Hearthpwn

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Zoolock is a deck archetype which tries to flood the board early on, taking control of the game and keeping it. A common misconception is that zoolock works like a face deck - it is NOT. Zoolock players must understand how to correctly trade and keep control of the board, as well as decide when to face and when to trade.

 

Mulligan guide:

Good 1 drops: Flame Imp, Spirit Jailer, Blazing Battlemage.

Good 2 drops: Bonechewer Brawler, Acidic Swamp Ooze.

3 drop: Shadowlight Scholar

Good against aggro: Acidic Swamp Ooze, Soul Shear.

Good against control: Voracious Reader, Guardian Augmerchant, Bonechewer Brawler.

 

 

Game plan and strategy:

Zoolock doesn't exactly fit into either aggro, midrange, or control. It's comparable to both midrange and aggro, and changes its style based on the deck it is playing against.

The current iteration of the deck runs a multitude of cheap minions and plans to refill its hand throughout the game using a combination of Voracious Reader and Hand of Gul'dan. It also runs a small Soul Fragment package to offset self-harm caused by warlock's hero power and undercosted cards as well as power up Shadowlight Scholar.

Against aggro: Zoolock is actually a control deck! Try to contest board and get value trades - such as using your Blazing Battlemage to bring down a Satyr Overseer. A key card in this matchup is Acidic Swamp Ooze - pay attention to who you're facing! Correct usage of this card against a Rogue, DH, or Warrior can mean the difference between winning and losing. Avoid going face until you've firmly secured the board!

Against midrange: Zoolock tries to play aggro in this situation. You should be able to gain board easily, and since midrange often has limited control tools, you can often swarm out your opponents with quick combos. Trade out your opponent's minions when necessary and hit face when your opponent can't punish.

Against control: Zoolock can both dominate and get dominated. As usual, flood the board early on with cards like Beaming Sidekick and Flame Imp. You have to take more care in this matchup, though. Is your opponent a priest? Watch out for Breath of the Infinite. Druid? Better play around those Swipes. Correct positioning and holding back on plays is the key to victory here.

Upgrade Cards: *will edit more when I have time

Magic Carpet: A sticky minion that snowballs and gives value. If you choose to run this card, you're gonna want to drop some of your other cards and add even more one-drops, like Shieldbearer and Murmy.

Sea Giant: In this deck, where you're looking to flood the board with small creatures, Sea Giant will often be a 0 mana 8/8. It's just that good.

Diseased Vulture: A solid body with an ability that is easily triggerable and adds to tempo is absolutely amazing in this deck. Combine with cards like Neferset Thrasher and Darkglare for maximum self-harm synergy.

Chaos Gazer: Not optimal, but not too shabby. 4/3 is an aggressive statline, and the ability can screw up combo decks or just force the opponent to play suboptimally. 

Arch-Villain Rafaam: TOGETHER, WE SHALL RULE DALARAN!

On a more serious note, Rafaam can be pretty good. He provides a lategame gameplan for if and when this deck runs out of steam, and is especially good when you consider that there's a fair chance that you highroll Princess Talanji. He's not in the best iteration of this deck at the moment (since you may end up getting rid of the Galakrond in your deck) but if you have him, he's still a fine option for when you go lategame.

Cards you may want to replace:

Soul Shear

Bonechewer Brawler

Guardian Augmerchant

Anything you want to ask about? Comment, and I'll try to respond ASAP, as well as maybe add it to here!

Edit: 8/12 Revamp of deck. Now includes lackey synergy!

Edit: 8/15 Deleted some text about Leeroy Jenkins that no longer applied to the deck.

Edit: 12/10 Updated for Descent of Dragons, adding Galakrond synergies!

 Edit: 12/11 Changed archetype from zoolock to Galakrond warlock (it's both, but Galakrond is more specific). Also, I'm sad to say that Hearthpwn is not considering this a budget deck, even though its only legendary was given out for free. I'm going to ask them if this can be changed, but if it can't be, this deck will not be visible by going to the budget section of the deck searcher. 

 Edit: 12/12 After seeing the meta shift on D1 of the new expansion, Faceless Corruptor seems to be absolutely insane. Getting it to key off a minion on turn 5 gets you a ridiculous number of stats. Therefore, since it's a rare and very important card, I've added it to the deck. 

Edit: 12/16 Replaced Mecharoo with Murmy, since Mecharoo is rotating out of standard in April and is therefore a slightly less efficient craft. Updated the "Cards to replace" section by removing Mecharoo and adding Doubling Imp, which is still better to take out of the deck than Murmy. Also updated texts about Arch-Villain Rafaam and Leeroy Jenkins, who turn out to be slightly less viable than last expansion.

Edit: 1/10 Replaced Fiendish Rites with Devoted Maniac, due to the nerf changing the cost of Fiendish Rites from 3 to 4.

Edit: 1/17 Added Kronx Dragonhoof to the upgrade section.

Edit: 2/10 Added Chaos Gazer to the upgrade section.

Edit: 3/30 Removed Leeroy Jenkins from the upgrade section, since it is moving to the hall of fame.

Edit: 4/8 New expansion! Removed rotated cards, added in discard package. Updated outdated text.

Edit: 4/9 Demon Hunter nerfs might be out, but they're still very strong! Dropped Soulfire and added in Sacrificial Pact.

Edit: 4/10 Removed Fiendish Servant from the deck, since it is not obtainable without paying for the solo adventure. Added Beaming Sidekick.

Edit: 4/27 Added Imprisoned Scrap Imp to the deck, removed Sacrificial Pact and a copy of Serpent Egg. Updated text around Magic Carpet. Updated removable card section.

Edit: 7/28 I'm back to hearthstone and hearthpwn! Updated various text to reflect the current meta.

Edit: 8/13 New expansion! Removed galakrond package, added in multiple new cards as well as the soul fragment package.