3.1 Mortar Bait

Introduction

Using this deck will punish anyone who rushes and anyone who doesn't have a small spell in their decks (if the enemy's cards are not overlevelled, that is)

Deck Information[]

Deck Created by: BulgarianYogurt

Minimum Recommended King Level: 9

Maximum Recommended King Level: 14

Arena Required: Electro Valley (Wrong?)

Average Elixir Cost: 3.1 (Wrong?)

More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder

Card Roles[]

Knight: The Knight is crucial to this deck. Because of his high health, fast hit speed and decent damage for a 3-cost card, he's a jack of all trades. He's great for defense because of his ability to counter low-dps tanks like the Giant Skeleton and the Mega Knight. He's also excellent for offense, being able to create a counter-push if he has a decent amount of hp left after defending, usually by attacking with a Goblin Barrel or placing a Dart Goblin behind him to deal devastating damage if the opponent doesn't have a counter in hand. He can also be used to defend the Mortar while it's deployed, forcing the opponent to either spend more elixir or take heavy damage to the tower. Play him to counter support units and win conditions alike, but don't use him for building chasers. It's not recommended to place him at the bridge when there's nothing there, it's much more efficient to attack with him only when you counter-push.

Goblin Gang: The Goblin Gang can be a very deadly card if played correctly. Defensively, it's a great counter to lone Inferno Dragons and low hit speed troops like a Sparky and a P.E.K.K.A., but only when surrounded. Just like the Knight, you can use Goblin Gang to counter lone support troops at the bridge like a Musketeer. This card is great for chip damage and you can play it at the bridge to make a first play or when the opponent is low on elixir. A safe play is to split the goblin gang at the river so The Log can't kill every single goblin. However, this can be countered by a cheap troop played between the 2 princess towers, but this isn't much of a drawback since if that troop it isn't an Ice Golem or Goblins, that either will be a neutral or a negative elixir trade for the opponent or both towers will get a little bit of chip damage.

Mortar: This is your most important card and main win condition for this deck. The Mortar is used both for defense and offense depending on the circumstances. If the opponent has a building chaser as their main win condition, use this card defensively and if any other unit is the main win condition, use it mostly offensively and when used defensively, plant it 2 tiles above the king tower so it can defend uninterrupted. If you're defending a building chaser, place it like any other defensive building. If you're defending a Balloon or a Lava Hound however, plant it 2 tiles closer to the attacked Princess Tower so they don't ignore the building and then use a Dart Goblin to finish them off and deal chip damage to the enemy. When you use the Mortar offensively, place it 1 tile behind the bridge and 1 tile left or right (depending on which side you place it) from the center of the bridge to make the most out of its range and to make it get distracted less often. A common beginner's mistake is to place it in the middle of the river: then it covers a much larger area, making distraction very easy. This card is not your only win condition - you also have chip damage dealers, Goblin Barrel and spell cycle, but the Mortar is the best way to deal damage out of the 4.

Goblin Barrel: The Goblin Barrel is your secondary win condition. It's a good idea to attack with a Goblin Barrel as your first play to see what answer the opponent has. Afterwards, you should use this card to either bait your opponent's small spell or use it just after they got baited, or when the opponent is very low on elixir. Since it can be devastating, usually do the second or the third mentioned strategy.

Dart Goblin: The Dart Goblin is your tank killer. Because of his high DPS, it can completely stop slower units from dealing damage to a tower as long as they're distracted. It's also good against swarms if you don't have a Princess in hand because of the very high hit speed. If you know that the opponent doesn't have their win condition in rotation, you can use the Dart Goblin to deal chip damage to the tower and sometimes to bait the opponent's small spell so you can safely attack with a Goblin Barrel unless the opponent has a second small spell, which is unlikely. The Dart Goblin greatly synergises with the Knight: when paired with him, it can kill the opponent's big tanks which don't target only buildings. It's a great idea to place it in the bridge after a Knight starts approaching the princess tower after defending, creating a small push which can be deadly if left ignored.

Fireball: This is your medium-damage spell. Before double elixir, use it only to damage or kill low to moderate health units placed in the back. After that you can log, but the opponent can be running Goblin Barrel or swarms, so this would be a risky play. Do the same during double elixir, but you can also use it to damage or kill the support units in a push for a positive elixir trade. During overtime when you'll be using your Mortar defensively unless the opponent is low on elixir, cycle the opponent's lower health tower with either just Fireball or Fireball and The Log to have guaranteed damage on that tower.

The Log: The Log is useful in almost every deck and this one is no different. Use this card to kill low-health units and swarms, to finish off damaged medium-health units, to knock troops back so you can defend them more easily, most notably the Royal Giant and to damage your opponent's princess tower when it's low on health.

Princess: The Princess can deal both with air and ground swarms easily, as long as she keeps her distance. Thanks to her long range, you can place her in the other side of the arena to defend a push. She can be placed at the bridge to deal a fair amount of chip damage and force the opponent to spend elixir. If the opponent doesn't have The Log in rotation, that is guaranteed damage.

Strategy and Tips[]

For the first play, it doesn't really matter who does it. After you get 10 elixir and the opponent hasn't made a play yet, attack a princess tower with a Goblin Barrel, or if you don't have it in hand - any other bait card to see what the opponent can respond with. Never make a first play by attacking with a Mortar because the opponent can just place a building chaser like a Balloon at the bridge in the opposite lane , which will guarantee heavy damage for the enemy. If the opponent makes the first play by rushing at the bridge, that won't be much of a problem if you have a Knight, a Mortar and/or any other counter to the rushed units in hand. If you get unlucky however, that would be a problem.
If the opponent plays a high-cost unit in the back like a Golem or a P.E.K.K.A., instantly attack the opposite lane with a Mortar, a Goblin Barrel or a Goblin Gang to deal some heavy damage to the opponent's tower and/or force them to abandon the push they were going to create with that unit and defend instead.
Never overcommit on offense. Unless the attacked tower is very low, you shouldn't support your attacking Mortar with more than 2 units at a time because you'll run low on elixir.
If you're having trouble with the Mega Knight, he isn't that much of a hassle to deal with. Just save up your Knight to counter him because he has low dps and needs support to deal with him. He can be used to counter your offensive Mortar either by distracting it or by placing him at the bridge. If they do the former, they're more experienced so only use your Mortar defensively until you start cycling to the Mortar faster than the opponent does to the Mega Knight. If your opponent does the latter, you can simply predict the Mega Knight by placing a Knight a few tiles away from the Mortar, then playing a Dart Goblin behind the Mortar so it can snipe the Mega Knight while he's distracted.
Balloon and Lavaloon decks are going to be a hassle - you won't be able to use your Mortar offensively because otherwise you won't be able to deal with them. The Dart Goblin is going to become essential during these encounters because it's your only cost-efficient anti-air unit. If you're playing against a decent player, you'll see them placing their air tanks on the left side of the bridge to make them get distracted less easily. To combat that, simply place your mortar a tile or 2 closer to the attacked princess tower - otherwise that is going to cost the game!
Dealing with X-Bow decks is pretty simple - distract the attacking X-Bow with a Knight and attack it with a Goblin Gang. If the opponent is overcommitting on offense, a Fireball will do the job. When the enemy is using the X-Bow defensively, spell cycle their lower health tower and place your mortar in such a way that it targets the defending X-Bow but not the princess towers.
If you reach triple elixir, the Mortar will become an important defensive card: It can counter almost every win condition the opponent is trying to damage your towers with other than spell cycle. You can overcommit on defense to quickly cycle your Fireball and your Goblin Barrel to damage the princess towers. You can also sometimes use your Mortar offensively to surprise your opponent, then quickly cycle to another Mortar to start defending.

Summary[]

This deck double-edged: the defense is excellent because there are a lot of cards like the Knight and the Princess which can be a major threat to pushes and the offense is great because there're many aggressive cards like the Mortar and the Goblin Barrel which almost guarantee a fair amount of damage. If you know how to play this deck, you'll win more than 50% of the time. For additional stats, click here.