Create a strong deck based on this deck guide:
Here is a deckbuilding guide:
Clash Royale is a real-time strategy game, meaning your plays influence the outcome of the match. But too often, people will overlook one key form of preparation: building a good deck.

I bet anyone who has played for a substantial amount of time has, at some point, come across a teammate asking for help, only to find that he has been running something absurd, such as X-Bow + Mortar + Freeze, or Double Giant + Rocket.

One particular scenario was a clanmate who asked me for help. He had been stuck in the same arena for months. When I inspected his profile, I found that his deck was, bluntly put, garbage. It was almost impressive that he was at that many trophies, considering how awful his deck was.

I began by dropping hints that maybe it was time for a deck change. Him, being the bone-headed, stubborn player that he was, did not pick up on (or simply ignored) my hints. Finally I decided to just tell him straight up:

Me: Ok buddy, I think it's time to change your deck.

Him: What? No, my deck's fine, I just need to get better at playing.

Me (starting to get frustrated): Well, do you agree that with a better deck, it would be easier to win?

Him: Yeah, for sure.

Me: So..... you wanna change your deck?

Him: Nah.....

Me: *Dies inside

Don't be this guy. In order to help you guys not be a stubborn, useless, sack of wasted clan space (only half joking), I present:

THE ULTIMATE DECK BUILDING GUIDE (FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS)
Disclaimer: This guide is about how to build your own deck, and things to consider while building one; it does not address deck archetypes or matchup theory in depth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Basic Terminology/Knowledge [Basic]

Where to Start/Deck Archetypes [Basic]

The Rest of the Deck/Card Synergy [Intermediate]

Do card levels really matter? [Advanced]

Advanced Knowledge & Techniques [Advanced]

Final Thoughts [N/A]

KEY:

* definitions/explanations

*** practical tips

Key information/Categories (bold text)

Section 1: Basic Terminology/Knowledge
(If you are familiar with card functions and roles, skip to section 2)

Cards can be grouped in many different ways. This guide will often reference the niche/role and function of cards.

niche/role: This term refers to the purpose a card plays within a deck. This can vary from deck to deck, but most of the time a certain card will always fulfill the same role. For example, in a golem deck, the niche, or role, of the golem is to tank for support units.

function: This term is more specific to the card than niche/role. While a card can have a different niche/role depending on the deck it is in, the function of a card will always remain the same. For example, the function of the musketeer is, and always will be, to provide air defense and a high DPS (damage per second).

A good way to distinguish between the two is to consider what a card literally does (the function) and how that gives the card a purpose in a deck (the niche/role).

Clash Royale boasts a large assortment of cards (who's hyped for #100!). With 99 cards, you could make billions of decks, all different from one another. But in reality, only a small number of these decks actually work. Going further, only a small number of those decks really excel in ladder. How do you distinguish "useless spam" from "meta*****"?

* meta: decks used by pros/top players on high ladder, due to their high card synergy and efficiency. The meta usually changes at least a little bit every season/month, due to seasonal balance changes.

Section 2: Where to Start/Deck Archetypes
(If you are familiar with win conditions and/or deck archetypes, skip to section 3)

One thing all good decks have in common is that they have a win condition (I will try not to disappoint you u/TweektheGeek). These are cards or combinations of cards that play the role of "tower destroyers". Win conditions can range anywhere from the speedy hog rider:

r/ClashRoyale - "Hog Ridaaa!"
"Hog Ridaaa!"
to the toxic & disgusting royal giant (jk, but also not jk 😒):

r/ClashRoyale - Molt fans, wya?
Molt fans, wya?
Win conditions can also be a combination of cards:

r/ClashRoyale - "Mega Goblins"/MK Zap Bait
"Mega Goblins"/MK Zap Bait
In the deck above, the "win condition" is the way the cards work together, instead of what a single card does. There isn't one card that deals most of the damage. Yes, you could argue that miner or skeleton barrel is the "win condition", however miner/skeleton barrel is not always the main damage dealer.

This deck, and others like it, are part of an archetype known as Bait. The bait archetype focusing on pressuring an opponent until they use a certain card, then overwhelming them with similar cards.

*** Baiting out cards is a strategy every player should utilize, regardless of the type of deck they are running.

Another common deck archetype is Beatdown:

r/ClashRoyale - Golem Beatdown
Golem Beatdown
This archetype focuses on building a push (usually a tank with support units following behind) to overrun your opponent. Allowing a beatdown player to build up a big push is not a good idea. It is quite hard to deal with a full scale Golem push, especially for new players. Also note that the Golem card, by itself, is not the win condition. The Golem does not deal the majority of the damage; that comes from the support units. Win conditions refer to a strategy that players use to win a match, rather than a specific card.

Yet another deck archetype is Cycle:

r/ClashRoyale - Hog 2.6
Hog 2.6
This archetype utilizes quick, fairly inexpensive attacks to slowly chip an opponent's tower down over time. Cycle decks usually make use of cheap, high value cards, such as ice spirit, or 1 elixir skeletons. These cards allow Cycle players to quickly "cycle" back to their win condition and continuously chip away at towers, while still providing moderate defensive value.

Finally, we have Siege decks:

r/ClashRoyale - X-Bow 2.9
X-Bow 2.9
Siege decks do the majority of their damage from the safety of their side of the arena. Siege decks are, for the most part, countered by tank cards, which is why Siege decks are often Cycle decks as well. Having a quick cycle allows Siege players to "outcycle" tank cards.

(At this point, experienced players would expect to see Control. However, the Control archetype is so broad that it includes most decks. Due to how vague the Control archetype is, the list below does not categorize any decks as Control. In addition, this guide focuses on deck building, not deck archetypes. Knowing what the Control archetype is does not really affect the deck building process.)

Deck archetypes are not mutually exclusive, meaning that a deck can (and usually does) fall under multiple archetypes. However, Cycle and Beatdown are usually thought of as opposites.

The following list is win conditions grouped by frequency (how often you encounter them), as well as the archetype(s) a win condition is usually associated with:

Highly Common

Hog Rider ......................................................................................................................... [Usually Cycle]

Golem + Night Witch .......................................................................................................... [Beatdown]

Lava Loon ............................................................................................................................. [Beatdown]

Spell Bait ............................................................................................................................... [Cycle/Bait]

X-Bow .................................................................................................................................. [Siege/Cycle]

Pekka + Battle Ram ............................................................................................................ [Beatdown]

Somewhat Common and/or Meta-dependent

Lava Miner ........................................................................................................................... [Beatdown]

Graveyard ............................................................................................................. [Cycle or Beatdown]

Three Musketeers/Split Push ................................................................................. [Beatdown/Bait]

Royal Giant ...................................................... [Usually Siege/Beatdown, sometimes Siege/Cycle]

Giant + Sparky ..................................................................................................................... [Beatdown]

Mortar ................................................................................................................................ [Siege/Cycle]

Balloon + Freeze ............................................................................................................. [Usually Cycle]

Miner + Balloon ............................................................................................................................ [Cycle]

Elixir Golem + Battle Healer ............................................................................................. [Beatdown] (Again, "meta-dependent")

Miner Chip ............................................................................................................................. [Cycle] (This win condition is quite broad, it includes all miner-chip style decks)

Double Prince ...................................................................................................................... [Beatdown] (Usually paired with Giant or Golem)

Bridge Spam ........................................................................................................................ [Beatdown]

Less common/Lower arenas

Giant Skeleton .................................................................................................................... [Beatdown]

Clone ..................................................................................................................................... [Beatdown] (Usually paired with Golem + Night Witch or LavaMiner)

Spell Cycle .......................................................................................................................... [Cycle/Siege]

E-barbs + Rage ..................................................................................................................... [Beatdown] (Yes, I have included this meme combo)

Another disclaimer: These win conditions are what I see (6000-6500 trophies). This may not reflect extremely high ladder (7000+ trophies).

I believe I have covered all of the win conditions in Clash Royale worth naming. If I have missed any, or mislabeled a win condition, please let me know in the comments so that I can add them. (Any bridge spam/rush decks have been included in the [Beatdown] category.)

Section 3: The Rest of the Deck/Card Synergy
(If you are familiar with card synergy, skip to the Author's Note below this section)

So now you have a win condition picked out. What about the rest of your deck? The rest of the deck should be created to help your win condition succeed. Each card in Clash Royale performs well when used with a few select cards, but becomes less useful when used with any others. This is what we call card synergy.

*** You SHOULD NOT put a card into a deck just because you think it's "good".

High card synergy indicates that two cards complement, or boost, each other's performance. A good example of high synergy decks is Bait. Imagine a deck with no swarm troops, except Goblin Barrel. Almost any deck with a cheap spell will be able to hard counter (completely stop) your Goblin Barrel, simply by saving their spells for whenever you play your Barrel.

Now consider what happens when you add more and more swarm troops to the deck. Your opponent has to choose what to spell: your swarm units, or your Goblin Barrel. They can't spell both. This is how card synergy works. Adding swarm troops did not change anything about the goblin barrel; i.e. the level/stats/elixir cost of the goblin barrel all stayed the same. However, your Goblin Barrel is suddenly more effective because of the presence of other cards in your deck. The more swarm troops a bait deck has, the better it will be at "baiting" spells. Having more and more swarm cards doesn't make each individual card do more damage, cost less elixir, etc. It's the way they work together that makes bait decks so strong.

Is Pekka a powerful card? Absolutely. It will destroy Golem (at least, in a 1 on 1 situation). Does that mean you should put a Pekka in every deck? No! Remember that hog 2.6 Cycle deck from up there 👆? There's a reason it doesn't have a Pekka. Every time you switch out a card in a deck, it's a trade-off. There is no card that does everything. All cards have their strengths and weaknesses. If you're thinking about switching out a card, think about what your deck is about to lose, and compare it to what your deck is about to gain. Putting a Pekka in hog 2.6 increases defense. But it also cuts back on the deck's ability to cycle, which is what makes it so strong. Not using Pekka in Hog 2.6 is the better choice overall.

Another example of this is the zap card. Zap is especially helpful in Beatdown decks, as inferno tower/inferno dragon is a very good counter to tanks. Zap allows Beatdown players to mitigate a fair amount of the inferno's efficiency. However, graveyard players tend to avoid using zap. Why? Zap's function is to stun/reset, and that actually hurts graveyard decks. Graveyard players want to keep the tower distracted, so that the skeletons can accumulate and overwhelm the tower. Zap would make the tower reset, and start killing off skeletons instead of the tank. No bueno.

So, back to deck building. What does card synergy have to do with building a good deck? Well, the more synergy your cards have with each other, the better the deck will perform, as a whole. This is the reason why meta Beatdown decks don't have very many Cycle cards, and why meta Cycle decks have very few heavy cards. Cycle cards perform well in Cycle decks, but poorly in Beatdown decks; and vice versa for Beatdown cards.

Whenever you are building a deck, you want to help your win condition succeed. Unfortunately for new players, there is no exact method ("when you have -- , put a -- , in your deck."). Learning which cards work well together is done mostly through trial and error, and it's also part of the Clash Royale experience. No one is going to be able to tell you what card is 100% best in a deck, because, well, it doesn't exist. When pros "make" meta decks, they take many different things into account: recent balance changes, usage rates, etc.

The basic format of building a deck can be summarized as follows:

Choose a win condition (1-2 cards)

Choose direct damage***** spells that work well with your win condition (1-3 spells, 2 is usually a good number)

Fill the rest of the deck with support units (anything that's not a spell)

If you're going to use a building, don't have more than one (unless it's a spawner deck)

* direct damage: spells that will do guaranteed damage to crown towers. Goblin barrel, graveyard, and any other "troop-related" spells are not considered direct damage, as they do not guarantee damage.
Section 4: Do Card Levels Really Matter?
(If you are familiar with card level interactions, skip to the Author's Note after this section)

At this point many of you may be thinking, "I want to play other decks, but I don't have high enough card levels 😥." As a F2P (Free to Play) player myself, I completely understand. I'm currently sitting with 77 possible upgrades right now, and less than 100,000 gold. I've still got a long way to go before I completely max out my account. However, I offer some encouragement: Card levels don't really matter, especially not in lower arenas (to a certain extent).

A good measure of whether or not you deck is "too low level" or not is a deck's ADL (Average Deck Level. Such a complex, thought-provoking name, right? 😂) Consider each of your cards and measure how many "points" each card earns based on your king tower level. For example, if you are king level 11, max level cards would "earn" 2 points, level 10 cards would "earn" -1 points, etc. Finally, add up all of your card points. If the point total is positive, then good job. Your card levels are around where they should be.

Another thing to consider is that most card interactions have a 1-2 level margin. What this means is that cards 1-2 levels lower than your opponent's cards will still do their job relatively well. Some cards even go past this margin. For example, a level 9 princess will still 2-shot max level minions (just like she is supposed to). On the other hand, as long as your minions are at least level 10, they will survive one shot from a max level princess (again, this is what's supposed to happen).

While this margin varies based on the specific card interactions, most card interactions follow this 1-2 level "rule". So if your card levels are only about 1-2 levels lower, you should still have a decent chance at winning, at least based solely on card levels.

*** Cycle decks are more affected by low card levels than Beatdown decks. If you're worried about having low card levels, play Beatdown.

("But what if I hate having lower card levels? Even having one card at a lower level is frustrating.")

I have good news for you; there are certain cards that perform well, even at lower levels. The following list ranks cards in order of how much they are affected by a level difference:

Still very strong or do the same thing even when underleveled

Tornado

Skarmy

Rage

Freeze

Clone

Somewhat affected but still fairly strong at lower levels

Inferno Tower

Inferno Dragon

Pekka

Mini Pekka

Princess

Sparky

Mega Knight

Valkyrie

Lumberjack

Balloon

Bomber

Usable, but only at a 1-2 level difference

Swarm units other than stab goblins (including skeleton barrel, graveyard, etc.)

Direct damage spells

Defensive buildings

Spawners (except Furnace)

Basically anything not included in the other categories

Highly dependent on level

Spirits + Furnace will not reach the tower and deal chip damage

Glass cannons (musketeer, 3 musketeers, wizard, etc.) die to fireball if underleveled

Elixir Pump gets less value against heavy spells

Wall Breakers do not reach the tower

Ice Golem death damage does not kill skeletons/bats

Goblin cards (barrel, gang, regular) die to zap if underleveled

Firecracker and Archers die to log if underleveled

Prince does not one-shot glass cannons (while charging) if underleveled

(Again, I think have I covered all of the cards, except mirror. If I have misplaced any, let me know.)

*** For players using a level 1 account, the cards in group #1 are your go-to cards, at least until you get legendaries.

Section 5: Advanced Techniques/Knowledge
If you are familiar with Damage Output and Four-Card Cycles, there's nothing left! (unless you wanna read section 6.)

Disclaimer #3: The following section does not cover elixir counting, cycle tracking, and other high skill cap techniques relating to gameplay. Only topics relating to decks and their structure are explained.

Damage Output (DPS, DPSPE)

What exactly is damage output? That's a hard question to answer. Decks have subtle, implicit interconnections between cards that determine how strong a deck is. Quantifying damage output is a hard thing to do. However, there are a few stats that reflect the strength of the deck fairly accurately.

One of those stats is DPS (Damage Per Second). Most troops cards will display a "damage per second" stat when you click on the "info" tab. This stat allows us to compare the damage output of troops with different attacks speeds. For example, which kills tanks faster, a Prince or a Sparky? Prince attacks faster..... but sparky does massive damage per shot. (For those curious, it is sparky.) Without comparing DPS, it would be hard to know for sure.

The following list includes the 20 highest DPS troop cards (that survive arrows), with their respective DPS (rounded to the nearest tenth):

Inferno Dragon (assuming it's not reset) ................................................................................ [75.0 - 875.0]

Barbarians (together) ................................................................................................................... [567.9]

Three Musketeers (together) ...................................................................................................... [493.6]

Pekka ............................................................................................................................................... [376.7]

Elite Barbarians (together) .......................................................................................................... [354.1]

Royal Recruits (at most 4 recruits will help out on defense) ................................................... [338.5]

Mini Pekka ...................................................................................................................................... [332.2]

Hunter ............................................................................................................................................. [318.2]

Sparky ............................................................................................................................................... [275.0]

Goblin Brawler ............................................................................................................................... [253.6]

Lumberjack ..................................................................................................................................... [250.0]

Prince .............................................................................................................................................. [232.1]

Cannon Cart .................................................................................................................................... [176.0]

Night Witch (not including bats) ................................................................................................. [173.3]

Wizard ............................................................................................................................................. [167.1]

Musketeer ...................................................................................................................................... [164.5]

Mega Minion .................................................................................................................................. [161.3]

Bandit ............................................................................................................................................... [160.0]

Dark Prince .................................................................................................................................... [158.5]

Skeleton Dragons (together) ....................................................................................................... [156.5]

It's not surprising that most of the above cards all in some meta deck or another. It's also fairly reasonable to say that most of these cards will remain in the meta for a long time, simply because of their high DPS.

However, the list above will only get us so far, because it doesn't take a very important aspect of the game into account: elixir. Players don't get infinite elixir, to play down any card whenever they want (*coughs in 7x elixir challenge). While it would be nice to be able to throw down 15 Pekkas every time someone plays a Golem, that's not how the game works.

Also, card cost different amounts of elixir, which begs the question "Is it really worth it?". Pekka has a very high DPS..... but it also costs 7 elixir. With 7 elixir, you could throw down a combination of a few cards, like Mini Pekka + a swarm unit. Doesn't that sound like a better deal? This takes us to the next step in our quest to understand the meta: DPSPE.

DPSPE (Damage Per Second, Per Elixir) measures the damage output of a card, just like DPS. However, DPSPE also takes into account how much elixir that DPS costs. Since everyone gets the same amount of elixir..... shouldn't we make the most of it? Pekka + Mirrored Pekka is definitely not the best deal. Pretty high DPS..... but it costs too much in comparison. DPSPE gauges the relative damage output of a unit compared to its elixir cost, and provides a more realistic view on why some cards are used more than others.

Consider this next list. It is similar to the one above, but ranks DPSPE instead of DPS. The top 20 DPSPE troop cards (again, that survive arrows), with their respective DPSPE (rounded to the nearest tenth), are:

Inferno Dragon (assuming it's not reset) ......................................................................... [18.8 - 218.8]

Barbarians (together) ................................................................................................................... [113.6]

Mini Pekka ........................................................................................................................................ [83.1]

Hunter ............................................................................................................................................... [79.5]

Goblin Brawler ................................................................................................................................. [63.4]

Lumberjack ...................................................................................................................................... [62.5]

Elite Barbarians (together) ............................................................................................................ [59.0]

Three Musketeers (together) ........................................................................................................ [54.8]

Mega Minion .................................................................................................................................... [53.8]

Pekka ................................................................................................................................................. [53.8]

Bandit ................................................................................................................................................ [53.3]

Royal Recruits (at most 4 recruits will help out on defense) ..................................................... [48.4]

Bomber .............................................................................................................................................. [47.5]

Prince ................................................................................................................................................. [46.4]

Knight ................................................................................................................................................ [46.4]

Sparky ................................................................................................................................................ [45.8]

Miner ................................................................................................................................................. [44.4]

Night Witch ...................................................................................................................................... [43.3]

Musketeer ........................................................................................................................................ [41.1]

Fisherman ......................................................................................................................................... [41.0]

This list is quite a bit different from the one above. Inferno Dragon continues to top the list (as it should). But Mega Minion is ranked much higher at #9, Sparky has dropped to #16, Wizard didn't even make this list, and Mini Pekka and Hunter have moved to top 5. A DPSPE list reflects the meta so much more accurately than a simple DPS list, because players don't have infinite elixir to use.

Pekka has a higher DPS than Mini Pekka (376 vs 332). But is Pekka more value? 4 Pekkas will do a total of ~1500 DPS, for 28 elixir. What if we spent that 28 elixir on Mini Pekkas? That's 7 Mini Pekkas..... which yields ~2300 DPS for the same elixir cost. And sure enough, Mini Pekka sits at #3..... while Pekka has dropped to #10.

Of course, DPSPE isn't perfect. It doesn't explain why musketeer has such a high usage rate compared to its place on the list. Damage output isn't the only stat that matters. But it is a piece of the puzzle. So, the next time you build a deck, take a few moment to consider, "Does this card provide the best value? Or will another card do more damage, for less elixir?". I guarantee that you will begin to win more and more often, just by choosing the right card for your deck.

(The reason the above lists include troops that survive arrows was to simplify the difference between swarm troops and single units. I realize that barbarians are technically swarm, and that cards like dart goblin are not swarm. I've been working on this guide for more than a week, give me a break 🙃. I am planning on going back and editing after I post.)

The Four-Card Cycle (and the Five-Card Cycle)

Every player is aware of the "Average Elixir Cost" statistic that Clash Displays below a deck. This helps players gauge how "heavy" or "light" their deck is, then make changes accordingly; without having to do the math themselves. This quality-of-life feature is one of the major things that strategists will discuss when critiquing a deck. However, it's not very accurate, especially when decks contain 1 very expensive card, and 7 very cheap cards (not to mention mirror and elixir collector screw up the calculations a bit)

Consider the following deck:

r/ClashRoyale - Looks fun.... 🤡
Looks fun.... 🤡
This deck has an average elixir cost of 4.0..... but does that really reflect the cards in the deck? There are 3 very expensive, 7+ elixir cards, and the rest are 1-2 elixir. None of the cards in this deck are even close to 4 elixir. While the above deck is an extreme case, and very unrealistic, it does demonstrate a significant problem with the "Average Elixir Cost" stat.

One such consequence is that players may build a deck, worry that it's too expensive, and then replace one of the cards with ice spirit/skeletons. While this does bring down the "Average Elixir Cost"stat, nothing about the deck has really changed. It's still the same deck as before, with the difference of one card. Players will mistakenly believe that the "Average Elixir Cost" stat is a perfect measure of a deck's flexibility, which leads to confusion. Players will lose battle after battle, and wonder why their deck isn't working. They never consider that the "Average Elixir Cost" may be misleading.

I'm not suggesting that Supercell put that stat in to mislead us. I think the "Average Elixir Cost" is a wonderful quality-of-life feature that makes Clash Royale easier to analyze, and form strategies about. However, the "Average Elixir Cost" stat doesn't tell the full story. To gain a more accurate perspective about the elixir rating of a deck, players should also consider a deck's Four-Card Cycle.

The Four-Card Cycle of a deck is the elixir total of the four cheapest cards in the deck. In other words, the Four-Card Cycle is a measure of the least amount of elixir a player can spend and still come back to a certain card. This matter, especially in overtime, because elixir is synonymous with time. If something costs less, it will take your elixir less time to regenerate the amount spent, hence allowing you to play cards faster, and cycle through your deck.

Cycle decks naturally have a lower Four-Card Cycle than, say, Beatdown decks. For example, Hog 2.6 has a Four-Card Cycle of 6 elixir (Skeletons + Ice Spirit + Log + Ice Golem), while a LavaLoon deck has a Four-Card Cycle of 11~12 elixir (depending on the variation of LavaLoon). This is fairly intuitive; it makes sense that a deck with cheaper cards would be able to cycle faster. However, we can apply this to another concept: direct damage.

Many players, especially Cycle players (*coughs in Icebow), will resort to cycling spells during overtime. This is a common tactic that almost every deck utilizes, as long as they have a heavy spell with decent crown tower damage. However, not all decks are created equal. How do I know if I have the upper hand? Should I keep spell cycling, or should I switch to pressuring my opponent so he can't spell cycle? These questions, and many others like them, can be answered by considering a deck's Four-Card Cycle.

Many of you will recognize this deck:

r/ClashRoyale - Icebow..... 🤢
Icebow..... 🤢
This deck is infamous for being obnoxious with its quick cycle and ice wizard + tornado defensive combo. However, most of the frustration from high-level players comes not from the X-Bow..... but from the rocket. Most skilled players can handle an X-Bow. But when an Icebow player starts going defensive and cycling rockets, there's nothing you can do**.**

Supercell even said this about spells during the last month's update: "This, coupled with the creation of sometimes stale and frustrating ‘Spell Cycle’ strategies, sees them get a slight reduction to Crown Tower Damage this Season."

There is no way to counter the actual damage a spell does. I'm not saying that spell cycle is op (quite the contrary actually). I am well aware that pressuring an opponent will force them to stop, or at least slow down their spell cycling. I'm referring to the actual damage that spells do. Once someone fires a spell at your tower, it is 100% guaranteed to do damage (unless they u/ChiefPat it, of course, sorry not sorry Chief Pat 🙃). This is why spells are often called "direct damage". Once someone fires a rocket at your tower, there is no way to stop your tower from taking 370 damage (max level).

But this post isn't to complain about Icebow. Let's resume our focus. Why is Icebow so good at spell cycling? How does it compare with other decks? Which is better at spell cycling, Hog 2.6 or Log Bait? Hog 2.6 is cheaper, but it has fireball. Log Bait is more expensive, but it has rocket. How do you know for sure?

One way to measure a deck's spell cycle ability quantitatively is to use the Five-Card Cycle. (Yes, Five-Card, not Four-Card). The Five-Card Cycle calculates how efficiently decks can deal damage through spells. Five-Card Cycles are measured in Crown Tower Damage Per Elixir, Per Cycle, or DPC for short. DPC measures how much crown tower damage a deck does on average, per 1 elixir, during one cycle.

Let's go back to Icebow. Icebow contains Rocket and Log. (Tornado damage is basically nothing). From the perspective of the Icebow player, he wants to get as much damage as possible, while using as less elixir as possible. This means he will most likely play Rocket + Log + Knight + Skeletons + Ice Wizard during one cycle (I realize this does not take defense into account, this method simply creates a constant form of measurement for all decks). This costs a total of 15 elixir, and deals a total of 442 damage (tournament standard). So, the DPC of Icebow is 442/15 = 29.5.

How does this compare to Hog 2.6? Well, Hog 2.6 players will play Fireball + Log + Ice Spirit + Skeletons + Ice Golem which does a total of 244 damage for 10 elixir, or 24.4 DPC. As you can see, even though Icebow costs more elixir per cycle, it still ends up doing more damage.

Let's take a look at the DPCs of a few well-known decks (rounded to the nearest tenth):

Icebow ............................................................................................................................................... [29.5]

Log Bait (OG, w/ knight) .................................................................................................................. [26.0]

Hog 2.6 ............................................................................................................................................... [24.4]

X-Bow 2.9 .......................................................................................................................................... [24.4]

RG Cycle ............................................................................................................................................ [15.6]

Golem Beatdown ............................................................................................................................. [14.7]

Pekka + Ram .................................................................................................................................... [14.5]

Graveyard (w/ musketeer + barbarian hut) .................................................................................. [11.5]

Giant + Graveyard (w/ musketeer) ................................................................................................ [10.1]

MK Zap Bait/Mega Goblins ............................................................................................................. [4.0]

Icebow tops this list (should I be surprised?), closely followed by Log Bait and Hog 2.6. Beatdown decks have a significantly lower DPC, which explains why Beatdown players don't resort to spell cycle as often. Decks without heavy spells, such as Mk Zap Bait, have much lower DPCs.

The DPC of a deck is a good way to measure the power of a deck in Overtime. If you and another player are neck-and-neck in crown tower damage, you want to have a higher DPC then them. Due to one of the recent updates, as long as you have more damage, you win! So the next time you edit a deck, or build a new one; think about the DPC. You'll find yourself pulling ahead during Overtime.