A week before the new season, I decided to push to legend from rank 20. I made it all the way up to rank 1, 5 stars 3 times, but never got to my goal D:. I was playing zoolock the whole time, but I noticed it's a lot less consistent than before. I often lose against aggro Shamans, midrange Shamans, warriors, etc... I was wondering what I should change in order to reach legend faster this season
Another deck … a lot of Shaman are playing 4 AoEs now and the 3/3 1 mana weapon does the rest. Warrior was always a bad matchup and Hunter will win if they survive to turn 8.
Consider also that your deck list is outdated and has none of the Karazhan cards. The only thing keeping zoolock afloat is the ability to harness discard synergies to draw through you whole deck and steamroll opponents. Consider one of the newer lists and you may have better luck.
Shamans have more AoE (and a new one that gives board presence) and a nice weapon to control the board, the number of warriors is high, and zoo in unfavorable aggainst any kind of warrior. You are still strong aggainst tempo mage, druids, hunter. But the worst thing is that zoo has no comeback mechanism. It can survive one round of AoE, and maybe two, but then you go to the late game, and if you ever lose the board, it's really hard to come back, as your minions are weak and easy to beat. When your have the board, they being weak is what gives you strengh, as you can buff them and they are a little horde of small buffed minions. But without a board, they lose too much value, and things like wolf or abusive sargent sux. RIP nerubian egg, coolest zoo minion.. =/ In wild zoo is stronger, as your deathrattle minions will make it easier to hold the board.
It hasn't really become worse so much as other decks have become better. As others have said, the prevalence Shamans and Warriors on the ladder has hit Warlocks pretty hard. I don't really suggest switching to the discard package a lot of the new Zoo decks run because it really isn't all that great imo. When the discard works it works beautifully, but it's too inconsistent for a tier one spot.
Zoo is awesome in wild though so if you're committed to running it then I recommend doing it there. I'm 30 wins away from golden Warlock and I wasn't getting anywhere in standard, but yesterday I managed to winstreak from rank 21 to rank 5 in a few hours with Zoo in wild. Granted all the good players had already made rank 5 down through legend, but still.
Zoo lost its seat after Karazhan now we have discard lock but it is too inconsistent and rng dependent to play yesterday I had 5 cards in my hand 2 golem one fist of jaraxsus and one doomguard I used Darkshire Librarian and boom Doomguard is gone after a few turns I required Doom guard and finally lost the game.
Is sea giant worth having in the deck? I would have thought that it'd be to slow given the amount of removal and stall people seem to pack nowadays. Have you thought of maybe swapping that out for something faster? Maybe a Leeroy Jenkins to pair up with PO combo?
Otherwise maybe consider replacing Gormok. This looks like an old school deck from like a few seasons ago.
The deck is still fine, but it's not in a great space in the meta because Shaman (effective early game AOE, Spirit Claws) and Warrior (FWA, Goul) are the two top decks. If Druid starts coming around a lot more, then you're probably good to go.
Zoo is actually one of the most skill intense decks of Hearthstone. You need to know when to trade, when to face as well as how to interweave your hero powers with your other cards to ensure a good hand size with plenty of options, while having a good board presence and finally you need to know how to position your minions. I don't like it because it is very aggressive as a deck, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize the skill required to play it. On the other hand, we have Midrange Shaman a deck that requires very little skill, while also being very oppressive for a lot of classes to deal with be Tier 1 (now this is a noob deck imho). I would much rather have Zoo as Tier 1 then a deck that is mostly about filling up your curve.
Zoo is actually one of the most skill intense decks of Hearthstone. You need to know when to trade, when to face as well as how to interweave your hero powers with your other cards to ensure a good hand size with plenty of options, while having a good board presence and finally you need to know how to position your minions. I don't like it because it is very aggressive as a deck, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize the skill required to play it. On the other hand, we have Midrange Shaman a deck that requires very little skill, while also being very oppressive for a lot of classes to deal with be Tier 1 (now this is a noob deck imho). I would much rather have Zoo as Tier 1 then a deck that is mostly about filling up your curve.
A week before the new season, I decided to push to legend from rank 20. I made it all the way up to rank 1, 5 stars 3 times, but never got to my goal D:. I was playing zoolock the whole time, but I noticed it's a lot less consistent than before. I often lose against aggro Shamans, midrange Shamans, warriors, etc... I was wondering what I should change in order to reach legend faster this season
Deck List~
2x Forbidden Ritual
2x Power Overwhelming
2x Flame Imp
2x Possessed Villager
2x Voidwalker
2x Dark Peddler
2x Darkshire Councilman
2x Imp Gang Boss
2x Doomguard
2x Abusive Sergeant
1x Argent Squire
2x Dire Wolf Alpha
2x Knife Juggler
1x Dark Iron Dwarf
2x Defender Of Argus
1x Gormok The Impaler
1x Sea Giant
Because Shaman
Another deck … a lot of Shaman are playing 4 AoEs now and the 3/3 1 mana weapon does the rest. Warrior was always a bad matchup and Hunter will win if they survive to turn 8.
Consider also that your deck list is outdated and has none of the Karazhan cards. The only thing keeping zoolock afloat is the ability to harness discard synergies to draw through you whole deck and steamroll opponents. Consider one of the newer lists and you may have better luck.
"Speculation is foolish when the tools of certainty are available." —Cinna, Vedalken Consul
I've also been losing to dragon decks... like dragon priest and dragon paladin...
Shamans have more AoE (and a new one that gives board presence) and a nice weapon to control the board, the number of warriors is high, and zoo in unfavorable aggainst any kind of warrior. You are still strong aggainst tempo mage, druids, hunter. But the worst thing is that zoo has no comeback mechanism. It can survive one round of AoE, and maybe two, but then you go to the late game, and if you ever lose the board, it's really hard to come back, as your minions are weak and easy to beat. When your have the board, they being weak is what gives you strengh, as you can buff them and they are a little horde of small buffed minions. But without a board, they lose too much value, and things like wolf or abusive sargent sux. RIP nerubian egg, coolest zoo minion.. =/ In wild zoo is stronger, as your deathrattle minions will make it easier to hold the board.
Yeah, a toast!
Look at sjow, zoolock end of this season and was rank 1-3 on both EU and NA.
-let´s negotiate: you concede and I let you live...
It hasn't really become worse so much as other decks have become better. As others have said, the prevalence Shamans and Warriors on the ladder has hit Warlocks pretty hard. I don't really suggest switching to the discard package a lot of the new Zoo decks run because it really isn't all that great imo. When the discard works it works beautifully, but it's too inconsistent for a tier one spot.
Zoo is awesome in wild though so if you're committed to running it then I recommend doing it there. I'm 30 wins away from golden Warlock and I wasn't getting anywhere in standard, but yesterday I managed to winstreak from rank 21 to rank 5 in a few hours with Zoo in wild. Granted all the good players had already made rank 5 down through legend, but still.
You pretty much answered your question. Shaman beats Zoo; everyone plays Shaman.
Zoo lost its seat after Karazhan now we have discard lock but it is too inconsistent and rng dependent to play yesterday I had 5 cards in my hand 2 golem one fist of jaraxsus and one doomguard I used Darkshire Librarian and boom Doomguard is gone after a few turns I required Doom guard and finally lost the game.
It's almost like you're playing against decks with a lot of small damage board clears.
I agree... wild has more potential to switch or play... Think of Nerubian Egg, Void Terror, Loatheb, Imp-losion...
Is sea giant worth having in the deck? I would have thought that it'd be to slow given the amount of removal and stall people seem to pack nowadays. Have you thought of maybe swapping that out for something faster? Maybe a Leeroy Jenkins to pair up with PO combo?
Otherwise maybe consider replacing Gormok. This looks like an old school deck from like a few seasons ago.
Member of Fever Clan | Battle tag: sparkis#1748 | Discord: sparkis#5613
You'll have to consider the following...
Sea Giant is worth but not in the Discard-scheme...
The last version of zoo is still good imo, it's consistent...maybe -1 Forbidden Ritual +1 Dark Iron Dwarf
1-2x Sea Giant, Gormok, Leeroy maybe +1 Doomguard
The deck is still fine, but it's not in a great space in the meta because Shaman (effective early game AOE, Spirit Claws) and Warrior (FWA, Goul) are the two top decks. If Druid starts coming around a lot more, then you're probably good to go.
Zoo should never be Tier 1 IMO, only an ok noob deck.
Maelstrom Portal
Spirit Claws
Zoo is actually one of the most skill intense decks of Hearthstone. You need to know when to trade, when to face as well as how to interweave your hero powers with your other cards to ensure a good hand size with plenty of options, while having a good board presence and finally you need to know how to position your minions. I don't like it because it is very aggressive as a deck, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize the skill required to play it. On the other hand, we have Midrange Shaman a deck that requires very little skill, while also being very oppressive for a lot of classes to deal with be Tier 1 (now this is a noob deck imho). I would much rather have Zoo as Tier 1 then a deck that is mostly about filling up your curve.
The Shaman matchup just isn't that good I believe.
Achieved Gold Priest- April 2017