Background Information
This deck revolves around the cards that you get within your first few arenas you get into. Because of this, they should be good for a beginner level clash royale player as you are more likely to have thesae cards ugraded compared to the newer, higher arena cards.
BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY
The average elixir cost for this deck is 3.6 elixir and contains the following cards:
TROOPS: USED FOR DEFENSE AND OFFENSE. IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT COUNTER FOR EACH TROOP
Musketeer- The musketeer is the main damage dealer besides your mini pekka. The musketeer is your long range, anti air damage dealer so it makes her a little more special. She is very good behind a Valkyrie because her high ranged damage lets her take down recently deployed troops very quickly. If your opponent decides to spawn in spear goblins to counter the ice Valkyrie and musketeer push, those spear goblins will die before they even get one spear thrown because of how good the Valkyrie is good at splash damage. The musketeer is fairly weak in terms of health points which make sense because her damage is very high. This can result in a same level fireball killing her though. Be careful because if you send a lot of your troops out because all your damage can be taken out with a single fireball, giving your opponent a huge elixir advantage. The fireball can kill most of your whole deck. Its defensive abilities are very good too because it can hide behind your crown tower or arena tower while doing a lot of damage to the attacking troops. The musketeer will be able to kill a whole army of small troops without taking much damage and also the musketeer will not let the arena or crown tower take much damage. Later on, there is a card called the three musketeers which basically spawns three of these single musketeers. They have the same stats per level as this card does so they can be taken out just as easily. The three musketeers do cost five more elixir but that card does come out with two more musketeers than this one. This single musketeer card is a very good option to have in a new, beginner deck because of its high damage, long range, ability to hit air troops, and how versatile it is in many situations. The musketeer is very vulnerable to point damage troops like the mini pekka, the pekka, and the prince. It is also vulnerable to direct damage spells like the fire ball, the arrows, and the lightning spell
Hog Rider– This is the heart and soul of the deck. This will be the troop that will do the most damage to the Tower and it will also be your main offensive unit. Because of the Hog Rider’s decent health stats and its 
great damage per shot, it is a great unit to attack with. Additionally, it only targets defensive buildings which make it that much easier to control. There are some standard moves in playing the Hog efficiently. The moves that till be gone over in this article is the Elixir pump rush and pig pushing. If you are above or at arena 6, there is no doubt that you see a lot of Elixir Collectors about. Normal players want to protect their Elixir collector and put it in the back of their map. If it starts in their starting hand, that is going to be played first 90% of the time. If they do place it in the back, take advantage of the 5 elixir they just used. Try to make a Hog push in the combos of Hog and Spear Goblins, Hog and Minions, or Hog and Barbarians. If you don’t have the Hog in your starting hand, make a small push maybe of just Spear Goblins and see how they react. This move has given me so many wins since I found out that this worked. The Tower will fall if nothing happens to that push. Usually, they send in a panic Fireball and you still get about half their Tower. The second strategy is called pig pushing. It can be hard to master for some so it is recommended to practice with your friends. The basic concept of this is to nudge the Hog a little bit to the outside by spawning troops right next to the hog. The picture to the left shows how to pig push pretty well. It also shows the counter to the pig push in case you run into anyone also using this tactic. The counter to this is pretty ineffective since the movements happen so fast. There is barely any time to react to this strategy. If you do pig push, make sure your are on the side where the defense is further away from your chosen spawn location. Failure to recognize which side is the one to do it on can result in an ineffective and useless push.
Mini Pekka- The mini pekka is very versatile on defense and can be a treat if put on offense. The mini pekka is considered a glass cannon, where it deals a lot of damage but have little health in comparison. The mini pekka is great at countering high health tanks. The mini pekka can kill an enemy hog rider in two hits and only lets the hog rider get off one shot on your tower. Of course the mini pekka may only need one shot if you have some supporting troops defending with the mini pekka. This will also make the enemy hog rider not even get one shot off on to your tower. The mini pekka also kills the royal giant very efficiently. The mini pekka, since it does so much damage, will kill the enemy royal giant in just a few hits. This makes it hard for the royal giant to get much damage off on to your tower. With only the mini pekka defending your tower, the royal giant may get around 500 damage off of your tower. However, you most likely will have other troops, most likely the musketeer or the spear goblins, supporting your mini pekka which will make the enemy royal giant drop even faster. The mini pekka also kills the regular giant very easily and it can solo defend good enough. You do not need to worry about supporting your mini pekka with anything else. The mini pekka works great against single targeting troops like the musketeer, the wizard, the Valkyrie, the prince, and the troops previously mentioned above. What makes the mini pekka strong against the prince is that your mini pekka can easily survive the charge from the enemy prince, letting your mini pekka take in lots of damage while also dishing it out. The mini pekka is weak against swarm troops like the spear goblins, the skeletons, the regular shank goblins, and the barbarians. The mini pekka is also weak against some air troops like the minions and the minion horde.
Minions– This deck uses the Minions instead of the Minion Horde. The Minions are preferred in this deck over the Minion Horde because you want to keep the cost of troops low. By keeping the cost low, you will be able to cycle through your cards faster. The Minions also do well enough against air troops like the Balloon or Baby Dragon, although for the Baby Dragon needs to target your Crown Tower first. Minions also can take out the Barbarians with the help of the Spear Goblins. This leaves you with a major counter push at the ready. Also, these blue little monsters can help destroy Prince rushes with the help of some ground troops. Even if your enemy uses Arrows, you are not at a Elixir disadvantage, unlike the Minion Horde. The Minions could also kill a Sparky before it can take its aim at the Tower. The minions are very vulnerable to anything that attacks air troops like the baby dragon, the witch, the spear goblins, the musketeer, and the wizard. The minions are also weak to direct damage spells like the zap spell and the arrows. Both of these direct damage spells will give your opponent an equal or an advantageous elixir trade. It is strong against group troops that have a medium or low amount of health. The are strong against the mini pekka, the musketeer, the barbarians, the pekka, and the princes.
Spear Goblins- The spear goblin card is one of the most basic troops in the game. For its early unlock at Arena 1, it is surprising how well they perform. The Spear Goblins not only can defend against goblins, enemy Spear Goblins, and Minions in a on verse one with the help of your Tower, but it can also be used at the very beginning. If the Spear Goblins are used right at the start, you force your opponent to either react to them by placing a much more expensive troop, leaving an option to have a hard counter ready, or make them just watch those Spear Goblins chip 300 damage off their tower. 300 may not seem like a whole bunch, but do that 2 or three times in a match, and you got yourself 1000 free chip damage. The Spear Goblins can also kill a Princess that is on the bridge very quickly as long as the princess is distracted. If the princess is not distracted and you deploy the spear goblins, they will die before they can kill the princess, making you basically waste three elixir. On a very good note however, you can do an advanced move with these spear goblins. The spear goblins are extremely vulnerable to splash damage units like the bomber, the Valkyrie, the witch, and the baby dragon. The spear goblins are also very vulnerable to any direct damage spells such as the fire ball, the arrows, and the lightning spell.
SPELLS: THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL
Zap– The Zap spell is mainly used to support your royal giant. The best way to use the zap is to either severely injure a minion horde and let your spear goblins or your minions finish them off. The other major use for zap in this deck is to stun any inferno towers. With the most recent update,. the zap will now reset the inferno tower’s damage. This will greatly increase the life time of your royal giant and make this deck even stronger. Remember, the longer your royal giant stays alive, the longer your high damage per second troops stay alive, and the more damage you can put onto enemy building, arena or crown towers, and on their troops. The zap will be your best friend because since it resets the inferno towers damage, it is better than the freeze spell. As a bonus when compared to the freeze spell, the zap spell only costs two elixir while the freeze spell costs four elixir. This lets you put two more elixir into your push that would have been spent on freezing the inferno tower. I recommend you zapping the inferno tower when the inferno tower’s beam is on the second stage. This will allow the royal giant to receive little damage and by the time the inferno tower resets, locks back onto the royal giant, and charges back up, the tower should be destroyed by your royal giant and the other supporting troops behind him. With this zap your pushes should be able to hit harder and last longer, a great support spell when trying to take down an enemy arena or crown tower. The zap spell hard counters small troops like the spear goblins, the regular shank goblins, the skeletons, the minions, and the minion horde. The zap also counters the goblin barrel spell quite well. It has a hard time when trying to kill high health point troops like the golem, the pekka, the barbarians, any type of prince, the balloon, and other troops like that. The zap can also stop the princes charges and make them start walking before they charge again . This allows the zap to be used in some tight defenses when a prince is right next to your tower.
Fireball– The Fireball in this deck is not to constantly barrage the Crown Towers but to take down mass swarms for Elixir profit. Combined with the Zap spell, it can take down the Three Musketeers and let you gain an easy 3 Elixir. The main troops this card counters is the Minion Horde and the Barbarians. Striking a lone Minion Horde will give a one plus trade. The Barbarians will also give the one positive Elixir trade. The Fireball can also be used against the Princess if you can hit the Crown Tower also or if other troops can also be hit. It is not recommended to shoot a Fireball if it only hits the Princess as it will put you behind in Elixir. The Fireball can finish off a Tower as long as there is only a few seconds left and the Tower is not over 300 health. Combined with a Zap, the Fireball can do almost 300 damage.
TOWERS: HOW TO USE THEM AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM
Cannon- The cannon is your main defense against building targeting troops like the giant, the hog rider, the balloon, the royal giant, and the golem. Make sure you have good placement with your cannon because its five and a half tile range is very short. Also, you should never pre place a cannon. If you do, your enemy can send any air troop, like the three elixir minions or the baby dragon, and destroy it without taking any damage. You enemy can also just place a single musketeer and out range the cannon. This can make you basically waste your defense and make you lose three elixir. Also, you cannon is out of your hand which makes it a lot harder to defend from the defense targeting troops like the giant, balloon, and hog rider. If your opponent doesn’t have those troops or they just used it and you have the cannon in your hand, you can use the combination of the ice wizard and cannon to defend from hordes of small group troops. A cannon and ice wizard combo can defend from barbarians. The cannon is very cheap which makes it have synergy with the rest of your deck. Since you have two very expensive cards in your deck, having the cheapest defense in the game will help you on defense when you are on low elixir. The cannon is strong against weak ground troops like the skeletons, the archers, the spear goblins, and the regular shank goblins. The cannon, if provided with some sort of distraction, can be good against the prince, the the mini pekka, the barbarians, and the valkyrie. The cannon, being only able to attack ground troops, is very weak against the three elixir minions, the minion horde, the baby dragon, the lava hound, and the balloon.
