2.9 Mortar Cycle

Deck Information[]

Deck Created by: SAMU G

Minimum Recommended King Level: 9

Maximum Recommended King Level: 13

Arena Required: Miner's Mine (Wrong?)

Average Elixir Cost: 2.9 (Wrong?)

More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder

Card Roles[]

Tower Princess:

Mortar: Your win condition. Unlike X-Bow, it has a blind spot so utilise it to get damage through. It has rather high health for 4 elixir, so don’t be scared to sacrifice it if you can’t defend it efficiently, as you can cycle to another one rather quickly.

Knight: Your mini tank and support in front of the Mortar.

Archers: Your air defence and support behind the Mortar. Can be cycled at the back.

Ice Spirit: Your cycle card. Can get chip damage on opponents Tower, stop charging troops and synergy with Tornado.

Skeletons: Your cycle card. Good distraction against single targeting troops and high DPS against building targeting troops.

The Log: Your small Spell. Can be used to chip Tower, cycle at the bridge, push back ground troops and remove unit with health up to Princess.

Tornado: The core of this deck. A King Tower activation for Mortar Cycle is extremely crucial, especially against Graveyard decks.

Rocket: Your secondary win condition. Often what you rely on to clutch a win against harder matchups.

Deck Introduction[]

Want to try out Siege Decks, but feel like X-Bow is too hard? Give this Mortar deck a try. This is a very free to play friendly Cycle Siege deck that have a very different play style compared to X-Bow.

I feel like this deck is rarely mentioned for how much potential it has. I guess Mortar itself was not a popular card, but I really think this deck deserve more attention.

I learn most of the strategies and skills from Legendaray, one of the top players with this deck on YouTube. You can check out his channel if you want to see this deck in action.

General Tips[]

Activation of King Tower against decks that are neither siege nor Royal Giant is a core part of this deck, and doing so will significantly increase your chance of winning. This is why having Tornado in your hand is extremely important, and cycling until you have Tornado in your hand is the first thing you should be aiming to do.
- This is especially crucial against deck that uses Graveyard or Goblin Barrel as their win condition. Lone Graveyard is rendered useless with an activated King Tower, and Goblin Barrel does significantly less damage.
It might not seem that way, but this deck has one of the strongest defence in the game.
- This is because for 4 elixir, Mortar has just about 100 less health and the same lifetime compared to an X-Bow, meaning it is very long lasting and spell resistance. Often time tanking incoming troops with Mortar means you can get a shot through their Tower, because of its blind spot and its health.
  - Because of its long lifetime, you can deploy a Mortar in the 4-3 placement when you see a heavy win condition deployed at the back, such as Golem. To learn more about building placement, see this blog.
- Tornado is another reason why this deck have a strong defence. It gives you the tool of activating King Tower with heavier win condition, given that they are pulled in by a defensive Mortar.
  - Against Royal Giant, pulling it back with Tornado while damaging it with Knight and Skeletons is enough to defend it perfectly, not to mention you can quite literally Mortar on top of him to get a shot on their Tower as well as stalling him.
  - Paired with Rocket, you can easily eliminate a push with multiple support troops.
- Ice Spirits and Skeletons are great at pulling and distracting troops that are not building targeting.
Mortar at the bridge at the start of a game can be risky, since is your core defence against building targeting troops.
There are a few ways you can get a Mortar lock onto the Princess Tower.
- Against troops that does not do too much damage per seconds, you can Mortar right to absorb the damage as well as getting a few shot over their head due to the blind spot. They will have to deploy extra troop to tank the Mortar if they do not want damage on their Princess Tower.
- Against heavy win condition, you can Mortar at the bridge then Tornado the tank to the opposite lane (if they are deployed at the centre) or Tornado the tank backwards (if they are deployed in the same lane next to the Tower) when they attempt to tank your Mortar with it. This will activate your opponents King Tower but since this is a Siege deck, this does not matter too much.
  - Alternatively, you can Log their tank when it is crossing the bridge to knock it out fo the Mortar‘s sight range, and cause it to retarget onto the Princess Tower.
You would want to use Rocket under certain scenarios.
- When they invested something 4 elixir or more at the back that can be taken out by the Rocket, such as a Mini P.E.K.K.A.. Do be mindful that if they have something of a higher priority such as a Sparky or Three Musketeers, Rocket after considering the risk.
  - You can still Rocket troops with the Princess Tower in double elixir, since you can cycle back to another Rocket quickly IF you have Ice Spirit and Skeletons in hand.
- When they stack units behind their heavy win condition. This is when you can pair Rocket with Tornado to eliminate majority of their push. Sometimes Rocketing just one support troop and the tank is good enough, as the Rocket does heavy damage to the Tank as well.
  - You should always prioritise troop that post a higher treat to your defence, such as a Baby Dragon. Since it does splash damage and have high health, it is hard to be taken out behind a tank and will heavily limit your usage of Skeletons and Archers.
- When using troops to defend is insecure.
  - For example, if you don’t have Mortar in cycle and all you have against an Ice Golem + Hog Rider push is Archers, Tornado, Skeletons and Rocket, it is safer to simply Rocket out the push, as the Ice Golem will prevent you from pulling the Hog Rider to the King Tower, and Archers does not do enough DPS.
    - The same applies for Balloon, Royal Hogs and Ram Rider.

For more general usage and strategy, check card page for each of the card.

Game Plan[]

Single Elixir Time (3:00 to 1:01)[]

I know I’m like a broken record at this point but use this time to figure out your opponents deck. See this blog for more information.

As mentioned above, first thing you do is to cycle until you get Tornado in your hand. Try to get a King Tower activation as early as possible.

Cycle Plays[]

Split Archers at the back
Ice Spirit at the back or at the river
Split Skeletons at the back or in front of your King Tower
Log at the bridge to chip Tower

You will be guaranteed a Tornado after these plays. You can be passive and wait for your opponent to make the first move after you have Tornado in hand, as this gets you an easy King Tower activation most of the time. See this blog on more information about Tornado King activation.

You can go aggressive with Mortar once you see a ground mini tank such as a Knight being played, as most deck normally does not have multiple mini tank.

Do not try to get a Mortar lock through Tornado during single elixir (Tornado the tank away from the Mortar’s sight range). As you just used Mortar on offence, you only have Tornado for defence against building targeting troops. You will not be able to cycle back to another Mortar or have enough elixir to Rocket out their threat during single elixir time.

Double Elixir Time (1:00 to 1:01 in overtime)[]

You will now be able to cycle a lot faster and have sufficient elixir to be a lot more aggressive with your Rocket and Tornado usage.

You can now Rocket their Tower alone after a successful defence, or after you gain an elixir lead. You can start Rocket cycling when their Tower is around one third health (33%).

Triple Elixir Time (1:00 in overtime to Tiebreaker)[]

You should focus on defence and send out a Rocket near the end of the game if you already have a damage lead to guarantee a win.

Otherwise, start Rocket cycling. Try your best to stall with Tornado and Ice Spirit.

Matchups[]

Mortar have good matchups against Hog Rider, Log Bait and Sparky.

Against Hog Rider, you can Mortar to get damage as well as defending the Hog in the same time, or get an easy King Tower activation with Tornado.
- Spell cycle wise you have equally fast cycle speed and a stronger spell. Most of the time you can Rocket on their Tower alone and defend rather well with Mortar or Tornado against their Hog Rider.

Against Log Bait, Mortar denies the usage of most swarms and Princess. They can’t effectively protect their Princess either so there’s that.
- Inferno Tower or Tesla is decent at stopping a Mortar, but they are prone to prediction. Simply Skeletons in front of the Mortar will give you enough time to deploy other troops in case they do use such buildings to defend your Mortar.
- You have a faster cycle so you should still win when it comes down to Rocket cycle, just be careful not too take too much damage from the Goblin Barrel, and use your Log wisely.

You can always Rocket a lone Sparky and it will be an even trade, and a great trade if that Sparky was deployed behind the King Tower.
- Sparky are always paired with Giant or Goblin Giant, so often time you also get extra value on their tank, even if they are not deployed at the back.

Bad matchups are Royal Giant, Giant, Miner and X-Bow.

Royal Giant completely counters your Mortar. He will prevent it from doing any damage, as well as having over 90% health remaining after destroying your Mortar.
- Despite that, you can out cycle most RG decks, and get another Mortar down before they have RG back in cycle.
- Tornado is very good at defending a RG, as simply deploying troops to do damage then Tornado the RG back when he is about to lock onto your Tower will deny him most damage, if not all.
- Rocket cycle is always viable, as all you really have to worry about is the RG which you don’t have too much trouble defending.
Giant is cheaper compared to RG, and he will either block your Mortar for a long period of time, or take it out before it does severe damage. You can’t really out cycle a Giant effectively, because Giant Deck normally runs a lot of ground troops for distraction and they are not nearly as heavy as Golem decks.
- You will most likely need to use a Tornado to cheese a Mortar lock in Double Elixir Time, as your Rocket will have to be used on the support troops on defence.
- Getting a King Tower activation early is very important against Giant. Remember, 4-3 Mortar then Tornado towards the King Tower.
Miner Decks do not run many troops that give you Rocket value. Bats are very obnoxious to deal with, and Wall Breakers are somewhat hard to counter for a positive trade. It is easy to activate King Tower with Miner decks though. Generally, it is not Miner that gives you issues, but other cards that are commonly paired with Miner.
- This is more dependent on the variation. Giant Miner is one of the worst matchup you can possibly face. The Miner will chip away at your Tower while the Giant is tanking, and your Rocket is mostly occupied by the support troop behind Giant so Rocket cycling will be extremely risky.
- To win, you will have to get a good Mortar lock, again by cheesing them with a Tornado.
X-Bow is the worst matchup. Head to head a X-Bow will completely destroy a Mortar. It has more DPS and more health.
- Your only reliable way to counter a X-Bow is to Rocket it, but even then you will have to spend extra Elixir to distract the X-Bow, or else it will chip your Tower health.
- They can constantly force out your Rocket with their X-Bow, then spell cycle you down with their own spell. Both of these deck can defend your Mortar relatively well with Tesla or X-Bow, and even simple distraction from Ice Spirits and Skeletons will give your Mortar a hard time locking onto the Princess Tower.
  - 2.9 is especially good at doing this, as they have extremely fast cycle speed to match your Rocket with their X-Bow.
  - IceBow has a slightly slower cycle speed, but not too much slower. IceBow also has Rocket as their big spell, so they are much more effective at taking down your Tower.

Balloon and Golem are matchups that are mostly skill dependent. Although these matchups slightly favours you, one mistake and the match could really go South. The variant also heavily influence the matchup.

Golem is similar to Giant, that you need to get a King Tower activation on their first push. Unlike Giant, Night Witch is almost always guaranteed so be careful when handling Bats.
- Same as Giant, deploy Mortar at 4-3 placement then activate King Tower with Tornado. Distract the support troops with Skeletons, Ice Spirit and Knight, and defeat them with Archers.
- Golem with flying Machine (namely Golem Clone) is one of the worst matchup. Flying Machine can simply sit at the opposite side of the river and take out your Mortar. You either have to Tornado it into your side or Rocket it, either which is a bad choice but you don’t have a choice in the first place against it.
  - Skeleton Dragons give you the same issue, but at least they fly into your side themselves.
Balloon Matchups heavily depends on you to not make mistake with your Mortar placement. Generally a Mortar at 0-2 or 4-1 placement are the two most common and reliable placement to counter a Balloon.
- Most Balloon decks run Arrows. This means relying on Archers on defense can loss you the game if you aren’t careful about it. Rocket is the most straight forward and non-interactive counter existed, and it is only 1 Elixir more than Balloon so most of the time it will be your best bet on defense.
- Against heavy Balloon deck such as Lavaloon, you will want to cycle multiple pairs of Archers to DPS down the tank while you save your Rocket for the Balloon only.

Level Sequences[]

As I’ve mentioned at the beginning, this is a very F2P friendly deck. As most of this deck consists of Commons and the rest aren't really that level dependent, it should take much shorter to level up the core cards in this deck. King Tower levels is important, as for any other cycle decks, as you rely heavily on Crown Tower damage to aid you in defend.

Common cards are easy to max, as they can be mass traded and request from Clan. Rare cards are slightly slower but since Rocket is the only one in there it wouldn’t be too big of an issue if you focus token on it.

Archers should be maxed first. As your only air defense, you have to really ensure they don’t die to cheaper spells, namely the Log. The Log 1 level above will take out the Archers, so maxing them first should be your priority.

Mortar should be what you are maxing next. As your win condition, it has extremely high health and each shot it gets on the Tower is higher than the Spell Tower damage of a Fireball (more so after the 5% Spell Tower damage nerf). Not having it leveled enough means it won’t be threatening enough and they might just ignore it as it already doesn’t do great DPS.

Rocket is the next on the list. The reason for this is mainly because of Sparky. Rocket will not take out a Sparky one level above it, and against Sparky matchup Rocket really is the card that turns it into an easy matchup. If Rocket doesn’t one shot Sparky, you’ll have to spend extra Elixir on it and could really cost you the game. It is your secondary win condition too, so having a higher execution health is always appreciated.

Next up, Knight. As your only mini tank, he is very capable on defence for simply 3 Elixir. Due to his high health pool, levelling him up is a lot more rewarding compared to the rest of the options. He does not do too much damage and wasn’t your win condition either, which is why he is not being maxed first.

Ice Spirit and The Log are about the same priority. Both are your important tools at chipping Tower and defending, though one is much easier to max compared to the other. I would recommend leveling the Log to level 10 then leave it until you have more resource to level it up, as level 10 Log is enough to take out level 13 Goblins.

Skeletons and Tornado should be what you are maxing last. These two are really level independent, perfect for a F2P deck. However, you would still eventually want to level them up, as it is much appreciated if Tornado can one shot Bats and Skeletons can one shot their own kind.

Final Words[]

As I’m writing this guide, all decks that rely on Spells as a finisher got hit pretty hard, as all damaging Spells received a 5% Tower damage nerf. Rocket cycling is now less effective and so you will have to really work hard for those Mortar connections a lot more.

This deck should still be viable nonetheless. If you want to try out siege but don’t want to wait too long to level cards up, definitely give Mortar Cycle a shot.

That’s about it. Have fun Clashing!