BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This deck features three musketeers as your main damage source.  The wizard allows you to have some splash damage in your deck and your barbarians will help you if your opponent has a golem, giant, or prince.

BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY 

The average elixir cost for this deck is an even 4.5 and the following cards used are:

TROOPS: USED FOR DEFENSE AND OFFENSE.  IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT COUNTER FOR EACH TROOP

Three Musketeers– The three musketeer’s card is a hail marry type of card.  You will either be very efficient with using it and demolish your opponent or it will be extremely useless and probably set you back to an elixir disadvantage.  The easiest counters that can completely ruin your three musketeer push is a fire ball and zap, although other things like the poison spell, the rocket, and other uncounterable splash damage can also make you push go to nowhere.  However. if you catch your opponent off guard and out of elixir, you should be able to easily take down one of their towers.  The miner should act as a tank for your three musketeers.  If you feel that the three musketeers are to hard for you to use or they get countered way to easily and way to often for your liking, I’d suggest that you swap for the single target musketeer instead.  The single target musketeer won’t be as good for offense or defense, but it its a lot safer.  If you do chose to use the dingle musketeer, add something else to your musketeer miner push because you do not have enough damage to destroy a tower anymore.  In addition to that, your opponent can no longer counter your push with a fireball and zap or a rocket or some other uncounterable splash damage because it starts to become an elixir disadvantage for them to counter you in that way.

Wizard- The wizard is your support for your pekka in this trifecta deck be adding lots of splash damage to enemy ground and air units.  The wizard is an overall great card to have in your deck because it is the most effective card that does splash damage to both air and ground troop.  Its fast fire rate compliments the pekka’s sluggish moves.  Additionally, the wizard helps counter what the pekka is weak against, small critters.  The wizard can one shot many small troops like the skeletons, the spear goblins, the regular goblins, the three elixir minions, and the archers.  The wizard can also make quick work of swarms of troops killing the barbarians in three shots, the minion horde also in three shots, and the skeleton army in a few more shots.  The wizard however is pretty weak when being attacked.  The wizard can be easily killed by an enemy lightning spell or rocket.  The wizard can also be killed by a relatively high level fire ball.  The wizard is actually pretty good on defense.  It can kill oncoming enemy barbarians by itself.  It is also the best troop to use when countering the minion horde because your wizard can one shot the minions making quick work of the minion horde.  However, the wizard is not so great at countering high health troops like the prince, the pekka, the golem, and the lava hound.  he prince and pekka do too much damage to even let the wizard have a chance and the golem and the lava hound have too much hit points for the wizards relatively weak fire balls to do any noticeable damage.  However, an extremely well timed wizard can completely kill all the lava pups that spawn from a lava hound with one fire ball.  This also is the same with the goblin barrel.  An extremely well timed wizard can kill the goblins from the goblin barrel all in one go.  The wizard costs five elixir which is one of your higher costing cards.  I recommend saving your wizard only for your trifecta push because this is a key troop for it.  Only use your wizard for something else if it is the only option from saving your arena or crown tower.

Fire Spirits-  The fire spirits are your other splash damage card.  The reason why they are not your only splash damage card is because they die when they give out damage.  This makes it hard for them to support a push all the way through because once they run into a troop, they no longer can support your push.  However, their damage is insane for only two elixir.  Their damage exceeds 500 and can be put out all withing one second.  This lets the fire spirits easily kill bunched up troops very easily like skeletons, spear goblins, and the regular goblins.  It can take out equal level spear goblins, skeletons, or regular shank goblins with only one out of the three fire spirits that are present.  This means that this one card that only costs two elixir can kill all three of those cards costing a combined total of five elixir.  The fire spirits can also nearly take down barbarians to the grave.  The fire spirits can make the barbarian’s health points go so low that your arena tower can finish them off with out taking any damage.  This gives you a three elixir value and a great quick reaction counter to swarm troops.  The fire spirits can also help strengthen your anti air defense against any minions or minion hordes.  However, they do not do well against higher health air troops like the lava hound or the balloon because they lack sustained damage.  The fire spirits do not do well against high health singular targets like the pekka, prince, or balloon.  They also are countered by the zap spell.  It does a so so job against troops that have medium health like the mini pekka, musketeer, and wizard.

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

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.

Barbarians– The barbarians costs five Elixir.  This is best used to counter Princes, P.E.K.K.A, and the Hog Rider. They are also an extremely helpful distraction for smaller troops that can do major damage if left untouched, like the Minions, Spear Goblins and the Goblin combo.  Also, the Barbarians can help defend against the  dark prince if the situation is desperate, but is not recommended counter since the Dark Prince is a pretty good Barbarian destroyer.  The barbarians can also counter a miner.  All you have to do is place the barbarians where the miner will pop out and only one of your defending barbarians will get killed,  If the Barbarians are set on top of the much feared Sparky, they can easily destroy it, and you will gain a major Elixir advantage.  The barbarians in this deck is for defense though.  If the enemy spawns in a hog rider, send your barbarians just in front of the contested arena or crown tower.  If you do this perfectly, the hog rider will get no damage onto your tower.  Usually though, the enemy hog rider will squeeze through and be able to get one shot off.  Additionally, if the enemy combines a fireball, zap, or fire spirit and zap combo,l they will be able to get a lot more damage off onto your tower so be very careful about what they have to support the hog rider and make adjustments accordingly.  If they send in a prince, the barbarians are a great hard counter to him and will kill the enemy prince with ease.  In my opinion, the Barbarians are one of the biggest staple cards in the game.  The barbarians are extremely vulnerable to splash damage units like the bomber, the Valkyrie, the witch, the fire spirits, the sparky, and the baby dragon.  The barbarians are also very vulnerable to most direct damage spells such as the fire ball and the lightning spell.

TOWERS: HOW TO USE THEM AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM

Elixir Collector– The Elixir Collector is a very special card.  Most people don’t see its full potential.  At first glance, most people just think it just gives you two additional Elixir.  While this is true, there is a hidden, more important use for it.  The Elixir Collector allows you to build up an even bigger push faster than without one.  This lets you gain an elixir advantage on your opponent during your assault or perhaps when you need a quick reaction defense.  Since it is such a valuable card, instincts tell you to put it at the back of you base, where it can’t be touched.  this is a good strategy because you can easily protect the elixir collector from any troops.  Just be aware of any direct damage spells your opponent may have as they can get the crown or arena tower and elixir collector combo on you for a big elixir advantage.  However, there is a draw back into putting an elixir collector in the back.  Since you are down on elixir for a defense, the enemy can send down a elixir heavy push and you will have a hard time defending because you are very low on elixir.  For example, a hog rider user can immediately rush you and destroy the tower.  To counter this quick offensive push made by your enemy, you can put the elixir collector between your arena or crown towers, two to four squares in front of your king’s castle.  This will make hog rider pushers think twice before making the attack.  If they do launch one, be ready to deploy your minions, barbarians, and or the spear goblins to help take down the hog rider.  I suggest having at least one elixir collector on your side of the map at all times because this deck is a bit expensive.  If you want two down on the field at the same time, i recommend placing the elixir collector far away from each other.  If you put them too close together, the enemy may rocket, fire ball, or lightning both of your elixir collectors for a huge elixir profit.

SPELLS: THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL

Zap– The zap spell does do a little splash damage and almost happens in an instant.  The Zap spell is mainly used to support your sparky and 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 sparky and giant and make this deck even stronger.  Remember, the longer your sparky and 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 sparky and 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.