2.9 Xbow vs Lavahound Clone (Tower Trade)

This deck has slowly started fading out of the metagame, but it's still lurking among the sidelines. While it originally gave me a lot of trouble closer to the 20-Win Challenge, changing my approach and mechanical play in this matchup has resulted in a much greater rate of success against the deck. In this video I explored a tower trading approach, because the opponent over-committed on offense and I knew it wouldn't be worth it to fully defend. Tower trading against Lavahound matchups is generally good as long as you are going same lane (opposite lane tower trading is bad, because they can place troops directly on top of your Xbow in the free zone). The exact situation depicted in this video is generally why I prefer to go same lane in all Lavahound matchups.

One of the biggest factors affecting your defense against this deck is the placement of the Archers; they are a crucial tool in this matchup due to being fully spell-proof (don't die to Snowball and opponent only has one damaging spell). However, placing the Archers wrong makes them susceptible to Baby Dragon splash or Flying Machine snipes, and ideally they would be protected. Therefore, I have coined the term "safe zone" for this matchup, which describes the zone you would ideally place your Archers to be safe against opposing troops. There is a writeup I previously made, describing this safe zone and its functionality. Due to limited YouTube description space, I'll have to include it in the comments below, so make sure you check the pinned comments for that writeup and mini-guide.

Another key in this matchup is protecting your Tesla. The Tesla is your key Lavahound killer and provides insane value when protected right, one-shotting Lava Pups, taking out Baby Dragons & Flying Machines and generally providing insane DPS. Therefore, you always want to protect a Tesla to maximize its value, whether it's through blocking Baby Dragon splash with an Ice Golem, kiting / distracting FM / BD with your cycle cards, or straight-up Fireballing the Flying Machine.

In addition to this, using your Ice Golem and Ice Spirit effectively are very helpful, as their splash can help deal with Clone very well. Also in addition to protecting your Tesla is Tesla placements: the placements I used in this video are generally acceptable as they will kite a Lavahound placed on any tile. There are actually two Tesla placement options in tandem with an offensive Xbow to defend an incoming Lavahound (one to the side like I did in this video, and one behind, closer to the tower of the corner). Which one you use is completely personal preference; I use both to a great effect. In this match I just felt like using the side placement, but it really doesn't change too much.

Lastly, the Fireball. I prefer to save the Fireball for three situations:
- 1. Defensive Fireball. Wait until the opponent uses their Clone and the original Lavahound + the cloned Lavahound pops, then attempt to encompass as many troops as possible with the Fireball. Since it can one-shot all cloned troops as well as the Flying Machine and deal significant damage to the Baby Dragon, it's vital that you maximize its effect. It might be useful to wait a split second or so to ensure all the troops clump up before usage.

- 2. Sniping Flying Machines. They are probably the most difficult troop to deal with in this matchup due to range, and usually tanked for by the Lavahound / Bats. Therefore, I prefer to Fireball it a lot of the time, especially in single elixir behind a Lavahound, in order to completely get rid of the threat.

- 3. On offense. If you've finished defending an opposing Lava-Clone push while saving your Fireball, it's very useful to ensure Xbow pushes get through. The thing with this matchup is that the opponent usually struggles to deal with an Xbow defense due to support cards. With this variant in particular, running Barbarians over Lumberjack, you can Fireball either an FM or Barbs in front of your Xbow to completely wipe them out. This can usually result in some serious tower damage. (Mostly applicable if Xbow is not in cycle when they Lavahound in the back, and you're forced to go full defense)

Well, that's all for this matchup. I had quite a few replays against this matchup but never formally uploaded a singular game... so here it is.

In this clash royale video I played against a clash royale Lavahound Clone Flying Machine Baby Dragon Barbarians beatdown deck. I was using the clash royale 2.9 Xbow cycle deck, and this deck has the clash royale xbow and tesla siege defense as well as the clash royale cycle cards for quick defense and mechanical gameplay. This is currently a very strong but high skill-cap clash royale deck and I'm happy I was able to beat Lavahound! Ultimately, this clash royale matchup is not too bad, if you keep a few key pieces of information in mind during gameplay, and hopefully my clash royale tips in the description assist in that.

[sk_]

'Safe Zone' writeup:

This is actually something I learned after analyzing a few of my losses against Lavahound Clone. It's minor, but it sincerely makes ALL the difference in the matchup. I like to call this the "safe zone" because it's essentially an area where your Archers cannot be targeted by any of the opposing troops. This is very vital for the matchup; you need to keep the fact that they cannot directly kill your Archers in mind, and because of this, they can get insane value. I've placed Archers a bit above my tower and they eventually died to BD splash and/or lava pups, which meant that anything my Fireball missed would have free reign over the tower. Placing them low is the most optimal decision you can make. Even though your tower takes slightly more damage with the opposing troops lacking a target after your Ice Golem dies, ultimately your Archers can get insane value and clean everything up much nicer by surviving the entire push. Furthermore, in double elixir surviving Archers can supplement a counterpush where the opponent is kind of screwed! :D


It's a really minor detail, but something you should always be cognizant of... the smaller things really do add up in cycle decks :')

PS: This variant runs Barbarians. The version with Lumberjack is usually more difficult due to the Rage effect, but follow all the tips in this video and the result should effectively be the same. The Rage is just more punishing when the Xbow player messes up, but ideally that won't happen.

[travishofer]

Like your video. Description and the visual instructions. Keep it up bro 👍

[msx_]

I figured out lava clone a bit late lol.Most of my losses in 20 win challenge were to lava clone or loon rascal(the latter i still haven't figured out completely).Also one thing I picked up from crafter(might seem obvious to you) was after a tower trade against lava clone barbs, if they split barbs in the middle the skeletons can be used to group them together and fb.
Anyways nice explanation as always :)...
Also I saw you pushing ladder today...Aiming 7k this season?

[unifire-]

Please do an rg and pekka guide..subbed

[DonkeyBirdNoob]

how to play against skeleton barrel megaknight, its a hard MU

[Aploplex]

Feel like that Lava Clone player was garbage, but nice videos and good description of the matchup. Much easier with Icebow lol. Can you make a video on some of the more difficult matchups like RG and Giant DP? Might be more inclined to start playing 2.9 again if I can do better against gay ladder decks that are everywhere.

[milesw]

notification squad wya 🎉🔥🔥
i haven't read it yet but it always impresses me how much you write in the description and how helpful it is. ps 1v1 me l8r ;)