Standard WotOG Ladder Zoo + Guide
- Last updated Dec 7, 2016 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 4 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Zoolock
- Crafting Cost: 1480
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/5/2016 (Old Gods)
- user-20344362
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- 4
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- 20
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
430
I wrote an updated version for the Gadgetzan meta that also includes the discard package from One Night in Karazhan. It is a better list, I would fully recommend it over this one.
Introduction
Hey guys, I wanted to create a guide for the default Zoolock ladder list. This guide is aimed at players who are looking to learn Zoo, both beginners and intermediate players. An advanced player who's made it to legend a bunch of times but hasn't seriously played Zoolock yet will probably pick up a few helpful things as well. Zoo is a great, yet rather cheap deck to climb up in the ladder and eventually make it to legend. This 1400 dust deck list will get you there, provided that you're sufficiently skilled. The deck also teaches you a lot of concepts about Hearthstone, so if you're fairly new and you're looking to get good, this deck is an excellent choice.
Most of the information is gathered from various guides and sites across the internet, as well as pro player streams, especially RDU. I'm writing this to help myself synthesize some of this information, as well as to provide guidance to others who are trying to learn how to play Zoo. I'm also using it as a resource myself since I haven't fully mastered the deck yet. If you could point out mistakes, make suggestions, or link me to resources I've missed so far, I would find that very helpful!
General Strategy
The general strategy of Zoo is to take board control from turn 1. We aim to populate the board with cheap but effective minions and trade efficiently by buffing the minions with cards such as Power Overwhelming, Abusive Sergeant, Dire Wolf Alpha, and Dark Iron Dwarf. Zoo is commonly misclassified as an aggro/face deck, but board control is an important element. If this strategy works, Zoo can close out games really quickly. If it doesn't and we lose the board, it is often hard to impossible to come back.
One of the difficulties when playing Zoo is to know when to go for face damage and when to control the board. It is key to identify which type of deck your opponent is playing. If you're facing an aggressive deck such as Aggro Shaman, Pirate Warrior, or another Zoolock, it is all about board control. Face damage is irrelevant for most of the game, if you control the board you will likely win the game. Against control decks, however, you'll start going for face much earlier, only trading if you have to. Key in these matchups is knowing what kind of removal your opponent has at his disposal, especially AoE. You don't want to have one 4 health minion and a bunch of 1 health minions against Druids, because a single Swipe will wipe your whole board out.
Are you new to Zoolock?
If you don't really know what Zoolock is about, I recommend watching a few videos before you read on. Trump's Fearless Tapping video teaches you why the Warlock's hero power is so incredibly strong. Next, watch his Zoo Deck teachings video. While the decklist is outdated, all the basic concepts are still the same. Then, go on to watch his Standard Teachings: Zoo video. It's also a different deck list, but is set in the current, WotOG, meta. Finally, after reading the guide, I recommend that you go to RDU's twitch channel and check out the archives. Not only does he play this exact list a lot, he is also a world-class player who explains his decisions really well. Even a 20x legend Zoo player can probably pick up a few things from him.
The deck list
There are two basic Zoo archetypes: decks that run Doomguards, and decks that run Leeroy Jenkins. Both have their pros and cons, see e.g. this excellent discussion over on reddit. Doomguard is much better at contesting the board, while Leeroy Jenkins is the better finisher. Leeroy can pull off some miracle wins against control decks that a Doomguard list would lose, but it doesn't have the same kind of consistency. With Leeroy you can be a little more creative in terms of your deck list; with Doomguard you want to build the most consistent Zoo imaginable.
Amongst top players, the Doomguard version has been favoured for the last 2 months or so. Many tournament regulards can be seen playing a list like this one, with maybe 1-2 different cards. Doomguard Zoo is also the cheaper deck to craft, which is probably a concern for players who are reading a guide like this in the first place. Last but not least, the imminent Karazhan expansion looks to give discard Zoolock some nice tools, with many expecting Leeroy lists to completely fall out of favour. So Doomguard Zoo is the version we're going to be talking about.
Doomguard is the best card of this deck. A 5 mana 5/7 with charge is an insane card, but its battlecry is obviously not that great. The general idea of this deck is to play as many cards as possible early on and then to play Doomguard and get massive value from it. You're obviously getting the most value if you don't have any other cards in your hand, or if you only discard something like Argent Squire.
Tech choices
At the time of writing (early August; pre-Karazhan), the ladder is dominated by Warriors. Warrior is a notoriously bad matchup for Zoo, in particular because of two cards: Fiery War Axe and Ravaging Ghoul. The guys over at vicioussyndicate.com did an in-depth analysis on the impact of Fiery War Axe. They looked at the winrates of matches in which Warrior played FWA either on turn 2, or turn 1 with coin. Against Zoo, FWA made a difference between 6.5% win-rate (Control Warrior) and 15% win-rate (Tempo Warrior).
Zoo's best way to combat FWA is Acidic Swamp Ooze. The deck has 1-2 flex spots, one of which is generally occupied by either Crazed Alchemist or Acidic Swamp Ooze. The other one is either Gormok the Impaler or Dark Iron Dwarf. While Crazed Alchemist is very useful in a lot of situations, I believe that we really need the Ooze in the current meta. I've even seen people cut an Argent Squire in favour of a 2nd Ooze. It is not only the many Warriors, but also Aggro Shaman that Acidic Swamp Ooze can be the MVP against. Dropping the Ooze after they play Doomhammer often secures us the win. It is painful to cut a card as powerful as Crazed Alchemist, but I believe the Ooze to be better as it is vital against Warrior and Shaman, two of our most important matchups.
Cards that don't make it in this version of Zoo
The following cards all have properties that make them a better fit with Leeroy Jenkins lists. Doomguard is usually why.
- Soulfire: Great card, but we run the risk of drawing it together with Doomguard, which means that one of them will certainly be discarded. Can be a good situational pick from Dark Peddler, though.
- Sea Giant: Sometimes run in the Gormok the Impaler/Dark Iron Dwarf spot in this list, but it doesn't go that well with Doomguard, either. Sea Giant improves the Deck in some matchups, including the mirror matchup, but makes it even worse against Warriors. If you're playing tournaments and you ban Warrior, it might be a good idea to play Sea Giant instead of the Acidic Swamp Ooze. It'll help you against other Zoolocks and Aggro Shaman, 2 decks most of your competitors will run.
- Mortal Coil: Another great utility card, but we can't really fit it in. Can be a good situational pick from Dark Peddler. I've seen Kolento play it in the current list instead of the Ooze, but I find it hard to see how it has more value than either the Ooze or Crazed Alchemist.
- Brann Bronzebeard: I ran for a while, but I don't think he really has a place in a 2x Doomguard list. This deck is all about consistency, and we don't get that by adding another 3-drop. Brann raises the ceiling of the deck, but he also lowers its floor. The negative synergy with Doomguard and Flame Imp can also be a problem.
- Crazed Alchemist: A super strong card that one can use to either insta-kill minions such as Doomsayer or Flametongue Totem, or to use cards like an unbuffed Darkshire Councilman as a finisher. Definitely the first card I'd add to this list, I just like the Ooze a tiny bit better.
- Gormok the Impaler: Often played instead of Dark Iron Dwarf. Gormok is more powerful, while Dark Iron Dwarf is more consistent as well as much cheaper to craft. It is difficult to evaluate which card is better, though playing Gormok seems pretty greedy. I would certainly not recommend for anyone to craft Gormok at the moment, however. It seems likely that upcoming Zoo lists will add a discard synergy, Dark Iron Dwarf/Gormok is likely the first card to go.
Replacements for adventure cards
Since the deck list is already quite cheap, I don't want to go into a lot of variations of it. The two cards worth mentioning are the cards from the adventure slots, Dark Peddler and Imp Gang Boss. You'll probably have to go with Flame Juggler instead of Dark Peddler and Harvest Golem or possibly Argent Horserider for Imp Gang Boss. It's also possible to tech in an Acidic Swamp Ooze or Crazed Alchemist in one of these spots, though you're deck will be a little less consistent if you make that change. The deck gets worse without these very strong cards, but the replacements aren't terrible, either.
Early Strategy
Turn 1:
It is crucial to play a 1-drop on the first turn. If you couldn't get any other 1-drop you'll play Abusive Sergeant; in mirror matchups or against (a likely Aggro) Shaman it is usually correct to play Forbidden Ritual just to get something on the board. Don't do this against slower matchups, though.
Flame Imp is usually your preferred 1-drop, but there are exceptions, which we will get to in the hero-specific matchups. It is a really good 1-drop since it applies pressure very early on and can deal with most 2-drops. Here is a very rough and by no means set in stone order in which we would like to play our 1-drops:
Flame Imp >>> Argent Squire > Possessed Villager > Voidwalker >>>> Abusive Sergeant >>>>>>>>>> Forbidden Ritual.
Flame Imp is the tier 1 1-drop; Possessed Villager, Argent Squire, and Voidwalker are tier 2. If we have one of the tier 2 drops but not the Flame Imp, we usually play it no matter what. If we have multiple 1-drops, it gets a bit more complicated. In general, you prefer playing the Argent Squire over the Possessed Villager early on, since the Villager's deathrattle synergizes with Darkshire Councilman and Knife Juggler. Argent Squire is only better with Defender of Argus, so when it's foreseeable that you can use Argus on it in the near future you might hold on to the squire. However, sometimes you might want to play the Possessed Villager earlier since it synergizes better with Power Overwhelming than the Argent Squire. This is often the case against Druid and Shaman.
Example: you start the game with Argent Squire (or Possessed Villager), Voidwalker, and Abusive Sergeant. I'd play the Squire (or Villager) first, since it it goes better with Abusive Sergeant. Voidwalker is better at keeping our more valuable minions alive and more resilient to AoE effects, which is usually more valuable a bit later on.
Turns 2 and 3:
Unlike a lot of other decks, we are not looking to play a 2-drop on turn 2, but two 1-drops. This is a crucial concept to understand that many players new to Zoo do not know about. The three 2-drops Zoo runs, Dark Peddler, Dire Wolf Alpha, and Knife Juggler, do not help us too much to contest the board early on since they only have 2/2 bodies. What the 2-drops do is boost our other cards, which makes them much more useful from around turn 4 onward. This doesn't mean that you never play these on turn 2, but as a general rule, avoid it. Acidic Swamp Ooze is usually only kept to react to a weapon, but is a fine turn 2 play against weapon-less classes such as Mage.
Turn 3, then, is the moment we would like to play one of our 3-drops, Imp Gang Boss or Darkshire Councilman. So the ideal Zoo progression is as follows:
Turn 1: 1-drop
Turn 2: two 1-drops (or Coin 3-drop)
Turn 3: 3-drop
That's also a reason why the deck is so heavy on 1-drops, as it allows us to reach this progression more consistently, with another reason being that we want to get as much value from Doomguard as possible. Of course, this doesn't mean that we play like this every game. Sometimes we simply don't get the cards, and sometimes we have to react to the board and play differently. You'll sometimes end up playing a 2-drop on turn 2, even if you have two 1-drops in your hand. But in an ideal world, this is how we build the board fast.
Mid + late game strategy
If you came out of the early game controlling the board, there comes a point where you want to start hitting face. It is hard to give a general guideline as to when that is, but if you think that you can set up lethal the following turn you should usually go for it.
- Doomguard is ideally played around turn 7 or so after you've managed to empty your hand. It is most often used to claim the board, but can sometimes be your finisher as well. Don't be afraid to play it early if you've lost the board, either. It may not work out that often, but not playing it will work even less. You also don't want to hold on to your Doomguard for too long, since the chances that you draw the 2nd Doomguard increase every turn. Remember that this is the star of the deck, so get him on the board.
- Sometimes you'll have to play Dark Iron Dwarf/Gormok the Impaler without buffing anything, just to get a body on the board. Just like with the Abusive Sergeant, you'd like to avoid this, but if you can't, don't be afraid to play the card just because you're missing out on the battlecry. The same is true for Defender of Argus, though there's hardly ever a situation where you want to play him on an empty board -- at least have him buff one minion that uses the extra 1/1 to clear something.
- Part of the reason why you want to hold on to your 2-drops for a little longer is that they get much better when the game is more developed. Dire Wolf Alpha is best when you have a bunch of minions on the board and you can trade them in such a way that all of them get buffed at some point. If you play Dark Peddler too early you might end up wishing that you'd taken another later on. Knife Juggler synergizes really well with Forbidden Ritual, a card that is in itself most powerful if its played on later turns.
- Late game -- if you've made it this far and you're not close to delivering lethal, chances are that you're going to lose. Most decks have better late-game minions than this one, so you have to do well early on. If you're against another aggro deck, keep trading until you've blown them off the board.
Zoo Positioning
The Image is taken from this incredible guide.
Zoolock has many cheap minions that it relies on buffing, so board positioning is crucial in this deck. I will keep this section short and send you to this outstanding and in-depth guide instead. Just as a brief summary, here are some things to look for.
- There are two cards for which position is important, Dire Wolf Alpha and Defender of Argus. We always want to play with these cards in mind, even if we haven't drawn them yet.
- In general, the minions that die easiest go in the middle, while the minions that die hardest go to the outside. Note that this means that taunts also go in the middle, since they will generally be attacked first. Argent Squire and Possessed Villager go to the outside, since their shield/deathrattle will affect the conga line.
- Valuable minions such as Knife Juggler go furthest out, as we want to avoid trading them, if at all possible.
- We want our taunts to be next to Dire Wolf Alpha so they get buffed. We want Argent Squire to be buffed by Defender of Argus, since it basically gets the buff twice. Use Argus such that it helps our Minions to stay alive, e.g. buff 1 health Minions against Druid to make the board more resilient against Swipe.
- If possible, we want to buff our minions such that we have a 1-attack minion, a 2-attack minion, a 3-attack minion, and so on. This usually allows for the most efficient trades. This is also why we don't simply go left-to-right with out big-to-weak minions but put some of the stronger minions on the right side, as well.
All cards explained?
Since this has already been done before and I find it a bit tedious, I'm skipping this section. I've already gone over a lot of cards in other sections as well. If you really want this, take a look WingsofWax's great Zoo guide. I would recommend the list and Mulligan strategy in the present guide, however, as I feel that they are more suited to the current meta. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
Mulligan
General Mulligan Guidelines
The mulligan is crucial for Zoo, as it is for any deck. We are generally looking to play 3 1-drops on the first two turns, so if you don't have any, it is often correct to mulligan all offered cards. With the coin, it is often correct to keep a 3-drop, looking to play it on turn 2. The following are general guidelines. Keep in mind that these will sometimes be contradicted by the class-specific mulligan suggestions later on.
- Flame Imp, Possessed Villager, Argent Squire, Voidwalker: You will usually keep all of them. An exception could be against a Warrior, on Coin, if you have all of them. Ditching 2, looking for an Acidic Swamp Ooze or 3-drop, could be an option. Never ditch the Flame Imp, though. You will usually play the Squire before the Villager, as mentioned above.
- Abusive Sergeant: Kept if you already have one of your 1-attack 1-drops (Argent Squire, Voidwalker, Possessed Villager). Very useful to trade those guys into bigger minions and establish a 2/1 at the same time.
- Forbidden Ritual: always ditch this. You may have to play it as your 1-drop in aggressive matchups if you are left with no other choice.
- Power Overwhelming: As Wings_of_Flame points out here, keeping Power Overwhelming in combination with Flame Imp to deal with turn 2 Doomsayer can be a good idea if you strongly suspect that you're up against a control deck. You'll sometimes want to keep it against Druid or Shaman if you already have solid 1-drops to kill of their big minions/taunts.
- Acidic Swamp Ooze: Must-keep against Warrior and Shaman, also solid against Hunter (Eaglehorn Bow). I would only keep it with the Coin and 1-drops against the Hunter, though. You can keep it against non-weapon classes if you already have a good 1-drop and simply play it on turn 2. It is a better turn 2 play against non-weapon classes than your other 2-drops.
- 2-drops (Dark Peddler, Dire Wolf Alpha, Knife Juggler): Mostly ditch these. This contradicts what a lot of players do, especially with the Peddler. But these cards are better played from turn 3-4 onward, and the first turns are crucial for us to establish a board presence. Exceptions do exist.
- 3-drops: Usually ditched going first, but you'll typically keep one of them going second. We'll get to the details in the class-specific sections, but as a rule, Imp Gang Boss is better against aggro decks as it contests the board better. Darkshire Councilman is difficult to kill since he's got 5 HP, he'll often make the opponent use heavy removal. You can sometimes keep one of the 3-drops going first if you're up against a class that's not super aggressive.
- 4-drops and Doomguard: Run. Run and don't look back.
Matchup-specific Mulligan guide
Druid
Going first:
Flame Imp is king, as it can deal with some of their 2-drops, e.g. Beckoner of Evil in C'Thun Druid. You can keep Acidic Swamp Ooze with a 1-drop and play it on turn 2. (If you already have e.g. Flame Imp and the Ooze, you can keep a 3-drop as well.) Since Druid has the ability to ramp up to big minions very early, playing Possessed Villager over Argent Squire is recommended, given the choice. If you also have a Power Overwhelming, you'll be left with an additional 1/1 after the trade.
With the Coin:
Druid has several ways of dealing 4 damage, e.g. (Swipe and a charging Druid of the Claw). This means that Imp Gang Boss isn't ideal in this matchup. But Darkshire Councilman is very hard for them to kill in the first few turns, which makes it an excellent keep with the coin. Make sure that you don't play a lone Flame Imp if they open with Living Roots and summon 2 1/1s; playing a lone Voidwalker is generally your best option in this case.
General observations:
This is generally an even (token Druid) to slightly favourable (C'Thun Druid) matchup. Druids like to run big taunts, so look for Power Overwhelming a few turns in and remember to play it on a Possessed Villager, if possible. Also, check out this video of Lifecoach playing the against Druid with the present deck (except that he uses Crazed Alchemist instead of Acidic Swamp Ooze). I don't really understand why he keeps Imp Gang Boss, though.
Hunter
Going first:
Hunter's best 1-drop is a 2/1 in Fiery Bat. This makes Argent Squire, Voidwalker, and Possessed Villager all better turn 1 plays than Flame Imp. Don't ditch the Flame Imp, though; it's still a solid play. I wouldn't keep Acidic Swamp Ooze in this matchup since Eaglehorn Bow is a 3-mana play, so we couldn't play it earlier than turn 3 if they coin it on 2. Eaglehorn Bow is not as big of a deal as Fiery War Axe due to its extra cost.
With the Coin:
If they didn't play Fiery Bat on turn 1 you can play Flame Imp; if they did and you have another 1-drop, play that card instead. I might keep the Ooze if I already have a couple good 1-drops. Imp Gang Boss is very good to contest the board against Hunter.
General Observations:
Hunter is generally a good matchup for us. However, you'll have to learn to play around Unleash the Hounds, Explosive Trap, and Freezing Trap. Thus, Forbidden Ritual can be problematic and is rarely the star of this matchup. Be ready for Turn 6 Savannah Highmane and Turn 8 Call of the Wild. If you can answer those, the game is probably yours.
Mage
Going First:
Flame Imp is obviously ideal, as it can deal with Mana Wyrm as well as their 2-drops. 1-drop + Abusive Sergeant is good, too. If you already have a 1-drop I would keep Dark Peddler/Acidic Swamp Ooze in this matchup, since it can contest the Tempo Mage 2-drops (Cult Sorcerer and Sorcerer's Apprentice, as well as Mirror Image). Getting to pick a 1 mana card is still valuable, while playing a Dire Wolf Alpha/Knife Juggler on turn 2 just to trade it in isn't that great. But playing a Dire Wolf Alpha on turn 2/3/4 to buff your 1 attack minions so they can kill the aforementioned 2-drops and Mirror Image is sometimes advisable.
With the Coin:
Imp Gang Boss is annoying for Tempo Mages to deal with since they can't freely play their Arcane Missiles anymore. They play a bunch of 3/2 minions as well, so if trade on of those in and then ping Imp Gang Boss to finish it off, you'll still have 2 1/1s. on the board. Mages will usually have to Fireball (or 2 mana minion + Frostbolt) Darkshire Councilman, so playing him on turn 2 can be very strong since they have no immediate counter. Keeping Power Overwhelming in combination with Flame Imp in anticipation of a Freeze Mage turn 2 Doomsayer can be a good idea.
General Observations: Freeze Mage is a bad matchup for us, the key is to develop a threatening, yet somewhat resilient board (Blizzard, Flamestrike are huge threats). Tempo mage is fine though. Make sure to find out which one you're up against soon, and adjust accordingly.
Paladin
Going first:
Keep Power Overwhelming with your Flame Imp, since you might be up against a Control Paladin (Doomsayer).
With the Coin:
Darkshire Councilman can't easily be killed by Paladin, making it a definite keep with the Coin. Imp Gang Boss can get wrecked by turn 4 Truesilver Champion but it is otherwise solid, especially as a turn 2 play. I'd only ever keep the Ooze if I already had a perfect progression for the first 3 turns, something like Flame Imp/Darkshire Councilman/Imp Gang Boss. Then you can play it on turn 4 against their Truesilver Champion.
General Observations:
Paladin is usually a good matchup for Zoo. Turn 4 is usually when they look to remove threats, either with Truesilver Champion or Wild Pyromancer + Equality. Look out for Doomsayer and Aldor Peacekeeper, as well.
Priest
Going first:
Flame Imp reigns supreme as it contests Northshire Cleric and Museum Curator. Once again, pairing an Abusive Sergeant with another 1-drop works fine, also. So does playing the Ooze on turn 2 if you already have a 1-drop.
With the Coin:
Shadow Word: Pain is a big problem for our 3-drops, so I would usually not coin them out.
General Observations:
Stats suggest that this is a slightly favourable matchup for us, but the many removal options can pose us problems, especially if we can't deal with their Northshire Cleric early on. However, Priest is rarely seen on the higher ranks of the ladder anyway.
Rogue
Going first:
Most rogues pass on turn 1 and dagger turn 2, so you can try to build the board quickly. Beware of Coin SI:7 Agent on turn 2 though, a play that makes your 2-drops especially poor turn 2 options. You'd like to play Acidic Swamp Ooze against a Dagger buffed by Deadly Poison, but that's not something worth going for in the mulligan.
Going second:
Imp Gang Boss helps us contest the board and helps us against cards like Fan of Knives. Darkshire Councilman is great if the opponent doesn't have Shadow Strike (or the rare Assassinate) available.
General observations:
Miracle Rogue is a roughly even matchup. SI:7 Agent and Bloodmage Thalnos + Fan of Knives combos can be very annoying to deal with, so can the timely Shadow Strike that removes our big minions.
Shaman
Going first:
Tunnel Trogg is probably the biggest reason that Shaman has become such a good class. How fortunate that we have Flame Imp to take care of it! If we don't, pairing Abusive Sergeant with another 1-drop is fine, as always. Abusive Sergeant is key to dealing with Feral Spirit, also. I would always keep Acidic Swamp Ooze and mulligan quite aggressively for it. If you're up against Aggro Shaman and you get to play it after they drop Doomhammer, you've likely removed their win condition. Coin turn 1 Totem Golem is quite a threat. (I wonder if keeping a Dire Wolf Alpha with our Flame Imp to deal with it makes sense. It's probably too fancy.) I might be tempted to keep a Power Overwhelming if I already have a Flame Imp and another 1-drop to deal with their Flamewreathed Faceless.
Going Second:
Keep the Ooze, of course. I'd also keep Power Overwhelming with a 1-drop so we can deal with the 4 mana 7/7 as well as Totem Golem. I'm not positive, but I might keep the Abusive and throw my other cards away if it's my only 1-drop (not throwing the Ooze away though, obviously). Imp Gang Boss contests the board against Aggro Shaman. Darkshire Councilman can sometimes be an answer to the 4 mana 7/7, e.g. if you play it on 2, play some minions on 3 and then an Abusive Sergeant on 4.
General Considerations:
This is a key matchup to navigate. We should be alright against Aggro Shaman as we can usually control the board better, though Lightning Storm has been making its way into that deck. We should still be slightly favoured agains that version, though. The Midrange matchup is even better for us. Abusive Sergeant and Power Overwhelming are especially valuable against Shaman, notably Tunnel Trogg, Feral Spirit, Totem Golem, and Flamewreathed Faceless.
Warlock
Going first:
With Warlock we generally assume that we're facing another Zoo deck. Having a 1-drop has never been as important, so ditch everything else if you haven't got a tier 1 or tier 2 1-drop. I already mentioned that we'll play Forbidden Ritual on turn 1 if it's our only way of getting something on the board. It's ugly, but better than passing.
With the Coin:
Imp Gang Boss is really good against another Zoo deck, so keeping it with a few 1-drops is a good idea.
General observations:
We get the mirror matchup more often than not. Since other Zoo lists run a Sea Giant or two, we're probably at a slight disadvantage on average, assuming equal skill. This matchup is all about board control; don't worry about face damage until you're forced to stop tapping or the opponent is threatening lethal. Renolock is a good matchup for us, I've won this a bunch even after they got Reno Jackson out. You'll have to tap more than usual and make sure not to overcommit as they run a bunch of effective board clears. Also, check out this video of Lifecoach playing the mirror matchup with the present deck (except that he uses Crazed Alchemist instead of Acidic Swamp Ooze.)
Warrior
Going first:
Did I already mention that getting Acidic Swamp Ooze is crucial in this matchup? If we can use it early on to remove their Fiery War Axe, that can be a big tempo swing that leads us to the road to victory. Always keep the Ooze. Against Warrior, Possessed Villager is the 2nd best turn 1 play, since it dies to Blood To Ichor (unlike Argent Squire and Voidwalker).
With the Coin:
If we already have a good 1-drop, ditching the rest of our hand looking for the Ooze can be a good choice. Neither of our 3-drops is terribly easy to deal with for the Warrior, especially if you play them on turn 2.
General observations:
Dragon Warrior is the most common matchup and it is slightly unfavourable. This makes Voidwalker quite good as it can slow their Fiery War Axe or Alexstrasza's Champion down. I've even seen a few Warriors play FWA on turn 2 and not use it against e.g. a Possessed Villager, only for me to play the Ooze in response and get rid of both of their charges! I still wouldn't hold back my Flame Imp, hoping that they make a mistake like this though. The other card we really have to look out for is Ravaging Ghoul. We'd like to avoid having a bunch of 1 health minions on the board at the same time. Buffing them with Defender of Argus is of critical importance.
Pirate Warrior is the best Warrior matchup we can get. It is about even statistically, but in my experience, the Doomguard list is favoured quite a bit. Pirate Warrior starts hitting face very early on, so we win by controlling the board against them.
C'Thun Warrior is the other decent Warrior matchup we have, also about even. We tend to have good ways to deal with their smaller C'Thun Minions and threaten their face early on, but if we have to take care of Ancient Shieldbearer and Twin Emperor Vek'lor, we are usually in trouble. Control Warrior is not an easy matchup for us to win, but the hardest matchup is Worgen OTK. That deck has a lot of removal and is very hard to deal with for us. Fortunately, it looks like the hype is dialling down a bit.
That's it for now. I hope that you learned something if you made it this far! If you spotted any mistakes, you disagree with anything or you have suggestions on how to improve this guide, I'd love to hear about it. This includes recommendations on top Zoo streamers or written guides, I'm always looking to learn more.
I needed a budget zoo and this was great! Thanks so much, it works great atm with all these quest decks where you can go aggro and end it before they get OP.
Update for gadget? Too old for to be viable in the current mena
Does Jaraxxus have a spot in this deck?
I am a new player and kind of like zoo cuz of its ease and straight forwardness ( thankqu yogg), from my games i generally found that sometimes AOE clears really f me up and they start building board while i have 1/2 cards in hand and cant contest high cost minions. It is generally logical for the opponent to ignore a 2/2 minion on my side when he has a 5/5 taunt on his side. So i teched in Shadow Flame , PO + shadow flame won me many lost games because of all the aggro face based decks going around. AM I doing something wrong here or is it fine if it works?
I've been playing zoo deck since early on in hearthstone, Its by far my favorite deck to play, super easy, and super fast. I recommend it for new players due to its cheap cost and effectiveness in climbing the ladder. Zoo or die scratch that zoo and die lol
Is there anything I can replace Dark Peddler with?
weak deck. out tempo'd by just about everything
Hi, first of all, thanks for the list and the extensive guide explaining each and every aspect of Zoo. I just hit legend with this list.
I'd like to talk about my ladder recent ladder experience. In the recent meta (In the past week), I noticed zoo had fallen in popularity by quite a big margin. I'm guessing its mostly due to high popularity for dragon warriors and prevalence of patron warriors with with arcane giant OTK (I've only played against zoo twice through ranks 3 to 1). However, in the very recent meta (last two days or so), I've been facing tons of mid range hunters to counter warriors. I too was playing the patron warrior to climb ladder, and fell victim for just being out-pressured by their high damage (4 3/2 turn 2 minions), resilient on curve minions (Especially with the addition of 1/1 wolf) followed up by savannah highmanes and turn 8 call of the wild. Guess what, this deck performs AMAZING against that deck. Standalone one drops, coupled with abusive sergeants and dire wolf absolutely destroys turn 2 3/2 plays; with zoo, I managed over 60% win rate against hunters. If you're facing a lot of hunters, this is the deck to play, not to mention that zoo dominates board control vs other aggro decks.
Being a player favoring heavy control decks, I never played much zoo in the past. This guide helped me immensely on understanding the fundamentals of playing aggro.
Thank you again for such a wonderful guide. I'll be looking forward for more of your guides in the future.
P.S. I felt that keeping ooze against shamans would often limit my options until turn five (Sometimes they don't even have it lol), so I opt to Mulligan it away unless I have at least two one drops or an imp gang boss with coin in my starting hand. What do you think about this mulligan strategy?
Hi QNo1 and thank you for your great beginner-friendly guide.
I started to play HS for just a few weeks in 2015, paused for a year, but now i'm getting back to HS.
Most of the time i played Arena (25 runs with 3.8 wins on average), but now i want to learn zoo to climb the ladder as fast as possible (rank 5 is my goal).
i got a few questions about your guide/zoo:
1)
So you got any good sites to learn/check which decks are most played in the current meta to do so? as i said, i almost just played arena so far. tempostorm.com is the best that i found.
2)
It dont get the point, can you explain that better?
3) VS Hunter: why do you may keep the Acidic Swamp Ooze with the coin, but not if you go first? isnt it a good 2drop in both cases?
4) StrifeCro told in in a YT video, that in most cases the best play for zoo is to to coin on turn1 and play 2 1-drops (i guess only, if you dont have a 3-drop on your hand). do you agree? because you dont mention that in your "ideal zoo progression".
Thanks for your effort.
i'm nub at warlock... but this deck makes me look like a pro to my opponent. I just followed the build and guide tips and the opponent was busy reacting to me going face they didn't know what to do.
Only exception was when fighting against druid mostly with their annoying swipes :[
the other fight i played against priest who aoe me as well was manageable because i had board control when they decided to aoe, so i could spam drops on next turn to set back the situation back to me being in the control of the board quite significantly so, and he didn't have an aoe for that turn.
So i guess to work around aoe's is to have board control for starter, and enough backup cards to recover after the aoe and keep on the offensive and efficient trades to maintain control, or better just go face and make them waste a turn dealing with your minions.
anyway it helped me easily do me 2 win daily for warlock deck :]
reminds me of hunter smorc which i played last time to gold, only difference no secrets, hounds or 2 dmg hero power.
Btw how are you guys dealing with this pure new Priest deck? Priest of the Feast, Onyx Bishop, Barnes etc. I have literally no chance to kill it after like fifth round.
What do you think about Kara Kazham!? I've just tryed few games with it (rank 7) and it worked pretty fine - it is expensive, but once it hits the board, it's crazy :)
That's сorrect. I've switched back to Ritual after like 50 games. It didn't save me the board in many situations, but you can feel those extra minions missing on Juggler/Councilman.
What are your thoughts on Tinkmaster Overspark as a tech card? Both for tempo and to deal with pesky enemies like Sylvanas?
Nice deck list and guide climbed from 12-3 so far
This deck is OP. :P
I am new to playing Zoo but inspired by this guide I gave it a try. I started out at rank 16. After a few games I sort of got a feel for the deck and the different matchups and worked my way up to rank 9. Then things started to click and on a 13 games win streak I took it from level 9 to 5. I still make misstakes but it's a forgiving deck.
Thanks QNo1!