Background Information
I am calling this deck the simple but effective deck because it uses cards that are unlocked pretty early in the game but it can take you super far. So far, it has taken a level nine to over 3700 trophies. This is very impressive and beats most level tens’ trophy records. The highest level card this deck uses is the zap spell which is a common card and should be easily obtainable. This deck is split between commons and rare card with four of each. The elixir cost if fairly high but this deck does contain an elixir collector which does negate its high cost quite a bit. This deck is the basic attack strategy with the common deck composition. It has some direct damage spells, the zap and the arrows, along with some damaging troops, like the goblins, the musketeer, and the mini pekka, contains a tanks, like the giant, contains some type of area of effect troop, like the Valkyrie, and contains an economic building, like the elixir collector. This deck should be pretty simple to learn because it contains all the basic strategies in a well balanced deck. Also, as you can see by the trophy count it can reach, you can get very high in trophies if you happen to master or excel at this deck. I will start explain how this deck functions below.
BASICS: AVERAGE ELIXIR AND HOW TO USE EACH TROOP EFFICIENTLY
The average elixir cost for this deck is 3.8 elixir and contains the following cards:
TROOPS: USED FOR DEFENSE AND OFFENSE. IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT COUNTER FOR EACH TROOP
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 valkrie, 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.
Musketeer- The musketeer is the main damage dealer besides your mini pekka. The musketeer is your only long range, anti air damage dealer so it makes her a little more special. She is very good behind a giant or knight 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 a knight and musketeer push, one or two of those spear goblins will die before they even get one spear thrown because of how big the musketeers range is and because of how high the musketeer’s damage per bullet is. 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 bomber, knight, and musketeer all you damage can be taken out with a single fireball, giving your opponent a huge elixir advantage. This goes the same for a giant, bomber, musketeer push. The fireball can kill the bomber and the musketeer. 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.
Giant- The giant is the first tank you unlock in the game. It has a rarer brother called the royal giant. However, the giant has a melee range unlike his brother. Also, the giant is a lot stronger health point wise. The main strategy with the giant in this deck is to spawn him in the very back of your side of the map. This will let you regenerate some more elixir before your push gets to the enemy’s side of the bridge. The best way to deal with a defending minion horde is to use your musketeer and the spa sp3ll on them. The zap will help you bring down the minion horde’s minions down to very little health and allow the musketeer to one shot each minion, making it a very fast killer. The best things to support your push with is with the musketeer and the mini pekka or the Valkyrie. This will let you be able to counter the minion horde, the baby dragon, or the regular three elixir minions because the musketeer can attack them. Also, you have the ability to counter the barbarians very well because the Valkyrie does ground splash damage. It will only take a few swings from the Valkyrie to kill the whole group of defending barbarians. If the Valkyrie or the musketeer get to the tower, you will deal out some heavy damage.
Spear Goblins- The spear goblin card is one of the best troops in the game. It is surprising that the spear goblins are so effective in higher arenas since they are unlocked quite early in the game. The Spear Goblins not only can defend against goblins, enemy Spear Goblins, and Minions in a one 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.
Valkyrie- The Valkyrie is your only troop that does splash damage in this deck. Because of this, you should save her for a time you really need her. A good time to use your Valkyrie is to defend against barbarians. Because of her fast attack speed, high damage, and moderate health, she is great at countering the horde of barbarians. The Valkyrie is also a great counter to the hut spamming deck. Because of her high health, she can withstand a few spawning sessions from the huts. She will greatly reduce the treat of the hut spamming deck and make you have a lot easier time when dealing with them. The Valkyrie can also act as a mini tank in another push you can do. A mini push of the Valkyrie and the musketeer can go pretty well because you have the small distraction troops covered with the Valkyrie, and you have the point and air damage covered by the musketeer. If your opponent can counter this mini push well, you can get a ton of damage off on to their tower. The Valkyrie is very strong on anything that is on the ground and comes in groups like the skeletons, the archers, the spear goblins, the regular shank goblins, and the barbarians. She is very weak to point damage troops like the musketeer, ice wizard, prince, and pekka. She is also vulnerable to air troops that target enemy units like the three elixir minions, the minion horde, and the baby dragon. The valkyrie only costs four elixir w=hich
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 potential beyond the two free elixir it produces. 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 an 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 stop your enemy from sending a quick push right when you place your elixir collector down, 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. The Elixir Collector is not mandatory to the process of beating your opponent but if played, it will make it a whole lot easier.
SPELLS: THEIR MAIN USES AND HOW TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL
Zap– The Zap spell is mainly used to support your giant. The best way to use the zap is to either severely injure a minion horde and let your spear goblins 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 giant and make this deck even stronger. Remember, the longer your 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 giant to receive little damage and by the time the inferno tower resets, locks back onto the giant, and charges back up, the tower should be destroyed by your 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, the archers, 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’ charge 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. Also, if your zap spell is at a high enough level, they can one shot a princess.
Arrows- The arrows are a great cheap way to counter a mass amount of troops. The arrows can help support your pushes that contain your giant by killing off any minion horde that will do a lot of damage. The arrows are also great at countering hut spam decks because you can easily kit two or three buildings, the crown or arena tower, and any enemy troops spawned or walking near the arrow radius. Arrows can also be used to finish off towers if they are at a very low health value. t only will do around 80 to 100 damage to your crown tower so plan accordingly before sending it at your enemy’s crown or arena tower. Combined with the zap spell, you can get about 150 damage off of your enemies tower, which can help a lot if your are in over time and just need a little more damage. The arrows are a great counter to the skeletons, the spear goblins, the archers, the regular shank goblins, the goblin barrel, the three elixir minions, the lava pups that come out of the lava hound and the minion horde. They can help defend against enemy barbarians if they have a bout a quarter of their life left. The arrows are weak against high health troops like the golem, the pekka, the lava hound, the balloon, and other troops like those. The arrows are a nice and cheap three elixir so you can use them at almost any point during the battle for an easy defense against a lot of small units.
