloon deck and learn about its play style. Thanks to Shreyas K for sharing this deck guide with us. Stay tuned for more content.
