Hearthpwn

[Legend #2] - Discardlock Guide
"Your soul shall suffer!"

My name is Zananananan (https://twitter.com/Zanananan), a competitive player for SFD-Gaming (http://www.sfd-gaming.com/). You can also follow me on Twitch for High Level Gameplay (https://www.twitch.tv/zanananan), I'll start streaming soon. I just made Twitter a few hours ago, I'll also be more active there in the future.

I offer coachings for 20,00 €/hour. If you are interested, please leave me a message on Hearthpwn.

Table of Content:

1. Intro
2. Proof
3. General Strategy
4. Placement
5. General Mulligan
6. Class Specific Mulligan + Tips
7. Questions

 

1. Intro

Hey Hearthpwn,

I'm Florian 'Zananananan' M. and I'm a German Hearthstone player. I've been playing Hearthstone for almost 2 years now. During my early days I was a huge fan of Zoo. I've been playing tons of Zoo on ladder and in tournaments and it's been doing very well for me. This deck is probably easy to learn but I believe that it is one of the hardest decks to play perfectly in the game. 

I can already see the comments "Ohh just a boring Zoo, nothing new". I was the guy who built a similar deck to this immediately after Malchezaar's Imp came out, I hit Legend on the second day of the season with it. This is just an updated version adapted to the current meta.

 

2. Proof

 

 

3. General Strategy

 

Classic Zoolock is a strategy that revolves around taking the board early, using minions and buffs to trade favorably with higher-value minions. It also relies on high-impact/swing turns (such as a free Silverware Golem or extra card draw from Malchezaar's Imp).

The key is to realize when you have to go all in and when you can afford to play around AOE.

 

4. Placement

 

Most of the time it doesn't matter, but it can still win or lose you some games. You always want to maximize the efficiency of Dire Wolf Alpha.

• In general you want big minions, minions with deathrattle or taunt on the side and small minions in the middle. 
• Knife Juggler has to be on the side (Taunt or deathrattle doesn't matter). You don't want to trade with him. 
• Imp Gang Boss on the left. The Imp's will spawn in the middle.

 

5. General Mulligan

 

Flame Imp > Voidwalker, Possessed Villager, Malchezaar's Imp > Abusive Sergeant 

If you don't have the coin and you don't have a 1 drop throw everything away. Dark Peddler is probably the most overkept card. I usually don't like keeping it, only keep it if you already have a good hand. Keep Dire Wolf Alpha if you have the coin and 2 1 drops.

If you have Malchezaar's Imp, Darkshire Librarian and Silverware Golem you can consider keeping everything. You have a 33% Chance to discard the Silverware Golem on turn 2.

 

6. Class Specific Mulligan + Tips

 

 

7. Questions

 

Why aren't you running other discard cards like Succubus or Tiny Knight of Evil?

I wanted to make the deck as consistent as possible.

No Power Overwhelming?

I don't think you need it. Soulfire is good enough. 

Is Abusive Sergeant good enough after the nerf?

Yes, you can still trade favorable with it. But you shouldn't play him for tempo anymore.

(Why Demonfire?)

The idea of came from Thijs, he played it on BlizzCon. Demonfire is just a great card when you are behind on board. You can kill something like a Sorcerer's Apprentice behind Mirror Image. It's also insane if you can buff a Malchezaar's Imp or Imp Gang Boss with it. 

I went back to my old version which I released immediately after Karazhan came out with 2x Dire Wolf Alpha. It has been performing just a little bit better for me. But Demonfire is still a playable.