The Ba-Looming Miner

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Introduction

A MinerLoon Control deck constantly looming with threats to Crown Towers.

Deck Information

Deck Created by: AmogusSus801.

Minimum Recommended King Level: 10

Maximum Recommended King Level: 15

Arena Required: Electro Valley (Wrong?)

Average Elixir Cost: 3 (Wrong?)

More Statistics: Go to Deck Builder

Card Roles

Cannoneer: Anti-Beatdown, Kill Zone.

Knight: Tank.

Musketeer: Anti-Air, Sniper; Anti-Glass Cannon (Evolution only).

Giant Snowball: Anti-Swarm, Assist, Pushback, Status light spell.

Skeletons: Assist, Cycle; Bait (Evolution only).

Miner: Assist, Scout, Tank; Secondary Win Condition.

Bomb Tower: Anti-Swarm building.

Barbarian Barrel: Anti-Swarm light spell; Assist (Barbarian only).

Balloon: Primary Win Condition.

Deck Overview

With MinerLoon being a pretty strong deck, a decent fair of variations loom around the meta. This is the main one, with cheap yet versatile defense units to store Elixir for your looming push. Play this right, and your opponent won't see those bombs coming!

Card Overviews

Cannoneer: While having versatile units, the deck still lacks high damage units to fend off tanks, especially tanky win conditions. Cannoneer's high damage per hit will be able to cover this fact pretty well when bringing enemy units to the "Kill Zone" with your defensive units (even Miner, when needed). His weakness, cycle decks, can be worked around, as your deck also has a cheap cycle cost.

Knight: Your tank. He will easily get positive Elixir trades on defense so you can counterpush/use Miner + Balloon later on. When Evolved, his offensive and defensive capabilities increase, which is useful for Musketeer and Balloon if Miner had to be used for taking a troop down.

Musketeer: Your anti-air and ranger. As a versatile unit, she can give great value on both offense and defense, especially when paired with Knight or Miner. She can also take down aerial units and snipe troops from a safer distance. When Evolved, she will deplete or fully destroy a good fair of troops or buildings played by the opponent with her sniper shots.

Giant Snowball: Your first anti-swarm spell. Its strong knockback and its slow effect allow it to be good on both offense and defense, since it delays troops from moving/attacking, clears swarms, and resets some ramp up/charge attacks. When Evolved, it pulls all troops backwards, clumping everything in one spot.

Skeletons: Your first assist and deck cycler. Their ability to cycle the already cheap deck allows you to reach your offensive or defensive units faster, while being good defensive units itself on some circumstances. When Evolved, they may force out a spell or a splasher from your opponent that could be used for your other cards.

Miner: Your second assist and secondary win condition. Most of the time, you can send him offensively to tank for your Balloon. However, he has enough hitpoints, damage, and hit speed to be able to be good on defense when needed. He can also defeat problematic troops/buildings on the enemy side.

Bomb Tower: Your building. It is able to hold itself on defense surprisingly well, as it has high hitpoints, a nice range, a nice damage per hit, and a splash area. Paired with the Musketeer, for air defense, the Knight, for tanking, or even used by itself, the Bomb Tower can provide a pretty good defensive layer.

Barbarian Barrel: Your second anti-swarm light spell. On top of clearing swarms, a Barbarian is spawned for extra offensive and defensive value, as well as for finishing leftover enemy units.

Balloon: Your primary win condition. When Knight or Miner are tanking for it, the Balloon is a deadly troop, dealing very high damage per hit, quickly taking down a Crown Tower when not taken care of. Its death bomb can also deal some damage to nearby troops.

Evolution Priority Order

1. Knight. So his offensive and defensive capabilities increase.
2. Musketeer. So she can greatly damage or fully destroy certain units and buildings from afar used to try to prevent your pushes.
3. Giant Snowball. So it can move troops away from your counterpush, and reset ramp-up and charge attacks.
4. Skeletons. Their multiplying effect isn't as beneficial as the other Evolutions present in the deck.

Strategy

Single Elixir (3:00 to 1:01)

• This deck requires you to get in control of the match. Don't try to go all in on the first push: try to cycle to your Miner as quickly as possible (if he's not in your starting hand), then, react to your opponent's play, and finally, once you have him ready, place him at any enemy Crown Tower, then build your push from there. It is important to get positive Elixir trades on defense before getting comfortable during attacks.
• Always place Miner on the safe spots before checking if the opponent has a Tornado, because otherwise, you risk activating the enemy King Tower. If you do, then winning is significantly harder, as this causes Miner and Balloon to be much worse, while your spell cycle is too weak aid you when troops cannot damage the Crown Tower.
  • If the opponent lacks Tornado or when the enemy King Tower has already been activated, always vary your Miner's deploy position to catch the opponent off guard every time.
• Much like in any cheap deck running them, Skeletons shouldn't be used solely for cycling, as they'll provide defensive value when used correctly, improving your performance.
• Keep using Knight and/or Musketeer on defense, then try to make small counterpushes with them. Bomb Tower should be saved for win conditions (especially when you're facing a Royal Recruits and/or Royal Hogs deck), as the deck lacks great damage per hit/splash damage units. Plus, you have Barbarian Barrel and Giant Snowball for countering swarms.

Double Elixir (1:00 to 1:01 Overtime)

• From Double Elixir onwards, once you have defended with your defensive units, send Miner and Balloon against the weaker Crown Tower, guaranteeing desperate responses from the opponent. Giant Snowball can also be used on offense to catch your opponent off guard, while still keeping Barbarian Barrel for ground swarms.
• You can use Bomb Tower more often on defense, since it'll be of great help against troops close to each other, and its high health guarantees it stays in the Arena more. However, make sure to still try to save it for swarms, as sometimes, Barbarian Barrel and Snowball might not be available/sufficient.
• Cycling Musketeer in the center of the Arena allows her to cover and distract both lanes, and when paired with Knight on whatever side, she becomes nearly unstoppable. When Evolved, she'll also snipe troops and buildings placed in central positions to deter your opponent from stopping your Balloon, especially if she's played as a prediction for the building.

Triple Elixir (1:00 Overtime)

• Send Miner aggressively to try to chip the Crown Tower when needed, and Snowball whatever is used to stop him from doing so, as the combo is the only way you can reliably deal chip damage to the Crown Tower to have an edge in Overtime/Tiebreaker.
• Since this is a Miner Control deck, don't be surprised if your matches go into this phase, or even Tiebreaker; if you have the control, you'll win everytime due to dealing the most damage to the Crown Tower over time.
• Keep using Knight, Musketeer and Bomb Tower defensively, Barbarian Barrel for swarms/extra distraction, and Skeletons for distraction/cycle. You can also use Balloon along with a Miner if you want to be extra aggressive.

Substitutions

This is a meta deck with not much room for replacement. However, there are a few changes you can do if you really need to.

• Knight: Ice Golem is the only viable substitute, as you gain a slightly frailer troop that doesn't attack enemy troops for one less Elixir, perfect for kiting and an amazing pair with Musketeer and Balloon.
• Musketeer: Her versatility as a decently quick anti-air sniper makes her unable to be replaced.
• Giant Snowball: Other spells.
  • Zap deals the same damage and sacrifices the pushback for stun for the same Elixir cost. Its Evolution deploys an extra Zap for more damage and stun time.
  • Poison, which forms the infamous Miner + Poison, deals more damage over the course of 9 seconds, slows down units inside it, and is better on spell cycling and removing swarms, at the cost of +2 Elixir and no pushback.
  • Rage deals the same damage and sacrifices the pushback for an increase in movement and attack speed, all for the same Elixir cost. Mainly for supporting Balloon.
• Skeletons: Ice Spirit keeps the fast cycle of the deck while having his own interactions on defense, both when alone and when paired with something else. When Evolved, his value increases, though he may not be as needed as the deck's other Evolutions.
• Miner: As the win condition's primary aid and secondary win condition himself, he cannot be replaced.
• Bomb Tower: Its uniqueness as a long-ranged tanky building that can also deal splash damage makes it unable to be replaced.
• Barbarian Barrel: The Log is the best replacement. While it doesn't spawn a Barbarian for extra distraction/damage, it deals slightly more damage, deals pushback, and rolls a longer distance, all for the same Elixir cost.
• Balloon: As the primary win condition, it cannot be replaced.

Levels

The deck is F2P friendly, as although it has 1 Legendary card, it also has 3 Common and 2 Rare cards which are used on a lot of decks, so you'll end up upgrading them anyways. This also applies to Miner. Here is the deck's leveling order.

1. Musketeer. If she's one level lower, she'll be defeated by a Fireball, which will greatly weaken your defenses. If she's one level higher, she'll survive a Poison, which will greatly increase your odds against Poison decks. She'll also one-shot Goblins of the same level as her.
2. Miner. The longer he stays alive, the longer he tanks for the Balloon, and the more damage he deals to the Crown Tower.
3. Balloon. Have it leveled up so it can deal more damage per hit (both against Crown Towers and against buildings which try to counter it), as well as survive for longer.
4. Knight. Leveling him ensures he'll be healthy enough to tank during defense and counterpushes, while dealing enough damage to one-shot Goblins.
5. Bomb Tower. Keep it healthy so it can survive for longer and deal more damage.
6. Barbarian Barrel. Despite being able to one-shot Goblins being a good thing, Knight and Musketeer already do that when at even levels, Knight and Miner are already good tanks, and Giant Snowball already counters what Barbarian Barrel could counter.
7. Giant Snowball. It is more used for the pushback and slow effects than its damage, though dealing more damage is still a perk.
8. Skeletons. The deck's least level dependant card.

Conclusion

The deck is F2P friendly, which means that, in terms of investing items/gold in the deck's cards, you won't have many issues. However, you need a lot of skill and patience to use Miner AND Balloon, as well as to place cards correctly. Usually, matches last for as long as until Tiebreaker due to your insane defense but low Crown Tower damage output per push. Still, it is a very good deck, no wonder it's looming around the meta. So, if you feel like mining through the bombs, this deck is for you.

Nomenclature

The "Ba-Looming" in "The Ba-Looming Miner" is a play on the words "Balloon" and "looming", an adjective meaning "an ominous or worrying event about to happen", referring to either Balloon or Miner always being directly sent into the enemy's Crown Towers.

History

2018

• The Ba-Looming Miner deck could be created as early as Giant Snowball's release, which happened on 20/6/2018.

2023

• On 19/6/2023, the Skeletons were allowed to Evolve.
• On 7/8/2023, the Knight was allowed to Evolve.

2024

• On 4/11/2024, the Musketeer was allowed to Evolve.
• On 2/12/2024, the Giant Snowball was allowed to Evolve.