Detailed explanation of my balloon deck that got me to 4K!

Recently posted this screenshot of the deck that got me to 4K trophies, it was of course removed as I didn't put any info with it but it was 1 in the morning and I cbf at the time, however here is a detailed write up. Screenshot of the deck here http://imgur.com/dpoMwwf
Screenshot of my profile here http://imgur.com/f8w0fc1 for proof.

Bit of background (Feel free to skip to the strategy section of you don't care about this)

Hey guys, I'm a long time f2p player who started at soft launch but stopped playing for a fair while some time in between the update that the ice spirit was released in and when they moved the trophy reset to 4000 (I think). I recently started playing again upon the addition of clan chests and epic Sundays. So I did miss out on the release (and metas) of the Ice Golem, Mega Minion, Ebarbs, Clone, Tornado, Inferno Dragon, Electro Wizard and Graveyard.

At the time I got back in to clash I'd left when I was floating around the 3100-3200 mark, I was level 10, my balloon was level 4, I didn't have a lumberjack or ewiz (obviously, it wasn't released yet).

I had been a LONG time balloon player, I started using hog freeze when I reached spell valley but quickly switched to balloon freeze once I received enough to get my balloon to level 3 (also because of my hatred for hogs at the time). I managed to push all the way from spell valley to legendary arena, which took a very long time and a lot of effort.

I think at the time my deck looked something like: Balloon (4) Baby dragon (4) Freeze (3) Minion horde (10) Minions (10) Spear gobs (10) Arrows (10) Zap (10)

You could say that was an overlevelled deck but I like to think the difficulty of playing it makes up for that.

Although I loved the game I eventually made the decision to leave due to having reached 3000 trophies (sort of the end goal at the time), the stale and rage inducing Royal Giant meta and the fact that SuperCell weren't doing anything to improve my experience as a player.

However since getting back in to it, epic Sunday's and clan chests have made it feel like SuperCell have actually made some fun and player benefitting changes, which I was happy about. Epic Sundays got my balloon to level 5 (now over half way to 6, I plan to go to max level if I can!) which has been very helpful. I received a lumberjack in a crown chest just after I started playing again and decided to add him to my deck. Just last week after saving 500 gems, buying a legendary chest from the shop and receiving another lumberjack he rose to level 2. Since starting back up I've also hit level 11.

Strategy

• Pushes (SKIP TO HERE IF THIS IS ALL YOU CARE ABOUT)

While it is pretty obvious, the main win condition of this deck is some form of a lumberloon push. An ideal starting hand involves lumberjack, balloon, minions and or fire spirits.

With this hand at the start of game, I have recently started beginning my pushes by splitting either the fire spirits or minions at the back (something I never used to do), waiting for the opponent to play a card and then immediately pushing the opposite lane by putting my lumberjack down first, at the bridge, followed by my ballon a second or so later behind the pillar, to avoid being pulled.

The purpose of placing lumberjack first is that as he is a quick card the opponent will hopefully quickly react and drop their skarmy (very prevalent in the meta atm so this is the most common counter and therefore the example I will use), which leaves them down 4 elixir to defend my now enraged balloon plus a couple of minions.

This brings us to the next win condition, after a push involving lumberjack, balloon and minions, in which you've baited their skarmy. I would now have both mini pekka and fire spirits in my hand. Although the mini pekka is primarily used to defend against royal giants, hogs and ebarbs and then create a counter push, It is also quite common for people to zap your balloon in panic, which now makes it very safe to send in your mini p/fire spirit combo.

Other forms of pushes involve waiting until they think they know your push pattern, chucking a lumberjack and fire spirits on one lane and once they've preemptively placed their air defence cards, putting the balloon in the opposite lane.

I only just purchased the ewiz from the shop two days ago, so I haven't had a lot of time to experiment with him when it comes to pushes, but I can say, once you know they have an inferno tower (something that usually destroys balloons) this guy becomes mvp. Before I had him this slot was spear gobs and before that ice spirit.

• Defence

Pretty obvious but the main form of defence in this deck is mini pekka and fire spirits. Lumberjack can also be used for people rocking two or more of royal giant/hog/ebarbs (you guys are the worst), who try to bait your mini p. Ewiz is obviously also a great defensive card as I'm sure you all know. Most of all when it comes to sparky!

• A cruel world, what counters balloon?

Whilst the balloon does have a fair bit of health it is somehow also quite fragile. Your worst enemies are minions/hordes, musketeers, mega minions, archers, wizards, ewiz, ice wiz and the one card that absolutely hard counters any push involving my balloons, tornado. So it's fair to say as the game continues to progress and all these new cards are released, in a way these are indirect 'needs' for lack of a better word, to the balloon.

• The positive elixir trade monster, The Rocket

It's only been in the last week or so that I've added it to my deck and I LOVE it. Some games it goes unused, but a lot of the time it has the ability to either shut down a whole push as enemy troops converge at the bridge, or completely stop them from gaining momentum by getting rid of a wizard or musketeer placed at the back. However you must be careful of using it and not knowing they have 3 musketeers in their deck, that's good game to them. It can also one shot a level 1 sparky (at level 7) and trades equally with ebarbs if you have no other counter. On occasion, when I know their only air defence is musketeer or wizard, you can play balloon at the back to bait them in to playing their card at the back, then rocket it also hitting their tower. Above all else it can also be used to win games where to opponent has less than 1000 hours left on a tower. It is a great source of direct damage (something witch my balloon freeze deck lacked).

• Make or break, prediction arrows

This is something that can turn a game completely, if you hit a prediction arrows on an opponents minion horde or skarmy. Good game. However this is best used as a last resort play as arrow bait decks are always around and just the general need for arrows in your hand, not to mention being down 3 elixir if you don't hit it.

Footnote: Whilst I am level 11 and I know many people have reached 4K at level 10, I don't think my cards are overlevelled, I see many level 9 rares, 11 commons, 5 epics and 2 legendaries around the higher 3000's. However I'd like to think that the main message to take away from my post is that you can survive with off meta decks, it is a lot harder, can make you rage more and will strengthen your hatred for those scummy meta players! Just play what you love playing, which for me, has always been balloon.

Thanks for reading guys, hope you all can reach the 4K trophy/bragging rights stage too!