The Winning Decks for the 20 Win Challenge (And How to Pilot Them)

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Learn how to win Clash Royale’s hardest challenge

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: November 20, 2025 Fact Checked

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Winning Archetypes

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Tips on Beating the 20 Win Challenge

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The 20-win challenge is perhaps Clash Royale’s most difficult challenge. In fact, professional players regularly can’t beat it! That’s partly due to the fact that the RNG variance can be so huge over the course of 20 games. You’re just so likely to run into a tough matchup. Well, that’s where we come in. We’ll cover all of the deck archetypes that have won the challenge and provide some guidance on how to put a winning run together.

Best Decks for the 20 Win Challenge in Clash Royale

Royal Giant Control
Royal Hogs Recruits
Miner Balloon Cycle
2.6 Hog Cycle
X-Bow eSpirit Cycle

Section 1 of 2:

Meta Decks with Success in the Challenge

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1
Royal Giant Control/Fireball This classic archetype should have game against every deck you run into in the challenge. It’s soft to combo, but combo is weak in a 20-win challenge anyway, so you’re less likely to run into your worst matchup.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- The Build:
  - Royal Giant
  - Royal Ghost
  - Fisherman
  - Hunter
  - Skeletons
  - Electro Spirit
  - Fireball
  - Barbarian Barrel
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Royal Hogs Recruits This is a pretty straightforward deck that just focuses on splitting the lane control and maximizing pressure. It’s a frustrating deck to defend against, and it’s the kind of deck that has a shot of winning against everyone because it’s so streamlined and easy to pilot. The Archer Queen & Earthquake version of this build works well, too.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- The Build:
  - Royal Recruits
  - Goblin Cage
  - Royal Hogs
  - Zappies
  - Flying Machine
  - Fireball
  - Arrows
  - Barbarian Barrel
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Miner Balloon Cycle This is a top-tier deck that relies on cycling through the low-cost cards (like Skeletons) to loop Ballon and Miner as quickly as possible. The Miner gets the chip shot damage in, while Balloon threatens to end the game.^{[3]
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Research source}
- The Build:
  - Musketeer
  - Skeletons
  - Balloon
  - Miner
  - Ice Golem
  - Bomb Tower
  - Barbarian Barrel
  - Giant Snowball
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2.6 Hog Cycle If you fancy yourself a skilled player, 2.6 Hog Cycle is an archetype that should reward you. Smart play is essential, as your average elixir cost (2.6, the name of the deck), is so low that you have to stay on your toes. The deck wants to spam defense and use Hog and Ice Golem/Ice Spirit to counterpush and get damage in.^{[4]
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Research source}
- The Build:
  - Skeletons
  - Cannon
  - Hog Rider
  - Ice Golem
  - Musketeer
  - Ice Spirit
  - Fireball
  - The Log
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X-Bow eSpirit Cycle X-Bow is a cycling deck that excels in sieging. X-Bow is your win condition, but you aim to play it when your opponent is low on elixir. The cheap cards are meant to cycle through your deck and buy you time. It’s a strong option that has game against most of the meta. You can also swap out Electro Spirit for Ice Spirit if you prefer.^{[5]
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Research source}
- The Build:
  - Archers
  - Tesla
  - X-Bow
  - Knight
  - Skeletons
  - Electro Spirit
  - Fireball
  - The Log
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Golem Zappies Yes, believe it or not, a Zappies deck won the 20-win challenge in 2025. We aren’t going to lie, this is probably the most niche, uncompetitive deck to win the challenge, but if the playstyle works for you, this is definitive proof that it can win. The deck revolves around using Golem to build a big, slow pushes that overwhelm the opponent.^{[6]
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Research source}
- The Build:
  - Royal Ghost
  - Baby Dragon
  - Golem
  - Mini P.E.K.K.A
  - Zappies
  - Skeleton Dragons
  - Lightning
  - Barbarian Barrel
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Log Bait People don’t tend to enjoy playing against Log Bait, but we’re trying to win here, right?! The goal of the deck is to bait the opponent into wasting their key spells so that you can punish them after they overcommit. Goblin Barrel is the most common win condition, with Princess playing a key support role as well.^{[7]
X
Research source}
- The Build:
  - Knight
  - Goblin Barrel
  - Princess
  - Goblin Gang
  - Ice Spirit
  - Inferno Tower
  - Rocket
  - The Log

Section 2 of 2:

Tips on Beating the 20 Win Challenge

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Don’t feel the need to pound through all 20 games in one sitting. In fact, you’re more likely to misplay if you don’t take periodic breaks to give your fingers, eyes, and brain a break to reset. You normally have five days to finish the challenge once you start anyway, so don’t push yourself past your limits.
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Use a meta deck. If you’re serious about beating the 20-win challenge, now is not the time to break out your weird Cannoneer pet build. Stick with a popular archetype that has a proven track record.
- You don’t have to use any of the winning deck archetypes, either! WB Ghost Bait has never won a 20-win challenge, but it’s at least competitive enough that it plausibly could.
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You have to get a little lucky, so don’t get frustrated. Even pro players fail the 20-win challenge. It’s one of the most difficult challenges, not just in Clash Royale but in all FTP games. You could play your butt off and still get unlucky with a counter, bad RNG, or even just finger slips. Don’t be too hard on yourself
- You could easily play perfectly for 19 games in a row and just get bad luck running into your deck’s hardest counter. Clash Royale always has this matchup component, and it’s no different in the challenges.