i'm a rank 4-5 player (just dropped to 5 from 4) and Im having trouble beating zoolock in general. I'm not a bad freeze mage player but my numbers are upside down for this matchup . Tempo storm has freeze mage favored 80% to 20% but recently i cant even remember beating zoo with freeze mage (despite having positive win rates against other unfavorable matchups like druid). I'm a golden priest player and struggle with control priest vs zoo as well. My most recent luck was with a control/combo burst damage priest deck vs zoo but i lost to them and that hurt my confidence. I also lost with patron warrior (another allegedly favored matchup) after having just advanced to rank 4 with patron (trying to get back to it). I'd appreciate any advice on beating zoolock, especially with freeze mage since it seems like this is the one i should be obviously winning and the others might just be more circumstantial.
The best way to beat zoolock is to use a deck that can fend off zoolock in the early game, then win the value game later. Dragon priest, secret paladin, and renolock all should be able to pull off some consistent wins
The best way to beat zoolock is to use a deck that can fend off zoolock in the early game, then win the value game later. Dragon priest, secret paladin, and renolock all should be able to pull off some consistent wins
I can't speak for dragon priest because they only list statistics for their top 2 tiers but as you can see here tempo storm has zoolock slightly favored over both secret paladin and renolock. Now I don't know how they get their statistics. It might be based on testing by professional players which isnt representative or only testing certain versions of the deck.
I'm willing to believe that the numbers aren't perfect because of the troubles ive already cited. However it might just be that I'm making mistakes playing against zoo because i do poorly against it with more than one type of deck (decks that are supposed to have a higher percentage win against zoo).
What ? Zoolock have very low health overall , it is one of most easiest match up for freeze mage .
Just clear his board and win . And freze mage have tremendous way to clear board . You dont even need draw alexstraza
their minions are sticky and they just refill their hand get your life dangerously low extremely fast which makes it hard for you to go on the offensive. im often stuck just trying to stay alive
If you elaborate on your tactics I think it's easier for the forum to help you. For exampel: "I have trouble against zoo cause I feel like I run out of board clear" or "I have to waste doom sayer on small boards".
My best tip is probably to take your time and dare to go a bit lower than you might want. Zoo generally have little or no heal so feel free to throw a random fireball to his face. Favor card draw over healing yourself. Since warlock will slowly kill himself (with tap) there is absolutley no need what so ever to Strasza him unless you need the 8-8 body for some reason. Save it for yourself to go from ice block-proc to 15 hp. Don't waste your aoe on insignificant boards. He has 5 imps and an imp gang boss and all you have is doomsayer frostnova? Play it chill. That is 7 damage per turn which poses no big threat (takes 3(!) turns to do 21 damage with that board, which is litteraly nothing). Make sure to not kill of Void Callers unless you have a way to deal with Mal'Ganis.
Good luck on ladder mate!
from what you described it sounds like i might be trying to remove their minions too much (they have a nearly endless supply. the problem is they have a habit of getting my life low so fast i havent necessarily drawn into my defense yet, and once you're low on health having a 2nd ice block only buys you 1 turn
I'm not an expert at Freeze Mage, but isn't ZooLock supposed to be one of the easier match-ups? If it causes you so much trouble, it might be because you make some misplays :/
if you read my original post that's the exact point of this thread
Don't forget that a nice little trick is to let them have 7 minions on board so they are effectively locked out of playing stronger minions. Sometimes it's best to ping a gang boss to fill their board. Once this happens it is sometimes better to just nova the board without doomsayer.
I actually just hit rank 4 with zoo and then switched to agro druid and beat zoo with it (40% matchup according to tempo storm), so i think im getting better with/against it although perhaps not with freeze mage. i actually deleted my freeze mage deck because you'll see 3-4 paladins in a row and then play freeze mage and draw shaman and lose. the zoo and agro druid i have much more consistent records with overall
well you could watch some VODs of pro gamers, in ATLC this was a numerous match up. despite the fact that most games were pre TgT, the standart lists and thus the overall gameplay hasnt changed that much and yes, zoolock (or midrange demon zoo lost almost always)
try to find the differences between the freeze mage's play and what would you have done/usually do
im definitely going to have to do this for my long term game. right now im down on freeze mage because i remade a deck (facing all paladins) and drew a golden tempo mage who beat me despite this being a favored matchup for me. im playing at rank 3 right now which ive never done before and it seems like my freeze mage skills are too weak at this rank. Next time i play freeze mage ill record it and watch it myself and upload it if my mistakes aren't super obvious. I still have a good chance to hit rank 2 this season and I'm probably going to take the path of least resistance, since learning freeze mage might take longer than that
I think Explosive Sheep is really bad against zoo since it can proc the nerubian egg . My advice would be try to hero power the Imp Gang Boss as much as possible to fill up his board so he cant put out big threat like Dr.Boom or most importantly Loatheb. After his board is full , just freezr it every turn , no need to play doomsayer to kill his board , take your time to draw while his board is frozen. Zoo have basically no way to dmg your hero if his board is frozen . Turn 10 Antonidas with Nova against a full board zoo is almost guaranteed to win you the game. Hope it helps
PS : Generally try to prevent killing low impact minion like nerubian egg , just ignore it and let him waste board slots. Preventing Loatheb from dropping into the board will be one of the main thing to consider against a zoo.
Thats why its best to fill his board up as quickly as possible , since a zoo power minion is usually Loatheb, Drboom , Sea Giant , Malganis , Doomguard ( but its unlikely since he will not waste his card ) , and most of them cant be played before turn 5 ( loatheb will always be saved to block fireball turn ) , you generally have plenty of time to fill it up . Also , killing haunted creeper with a scientist then pinging the scientist yourself is also a great way to speed up his board expansion. Also. Knife Juggler is a kill on sight target , it is one of the few way that zoo can break iceblock before turn 8, kill it asap to prevent turn 6 or 7 lethal with loatheb to block any aoe or iceblock.
freeze mage takes a good mulligan and patience to win any match up. i'm a rank 3 freeze mage and as we both know, control warrior is the worst match up for us but can still beat with good decision making and perfect draw. against zoo, i mulligan for a healbot and a frostnova to keep it under control early since our only early minions are mad scientist and loot hoarder depending on the version of freeze mage you play ( there are like 4 ive seen and all are efficient). once you sustain some type of control by turn 5 or 6 you should be fine with all the board clear we have. and dont be afraid to throw a doomsayer early if he cant be silenced or killed, even if he does die it almost acts like a taunt.
freeze mage takes a good mulligan and patience to win any match up. i'm a rank 3 freeze mage and as we both know, control warrior is the worst match up for us but can still beat with good decision making and perfect draw. against zoo, i mulligan for a healbot and a frostnova to keep it under control early since our only early minions are mad scientist and loot hoarder depending on the version of freeze mage you play ( there are like 4 ive seen and all are efficient). once you sustain some type of control by turn 5 or 6 you should be fine with all the board clear we have. and dont be afraid to throw a doomsayer early if he cant be silenced or killed, even if he does die it almost acts like a taunt.
part of my problem is that im going off of tempo storm mulligans which may not be ideal. i watched one game where thjis had a very good tempo doomsayer early on vs zoo. they dont suggest mulliganing for it against warlock (perhaps because they're more worried about the handlock variations) . they also dont suggest mulliganing for frost nova against any class
I think Explosive Sheep is really bad against zoo since it can proc the nerubian egg . My advice would be try to hero power the Imp Gang Boss as much as possible to fill up his board so he cant put out big threat like Dr.Boom or most importantly Loatheb. After his board is full , just freezr it every turn , no need to play doomsayer to kill his board , take your time to draw while his board is frozen. Zoo have basically no way to dmg your hero if his board is frozen . Turn 10 Antonidas with Nova against a full board zoo is almost guaranteed to win you the game. Hope it helps
PS : Generally try to prevent killing low impact minion like nerubian egg , just ignore it and let him waste board slots. Preventing Loatheb from dropping into the board will be one of the main thing to consider against a zoo.
I ve heard of fillling their board when they only have one open slot but ive never thought of it as a general strategy
It is more effective against secrets than zoo I have to admit it indeed. Pinging the gang boss to fill up his board with low impact creatures isn't a bad idea! But then how do you get rid of the big threats he drops on the board in the mean time? Wasting your burst to clean creatures individually isn't good either.
i just ran into your deck in that section and im going to try it out on casual at least . 80% + against paladin should be more than good enough assuming i can actually play it well enough
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i'm a rank 4-5 player (just dropped to 5 from 4) and Im having trouble beating zoolock in general. I'm not a bad freeze mage player but my numbers are upside down for this matchup . Tempo storm has freeze mage favored 80% to 20% but recently i cant even remember beating zoo with freeze mage (despite having positive win rates against other unfavorable matchups like druid). I'm a golden priest player and struggle with control priest vs zoo as well. My most recent luck was with a control/combo burst damage priest deck vs zoo but i lost to them and that hurt my confidence. I also lost with patron warrior (another allegedly favored matchup) after having just advanced to rank 4 with patron (trying to get back to it). I'd appreciate any advice on beating zoolock, especially with freeze mage since it seems like this is the one i should be obviously winning and the others might just be more circumstantial.
The best way to beat zoolock is to use a deck that can fend off zoolock in the early game, then win the value game later. Dragon priest, secret paladin, and renolock all should be able to pull off some consistent wins
What ? Zoolock have very low health overall , it is one of most easiest match up for freeze mage .
Just clear his board and win . And freze mage have tremendous way to clear board . You dont even need draw alexstraza
practice the matchup with a friend. Play both roles so you get a feel for what to expect on both sides.
If you're happy and you know it... well that's good :)
Don't forget that a nice little trick is to let them have 7 minions on board so they are effectively locked out of playing stronger minions. Sometimes it's best to ping a gang boss to fill their board. Once this happens it is sometimes better to just nova the board without doomsayer.
I actually just hit rank 4 with zoo and then switched to agro druid and beat zoo with it (40% matchup according to tempo storm), so i think im getting better with/against it although perhaps not with freeze mage. i actually deleted my freeze mage deck because you'll see 3-4 paladins in a row and then play freeze mage and draw shaman and lose. the zoo and agro druid i have much more consistent records with overall
Post a video of you playing against A zoo.
I like to make cards and discuss game balance.
I enjoy when "No similar decks were found."
My latest deck: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1366184-scholomance-charge-rez-priest-wild
you should absolutely crush zoo with freeze mage.
well you could watch some VODs of pro gamers, in ATLC this was a numerous match up. despite the fact that most games were pre TgT, the standart lists and thus the overall gameplay hasnt changed that much and yes, zoolock (or midrange demon zoo lost almost always)
try to find the differences between the freeze mage's play and what would you have done/usually do
im definitely going to have to do this for my long term game. right now im down on freeze mage because i remade a deck (facing all paladins) and drew a golden tempo mage who beat me despite this being a favored matchup for me. im playing at rank 3 right now which ive never done before and it seems like my freeze mage skills are too weak at this rank. Next time i play freeze mage ill record it and watch it myself and upload it if my mistakes aren't super obvious. I still have a good chance to hit rank 2 this season and I'm probably going to take the path of least resistance, since learning freeze mage might take longer than that
I think Explosive Sheep is really bad against zoo since it can proc the nerubian egg . My advice would be try to hero power the Imp Gang Boss as much as possible to fill up his board so he cant put out big threat like Dr.Boom or most importantly Loatheb. After his board is full , just freezr it every turn , no need to play doomsayer to kill his board , take your time to draw while his board is frozen. Zoo have basically no way to dmg your hero if his board is frozen . Turn 10 Antonidas with Nova against a full board zoo is almost guaranteed to win you the game. Hope it helps
PS : Generally try to prevent killing low impact minion like nerubian egg , just ignore it and let him waste board slots. Preventing Loatheb from dropping into the board will be one of the main thing to consider against a zoo.
Thats why its best to fill his board up as quickly as possible , since a zoo power minion is usually Loatheb, Drboom , Sea Giant , Malganis , Doomguard ( but its unlikely since he will not waste his card ) , and most of them cant be played before turn 5 ( loatheb will always be saved to block fireball turn ) , you generally have plenty of time to fill it up . Also , killing haunted creeper with a scientist then pinging the scientist yourself is also a great way to speed up his board expansion. Also. Knife Juggler is a kill on sight target , it is one of the few way that zoo can break iceblock before turn 8, kill it asap to prevent turn 6 or 7 lethal with loatheb to block any aoe or iceblock.
freeze mage takes a good mulligan and patience to win any match up. i'm a rank 3 freeze mage and as we both know, control warrior is the worst match up for us but can still beat with good decision making and perfect draw. against zoo, i mulligan for a healbot and a frostnova to keep it under control early since our only early minions are mad scientist and loot hoarder depending on the version of freeze mage you play ( there are like 4 ive seen and all are efficient). once you sustain some type of control by turn 5 or 6 you should be fine with all the board clear we have. and dont be afraid to throw a doomsayer early if he cant be silenced or killed, even if he does die it almost acts like a taunt.