Hearthpwn

Hey guys, this is a Warlock deck I've used to reach Legend the past 2 seasons, and I'm still ranking nicely with it in the current season. It's cheap and cheerful, does not require legendary cards and only requires the initial (free) Naxx wing whilst remaining effective against most decks used in the current meta. It's not unique but I haven't come across a decent write up, or even a build for it so I figured I'd put this out there.

It doesn't exactly re-invent the wheel as far as Zoo decks go, the main differences between the more common Naxx decks is the inclusion of 2 Void Terrors instead of the Zombie Chows. I've also stuck with Argent Squires in place of Undertakers, since you're still able to achieve value by buffing this card and trading its shield component. While early game board control is a key aspect of any Zoo variation, Zombie Chows mid/late game is rather underwhelming. Flame Imp and Voidwalker still do a fine job of delivering, as far as your early game goes. In addition, your turn 4 Void Terror combo should ensure you keep board control in a matchup versus another Zoo lock.

There's plenty of general Zoo guides out there from players far more experienced than myself, and while I may produce a more complete guide somewhere in the future for now I'd recommend reading Pyro or Reynads guides if you're new to Zoo. I will however explain a few key cards, the reasoning behind their inclusion and how to extract the most value out of them.

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- Nerubian Egg. Can be used as an defense against AoE, in addition to being a good option for trades via buffs such as Abusive Sergeant or Power Overwhelming. That's all fairly obvious, and I'm only mentioning this card because DO NOT PLACE THIS CARD IN BETWEEN 2 EXISTING MINIONS. Place it off to one side, and ensure it remains there.

- Power Overwhelming. Fantastic value for 1 mana and has more effect on the tempo of a match than any other card in this deck. While Nerubian Egg is the ideal target for Power Overwhelming, don't hesitate to use it on any creature with a death-rattle to make favorable trades. More often than not, you'll be using this to get rid of large taunt cards that would otherwise slow your tempo to a crawl, but it can also be used as a finisher if the opportunity arrises, particularly in mirror match-ups.

- Void Terror allows you to extract the maximum possible value out of your PO/Egg combo's, allowing you to remove a fairly hefty minion such as an Azure Drake or a mid game taunt with your egg, and spawn a 7/x in addition to your 4/4 Nerubian. The resulting Void Terror is also rather hard to remove, usually spawning with enough health to survive 4 damage spells such as soulfire and requiring a subsequent trade, whilst diverting attention from your Nerubian and allowing you to gain a large amount of tempo during turn 4 or 5. Remember to take this card into account when positioning a Nerubian Egg, as it's unlikely that you'll want to consume a second card with it.

- Abusive Sergeant, Dark Iron Dwarf, Dire Wolf Alpha and Defender of Argus are all used to increase the value of your existing minions, usually in regard to trading favorably. Defender of Argus is also useful in that it can take your minions out of AoE range in addition to the obvious taunt activation. An important aspect of Zoo is card positioning. Think about where you're playing new minions on the board since this will effect how you can most effectively play a subsequent Dire Wolf/Argus/Void Terror.

- Doomguard and Soulfire - generally these are the cards people most commonly make mistakes with, so I'll go into more detail about them.

- Soulfire is a versatile spell. It costs no mana and can be used to remove minions or deal damage to an opponents face. It does have an obvious downside in that it discards a random card from your hand. Think if you're comfortable with the worst case scenario that using this card could bring about, in particular how it could affect you a few turns down the road. Other than that, usage is fairly straight forward. Consider keeping it in your opening hand if you already have a viable 1 drop, particularly against Priests, Warriors and other Warlocks.

- Doomguard is a 5 mana charge card that should be mulligan-ed on sight. It has similar drawbacks to Soulfire, however it discards 2 cards from your hand as opposed to Soulfire's 1. It's also the most commonly miss-played card I've come across; in Zoo mirrors I regularly see people making cringe-worthy discards that will inevitably cost them the game, and I see this happen with such consistency that I'm convinced this card deserves a write up of its own. There's rarely a rush to get this card on the table, despite costing 5 mana it's usually a late game card so take your time with it. The ideal usage of Doomguard involves playing your entire hand (or as much of it as feasibly possible), followed by the Doomguard itself. This is usually only possible around turn 7/8 so please don't discard your Power Overwhelming and Knife Juggler to get this bad boy on the table on turn 5. If this is the only card in your hand, it's probably best to play it before life tapping. As a rule of thumb, if you have a Doomguard in your hand and you're thinking of using it for board control mid game, please consider if an alternate play isn't viable. Try to buff an existing minion to facilitate the removal you had in mind, hopefully this will allow you to play Doomguard more efficiently in the near future. That said it's a great card and its value becomes more apparent the more you use it.

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That's all I can think of for now, I might revisit and update this when I get some spare time on my hands.