Hearthpwn

Greetings,

After having some success with zoo this season I decided to dust off my old list and tweak it slightly for the current meta.
An hour ago I streaked into rank 11 with an 11-0 record, I'm planning to finetune this decklist and pilot it to legend for the third time.
Basic gameplay is the same as before, the guide below is still accurate, enjoy!

VS a freeze mage while doing my quests:

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Hello people,

This is my newest variation of zoo, basically it's similar to the old demonic zoo lists.
Gameplay is similar to normal zoo, you trade a lot to keep boardcontrol while you tap for more cards to overwhelm the opponent.

Curious what I use to rank this season?
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/243216-s14-laddering-jvdpols-chromaggus-warrior

Why you should run this deck over normal zoo:
This deck has more synergy, you are almost guarranteed to get value out of your voidcallers, Demonwrath gives you a 3-mana Consecration, Mistress of Pain keeps you alive longer. Imp Gang Boss is a new staple for zoo decks, this replaces a non-demon card (Harvest Golem), which makes Demonwrath very playable!

Card choices:

I will discuss the cards that define this list and missing cards that define other zoo decks (but didn't make the cut)

Demonwrath: Allows you to trade with fatties in case you get dragged into mid-game. It is also a very nice card to keep tempo against facehunters, "normal" zoo and paladins.

Mistress of Pain: The odd one out, I think this card is more or less forgotten nowadays. Reason for that is that she simply isn't the right card for the decks that she used to be played in. With Demonwrath this card fits better in the deck than Haunted Creeper. Where Haunted Creeper has more stickyness in terms of leaving behind 2 1/1s after cards like Holy Nova and Consecration, Mistress of Pain simply survives more damage with the 2 extra hp. Buffed up, she can negate the drawback of Lifetap, with a Power Overwhelming the 10 hp swing is often too much for the opponent to overcome.

Haunted Creeper: Did not make the cut for the reasons stated above.

Mortal Coil: Most zoo decks run this card as a 1-off nowadays, this list doesn't need it because it is quite conditional, and because Demonwrath simply does a better job at finishing off small minions. There is a drawback to not running Mortal Coil -> you're missing a "free" removal spell against face hunters.

Mal'Ganis: Epic synergy with Voidcaller and the ton of Demons that this deck runs.

Dr. Boom: Too good not to include, if it catches Big Game Hunter your Mal'Ganis is safe. (and vice versa)

Recommended cardswaps:

If, for example, you feel the need to include an Ironbeak Owl to get rid of a taunt, I recommend swapping it for 1 Demonwrath. Basically you can safely swap out 1 Demonwrath to include a tech card like: Mortal Coil, Big Game Hunter, Kezan Mystic, Mind Control Tech or even for a Loatheb if you prefer to go more towards midrange.

If Demonwrath is not for you and you're thinking about swapping both out in favor for a different card, you should probably be running a more traditional zoo list instead.

Haunted Creeper: if you value stickyness more than demon synergy, you can safely include these in place of Mistress of Pain.

Mulligan/class guide:

Mulligan basics:

Aim for a good curve, no matter how tempting it may be to keep a combo like Voidcaller + Mal'Ganis, always mulligan for a faster hand. Keeping Knife Juggler + Imp-losion is usually fine if you also have a 1-drop (or the coin) in hand.

Druid: Mulligan for tempo/a fast curve, if you're not scared to go face all the time this will probably be one of the easiest matchups. Always keep: Flame Imp, Knife Juggler and Voidcaller.

Hunter: A face hunter will simply run out of gas quickly if you simply trade into his minions and tap a few times. Keeping a Demonwrath allows you to ignore a few hits in order to push in some early damage of your own. Stick to the basic mulligan tactics. If you see an early Webspinner or a Freezing Trap play more agressively, his mid-game is much better than ours!

Mage: Mulligan for minions that trade easily, keep Nerubian Egg over the other 2-drops. Against Mech and Tempo mage you will have to trade a lot, if you can keep boardcontrol you can slowly push in the extra damage needed to win. If it's freeze mage, you will have a hard time winning because this deck lacks Haunted Creeper, play agressively and hope for the best.

Paladin: Because of Shielded Minibot you keep Voidwalker over Flame Imp, if you can coin out both on turn 1 that's a great start. In this matchup you want to be the agressor, go face a lot and let the paladin trade his minions into yours, only trade when it allows you to save a high-power minion. You will sap away enough health to be able to win with a Doomguard and/or Power Overwhelming. There is no need to anticipate burst-damage, most paladins do not have any. Nerubian Egg is a great card to keep against Consecration. Do not be affraid to activate the egg early on if you can make a great trade.

Priest: This is not an easy matchup, key is to control your damage output. Do not overextend too much! Keep whatever you like to play, there is a lot of time in this matchup.

Rogue: Keep minions with 3 power so that you can trade with his early minions efficiently, if you can keep his board clear of minions you will probably be able to win. Antique Healbot and Earthen Ring Farseer both see lots of play, so do not go face to set up a next turn lethal because an unexpected heal can mess up your plan. If you fall for this trap you will find yourself unable to trade with his board and lose.

Shaman: Because shamans do not see much play I do not have much experience playing against it. Demonwrath obviously clears all his totems in 1 hit. Other than that you should just treat him as though he is a druid with a Swipe on steroids.

Warlock: If you are laddering you will almost always face a zoo deck. Demonwrath is extremely valuable because you can trade your non-demon minions with his demons, play wrath and have an overwhelming board. Other than that, time your Knife Juggler properly and play on-curve.

Warrior: Mulligan for an agressive curve and be agressive  in your gameplay (go face often). Trade with his Acolyte of Pain and Armorsmith asap. Ignore his other drops unless you can make an efficient trade.

Basic strategy:

Use lifetap, use it a lot! It is almost never wrong to tap, except if it puts you into direct kill range. (for example: 14 hp against druid, 7 hp against face hunter, 9 hp against mages) The key to mastering this deck is to play to win, playing to stay alive allows the opponent to stabilize. (you will lose both the game and precious time)

Trade a lot, zoo only works if you trade a lot. The goal is to keep the opponents side of the board clear of minions while you overwhelm him with yours! Then of course this deck has nice mini-combo's/synergies and interactions that help give the deck the extra advantage that you need to be even more successful! (Knife Juggler + Imp-losion, Mistress of Pain + buffs, etc.)

Play on curve, if you have the choice between having 1 unspend mana and dropping another minion -> use lifetap instead. Your goal is to be efficient, part of that is to be mana-efficient.

Tap first! If you have determined that in order to play on curve, you have to use lifetap, tap first! The card that you draw might always be better than whatever other cards you have in hand.

Play to win! Do not give the opponent time to stabilise, you will surely lose if that happens. If you have the choice of tapping into the deadly hp range as described above or losing boardcontrol, you should always tap. You will win more close games that way because you simply have more options available than the opponent. If you lose due to being in combo range, you probably would've lost a turn later anyways.

Common matchups:

Gameplay videos:

Edit:
Ironbeak owl is no longer a must-have, I prefer to have a slightly bigger range in the form of Dr.Boom

Edit 2:
I'm testing a Bane of Doom instead of a 2nd Defender of Argus
Bane of Doom did not live up to my expectations, I swapped it back out for a 2nd Defender of Argus.

Edit 3:
I'm working on documenting this deck further. Above you'll see the skeleton of what soon will be a complete guide, I'm having quite a busy life but I promise you that new content will be added on a daily basis, filling one of the blanks.
If you want me to cover more topics and/or a specific matchup, feel free to ask me in the comments.

Proof of legend:

Thanks for all the votes so far! Today after work I will add a mulligan guide, I will add a common matchup every day.

Update:
I won a 16-man friendly tournament, (2 single elimination rounds, best of 3 in the semi-finals and best of 5 in the finals) mostly by using this deck.
It has beaten every aggro deck in the tournament, in the semi-finals I went 2-0 against Shockadin and a "normal" zoo list, in those games Demonwrath allowed me to make more efficient trades and keep boardcontrol the entire match.

Update 2:
I've been running into quite a lot of taunts on the ladder, this is why I decided to swap out 1 Demonwrath in favor of 1 Ironbeak Owl, as soon as there is a meta change I will probably swap back.