Clash Royale, the spinoff of Supercell's mobile games like Clash Royale have such a high player base, there are no secrets about the "meta" decks in the game currently. Those are the decks with the most utility and use in the game's current state.
Low elixir decks have been a part of Clash Royale's meta for a long time, and because of that, many different kinds of low elixir decks work extremely well. Two of the most famous decks are "2.6 Hog Cycle" and "Log bait." Each deck has unique strengths, but both have a sort of formula that they follow so that players can put their own spins on it.
The first deck's title, 2.6 Hog Cycle, is relatively self-explanatory. At its core, it is meant to quickly cycle back to the deck's hog rider card to put constant pressure on the opponent. The deck consists of a cannon, fireball, log, ice spirit, ice golem, skeletons, musketeer, and hog rider. Luckily, it's not too hard to upgrade those cards with gold in Clash Royale because only one of them is a legendary rarity, with the rest being rare and common. So the best way to use this deck is to play the hog rider, let the opponent react by using their strongest counter to it, then quickly get back to the hog rider before the opponent has their counter card ready. And since this deck has some of the strongest and most versatile defenses in the game, it's not too hard to get back on offense.
The Best 2.6 Hog Cycle Deck in Clash Royale
Another great low elixir deck is the "log bait" deck. Using many low elixir cards countered by The Log forces opponents with high-cost elixir decks to always be on their toes when deciding the best use for their spells. By using the goblin barrel, goblin gang, ice spirit, knight, princess, log, rocket, and inferno tower, the defense is unmatched when mixed with the offense. Using the goblin barrel on offense will likely force the opponent to use arrows, zap, log, or something like that. Just like gems in Clash Royale, those cards are very valuable to have. So then, when players play defense, they will almost always be able to play the princess and goblin gang without being immediately destroyed by one of those spells. If the goblin barrels are being constantly countered, the rocket is there to be able to do some tower damage.
Each of these decks is godly on defense, but each follows a formula. Each has a building for defense, a spell for damage, the log (one of the best cards in the game), a mini tank, a "win condition," and a cycle card. That means that since it has that formula, it can be replaced by other cards and still be effective. To clarify, "win condition" cards are the cards that are meant to be dealing tower damage, like wall breakers, hog riders, skeleton barrels, and goblin barrels. Mini tanks are things like ice golems and knights. Since those cards are easy to get, players won't have to spend their real money in Clash Royale to build those decks.
Applying that formula can make for effective low elixir decks because they force the player's opponent to evaluate each move and punish them for mistakes. Skeleton barrels can replace goblin barrels, and wall breakers can replace skeleton barrels. It all has a sort of formula, and that can be changed to suit each player.
Clash Royale is available now on iOS and Android devices.
