[Legend] Zoo
- Last updated Jun 28, 2016 (Old Gods)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 24 Minions
- 6 Spells
- Deck Type: None
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 3160
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 6/23/2016 (Old Gods)
- FilthyAidan
- Registered User
-
- 5
- 8
- 27
-
Battle Tag:
1885
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
150
Hello! This is the zoo deck I used to climb to legend. It got me to around rank 600 on the NA server and I believe it could get me even higher if I spent even more time playing.
I've played so many games with this deck and I have a very good feeling on how to use it. If this gets any attention I will add a detailed guide, with mulligans, synergies, replacements and card explanations.
UPDATE: This has received some positive feedback, so thanks for the support.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I added a little bit here and there because I had the time to do so. Should be finished tomorrow in the late evening.
ANOTHER NEW UPDATE: Due to time constraints, I am not able to finish this guide so easily. I am doing my best to add a chunk every so often. Should be done in the near future. All that's left to put out are mulligans and a few more card explanations. Thanks for the patience, hope you enjoy.
I would like to take a moment to note that there are many pro players running extremely similar decks at the moment, and I am not at all trying to take full credit for this type of deck. Also, I get that there a lot of similar zoo guides. If you're going to complain about this being unoriginal I don't know what to say.
Intro: Zoo has always been a very powerful deck-type, but with the newest expansion, restrictions and meta, playing this deck is not exactly what it used to be. Nerubian Egg and Voidcaller were extremely efficient counters to this deck's prevalent arch nemesis, Brawl. The Knife Juggler nerf was although fair, a slight downgrade for this deck. Thankfully, Forbidden Ritual was the type of card we needed to validate keeping this minion.
Despite these minor setbacks, zoo still has the power it takes to reach legend.
General Guide: If you think this is a brain dead deck, well you're not COMPLETELY wrong, but wrong nonetheless. There are important decisions you need to make with this deck, such as when to go face, when to tap, when to bite your tongue and not play more minions even though you have the mana to, which of these one drops do I play, when to trade, etc.
Additionally, a good skill to have for playing competitively is knowing what cards they are likely to have/play. If you are serious about making it to legend, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with popular decks and which cards are in them. I note this because it is a skill you learn mostly from intuition, rather than a deck guide.
For example, being able to distinguish a Midrange Shaman from an Aggro Shaman is important, because then you can tell whether or not they will (probably) have a Lightning Storm ready to crush your valuable tempo. If you are safe from AOE, you can load your board all you want ftw.
Back to what I was saying before, I will do my best do go over each of these questions throughout the guide.
Going Face vs. Board Control: There are two ways in which this deck wins.
Typically, the main goal of this deck is using your tempo to both reasonably control the board and put pressure on the face at the same time. Depending on the matchups, you need to one a bit more than the other.
Examples + Explanations:
C'Thun Warrior, Control Warrior, C'Thun Druid, Freeze Mage, N'Zoth Paladin.
If you are going up against one of these types of decks, where they benefit majorly from the late game with heals and cards such as C'Thun, Ancient Shieldbearer, and Ancient of War you need to play slightly aggressively. Keep in mind, this does not mean throw down all of your cards you can, Power Overwhelming on turn two and push face no matter what. The reason these decks are so threatening is because they use cards like Brawl and Swipe to make sure they maintain themselves until late game, so play around AOE.
I know this seems contradictory, as in well do I aggro them down and then get board cleared or do I play slightly aggressively and then get wrecked by their late game? That's the struggle you face against these opponents, you have to find the perfect mix of the two. What really helps though, is your burst potential. You will almost never beat these types of decks by slowly chipping them down to 0.
It is important you save your Leeroy Jenkins, Power Overwhelmings, Soulfire and sometimes Abusive Sergeants to surprise them with a bursty combo.
My best advice against control, is to tap often to make sure you can always play a decent amount of minions assuming your board gets cleared. Ask yourself often, "Is it likely that my board will get cleared, and if so, can I recover?"
Midrange Hunter, Aggro Shaman, Zoo, Tempo Mage.
These are the types of decks that will present you with a lot of potential trading, and although they have no heals, it is still important to control the board so they cannot out tempo you. Very often do inexperienced players ignore trades and go face. Even if it's just an 0/2 totem, you KILL THAT LITTLE SHIT, BECAUSE THEN THAT LITTLE SHIT GET'S +2 ATTACK FROM Flametongue Totem AND IT KILLS YOUR DUDES. DON'T LET THEM KILL YOUR DUDES. There comes a point though, where you go for (mostly) the face in the later game when you have a nice board, and have the potential to kill them quick. Most important advice for these matchups, don't be too shy to play a few extra minions, and try to tap enough to keep you in both good supply and health. Ask yourself, "What is the most efficient way for me to trade here, what will happen if I don't trade, do I have lethal in the near future?"
Midrange Shaman, Token Druid,
Decks such as Midrange Shaman for example, feature threats that both of these groups have. They've got a few taunts and lightning storm or two for AOE. Decks that are between these two groups require a proper mix of these two approaches. Think about AOE, consider facing some taunts, think about late game cards you're going to have to deal with. Make smart choices which help you control the board and maintain tempo at the same time. If you think you have the opportunity to burst them down soon, go for it. If they have the potential to burst you down however, use your minions to efficiently destroy theirs, and consider tapping less often to maintain life.
A lesson from Trump
Firstly, I will start by saying that Trump is my favorite hearthstone streamer. He has a great ability to teach players and I learned a lot from him on how to play the game. I did not realize he had a deck only one card off however, so my apologies to Trump.
Anyway, the reason I mentioned him is because a while back he released a very helpful "Trump Teaching's" video on the basics of Warlock. It stresses the importance of tapping for cards. If Warlock is totally foreign to you, I recommend you check out his videos for extra information.
Certain Card Explanations/Synergies
Forbidden Ritual x 2
A lot of people decide to put in only one of this card. I highly recommend you include two. It does a great job of setting up a full board after you get cleared, which is a great counter to decks with AOE. Additionally, it has synergies with your Knife Juggler Dire Wolf Alpha and Darkshire Councilman
Mortal Coil x 1
A ping is always nice to have, especially in the current meta where early game cards can seriously lead a player into victory. It can really help finish off that annoying Tunnel Trogg that NEEDS to die.
Helps a lot with reach and clearing taunts. Never use this card unless you benefit immediately. Note the synergy this has with Possessed Villager, there may come a time where that combo + Knife Juggler = lethal.
Soulfire x1
Helps with reach potential, very important to have against opponents with lots of defense
One drops and which to play when
Great to play turn 1 when you have a card that can buff it the following turn to kill something, because it is the most likely to survive. Note that this card is the best (tied with Imp Gang Boss and Sea Giant) minion to use Defender of Argus on because it will retain the buff for two hits due to its divine shield. The main point of this, is to consider it's divine shield and how that will benefit you.
Flame Imp x2
Consider playing this card when you can use it's attack value to benefit you. Perhaps your opponent is likely to play a 1/3 minion, making this the best counter. Typically it is best to play this along with another 1 drop so that this can take care of the pressure to face while you use your other cards to help him survive.
Voidwalker x2
Usually you want to play this card when it's taunt will help protect one of your valuable minions like Knife Juggler or Darkshire Councilman. Play this card tactically, when you have other minions to benefit from it's protection. Not a very solid play turn 1 when this will be all that's on your board.
This card gets compared a lot to Argent squire. They both take a hit, and you're left with a 1/1 minion. It is important to note the ways in which these two cards are different. Possessed Villager has synergy with Knife Juggler and Darkshire Councilman. Additionally, you can trigger this card's deathrattle with Power Overwhelming, so always consider using this to your advantage. This card is a a solid turn 1 play, for reasons similar to Argent Squire.
Almost never play this card alone on turn 1, save it to benefit from it's battlecry. The only acceptable time to play this alone for a 2/1 body is when you REALLY have no other plays and you are worried about losing tempo. However, if you mulligan correctly, this should almost never happen.
Hey guys, I'm really sorry this is taking a while to finish, I can't help how busy I am doing other things. I hope the effort I have put into this is appreciated, and I promise this will get finished sometime soon. Plz don't hate. Good luck.
Sea Giant is a deck card against control, i think Gormok the Impaler is better
Why are you not using gormok?
im looking fro replacements for dark peddler and impgang boss
Any alternatives for Leroy?
Extremely fun deck to play with and I really hope you guys try it out cause it is very strong on the ladder at the moment.
I made a video showcasing the deck and it would be nice if you guys enjoyed it as much as I did!!
Cool vid... but brother your positioning could use some work! Always try to set up your small minions toward the middle or atleast on the far right. Imp gang boss ALWAYS on the left. And for the love of god, against mage, never choose Young Dragonhawk. Especially when you have the option of soulfire!
Love it ty
Mind adding you up on bnet? I have got a couple of doubts and i love to ask more questions which is not possible here :)
One quick question:
I saw Trump use Flame Juggler in this deck, but I don't know why.
(I personally think that he's not that good bcos he can deal only 1dmg) anyone can tell me?
Now im currently -1 Forbidden Ritual and +1 Belkin Tidehuner (need more taunt bcos I play against tons of aggro)
should I change to Flame Juggler instead?
Thanks for your answer
Can you explain more about Flame Juggler and the reason to put him in the deck?
I mean, I know that he's good in this deck but I dont understand why he's good.
First, Im not native speaker and my grammar sucks lol
Second, These Line characters are not my collection. They're a big big doll standing in the shop called Line Shop (in Japan). Brown is like 150-160cm sth. But yea, I do love Line characters a lot and already owned many of them (clear file, plush, doll etc)
Anywayc I dont think it's strange to use it here at hearthpwn lol just trying to b myself here xd
My highest rank is 9, so mayb this wont help much but i will try my best
Against aggro deck what u need to do is seeking for value trade (For example, use ur 2/1 minion to kill their 3/2) before them
Aggro is so strong in the way that they can end your life so easy with minions on their board.
You let them do that and you suddenly lose.
However, This doesn't mean that you need to trade every minion you have with their strongest one.
You have to find the balance in clearing their board, attacking their face and remaining your board control.
This is the hardest yet the most important thing in zoolock, (which I also dint master it yet)
Also, having some taunt minions will help you a lot in many situations.
As for me, when I face against Aggro deck like Zoo or Hunter, I mostly don't put my Voidwalker on the board in turn 1, if I have a choice.
The basic is: read your opponents, and try to figure out what they will do.
For example, if you are playing first against Warrior, there's a chance that he will use the coin and drop Fiery axe to chop your fragile minion down at turn2. Of course, you don't want that to happen in early game where your deck shine the brighest. So, in your first turn, you should drop your 6 Villager or Squire instead of Flame Imp.
For Secret, I think you should know about Secret in the game first, so that you can have a rough idea about what's on their board.
Here's the list: https://i.imgur.com/Chp5e4C.jpg (Cr.Google, Reddit)
PS.sry for my English. Im not Native speaker TT
Just hit rank 5 with this deck. It is like Trumps Zoo with +1Forbidden Ritual -1 Mortal Coil
Substitute for Leeroy Jenkins? Reckless Rocketeer?
Reckless Rocketeer is free and ok...However Doomguard is better, 5 mana and can help you controling the board cause it is 5/7...Usually you will use it to finish, but sometimes can do great trades!!
Tried both and they're quite good in different ways
- Doomgaurd is great but he will b the pain in your ass when your hand has both Doomgaurd and Soulfire. So, I think if you want to run Doomguard and play comfortably, you should find sth to put in your deck instead of soulfire (Dark Iron Dwarf mayb?). Anyway, I ran bothDoomguard and Soulfire in my deck and that work perfectly 80% of my game. So, if you dont bother, just try it out!
- Reckless Rocketeer is quite OK but much much slower, compared to Doomgaurd. If you run this one you will have a lot of games that you're 1 mana away from winning. I lost almost 5 games in this situation, so I decided to use Doomguard instead. However, The good thing is: she work perfectly with Soulfire and is really easy to play.
The thing that worries me about Doomguard is that he won't work with buffs, since he can easily discard them from hand. I don't usually have much cards in my hand near the end of the game.
The ideal way to use Doomguard is to use him when you have no card in your hand. (It's OK to drop minor cards like 1-drop or others If u're seeking for lethal.)
If you have PO on your hand, that should be fine. Just use it on any minion in your field first and then drop your Doomguard. The downside is you HAVE TO have minion on your field. Anyway, I don't think it's a problem as zoolock mostly have at least 1minion on the field.
If it's Soulfire. I'm sorry for you lol.
IMO the strongest point of Zoolock is the ability to use all cards in your hand quickly and regain it from Hero's ability. So, try to find a balance between keeping card on your hand as a B-plan and all-in them for Doomguard.
My suggestion is that you must try it yourself in order to learn how to play him. After 3-4 mistakes and loses you will figure out the correct way to drop him and other cards properly.
If u play it properly it is possible to get rank 10 and above.
So, if you are struggled and cant pss rank 17, just Zoolock replays and guides on youtube to watch (especially Trump's tutorial on Zoolock. It's so good.)
I just play this game one week ago and currently on Rank9 with this deck. (I dont even have Leeroy)
And from my experience, the only deck that zoolock completely lose is Priest.
Oh. and here's some tips against control:
1. Try to hit their face as fast as possible.
2. Figure out what's their key minion and get rid of it.
3. Dont put all of your minions on the field. Save some of them on your hand, so that if they use AoE, you can have something to recover your board.
4. Knowing about your opponent's AoE can give you a lot of advantage.