Insane Balloon Cycle – Fire and Ice!

Hello ladies and gentlemen! It’s yours truly, NebulaNoodle, back at it with a crazy Balloon deck guide!

So recently I made this deck, trying to find a cheap Balloon deck which still had a decent defense.

With that in mind, I created this deck. I’ve been having great success in 2v2s and been beating my clanmate 600 trophies higher in a friendly.

Nevertheless, hope you will enjoy my guide!

The Insane Balloon Cycle Deck

Ice Golem

Your only tank for Balloon and small troops.

He does very well with Tesla to shut down big tanks. Ice Golem+ Minions combo does very well too.

Kite master! Kills Skellies, Bats and overall offers huge value.

Minions

One of two solid air defense cards in this deck.

Kill any air troop taking only minimal damage.

Against Baby Dragon, one nemesis of this deck, surround him (sort of common sense!)

Place a Balloon in front of these three blue machines for a mean counterpush!

Ice Spirit

Huge value insides one little frosty guy.

Together with Zap, this combo kills Minions/Princess/Goblins/Dart Gobs/Archers.

Ice Spirit+ Zap does the same job Arrows does except the two cards itself are much more versatile.

Skeletons

Cycle and distract, great to use to cycle while Tesla is doing its thing.

Help in clutch moments to delay troops.

Other than that not much to say!

Fire Spirits

These guys are very underappreciated.

At the top levels, there aren’t too many people using Fire Spirits, except those guys using E-Barbarians (no one likes people using E-Barbarians + Fire Spirits!)

They kill Minion Horde and work nicely with Balloon working like moving Arrows, melting down Minions and Glass Cannons alike!

Nice when overleveled, they deal roughly 300 damage to crown towers.

Balloon

Well, you can’t have a Balloon deck without the Balloon!

One of my favorite all-time win conditions, with the second highest Damage Per Hit in the game (after the Not-So-Trash-Anymore-Sparky!)

I’m not a Lavaloon kind of guy, so I go for Balloon cycle, usually with Miner/Ice Golem. And always Fire Spirits!

Sometimes you might struggle for damage with this deck, try to get your Balloon to the Tower at all costs!

Tesla

The defensive core of this deck.

The only heavy structure other than Ice Golem, and after the buff, now that it one shots Gobs and Minions, it’s much more viable.

The Tesla has a small hitbox so use that to your advantage, place the Tesla as far away from the troop you want to pull!

The Tesla can do work to a Mega Knight and P.E.K.K.A, especially when paired with Minions/Ice Spirit/Zap.

Zap

Your only spell, so use it wisely to accompany your Balloon to the Tower!

Best to overlevel it. Pairs very well with Ice Spirit or Ice Golem.

For reference:

• Zap kills Minions 2 levels lower
• Kills Goblins 1 level lower
• Maxed Zap kills lvl 1 Princess

Replacements:

Gameplay:

Best starting moves

1. Either Spirit at the bridge (if they reach the Tower)
2. Ice Golem+Balloon or Balloon+Fire Spirits (if opponents pumps up or plays heavy tank)
3. Minions/Ice Golem/Skeletons in the back

Overall, you will want to be playing this deck very aggressively, or else you won’t be getting much Tower damage.

So every opportunity you get, punish, punish, punish.

It’s quite easy to get positive Elixir trades so use that to your advantage and keep punishing quickly with quick Balloon pushes, trying to get that one Balloon hit.

If the Balloon doesn’t get a hit, it’s OK. As usual, the Bomb hits the Tower, and the Bomb itself deals 272 damage at tourney standard.

Every little bit of chip damage will massively help you throughout the game.

This would be a decent tournament deck, or to hell with it, if Sudden Death came back I would definitely use this deck.

Remember, Balloon is NOT a tank!

Around mid-game, you will want to have chipped down your opponent’s Tower little by little.

Keep going with Balloon pushes, because this deck is extremely cheap and can outcycle most decks, especially Beatdown when they will struggle to keep up with the pace.

Cycle your Teslas on defense, and most importantly try not to fall back in Elixir.

Around late game and overtime, keep cycling your Balloons until your opponent cracks.

This deck is very weak to 3M specifically, so keep that in mind. You have nothing to answer their pumps but don’t get disheartened, try to play for a draw instead and defend with Balloon if needed.

Standard pushes:

• Ice Golem + Balloon (for single Elixir)
• Balloon + Fire Spirits (great for punishing)
• Ice Golem + Balloon + Minions (costs 10 Elixir, this is the all out push for 2x Elixir and/or overtime when you have to beat your opponent to the next crown!

Matchups:

Against Lavaloon, you will want to keep pressuring and outcycling them.

They will probably have Minions/Minion Horde so use your Fire Spirits accordingly.

Minions on Balloon, and you’re good! Shouldn’t be the hardest of matchups, as long as you gain positive trades and take as little damage as possible.

You can cycle Tesla very quickly.

Against Golem, your Tesla will shine.

Just make sure the Tesla doesn’t get distracted by swarms from your opponent so use your Zap/Fire Spirits and put Minions on the support troops.

Ice Golem will help to kite support troops away, like Lumberjack.

There might be a problem against their deck if the opponent has many anti-air splash units.

Against Giant, see Golem section but Giant has less health so it should be slightly easier.

Outcycle their anti-air and you’re good to go.

Cycle/Control:

Against Hog Cycle, which is very popular on ladder, don’t worry about keeping up with the cycle because you will.

Tesla shuts down Hog, just watch for swarms accompanying the Hog. Limit damage.

Often these decks have minimal air defense so spam Loons! 🙂

Against Miner Control, it might be a little hard. These challenge-oriented decks often have E-Wiz, P.E.K.K.A, Bandit, et cetera. Their pushes might seems very overwhelming, but if you can cycle defensive troops very quickly you might do OK.

Bait:

No matter if it’s Log/Zap/Arrow bait, your Ice Golem will really help distracting and killing the pesky Bats/Goblin Gang.

Take care of the Princess as you don’t have a designated Princess killer.

For Barrel, use Zap. One reason why you should overlevel your Zap!

Don’t let them Rocket your Balloon AT ALL COSTS because you don’t have another good Rocket bait card, so outcycle and pressure and sometimes maybe double lane pressure if you can cycle to 2 Balloons quickly enough!

I often go Ice Golem in the back, then place the Balloon around the mid-area between your Tower and the bridge, then cycle quickly with Skellies/Ice Spirit/Fire Spirits then you’re back to another Ice Golem Balloon push. ON TWO SIDES!!!!

Siege:

Against Mortar decks, distract with Ice Golem and kill as best you can with Balloon and/or Minions or whatnot.

Reset with Zap/Ice Spirit.

The Balloon wrecks siege in general, so catch them when they’re low on Elixir or you have a good Elixir lead.

Against X-Bow decks, Balloon will be your best friend again. These decks often have little air defense, except maybe Archers or E-Wiz and Fireball.

Salty Ladder:

Against those pain in the @$$ses Royal Giant and Elite Barbarians, don’t panic!

For Royal Giant, Tesla will do fine. They might have Lightning, but unlikely as it got nerfed. Ignore the Furnace, and instead wreck them with quick Balloon pushes!

Against Elite Barbarians, Ice Golem+ Minions works very well. Since these decks often have Zap/Log, they don’t kill Minions unless they have overleveled Zap, which to be frank I see a lot of overleveled Zap with E-Barbarians. Ice Golem+Tesla also works nicely, but keep in mind a max Tesla can only survive 3 max E-Barb swings! Salty Ladder players’ only comfort is their credit card.

OK guys, that’s it for this deck! I really hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for more NebulaNoodle guides in the future. Until the next guide, Auf Wiedersehen!