Introduction
Brief Introduction
I am sure you already know the basics of Minion Masters. The objective is to get your opponents Master to 0 HP by dealing dealing enough damage with either your Minions or your spells. In this guide I will introduce you to a deck that I created with nothing but basic cards(You need to be level 12 to have obtained all of them though!) and I made it into the leaderboard(Top 20) in around 5 hours of total playtime. If you are sceptical I will give you a short breakdown of my own experience with this deck in the next paragraph(Note: There is also 3 videos of the first 25 games I played at the bottom of the guide).
Results
I post this at the beginning rather at the end so that you can see where this guide can lead you before you are bored halfway through.
7. Games
~5 Hours
Wood to Bronze – 8-0 (100% Win Rate)
Bronze to Silver – 15-0 (100% Win Rate)
Silver to Gold – 25-0 (100% Win Rate)
Gold to Platinum – 35-0 (100% Win Rate)
Platinum to Diamond – 58-7 (89.2% Win Rate)
Diamond to Top 20 – 67-8 (89.3% Win Rate)
Conincidentally, there is another person with only basics in the top 20, but he was top 20 with a different deck before and changed to mine after he lost a game against me. In fact I played against several replicas at the last day of playing(people apparently found a lot of success with he deck).
Demon Warrior Spam(3 losses) & C2A(2 losses) are your worst matchups, essentially you can not win unless they severely misplay. Dragon Nest is relatively easy to beat(lost 1 game because Fireball was the last card in the deck).
Some Terminology
Tempo – Gaining Tempo means to get a Mana advantage over your opponent(Combination of what is currently available to you and what you have on the board). If your opponent plays a Succubus and you play a Boomer, both minions will die but you paid 2 Mana for the trade and your opponent paid 5, so you gained a Tempo advantage of 3 Mana. Tempo is thus generally generated by making value-trades(Your minion/spell cost less or survives the fight). using the Master to tank and deal damage also generates Tempo(You spend HP to destroy a Minion which is worth mana, without using Mana yourself).
Bridge Control – Is often a result of a Tempo lead and occurs when you control both bridges(and it’s usually implied that they are in firm grasp, indicating that your opponent can’t easily steal them away, as in, you have Mana to answer his potential minions trying to take the bridge from you). Leads to an XP advantage, which in turn generates to a Tempo advantage.
Deck
(2)Swarmers
(3)Dragon Whelp
(3)Grenardier
(3)Plasma Marines
(3)Plasma Marines
(3)Plasma Marines
(3)Warrior
(4)Fireball
(4)Lightning Bolt
(6)Cleaver
Optional
Depending on the decks you face, you may want to do the following changes:
If you need aTANKor face a lot ofRANGEDunits
-Exchange 1 Plasma Marine for 1 Warrior (You now have 2 of each)
If you face a lot ofMELEEunits.
-Exchange 1 Plasma Marine for 1 Dragon Whelp (You now have 2 of each)
If you needAnti-Air AOE(Against Dragon Pack for instance)
-Exchange 1 Grenardier for 1 Annihilator
Master
#1 Apep
Apep is affordable, a bit random, but has a safety net.
The first Perk gives you a 2 Mana card for 0 Mana. This will allow you to gain additional tempo, by getting an extra card in your opponent needs to deal with or it gives you an additional option to counter certain cards. Furthermore this will give you access to a card that isn’t basic. Bur be warned, the card you receive is random and can be somewhat of a blank at times.
The Second Perk gives you a 0 Mana Shield Totem that can be palced to render your Master immune for a while. If you don’t have a good counter to your opponent’s minions, let them through and attack your master. As soon as they start attacking, drop the Shield Totem and some minions of your own to deal with the threat without losing any HP.
Advanced: You can also use the totem to block incoming attack in front fo your minion. If you have already placed your Cleaver, and the opponent has dropped one before, which reached your side of the bridge, drop the Shield Totem in front of your Cleaver, so their Cleaver hits the totem, while your Cleaver gets in the first attack.
The Third Perk gives you a 4 Mana card for 0 Mana. Similarly to the first perk, this should give you more options and more tempo.
#2 King Puff
King Puff is expensive, a bit more challenging to play, but can be very strong in able hands.
The First Perk gives you a 0 Mana Spell that swaps every minion on the bridges, stunning the opponent ones. This can be used when minions are fighting on the bridge, to give you an advantage. But it can also be used to take both bridges with one unit. Once your Minion has reached a bridge, swap, and you shall have the other as well. You can dodge Fireballs and even chain lightnings if you have a fast reaction speed. True magic can happen with this spell!
The Second Perk adds +25 damage to every friendly minion on the bridge. Thus you should engage fights on the bridge, make sure to spawn minions in time, with appropriate placement, so that they will have the buff when they engage an enemy minion. The Bridges shall be yours!
The Third Perk makes your Master immune to any damage a slong as you control at least one bridge. Keep in mind control means no enemy minion is touching it. Your opponent can spawn certain minion that will be instantly on the bridge, even if you have a minion on that bridge, it will be contended(Yellow color) and your immunity will fade. Generally you don’t want to rely on that Perk, but it can be a viable option to focus on spawning only in one lane to protect it.
#3 Stormbringer 
Easy and Free. If you don’t have access to the first two, Stormbringer will do an “okay” job, but this deck will not fully utilize his potential.
The first Perk will give your Master global range, allowing you to damage minions before they reach the bridges. Boring but can be useful against low HP minion, very weak against Golems and other high HP minions.
The second Perk will give your ranged Minions +2 Range. This is nice for Plasma Marines, lets them hit minions earlier, let’s them win trades against your opponents Plasma Marines etc. But your deck doesn’t fully capitalize on that, as you don’t have access to more important ranged units, hence why Apep and King Puff are prefered.
The third Perk will double your Masters attack speed. This will help with tempo, but loses a lot of value against tanky units. In some matchups you will feel like your master is taking care of a lot of minions, in some others you will feel like he is useless.
Minions
Just some notes on how to use cards efficiently. Try to use units only as a good counter, don’t run into your own counter(e.g. don’t play a Dragon Whelp against Plasma Maries).
Swarmers
Cheap unit, good to grab a bridge(or even both! if you split them at the horizontal line). Can be used to keep a Cleaver occupied in front of your master. They have decent DPS for their Mana cost as well, so they are a good choice to kill any minions who attack your master.
Dragon Whelp
The counter to melee units. Try to play it in time so that it flies onto the bridge before attacking any incoming melee units, it will be the last minion on the bridge, making it yours! Keep in mind that when no minions are around, Air Minions will go for the opponents Master, in a straight line, so they often will not grab the bridge depending on where they eliminated the opposing minion.
Grenardier
This is your AOE. Kills Plasma marines and Crossbow dudes, works well against Last Stand. Sometimes required a tank in front of him as his HP is low, also he won’t attack air. Don’t use it against single units.
Plasma Marines
Can grab both bridges if split, good Anti-Air, can take care of a lot of things if spawned in multiples(Be wary of Chain Lightning though!). Just overall a nice Minion.
Warrior
Your cheap tank. Use it to counter ranged units, drop him NEXT to the units when they cross the bridge, so they don’t get a couple of free shots in. If you use it to counter another Melee unit, play it further away as it takes time to spawn, preferebly you want to fight on the bridge to content it and deny your opponent the XP.
Fireball
Situational card. Good against everything with up to 150 HP. Use it to kill Dragon Packs, sometimes buildings, boomers if they will disrupt your push(Generally not a efficient mana trade). Generally use it on a big push when you can hit multiple units.
Lightning Bolt
Kills a RANDOM enemy unit. This kind of RNG can be bent in your favor, kill off th small units first, either with your own minions or with Fireball, then lightning bolt their huge threat. It’s your best basic card answer against Red Golem, Colossus, Trubadour, Drone Force One etc. But don’t shy away from using it on a Succubus or Cleaver, it’s still an efficient trade(You pay less mana than them).
Cleaver
This is your high damage minion, try to oneshot a dangerous card with up to 300 HP. Good against cannon Roller, Succubus, Turrets, Annihilators etc. Be wary of Re-Boomers, you may want to Fireball them out of the way.
Additions
How can you improve your deck once you have developed your card collection? Every card in this game has its own merits and a lot will depend on your personal playstyle which you will develope over time. Nevertheless I will give you a short list of some very useful minions that could improve your basic deck.
(2)Boomer(Common)
Takes time before he hatches, but does 250 damage to every enemy minion around him when he dies. Very useful to counter a mob of units(Last Stand) or even certain ranged units that cost significantly more, like Cannon Roller(4) or Succubus(5).
(2)Elite Swarmer(Common)
Cheap tanky unit. I would prefer it over the swarmers as it can deal very well with plasma marines.
(3)Ghost Turret(Common)
Stationary, but worth the mana, can help you deal with rammers, kills Plasma Marines without them taking the bridge, beats Succubus. Downside, doesn’t actually take the bridge, so sometimes it’s an unefficient trade.
(3)Re-Boomer(Rare)
Same as Boomer, generally prefered over the normal Boomer. Can take out a cleaver on his own!
(4)Whirly Scrat(Rare)
Decent AOE Melee unit. Very good to drop in the middle of 4 shielded Crossbow men or a couple of Plasma Marines. Even beats the Warrior 1v1 for only 1 extra Mana. Very good against swarm, and does decent damage against Last Stand(Don’t drop it in the middle though).
(4)Chain Lightning(Common)
Probably the best common card in the game. Very fast, decent damage(100), can circle the map if the units are placed improper by your opponent. Use it to kill re-boomers, Dragon Pack and otherwise large packs of enemies.
(4)Cannon Roller(Rare)
If you have a problem with Colossus or golems, this guy 1v1’s them all. Also beats succubus and almost all melee units(not cleaver!). Very susceptible to air though!
(5)Succubus(Supreme)
Probably the best all-around Supreme card. Deals with A LOT of minions, can counter last stand, dragon pack, and most low-mid Mana melee units.
(7)Last Stand(Rare)
Another card you will see a lot on the leaderboards. If your opponent has both bridges, you spawn 7 units, which is a strong push. Have a Spell ready though if you know they have a boomer. Can be utilized very well with King Puff as if the opponent only grabs one bridge, you can use the first Perk spell, to give him both bridges and get your extra value Last Stand!
Feel free to test other cards as well when you get them.
General Tips
These tips are not specifically for this deck only, but a general rule for minion masters. They should give you a general idea of how to play the game.
– Stay close to 10 Mana. You want to have the ability to play ANY or SEVERAL of the cards in your hand, or even cycle to one that you will draw next. The ability to counter anything in an instant is priceless, don’t give it away by mindlessly spawning every minion as soon as you ahve the mana for them.
– Don’t go over 10 Mana though! Every second you stay at 10 Mana, you waste some precious Mana that could be transformed into tempo by playing a unit your opponent has to deal with. As soon as you are at 9,5 Mana, just drop a Plasma Marine. preferably further back at your master, to give you more time to react to how your opponent is reacting(e.g. you can still put a Warrior in front, which you can’t if you spawned them at the bridge).
– Don’t go first. Generally you want to counter your opponents minion rather than letting him counter yours. That’s why you will often see people not spawning in the first 10 seconds. They wait for 10 Mana, then they might spawn something to grab a bridge.
– XP is important! Having a Perk before your opponent and having a faster Mana Regeneration is a huge advantage, thus controlling the bridges can be the key to victory. A low curve deck such as the proposed basic deck will generally allow you to control the bridges as you don’t have to deal with every big minion, let their stupid 9 Mana Golem pass, kill him in peace on your side while already grabbing the bridge with a 2 Mana Swarmer.
– Tank with your master. Your 3000 Hit Points are a resource, use them! Your HP is virtually meaningless, until it isn’t(If you lose all of it). Sometimes it’s best to let enemy units pass to your master to kill them from behind with your units(without them losing HP) to regain some tempo on the battlefield. If you don’t have a good counter to his minion, just let it through. Don’t just throw Plasma Marines in front of a Warrior or Succubus because you have nothing else. It is not worth it!
– Grab both Bridges with 1 Card. You can spawn Plasma Marines or Swarmers at the horizontal line, so that they split(1 goes up, 1 goes down). That way you can grab both bridges with just 1 card.
– Speed matters! Want to have lightning reflexes on that Fireball? Press the Hotkey for it and hover over the area where you expect minions, if your opponent places them you can instantaneously fire away! Half a second DOES make a difference!
– Remember what’s in your opponents deck and when he used key cards! There is only 10 cards in your opponents deck(Can be 11 or 12 based on Master and Perk, be aware!). 4 are in his hand and 6 on the stack. If he uses a card it goes to the bottom of his stack. This means if he uses 6 more cards, he will have the original back in his hand. Knowing when your opponent has a beam of doom, chain lightning, shield totem, lightning bolt or other key card in his hand, can alter your play and decide the game!
Meta Decks
This section’s purpose is twofold. On one hand it should give you an idea of what kind of popular decks you might be facing when ranking up. In general you will see more and more of these the further you travel from bronze towards Platinum and higher. On the other hand it should give you something to aspire, maybe you enjoy the idea of one of these decks and you want to craft the necessary cards to find your deck, maybe your very own, as most of these decks allow for some sort of alterations.
I will show an example deck(Lots of variations may exist), name the notorious player associated with the type of deck(Either historically, or current user), the master of choice and what the deck tries to do as well as some tips on how to deal with it. Finally I rate the difficulty of playing the deck(Personal, potentially biased, opinion) Here we go:
Dragon Nest(DNest)
Notorious: Kanu
Master: Settsu, Milloween
Idea:This deck utilizes the Legendary card Dragon Nest, which is a building that spawns a Dragon Whelp whenever a spell is cast. This synergizes well with Settsu, who receives a spell as first Perk and recharges his basic attack at second perk – and Milloween which receives a spell as first perk, a spell-synergistic Arcane Golem as second perk and a Spell discount on third perk(with top bridge controlled). This deck generally runs up to 8 spells, even the minions are actually spells(Raging Reinforcements). The combo generates a lot of Tempo, which might overwhelm many decks, especially since Melee units are going to be useless, and the Anti-Air units often die to the spells.
Tips:Utilizing chain lightning to kill Dragon Whelps as well as the Dragon Nest can be very usefull. Try to not run into Fireball/Chain lightning/Last Stand, you can expect your opponent to have spells, make sure you don’t set yourself up for them. Try to efficiently utilize your master to take out Dragons without losing too much HP.
Difficulty: Medium-High(Depending on the spells and matchups)
(Note: Has been nerfed but is still effective)
Monkey Combo
(I made the name up, I am not sure what this type of deck goes by)Notorious: PalaceOfDreams
Master: Ravager
Idea: This deck tries to win in a single(or sometimes a couple) huge push. Ravager spawns a very tanky minion at the first Perk, so the deck tries to have 10 Mana at that point and Spawn a combination of Monkeys, Rammers, Cleavers in addition. Then these units will be enraged for double damage and opposing units will be stunned for 6 seconds while the master is being beaten to a pulp. Black Hole is sometimes played and can be used to dodge a Beam of Doom or temporarily remove certain units. Healing Fireball might come in to heal the minions ocne they are at half HP.
Tips: Don’t bunch up your minions, especially next to your master. You know a Stun Grenade is coming so try to start a fight at the bridge already so you can continue it at your master. The opponent will spend a lot of resources with the spells, once you survive the first push it is your time to shine, the Perk1 Minion is a one-time thing(until Perk3, usually the game ends way before that) so take advantage of that and answer with a push of your own. If you don’t have the right cards in your deck, this matchup can sometimes be unwinable.
Difficulty: Low-Medium
(Note: Monkey has been nerfed and usually is a 1-of nowadays, still a very strong deck, often #1 on the eladerboard)
Blood Golem
(I made the name up, I am not sure what this type of deck goes by)
Notorious: –
Master: Ratbo(Most common), Volco, King Puff, Apep
Idea: Very simple, the deck plays Blood Imps to receive damage to the master, which synergizes with the Red Golem which has HP equal to the one the Master is missing. Since Blood Imps spawn 5 units for 0 mana, it is very easy to activate the second Perk on Ratbo and grab bridges. Healing Puff is often utilized to not die to Beam of Doom to the Master or Rammers. Volco’s first ability is strong with the cheap spam of cards, King Puff gains immunity and it’s eays to keep a Bridge with a beefy Red Golem. Apep can utilize Blood Imps at low HP with Shield Totem backup.
Tips: One way is to try to deal very low damage to blood imps and control the bridges, gain a big XP lead before the golem becomes strong, so you have a Mana/Perk advantage to better deal with it. Another way to counter is to rush the opposite side once a Red Golem has been placed, the Opponent is essentially at 0 or 1 Mana and therefore weak to a counter push, especially with already low HP. Don’t forget you can kite the slow Red Golem and regrab the bridges once he is closer to your master.
Difficulty: Low
(Currently the go to deck for players, easy to play, very strong – expect a nerf soon)
(Note: Red Golem has been nerfed in 0.x.xx and always has 800 hp or 1600 hp when the master is below 1500 HP, the nerf has not had a huge effect and the deck is still popular)
Older Meta Decks
Decks in this section may no longer viable due to card changes or no longer meta, but could still be usefull. For the most part this section was generated because the Meta Deck section had graphical errors due to too much text/pictures, but the info on older decks may still be useful to some extent.
Call to Arms(C2A)
Notorious: Akira
Master: Apep, Stormbringer(more historically)
Idea: A defensive deck that tries to overwhelm you with Warriors from the Call to Arms spell, which spawns 1 Warrior for each active building(Master counts as one!). These decks usually use 1 or 2 Bridge shrines to get a huge XP lead, which gives them more Mana regenerationa nd thus allows them to place more and more buildings as the game goes on, making the C2A Spell a huge threat, especially at Mana Frenzy(200 XP). Turrets are a staple in the deck and usually do very good job at protecting the shrines. Cheap units are used to grab the bridges.
Tips: Go hard or go home. If you let them play bob the builder you are going down. You need to keep their buildings in check, so they don’t get a huge Call to Arms, you need to control the bridges, so you can keep up with their XP. You will have more and better Minions in your deck, but you need to be able to deal with Turrets. Pressure them hard and they will get overwhelmed.
Difficulty: Low
(Note: As of 0.24.6, Laser Turret received a Buff, making the Archetype rise again)
(Note2: As of 0.xx.x, Call to Arms has been redesigned and this deck no longer works the same)
Attrition
(Not a “Meta Deck” you will likely run into, but my very own addition I would like to introduce to you as it is more of a Meta-Breaker)
Notorious: JuRiOh
Master: Apep
Idea: I run this deck since I started playing and rarely change a card. The deck is designed to be able to counter everything and gain a Mana/Tempo lead due to efficient trades which lead to bridge control, backed up with a Bridge Shrine for extra XP. Essentially you continously counter every threat coming at you until you reach Mana Frenzy, at which point you overrun your opponent. The games are long and your opponent will be frustrated as he simply can’t get through. There is no substitute for Snake Druid, the legendary is an absolute must for this deck. Snake Druid can single-handedly contorl a Cleaver or Rammer heading for your Shrine, he dies to Chain Lightning, but he costs only 3 Mana!
Tips: Problems I have run into are decks that do one thing very well, e.g. only run air units. Before the nerf, the dragon nest deck was unbeatable with my Attrition deck, nowadays it is very doable. The deck has a answers to everything, but it doesn’t have infinite answers to the same thing, double rammer + cleaver for example is more than a Ghost turret and Snake Druid can take care of, a Bridge Shrine will not survive(But it musn’t necessarily). Playing against this deck, try to destroy the bridge shrine and always content the bridges, give your opponent as little XP as possible and kill him before he reaches Mana Frenzy.
Difficulty: High
(Note: As the current Meta (June 2017) is very aggressive and Rammer Enrage combo is dead, this deck is longer a meta breaker, nevertheless Attrition decks can still be run)
Video Footage
Short Video – Wood to Bronze
Obviously not the best of decks and opponents faced here, but the video could give you some idea on how to employ some of the strategies and tips discussed in the “general tips” section.
I have done some misplacements of minions and spells myself, but I think you can get an idea of how this deck can cost-efficiently counter the opponents minions and control the bridges.
I think commentary is not necessary as the playstyle is relatively self-explanatory if you have read through the guide, but if you would like some commentary to the video, or have a question, let me know.
Another Video – Bronze to Silver
From Bronze 5 to Silver 5 in just 24 minutes. The decks works very well at lower ranks, none of the games were even remotely close. Just by having an optimized deck, and of course playing well, you can climb the ladder without any specific cards, let alone a “Meta Deck”.
Sidenote: I accidentally queued with this deck on my Main Account at Platinum/Diamond TWICE and won both games as well. One being against Ratbo Blood Golem, which is probably the worst matchup for this deck. If you play very well, there is no doubt in my mind that you can get into Diamond 5 with this. Of course that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t improve your deck if you happen to receive good cards, this is just to say that the game isn’t P2W, you really don’t need much to have a competitive deck.
Last Video – Silver to Gold
This one took a bit longer, faced better decks and tougher opponents, some games even went to Mana Frenzy.
Conclusion:
– Wood 5 to Gold 5
– 10 Basics
– 108 Minutes
– 25 Games
– 25 Wins
Buying cards might help, but it is certainly not necessary. Basic cards are VERY competitive!
Try and see for yourself.
Here we come to an end for Minion Masters Beginner Guide + Basic Deck(top 20 viable) + Video hope you enjoy it. If you think we forget something to include or we should make an update to the post let us know via comment, and we will fix it asap! Thanks and have a great day!
- Check All Minion Masters Posts List
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