I did it on the EU server, the trick is to mulligan according to the matchup and to never coin out a knife juggler. it just doesn't work, no matter how tempting it is.
Very interesting. What version of Zoo have you used?
I play on NA and I just hit legend today playing zoo. Best advice I can give is just don't play when you face a lot of druids take a break and try again later. Here is a link to my list if anyone wants to see what I used. http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/46436-legend-zoo
Been stuck at rank 3-2 for about 50 matches. In the last 30 games tracked I've played 11 lock, 5 hunter, 5 druid, 4 rogue, 3 mage, 1 warrior and 1 priest. My win rate without the coin is far better than with it as well.
My gut feel was that rogue is my worst matchup andhunter was one of my best, though my stats suggest that druid is worse for zoo than rogue so far.
Just a few more days to push for legend. Probably took as many wins to stay at rank 3 as it did for me to get there
I play on NA and I just hit legend today playing zoo. Best advice I can give is just don't play when you face a lot of druids take a break and try again later. Here is a link to my list if anyone wants to see what I used. http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/46436-legend-zoo
I used to run leper gnomes and took them out, though sometimes being able to trigger the 2 damage was handy, they really were the worst performer. In zoo the premise is that everything has some kind of bonus or utility so building up a board advantage then (normally) snowballs.
Also been trying Amani Berserker recently given the number of argent squires, knife jugglers and void walkers to make him angry. Oh and he loves running into a dire wolf alpha, abusive sergeant or young priestess :)
Here's the deck I ran to hit legend this season. I replaced amani with faeri dragons and that actually did the trick. It gives you a tempo boost early game because your opponent can't backstab, wrath, soulfire etc. Moreover, you can buff it with defender of argus which makes it so much harder to kill. I also dropped black knight for argent commander as bk is just a dead card at most times. You can pretty much win druid w/o it anyway. Lastly I took out shieldbearer because I personally find it quite slow and useless. I also pick mortal coil over elven archer so it won't give a +1 dog to UTH. Not a HS expert but this seemed to work with me and my play style. Good luck ranking!
Because the deck I used had so many finishers it is more important to have early cards to play than mid-game cards. Leper gnome is what I felt as the next best 1 mana card to include. It can be the difference between winning and losing close games.
Here's the deck I ran to hit legend this season. I replaced amani with faeri dragons and that actually did the trick. It gives you a tempo boost early game because your opponent can't backstab, wrath, soulfire etc. Moreover, you can buff it with defender of argus which makes it so much harder to kill. I also dropped black knight for argent commander as bk is just a dead card at most times. You can pretty much win druid w/o it anyway. Lastly I took out shieldbearer because I personally find it quite slow and useless. I also pick mortal coil over elven archer so it won't give a +1 dog to UTH. Not a HS expert but this seemed to work with me and my play style. Good luck ranking!
I think this is what needs to be don for sure, i always seem to lose tempo cause of a backstab or wrath. I am going to try this out and see how it goes because i really love zoo, but i think decks are being built to slow it down. Nice suggestions thanks!
Did not expect such a huge response to this thread :)
Thanks all for sharing your decks and ideas, there's alot of great information here for players looking to try and push for higher rankings. Next season I'm sure I'll be playing a bit of zoo/murlock, but I'm also going to try handlock and maybe even a slightly different control lock variation. Either way, good stuff guys
And hopefully this will help someone. EU meta (over 57 games from rank 3 up) here is my win/loss chart from hearthstats
Trying to get my final push. I've got almost the same exact deck - just wondering about the ironbeak owl v. a second harvest golem. Thoughts? I'm running 2 HG's instead of 1 HG and 1 Ironbeak atm.
zoo is about board control almost always, since you dont have many spells to respond you have to be sure to keep the board clear and make the most out your creatures.
Very interesting. What version of Zoo have you used?
Update. Sorry... missed decklist above.
I did it on eu with this deck. And you can safely coin out knifejuggler against paladin, only matchup i would ever do it though.
I play on NA and I just hit legend today playing zoo. Best advice I can give is just don't play when you face a lot of druids take a break and try again later. Here is a link to my list if anyone wants to see what I used. http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/46436-legend-zoo
Been stuck at rank 3-2 for about 50 matches. In the last 30 games tracked I've played 11 lock, 5 hunter, 5 druid, 4 rogue, 3 mage, 1 warrior and 1 priest. My win rate without the coin is far better than with it as well.
My gut feel was that rogue is my worst matchup andhunter was one of my best, though my stats suggest that druid is worse for zoo than rogue so far.
Just a few more days to push for legend. Probably took as many wins to stay at rank 3 as it did for me to get there
any particular reason for the leper gnomes?
I used to run leper gnomes and took them out, though sometimes being able to trigger the 2 damage was handy, they really were the worst performer. In zoo the premise is that everything has some kind of bonus or utility so building up a board advantage then (normally) snowballs.
Also been trying Amani Berserker recently given the number of argent squires, knife jugglers and void walkers to make him angry. Oh and he loves running into a dire wolf alpha, abusive sergeant or young priestess :)
Here's the deck I ran to hit legend this season. I replaced amani with faeri dragons and that actually did the trick. It gives you a tempo boost early game because your opponent can't backstab, wrath, soulfire etc. Moreover, you can buff it with defender of argus which makes it so much harder to kill. I also dropped black knight for argent commander as bk is just a dead card at most times. You can pretty much win druid w/o it anyway. Lastly I took out shieldbearer because I personally find it quite slow and useless. I also pick mortal coil over elven archer so it won't give a +1 dog to UTH. Not a HS expert but this seemed to work with me and my play style. Good luck ranking!
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/46829-legend-zoo
Because the deck I used had so many finishers it is more important to have early cards to play than mid-game cards. Leper gnome is what I felt as the next best 1 mana card to include. It can be the difference between winning and losing close games.
Well done, Jason.
--->
I think this is what needs to be don for sure, i always seem to lose tempo cause of a backstab or wrath. I am going to try this out and see how it goes because i really love zoo, but i think decks are being built to slow it down. Nice suggestions thanks!
I've been stuck on 1-2 with Reynad's Zoo, now i'm almost rank 3 but i'll try Jason's deck and comment how it does for me.
Can confirm Warlock Zoo to legend
And hopefully this will help someone. EU meta (over 57 games from rank 3 up) here is my win/loss chart from hearthstats
Did not expect such a huge response to this thread :)
Thanks all for sharing your decks and ideas, there's alot of great information here for players looking to try and push for higher rankings. Next season I'm sure I'll be playing a bit of zoo/murlock, but I'm also going to try handlock and maybe even a slightly different control lock variation. Either way, good stuff guys
Trying to get my final push. I've got almost the same exact deck - just wondering about the ironbeak owl v. a second harvest golem. Thoughts? I'm running 2 HG's instead of 1 HG and 1 Ironbeak atm.
The way Zoo works is generally going for the face right? You only trade minions when you absolutely have to, right?
Nope, you almost always trade. Zoo is about early board control snowballing into a minion flood, not rushing to the face.
zoo is about board control almost always, since you dont have many spells to respond you have to be sure to keep the board clear and make the most out your creatures.
I'm actually thinking that Fairy Dragon > Amani.
The tempo boost you get from it since very few people can get rid of it if you coin it out is pretty big.