BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This deck is made to be played aggressively.  This deck is a variation of a hog cycle deck.  What makes this deck a little different from your average hog cycle deck is that this deck does not have a defense.  This makes it more aggressive but it lacks a little in defense.  It is a lot harder to defend from strong pushes, like royal giant and sparky, but a lot easier to defend from mid strength pushes.  By having no defenses, the troops that stay alive can help aid you in your counter push.  These troops that countered your enemy push can help you keep being offensive unlike a defensive tower which stays on your side until the end of its life not contributing to your push at all.  It is best to overwhelm them with your hog and small troops as they will run out of counters since their deck will probably cost more.  This deck is perfect for you if you love to keep an offensive front with no towers what so ever.  If you like to have at least one tower, perhaps an elixir collect, a look into my other hog cycle deck may work for you.  That deck uses the inferno tower and the elixir collector.  The most expensive card in this deck is barbarians, which is still very cheap when compared to other cards.

BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY 

The average elixir cost for this deck is an even 3.0 and the following cards used are:

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

Fire Spirits- These troops are very strong for their cost.  Only a few days ago have I upgraded my fire spirits to level 11 from level 10 and I do not regret this gold purchase at all.  These hot headed warriors can take down a whole minion horde and can generate a whopping 3 elixir advantage.  These fire spirits can also weaken the barbarians to a near useless state.   The fire spirits are a great combination push along with the hog.  The strategy behind this is that the hog tanks for the fire spirits, and any troop that is meant to counter the hog will be destroyed by the lava spirits.  If you have a zap on hand, you can also defending barbarians with minimal damage to your hog.  Additionally, you can use fire spirits as a cheaper fireball or arrows to take down swarm units.  With the new update that came out May 18th, their splash damage radius increased which makes them     even stronger.  After I play around with this awesome card a little more, I may consider making them one of my staple cards to my personal decks.  Also, with the furnace buff on May 18th it wouldn’t be a horrible idea to check how they would work if you really want a building.


Spear Goblins– 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.  The Spear Goblins, along with most swarm grown troops, can be used to pig push the Hog.  Pig pushing will be explained in the hog section of this article.

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 can also kill a Princess that is on the bridge.  Like the Barbarians, I believe the Minions are a staple card if the Minion Horde is not being used. The Barbarians, along with most swarm grown troops, can be used to pig push the Hog.  Pig pushing will be explained in the hog section of this article.

Barbarians– This card costs 5 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.  The Barbarians can also 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.  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. These four mighty men are also your biggest tanks.  If you do want to launch a major offensive push, it is best to use them as the meat shield, or tanks of your push.  If they do get to the tower unnoticed they can easily destroy it.  In my opinion, the Barbarians are one of the biggest staple cards in the game.  Barbarians, just like most ground swarm troops, can be used to pig push the hog rider.  Pig pushing will be described in the hog rider section of this article.

Ice Wizard– The ice wizard will help you a lot in this deck. It is great at defense against the hog because if you have the musketeer and ice wizard defending, good placement of both troops will make it impossible for your enemy to get a shot off the tower. The ice wizard’s slowing stat also allows him to counter high damage per second troops by slowing their fire rate. Another example of the ice wizard working his magic is against the royal giant. With only the musketeer defending against the royal giant, a moderate amount of damage will be done to your tower. If you add the ice wizard onto your defense, the royal giant will get a lot less damage off during his life time.. The ice wizard is also very good on offense as it can help slow defending units or the crown tower. The combination of the ice wizard and musketeer can work extremely well if left uncontested because the ice wizard has a moderate amount of health and does splash damage while slowing the tower down a lot. This makes him act as a very good support troop for the musketeer that causes all the damage. The ice wizard is probably your best card in supporting offensive pushes and supporting your musketeer during a defense.

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.

TOWERS: HOW TO USE THEM AND WHERE TO PLACE THEM

This deck does not use any towers.  I think it is a good thing as it is easier to counter push and promotes offensive game play.  The draw back to not towers is that it is harder to defend against pushes and you may waste some elixir when maxing out.  If your heart must indeed have a building to survive, you can swap the lava spirits for either an elixir collector or a furnace.  The elixir collector will let you cycle through cards faster, especially during double elixir and overtime.  The furnace lets you defend easily against minion hordes, minions, barbarians, and other small troops easily.  The furnace also supplies a little bit of chip damage every few seconds.  The furnace also basically blocks off one side for the opponent because the fire spirits can stop a big push.  Because of these reason, I would have or the furnace over the elixir collector.

SPELLS:  THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL.

Zap– The Zap spell is mainly used to support your Hog Rider.  A well placed Zap can stun the troops that are suppose to counter the Hog and it would also stun the Tower.  A well placed stun will allow your Hog to get about two more shots off which will produce about 500 extra damage.  Additionally, the Zap can help counter small troops like Minions, Spear Goblins, Goblins, and even the Minion Horde.  The Zap could also stop a Prince from charging which will reduce his damage immensely.  The Zap, if high enough Level, can also help counter pesky Goblin Barrels the fly across the map and onto your Tower producing a plus two Elixir advantage.  The Zap can also stop an oncoming Hog attack, preventing one to two swings resulting in 500 health points being saved.  The Zap is a very versatile card and I only recently found out its potential.

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.