Lavahound Chip

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Introduction

This deck is called Lava Chip Cycle. The goal of this deck is to continuously cycle lava hounds until your opponent's tower falls. I have been using this deck for about 2 years accept, replacing the firecracker with the princess previously. It has served me well on ladder and also well in classic challenges. This deck is all about the counter push potential with the lava hound. Cycling as many firecrackers and teslas on defensive then counter pushing with them can quickly overwhelm your opponents.

Deck Information

Deck Created by: 4EYESaiah

Minimum Recommended King Level: 9

Maximum Recommended King Level: 13

Arena Required: Miner's Mine (Wrong?)

Average Elixir Cost: 3.4 (Wrong?)

More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder

Card Roles

Lava Hound: This is your main and only win condition in this deck. It is also your tankiest unit and the unit that deals the least damage in one attack. Use it effectively and wisely. Cycle the lava hounds continuously to overwhelm and out cycle your opponents. The hounds should be mostly cycled during the double elixir and triple elixir time period.

Knight: The knight is the second most tankiest unit in this deck. Use the knight to body block for your firecracker or ice wizard and to also wipe out any ground tanks. The knight is one of the most important cards in this deck.

Ice Spirit: The ice spirit is a card used to mostly cycle in this deck. IF you don't have a good hand, you can use the ice spirit to get yourself a good hand and possibly force out a response from your opponent. The ice spirt can also be used defensively and to distract or retarget enemy units.

Firecracker: The firecracker is one of the most essential and one of the most important cards. It is important for her to stay alive as long as possible. Use the ice golem and knight to body block air and ground attacks.

Fireball: The fireball is the big spell provided in this deck. Use it mostly for defense to counter and air win conditions or fast moving win cons such as the ram rider. Use it offensively to get rid of any spell value card or to support your lava hound.

Tornado: The tornado is one of the most useful and most versatile cards in this deck. Use it mostly for defense as it synergizes well with the firecracker and the ice wizard. Also, use it clump up enemies together to get more fireball value or to drag the units in front for firecracker to kill.

Ice Golem: The ice golem is one of the two mini tanks inside this deck. Use it to kite units to the opposite lane or to provide a cover for your ice wizard and firecrackers. Also use it for tanking and distracting.

Tesla: The tesla is one of the most important defensive cards in this deck as it provides a solid stonewall against the opponents win conditions like balloons and ram riders. Try to protect the tesla as much as possible by using tanking units such as the ice golem and knight. Using the tornado with the tesla is also quite effective.

Strategy

• Do not support your lava hound as much in single elixir. Remember, this is a cycle deck, you don't always need all the damage in one push. Simply cut or shorten your pushes so that the lava hound will slowly chip away at your opponent's tower. In double or triple elixir however, support your lava hound much more and cycle much more of them to keep the pressure going. Start to gradually increase your damage rate and be more aggressive as the timer gets closer to its end point.
• This deck is a mix of counter push, decision making, and strong combinations. Listed below are some counter push potential scenes.
• For example, you have just finished defending a mega knight push. You have a firecracker and ice wizard left. In this circumstance, you should always ice golem in front of the firecracker and ice wizard knowing that his mega knight is out of cycle and then, place a lava hound directly in front of the ice golem. This is one example, of a counter push attack.
• Now, I am going to list the different synergies and attack combinations for this deck.
• The ideal single elixir lava hound push should contain one, lava hound, with an ice golem tanking, two, a lava hound with an ice golem and firecracker with the lava hound tanking, three, a lava hound with a knight and firecracker, and finally four, a lava hound with just a firecracker. I am now going to talk about the different strategies for each variation for single elixir time.
• One, Lava and Ice Golem (LI): The point of this mini attack in single elixir is for the opponent to reveal any of his cards. The ice golem should be tanking for the lava hound. This is because if the opponent were drop any air swarm counter like bats, The bats will usually target for the ice golem and get killed by its splash. However, if the opponent is smart and decides to put his bats in the back of the lava hound, this is still ok as when the tower kills the ice golem, the splash will still occur, however only killing some of the bats. Remember, this push especially is only meant for cycle or to get little to no damage at all on the opposing tower. It is important for the opponent to reveal some of his cards in the beginning of the game, so you know what deck they are playing and how you can counter it and play against it.
• Two, Lava, Ice Golem, and Firecracker(LIF): In single elixir time, this is usually the push that I recommend using as it works best out of all the methods. In this mini attack, the lava hound is tanking for both the ice golem and the firecracker. This way, the firecracker gets as much protection as possible. If the opponent were to put down a wizard to attack the lava hound, you firecracker can hit the wizard while also get small chip on the tower. However, there are some downfalls. If the opponent puts a wizard behind the firecracker and ice golem, most likely, both will get shredded. In this circumstance, let the wizard take care of both the ground units as it likely focus back onto the lava hound. Most likely, the opponent will put another air counter to kill the the lava hound faster. This is when a fireball can come in handy. Use it to get more spell value.
• Three, Lava, Knight, Firecracker (LKF): This mini push is much more of an expensive one so, you must keep in mind to never overcommit. With this attack, The lava hound will be tanking and the knight will be tanking for the firecracker, trying to keep her alive. In this circumstance however, compared to attack option two or LIF, if the opponent were to drop a wizard, this cannot work as the firecracker may die, but the knight stays alive, pressuring the opponent to spend even more elixir. The problem with this push is that since the opponent knows he can't drop a wizard, he could have another win condition, like the Mega Knight. The Mega Knight can completely destroy both the knight and firecracker with of course, its enter the arena ability. Then, you must respond to the mega knight with an ice golem, which is not a very good defensive option. Your knight is out of cycle which could be a problem. So just know when doing this mini attack, make sure you know you have the right hand to get the right defensive capability.
• Four, Lava, Firecracker(LF): This mini push is the second lowest elixir cost and it is quite effective. The lava hound is simply tanking for the firecracker, while the firecracker herself, is getting some chip damage on the tower. This push however, can be countered really easily, however, this is just a mini push to get chip with the lava hound and also to figure out what the opponent really has inside of their deck.

Defensive Strategies

Tesla Stonewall

The

Synergies:

While playing this deck, keep in mind there are multiple strong combinations that can really make this deck thrive in its position and to keep it good both at defense and offense. Listed below are the best synergies for this deck

1. Tesla + Tornado: Now this combination doesn't seem like much at first as it wouldn't make sense to really tornado something into a teslas firing range, however, this actually helps, especially on the defensive end. You see, in order to have a successful defense with this deck, you will need to really protect your tesla. Using the tornado to pull enemy units away from the tesla is very effective and also killing swarms makes the life of a tesla much easier resulting in a much better defense.
2. Firecracker + Tornado: This strategy is quite similar to the first ice wiz and tornado, however, this can be both used in offense and also for defense. Simply put down your firecracker and a knight or ice golem on defense, then use the tornado to suck all those units into the tornado so all the shots of the firecracker line up to get massive value and damage. Surprisingly enough, firecracker is the highest damage dealing card in this deck, and with its splash ability, it can do heavy work on swarm and low and medium health units especially when paired up with the tornado.

Tips

1. When cycling lava hounds or counter pushing with lava hounds make sure that you have a good hand for your defensive side. Sometimes, opponents can completely ignore a lava hound and spam opposite lane. I recommend at least having at least one of these cards in your hand. A tornado, tesla or a ice golem.
2. During the beginning of the game, I recommend only cycling ice golems, occasionally firecrackers and ice spirits. Cycling knights and preplacing teslas is usually not a good idea as those might be some of the more effective counters to an opponents deck and their win conditions and mini tanks.
3. I know lots of people like doing lava hound first play with other decks but trust me, with this deck, I do not recommend it as knowing your opponent's deck is key to having success with this. Instead, play passively at first cycling cards in the back and only lava if you have a counter push potential or if you know your opponent doesn't have good counters in hand to the lava hound or your other troops.
4. Protecting firecrackers and teslas is key for a successful defense. As if they are protected by knights and ice golems and sometimes your spells, it can lead to great counter push potential and you can quickly overwhelm your opponent. If your opponent has small spells for your firecracker try to spread out your firecrackers as much as possible or bait out their spell then place another firecracker down if you have that in rotation.

Gameplay Walkthrough:

Single Elixir Time (3:00 to 1:00)

In the single elixir time period,

Placements

Any type of placements in this deck is extremely important as it completely changes the whole game. We are first going to start with the lava hound places and later move on to other important ones as well.

Lava hound: The placements of the lava hound are extremely important if you want to succeed with it inside the arena.

• In single elixir time, you usually would only cycle around 1 or 2 lava hounds in that time span. During those cycling, the lava hound should be placed at the bottom left or right hand corner or one or two tiles above that corner tile. This is to either, save your elixir just in case an opponent punishes, or to build a small push.
• During the double elixir time period you will usually still play the lava hound at the same place however, during the middle toward end of the game, the lava hound should be placed more aggressively which in other words is more near the bridge or the river. Always make sure the lava hound is at the very edge of the map on the last tile as it could sometimes bypass buildings.

Kiting:

Now, I know this may seem strange, but during my two years of playing this same deck, I have come to realize that kiting with the lava hound actually works better than you think. For example, say a baby dragon or a minion horde is coming toward your weak side tower which is your left tower. However, you are attacking on the right hand. Place your lava hound a bit further down, more towards your king tower and make sure the lava hound is going to go a bit right. of course, the lava hound will not go to the right completely, it will just pass the river the opposite side. I do this because, one, I am attacking the right side, meaning that I want to usually make my push in that direction, or two, I do it to distract those enemy units so they do not interfere with my push. When the lava hound kites the enemy units to the opposite lane, I can ensure that one, I can now safely cycle to another lava hound and finally attack to the lane I want to and also two, I can confirm that he will need to spend elixir on the lava hound coming on his right. The opponent will then waste his defensive units on that specific side so now I can safely drop my lava hound much much aggressively, on the left lane, so he won't have those defensive units back in time, and possibly no more elixir. While the lava hound is kiting, you can also put down a firecracker or an ice wizard to take care of those units faster and to get counter push potential.