Revamped Fast-Paced Miner Balloon Deck

Hello everyone, it’s Zigge here. Since it’s Christmas, I have a lot more free time, so I figured I’d make a couple of posts for you fine folks.

I haven’t been playing the game for that much lately, but this is a very viable deck that I’ve been playing for several months, and so I know it by heart.

It’s a fast-paced Balloon control deck with amazing offensive potential, here we go!

Card Breakdown

Balloon

This not the only, but it’s the main win condition of this deck.

Doing 800 damage per hit, one single drop is often enough to bring the tower low enough so that you can chip it down with Miners and Fireballs.

If their only counter is a Rocket, send it a Miner to tank for your Balloon ensuring thousands of damage.

Miner

This is the second win condition.

In some matches you may end up Fireball-and-Miner-cycling to slowly chip away their tower if your Balloon doesn’t make it even after a few attempts.

Miner is probably the best tank for your Balloon since it can pop up anywhere and take out defending units.

Fireball

Because it’s used more against units than towers, it wasn’t affected that badly by the spell damage nerf.

It completely takes out Flying Machine and brings down Fireballies* to low enough health for anything to one shot it.

Fireball is also one of the best counters to Elixir Collector and hands down the best counter against Three Musketeers, when combined with Zap.

*Fireballies are units (typically ranged attackers) who almost die to fireball, but not quite.

Mega Minion

One of the most versatile defensive flyers. it can take out threats like mini pekka and flying machine, but also mortar and hog rider if paired with an ice spirit.

With its high damage it’s great for taking out support units behind a golem or giant.

Ice Golem

Despite its nerf, this is still a very good card.

It has the most health for two elixir and even then it still has more health than a lot of 4 elixir units.

Because it only targets buildings, it’s the best card in the game for kiting enemy units into the other lane.

I can’t realistically cover all of this card in one deck guide, so I’ll be linking usc1313’s post here about more advanced usage and techniques.

Night Witch

You might wonder why I put the severely nerfed Night Witch in this deck, and so do I.

There is something that makes her fit into this deck perfectly; the ability to spawn bats which covers up for the Mega Minion when it comes to defending against flying units, the very high DPS, especially when combined with the bats, which matches that of a Mini P.E.K.K.A, and lastly, her amazing counterpush potential.

After a successful defense, place a Balloon with an Ice Golem or Miner to tank for them both.

She will constantly spawn bats which can help take out enemy defenders or just be a nuisance for them.

Ice Spirit

I am a hundred percent convinced this is the best card in the entire game.

It is so good on defense combined with any DPS card, it prevents the opposing units from killing your win condition on offense, and it serves as a valuable cycle card.

I will be coming out with a full guide on this card; hang tight.

Zap

Since Zap was rarely, if ever used against towers, the spell damage nerf didn’t affect it much either.

It’s still a viable card for taking out Bats or weaken Minions.

Great for interrupting the Inferno Tower’s laser beam once it’s locked onto your Balloon.

Gameplan

Early Game (3:00-2:00)

In the early game, your first and only priority is to figure out what deck your opponent is running, and what their counters to your Balloon are.

Defend with Night Witch and Mega Minion as well as Ice Spirit.

It’s a solid defensive combination with high dps both against air and ground.

Make sure not to let your opponent’s take the lead in the chip race, because then they will be able to snowball that.

Mid Game (2:00-0:30)

This is where you have to start attacking.

Don’t go all out immediately, instead start off small with an Ice Golem and Balloon at the bridge.

Respond to your opponent’s counter accordingly, either with a Miner or Zap.

I prefer to save my Fireball this early in the game, in case my opponent has an Elixir Collector, Minion Horde or the Three Musketeers.

By this time you should have figured out what deck your opponent is running.

Late Game (0:30-)

If you haven’t managed to connect a Balloon by this point, it’s time to start making some moves.

Try getting a counterattack with your Night Witch, or you can go for the tower trade.

If the game goes into overtime, there’s no point in making Balloon pushes anymore.

Instead focus on preventing as much damage as possible from being dealt to your towers while chipping away with Miner and Fireball at your opponent.

Poison vs Fireball

The reason I chose to use Fireball over Poison is because Fireball take out the defending units faster.

While Poison does more damage, Fireball does it instantly and therefore your Balloon has a bigger chance of landing a hit.

Miner vs Lumberjack

Miner is much better than Lumberjack in this deck not just because of how great he works with Night Witch, but also because it makes it easier for you to end games, instead of spell cycling in overtime.