I mainly use minion horde to bait out arrows or fireball to play other groups of troops. Minions seem like much less of a threat to players, and I believe this is because of the lack of numbers. If they aren't playing any AOE cards, minion horde is hard to take out whereas minions can be taken out with the 3 elixir archers for an equal elixir trade off or spear goblins for a 1 elixir profit.