Carr’s Clash Corner

Clash Royale has recently seen a substantial growth in popularity. For months, the game has slowly begun to see a resurgence. According to RoyaleAPI, the leading website for all things Clash Royale, there has been a 14.2% growth in players since August, now totaling 52 million worldwide. The reason for this phenomenon cannot be traced to one specific event, but it is certain that Gilman, like the rest of the world, is being taken by storm. For those who don’t avidly play, balance changes to the game take place every month to make all cards equally strong. The September update brought controversial balance changes as well as a new evolution, which changes the meta. 

Discussing the balance changes, it is important to highlight that the Furnace and Evolved Furnace dominated the game prior to the changes. On the top ladder (top 1000 in the world), over 75% of decks were using Furnace. The recent rework, transforming the card from a building to a troop, as well as the addition of a powerful evolution that spawns more fire spirits, made this card broken. The furnace ran the meta for all of August, so as September rolled around, it came as no surprise that Furnace received a massive nerf. For its evolution form only, Supercell decreased the fire spirit spawn rate by 33%. This dramatically decreases its effectiveness because the passive spirits made this card a nuisance. Since the balance change, Furnace is now used 17% of the time on the top ladder. Other noticeable balance changes for September were a 10% HP reduction to Spirit Empress, a 10% attack speed decrease for minions, and a 7% damage buff for Dark Prince. 

Along with the balance changes, Supercell adds one new evolution each month. This month, the Baby Dragon got its long-awaited evolution! Every other cycle, Baby Dragon gives a large wind boost to friendly troops while it attacks. This speeds up all troops in the area under the dragon’s wings. Because of this evolution, there has already been a massive uptick in usage, now closing in on 30%. 

Snagging the meta from the furnace, the introduction of the vines spell has ensnared the Clash Royale community. The spell’s ability to stun and pull troops to the ground has completely altered the meta. Air cards, once safe from the devastating blows of the P.E.K.K.A., will get caught and pulled down. Along with yanking troops to the arena floor, the vines can also temporarily disable the towers and troops. Eric Zhao ‘27, one of Gilman’s top clashers, claims, “Vines are broken. It provides too much value for its elixir cost. It's almost like freeze and arrows combined.” Because the card was so broken, Supercell reduced the card's damage by 18% in an emergency nerf. Even with this nerf, vines still top the charts with an insane 60% usage rate on the top ladder per RoyaleAPI. 

With the changing meta, the best decks to use this month have also changed. All three of the most popular decks this month utilize vines, evolved witch, and barbarian barrel. However, the top deck differs in the way that it focuses on counter pushes, while the next two decks boast the beatdown archetype. 

Top Decks:

#1: Evo witch, Evo knight, graveyard, poison, vines, ice wizard, goblin hut, and barbarian barrel

#2: Evo Goblin Giant, Evo Witch, Goblin Machine, Mini PEKKA, Vines, Minions, Barbarian 

Barrel, Rage

#3: Evo Baby Dragon, Evo Witch, golem, goblin machine, mini PEKKA, vines, guards, barbarian 

Barrel