Hearthpwn

This deck is completely out of date. It's still a fun deck, but it's not viable in the current meta. It's too old. Please look for another zoo deck to use at this point. Thanks to all those who used this and loved it during its prime.

 

Naxx Edit: 7/29 Update: I've made four big changes to the deck since Naxx released:

• Finally decided to take out Blood Knight and Elven Archer, adding in Void Terror(x2). I was apprehensive about making this change for awhile, but after extensive play testing I really feel that this is a strong change. Blood Knight has been getting weaker and weaker since more players (including ourselves -- byebye Scarlet Crusader) have been taking out divine shield, and Elven Archer is a tech card that is finding itself outclassed with the addition of Power Overwhelming and the potential combos with that card. Void Terror is here and he is here to stay. At the very least, just like Blood Knight, he is a 3/3 for 3. Most likely, however, you are going to be using this guy in conjunction with Neubian Egg, Haunting Creeper, or some other creature you just used Power Overwhelming on for an amazing trade. This potential value this card has is insane and honestly, pretty likely to happen. There really aren't any downsides. Of all my games played with this guy, I've only had one or two where he was a dead card in my hand due to my board state being so strong that I didn't want him to kill my creatures. Great addition to the deck, great synergy with cards.
• Taking out Young Priestess(x2) for the addition of Nerubian Egg(x2). These cards fill fairly similar roles; they are both there to prevent your entire board from getting wiped by AoE spells like Consecration. Nerubian Egg sacrifices some more immediate damage potential that Young Priestess offers, but in return we are getting a more consistent way to recover our board from AoE AND a creature that doesn't die to hero powers. The trading potential of this card is unreal. Picture a mirror match where you Abusive Sargent a Nerubian Egg to kill a Knife Juggler. It's beautiful.
• Took out Scarlet Crusader(x2) to put in Haunting Creeper(x2). Creeper is an amazing card. It does well in mirror match-ups and allows us to put all the buff cards we have (Argent, Wolf, etc) to good use. Scarlet Crusader was originally in the deck over Shattered Sun Cleric to give us a solid card that doesn't die to AoE like Consecration, and I feel that Haunting Creeper does the job better than both of these cards by giving us more bodies to buff. The third addition to this deck, Power Overwhelming, makes me love this card even more.
• Taking out an Argent Commander(x1) and a Dark Iron Dwarf(x1) for Power Overwhelming(x2). PO has amazing synergy with Nerubian Egg, Haunting Creeper, Void Terror (THE #HYPE IS REAL) and can generally be used with any other card in this deck to make great trades. Taking out a Dark Iron Dwarf allows us to safely play with two in the deck without having to worry about too many buff cards in our hand.

I KNOW I SAID THIS LAST TIME, BUT I MEAN IT NOW: This is most likely going to be the deck list I stick with until more cards are released and I have time to experiment with those. I'll update match-up strategies and everything else after all the cards are released; no point doing it before then when things are constantly changing! And guys, I'm not gonna lie, Zoo is harder to play now than ever. Not that I ever think it was easy, but the kinds of trades that are going to be happening in your games will often be pretty complex and will require you to think at least a turn ahead. Deck is still VERY strong, don't listen to the haters in the comments. I don't use any programs to track this, but I'm sure that my win rate is still well over 50% now that I made these changes.

Quick mulligan tip: I generally don't keep Nerubian Egg on the play if I don't have anything in my hand to buff it with. If I have the coin I keep him if the rest of my hand is good (and by good I mean that I have lots of other cheap cards to play). I've been keeping Soulfire less and less; only keep it if you are really happy with the rest of your hand.

Thanks so much for reading, and thanks to all of you who leave intelligent comments. I really do try to respond to everything!

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys, I'm Kyukon and this is a guide for my semi-unique Zoo deck! I'm a legend player and I want to share my tips for succeeding with this deck in a way that most players would not.

A lot of people talk about Zoo decks and how some of them are built to hold board control while others are meant to just whack at the face. It is my belief that separating Zoo decks between board control and face is too static. You don't do one or the other; you do one, THEN the other. The key factor that makes this deck strong and complex is its ability to maintain board control until such a time where it can forgo that strategy and rotate towards bursting at the face.

 

First thing I'm going to do is talk about my card choices in this deck. I'm going to pass on talking about the obvious picks like Flame Imp and Doomguard and focus strictly on the more questionable choices.

First off: cards I DON'T use that other people use, and why I don't use them:

• Shieldbearer: This card is normally used in Zoo to serve two purposes: it protects you against other aggro decks, and it protects your weaker minions from early game creatures and some hero powers (Rogues/Druids). These two issues can be solved with Blood Knight, to win mirror match-ups for us and more, and with intelligent mulligans to save our minions from hero powers. This card is pretty much worthless in all scenarios except for those I described, so I opt to take it out for more powerful cards.
• Amani Berserker: This card just rarely gets the opportunity to be anything more than a 2/3 for 2. Zoo is all about value, and with the amount of 3 damage removal there is in this game it's really hard to justify keeping this card in the deck. He definitely shines in situations where he can discourage the opponent from playing 1-2 damage area of effect abilities without risking the engage. He has the potential to create unfavorable decision making out of the opponent. The problem is that this situation doesn't come up in every game, and even games where it does happen it's hard to get him in our hand at the perfect time for him to be valuable. It's a bit too inconsistent of a card compared to the others that can take his place. There are better options out there.
• Shattered Sun Cleric: For this card to get more value than being a 3/2 for 3, there needs to be another creature out on the field. Even if this guy gets off his extra +1/+1, there still isn't enough value to justify his place in this deck. Giving an unknown creature +1/+1 just isn't enough. He's always going to be a 2 health creature that costs 3 mana, which isn't cool considering how much 2 damage AoE removal there is in the game. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it isn't enough. Once again, there are better options out there.
• Hellfire: This card is meant for Zoo decks that go for face over board control (like Murlocs). We should always have board control, making this a dead card 99% of the time. Even with the possibility to use it at a finisher it still doesn't shine as much as other tech cards.
• Leeroy Jenkins: I don't think this guy has a place in a Zoo deck that is going for any amount of board control. I compare Leeroy to a Fireball, except it has to be played as a finisher and can't be used for anything else. There are plenty of other cards in this deck that give instant damage while still having the ability to make great value trades (like Argent Commander), so we'll just save deck space for those cards and leave Leeroy out.
• The Black Knight: While this can definitely be an effective tech card against certain decks, I find that he is just a dead card way too often. Even against Druids or Handlocks I can usually make favorable trades with their taunt creatures, and with how expensive he is I would rather have a card that has an immediate effect on the board regardless of what class I'm playing against like Argent Commander. Blood Knight and Elven Archer tend to be more consistently powerful tech cards.
• Mortal Coil: I don't run Mortal Coil? NOT EVEN ONE!? Nope! Simply put, it's just not consistent or strong enough to earn a place in the deck. I do, however, run one Elven Archer. These two cards are pretty similar, but the archer just does a better job. We don't care about the card draw from coil. We don't need card draws; hand size doesn't matter at all. We care about board control and the ability to hit face if needed, and the archer serves both those purposes. Archer is pretty much a Mortal Coil that is able to hit face and be buffed by other minions. It's beautiful.

Now, questionable cards that are in the deck:

You're better off just reading the Naxx update above as this section will be pretty outdated until all of Naxx is released and the changes get finalized!

• Elven Archer (x1): Goodbye Elf, you had a good run! Here's my old write-up as to why I used him: I run one of these. Read the above description to find out why I run this guy instead of Mortal Coil. I generally use this card as a way to help me make advantageous trades against strong early/mid-game cards like Druid of the Claw, Feral Spirits, or even Void Walkers if I get stuck with one in my starting hand. Playing an Abusive Sargent or some other buff combined with one of these guys can make for a very unexpected boost in damage. Unlike with Coil, after these sorts of trades I then have another body on the board that has to be dealt with. If they ignore the archer, you buff it with Argus or anything else and you're getting a lot of value!
• [card]Blood Knight[/card] (x1): Read my update! This guy has finally been retired and is replaced by more potent tech cards! Here is the old descriptions for anybody interested: The end all of Zoo tech cards has finally come! The baby always has a sore back because holy crap does he carry hard. Not only does this card destroy mirror match-ups, but it also saves your life against Sunwalkers, Tirion, various other Paladin decks, and more. And even if your opponent isn't playing a divine shield creature, you can still likely make a 4 mana play with Argent Squire for some awesome value. While you definitely want to use the Blood Knight to destroy your enemy's divine shields, don't be afraid to take away your own if there isn't another play. And don't be afraid to keep this in a starting hard if you have 1 mana creatures as well!
• Scarlet Crusader (x2): This card has been retired and its place has been taken over by Naxx cards -- I'll leave this description here until all of Naxx is released and I completely rewrite the guide: I've been seeing a lot of Zoo decks dropping this card for Shatter Sun Cleric or other random cards as of recently, and I really disagree with that decision. Aside from potential synergy with Blood Knight, this card brings insane value and damage. It's almost guaranteed to survive past the turn where you play it, and having 3 damage to direct wherever you want (likely 5 with an Abusive Sargent or Dark Iron Dwarf) can really turn the game around. Also, getting a Defender of Argus on this guy to make him a 4/2 taunt with divine shield will bring tears of beauty to your eyes.
• Argent Commander (x1): A lot of Zoo locks have been skimping on the Commanders lately because they want to be playing less high-cost cards to accelerate their early game. Similar to my argument about not including Shield Bearer in the deck, it's okay to have two of these guys if we are making intelligent mulligans!
• We need these guys late game. We don't want top decking damage in mid/end game to be so random; we need to control our draws by adding more of what we need. Cards with immediate added damage are very, very important. Assuming we have a creature in play, there are over 10 cards in this deck that can add damage to the board the turn they are played (6 cards that can do that without needing a minion).
• 6 out of 30 cards giving me damage I need is NOT unreasonable, especially if I'm in mid game where there are only 20 cards left in my deck and I haven't drawn any of those cards yet. 6/20, a 30% chance, is not reasonable to expect when you have two card draws a turn. 
• To reiterate, having so many expensive creatures with immediate damage the turn they are played let's us count on our burst to come instead of hoping it does.

 

How to mulligan and general strategies:

Mirror Match: 

• Play: Any creature costing 2 mana or less. Only keep Abusive Sargent and Elven Archer if you have another 1 mana creature. Keep Blood Knight if you have a turn 1 play.
• Coin: Same as Play, but always keep a Blood Knight. Keep Soulfire if your other cards are good.
• General Strategy: Board control is so insanely important. Make value plays and own the board. If you can't kill a creature without it being a 1 for 1 trade, don't be afraid to wait a turn to make it happen. Abusive Sargent can be a lifesaver when you buff an Argent Squire to kill a Void Walker or something like that. Blood Knight = insta win for the most part.

Handlock:

• Play: Almost any creature costing 2 mana or less. Only keep Abusive Sargent if you have another 1 mana creature. Don't keep Elven Archer or Young Priestess.
• Coin: Same as Play.
• General Strategy: *ALWAYS ASSUME IT'S ZOO. MULLIGAN LIKE IT'S ZOO UNLESS YOU ARE SURE* Controlled damage is the name of the game. You want to burst him down to 14-16 life ASAP, and then time your burst to kill him without being able to get a Molten Giant out. If he is going to have 5 mana next turn, you don't want to get him below 14 life, or he will be able to drop a Molten Giant + Sunfury Protector on his next turn. Don't be afraid to just not attack and end the turn if this is the case. Ignore Ancient watches unless they are taunted or silenced. Kill early (turn 2) Sunfury Protectors. Ignore Twilight Drake unless it gets taunt or you can make a really good trade.

Aggro Rogues:

• Play: Almost any creature costing 2 mana or less. Only keep Abusive Sargent if you have another 1 mana creature. Don't keep Elven Archer or Young Priestess. Keep Soulfire and Blood Knight if the rest of your hand it good.
• Coin: Same as Play, but I would always keep a Soulfire (AKA SI:7 killer) and would keep Blood Knight if I had an Argent Squire.
• General Strategy: *ALWAYS ASSUME IT'S MIRACLE. MULLIGAN LIKE IT'S MIRACLE UNLESS YOU ARE SURE* Very favorable match-up for this deck! Treat this like a mirror match and just board control control the whole game. There really shouldn't be much he can do. Try not to flood the board too much; we want to play around Blade Flurry. Try really hard not to trade a Flame Imp for a Leaper Gnome or Loot Horder -- Void Walker and Elven Archer are your friend here. Soulfire any creature that you can't make a solid trade with.

Miracle Rogues: 

• Play: Almost any creature costing 2 mana or less. Only keep Abusive Sargent if you have another 1 mana creature. Don't keep Elven Archer or Young Priestess. Keep Soulfire and Blood Knight if the rest of your hand it good.
• Coin: Same as Play, but I would always keep a Soulfire (AKA SI:7 killer) and would keep Blood Knight if I had an Argent Squire.
• General Strategy: Assume his hand sucks and flood the board early. Go for full damage and hope he doesn't have Backstab, Coin + SI:7, or any other shenanigans. If you can make a 1 for 1 trade with something he plays then do it, else just ignore it and go for face. If you get him low enough in the early game then he will waste Eviscerate, Shadowsteps, orother things to keep himself alive instead of for damage to your face -- this is good! The less burst he has, the more comfortable you can be at ~18-20 health to not get burst down.

Druids: 

• Play: Keep any creature that has more than 1 health and costs less than 3 mana.
• Coin: Same as play, but keep Soulfire if your hand is good.
• General Strategy: For the most part you should ignore any of his creatures that don't have taunt, aside from a Yeti. Try really hard to use Abusive Sargent / Dark Iron Dwarf / Soulfire / etc to get really good trades on his taunted creatures. You really don't want to have more than 1 creature die to take out his 4/6 taunts. Don't flood the board with 1-mana creatures, either. Play around Swipe as best you can. Getting out a bunch of 2 health creatures is really strong. Be prepared for you Dark Iron Dwarfs to get swiped; get good value out of their +2 damage battle cry!

Freeze Mages: 

• Play: Keep any creature that has more than 1 health and costs less than 3 mana.
• Coin: Same as play.
• General Strategy: Not the best match-up, but hey at least it isn't a Druid! Trade all the time! Maintain board control! If at all possible, save a Soulfire and some other burst damage to take care of Doomsayer and just flood the board. For early game, don't play anything he can Hero Power and kill for free, and try to play around the 6 mana Blizzard he is going to try and clear your board with. If you have the option to play a creature from your hand or Hero Power and maybe get something better, just play the creature! Don't Hero Power too much; his face burst is pretty insane.

Aggro Mages: 

• Play: Keep any creature that has more than 1 health and costs less than 3 mana.
• Coin: Same as play.
• General Strategy: This is a very favorable match-up. Mirror Image can't save him from our insanely superior pressure and tempo. Hold board control, hit him when you can, and make smart trade. You should be able to out-value him pretty easily. Oh, and don't forget about possible turn 6 Blizzard!

Paladins:

• Play: Keep literally any creature costing less than 3 mana. Elven archers and Young Priestess can shine in this match-up!
• Coin: Same as play.
• General Strategy: I'm assuming Control Paladin here. If it's an aggro Pally, just play standard board control and play around Consecration. For Control, we want to mulligan for higher health creatures to play around Wild Pyromancer. We can't really play around the Equality/Consecration combo (or Equality/Avenging Wrath), but still be aware that those can happen on turn 6/8 respectively. Keeping board control should be easy. Just take your time and don't flood the board. They have lots of heals; you most likely won't be getting a fast win.

Shaman:

• Play: Keep any creature costing less than 3 mana that isn't Elven Archer.
• Coin: Same as play, but keep Soulfire if your hand is good.
• General Strategy: Always drop Argent Squire if you can. Baiting out Earth Shock so it doesn't get used on Scarlet Crusader is wonderful. Ignore Searing and Healing totems unless you really need to take them out for some reason. Unbound Elemental and Flametongue Totem are amazing Soulfire targets. Abusive Sargent + Squire/Void Walker is really helpful against Spirit Wolves. Aside from that, just keep board control and try to kill him! Blood Knight isn't too helpful in this match-up unless they're running Argent Squire or you can combo it with your own creatures.

Hunter:

• Play: Keep any creature costing less than 3 mana that isn't Elven Archer.
• Coin: Same as play. I've learned it's better to mulligan away Soulfire, but you can keep it if you really want and the rest of your hand is solid.
• General Strategy: Young Priestess helps so much in this match-up; if you're going to flood the board you need your creatures to have at least 3 health for Explosive Trap. Defender of Argus also helps boost creatures up to 3 health. Make sure you attack into him with your cheaper creatures first in case of Freezing Trap or Misdirection. Aside from that it should be pretty easy and straightforwards; Hunters are never too difficult.

Priest:

• Play: Keep any creature costing less than 3 mana that isn't Elven Archer.
• Coin: Same as play, but keep Soulfire if the rest of your hand is good.
• General Strategy: Honestly, I haven't seen enough Priests on ladder to have some crazy detailed strategy for how to beat them. Kill the Northshire Cleric if he drops it, play around Holy Nova, and always be afraid of Sylvanas Windrunner after turn 6! Don't get cocky and try to rush him down; keep trading! Holy Fire is a big heal that can win them the game if you neglect board control to go for a quick win.

Warriors: 

• Play: Keep any creature costing less than 3 mana that isn't Elven Archer.
• Coin: Same as play, but keep Soulfire if the rest of your hand is good.
• General Strategy: It's almost always control Warrior. Aggro Warrior shouldn't be a problem, just play standard board control and be careful about dropping 1 health creatures due to Cruel Taskmaster and Whirlwind. For control, you really need to keep his board clear. Kill Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, and Frothing Bersekers ASAP -- hopefully your hand allows you a way to kill those creatures with one solid trade. Aside from that, just don't flood the board too much if you're ahead (Brawl), and don't be afraid to race him down if he drops a Ragnaros. Oh, and you sometimes ignore Baron Geddon and just let him do his thing, it just depends on how low he is and how much instant damage you have in your hand.

 

General Tips / Helpful Hints:

• You have a Knife Juggler and two 1-mana creatures in your starting hand and you have the coin. Do you play the two 1-mana creatures or drop the Juggler? Hunters, Paladins, Mages are the only classes I would feel comfortable playing the Juggler into (and this assumes they didn't play anything turn 1). The only other reason I would drop the Juggler first would be if one or both of my 1-mana creatures only have 1hp and I'm playing against a Druid/Mage/Rogue where they could get a free minion kill with their hero power. In that case I would drop the Juggler first and #YOLO it up. 
• Don't hesitate to Soulfire strong creatures in the early game. Playing against a Mirror Zoo, Warrior, or anybody else that drops a really strong creatures such as Flame Imps, Void Walker, Armorsmith, Frothing Berserker, SI:7 Agent, Hunter Animal Companions, Scavenging Hyena, Keeper of the Grove, Unbound Elemental, Flametounge Totem, etc -- Just Soulfire it after you play your creature for the turn! Board control / tempo > hand size!
• Doomguard is a pretty cool bro who doesn't afraid of anything. I rarely, if ever, play him turn 5. Try to save him for when you won't be discarding valuable cards in your hand. If you have Argent Commander, don't you dare drop a Doomguard unless you're gonna win. Often times I will drop mine on turn 6 along with a 1-drop, on turn 7 along with a 2-drop, or turn 8 along with a 3-drop. I honestly think that knowing when to drop this guy at the right time is one of the hardest calls to make with this deck (aside from mulligans).
• You aren't some baddie or lucky noob if you win your game by drawing into something like a Doomguard followed by a Soulfire. This deck is built for that to be a common win condition! Seriously, it's fine. If 25-50% of my games are won with a draw similar to that, then it isn't luck! It's consistent and part of the deck. Haters gonna hate.
• Given the release of Naxx and how this card is no longer a starter in the deck, this tip is kind of moot. I'll keep it in here anyway: If you have the Coin and your starting hand has two Young Priestess, keep them both and play them both. It really doesn't matter who you're playing against, this starting hand is spectacular. Disregard any mulligan advice you read above if this is the case. 
• If you notice a pattern with my mulligans, I treat Elven Archer as a spell instead of a creature for the most part. Don't play it for the body it provides, play it for the battle cry. Any value after that 1 damage is just a bonus.
• This may seem counter-intuitive at first, but I generally don't use Defender of Argus for his taunting ability. More often than not, he is used to buff creatures so they have health to resist board clearing spells like Consecration, Blizzard, Explosive Trap, or Swipe. His buff is also useful for giving our creatures that extra damage to trade effectively against creatures like Druid of the Claw! 

 

Edits: Added in some more cards that I don't play with (Hellfire, Leeroy, TBK), added some more tips to the end, fixed some match-up strategies that were worded poorly or didn't make sense. To all those misguided souls who complain about Zoo being easy, read the last sentence of the 4th general tip!

More to come (as of 7/23/2014): Class match-ups will eventually be updated with the advent of Naxx cards. Deck list will likely be updated again in the near future.