Guide To Build And Play a Control Deck

by John Malcolm · October 25, 2017

Hello guys, John Malcolm here from Clashfun.com! It’s an honor for me to be a guest author on ClashRoyale.gratis. Today I have the obligation to share how to build and play a smooth and powerful deck a.k.a Control Deck.

Before we go any further, let us know what exactly is this deck archetype. Control deck is a deck where you gain elixir advantage by defending successfully and attack at the end when criteria are fulfilled.

Deck archetype’s basic definition is the playstyle of your deck. It comprises your technique, how offensive or defensive you plan should be or what cards you use and the damage you deal with towers.

Your plan manifested through your playstyle is supposed to beat your opponent. It is you – defending against the opposing player. Slowly wearing him or her down by chip damage and counter pushes at the same time gain the elixir advantage. When you finally gain the big advantage over them, you push and finish their already weakened tower. This can be one of the most difficult archetypes that one plays because in requires a lot of skills and concentration.

But how do we play a Control Deck? Well worry not, I am are right here to help you, so is the general gameplan.

3:00-2:00

At this, you should wait for your opponent’s moves to act forward as it is mostly filled with reactive cards. You however, can start with Furnace if you really want. If not, you can utilize the cheap cards and see what your opponent is really up to by sending them alone and watching how the opponent counters your win condition. You can also use cheap cards to do chip damage.

2:00-1:00

Observe the playstyle of your opponent. Defend against their pushes and perform some of the weak counter pushes. If you defend against their pushes, you can easily gain an elixir advantage. You should also do chip damage to the towers.

1:00 to Overtime

At this time, concentrate on your offensive mode by performing more stronger counter pushes. Keep your defenses weak and your eye on the elixir advantage.

Overtime

Now, shift to the further offensive mode and be careful with defenses. Being offensive can be one of the best defense and times like these prove it. Use your spells on the towers and less on the troops. Towers ought to be the priority.

Now it’s time to reveal the best cards for the Control decks, so bear with me if you want to see them!

The Control Deck Win Conditions

There are mainly 5 conditions card that can bring you victory.

#1. Battle Ram

This card may have the highest potential in the control deck, and is slowly becoming very popular in many decks. It is very good for the chip damage even it fails to connect as long as the tower is hit by one barbarian. When the opponents are low on the elixir, it really charges with damage and finishes off with the barbarians. Isn’t that a good punishment?

#2. Graveyard

This card may be good in the control decks. Graveyard is used when the opponent is quite low on the elixir, leaving troops on the defense tanking. When the spells are in your hand, tower can be taken down easily as graveyard can be very devastating if it is not countered properly.

#3. Miner

Miner is the card that offers good chip damage to towers and variate the control deck. It may be one of the easiest yet effect cards to counter push the weakened troops after a successful defense to the tank.

#4. Hog Rider

Hog Rider is the card that you cannot have in siege decks. However, you can create Hybrid decks instead. Therefore, it’s safe to say it’s a versatile card that can be used in most of the archetype. You can use it to counter push the opponent when he or she may be low on elixir. They deal damage in huge bits too. Can really slay the enemies.

#5. Golem

Usually played in the last minute of the game. When you’re sure that you’re up on elixir and you can submit a successful attack. It’s a really powerful card, hard to counter and can create a perfect win condition. One of the most played cards in the control deck.

It’s countered mostly by Inferno Tower. Usually a zap spell helps to continue the attack, while other units destroy the tower. When it’s done, the Golem becomes a ruthless creature that everyone fears.

#6. P.E.K.K.A.

It is another good card in the control deck. It is good on defense too, since it’s deployment time has been changed to one second. PEKKA can also be termed as a good tank and a win condition. The slot method for the P.E.K.K.A. control is a bit different. Therefore, it will be listed in it’s own separate section at the end of this article.

There are Spell Cards which give you greater control in the duel. The following spells somehow gives the ability to manipulate your opponent and are proven to be highly more effective than others:

#7. Poison

With poison spell, you can deal medium damage to a big radius, it is the only card that can do that. It however does not manipulate the opponents due to its slow down being removed. It still can damage a lot of troops in a large area which really helps in controlling. The damage it strikes on the troops is considerable.

#8. Tornado

This spell helps you to pull all troops together whenever and wherever you choose to wish.

#9. Rocket

The perfect win condition. Can solve a tied game immediately. Hold it until the very end, unless necessary to use it otherwise. Despite the big cost, it’s used in many control decks that defend successfully.

#10. Freeze

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just stop your opponent’s cards whenever you like? It can be a big game changer if executed at the right time and place. If you cannot really afford damage, you can use it as a strong defense. Can be very useful in the last 10 seconds before OT. Can come out as a surprise if used with graveyard or hogs when the opponent is on considerable low elixir.

Troops with Special Effect

The following troops have the special ability feature. These cards can come handy for controlling.
Bowler: Bowler helps in the pushing back of small and medium sized troops.
Executioner: Executioner comes as the only troop card that can deal with both ground and air damage at a wide linear area. It is coupled with Tornado and helps in crowd control.
Ice Wizard: This guy has a very special effect in his sleeves, he can slow down the troops and buildings in a certain area by 35% as well deal damage.
Electro Wizard: Can stun two troops simultaneously and drop the most dramatic way.

Cheap Utility Card

Cheaps cards such as Minions, Archers, Goblin Gang are needed for balanced deck rotation. They are the synergy of the deck.

Buildings

Inferno Tower: It roasts the troops, it’s also becoming a popular building right now.
Furnace: It’s the card that serves as spas damage, chip damage and distracts for win conditions.

Slot Method for Control Decks

I prefer the following slot method while building control decks. P.E.K.K.A. has a different slot method as I mentioned before and it will be listed below this method.

Slot 1: Win Condition such as Hog Rider, Miner, Battle Ram, Golem, Graveyard.
Slot 2: Spell which gives control such as Poison, Freeze, Tornado.
Slot 3: Cheap Spell such as Zap, The Log, Arrows.
Slot 4: Troop with Special Effect.
Slot 5: Area damaging troops such as Valkyrie, Wizard.
Slot 6: Cheap Utility Card.
Slot 7: Building such as Furnace and Inferno tower.
Slot 8: Tank Killer such as the mini P.E.K.K.A, Mini Tank such as the Ice Golem.

Slot Method for P.E.K.K.A. Control Deck

Slot 1: P.E.K.K.A.
Slot 2: Second win condition card such as Miner, Hog Rider, Battle Ram. Graveyard’s not recommended as it increases deck’s cost, which is not good for control decks IMO.
Slot 3: Control Spell
Slot 4: Cheap Spell
Slot 5: Special ability troop
Slot 6: Splash damager
Slot 7: Cheap Utility
Slot 8: Building i.e. Furnace

P.E.K.K.A. Ram Control

Slot 1: P.E.K.K.A.
Slot 2: Win condition card i.e. Battle Ram
Slot 3: Control Spell (Tornado)
Slot 4: Cheap Spell (The Log)
Slot 5: Special ability Troop (Electro Wizard)
Slot 6: Splash damager (Wizard or Executioner)
Slot 7: Cheap Utility (Minions)
Slot 8: Furnace

This ought to conclude and sum it up. Use minions as they are quite cheap and come in versatility. And don’t forget the most important rule: practice. You can’t have that glide feeling when it comes to your deck until you play it dozen times. See ya in the arena!