Support NeoGAF

[GodofWine]

Yeeeeah, I'm done with this shit. I'm getting rolled by Arena 3 by people with level 4 Witches and level 6 Minion Hordes. How the FUCK am I supposed to complete with that without paying huge bucks?

Obviously people who pay are going to steam roll through now and then... But they'll move up and on, and most of your matches will be fairly fair.


The vast vast majority will be free players, my friend broke 3000 free, just let those pay to win faster people zoom by and don't sweat it.


I do think the game has a match making method for putting you into losing streaks, if you feel like one is happening, quit for a few hours.

 

[Rodelero]

I do think the game has a match making method for putting you into losing streaks, if you feel like one is happening, quit for a few hours.

This is definitely sound advice - and generally what I do. This allowed me to minimise the losing streaks very effectively. Today though I decided to see if I could fight through it, and found out that essentially I couldn't. I dropped three hundred trophies but ended up against people who had better decks than the ones I was playing at 2200. Though not playing is definitely the best remedy for the problem... I'm not really okay with games being built like this.

 

[hollomat]

I definitely don't think the game has a system for putting you into losing streaks. How would you even design it? Match someone up against decks higher than them if they lose 3 in a row? What would even be the point? As others have pointed out, this would just frustrate people and make them more likely to quit the game so they would lose a possible customer. You wouldn't spend money because you'd feel like it would just happen over and over again.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

I definitely don't think the game has a system for putting you into losing streaks. How would you even design it? Match someone up against decks higher than them if they lose 3 in a row? What would even be the point? As others have pointed out, this would just frustrate people and make them more likely to quit the game so they would lose a possible customer. You wouldn't spend money because you'd feel like it would just happen over and over again.

Agreed. It sure feels like it's in the game, but I'm not even sure it would be plausible or fiscally responsible to implement this. I think once you lose a game or two you become frustrated and your quality of play decreases. I know when I get a terrible opening hand sometimes the game can already pretty much be decided just by that if they start with a decent combo. I rage hard during losing streaks and continue to play because I have to win JUST ONE, and then I'll proceed to lose a few more and grow angrier and angrier lol. It's a tough cycle for sure.

 

[Phife Dawg]

I definitely don't think the game has a system for putting you into losing streaks. How would you even design it? Match someone up against decks higher than them if they lose 3 in a row? What would even be the point? As others have pointed out, this would just frustrate people and make them more likely to quit the game so they would lose a possible customer. You wouldn't spend money because you'd feel like it would just happen over and over again.

Well it is Kind of peculiar that you get matched up with very high level opponents (Trophies higher in the hundreds and cards a couple of Levels above) regularly and back to back. The same happens with very low level opponents. Happens to me as well. Once dropped a couple of hundred Trophies just to see what happened. I don't sweat it all that much and don't spend money but its happening too often to be a mere coincidence. And the game puts you on winning streaks too. Carrot and Stick.

As for the Meta: its skewed heavily towards buildings. You can make a Rush Deck work but its easier to cheese and play for a Draw or a one crown Win. That way you don't lose Trophies. Im gonna Stick until the next balance Patch and if they don't change up the Meta significantly im gonna quit as well.

 

[Zantetsuken]

Applied to as many GAF clans as I could.

 

[fleck0]

I've been hovering around 1000 for awhile and been having a lot of fun lately going back to a low cost mobbing setup, with barbarian factory as my high cost drop. It's been pretty fun and effective mostly because people seem to stop using arrows around that level for some reason.

 

[Maximus P]

Game lags for me in every game. Its not noticeable at first but every time I put down a troop it takes a couple of seconds before it activates on the screen. I've had many arrows miss hordes of Skelton's becuase of it and in losing loads of games now.

It doesn't matter what connection im on either, Wi-Fi at various locations, 4g, it doesn't matter. And I have a newish phone in the LG G4.

Shame, because the game was fun before. This is a recent problem I've been getting.

 

[JoeNut]

Game lags for me in every game. Its not noticeable at first but every time I put down a troop it takes a couple of seconds before it activates on the screen. I've had many arrows miss hordes of Skelton's becuase of it and in losing loads of games now.

It doesn't matter what connection im on either, Wi-Fi at various locations, 4g, it doesn't matter. And I have a newish phone in the LG G4.

Shame, because the game was fun before. This is a recent problem I've been getting.

Nobody in our clan has mentioned anything, i've not heard anyone else talking about it on the forums either.

Got a giant chest earlier which helped me get Hog to level 5, decent damage output now, with freeze it's pretty lethal

Oh and thanks for the input on Zap nemesis, i'll try it,

 

[Rodelero]

Agreed. It sure feels like it's in the game, but I'm not even sure it would be plausible or fiscally responsible to implement this. I think once you lose a game or two you become frustrated and your quality of play decreases. I know when I get a terrible opening hand sometimes the game can already pretty much be decided just by that if they start with a decent combo. I rage hard during losing streaks and continue to play because I have to win JUST ONE, and then I'll proceed to lose a few more and grow angrier and angrier lol. It's a tough cycle for sure.

I definitely don't think the game has a system for putting you into losing streaks. How would you even design it? Match someone up against decks higher than them if they lose 3 in a row? What would even be the point? As others have pointed out, this would just frustrate people and make them more likely to quit the game so they would lose a possible customer. You wouldn't spend money because you'd feel like it would just happen over and over again.

I'm not an expert, but I think you'll find that player psychology doesn't work quite as you imagine. Frustration may well lead people to quit (ultimately it's what lead me to quit), but I was never, ever going to spend any money. I suspect that frustration is also a primary driver of people spending. If people are doing well without spending money, they're very unlikely to start.

More over, there is a very good reason why losing/winning streaks is more addictive than a more typical smattering of wins and losses. The most common reaction to being on a losing streak is to want to fix it, to do better, and to stop the streak. The most common reaction to being on a winning streak is to want to continue it. You feel like you're making a lot more progress if you lose five games followed by winning six than if you go win lose win lose win lose win lose win lose win, as well, even if it's not the case.

As for how you would design it, there are several possibilities. One thing to point out is that Clash Royale clearly doesn't just matchmake on trophies, despite that being the only thing Supercell suggests it does. You often play people who have 100, or even 150 trophies more or less than you. It wouldn't be surprising if Clash Royale, like a lot of competitive games, has a hidden matchmaking rating, which would be stickier and more accurate than the trophy count. You could go on a significant winning streak/losing streak and not have your MMR change all that much while your trophies can go up/down by hundreds. That could, at the very least, explain why you can lose a lot of games but not feel like your opponents are getting weaker.

The more cynical thought is that, it wouldn't be that complex for them to figure out either which decks you struggled with or which decks work well against which decks. The point being that, if they wanted to rig the matchmaking, they definitely could. This is a game designed with psychology and economics in mind as much as gameplay.

Ultimately, It's just hard to neglect the fact that, a bad night on Clash Royale tends to look like:
LLLLDLLLLDLDWLL
and a bad night on other games tends to look like:
LWLLWWLLLWLWLL

 

[JoeNut]

i've had a couple of losing streaks myself, i think it's over confidence, and rushing. The way to win is to play for a draw, as ironic as that might seem, defence is way more effective than an aggressive attack

 

[ElyrionX]

Fucking hut decks. My deck is very defensive-oriented:

Prince
Barbs
Valk
Musketeer
Witch
Spear gobs
Minion horde
Arrows

I just don't have enough push to take the other lane quickly when a hut gets dropped in one.

 

[ElyrionX]

Ok took out the Valk and threw in a Bomb Tower and just drew against a pretty good hut deck player. That's decent I guess. It's a pretty hard counter LOL.

 

[Alur]

I have/had gotten into this weird rut around 1700 (Arena 6) where I'd scratch and claw up to about ~1730 and then lose to ~1550. As some noted above, multiple win and/or losing streaks depending on the way it was going.

I was running a hut deck, but the Barb huts felt like a dead card too often until 2x Elixir, and then at that point dropping the hut usually put me in the hole trying to defend instead of helping me build and pushing out.

Then I found this deck on Reddit and gave it a go. There's a video or something included, which I didn't check out, but it's there if anyone is interested:

3.4 Elixir Cost

Skeletons
Zap
Spear Goblins
Barbarians
Minion Horde
Hog Rider
Musketeer
Baby Dragon

I've had a ton of success with it. Granted I'm only at 1819, but when I began I was down to 1535.

I feel like I had the wool over my eyes on how good Zap is as a card. Offensively and defensively, it's kind of like a cheaper Freeze that kills several of the annoying cheap spawns and does decent damage to Minion Horde. It can buy time, or even finish a tower if necessary. Very versatile. It's also the first card I've found that made my level 8 Barbarians worth a damn for more than defending right in front of my own tower.

 

[J0dy77]

I've just made the decision to uninstall the game. Having got to the royal arena, it didn't really feel like there was much to aim for anymore (given that I was never going to stick around for the grind to 3000), and really I was just playing against the same few things over and over. So much of the meta towards the higher end of the game just feels anti-fun. Bomb towers, freeze, and elixir collectors combined with defensive towers... it's just not enjoyable. I suspect some of these things will end up being nerfed in the next couple of weeks, but really, leaving the meta in this state for a month was too much for me.

What really broke me though is not the meta, which I was able to cope with far better than average, and ultimately managed to get to 2250 as a Level 7, but the matchmaking. I am essentially convinced the game's matchmaking system is designed to put you onto winning and losing streaks. This is completely unlike any other competitive ranked based game I've ever played, and it's hard to believe that it's coincidental - more over I've heard the same from everyone I know that plays the game. This seems fundamentally manipulative, it seems designed to push people to spend money out of frustration.

For a while I convinced myself it was a mental thing. I'd lose a couple of games, get frustrated, over think, and lose a lot more, but, it's hard to believe I could one day be comfortable at 2100/2200, playing every game against Level 7s and low Level 8s, but the next day I could be 1850/1900, playing against Level 8s with level 9 commons and legendaries.

Either way - it's a really cool game in a lot of ways - but some of its design seems unnecessarily cynical. I also think it lacks an end game to some extent, once you've tried all the cards... it's hard to keep motivated.

Completely agree. The game is maddeningly frustrating for so many reasons. The losing streaks when you're making too much progress seem to be far too common and the fact that the greed of the f2p model is just being exploited here. It's really sad because the game plays great is quick and could be such a perfect game without all of the BS.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

The worst parr is that Poison hasnt been in the shop for me for weeks

I just need 1 more

Ive gotten witch twice in a row life is suffering

 

[ElyrionX]

I have/had gotten into this weird rut around 1700 (Arena 6) where I'd scratch and claw up to about ~1730 and then lose to ~1550. As some noted above, multiple win and/or losing streaks depending on the way it was going.

I was running a hut deck, but the Barb huts felt like a dead card too often until 2x Elixir, and then at that point dropping the hut usually put me in the hole trying to defend instead of helping me build and pushing out.

Then I found this deck on Reddit and gave it a go. There's a video or something included, which I didn't check out, but it's there if anyone is interested:

3.4 Elixir Cost

Skeletons
Zap
Spear Goblins
Barbarians
Minion Horde
Hog Rider
Musketeer
Baby Dragon

I've had a ton of success with it. Granted I'm only at 1819, but when I began I was down to 1535.

I feel like I had the wool over my eyes on how good Zap is as a card. Offensively and defensively, it's kind of like a cheaper Freeze that kills several of the annoying cheap spawns and does decent damage to Minion Horde. It can buy time, or even finish a tower if necessary. Very versatile. It's also the first card I've found that made my level 8 Barbarians worth a damn for more than defending right in front of my own tower.

I don't get it. Double elixir time is your time to push hard especially if they don't have Bomb Tower. How do you even lose?

 

[Alur]

My epic shop has been a lot of Witch, PEKKA, and my boy Giant Skeleton. Giant Skeleton has been my card in 4 resets out of the last 12. Also getting a lot of Valkyrie's for rare.

Would be so great to get Hog Rider/Musketeer for rare or Prince for Epic.

Will be a great day when the donation changes come in, as well.

I don't get it. Double elixir time is your time to push hard especially if they don't have Bomb Tower. How do you even lose?

Not sure what you're referring to? The hut deck? I dunno, it's not like they are a 100% winrate deck. I beat them before and after I used the one I had. Part of my issue was a complete inability to settle for a draw, probably, but as I said, the Barb hut just feels like a dead card too often and I've never seen a lot of use from it's spawns when it is used/I use it unless something backs them up where they multiply into 4 or 6 and can cross the bridge that way. The Goblin Hut, on the other hand, seems to provide much more value in my experience.

 

[Phife Dawg]

I don't get it. Double elixir time is your time to push hard especially if they don't have Bomb Tower. How do you even lose?

Pretty easy to lose with a hut Deck, even without bomb Tower opponents. Rush Deck will make short work if you are not cautious. A Cannon can help to settle for the Draw. A Giant can also help with Defense as he attracts attacks and gives you breathing room and Tower Hits.

 

[mangochutney]

Yeeeeah, I'm done with this shit. I'm getting rolled by Arena 3 by people with level 4 Witches and level 6 Minion Hordes. How the FUCK am I supposed to complete with that without paying huge bucks?

Yeah if you're a new player who is good then this game is zero fun unless you pay to level up your troops.

It is pathetic.

I made a new account purely to feed donations to our small clan and blazed through to Arena 3, got up to 900 range and I just got to level 3 and now I'm constantly against level 6 players with the occasional level 7 who have level 6/7 commons, level 5 rares and level 2 epics.

I have level 3, some level 4 commons. Level 2 rares and a couple level 1 epics.

On my original account I played with since it had it's proper launch I'm level 7 at 2000 trophies with the same level troops that I'm coming up against in Arena 3 on the alt account!

So those players clearly suck to be down that low but the fundamental flaw with this game is how player levelling works. I'm level 3 so my towers have bugger all HP compared to theirs and their towers to way more damage than mine.

So many draws just based purely on me playing the best defence you've ever seen.

 

[Tunesmith]

Yeah if you're a new player who is good then this game is zero fun unless you pay to level up your troops.

It is pathetic.

I made a new account purely to feed donations to our small clan and blazed through to Arena 3, got up to 900 range and I just got to level 3 and now I'm constantly against level 6 players with the occasional level 7 who have level 6/7 commons, level 5 rares and level 2 epics.

I have level 3, some level 4 commons. Level 2 rares and a couple level 1 epics.

On my original account I played with since it had it's proper launch I'm level 7 at 2000 trophies with the same level troops that I'm coming up against in Arena 3 on the alt account!

So those players clearly suck to be down that low but the fundamental flaw with this game is how player levelling works. I'm level 3 so my towers have bugger all HP compared to theirs and their towers to way more damage than mine.

So many draws just based purely on me playing the best defence you've ever seen.

I'm F2P and I'm stuck at the 1100 cup Arena 3/4 border and I am one of those Level 6 guys, nearly level 7 by now with Level 6-7 commons, Level 4 rares and in some cases level 3(!) epics. I can't progress though seemingly due to being matched up against Level 6-7s of equal or even greater decks. It's crazy.

 

[Par Score]

Dropped from 1450~ to 1250~ in one long losing streak, and now I'm stuck back down there.

I tried changing my deck, going back to my old successful deck, switching it up with the BS hut decks, nothings working.

It's like I just hit some switch and now I can't win a game

 

[Matush]

Listening to you guys having trouble in lower arenas I'm glad that I was able to play it since day 1. Spent $0 on the game and I am currently at 2000-2100 trophies (lvl8). It is doable, but at lower arenas people with lvl6/7 are pretty much fcked I guess.

 

[lamaroo]

I feel like I'll run into 3 people in a row with the exact counter to my deck. Then I'll switch to another one, win a game or two, then encounter the same problem, repeat.

Of course after a bad start, or a loss, I rush my strategies and cause a lot of the problems myself.

 

[Kor of Memory]

Listening to you guys having trouble in lower arenas I'm glad that I was able to play it since day 1. Spent $0 on the game and I am currently at 2000-2100 trophies (lvl8). It is doable, but at lower arenas people with lvl6/7 are pretty much fcked I guess.

It's demoralizign some times, but you have to roll with it.

Typically, if I see someone with much higher cards/epics, or even just 2 levels higher than my general level, I just play to tie. Funny enough, when I do that, somehow my barb hut barbarians sometimes sneak in and get a tower close to dead for me, which lets me finish it off with an arrow or two during 2x elixer.

 

[yatesl]

Dropped from 1450~ to 1250~ in one long losing streak, and now I'm stuck back down there.

I tried changing my deck, going back to my old successful deck, switching it up with the BS hut decks, nothings working.

It's like I just hit some switch and now I can't win a game

Happened to me. Got from 1100 to mid arena 5, then dropped right back down to start of arena 4 again using the exact same deck and tactics.

Now I don't care about my trophies.

 

[Dazzler]

Would you guys roll with a musketeer or archers in a deck?

I can't decide

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I have/had gotten into this weird rut around 1700 (Arena 6) where I'd scratch and claw up to about ~1730 and then lose to ~1550. As some noted above, multiple win and/or losing streaks depending on the way it was going.

I was running a hut deck, but the Barb huts felt like a dead card too often until 2x Elixir, and then at that point dropping the hut usually put me in the hole trying to defend instead of helping me build and pushing out.

Then I found this deck on Reddit and gave it a go. There's a video or something included, which I didn't check out, but it's there if anyone is interested:

3.4 Elixir Cost

Skeletons
Zap
Spear Goblins
Barbarians
Minion Horde
Hog Rider
Musketeer
Baby Dragon

I've had a ton of success with it. Granted I'm only at 1819, but when I began I was down to 1535.

I feel like I had the wool over my eyes on how good Zap is as a card. Offensively and defensively, it's kind of like a cheaper Freeze that kills several of the annoying cheap spawns and does decent damage to Minion Horde. It can buy time, or even finish a tower if necessary. Very versatile. It's also the first card I've found that made my level 8 Barbarians worth a damn for more than defending right in front of my own tower.

This is the same deck I'm been running, but I don't have a Zap, so instead I have Level 7 Archers. Sounds like I really need to push into Arena 5 and unlock Zap pronto.

Would you guys roll with a musketeer or archers in a deck?

I can't decide

Musketeer. She's a Baby Dragon slayer, and also is good against Wizards. Plus she packs a pretty good punch on towers.

Archers are fine, they're kind of a hybrid of Musketeer and Goblin Spears, but that makes them less specialized, so they aren't a perfect counter to any particular unit.

 

[mangochutney]

Would you guys roll with a musketeer or archers in a deck?

I can't decide

Depends on the rest of your deck.

Mustakeer is a very handy troop and rear gunner and I often find it is usually the last troop standing after a wave of attacks, I use it in all my decks.

Archers are a great pull troop.

 

[NervousXtian]

Baby dragons I just let through.. they do so little damage to towers.. let them waste the elixer and attack the other lane.

 

[ElyrionX]

I'm F2P and I'm stuck at the 1100 cup Arena 3/4 border and I am one of those Level 6 guys, nearly level 7 by now with Level 6-7 commons, Level 4 rares and in some cases level 3(!) epics. I can't progress though seemingly due to being matched up against Level 6-7s of equal or even greater decks. It's crazy.

While it's true that you will get matched against people of higher level, the reason they get matched against you is that they are bad players so it's very easy to outplay them even though they have better cards.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

Level 6 and just got to 1800 with 6 commons, 4 Rares, and 2 epics. I'm afraid to play now without an open chest slot because if I get dropped down I'll get worse chests

 

[Wolf Akela]

Feels really good to 3s a Lv10 when I'm Lv8.

 

[Phife Dawg]

Would you guys roll with a musketeer or archers in a deck?

I can't decide

As was already said, depends on your Deck. Musk is an all around good card but it's quite expensive and if the opponent is good at placing troops can be traded for an Elex advantage. Archers tend to get underestimated but Knight plus archers is six Elex and can do some serious damage if left alone. Opens up for good Plays if the opponent has an Elex disadvantage and you send hog down the others Lane.

Currently i'm running neither, only Spear gobbos due to Elex constraints in my Deck.

 

[Wolf Akela]

Spears
+ Cheapest
+ Blocks single target troops best on emergencies
- Wiped by Arrows and Wiz

Archer
+ Survives Arrows and a single Wiz attack

Musketeer
+ Survived Arrows and Fireball
+ Best DPS and range (out ranges Cannon)
- Most expensive
- Worst at clean ups

Archers haven't always been the most popular of the three because they're the middle ground. Arrows aren't as popular as they used to be which gives an edge to Spears and Muskets. Spears are always good for filler and shuffling.

 

[JoeNut]

I'll be clearing out a fair few people from neogaf elite on Saturday if anyone wants a spot reserving send me a PM and I'll make a list

 

[Maximus P]

Nobody in our clan has mentioned anything, i've not heard anyone else talking about it on the forums either,

Fixed.

My phone was at fault. Every app was running slow. Cleaned up a few things and re booted and I'm back to normal.

 

[Tunesmith]

While it's true that you will get matched against people of higher level, the reason they get matched against you is that they are bad players so it's very easy to outplay them even though they have better cards.

Not the case in my experience.

 

[ElyrionX]

Not the case in my experience.

It's an Elo ranking system. If they have better cards, they should and will be higher-ranked if they are playing well.

 

[Dunlop]

I have/had gotten into this weird rut around 1700 (Arena 6) where I'd scratch and claw up to about ~1730 and then lose to ~1550. As some noted above, multiple win and/or losing streaks depending on the way it was going.

I was running a hut deck, but the Barb huts felt like a dead card too often until 2x Elixir, and then at that point dropping the hut usually put me in the hole trying to defend instead of helping me build and pushing out.

Then I found this deck on Reddit and gave it a go. There's a video or something included, which I didn't check out, but it's there if anyone is interested:

3.4 Elixir Cost

Skeletons
Zap
Spear Goblins
Barbarians
Minion Horde
Hog Rider
Musketeer
Baby Dragon

I've had a ton of success with it. Granted I'm only at 1819, but when I began I was down to 1535.

I feel like I had the wool over my eyes on how good Zap is as a card. Offensively and defensively, it's kind of like a cheaper Freeze that kills several of the annoying cheap spawns and does decent damage to Minion Horde. It can buy time, or even finish a tower if necessary. Very versatile. It's also the first card I've found that made my level 8 Barbarians worth a damn for more than defending right in front of my own tower.

Thanks for showing this, got me out of my Arena 4 rut

It's funny to see others posting about losing streaks, I've constructed a few decks now that I get a string of wins with and then all of a sudden I go and lose a ton in a row. As if every player I matched up with had the counter deck all the while being in the same arena level

probably still a coincidence....probably

 

[J0dy77]

Made it to arena 7 last night with this deck. Bomb towers and hogs are too strong in this game right now. I stopped trying to counter them and just started using them until fixed.

 

[broz0rs]

yeah, I think the current meta for Arena 7 and below is Bomb Tower, Hog Rider, and Freeze cards.

Place Bomb Tower in the center, defend it, watch all opposing ground units hopelessly perish. Attack with Hog Rider on the opposite lane, use Freeze as soon as units spawn on the tower.

 

[ElyrionX]

Made it to arena 7 last night with this deck. Bomb towers and hogs are too strong in this game right now. I stopped trying to counter them and just started using them until fixed.

How do you defend against Minion Horde?

 

[Midshipman]

How do you defend against Minion Horde?

zap takes out minion horde

 

[JoeNut]

yeah, I think the current meta for Arena 7 and below is Bomb Tower, Hog Rider, and Freeze cards.

Place Bomb Tower in the center, defend it, watch all opposing ground units hopelessly perish. Attack with Hog Rider on the opposite lane, use Freeze as soon as units spawn on the tower.

Yup this is my exact method, works 3/5 times id say, lot of draws

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I really need Freeze or Zap to drop...

 

[J0dy77]

How do you defend against Minion Horde?

Zap and Baby Dragon are direct counters. Especially the dragon when the minions are targeting the bomb tower or other target. Minions are usually used as a counter to hogrider at their tower. If you zap quick enough you'll get an extra hit from the hogrider and the minions are crippled. They will get one shot by the tower or spear goblins if you want to avoid any damage.

I tried to like the Minion horde but found it too situational. Most games I'd play it I would wind up getting owned by arrows. Then when I use arrows against it seems to just trade and you don't pickup any tempo since the arrows take so long to get across the map. Zap is cheaper and reacts instantly. It will stun the tower as well as kill any spear gobs, goblins or skeletons if they drop them as a counter to hog.

 

[alt account]

I'm glad there's a lot of people being stuck at Arena 3.

yeah not gonna spend money on this

 

[MadmanUK]

I have/had gotten into this weird rut around 1700 (Arena 6) where I'd scratch and claw up to about ~1730 and then lose to ~1550. As some noted above, multiple win and/or losing streaks depending on the way it was going.

I was running a hut deck, but the Barb huts felt like a dead card too often until 2x Elixir, and then at that point dropping the hut usually put me in the hole trying to defend instead of helping me build and pushing out.

Then I found this deck on Reddit and gave it a go. There's a video or something included, which I didn't check out, but it's there if anyone is interested:

3.4 Elixir Cost

Skeletons
Zap
Spear Goblins
Barbarians
Minion Horde
Hog Rider
Musketeer
Baby Dragon

I've had a ton of success with it. Granted I'm only at 1819, but when I began I was down to 1535.

I feel like I had the wool over my eyes on how good Zap is as a card. Offensively and defensively, it's kind of like a cheaper Freeze that kills several of the annoying cheap spawns and does decent damage to Minion Horde. It can buy time, or even finish a tower if necessary. Very versatile. It's also the first card I've found that made my level 8 Barbarians worth a damn for more than defending right in front of my own tower.

Working pretty well so far. Win/loss is 2:1 so far.

 

[mangochutney]

zap takes out minion horde

No it doesn't.

It takes them to an inch of their life, but it doesn't do enough damage to kill them.