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Five good Clash Royale decks showcased at the World Finals
The first Clash Royale League World Finals have come to a close with China’s Nova Esports taking home the victory. The action left us with a bunch of new decks and unique strategies to check out, so we’ve done the hard work and put together a list of five good Clash Royale decks showcased at the World Finals. With Global Tournaments rolling out in the latest Clash Royale update, now is the time to expand your deck choices and start racking up those prizes!
PONOS Sports Raiki Jones – Royal Giant/Lightning
Composition:
Barbarian Barrel, Guards, Mega Minion, Inferno Dragon
Furnace, Baby Dragon, Lightning, Royal Giant
The Japanese squad might not have made it to the finals, but the crowd favorites showed up in style and put up a good fight. In their match with the North American representatives Immortals, Raiki Jones managed to take down thegod_rf with this deck and set his team up for a King of the Hill victory.
With the Furnace providing constant pressure, Raiki Jones could play his Royal Giant behind his King Tower
Royal Giant and Lightning have been the basis for a number of good Clash Royale decks, but the addition of Furnace gave Raiki Jones just the boost he needed. The constant pressure put his opponent at an elixir disadvantage, which he then capitalized on with a big Royal Giant push.
Unlike most Western players, he also played the Royal Giant behind the king tower, giving himself even more time to build his push. Most players don’t do this because it gives your opponent plenty of time to react with a quick counter-push or prepare their defenses, but with the added Furnace pressure thegod_rf had to either react immediately or eat chip damage from the ever spawning Fire Spirits.
Nova Esports Little Shen – Targeted Bait deck
Composition:
Bats, Goblin Gang, Dart Goblin, Princess
Goblin Barrel, Skeleton Army, Royal Giant, Mega Knight
This unusual deck made it onto our list of good Clash Royale decks from the World Finals for a single reason: it was created specifically to take down vivo Keyd Javi14’s deck in the last few matches of the CRL World Finals.
Visa issues meant vivo Keyd only had three players, and opponents could scout out all of their decks
Due to visa issues the Latin American team vivo Keyd could only field three players, meaning that Little Shen and his coaches had plenty of time to come up with a counter for one of Javi14’s favorite decks. The result takes the traditional spell bait deck to the next level with the addition of Skeleton Army and a pocket Royal Giant.
With just Zap and Fireball, Javi14 didn’t have enough to slow down the pressure. Little Shen also held Royal Giant until the last moments before double elixir time, catching Javi14 completely off guard. This proved to be such a good counter that Little Shen pulled it out for a second time in the third game of the series to take home the win and eventually the cup. This shows just how much of an advantage it can be to get good scouting information about your opponent.
vivo Keyd Javi14 – Lava/Miner
Composition:
Barbarian Barrel, Miner, Tombstone, Mega Minion
Baby Dragon, Fireball, Inferno Dragon, Lava Hound
Immediately after his loss to the deck above, Javi14 came back swinging with this Lava/Miner deck. Rather than either Poison, Zap, or Lightning spells to back up his push, this deck relies on Fireball and Barbarian Barrel as its only spells.
By placing his Lava Hound in the far corner behind his Princess towers, Javi14 was able to slip past defenses played too deep in the opposite lane. Once the Lava Hound arrived at the tower, he held his fireball until just before it popped, taking any defending troops low enough to be destroyed by the Lava Pups.
Mega Minion and Baby Dragon are enough to defend against swarms of enemies, and the Inferno Dragon makes quick work of beefy targets as they’re pulled aside by the Tombstone. The final nail in the coffin for this match was the Miner, which could easily get free hits on the tower while Little Shen struggled with the counter-pushes and Lava Hounds creeping across the river.
King-zone DragonX X-bow Master – Golem/Night Witch
Composition:
Log, Bats, Zap, Clone
Lumberjack, Night witch, Electro Dragon, Golem
In their match against eventual champions Nova Esports in the semi-finals, King-zone DragonX’s X-bow Master made a big mistake by dropping a Golem behind his King Tower early in the match. His opponent Lciop immediately punished with a Lumberjack and Battle Ram push that destroyed X-bow Master’s Princess Towers just over a minute into the match.
He didn’t give up though, and held on to his key Clone spell until just the right moment. While his opponent thought he had the perfect counter to Golem with Pekka, a clutch Clone put more than 15 raged up Bats to work on a Princess Tower. After watching his lead evaporate in an instant, Lciop was never able to recover and eventually lost the match.
The main way this deck differs from the classic Golem/Night Witch archetype is the addition of one of this year’s new Clash Royale cards: Electro Dragon. It primarily performed defense duty against charging units and swarms. However, it didn’t have a major effect on this or any match in the tournament. Time will tell if it makes it into some of the best Clash Royale decks in the CRL regular season, but in the end fan concerns over its lack of balance have proved unfounded.
Nova Esports Legend’s Zappies 3M
Composition:
Log, Ice Golem, Bandit, Royal Ghost
Battle Ram, Zappies, Elixir Pump, Three Musketeers
Nova Esports might have come in as the tournament favorite, but few were expecting to see Legend take the stage over his more successful teammates. However, he pulled out several good Clash Royale decks and took home the only King of the Hill sweep of the tournament.
Zappies don't see much play outside of Asia, but Legend showed how useful they can be on defense
We chose this deck to highlight because it uses Zappies, which haven’t seen much play outside of the Asian leagues. This deck relies on Ice Golem and Zappies to slow down any charging attackers, with Bandit and Royal Ghost to provide most of the dps. Once the Zappies have taken down the attackers, they provide a great basis for a counter-push alongside Battle Ram.
It’s tempting to think that Elixir Pump and 3M would play a bigger role, but when Legend saw his opponent’s quick cycle deck, he (correctly) assumed he was up against a big spell card. As a result, he didn’t play Elixir Pump a single time, and his opponent’s Rocket sat harmlessly for the duration of the match. This just goes to show that good Clash Royale decks can be adapted to any situation and come out on top.
Good Clash Royale decks from the World Finals
I hope you enjoyed this list of good Clash Royale decks from the CRL World Finals. If you’re looking for even more decks to experiment with, check out our list of the best Clash Royale decks from the regular season of the Clash Royale League.
Did we miss any great decks from the CRL World Finals? Let us know in the comments!