New Meta Airfecta Deck – Featuring Skeleton Barrel!

Hey there peeps, Lolman here. In a way repeating my old trend.

When Night Witch came out, I had success playing it with Lava Hound and after Skeleton Barrel release I immediately got 12 wins with this cool Lava Hound Skeleton Barrel deck.

A bit of a disclaimer though! It’s extremely tough to face Mega Knight decks unless you are reasonably skilled at using the Goblin Gang vs him. You will eat a lot of damage vs Mega Knight this deck is similar to Golem in that aspect where you will have to eat the damage.

The Deck

Lava Hound

Oh boy, this win condition has been on the descend into darkness since the release of Executioner and the rise of bridge spam.

Night Witch, Bats and even 3 Musketeers, Mega Knight are quite popular and can be hard match-ups when playing hound decks.

Because it’s a 7 Elixir card that can be countered by 3 Elixir Arrows, allowing the opponent to rush other lane without worrying much about the hound, unlike say a Golem, which demands a response on defense especially before dying.

That being said, he’s the only tank not hard countered by the Inferno Tower and synergizes well with this deck as a flying tank in a P.E.K.K.A prevalent meta.

Mega Minion

This bad boy is in quite literally all, if not almost all beatdown decks. From Giant to Golem, and now even Lava Hound.

For 3 Elixir he 1 shots Minions, 2 shots a flying machine and is a spell resistant defensive card that has reasonably high DPS for it’s cost.

He ought to be what you use vs a Hog opposite lane, etc but later on when you start actually pressuring or say you catch opponent out of cycle, Mega Minion must always be behind hound.

Key thing to keep in mind is if you say use your Lava Hound and then opponent rushes same lane. Provided you know what spells they have Zap or Log I’d prefer to not play into predictions.
Like the gif above, I knew Log was his spell and it was in cycle because when he used his first hot, he logged away my Barrel. I waited for the Log. Rather than using the Gang which wouldn’t be that threatening or help the push. I tanked a few hits from the Hog and then played my Mega Minion so he was behind the hound which added more of a threat factor to my push, demanding more of a response.

Baby Dragon

This guy is for pesky Musketeer.

I tested this deck with Inferno Dragon and Inferno Dragon works fine vs Mega Knight. Depending on what you have trouble with I’d use interchangeably but I prefer him because he kills the skill Horde.

3M players love baiting out spells with their 3M and because I don’t use Arrows in this deck. Simply because I like the Zap’s reset Baby Dragon feels right here.

Though that being said if you feel safer with Inferno Dragon and feel like you can work around the skill Horde 3m deck I’d sub in an Inferno Dragon here.

Goblin Gang

Can sub in Skeleton Army but Gang is more F2P friendly and also non Zappable plus that additional air defense is an added bonus too!

This is purely a defensive card in this deck.

You will want to use it on a Hog etc, but that being said try not to repeatedly use this card.

Like the screenshots above you will want to in some occasions not play into later predictions which will end up with more Tower damage and also Hog/Ram/ e-Barbarians etc damage.

Poison

With Heal doing out of meta, truth be told I don’t know why people even play Lava Hound with Fireball.

Night Witch is really really annoying when you play Lava Hound so what better card to pair the hound up with than Poison?

Prolonged protection vs a Horde, Bats etc.

Also kills an Electro Wizard too! Musket, etc.

Plus more damage on the Tower than a Fireball as well! Albeit it’s not that great on defense, offensively imo this is one of the better spells in the game.

Zap

Main reason this is here is because it’s reset.

Skeleton Barrel

This bad boy as a level 6 was enough (with the rest tourney cap) to get 12 wins relatively easily.

If you draw out your opponents Log or Zap with the Gang, pairing this up behind the Hound works great!

Even at a low level like mine, the Skeletons will DPS down the Tower quite fast

Also a good punish card when paired up with a Miner if your opponent pumps up. Just make sure you don’t give them easy value by doing so when say Goblins and Log is in cycle which will shut down a rush like that for something like +2 Elixir.

That being said this is only to be used really on offence with your push behind a hound or a Miner.

Miner

Main answer to pumps because you want to save your Poison for 3m ideall, if you are sure you aren’t facing 3 Musketeers the I would go for a Miner on Tower + Poison on Pump.

However if you are facing 3M, then ideally you want to Miner with Zap ready for the Goblin Gang, etc.

Miner is also used as a tank for your squishy troops like the Lava pups and Skeletons from the Skeleton Barrel. Goblin Gang, etc.

Also a good answer to Princess as well! Princess can be pesky when playing this deck.

That being said, spell bait Inferno is actually an easy match-up to this deck. Save your Gang for their Barrel at all times!

General Gameplay

Early game (3:00-2:00)

With this deck early on I tend to start passively.

That being said, because it’s 7 Elixir I really don’t mind slow rolling a hound in the back.

Unlike a Golem however I play the Hound in the lower corner of the side you are pushing rather than behind the king Tower. The pathing on both troops is different and this way it mitigates the area you can place a Tower to pull the hound for an example.

Then defend the potential rush with as little as you can, that being said.

Say they use Hog, then you Goblin Gang and they send a Log and your hand is like Baby Dragon, Poison, Zap, Skeleton Barrel? Use Baby Dragon behind the hound not on the Hog. Otherwise it’ll be an overcommitment on your end and your 7 Elixir Lava Hound will be countered VERY easily.

Commiting to pushes is fine, don’t overdefend and don’t overcommit either!

The typical push I’d be going for is maybe a Hound+ Mega or Baby Dragon and a late Miner once the Hound pops.

Don’t expect tooo much damage early on in the game, try to gauge out your opponents counters that you will need to adjust your playstyle to.

For an example if they use Princess on the opposite lane? Then either Poison her out or Miner with Zap at the ready.

Mid game – (2:00- 1:00)

This is the time when you play your spells for the most part on offense.

Now what I mean by this is, here is where you have to have an idea what your opponent will defend with.

Does he prefer to 3M to draw out a spell then Horde?

You want to make sure you take precautions for this. Maybe Poison the 3M then Baby Dragon late in order to make sure that the Horde, Minions etc won’t get value. Save your Zap on offence for those Bats, etc

Maybe making sure not to use Miner on offence at this point if you are facing Pump. Little things like that must be addressed here.

Till the 1 minute mark you MUST address plays like Elixir Collector etc.

hat being said I also don’t mind giving up a Tower or taking damage if I’m sure it won’t end with me losing 1-0.

Example of me eating some damage by playing a defensive hound. I could’ve used a Gang but that would mean I’d still lose a Tower despite maybe waiting for Exe on Tower then Gang behind Exe. I used hound so I can save up for Mega behind the Hound on Hog and transform it into a counterpush.

Late game

By now you either ought to have damaged one of your opponents towers significantly or have taken a Tower.

You will by now have a sense if it’s a 1-0 win or a 2-1 win etc.

Accordingly you will have to decide when to change lanes.

I usually do so if my opponents Tower is within a Poison range. I can also send the Miner to finish the Tower in a pinch, with Zap in hand of course.

Some games vs say a deck that typically hard counters your push you are 1-0 with, and have your towers healthy then I would say sit back and defend.

You do also have defensive cards like Gang, Baby Dragon etc. Other than that, I’d take advantage of the Elixir flowing by putting together a great big push.

Match-ups

Log bait

Now Log bait might seem daunting but don’t forget, Miner Poison counters Log bait.

Only having Zap however requires you to answer Barrel with either Mega Minion or Gang. Make sure their Log is out of cycle if you use Gang because they can place Barrel in front of Tower and Log with a Knight tanking say to kill your Gang and have Gobs alive killing your Tower.

I would Miner off the Princess or Poison her off and then Miner Tower to tank, getting rid of Princess is key! Especially when facing the Princess nado variant of the Log bait deck.

Inferno Tower isn’t scary because it doesn’t counter your deck, Hound won’t get most the damage on the Tower.

Worst case scenario this turns into a Miner Poison deck.

Golem

Can be tough, punish Pumps and Poison off the Night Witch.

Pretty much all I will say, get rid of their Mega Minion and Night Witch and their pushes will be easy enough to deal with using your Gang, Mega, Baby Dragon etc.

You WILL take damage. More times than not my games vs Golem have turned into base races.

All I can really say is, play smart and don’t overspend on defense and offence.

Know when to pressure other lane, punish pumps and get valuable poisons!

Other Lava Hound Decks

Can be tough, again but Poison > Fireball. Get value Poisons and you really just have to outplay them.

If they have Inferno Dragon, that’s fine. Just try to make sure they don’t have the i drag on the counter.

Miner on Tower when Hound pops and let pups clean up and damage Tower.

Giant

Hound same lane, more HP overall on the Hound.

Then support behind will be able to mop up the Giant.

Try to avoid giving spell value though! Ie- For Arrows etc and you will be golden.

Mega Knight

Tough match-up and you WILL take damage.

Inferno Dragon used instead of Baby Dragon will help in this match-up but I would prefer baby d and take the damage.

Mega Knight won’t do a lot of damage to Tower. Gang behind the Mega Knight will mitigate damage.

Inferno Dragon isn’t that big of a deal either.

Get valuable Poisons as E-wiz is popular with Mega Knight as well.

3 Musketeers

Not that tough of a match-up if played right.

Miner for Pump and Poison for 3M. I never send lone Miners to Pump, pair up with Skeleton Barrel for an example.

Use Barrel first to tank for Miner.

Then Miner and then once it pops Miner will tank for the Skeletons thus prolonging the lifespan of the Skeletons and increasing the potential damage.

P.E.K.K.A

Similar to Mega Knight but Goblin Gang will work way better vs the P.E.K.K.A.

Sometimes gets to a base race.

Try to avoid getting 3 crowned and you should be fine! Get rid of support with your tankier troops and then Gang, etc on the P.E.K.K.A will help.

Exenado

Hard counters you, but you can still win.

Just Minerexe and Poison should work great.

Worst case scenario you can go 100% Miner Poison with making sure not to let opponent nado Miner to king and you will be fine.

Just prepare for game to go to the 2-1 stage as you don’t have much to stop a Hog other than a Mega minon which by itself allows Hog to get 3 hits on Tower.

Conclusion-

I think I covered everything, this deck is rather fun to play and is a new twist on the whole Lavaloon deck. It has it’s weaknesses but I think it’s fairly strong. Give it a try to hopefully you have good luck with it. That’s all guys. Lolman out.