Today I’m sharing the classic hog cycle deck with today’s guest who is one of the best 2.6 players in the world. YersonCz is today’s guest walking us through how to beat every match up with this deck! Please check out the video for a more in-depth visual guide and a better understanding. This is a high skill cap deck but once you master it you are able to beat any match up in the game. You should always aim to get good value from your cycle cards, particularly ice spirit and skeletons on defence. You will be able to use your spells to to help aid your units on defence, the log and fireball both have a knock back effect which can be key to stopping units connecting to your princess towers. From the first replay against lava hound you can see that every time the opponent plays the hound you should go aggressive with the hog rider at the bridge in the opposite lane. Then play you canon close to the tower they are pushing so you can cycle back to a second canon so you can activate king tower, check out the video at 3:40.
Ice golem is one of my favourite units in the game for making positive elixir trades. He can be used to kite units away from your princess towers including the pekkas, princes, dragons, ghost etc. He is also a great tank for the hog rider if you can counter push behind him or if your opponent plays a heavy tank in the back. You will also need to use him as a glass tank to delay the opponents support cards or tank damage from swarm units including the lava pups!
Hog rider is your main win condition and is a great units to use to apply pressure and force a response from your opponent. Don’t expect a ton of damage every time you play the hog, remember this is a cycle deck and playing him at the bridge not only forces a response from your opponent but it also allows you to cycle back to the important units you need for defence.
Musketeer can offer a lot of defensive value, try to protect her with your cycle cards and never give your opponent spell value. She will mainly be used on defence then you can play units at the bridge in front of her to allow you to counter push.
Early game try to activate your king tower, you can do this by kiting units if you use your canon or with the skeletons against a mortar (see 22:19 in the video). You can start out the match with a hog rider, remember this is a fast cycle deck so you will need to be chipping away at the opponents tower throughout single elixir. Spells will mainly be used defensively however you can use them on offence if you can get good spell value. Be patient and react to what your opponent does, try to play the units you need for defence as much as possible and cycle back to them.
Double can be intense but you need to make sure you never leak elixir when using this deck. If you need to spell cycle later game you can easily deal over 600hp in a matter of second if you can cycle correctly like Yerson does in the fourth battle. Remember to defend firstly, yes use your hog to cycle, but please don’t throw the match away by going to aggressive in double elixir or over time.
