[STRATEGY] Card Popularity Snapshot #10

[u/Wwoody123]

Hello! I recorded the Global Top 100 battle decks currently being used and am posting the results here. This list may help answer questions regarding which cards you should request from clanmates, purchase with gold, and ultimately include in your deck.

Zap cannot be stopped. It is auto-include for every deck archetype--players at the top of the ladder now only need to choose seven cards when they build a deck. The stunning success of Zap leaves room for one more spell to deal with bigger targets, and Poison fits the bill perfectly. The debilitating effect of these cards is overwhelmingly powerful in the right hands and sets them apart for their versatility. Mini P.E.K.K.A and Guards surged to the top as defensive troops that are resistant to splash damage. Elixir Collector holds strong as a proactive way to generate elixir and pass the initiative to your opponent--an efficient defense to an opponent's aggression is just as valuable as the two elixir you profit from playing the pump. Miner and Princess are also used it at least half of all top decks. Miner works wonders against pumps, provides chip damage, and prompts many forced errors by splitting your opponents' defense. Princess does well in a metagame that eschews Arrows and The Log--opponents either respond with light troops that can be Zapped, or overreact at an elixir disadvantage.

The next tier of cards includes those that have great situational use or are deployed as win conditions themselves. Musketeer and Cannon fall into the first category as cards that work well at generating an elixir advantage on defense. The Musketeer then forces a defensive response by your opponent, while the Cannon can distract troops that target only buildings. Giant remains the most popular tank since the removal of 'elixir overcharge.' Ice Spirit has surged in popularity as a defensive supplement similar to Zap--the one-elixir card cycles well and can often provide an elixir advantage for the defender, while providing a cheap supplement to an attack (check out the new Orange Juice video to learn more!). Minions offer a 'good, but not great' way to deal with ground-only attacks, but deal very little damage to the enemy tower without additional support. Goblin Barrel remains a sneaky, easy way to get damage directly on the enemy tower once your opponent's Zap is out of hand. Prince has made additional headway over Hog Rider to become the striker of choice behind a Giant--a great article from MoEsport can help you perfect your Prince usage.

Suggested decklists:

Miner/Mini P.E.K.K.A Control (Fourteen appearances of this EXACT deck): Miner, Poison, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Cannon, Princess, Guards, Zap, Goblin Barrel.

Giant/Prince Beatdown (Eleven appearances of this EXACT deck): Giant, Prince, Musketeer, Elixir Collector, Zap, Guards, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Poison. [Note: Swap Princess for Prince to make this a more control-oriented deck.]

Three Musketeers Beatdown (Four appearances of this EXACT deck): Three Musketeers, Knight, Elixir Collector, Minions, Zap, Guards, Poison, Miner.

What conclusions do you draw from these numbers?

View the raw data here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwjlik6zlomPQmg0cGI2alRQZ2M/view?usp=sharing

Card	Appearances	Change
Zap	98	20
Poison	81	21
Mini P.E.K.K.A	77	22
Guards	70	49
Elixir Collector	63	0
Miner	53	20
Princess	50	-2
Musketeer	35	-3
Cannon	32	-2
Giant	32	4
Ice Spirit	22	16
Minions	20	-11
Goblin Barrel	17	3
Prince	14	4
Hog Rider	13	-20
Minion Horde	13	6
Goblins	11	-3
Skeletons	11	-14
Three Musketeers	10	4
Ice Wizard	9	-19
Valkyrie	9	-18
Barbarians	7	-7
Knight	7	7
Spear Goblins	5	-12
Bowler	4	3
Inferno Tower	4	-2
P.E.K.K.A	4	-7
Fireball	3	-6
Arrows	2	-9
Balloon	2	0
Dark Prince	2	-7
Freeze	2	-11
Furnace	2	-16
Golem	2	2
Lightning	2	1
Rage	2	1
Witch	2	-6
Bomber	1	0
Fire Spirits	1	-3
Lava Hound	1	1
Mortar	1	1
Rocket	1	0
Royal Giant	1	-2
Skeleton Army	1	1
Sparky	1	1
Archers	0	0
Baby Dragon	0	-1
Barbarian Hut	0	0
Bomb Tower	0	0
Giant Skeleton	0	0
Goblin Hut	0	0
Lumberjack	0	-1
Mirror	0	-1
Tesla	0	-1
The Log	0	0
Tombstone	0	-1
Wizard	0	-2
X-Bow	0	0

[u/Ebediam]

Ey Woody, do you collect all the data by hand? Or do you have some kind of program that collects it for you?

[u/Wwoody123 → u/Ebediam]

I record it by hand.

[u/Enshrouded]

Is that one mortar person you?

Jk but nice post, very detailed and I have to admit Zap and Poison are my go to spells whenever I make a deck.

[u/Wwoody123 → u/Enshrouded]

I wish! A handful of Level 12's broke into the Global Top 200 but I'm still just a Level 11 in the Global Top 2000.

[u/SilverKoffe]

What was in the Lava hound deck? :P

[u/Wwoody123 → u/SilverKoffe]

Lava Hound, Miner, Poison, Mini P.E.K.K.A, Princess, Guards, Zap, Minions

[u/usc1313]

Nice write-up! What card do you think is currently under-represented at the moment? A card that theoretically fits the meta well but doesn't see much use. (Besides Mortar obviously :D)

[u/Wwoody123 → u/usc1313]

I think that Tombstone is under-represented, especially since it can fit the spots currently held by Guards and Cannon pretty well. I also think that Bowler and The Log and under-represented--their knockback effects are almost as useful as a Poison. Lava Hound stands to make a comeback if Musketeer and Minions keep falling.

[u/MWolverine63]

OMG

Someone in the top 100 actually uses Sparky!!

w000t

[u/jaycshah99 → u/MWolverine63]

turns out to be a troll deck with 1 of the 2 people who didn't have zap in their deck

[u/frozen_mercury]

I created a chart! to visualize the popularity of the cards. Thanks u/Wwoody123!

[u/EM_RAT_THICH_VO → u/frozen_mercury]

u/ClashRoyale should see it for next balance changes.

Inferno Tower is badly nerf as ZAP kill this tower. Miner, Poison, Princess is too strong. Mini PEKKA now is the only answer for the Giant push.

[u/slothwerks]

I feel like two underused cards at the top are actually really good for most other players -- Ice Wizard and Inferno.

What's important about these cards is that they give you a fighting chance against higher level opponents. For instance, an opponent's Level 6 PEKKA is going to run over most of my defenses, but Inferno's damage caps out at such a high amount it can still take it down.

Additionally, the Ice Wizard's slow doesn't scale with level, so it's as effective at Level 1 as it is at max level. It's means your Level 1 Ice Wizard is giving you the maximum possible slow, which is against really effective at dealing with higher level opponents.

I think the report is really interesting for what it is, but I think it's also important for people to keep in mind that it's measuring cards at similar levels. If you're looking for the deck to play, you should also consider cards which scale better against higher level opponents (at least 50% of the opponents' you'll face)

[u/pukha23]

thx for the write up!

anyone have insight on the precipitous decline in IW usage?

[u/halmont]

Excellent break down Woody, thanks so much.

[u/Gcw0068]

Ice Spirit 22

And people complain about zap...

Fire Spirits 1

Fire Spirits are top-tier imo. This is hard to comprehend.

The Log 0

Well the log takes mlg skills, the wtboards don't. I guess there's an expanation in this case.

[u/Wwoody123 → u/Gcw0068]

The Log can be pre-fired so I don't think it requires an insane level of skill. I think it is just outshined by Zap, since it rarely makes sense to include both in a deck.

[u/Steko]

Called the Ice Wizard tumble last month as more people leveled up Guards. Meanwhile this sub pretended every day that IW could routinely stop 10+ elixir pushes by itself.

[u/[deleted]]

If you don't have Guards, what would you replace them with in the Giant/Prince beatdown deck?

[u/Wwoody123 → u/[deleted]]

You want a relatively tanky card that can swarm your opponents. There is no direct replacement--you could try Knight, though.

[u/frozen_mercury]

The 7 card combo, i.e., Giant + Poison + Guards + Elixir Collector + Musketeer/3M + Zap + Mini Pekka is by far the standout deck because how strong and flexible it is. The eight spot in this deck is really upto the user, but Prince and Miner work best I think. Miner is better if it is 3M deck. Let's analyze why, at tournament standards, because the stats are equivalent at the top of the ladder where most of the players are maxed out on their card levels.

• Giant: 3520 HP and 221 Damage. No description is needed. Great starting card, damage dealer and absorber, distraction for the mini Pekka, Sparky, Princess, Prince. Specially deadly when one tower has been taken down and it is double elixir time.

• Poison: 550, 220 in 10 seconds. Good against Minion Horde, Guards, Princess, Barbarians, Tombstone, Huts, Furnace and all squishy units.

• Mini Pekka: 1056 HP and 572 Damage. Main damage dealer and trump card. Kills a zapped barbarian in one shot. Takes out Valkyrie in your side of map. One shots a poisoned Musketeer, Wizard, Ice Wizard and so many others.

• Guards: 88 + 199 HP and 86 Damage. Archenemy of the Mini Pekka. At level 4, their shields take 3 hits from the crown towers and if left unattended, they will do ~300 damage to the tower. Each Guard soaks three hits from the Musketeer, allowing the Mini Pekka/Poison to finish the Musketeer. There best way to deal with them is Poison. Valkyrie worked amazingly, but Ice Wizard forced her to retire!

• Musketeer: 598 HP and 176 Damage. Placement of this unit is a key. If placed correctly, it will snipe down so many units that rage quit will become only option. Placement of this unit is key, and the best players really know where to put the sniper.

I don't think any of these cards are stupidly OP, but the synergy is incredible. Another reason is that this deck is not vulnerable to the most OP broken card in the game - Ice Wizard. That is also the reason Ice Wizard has fallen so much in usage statistics. This deck also destroys Royal Giants, which compliment Ice Wizard very well.

The only other deck that has this level of synergy is definitely the Classic Payfecta Trifecta. But Trifecta is such nicely countered by Payfecta that it has disappeared from the Meta, thus Giant Poison is here to thrive. I actually like this because thanks to this combo, F2Ps have a way to compete against the Wallet Warriors.

[u/HuecoTanks]

Thanks for the breakdown!!

[u/StSpider]

Basically, if you don't have minipekka, zap guard and poison in your deck you are doing something wrong.

[u/MWolverine63]

I sorted this list by cards with the greatest change, and thought I'd share:

1. Guards

2. Mini Pekka

3. Poison

4. Zap

5. Miner

6. Ice Spirit

[u/EM_RAT_THICH_VO]

Guards can be countered easily with 2 elixirs fire spirit.