2.6 Hog Cycle is the most stable archetype in the whole game, it stood the test of time and now is a great free to play friendly deck and once you master the micro interactions you can easily hit a new PB every season. In todays latest hog cycle deck LucasXGamer is back bringing us some insane gameplay of him using this deck on high ladder. One thing I’d like to point out is that it’s important to learn what damage your spells do depending on their level. For example with only 5 cards cycled at max level you can do 707 damage which could be important in sudden death. Royal Giant is very popular right now in the game and if you’re against RG then it’s important to space out your key defensive units (canon and musketeer) to avoid giving them spell value. You have ice spirit and log which can help reset the RGs attack reducing the DPS on your towers. Ice golem is a good glass tank that can kite units away or act as a meat shield for your hog or musketeer. His frost nova can slow units down helping aid your defence too. Skeletons are great for stopping charging units like prince or bandit. I highly recommend getting value from your one elixir units whenever possible, if you just place them randomly in order to cycle you’re giving your opponent a slight advantage.
This card is your main win condition. Use him to apply pressure when your opponent plays their win condition. He can also be played behind units on a counter push of even in the opposite lane to force them to split their elixir. You can play him at the bridge to kite units away from your towers, for example if a pekka is closing in on your tower he can kite it away. Later game you can use your spells to help support him especially if you know what units they have in cycle you can make prediction spell placements.
Canon is a key defensive tool on this deck to help you defeat many archetypes in the game. Against graveyard play this card close to your tower (unless they have freeze) to help take out the spawning skeletons. In most matchups you’ll use this card to kite their units into the center of the map such as giants, golems, balloon, battle ram, hog and ram rider.
Musketeer is your only direct air damaging unit. Try to protect like you would a princess in a bait deck especially against lava hound decks. The ice golem and ice spirit both work very well at helping her live a little longer. If you cycle back to a second musketeer never play them close together otherwise your opponent will get extremely good spell value. She support the hog well on a counter and she can be placed centrally to the apply opposite lane pressure which works well against graveyard decks. Also against graveyard she can be placed behind your king tower to help deal with the skeletons.
When starting out a match I recommend watching 5-10 seconds to see if the opponent makes an aggressive start. If they don’t then try cycling ice spirit at the bridge or even play the hog at the river. Never waste your canon or musketeer until you know what the opponent is playing. If you’re against a golem beat down then you should apply a lot of offensive pressure during the first two minuets of the match to acquire as much damage as possible.
Later game if you have taken a tower then you can focus on defending while still applying some light pressure. IF you haven’t taken tower and are struggling to break through because your opponent has a couple of counters like tombstone and tornado you can start to spell cycle. Try to get maximum value with all your spells while pressuring with the hog to force them to spend elixir on defence. Check out the video to see some awesome game play from Lucas!
