One of the trickiest choices of building a good deck in Clash Royale is to decide between Cycle Card and Elixir Collector. With the recent update, the Elixir Collector has been changed in a way that it becomes much riskier to play and more room for your opponent to counter. And with the recent update to the Skeleton Army, the new meta now paves the way to the Cycle Card even more.
Advantages of Cycle Card
One of the advantages of the Cycle Card is that it lets you outplay your opponent by choosing the correct cards in the game. Cycle Cards can take advantage on both high cost and cheap decks by capitalizing on Elixir management during battle. An example is that when your enemy plays Three Musketeers and barbarians (14 Elixir) combo and you counters using Fireball and Zap (6 Elixir) combo then you have an effective 8 Elixir advantage. This is where Cycle Card benefits the most.
After gaining advantage over elixir management, you can easily drop, let's say, Hog Rider straight away and your opponent will mostly have a hard time dealing with this push. Cycle Card benefits the most in controlling the pressure and momentum of the game. Once you have taken the phase of the battle then you will mostly have the upper hand with the constant pressure you're applying to the enemy.
Decks that benefit with Cycle Card
The decks that benefit greatly for cycle card are those that have 3.5 to 4.0 Elixir cost average. These cards can put a lot of pressure midgame where your opponent is still busy conserving elixir and plays on cheap cards. Decks that have mediocre elixir costs that can punch a straight push to the tower including Hogs, P.E.K.K.A, Giants and Witch is the best combo for the Cycle Card. Basically, your main objective is to outplay your opponent in Elixir management and create an unstoppable mass of units early game.
New Meta For The Cycle Card
With the latest Clash Royale update of the Elixir Collector, you now have more room to counter your opponent if he chooses to play Elixir Collector. With the newest buff of Skeleton Army, you can now outsmart your enemy by spell-baiting the Skeleton Army card. Let your enemy use his crowd control spells like Zap, Fireball, etc. Then use your high risk/high reward cards to overwhelm your enemy nonstop. Your opponent has barely enough cards to stop mid-tier cards in mass. This is the part where Elixir Collector is heavily punished and your advantage in using the Cycle Cards grows furthermore as the more pressure you're putting into the field.
Take note that spell-baiting is now the current trend in high tier arenas and therefore, you must also be wary that your opponent might also play this card against you. Maximize your elixir management and put early pressure in your opponent. If you want to play the Cycle Cards then you must play smart and swiftly.
Clash Royale Elixir Collector benefits more on high-tier and high cost cards which will easily crush your deck if you don't apply pressure during the early stages of the game. So you might be asking why choose Cycle Card? The answer is simple; Cycle Card is the swift silent killer in the current meta. Your enemy gets destroyed before he gets to know what's coming for him. The more unpredictable your game becomes, the harder your opponent beats you in the arena.
