Evolution Mirror

Mirror is an Epic spell that doesn't summon anything of its own. Instead, it creates an exact duplicate of whatever card you played immediately before it — troop, building, or spell — for 1 Elixir more than that card's normal cost. The copy also comes out one level stronger, based on Mirror's own upgrade level rather than the level of the card it's copying. Because Mirror has no stats of its own, it's only ever as good as its target. It's long been a staple of "bait" decks that double up cheap, disruptive cards like Goblin Barrel or Skeleton Army, and it's been part of Clash Royale since the game's very first test release in 2016. A 2025 update finally let it duplicate Champion cards too, something it had never been able to do before.

• Mirror doesn't have a fixed Elixir cost — it always costs exactly 1 more than whatever card was played immediately before it. That means mirroring 1-Elixir Skeletons costs 2, while mirroring a 9-Elixir Three Musketeers costs a full 10, the single most expensive card play in the game. Mirror has long been the only card in Clash Royale with this kind of variable cost.

• The level of a mirrored copy is set by Mirror's own card level, not by the level of the card being duplicated. A Mirror sitting at card level 11, for instance, always stamps out a level-12 copy, whether it's duplicating a Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, or Champion — so upgrading Mirror itself matters just as much as upgrading the cards it's likely to copy.

• For years Mirror simply could not target Champion cards, since Supercell was wary of letting players stack multiple Champion Abilities in one match. That changed in a 2025 update, which let Mirror duplicate Champions for the first time — though a deck is still limited to running only one Champion card.

• Mirror is coded to never appear in your opening hand of four cards, a change added back in 2018 — since it needs an already-played card to copy, it would otherwise be unplayable at the very start of a match. You'll only ever draw it after cycling through at least one other card first.

• With no troop or building of its own, Mirror is only as good as whatever it copies, which is why it's long been a core piece of 'bait' decks — doubling up a just-played Goblin Barrel, Skeleton Army, or The Log for cheap extra chip damage or defense. Mirroring an expensive card you've already committed to, like a lone tank, is usually poor value, since you're paying full price again for something that rarely needed a second copy.

• Mirror is currently unlocked in Miner's Mine, Arena 15 on Trophy Road (5,000 Trophies) — though its unlock arena has changed more than once over the years as Supercell has reshuffled the ladder.

• Mirror has been around since the very beginning: it was part of the card pool at Clash Royale's limited regional soft launch on 4 January 2016 (iOS only, in a handful of countries including Canada and Australia), almost two months before the game's actual worldwide release on 2 March 2016.

• Mirror's strength was in flux for most of its first year on the market — the level boost it grants to a mirrored card was buffed and nerfed in several separate passes throughout 2016 as Supercell worked out how strong a card that can duplicate literally anything should be.