DECK BREAKDOWN
Royal Hogs Cycle
- Archetype
- Cycle
- Average elixir
- 3.3
- Win conditions
- Royal Hogs
What this deck is
Royal Hogs Cycle is a cycle shell built around Royal Hogs. It sits at 3.3 elixir, which sets how often you can repeat its pressure and how much you can afford to defend before answering back.
How it wins
The pressure this deck applies, strongest angle first.
- Cycle pressure — the same cheap threat returns faster than the answer.
- Spell bait — layered cheap threats that punish a spent small spell.
- Split-lane — both lanes threatened at once to stretch defensive elixir.
Where it breaks
Structural weak points read off the deck's own shell, not off a single matchup.
- One-dimensional: answer the single win condition and the deck runs out of plans.
- Swarm-reliant defence: area damage clears the blockers this deck leans on.
Cards that counter this deck
Curated card interactions, ranked by how much of this deck's plan they take away. Counters on a win condition weigh heaviest.
Royal DeliveryAnswers Royal Hogs, Goblin Gang, Firecracker · hits the win condition
ArrowsAnswers Goblin Gang, Firecracker, Dart Goblin
ValkyrieAnswers Royal Hogs, Goblin Gang · hits the win condition
Dark PrinceAnswers Royal Hogs, Goblin Gang · hits the win condition
ExecutionerAnswers Royal Hogs, Goblin Gang · hits the win condition
Barbarian BarrelAnswers Goblin Gang, Firecracker, Dart Goblin
BowlerAnswers Royal Hogs, Goblin Gang · hits the win condition
ZapAnswers Goblin Gang, Firecracker, Dart Goblin
Matchups
Structural read from the archetype engine: which side's game plan the other cannot answer. It measures shells, not card levels or piloting.
Favoured into
- Goblin Barrel BaitBait
- Golem BeatdownBeatdown
- Goblin Barrel BaitBait
- Hog Rider MidrangeMidrange
Struggles against
- Miner Chip controlChip control
- X-Bow SiegeSiege
- Balloon ControlControl
- Lava Hound LavaloonLavaloon
Where this deck is played
Brackets where this deck shows up in the most-played panel, with its usage share of that bracket.
Similar decks
Measure this deck against the live meta
The Deck Lab scores it with the win-chance model, and can search single-card swaps that raise its win rate.
Open in the Deck LabQuestions about this deck
- What counters Royal Hogs Cycle?
- Royal Delivery, Arrows, Valkyrie are the strongest answers — the interactions that take away the most of this deck's plan.
- What archetype is Royal Hogs Cycle?
- It is a cycle deck at 3.3 average elixir, winning through Royal Hogs.
- Is Royal Hogs Cycle good for ladder?
- It appears in the most-played panel of Royal Champion, so it is a real ladder deck in those brackets rather than a theoretical build.
Interaction data: patch July 2026 (Season 85 — Ronin counter pass). Usage data: meta panel 3ab3d279e96c8aed, built 29 lip 2026.