Clash Royale League: China Spring 2019 – Week 2

Another week concludes and the storylines that emerged during Week 1 continue to develop.

Newbee

Newbee continue their streak and remain undefeated, sitting at first place with four wins. The team has been dominant in 1v1 sets with Peas (the #1 ranked player according to our rankings) anchoring the team as well as Xun and Xiaosa putting up results when needed.

X-Quest

Struggling through another week is the other new team X-Quest, still unable to win a match. X-Quest performs adequately in 2v2, winning two out of four sets but their 1v1 game is another story. The players have abysmal results in 1v1 with three of their players occupying the last three places in ESTNN’s Player Rankings and their strongest player, Houyi, boasting a 40% win rate. X-Quest trails behind the other teams with four losses and needs to make drastic changes immediately if they want a shot at making playoffs this season.

Nova

Nova has underperformed compared to the World Champion team they were last year. Similar to X-Quest, the weakness in Nova’s roster is with their execution in the 1v1 sets. There is potential with Lciop and Little Chen who are both world-class players so maybe there is a problem with their practice regime or analysis and preparation. Keep an eye on Nova over the next couple weeks to see if they return to form.

LGD

It will be exciting to see how LGD performs over the next two weeks with two matches played each week. Right now they are in second place but have only played a total of two matches in the first two weeks, squeaking out a victory against JDG and breezing past Gen.g. Jiu.Bao is the player to watch on LGD who currently holds a 100% win rate in 1v1 sets at 6-0.

The Meta

There is a bit of a shift as Royal Giant was used less in Week 2 and more players opted to use a Miner or Ram Rider deck. Miner decks made up over 25% of the decks used in 1v1 sets with several variations being prevalent. Miner Poison Control with Inferno Tower or Pekka and Miner Balloon decks composed the majority of them.

Meta Deck(s) of the Week

 Miner Control (Poison) aims to eliminate threats and win via chip damage from counterattacks, the furnace, miner, and poison. Possible card substitutions: Goblin Hut for Furnace, Dark Prince for Prince, Snowball/Barbarian Barrel for Zap.

For a more explosive option, you can try the Balloon variant of Miner Control. This deck utilizes the Inferno Tower to handle Beat Down decks but rather than using chip damage relies on escorting the Balloon to your opponent’s tower with a quick cycle.

CRL China Player Rankings: April 1, 2019

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