As with the beginning of each new month, we’re getting a new theme for the season: Return to Legendary. After 5 months without the default mode, we’re getting the good old Legendary Arena back once again! This season, the custom rewards include:

• Log-endary (Pass Royale Tier 10)
• "Crying Royal Ghost" Emote (Pass Royale Tier 20)
• "Glorious Log" Emote
• "Ram Rider Fist Bump" Emote

This is an interesting set of balance changes for sure, as the meta has been statistically balanced this month. There wasn’t a single card that was particularly overpowered and dominating, and there were quite a few new decks that we say popping up. Therefore, we’re getting an all buff update, with 4 cards seeing some small to medium adjustments. Let's take a look:

• Zappies
  • Damage: +20%
  • Hit Speed: 1.6s -> 2.0s (25% slower)
  • Faster Charge Speed
  • Faster "First Attack" on target: 1.4sec -> 1sec
  • Staggered Deploy Time: 1.5sec
  Overall, the Zappies pretty much do the same amount of damage, but they just hit a bit slower. However, in exchange for that, a faster first attack means that they are finally able to block princes and a few other units before they get a hit off on the Zappies.
• Royal Hogs
  • Damage: +6%
  With all the Mega Knights, Bomb Towers, and splashers in this meta, the royal hogs really struggle to break through. Therefore, this damage increase means that the royals hogs will be seeing a VERY slight increase in effectiveness.
• Barbarian Hut
  • Building Lifetime: 60sec → 50s
  • Spawn Time: Reduced 13.5s -> 12.5s
  • Now spawns 2 Barbarians when destroyed
  This change means that the barbarian hut still will spawn 10 barbarians like it does before: 8 barbarians during its normal lifetime, and one wave as a death spawn. This makes the barb hut a lot more bit more spell resistant. Combining that with a faster spawn makes it much more threatening on offense and versatile on defense.
• Witch
  • Faster "First Attack" on target: 1.0sec -> 0.7sec
  Since the witch’s big nerf, her slow first attack made her super weak against swarms, so this increase will help with that, just a little bit.

This week, BossCR recently proposed the organization of a content creator bracket. This would be similar to the Kings Cup, where a content creator teams up with a pro, and plays in a bracketed tournament against other content creator and pro duos. Who knows, maybe that’s something we can look forward to in the near future!

Would anyone be interested in seeing a bracket of the best content creators? I think that would be really cool to see the best streamers and YouTubers playing in a 32 person bracket.

— Boss (@Boss_CR_) January 29, 2020

Here’s a concept by u/SHHGIVECODWW2INFECTED on Reddit, and it's a new casual mode with custom maps! This would just be a casual mode for players, but the change of gameplay and strategy that could come with these different maps could provide just that bit of freshness that players may need right now.

We can all agree that the game needs something new and fresh, so what about CUSTOM MAPS? I made a little example here, further explanation/info in the comments! from r/ClashRoyale

Here’s a fun clip by u/Peteh12, where a wallbreaker decides to question his purpose and not die. I mean, that bomb was just about to drop, and then he was like NOPE.

the first wall breaker to question his life, his purpose, and chose to not die, but live his life to the fullest. from r/ClashRoyale

With balances coming into effect next tuesday, February 4th, I will be making my predictions on how these set of balances will affect the meta. We didn’t get a particularly large balance this month, but I there will still be a few changes:

• Fireball Bait
  • With buffs to both the Royal Hogs and Zappies this month, fireball bait is going to see a huge rise in popularity. Expecially combined with the existing Magic Archer and 3 Musketeers
• Control
  • Control is still going to be a dominant force nonetheless, and with an increase in fireball bait, Mega Knight Bridgespam may see a rise in popularity to compete with the P.E.K.K.A Bridgespam Decks.
  • Graveyard will also continue to thrive, with most graveyard decks containing splashers that will destroy any fireball bait deck.
• Other Meta Decks
  • Miner Cycle w/ Wall Breakers
  • Giant/Golem Beatdown
  • Balloon Cycle