Hearthpwn

So, when it comes to Mulligan, I will write out a general mulligan which is ALWAYS good no matter what you are facing and some more cards on the side which are more or less situational, but can turn out to give you a MASSIVE burst and overwhelming board control as of turn 1. The general mulligan will be referenced to as Gen.Mul. from now on and will be divided into two categories, as all of the decks are either more or less slow or fast (I will note which deck I see as which). 

Slow decks (Control Warrior, Midrange Paladin, Chinese/Control Priest, Midrange Shaman, Handlock, Malygos Warlock, Combo Druid, Freeze Mage, Midrange Zoo, Midrange Hunter, Oil Rogue, even Grim Patron):
With Coin: Flame Imp + other 1 mana minions, Nerubian Egg, Knife Juggler, Haunted Creeper, Imp-losion (ONLY KEEP IF Knife Juggler IN HAND),  
WIthout Coin: Try to find a curve (can even muligan aggresively for 1 mana minions)! Flame Imp, Abusive Sergeant, Voidwalker, Haunted Creeper, Nerubian Egg, Knife Juggler

Fast decks (Ebola Paladin, Face Hunter, Hybrid Hunter, Tempo Mage, Mech Shaman, Zoo Warlock, Mech mage, or anything mech): 
With Coin: Voidwalker, Argent Squire, Flame Imp, Abusive Sergeant, Haunted Creeper, Imp Gang Boss, Nerubian Egg
Without Coin:  Keep only the 1-mana minions, ditch all others!
Classes against which keeping an owl is a MUST: Druid, Paladin, Warlock, Priest, Mage, Hunter


EGG ACTIVATORS: If you do get to have a Nerubian Egg in your starting hand and any of our cheap activators (Abusive Sergeant, Power Overwhelming, or maybe even Dire Wolf Alpha), don't mulligan them. Try to fit the curve if you have the coin and to trigger your egg on turn 2 already (if you have the coin), if not, then on turn 3. Play around this, you will have to get used to it, but when you do you will have awesome results midgame. 

Exception: When you face a class that you are sure will be triggering your eggs themselves, like a hunter with an Explosive Trap or a Paladin with Consecration, you might want to leave it to them to activate it. (I will cover that a bit more in the strategy part of the guide)

The Mini Combo of the deck against faster decks is for example getting a Haunted Creeper out on turn 1 with the Coin, being followed by a Knife Juggler while killing off the Haunted Creeper into your opponent's Flame Imp for example, or another Knife Juggler resulting in two free damage from the Knife Juggler. (the slower decks don't really get strong minions out early game but are mainly focused on mid/late)

The Killer combo (see picture 1.1) is using the Imp-losion whilst having a Knife Juggler on the board. The Imp-losion can be kept if you have the coin and Knife Juggler as it can give you a nasty turn 3 if your Juggler survives his turn. I advise caution, a very risky play, but almost always an insta-win. If the deck you play against is slow and the board is extremely passive you might even want to keep them for turn 6 combo (or turn 5 w/ Coin).


Image 1.1 Ahhh yes, see all of those minions die. Kreygasm Kreygasm Kreygasm

The FINISH HIM combo is basically using a Power Overwhelming on one of your minions following a Doomguard anywhere after turn 6. Make sure you don't miscount, and dropping 9 instant damage on the board in almost always a GG for your opponent. Even if you have only one minion on the board, the combo can be executed. If not, then you can only get 5 damage from your Doomguard and the PO will be discarded. (when a PO gets discarded Sigma sheds a tear so don't do it guys ;( )

Activators: I made it sure that I have a lot of cards which can activate the Nerubian Egg and those are : Abusive Sergeant, Dark Iron Dwarf, Dire Wolf Alpha, Power Overwhelming and the Defender of Argus. Be careful how to use them and in most cases dropping one of them on the board is completely fine. If you have more than one of them in the hand using them even on an empty board and boosting the egg temporarily is fine because it might make your opponent think that you wasted your chance to activate the Egg and them BAM! Clean board & a 4 4 Nerubian on your side + whatever you triggered it with. Kreygasm

When it comes to the strategy of the deck know this: We don't only go face! We just do when it's the better option for us and the trades that we might do instead aren't that good. A lot of people seem to forget this or are ignorant and don't want to accept it and put this deck in the same corner as the Face hunter, which is completely false. The Zoo, unlike the Midrange zoo, tries to get the complete board control very early on with minions like Flame Imp and Knife Juggler and tries to keep it all the way to midgame where the game is mostly won while clearing the board efficiently with minions which aren't that important. Argent Squire being an example.

The four points that would either belong to tipps or strategy aspects will be Positioning, Counting, Trading and Activation & Awareness, which are of utmost importance in order to make this deck into a killer machine, which will be covered in four parts underneath this Strategy Guide. Here I will cover how will the game go for you from Early game, through Midgame, all the way to Late game.  

The Early Game (from turn 1 to turn 3), after mulliganing should almost always be to your advantage looking at the number of the cheap cards that you have in your deck. You should try to use up your entire mana if possible, while getting out strong early game minions but if that doesn't happen, it's fine. Now, an offensive board setup (Flame Imp, Knife Juggler, Nerubian Egg (while having the activator in the hand)), are good for both slow and fast decks, because it can rush down a slow one like a Control Warrior or it can overthrow and outplay a fast one like a Face Hunter and make him trade (and we all know that a trading face hunter is a dead hunter) while a defensive one (Argent Squire, Haunted Creeper, Imp Gang Boss) can force the fast decks to slow down while you build your board, which is of course always good. While playing against slow decks you starting off slowly and having one or two minions by turn 4 will be really bad and most likely result in your loss as you will be overthrown by midrange and late game cards of your opponent. Positioning in the early game is of utmost importance as well as it let's you get the most of your board as possible. (see below for Positioning)

In the Midgame (turn 4 to turn 7), you should optimally have your Nerubian out, your Knife Juggler having survived more than two turns, and your Flame Imp still alive, whilst you traded off let's say your Abusive Sergeant into something of his. This part of the game is crucial for us because this is where it's decided if we managed to round him up and clear his board properly for two or three turns already or if he managed to clear ours, resulting in a really bad late game for us. Any problems or losses in tempo can be fixed with the Imp Gang Boss as he is a very sticky card, and also the tempo can be returned greatly with cards like Imp-losion being in combo with the Knife Juggler on turn 6 (or turn 4 if Juggler on board already, can be played without him of course if he isn't anywhere to be found), Power Overwhelming which can be used to remove a strong minion, or even a Doomguard, who will hopefully not discard more than one card from your hand. Optimally, you want to almost always keep your hand empty for any sudden Doomguards that might find their way into your hand. Optimally you want to get out the Doomguard on turn 5 without him discarding anything (happens rarely) or on turn 6 with a 1 mana minion (happens very often). If you see that you are losing your board and need an extra defibrilator, use the Doomguard even if he discards two of your cards. Try to have him not discard the cards you absolutely need of course. If he discards 1 mana minions on turn 5 it's completely fine. The midgame is also the time where you want to try and drop a cheap Sea Giant (See Counting below) or to use the almighty Enhance-o Mechano and snowball your opponent down to smithereens. Even putting him down on turn 4 when you have a Nerubian, a Flame Imp or/and Knife Juggler or anything else can be devastating to your opponent as it can enable you to remove more efficiently than ever. God bless Divine Shield... oh wait... he did. 

By the time the Late Game comes (turn 8 on) you will either ruin your opponent or keep tapping to try and get a topdeck. This is usually where the FINISH HIM combo is executed if you haven't done it by now and I have had so many games where I topdecked Doomguard to finish him off, I lost count. This is also one of the main reasons why I have two of them in the deck. The chances of topdecking a Doomguard when you need him are MUCH smaller if you have only one of them. 

Positioning is a crucial aspect on making your deck a lean, mean, killing machine. The two cards which depend on your positioning of minions from early game on are the Dire Wolf Alpha and the Defender of Argus. There are three main kinds of minions (and one spell that produces more) that we have in this deck that play a crucial role in this: High Priority Threats (being Flame Imp and the Knife Juggler), Taunts (Voidwalker), Reproducing Minions (Haunted Creeper and Imp Gang Boss) and the Imp-losion. 

I like to put the High threat minions in the middle of the board because they will most likely die and that means that the minions around them will be able to get the +1 damage from the Dire Wolf Alpha respectively. When it comes to the Haunted Creeper and the Imp Gang Boss they are a bit different. The Haunted Creeper spawns two Spectral Spiders in the spot where the Creeper was while the Imp Gang Boss spawns an Imp on it's RIGHT. So the Haunted Creepers I usually like to put on the end, either left or right because when they are used, they spawn two minions which cannot be used on the same turn resulting in any minion behind them getting no extra damage for one turn. The Imp Gang Boss I like to put on the right because I would rather have him get the extra damage over and over than an Imp. 

The Imp-losion creates minions on the right hand side, so be careful how you are planting your Dire Wolf Alpha, as the imps can be used next turn to have 2 damage each (image 2.2) which can result in 4 to whopping 8 damage on the board. 


Image 2.1 Abusive Sergeant Positioning

Where would you put the Abusive Sergeant in this situation?

Answer:

 Image 2.2 Dire Wolf Alpha Positioning after an Imp-losion

The secret is aMirror Entity. Where do you put the Dire Wolf Alpha? Here or somewhere else? What should be taken out and where? 

Answer:

One more important thing to be on the lookout for is our good ol' Sea Giant. As you guys might or might not know, the cost of a Sea Giant lowers down with every minion on the board, yours or your opponents. This is where counting becomes crucial. You have to be aware that if you have cheap minions in the board, that they can be taken out WITH the Giant because they will reduce his cost (see image 3.1). So let's say you have 5 mana and your Sea Giant costs 5 and you have an Abusive Sergeant and an Argent Squire in your hand. You take out the Squire, Giant becomes a 4 mana cost, take out the Sarge, he becomes a 3 mana cost minion. Always try to be aware of this as it optimizes the output this deck has so so so much. Also, be extremelly careful not to overcount. If the giant costs let's say 6 mana and you have 7, taking out a 2 mana drop like the Ironbeak Owl will get your Giant out of range of your mana, so pay attention to that. 


Image 3.1 

What should he do here? 

Answer:

Also make sure you think of your reproductive minions (or even your enemys if he has some out) when you have a Sea Giant in your hand. Both the Haunted Creeper and the Imp Gang Boss can make your Giant cost one mana less as the Haunted Creeper makes two minons when it dies, resulting in one more minion on the board and the Gang Boss is spawning minions when it gets damaged, also resulting in one extra minion which can lower down the cost of your Sea Giant by one.

Last but not least, activation and awareness of this deck are extremely important. You need to be aware that besides the fact that you have 9 cards that can activate your Nerubian Egg, your opponents might do it for you, if you trick them into doing so. One of the biggest problems of this deck is that it's very vulnerable to massive board removals like the Consecration, Explosive Trap, Lightning Storm, Brawl,Hellfire,Swipe, Blade Flurry and so on. Besides the fact that you should be aware of the fact that they might come on their respective turns, they might also trigger your egg and help you get your Nerubian out. For example, if you are playing against a paladin, always expect a Consecration on turn 4 (or turn 3 if he has the coin), so try to outsmart them and put a Nerubian Egg out just before he has the chance of dropping a Consecration on you. One of the main aspects of winning this game and any other turn based game like chess is predicting the opponent's next move. 

Hunters are begging for it with their Explosive Traps. If you see a Hunter playing a Worgen Infiltrator on turn one, any secrets that he puts out you can understand as Explosive Traps. So if you have an Egg in your hand, take it out and help him help you kill him!
So be smart, don't overstretch against classes with massive board clears, or if you do, make sure for them to give you a push into killing them. 

TRADING AWARENESS 

As trading with this deck is one of the main aspects of winning, you need to be aware of what things you absolutely need to trade with. This comes with experience, but if you are more or less new, I will try to remember some minions which I always, always trade with, even if that results your tempo taking a hit to the balls. 

High priority removals would be minions like Knife Juggler, Flame Imp, Mana Wyrm,Flamewaker, Northshire Cleric, Acolyte of Pain (only if you can one shot kill), Armorsmith (only if you can one shot kill), Sorcerer's Apprentice, Air Totem, pop the shield from the Shielded Minibot as well if you cannot kill it.

Cards like Voidwalker, Abusive Sergeant, Dire Wolf Alpha, Haunted Creeper, Knife Juggler, Nerubian Egg, Imp-losion and an Ironbeak Owl are standard zoo cards so there isn't really a need to explain them I believe. For some of the cards I will explain why do I have two copies but for most of them is at least one copy standard. 

2x Power Overwhelming: I saw people running only one is some zoos and I see two as an absolute must because it's such a vital part of the FINISH HIM combo. Also, one of the rare removal cards that we have in the deck, so two are a must. 

2x Flame Imp: Some people run only one as in my midrange zoo deck because of a lot of hunters and other face decks to whom the Flame Imp only helps face you down to death. In this case, I really like to have two as they are the pillar of your early game tempo. Having two in the hand with the coin and taking both out on turn 1 usually results in a GG. 

2x Doomguard: Probably one of the most discussed choices in the comments so far. People have been havin problems when they get both of the doomuards in the hand as they really don't synergize well with one another at all. I run two because of the FINISH HIM combo again and if you keep your hand clean and empty there is a very small chance that you will get two of them in your hand. 

Argent Squire - People have been asking why do I have these and my answer is this: Face Hunter. Not only helping with face hunter but with other extremely aggresive decks, the Argent Squire can remove a minion with one HP not once but TWICE or can help remove some other minions with the help of other minions of yours, and can make a helluva sticky 2 2 taunt when played with the Defender of Argus. 

Dark Iron Dwarf - I really wanted to take them out of the closet and dust them off while remembering the old times when the old zoo was unstopable and there we go. Besides the fact that they are giving your minions a good battlecry to either remove something or go face harder, they stay on the board as a 4 4 minion which is a bit harder to remove and can become a killing machine if they get windfury from the Enhance-o Mechano. 

Sea Giant - As the meta right now is quite fast and there are a lot of minions being played, especially with zoo decks or ebola paladins, you can have your opponent helping your get a very cheap or even a free Sea Giant on the board. Usually unanswered, result in a GG. 

Enhance-o Mechano - The trump card of the deck, which from one side can get stuck in your hand if your board is empty (if your board is empty you more or less lost anyway) but can give you so much sweet sweet value if played on a board with at least 3 minions. Just hope to God he doesn't give your Nerubian Egg a Divine Shield and hope he gives Windfury to your Sea Giant.