[S21] Sigma's Midrange Zoo Streak to Legend! (G...
- Last updated Dec 17, 2015 (Explorers)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 4 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 5940
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/30/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- user-19363554
- Deck Architect
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- 13
- 25
- 60
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Battle Tag:
sigma#2284
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
5631
If you would like to ask me any questions directly and live, or be one step ahead of the meta check out my stream at http://www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb at 6 PM CEST almost every day (at random times during the holidays) and follow the feed on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sigmasrb for all news! I will try to stream at this time in between 3-5 days a week where I will be playing all of my decks posted here plus some other ones.
Hey guys Sigma here and this is my Midrange Zoo deck that got me to Legend. I have always loved the concept behind zoo, and was pretty sad when it went out of the meta as the mechs came around. Luckily, the Devs at Blizz heard our prayers and introduced the Imp Gang Boss which synergizes perfectly into the one of the already heavily synergized decks of Hearthstone (The other one being our retarded brother the Face Hunter).
I got to Legend in S13 using ONLY this deck from rank 5 so telling me it doesn't work is purely futile. Also, I am aware that are a shitton of all kinds of zoo decks around, I just wanted to share what worked for me. I had a 10-0 streak on rank 3 and a 4-0 streak on rank 1. The deck also works in the Legend ranks, and I went up to rank 500 Legend without a lot of effort. I didn't take the Prt Scr for the top 500 but the Legend proof is right here:
Unfortunately this deck is highly underrated and usually thought of as very low-skilled-throw-all-out-RAWR-GO-FACE, while it is entirely the complete opposite. The Midrange zoo deck requires a player to pay attention to the curve and plan out 2 or 3 turns in front. One of the main things that require skill in this game is setting up just the perfect swing with the Voidcaller to get that sweet sweet Doomguard out, prefferably on your turn. More importantly, positioning is very important as you have to be aware where to place the Defender of Argus and especially the Void Terror. If this deck gets 20 likes, I will do my best to write out a detailed guide with mulligan, match ups, card choices and replacements. You can find the guide underneath! (I check Hearthpwn almost every day as I have another deck which is defining the current meta
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Ability (13)
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The Goal has been reached! First of all I would like to thank all of you who checked out, upvoted, and shared my deck! With your awesomeness we managed to get this deck into the Warlock Hot page! A BIG THANK YOU!
EDIT:From the 5.5. this deck is also on the main Hot page of Hearthstone! Thank you very much for all of your views, upvotes, comments and shares! I was actually thinking of starting a stream and this is actually pushing me in this direction! You guys are awesome!
INTRODUCTION
Before I start getting into the deep shit I want to make one note that most of the people don't seem to understand; It will be quite hard for you to go from Rank 20 to Legend with this deck and without any changes as the meta swings or as you progress up the ranks (I will include what changes you can make in order to counter the meta in the guide below). You can expect a lot more aggro decks like the mech mage, face hunter and, aggro mage or even those weird face paladins in between ranks 20 and 5. Note that I played this deck FROM Rank 5 to Legend, where the meta is more stabile and controlled and not only RAWR FACE RAWR STEADY SHOT.
Most of the guide will be put in spoilers so that you don't have to scroll for ages to reach the comments. Tip on what's in the spoiler will be shown with the title above.
"Now lay back and get ready cause imma drop some real-hard-wisdom shit yo." - Confucius
MULLIGAN
GENERAL MULLIGAN (Gen. Mul. for future reference)
In order to make it situation-based, I will write a normal mulligan and after it based on the two kind of decks that are currently going around. This is what you generally want to go for:
(With or without coin it's the same) Look aggresively for cheap minions like Voidwalker, Flame Imp, Knife Juggler, Dark Peddler.
Combos that should ALWAYS be left with the coin are Nerubian Egg + Abusive Sergeant/Power Overwhelming + Void Terror or in other case stick to the Gen. Mul.
Leave the Power Overwhelming with the Nerubian Egg ONLY if you have the Coin. If you don't, mulligan them for something better/more stabile.
Without the coin just try to get a curve in your hand aka a card for every turn, in best case (let's say for all classes) it would be something like T1 Flame Imp, T2 Nerubian Egg T3 Void Terror T4 Voidcaller. Anything else with these values is also fine.
I will split the other mulligans based on control or aggro decks:
Control/Midrange Decks (Control Warrior, Dragon Paladin, Tempo Mage, Midrange Hunter, Control Priest, Oil Rogue, Combo Druid, Freeze Mage, Handlock): if you get Gen. Mul. perfect, if not also keep a Nerubian Egg, Haunted Creeper, Abusive Sergeant, Knife Juggler, Imp Gang Boss.
If you have the Coin you can keep the Haunted Creeper and a Knife Juggler as play T1 Coin + Creeper, turn two Knife Juggler if you can feel that he will get something strong out that can kill the creeper if you hit it. Dead Creeper with a Juggler on the board = 2 free damage.
Aggro decks (Face Hunter, Mech Mage/Warlock/Shaman, Face/Ebola Paladin, Zoo Warlock): Aggresive Mulligan for Gen. Mul. especially forVoidwalker, a very crucial card against an aggro deck.
If you can feel it's a Face Hunter, you can keep the Haunted Creeper as well. 3 easy damage to those charging motherfuckers. If you have a coin you can keep the Defender of Argus as well!
STRATEGY
This Midrange Zoo deck has very high potency, and if played out properly, can crush any kind of deck. If you have ever played a Zoo deck you know approximately how it works, try to overflood the board as soon as possible and that is the most important thing for this deck, even though it doesn't have that low of a curve as a regular zoo deck. The point with this deck is to try and use every single mana point to put out as much as you can. One more very important notice is to know where you are planting your cards on the board as you can always expect a Defender of Argus or Void Terror incoming. I like to keep my Deathrattle on the right side and then put a Defender of Argus in between.
Staying on the curve with this deck is extremely important, and it can bring you some sick plays, like a Voidcaller suicide/remove into a free Doomguard/Mal'Ganis or a Knife Juggler into an Imp-losion or a Voidcaller on the board removing a minion then eating the Voidcaller with Void Terror and getting a free Doomguard out e.g. Your early game will be just like any other Zoo deck, try to get at least one creep out, NEVER tap over playing ANY of the minions, even if you are missing one card for an amazing combo! Your Tap will slow your game a lot and will put your opponent ahead, especially if it's an aggro deck. Even though some minions like Flame Imp and Voidwalkerhave an advantage early game (especially versus aggro), try to get out the Nerubian Egg as soon as possible, as there are enough boosters in the deck to get that early Nerubianout.
Always count how much HP and Attack a Void Terror will have as you can expect it being a high priority threat in the next turn. If you are playing against a warrior that is holding a Death's Bite, make sure that you grab something else with it than the egg only as it will stay out of range for the warrior to kill. When you are playing against a priest, try to connect it with one imp and the egg so that it has 4 damage and out of the range for any Shadow Word. If you have a Sylvanas WindrunnerCard Name on the board, you can eat her with the Void Terror to get something sweet from the other opponent. Try to clear his board from any useless minions beforehand of course.
In the Midgame the Imp Gang Boss, Voidcaller and Sylvanas Windrunner are probably the most important cards, and should be played on turn 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
By the time late game comes around the opponent should be on low hp and close to conceding, as your late game isn't extremely strong. At the end it's the point to "keep the enemy at bay" and to, if possible use a surprise Power Overwhelming + Doomguard combo. Make sure you use the Power Overwhelming first or else it will be discarded with the Doomguard's Battlecry. If this combo doesn't come, our phat badasses Mal'Ganis and Dr.Boom should be enough to seal the deal.
CARD EXPLANATIONS
I think that the cards like Nerubian Egg,Voidwalker, Doomguard, Power Overwhelming, Abusive Sergeant, Ironbeak Owl, Defender of Argus require no explanation as they are a part of a normal Zoo deck. Dr. Boom requires no further explanation cuz OP.
I decided to go for two Power Overwhelmings (Ive seen some decks with one) as I think that it can't ever really be a dead card, except in some cases. Just try to mulligan it if you can as it's more or less dead early game.
Voidcaller - this card is the cherry on the top of this deck which is one of the best tempo swings that I can find in the Warlock's arsenal. That mini-jizz after you get a free Doomguard on your turn 5 is just amazing. Nuff said. Free Flame Imps and Imp Gang Bosses are never a bad thing. It actually works splendid with the Void Terror, as you can eat it and summon an instant Doomguard. Just be careful not to get the Void Terror pulled out after a Voidcaller dies.
Dark Peddler - The newest addition to the deck, a just sick card that can get you incredible buffs and minions the zoo really needed to be even more OP.
Imp Gang Boss - A lot of people are judging this card as it didn't really live up to the expectations of the Hearthstone community and still has some "bugs" (DAMN YOU DRUID AND YOUR SWIPE), but I see it as an amazing addition to the zoo's arsenal. Very sticky, spawns more demons, synergizes with Knife Juggler. I don't need more to include it in my secret formula.
And last but not least, my latest crafted cards and welcome guests of this deck, Mal'Ganis and Sylvanas Windrunner.
Mal'Ganis - This card just has so much value in this deck, it goes perfect with Voidcaller, it goes perfect with any kind of demon as it serves as a jacked Stormwind Champion to them, and makes you immune at the same time? I'll take it. Perfect play is after a good Imp-losion.
Sylvanas Windrunner - The sovereign leader of Undercity and the Undead. Use her with caution. Make sure you clear useless minions from his board before crashing her into something and killing her. Use her with Void Terror at will as the Void Terror will get incredibly buffed, and you will get a sweet minion from his part of the board out of it. You can even use them one after another on turn 9, as long as you will be getting something awesome from it.
CARD REPLACEMENTS
I can't mention this enough, always try to modify the deck you play to the current meta accordingly. If you are facing a lot of aggro decks, putting one Mortal Coil in or a Shadowflame for the Flame Imp!
If you are facing Freeze Mages or Face Hunters, get a Kezan Mystic in. Use it ONLY if you are sure it's an Ice Block. Big Game Hunter for heavy decks like Control Warrior.
Some card replacements that some people might not have (I will leave out Common Non-adventure cards):
Voidcaller -> Piloted Shredder
Imp Gang Boss -> Harvest Golem
Dark Peddler -> Dire Wolf Alpha
Dr. Boom -> Dread Infernal/Sea Giant
Mortal Coil -> Void Terror
Sylvanas Windrunner -> Loatheb/Sea Giant
Mal'Ganis -> Mortal Coil
Note: Don't think to expect such good results if you swap out many cards out of this deck.
You can also get an Enhance-o Mechano instead of the Flame Imp, and you can get a Bane of Doom instead of Sylvanas Windrunner if you really want to get some RNG going! Or if you just want to keep it safe, just get a Sea Giant in.
EDIT: Finally crafted Mal'Ganis in my last stream! From this moment on he will be included in the deck, as he synergizes splendidly with all demons, and makes the Imp-losion even more badass than it already is! EDIT 2: I took out the infamous Mortal Coil out of the deck and put the Loatheb back in as I do believe it is a very vital and irreplacable card to the deck. EDIT 3: I got a golden Gruul from the packs I opened today so crafted Sylvanas and added her to the deck!
EDIT 4 - TGT: Gormok the Impaler is in, one Void Terror out. Gormok's Battlecry is just too good to miss out on.
EDIT 5 - LOE: Gormok and Bane of Doom are out, two Dark Peddlers in! Make way for the Soulfire Train!
This guide took quite a bit of time to write so I hope you like it!
If you managed to reach Legend with this deck, please post a screenshot of your Legend rank in my mailbox or in the comments and I will gladly use it in the description of the deck with your name attached! (The win/loss rate from a tracker is more than welcome, but optional).
The Hall of Fame:
Season 15 Legend Badasses:
Shadire - Rank 502 Legend
Season 14 Legend Top Guns:
Bloopy13 - Rank 50 Legend
Zer0x - Rank 165 Legend
Alminz - Rank 374 Legend
Kreekakons - Rank 1124 Legend
NaveChia - Rank 1269 Legend
TheLucky1UA - Rank 3396 Legend
If you have anything else that you would like me to add please let me know in the comments! Look through the comments for my battle tag as well if you are interested in adding me. I am always up for a chat! I also coach if you guys are interested. :)
Cheers,
Sig
heh that 16:20 rank :D
blaze it boyzz
Awesome deck. Looks a lot like mine.
I'm most likely going to get a lot of hate for my coming suggestions, but cards like Sea Giant and Shadowflame adds a lot of value to a deck like this. I'd rather wipe his board with a well targeted Shadowflame for 4 mana than do 2 damage with Bane of Doom. Sure Bane can give you some tempo, but I find that I'm happy to draw Shadowflame and remove the other side of the board entirely. I also feel that Void Terror eats to much board presence, Sea Giant works better for me.
First pri changes:
+1 x Shadowflame for -1 x Bane of Doom
If you keep going this path we want to get most value of our Voidcallers
+ 1 x Sea Giant for -1 x Void Terror
+ 1 x Shadowflame for -1 x Ironbeak Owl
And now I continued to do something a bit more stupid. I wanted to not lose my cards to deathrattle from Voidcaller so I replaced him for Piloted shredder. This is very optional. As a consequence Mal'Ganis becomes to slow so I added in another Flame Imp. Also with the number of critters on the table I found Sea Giants steps in faster than Dr Doom in a Zoo deck like this.
+2 x Piloted Shredder for - 2 x Voidcaller
+1 x Flame Imp for -1 Mal'Ganis
+1 x Sea Giant for -1 x Dr. Boom
Edit: Typo :)
Hi, this deck is really fun and effective ! I'm playing with this kind of zoolock for some month now.
I have some suggestions about it, and I wonder why nobody plays with Illidan Stormrage in this kind of midrange zoolock ? I just got it, and as a demon, it could be very powerful with Voidcaller, plus, if it's brought to the board on T5 or T6 thanks to the Voidcaller it allows you to flood the board by playing one or two other small minions in addition to the Flame of Azzinoth. I haven't tried it yet, but the idea seems pretty nice to me. So I've replaced the Gormok the Impaler by Illidan Stormrage. Also, I replaced one Doomguard with a Big Game Hunter to deal with mid/late Dr. Boom or other painfull minion like that. So it makes the deck even slower but also more effective in mid/late.
Thing is - Illidan is slow (no immediate effect) and easily removable due to 7 atk and low hp. Gormok on the other hand is instant 4 damage and is usable in this deck more often than he's not. There's already enough fat demons to be summoned via Voidcaller, and chances that Illy will get to live long enough to make any substantial difference are quite low.
Doomguard > BGH swap is very bad imho. In my experience, usually by the time real fatties are being played (turn 7-8), the game is pretty much decided. And this deck already has pretty good removal abilities with PO and BoD. Doomguard is a great finisher, and is must have in this deck. If anything - use BGH instead of Bane of Doom, but i personally wouldn't do it.
Myself - i'm still on the fence about Sylvanas, as she's too slow as well. Meanwhile i replaced her with Loatheb, and will roll with it for a while.
Hi ! Thank you for your reply :) I kind of agree with you about Big Game Hunter. I haven't played a lot, but BGH has stayed dead in my hand. So yes it's a lack of optimisaiton in the mana curve and the Doomguard is too good to be removed. Concerning Bane of Doom, I think this card is a bit too expensive, but I like to keep it because this RNG is too funny.
Now, concerning Illidan Stormrage, I've played only 3 or 4 games, and he hasn't been in my hand even once ! So I still believe in his power and I will try some game with him. Anyway, I don't have Gormok the Impaler, and I'm not sure I would craft him. I used to play with a Sea Giant, which is also weak because of the BGH. This deck basically replace the Sea Giant by Gormok the Impaler, which is easier to play and with an instant effect. I have chosen to use Illidan Stormrage instead of Gormok the Impaler/Sea Giant, because of the Voidcaller (even if you have a lot of demon, they are rarely all in your hand at the same time).
Hello, new season has started and I have gone around looking for another fantastic deck that can help me climb the ladder. Then I saw this form of zoo and was extremely impressed by the play style, the only problem is I don't currently have any of the legendaries. I have enough dust to craft one legendary, should i craft Dr. Boom or Malganis specifically for this deck? I also have Illidan and Gazlowe but they are pretty much useless in this deck. All help appreciated!
Yeah I lot of people say so but I can only craft one, wouldn't this deck lose value without Mal'Ganis? Or is Dr.Boom too big of an advantage to pass?
Took out a Flame Imp, Gormok, Doomguard, and Sylvanas, and added 2x Direwolf Alpha, and 2x Argent Squire. Direwolf Alpha is too good not to include with cards like Implosion, Haunted Creeper, Eggs, Imp Gang Boss, etc.. And Squire is better than Flame Imp against Paladins and Hunters. Flame Imp just gets killed for free by Shielded Minibot. As far as the Doomguard cut goes too often I'd draw double Doomguard with no Voidcaller to be seen. Gormok is iffy. I feel like it's kind of a win more card for Zoo, since the card requires you to have board control to take effect, and if I have board control I would rather strengthen my board with something like Defender of Argus than become more susceptible to AoE. I'm on the fence about Sylvanas, it's such a strong card, but I don't feel it belongs in Zoo, since it's a card you play to help get board back, and Zoo is all about board control to begin with.
I dont have Malganis, Dread Infernal for Malganis is a good change?
Very good deck ! I could suggest for those who don't have Gormok to replace it with Piloted sheredder :)
Thanks for sharing !!!
Replace for Imp Gang Boss?
Harvest Golem?
Replace for Gormok the Impaler ??
Seeing a warlock deck with 666 likes always feels good.
Downvoted it to keep it at 666 lol.
But good deck and great guide.
I was just going to ask when you were going to update this deck list, Sigma! I like the new addition, and I'll test it out soon.
Do you think Lord Jaraxxus has a slot in this deck? Probabbly not, but it is my favorite legendary :p, the Infernals also work pretty well with Mal'Ganis..
Thank you so much for posting this deck! It's probably one of my favorites so far, and even though I usually say that this deck actually worked very well for me straight away, 7-2 so far. And the best thing about it in my eyes, is that it can both work as Aggro, and Midrange in a beautiful mixture of the two archetypes. Absolutely stunning deck, well done!
This deck seems to be auto lose to face hunter. Even with my voidcallers it's not enough if he has early secrets.
Since I dont have Malganis and Sylvanas, I replaced them with Shadowflame and Siphon Soul. They are really helpful!