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Taking a Deeper Look into Zoolock - One of Hearthstone's Oldest Archetypes

Many decks have enjoyed lasting success on ladder, but none have earned a perennial position on tier lists quite like Zoolock. From meta to meta, expansion to expansion, Zoolock maintains what seems like omnipresence in the company of more fleeting archetypes. A cheap set of core cards--Flame Imp, Darkshire Councilman, Bonemare--and an accessible strategy even makes it a highly recommended deck for beginners. But after developing an understanding of Zoolock’s combinatorics, experienced players often pilot some form of the deck to Legend.

This low skill floor and high skill ceiling has made Zoolock one of the most popular and consistent decks throughout Hearthstone history. Typically, deck archetypes develop slowly over time with the process beginning when one player starts experimenting with a set of synergistic cards. Thereafter another player emulates a similar build, dropping weaknesses, bolstering strengths, and tailoring the list to combat popular meta decks. In the context of Hearthstone, this is what Trump likes to call “science.” We can trace the creation of Zoolock, however, to just one player: Reynad.

In the earliest days of Hearthstone, back in 2014, Reynad decided to cram a number of low-cost aggressive cards inside the Warlock package, which can keep a stream of cards flowing into and back out of the hand with its Life Tap hero power. Reynad dubbed his creation “Zoo,” borrowing a term from Magic that describes a creature-heavy deck. Right there on his Twitch stream, Reynad created Zoolock--though in Korea, I’m sure to his delight, players simply call it “the Reynad deck.”

Basics Get Complicated

Zoolock decks are full of low-cost minions capable of trading efficiently on their own, like Flame Imp, or in tandem with buff effects--think Voidwalker on turn 1 and Dire Wolf Alpha on turn 2. The remainder of the deck usually consists of a mix of so-called “sticky” minions with high health or deathrattles (who else misses Nerubian Egg?), and Charge minions that create flexibility in the late-game (Doomguard, of course). Other mainstays include Soulfire and Mortal Coil, for cheap removal and card draw; Patches the Pirate, which reduces the number of cards in your deck by one and either snowballs a board or helps trade; and Darkshire Councilman, capable of both efficient trades and large amounts of face damage. The common theme here is efficiency: cards that do the most work relative to their mana cost see play.

The Warlock hero Power Life Tap makes Zoolock possible, allowing players to manage card draw at their own pace. This benefits players twofold: it removes the need for slow card draw engines like Acolyte of Pain, opening up deck-slots and minimizing the possibility for inopportune top-decks. An aggressive Paladin list, in contrast, often relies on a timely Divine Favor draw to stay competitive in the late-game. It’s not a coincidence, then, that many consider Life Tap the best of the hero powers, or that Zoolock has been the most consistently successful aggressive deck in Hearthstone.

Being overpowered starts with the Hero Power, and emotes.

Many conflate aggro decks and Zoolock, much to the chagrin of its maker. But with a steady flow of cards and an aggressive start, the strategy is instead to make efficient trades on board, play around area-of-effect cards, and steadily chip away at the opponent’s hero.

By the mid-to-late stages of the game, though, players will often have to choose a line of play: push for lethal damage, or continue snowballing their tempo into a slow, steady victory. This is where new players falter and experienced players flourish. Pushing for lethal appeals to anyone after five turns of methodical board dominance, and new players often choose that route, playing into a devastating Blizzard or Dragonfire Potion or Flamestrike. Another line, however, would be to make trades with smaller minions and develop a Doomguard onto the board, which counters the threat of most AoE. Card advantage complicates things further: if a Zoolock player, even with a huge board, hasn’t been able to use Life Tap consistently and finds themselves at a 5-to-1 card disadvantage, they aren’t going to win the value game for long, making the rush route more viable.

In a word, it’s complicated. In a few more: knowledge about popular opposing decks will inform a good Zoolock player’s minion placement (look out for Meteor!), trading decisions, and overarching strategy. And careful consideration of all these things to maximize odds will no doubt increase their win rate.

State of the Zoo: Newcomers, Mulligans, Matchups

Since the release of Knights of the Frozen Throne, many Zoo decks have eschewed two-drops like Golakka Crawler and Dire Wolf Alpha for a package structured around the powerful deck-buffing effect of Prince Keleseth. Played early, the prince’s effect can feel downright unfair: for instance, developing a 4/4 Southsea Captain and 3/3 Patches onto the board on turn three. If you are lucky enough to summon Prince Keleseth early, previously difficult matchups against Highlander Priest and Tempo Rogue become much more manageable, too. Otherwise, with Golakka Crawler unplayable in a Keleseth build, Zoolock has struggled to maintain board control against Tempo Rogue’s ragtag band of pirates. But the consensus so far seems to be that the upside of Keleseth outweighs this specific situational weakness.

Don't even let your opponent stand a chance, most of the time!

To my personal delight, the Warlock Death Knight Bloodreaver Gul'dan has found a home in many Zoolock builds, adding a formidable late-game dimension and win condition. Priest’s omnipresence on ladder has made this less of a tech card and more of a necessity. Its Old Gods-esque swing ability makes it the only top deck you want in the late game, whereas in the early stages of some games, you may not even care if it gets discarded. It’s an odd sort of flexibility, but it works.

Despicable Dreadlord and Bonemare are easy inclusions from the new set, too, with the former packing an AoE effect and the latter giving Zoo the flexibility to continue value trading, push lethal, or simply protect the their board. I was skeptical of Acherus Veteran at the start, but the one-drop has grown on me. It contests boards better than Abusive Sergeant, whose extra attack buff often proves unnecessary in the early game. Saronite Chain Gang rounds out the newbies. Buffed by Keleseth, these guys are a massive presence, and even without a buff, they protect smaller minions. Players who don’t own Prince Keleseth might opt for the Zoolock veteran Defender of Argus in their list instead.

I have been tinkering with Baize’s Zoolock list from the HCT Summer Championship, swapping a Bonemare for a Mortal Coil as I encountered more and more Tempo Rogues. Against both Rogue and Priest, it is often correct to mulligan a hand full of even one-drops to dig for Prince Keleseth, as his effect is what will help you contest the board against Rogues and rush down greedy Priests. Worst case scenario, you draw into your late game and/or Patches, but with 15+ one-drops in the deck, the odds of that are slim enough. Against every other deck, mulligan for your all-star early game: Flame Imp, Voidwalker, pirates to pull Patches, and of course, Prince Keleseth.

On the Up and Up (Usually)

Each expansion makes drastic changes to the metagame. At the same time, Zoolock often recedes into the background, as it did after the release of Blackrock Mountain. Like some sort of Warlock sorcery, it crept its way to the top of tier lists everywhere toward the end of Blackrock, and it seems ready for a repeat. As Reynad and Firebat have said, Zoolock only performs better as a meta settles. This is because Zoolock’s strengths are inherent, bolstered by a collection of minions that rarely get nerfed or banished to the Hall of Fame. The same cannot be said of many other decks, which often feed off of powerful new cards and synergies (looking at you, Highlander Priest). In the waning months of this meta, players can now expect ladder matchups with a mere handful of decks. Luckily for students of the game, they can leverage their understanding of these decks into a successful ladder climb with Zoolock, Hearthstone’s most resilient deck archetype.