The Clash Royale Open Tournament is currently live and you can clearly see how X-Bow Beatdown deck simply dominates the scene especially with the latest nerf on Giants + Poison (Gaison) decks; making the direct counter of this deck a lot rarer in this current meta. Thus, it's almost impossible for your opponent to counter a properly played X-Bow Beatdown. If you want to push forward from Arena 8 then this deck is perfect for you!
X-Bow Beatdown Strategy
X-Bow
Your primary source of offense/defense relies heavily on your X-Bow but don't get me wrong, most of players that are using this strategy are fully committing in sustaining their X-Bow. This isn't the game plan here. Your main strategy is to gain advantage from Elixir trade-ups which means that your main focus is to defend against his push whilst still maintaining cheap damage to his tower. Placing your X-Bow to apply pressure and making him deploy unnecessary troops to take it out is your main goal. Basically, you just have to recover the 6 Elixir cost of the card and maintain a constant pressure by wiping your opponent's troops.
Ice Spirit
Arguably an irreplaceable unit in the game and essential one of the best defenses you can apply to help sustain your X-Bow with minimal cost and risk. Essentially, once you place an X-Bow, your opponent will drastically apply counter-measures to destroy your card. He might drop any 7+ Elixir card. This is where your Ice Spirit does a fantastic job as it helps control the counter-card and allowing you to eliminate it before it destroys your X-Bow.
Inferno Tower
In conjunction to the Ice Spirit in the Clash Royale Tournament, the Inferno Tower is great at taking out heavy units or Tanks that are deployed to destroy your X-Bow. But always remember to maintain good Elixir management and do not over commit on your X-Bow(s). If the X-Bow is already doomed then reset the game then rinse and repeat. The main focus of this deck is to defend and destroy a tower.
Fire Spirits
This is an amazing distraction/spell-baiting unit. Fire Spirits can help you gain momentum by disturbing your opponent's rhythm. It can take out Barbarians or Minion Horde as well as spell-baiting your opponent and force him to use Zap.
Fireball
This spell is an amazing card to have in your deck especially when the game is tight. Fireball is a good replacement from the recently nerfed Poison spell and can also give you a head start at the beginning of the match. Use it to apply constant pressure as the high level games mostly revolves around spell cycling, making Fireball an effective spell card in hand.
The Log
With the latest buff, The Log is an effective tool to have to help clear any decent troops that are about to take out your X-Bow as well as taking a cheap damage to the enemy tower. At tournament level, the Log + Fireball combo inflicts 325 burst damage to a tower. Take note of this number as it'll help you win games A LOT!
Mega Minion
This card is a great way to apply pressure to your opponent as most spells won't eradicate the minion instantly. Also, this is a great way to counter your opponent's Mega Minion as well, making it a life-saver during some matches. The Mega Minion is also one of the game's hardest tower breakers if not dealt quickly. This makes this card cost-effective and frustrating to play against.
Skeleton Army
Take note that with the recent patch, Skeleton Army got buffed significantly; making this card even more of a threat. Skeleton Army is a great card to bait out your opponent's Zap as well as distract your enemy's heavy troops. This card is great at helping your X-Bow sustain and disrupt the momentum of your enemy's push.
Primary Goal
As you deploy your troops early on (i.e Mega Minion, Skeleton Army), your main goal is to have effective Elixir advantage through trade-ups and afterwards, drop the X-Bow early on. Once you drop your first X-Bow, defend it from immediate threat which your opponent will surely react to. Use The Log, Ice Spirit and Fire Spirit to deal with troops that will destroy your X-Bow. This early strategy will force your enemy to expend more Elixir to defend against your troops, thus, giving you an early head start. Cheap as much damage as possible while maintaining great defense on the side your enemy is pushing.
Remember that you should not overcommit in protecting your X-Bow as it might lead to overspending of your Elixir. When using the X-Bow Beatdown strategy, you should be the one that should control the pace of the game and apply the most pressure through effective defense. Don't hesitate to use Ice Spirit and Fire spirit early on as you'll be able to take down minimal troops + deal a significant damage to the tower using Fireball and The Log. Take note of these two spells as these will be an effective spell cycling in the later part of the game.
In the video below, you can clearly see how X-Bow can be effective at defending while maintaining pressure to the enemy tower.
