Gaming
The meta game of Clash Royale is continuously evolving from patch to patch, week by week, and sometimes even within a day. Learn about the Classic Decks that have stood the test of time.
When choosing a deck for the ladder or preparing for your next tournament, you might want to invest your gold, gems and time into a deck that you'll play for longer than just until the next patch. To be competitive in tournaments such as the Red Bull M.E.O. by ESL, you'll have to be comfortable with a tried-and-tested deck; a real classic.
1. The Three Musketeers
Pump it up, but don't do it too early. At nine elixir, Three Musketeers is the most expensive card in the game and therefore a huge commitment of resources when used.
While decks using Three Musketeers are not traditional beatdown decks that use a beefy tank, the card is most commonly used in combination with the Elixir Collector. Other commonly used cards are the Ice Golem and Battle Ram for support.
When using Three Musketeers you almost always want to split them in the middle of the arena and support the two sides of the split, to either force a reaction from your opponent or reactively support the split based on your opponent's reaction.
Check out this state-of-the-art iteration of the Three Musketeers deck by SirTagCR below...
2. Full air superiority with LavaLoon
Some love playing against it, some hate it – LavaLoon is one of the most polarizing decks. The reason is that in any meta there are decks that easily counter LavaLoon and ones that don't stand a chance due to a lack of air defense.
The core of any LavaLoon deck is – as the name suggests – Lava Hound and Balloon. With the former tanking for the latter, LavaLoon has the potential to destroy a tower in one push.
One of the key aspects of playing LavaLoon is surviving until double elixir, so you can use the faster elixir charge to overwhelm your opponent's defense. If you use Lava Hound before double elixir you can easily be punished by your opponent.
Clash Royale pro Coltonw83 of compLexity used LavaLoon to climb the ladder at the end of the season...
3. Out-rotate your opponent with 2.6 Hog Cycle
The 2.6 Hog Cycle deck is probably one of the most mechanically demanding decks in Clash Royale. Taking on the challenge of mastering it will bring you loads of trophies and satisfaction, as you learn to beat and rotate against different types of decks.
While most Classic Decks have changed over time, and used different support cards or spells from time to time, the 2.6 Hog Cycle deck has used almost the same eight cards for years.
The main advantage of having a deck with a lower elixir cost than that of your opponent is that you can use your win condition more frequently than your enemy can use their most effective counter. 2.6 Hog Cycle maximizes that advantage by being cheaper than almost any other common deck, while still being able to counter most win conditions effectively.
