ZOO!
Primer 4.0
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=9879589&postcount=652"]Don't Feed the Animals[/URL]...
Last Update:1/1/14
I. Forward:
Zoo Primer hasn't been updated since it fell out of favor. The old thread can be [URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=354866"]found here.[/URL] This was because zoo had a sort of "Death" after Wild Nacatl got banned. To make matters worse, Green Sun Zenith was also banned, our tool box spell. Zoo stopped being a tier 1 deck, replaced either by speed (Affinity) or bigger (Bant) or midrange (Jund) In many ways Zoo became Boros. However Zoo after jund had it's Bbloodbraid elf banned, we ended up getting that space between aggro and midrange back again! This is the evolution of Zoo.
II.Ideals of the Deck:
Traditionally, Zoo is a hyper-aggressive build that abuses the potential of undercosted, self-buffing weenies alongside burn and utility. Naya Zoo (the core of a Zoo build) is among the fastest aggro archetypes in the Modern format, and it almost certainly has the biggest toolbox. One of the key components to Zoo's success is the general lack of a single, game-breaking card to draw hate, but rather a team of incredibly efficient creatures that maintain board advantage with fast pressure that is able to maintain that into the midgame.
After all, Zoo got its names for the little furry critters that created it. Though the deck has changed since its birth (Bye-bye Savannah Lions. Hello Loam Lion!) it's still retained the distinction of caring about its critters. This is the key difference between all other aggro decks and burn decks.
With Zoo, efficiency is the name of the game.
III. History of Zoo:
Zoo has gone through a million transformations, in all formats of magic, and will go through a million more. This has to do with the range of options provided by its coloring. But the idea of zoo has remained the same throughout its entire run of magic: Efficient creatures that we care about, backed with powerful burn and good manafixing. In many ways, zoo is the evolution of the [URL="http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Sligh"]Sligh[/URL] styled decks of yesteryear.
In the Ravnica- Champions of Kamigawa block Standard*, this is where zoo really starts from. Taking on Slighs role of having a good mana curve, it became a huge deck of the time. It difined itself as different from Red Deck Win's archtype as it put alot more faith in it's critters and used burn to clear the way for them. While it was known as a sligh deck for a while, it was joked that because of all the animal's featured in it, (Savannah Lion, Isamaru, Hound of Konda, Kird Ape, and Watch Wolf as opposed to magical creatures like goblins.) it should be called a Zoo. Thus the name stuck.
Later it would emerge as an extended deck after Shards of Alara block came out**. It was called [URL="http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Domain"]Domain[/URL] Zoo during this time since it dealt with a keyword of the same name. Tribal Flames and Might of alara, 2 cards still used in modern's version of this deck, Gave zoo an explosive burn and reach. It also gained cards like Tarmogoyf, Wild Nactal and Knight of the Reliquary, which remained main stay zoo cards for the power vs mana cost ratio.
Finally when Legacy became a popular format, Zoo really found a niche as one of the best aggro decks. With bodies strong than their casting cost (2/3 and 3/3 for 1, 4/5 for 2, ect) Zoo found itself being an aggro deck with a very fast clock, while having a bodies that survived most hate. Backed with the best burn in the game, Lightning Bolt it remains one of the decks to watch in legacy.
And this is where our Modern version of zoo comes from. Its undergone some distinctive changes over time, but the core of: "Efficient creatures that we care about, backed with powerful burn and good manafixing" sticks. Modern Zoo started as actually a ton of different zoos. Some took the approach of just taking the legacy deck, and replacing burn and lands, some opted to go 20/20/20 with lands creatures and burn, and others took Domain Zoo.
American team Channel Fireball, under Brian Kiblar, took a zoo they dubbed Counter Cat.*4 It featured Zoo's normal aggression, but toned down the amount of burn in favor for main decking Bant Charm and having a full set of Unified will in the sideboard, which gave them access to basicly 8 sets of counter. This ended up being incredibly successful because Zoo out paced all the current midrange decks, was bulkier than the current aggro decks, and lastly didn't need the reach because the control decks were virtually nonexistent. This left it an easy victory against combo decks, which were the main kings of modern then.
This being Modern's early years, however, meant they earned the limelight, and thus bannings. Wild Nactal was ousted under the reasoning it was too strong of a body for other aggro decks to exist (Ironically mirroring the ban of Kird Ape in extended years before for the same reason) and Green Sun Zenth, a card with the dual purpose of mana ramping, as well as tutoring threats and answers. This crippled Zoo, even to this day.
Zoo would reemerge to prove itself as an ever tweekable deck under the guise of the short lived Thalia Zoo*5 before Jund became the new king of the hill. During, what could only be called the Summer of Jund 2012, Zoo could not handle the Green(rb) machine's 1 for 1 removal followed by finks and big blockers. It became very explosive, and less stable, to combat this, creating Boom Bust Zoo, and Domain Zoo.*6
This changed when the set Gatecrash was released, giving modern a semi Nactal replacement in the form of Experiment One. While other versions of the deck still exist, Gruul Zoo*7 is currently the most popular.
IV. Deck Building:
Zoo historically has been 20 lands 20 creatures, 20 removal/burn spells. This has been for constancy. Modern differs a bit from legacy. Since we lack Chain lightning, and other lower cost burn spells, we focus more on our creatures. We prefer creature utility over spell utility, that way we can provide a constant pressure, and put the enemy backing on its heels.
Use the following to evaluate if this creature/burn/land is good enough for Zoo!
Judging what makes a good land:
A "great land" has these qualities:
Comes into play untapped
Creates color/s you need
Gives an effect that furthers your game plan or adds pressure.
Judging what makes a good creature:
A "great creature" has these qualities:
Has a power and toughness greater than its CMC (EX. G = 2/3 or 1G =3/4)
Has a power and toughness equal to it's CMC, with a relivent "hate" ablity (Ex: 1W 2/1 Firststike, Noncreature spells cost 1 more to cast)
Judging what makes a good burn spell:
Always compare to Lightning Bolt.
2-3 damage for ever mana. Bolt is 3 damange for R. Searing Blaze2 for 6.
It must do damage, and also further your game plan. Magma Jet Deals 2 damage (R), and scry 2 (1)
Thats 9 lands, leaving you with 11-13 more slots. Next are the added fetches. These help mana fixing, deck thinning, and turning on Goyf, Kird Ape, Steppe Lynx, Loam Lion, and Knight of the Reliquary. There should be 8-12 fetches total. Add 4-8 more fetches to the above, colors depending on what youd rather see (usual red and white, then green). Heavier on the fetches if your running Steppe Lynx or Knight of the Reliquarys.
That leaves you with 3-9 slots left, depending on your fetch amount, you should fill it with any of these. Note, one ofs can be fetched with Knight!
Horizon Canopy- great 1of/2of. Hurts you, but never more then 3 life before you pop it. Draws you a card, feeds knights. Dryad Arbor creature and land, less used now GSZ is out Ghost Quarter Loses you tempo, but can knock Tron down a bit. Flagstones of TrokairGreat with Boom//Bust Sac it, get a fetch land. Slayer's StrongholdGive your guys haste, vigilance, and a buff! Top decking never seemed so good! And knight can tap and attack now. Treetop Village Man land, great to dodge removal. Kessig Wolf Run Trample and buff. Needs mana, try in bigger zoo. Raging Ravine Mana land but costly. Again midrange/bigger zoo might pull it off. Stirring Wildwood 3/4 with reach. It costs more than treetop, but it blocks spirit tokens! Bojuka Bog Great as a 1 of with Knight. Hurts all graveyard based strategies. Forest As a rule I always one 1 basic to fetch, but if you dont mind pain from shocks (meta with no aggro) this is fine not to have. Mountain See above Plain See above
Adding more colors! Sure, why not? Blue Zoo, Dark Zoo, and Domain Zoo, uses 4 or 5 colors. But be prepared, we simply do not have all 10 fetch lands, so perfect mana fixing is not going to happen. Not to mention the sheer number of shocks will add up in the hurt department later! Still the benifits of being more colors, can pay off. Look at Tribal Flames.
Common Questions About Landbase!
What colors should I be fetching for?
What ever colors heaviest in your hand, or is your first 2-3 turn plays. If that doesn't really matter, go for red or white first, then green.
How often should I fetch for shocks?
Probably the first 2 turns. After that grab basics of what you need if you need spells then and there, if not have the fetches come in untapped. If your against some fast aggro such as rdw or Affinity, go for basics when you need to bolt or what not, then tapped shocks when you can afford it. The damage will add up in those cases.
More to come as people post on this thread!
The Critters
Note, there is different Zoo builds using different cores. To see those cores, go to Variations and Builds section.
The generally excepted core of Zoo Citters is:
Note on above creatures:
These have shown to be extremely reliable and good for Zoo.
Tarmogoyf is an efficient beater, that takes up almost no mana. End of story.
Kird and Loam are diffidently not Wild Nactal, but they come close enough.
Grim eats other aggro more then any other card. It can simply wreck Jund, Boros, RDW, and Affinity. Don't get me started on fae.
The numbers of above can be switched up, but usually you want these, as they are the key to a good zoo build.
Vexing Devil 4 damage for bolt is good. Experiment One Usually a 1 mana 2/2. Sometimes 1 mana 3/3 or 4/4. If so, congrats, now you can regen him! Noble Hierarch Mana excel and exalted. Deathrite Shaman Birds of paradise, grim lavamacer,Ghost-Lit Redeemer, and Withered Wretch. 4 cards in one. Its only in half our colors, but if you dip into black, he should be the main reason for doing so. Figure of Destany Mana dump and gets bigger Goblin Guide early damage, usually gets in for 6 or more. Plated Geopede Landfall killer, first strike too. Snapcaster MageYou need a lot of burn, and hes bad with thalia, but in blue zoo he is very very good. Burning-Tree Emissary- Allows for explosive turns, getting a creature and landing more or burn. Keldon Marauders Early damage, with many more? Qasali Pridemage- Kills artifacts/enchantments, and exalted. Giest of St. Traft if your playing blue, this would be the beater over knight, as its just harder too kill. Knight of the Reliquary 3 mana beater of choice. Tied with Loxodon Smiter Loxodon Smiter if your meta has a lot of jund/tempo/control/grave yard hate. Heres your knight replacement. 4/4 stable body with the cant be countered or discared upside. Bloodbraid Elf 3/2 hasty, that can hit Boom//Bust, burn, or creatures!BAN HAMMER Ranger of Eos Wipe recovery with a body. Thrun, the last TrollIf your facing a lot of control, hes a great beater.
Common Questions About Citters!
Why isn't (insert creature here) on this list?
Chances are it just isn't good enough, or theirs better versions of it. A good example is Kavu Predator with Grove of Burnwillows this dude can be awesome! But generally... Goyf is a better top deck, requires less work, and less life gain, thus Goyf is the go to creature.
Why isnt (insert creature with good effect here) in this list?
Check the sideboard section. A lot of those creatures are too situational to main deck. You might be able to do it to meta game it... But then see meta gaming section!
Why are we so creature heavy?
One word, Thalia. She is literally the thing bringing Zoo back to its feet. By being more creature heavy we avoid her downside for us.
The Burn
Burn is pretty simple, as there is really only 2 spells that are really good enough on it's own, and they are key to any modern zoo:
I'd also highly recommend some amount of boros charm. Its at worst, 4 to the dome, but can also save your dudes from removal, or double strike as a sorta combat trick removal.
If your feeling like you need a tad more burn, try these out: Tribal Flames- this is awesome. 5 damage for 2 mana is nothing to sneeze at! Tarfire Feeds goyf (tribal), and is 2 damage for 1 Seal of Fire Feeds goyf, allows you to invest mana right away, and hold it out of hand. Magma Jet Scry is helpful to set up draws. Lava Spike Another bolt, but only to the face. Searing Blaze Removes creatures, and still gets to the face. Pillar of flame gets rid of fink and other recuring creatures. Forked Bolt/Arc Trail little things in your way? Split the damage up and kill lots of things.
Common question about burn
Why is Lightning Helix good?
Its good because it can make a life difference of 6. That's relevant in aggro matchups. Also, note it can heal you back up after a fetch to shock.
The Others
This is everything that isn't covered in the above. That means enchantments, planewalkers, removal, ect, ect.
When it comes to other removal then burn, Path to Exile is the way to go. Other choices are:
Planeswalkers: Elspeth, Knight-Errant Probably the best we can use. Gives our creatures evasion, and a buff, recovers a wipe and a threat on to itself.
Ajani Vengeant Gives your deck a bit of board control. It great against aggro, and can keep big threats down.
Others: Rancor for all inteseive purposes, this is repeatable burn, dependent on creatures. Much better in smaller zoo.
Might of Alara- super giant growth. got to love it with boros charm or rancor!
Boom//Bust is a great card to give tempo. Most of the time it reads 1R destroy target land. You can achieve this by destroying your fetch, and cracking it in response, or destroying a Flagstones of Trokair and getting a dual out of it. Not to mention you can Bloodbraid Elf into it and choice bust.
Tweeking to your Meta
Tweeking to your meta can set you up for wins that you shouldn't earn, or just throw an overwhelming advantage. This can be changing your main deck to be more controlling or fast, or even by mixing in your sideboard to your main deck. See below for ways to improve your Main Deck and sideboard.
Knowing the Enemy, What is the Meta?
Not all archetyes are shown, but most competitive/popular are, AKA what you're likely to face often.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=429800"]Restoration Control[/URL] Uses restoration angel and control etb effects to control the game, along with counters and removal.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=686"] Delver[/URL]- Tempo deck. Usually plays enough burn and disruption to keep people off their games as they take over the board state with value creatures.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=390899"]Tron[/URL]- Ramp deck. Plays the urza lands to speed up a mindslaver combo, karn, wurmcoil, or an eldrazi into play.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347941"]Pod[/URL]- Combo deck. With birthing pod and persist dudes, for recurring threats, and enter the battlefield effects. Add in Melria, and you have a never ending army.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=354849"]Affinty[/URL]- Aggro deck. Spews out their hand turn 1-3 for an army of
metal dudes. All in fast aggro gameplan.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=348011"]Jund[/URL]- Midrange deck. A deck full of removal and a couple major threats, they hit you with discard, then removal, and swing for the win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=358672"]Storm[/URL]- Combo deck. Using the mechanic storm, they generate enough draw/ ramp power to kill you with one huge spell.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=381780"]Cawblade[/URL]- Tempo deck. Just like the Standard version, this deck aims to stall you out, out tempo you, and hit you from the skies with some birds with swords.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=350356"] R(X)DW[/URL]Aggro deck. Many flavors (Boros, Rakdos, straight red) they all do one thing in common, hit you hard, hit you fast, burn you down.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347857"]Splinter Twin[/URL] Combo deck. Attach twin to Deceiver Exarch, make a million, win the game. [URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=425578"]Restoration Control[/URL] Control deck. You like counters? You like snap casting them back? You like blinking snapcaster, to make more counters? This is the deck.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=378681"]W/X Lifegain Aggro[/URL]- Aggro. Gain lots of life, while swinging in with white weenies
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=384892"]W/X Tokens[/URL]- Midrange. Make lots of tokens, and over run the enemy.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=379200"]Fae[/URL] Tempo. Counter everything, then attack with flash fliers.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=381780"]U/X Control[/URL] Control. Counter or kill everything. Land a threat in, protect it and swing.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=336081"]Death and Taxes[/URL] Tempo. Disrupt opponent's manabase, and over run with white weenies.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=392059"]Living End[/URL] Combo. Cycle lands and creatures. Bring them back violently to kill opponents field and them.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=391039"]Bant[/URL] Tempo. Control their midgame, put out your threat, protect it with counters.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=414066"]Zoo[/URL] Aggro deck. Get mountains, forests, and plains into play. Bring out your animals, over run. Burn whatever left.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=465409"]Rock (W/G/B removal)[/URL] Midrange. Remove everything they own and swing with a threat.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=401011"]Aggro Loam[/URL] Combo. Recycle your lands to kill theirs, or do direct damage to them.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=418264" Infect[/URL]Aggro. Infect their face as early as possible with pump spells.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347711"]Elves[/URL]- Aggro. Ton of elves, all want to eat your face.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=491720"]BUG Tempo[/URL] Tempo. Off set you, land a bomb, win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=397477"]Merfolk[/URL] Tempo. Keep you off balanced and win with a crap ton of lords.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=482743"]G/W aggro[/URL] Aggro. Lots of hate bears.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=456189"]Gifts[/URL] Control. Control the board, use gifts, drop a bomb win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=474558"]Draw go.[/URL] Control. Draw, go, control, Win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=491407"]Elemental Combo[/URL] Aggro combo Kiln fiend and Nivmagus, million spells, win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=370860"]Eggs-[/URL] Combo. Crack eggs a million times, Burn egg you to death.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=474493"]GW Auras[/URL] Aggro combo. Put auras on hex proof dudes and kill you.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=398693"]Dredge Vine[/URL] Midrange Combo. Mills it's self into vengevines to run over you.
Below I'll talk about about how to A. recognize what they're playing, B. what their game plan is, and C. how to play against it.
Not in your favor at all Totally in your favor
Delver-Tempo Deck:rate5:This deck wants to unbalance you race you and kill you with their weenies. A. You'll recognize it by it's early plays. It's going to either put a weenie out, catnip, or leave open mana for counters. B. It's going to try and counter your big threats and key plays, and bounce your attackers.C. Burn their threats. if any of your creatures stick, you'll win. the board, and keep their crap down. That should be enough. Side in more burn, but if you don't have it don't worry, this matchup is Strongly in your favor. Your creatures are bigger, and your proactive.
Bug temp- Tempo-:rate4: A. The use the same G/B shell that jund and junk does. Confidants/ lilies B. They are going to knock you off balance and sneak in a tarmogoyf to win with. C. They are going to side removal in. Pack some anti removal hate.
Merfolk- Tempo-:rate5: A.They play fish. end of story. B. Removal protection is what they will side in. C. Just aggro over them they are weak to your constant burn/ bigger creatures.
Eggs- Combo-:rate1: A.Eggs... lots of little artifacts B. They will go faster next turn. C. This is a horrible matchup. Early thalia, exile grave effects, or artifact hate (basicly stony silence) might help you turn the tide.
DredgeVine- Midrange Combo-:rate3.5: A.Milling themselves B. Were favored because most of their stuff can't block. Sometimes they get god hands, and will try to combo off faster because you cant interact. C. Race. they cant block, so you can swing unheeded.
Gifts- Control Deck-:rate3.5: A. They will try to counter and burn everything B. Side in lifegain and removal C. Out pace the, constant pressure will set them on their heels and not let them combo off with their bomb. Just get in their for damage. Keep a boros charm mana open.
American Control- Control Deck-:rate3.5: A. Same deal with above, cept more burn, lifegain main deck. B. Same stuff C. same deal above.
Elemental Combo- Combo aggro-:rate2.0: A.Early elemental, lots of phyrexian mana B. side in removal and burn protection C. Tough cookie. they take alot of damage from their own spells. so you might be able to out race them, But if they combo, your dead. You can try burn, but generally past the first turn they can protect their combo peice.
Restoration Control- Control Deck-:rate3.5: Its going to try to be like old control, just with more creatures. Expect everything to be done on your turn. A. they are going to be using a lot of enter the battle field triggered creatures. they are going to try to control by countering and removal. B. They will do things dependent on what your doing. Over all they are hoping to grind you out of gas then take over with manlands or a finisher. C. they will side in removal and wraiths over their counters. thats not what you got to worry about. Instead focus on them abusing their finks, and reseting it. Watch out for giest of saint traft, as hes pretty much unkillable to us. My suggestion, power through, but hold back one finisher. If you are going to over extend, at least hold on to a bloodbraid elf to reset the board if you have too, or a boros charm to null a wraith
Super Friends Control-:rate3.5: The deck wants to stall you then kill you with planeswalkers. A.This screams control from their lands they play, the stalling with walls or blockers, removal up the butt, and disruptive plays. B. They want to stall you however possible, because the longer the game goes, the more the favor grows for them. C. Unlike resto control, you have to throw away the idea you can play gorilla tatics. This deck stalls in the same way as resto but has a more powerful late game than a mid power middle game. Don't let it go longer than 6 turns. If you can keep in mind sweepers (Boros charm it!) and hold back a bloodbraid elf to reset if it happens.
Tron- Combo/Ramp Deck-:rate1.5: The deck wants to put out Urza lands, then drop an eldrazi on you. Cue world ending. Its going to be either U/R U/W or R/G R/G has and burn to keep you down and better ramp to speed the game up, W/U has counters and bounce to slow the game down.. U/R has a mash up. A. You'll right away with Urza lands, or ramp. B. They don't really care what you do. To them their total is just a buffer, you can get it down to 3 and they will swing the game with one eldrazi. C. To put it simply, this is a baaaaddd matchup. Combo always is. You can make it better with Thalias or Boom//Bust main decked, but that can only buy you a turn or 2. Race as fast as you can game 1, It's really your only shot. Game 2 you wanna bring in your land hate, either more land destruction, or Moon effects, is the best here. Watch out for Wurmcoils, which come in for you.
Pod- Combo/Aggro-:rate3: They want to sac creatures with Persist to pod to work up the chain. With out, nothing dies.A. Pod, enter the battlefield effects, pod, tons of persist creatures.B. They are going to put Kitchin Finks and walls against you and make their creatures unkillable.C. Your going to need to burn away their early game and combo peices. Path the finks, they will kill you. Side in artifact hate (pridemages, ancient grudges) to take out their key engine. Other than that, you need to push through damage early game. After all they can chump to kingdom come. Side in too. That can shut them down.
Affinty- Fast-Aggro Deck-:rate4.5: The deck uses artifact's affinity/metal craft to spew out weenies.A. Artifact lands, and them tossing their hands on the table.B. They are going to race you. Thats it, plan and . They are an all in deck. If somehow they get to 4 mana, they could tezz you. If they can get to 3 they may you. Both are less likely. C. Burn is your friend here. In alot of cases, leaving burn mana up turns 1-4 is the correct move. Remember, your dudes are worth 10 of theirs. They out of gas, you don't. Make it to midgame, and its yours. Side in artifact creature hate or burn.
Jund- Midrange/Aggro:rate2:- Jund is a midrange deck focusing on good removal, and threats.A. G/R/B lands, mostly filter lands or fast lands, an early removal and burn, and turn 1/2 discard.B. They are going to try to out value you creature wise. They got "actual" removal as well as burn, and their creatures are generally bigger than yours. C. One word: "Grim-freakin-lavamancer. Dude is amazing in this match up. It really is a very "Who ever has the best removal" Make sure to take out their Dark confidant, because the CA they generate will kill you. Watch out for their Kitchin Finks, which they usually have 2-4 main deck, and more lifegain in the side, usually in the form of Deathrite shaman. Again, you wanna get in early damage while you can, top deck better than them, and out removal them. It can flip either way, this is a match up that is just too similar. Jund is king of the midgame, so it eats our early game if it stablizes
Storm- Combo:rate3:- Ritual and draw cards, racking up a storm count (the amount of spells played that turn) to blow the game out with a million copies of Grapeshot. A. empty plays, early draw. Blue and Red lands. B. They are just going to combo off on you as fast as possible, After all they know you cant really stop themC. Thalia them right away. Shes your golden ticket. Other then that, race as fast as possible. If you have open mana, burn them, time is not on your friend. Side in Ethersworn cannonists or Dryad Militant.
Cawblade- Aggro-Control:rate4:- They want to use a creature with a valid effect on the game (Snapcaster, Kitchin finks, Vendilian Clique , attach a sword and win the game. A. Counters. This is a much more control heavy deck, then normal "Fish" decks. [/B]B. They are going to try to grind out the game, thats how they win. Rarely swingy games at all.[B]C. What you want to do is like normal, burn their few treats, this time as they try to attach swords to it, then out gun them. You have to race them more then delver, because they pack sweepers and more counters. Watch out for . Side in artifact kill cards, because a broken sword/ slows them down a lot. Don't over extend. Always hold back a knight or a goyf in case of a sweep.
R(X)DW- Aggro:rate1:- Be a crazy with a bomb. Blow up fast and hard. Will either be R/W Boros aka landfall, B/R with Rakdos charm and Bump in the night, or straight RedA. Mountains and early damage (lava spike, bolt, ect)B. They will race you, try to kill you as fast as they can, and burn you're threats. C. Crack for basics first and for most. The early damage could get you in burn range before you stabilize. Next, Burn their dudes. If you have to block with your guys to keep your self floating at 9ish , go for it. Your creatures out gun them. A knight or Smiter can win you the game. Thalia and helix shines in this match up. Side in Kitchin Finks.
Twin- Combo:rate3.5:- They want to attach a on a Deceiver Enarch, or Pestermite or copy it with , and win the game with a million copiesA. Blue/Red lands, early draw, and countersB. They, like all combo against Aggro, are going to simply try to combo before they die. C. Go to the races. will set them back a turn or too. Gaddock Tagg stops the . Hold your burn. When a enarch or comes down, kill the crap out of it. They will try to it in at the end of turn, don't for it, keep burn mana up.
Zoo- Aggro:rate2.5:-You play it, you know what it is. A. Kird, ect. B. They will either try to race you, or burn your stuff.C. The matchup is both draw, deck, side, and opening hand dependent, a true 50-50. You'll need to make the best decision for yourself. Is your hand bomb heavy (tarmo/knight) or fast, or burn. Decide on that if you are the aggro in that match up, or the control. Will you burn their stuff then go, or try to speed them out?
W/X Lifegain Aggro- Aggro:rate1.5:- Lifegain/Beat down early, recursion and control later. A. followed by some weenie whitesB. They're are going to go hardcore stall gain on you, until they can get recursion or flying beaters.C. Burn everything they own! Late game you wont be able to compete with their virtual CA with lifegain. If you have life gain hate go for that too.
W/X Tokens- Midrange-Aggro:rate4:- Tons of tokens, all want to eat your face.A. token producers and pump spellsB. They're a midrange deck, so early game will be stallingC. hot them them hard, and hit them them fast. the wipes they use are -1/-1 or -2/-2, which your stuff avoids. Dont pull back any punches, just them with the most damage you can. they block with their tokens, sure, but then your checking their token amount.
Fae- Control-aggro-:rate5: A. Lots of islands. could do grixis colors, or izzet but they are centered on blue. They will be doing things on your turnB. They are going to counter in an attempt to stop your hoard. If they have red, it will be to bolt them.C. Don't give in, just go full throttle, and they will fall apart. they can kill combo decks, but have no shot against you. C. they're weak control and pound in, game will be over turn 6. They side in some kill and take control spells, so game 2/3 hold back the knight goyf til later. Go hardcore beat down, but keep an eye open for stealing spells. Dont be afraid to bolt your own creatures in response. If you have pridemages, side them in.
U/X Control- Control-:rate4: A. Your run of the mill control deck. They are playing blue and some other colors. Countering and doing pretty much nothing else... they are probably a control deck.B. They are the control deck. They are going to kill, counter, or discard everything you own.C. Turns 6ish on, they will own your soul. However, turns 1-6 is your ball park. This is when you want to them for as much damage as you can. You need to get in there. try to land a real threat mid game like a goyf or a knight. When you get to turn 6ish they should be be in low enough to either get in there with burn, make one last creature push, or go over them with knight fetching steppe or something. If you need to grind it out a bit more, keep burn mana and path open, and wait for your window. they have to make a move sometime, when they do strike. They will side in everything got for you. Boardwipes in, counters out. Game plan is the same, but you hold the knight or goyf to from their wipe. Watch out for and threads. If they have that, side in pridemages
W/X Control- Control- A. White centered control focuses way more on the board control. expect to see wipes and utility creatures and hate bears. B. They will want to control you after the fact. Clean up messes in one moveC. Use that to your advantage. You have time to them hard. If you get a knight online, fetch a slayers strong hold and give your guys haste. Throw all your burn at their face.
Aggro Loam- Combo/(board)Control-:rate3:A. Expect to see a lot of discard spells so they can discard their landsB. They will discard your early game, and try to burn away your creatures, then lock you out of the game with cruseable of words and/or recycling landsC. hit them hard. Cards arent safe in your hand. But remember this is a combo deck. they go off, your done for. you can race this one a bit more using your knights, but its going to be alot harder. Side in grave hate. can buy you precious time too.
Infect- Combo/Aggro- A. Any dude that says infect. B. They are going to try to win by cheating their little infect-ers to huge. C. Don't let a single damage get through if you can. Burn it all away. Always leave up blockers. a single guy attacking should be enough. you get to mid game you can win.
Auras Combo/Aggro- Sort of the evolution of infect decks. they are slower but are built to be resistant to hate. A. Hexproof dudes and auras. B. You have two choices, race and get a slight shot at winning, or finding some way to interact with them. Game 1 is not in your favor. C. Side in enchantment hate, pridemage, thalia, land hate, board wipe. What ever interacts with their fragile combo.
Living End- Combo- A. Cycling things right away. B. with Living end , bring back all the creatures they cycled C. hit them hard and fast. Put thalia out. Get a knight and nuke their grave. Grave hate them in the side. Burn away anything they if they go off early. A knight can still be bigger then anything they own.
Rock (W/G/B removal)- Midrange- Aggro:rate3.5:- A. They are going to put out efficant creatures and remove yoursB. tough creatures , removal, and discardC. Your the aggro in this matchup. If you keep the content pressure on you might be able to push through.
Main Decking Against your Meta
There is a couple different routes you can take to improve you're main game, but they all start with evaluating your meta. Is it combo, aggro, tempo, control, land based, or a bit of everything?
I'll leave the card choices to you, but I'll point out cards that can work very well if you maindeck these "hate" choices.
Aggro based
If you are facing a ton of aggro, you can make two choices to combat that. Either go "bigger" with your creatures, or go more burn/removal heavy.
Control Based
Control is a bit tricky. If its permission based, going speedy can result in the win, simply by overloading them. Vexing shusher is also a way to sneak in spells. If its removal heavy, making your creatures more "threat worthy" can cover come that. If your looking at tons of board wipes, then add some planeswalkers, Slayer's stronghold, and Ranger of Eos.
Tempo Based
See above. You can either try to can try to over load their tempo control, or you can simply out threat them. Burning their few threats is also an option.
Combo Based
Main ethersworn cannonists, gaddock taggs and hope for the best. Zoo really is no good against combo. But its the price you pay to be really good against aggro and control.
Midrange Based
Speed your deck up. Zoo doesnt want to compete with a deck built for midrange. Or take away their advantage. Boom//Bust or blood moon them.
Ramp Based
Lots of burn. Boom//Bust is good here, but speed is better. Usually with ramp you have the time to make early big plays and not worry about wipes. Use it.
Brew Based
Focus on your strong Zoo core. its the reason why this deck is so good. It will naturally punish brews by having very few chinks in its armor.
Land base is really hard to "Cheapen" with Zoo. We need a "Forest" out for our kirds and loams. You could always go more boros style with a green splash, but you're lurking out of Zoo territory. The fetches are pretty mandatory though. This shouldnt be too much of a problem since shocks "should" be reprinted soon. My suggestion, is get 1 of each shock, then fetch lands, and then use basics. Add blood moon and you should be fine.
Da Goyf
In this post I will be explaining why "da goyf" if a irreplaceable card, why it is so powerful, and what you can do to imperfectly replace him (Or her. Who knows)
Goyf is so powerful because he is a beater for 2 cmc. He easily gets to 4/5 with out much effort, but sees play as a 5/6 or even 6/7 at times. He is graveyard dependent, but on all Graves, which is huge. Many times you can cast a "squire goyf" turn 2. That is saying one fetch land probably hit the grave yard. Saying they put out a creature and you bolt it, and also they ponder, your looking at at turn 3 4/5 goyf. A Leatherback goyf. Pretty big.
So why does everyone want him? Low mana cost means he is a beater for all decks. He costs meaning he can be splashed for, and he doesnt have a high color requirement. He's a good topdeck because when hes big (barring hate) he probably will be just as big, if not bigger late game. He gets big on his own, meaning you can go about your business, and he probably will grow all on his own with out you dedicating much thought to it. And thats the real key to him, thus in bold.
That covers why hes so powerful. Now on to why hes irreplaceable. Although there are many cards that do some of these things, none do it as well as tarmogoyf. Others do it less efficient (They cost more, dedicate more to making it happen, or cost more.) Its as simple as that.
Now how to replace him. It isnt as simple as "Fill gap with this", what you wanna do instead is to change up your gameplan a little bit. In Zoo speicifly heres what you can do. Id suggest choosing one.
1. Speed the deck up. Forget the goyf. Fill it with onedropers. Kird ape, Goblin Guide, Loam lion, wild nactl, Steppe Lynx.
2. Get a big body for cheap. couple options here.
Leatherback behemoth- 4/5 your average goyf size. 3 green mana is tougher to pull off then youd think though
Woolly Thoctar-5/4 that doesnt need the grave. Costs 3, means he comes online turn 4. that can stuck. His smaller butt means he might loose the knight/goyf war.
Knight of the reliquary- in the right list, she gets bigger, and has more utility. But is 3 mana and requires 2 colors.
Vinelasher Kudzu- play alot of fetchlands? thats what it takes, but is a bad top deck
Scab-Clan Mauler or Stormblood Berserker Dependent on you doing damage before summoning it.
Garruk's Companion- worse then above but worth putting on this "all inclusive list"
Keldon Marauders3/3 that will disapper but will leave a bloody trail before it goes
Watchwolf used in very old zoo lists. replaced by goyf.
3. Specializing your game plan to fix it.
Jötun Grunt- Makes their knights/goyfs smaller. It would make yours too (which can suck) and its harder to keep alive.
Quirion Dryad gets bigger as you cast more spells. Burn is awesome with this. Bad top deck (it starts off as a 1/1 and you got to start all over)
Kavu Predator Use with grove of the burnwillows. Combo with punishing fire. Has actually won a higher event.
4. Mana ramp instead- Use Noble Hierarch or something to ramp into bigger things
5. Burn. Use more burn. ect.
6. Get a hold of one or 2 tarmogoyfs and fill the hole with Green Sun Zenith. G/W Maverick in legacy does this.
7. Play a different deck. Zoo is good. Zoo is popular, thus it has a high demand. Supply and demand will make cards more expensive. He is used in legacy and modern. If budget is an issue, you should seriously consider building a different deck. Rouge decks tend to be more fun and give edges in "Unknown"
Lastly Im going to add a key words of how big the goyf is. I hope everyone uses this for fun sake.
Goyf of Kher Keep- Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1
Squire Goyf- squire 1/2
Knight Goyf- Knight Errant 2/3
Highland Goyf- Highland Giant 3/4
Leatherback Goyf- Leatherback Behemoth 4/5
Goyf Superion- Myr Superion 5/6
Tarmorygmos-Borborygmos 6/7
His power level is over 9000!- (none exist) 7/8
Super sayian Goyf- (none exist) 8/9
This is the evolution of your tried and true Naya zoo. It generally gos bigger than other zoo lists and relies on burn removal and disruption like Blood moon.
You have a bit more freedom if you go naya, but generally you want to have 5-9 mana dorks, to get your self to bigger spells. You can skip kird apes and go straight to smiters or knights, and top out with planeswalkers, or baneslayer angels.
PTQ Barsolona:
Andrea Ciotta - Planeswalker's Zoo
Top4
The trick with domain zoo is to apply alot of early damage, but then domain out a huge damage out put. an example play could be turn 1 kird ape, turn 2 add rancor, swing for 4 (Op. at 16). turn 3 swing, add might of alara, boros charm doubled strike, hit for 22 (op. at -26. Yay.)
The above might be magical christmas land and all but its a very reliable damage output. However you open yourself up to a lot of shock land damage. Older lists used to be bigger and run things like bloodbraid elves and giest of st. taft. But with aggro being faster, and braid being banned, it can't do that reliably anymore. As such, its sorta merged with Small zoo, opting to be more aggressive early.
'
Aquarium Zoo is a play on the fact that it runs blue. Whats a zoo with water called? Bingo. Anywho this deck plays like Domain zoo, but relies a bit more on Giest of St. Taft to win. His being hexproof and being a 6 powered dude, gives him a huge boost, and since you're already running more colors, you can push in on the Domain game plan anyways.
Seattle 24.20.2013
This is the new guy on the scene, and making some big splashes. This deck is possible because the boggie man that is jund is gone. Also because Gatecrash gave us some crazy cards. A semi nacatl replacement in Experiment One, a "free" 2 cmc creature drop in Burning-Tree Emissary, and and uncounterable 4/4 tample pump/big creature late game in Ghor Clan Rampager. It also showed off the power that is Flint Hoof Boar. Most lists are starting to splash white, but below is the list that inspired the deck.
2013:
Ton of PTQs with Naya, aquarium, but mostly Gruul zoo and Domain.
2012:a
PTQs:
Many many tribal flames and boom bust. Its not really Zoo, more of a zoo jund love child, but worth looking at! Too many to list, but heres the link!
Protour Return to Ravnica-
Blue and Boom Zoo did well, but not well enough to top 8. Jund's deathrite shaman crushed them.
18 points or better: Boom//Bust Zoo Domain Zoo
6 spots of the Players Championships were domain/blue zoo. Reason being mostly because snapping back tribal flames is half a life. A lot of things such as using giest instead of knight, and the sheer power of grim lava macer shines in a tempo format. Blue Zoos
However you might want to remove the Wild Nacatl from the older decklists; brings back painful memories of the bannings
In addition if Vexing devil proves useful Proclamation of Rebirth may also sneak its way into sideboards and could be mentioned. Also Thrun, the last troll could also be mentioned vs control.
Personally I like to play blue zoo atm and if you get time you could update that list. But the thalia zoo looks intriguing and I shall test it out!
However you might want to remove the Wild Nacatl from the older decklists; brings back painful memories of the bannings
In addition if Vexing devil proves useful Proclamation of Rebirth may also sneak its way into sideboards and could be mentioned. Also Thrun, the last troll could also be mentioned vs control.
Personally I like to play blue zoo atm and if you get time you could update that list. But the thalia zoo looks intriguing and I shall test it out!
I'm striving for the best primer it can be, and I'll be updating them with the dailys that roll in! Plus there was quite a bit I had to do yesterday, had to update a lot.
Sweet primer. Glad someone finally made a new one.
Thanks. Did my best to make it up to date, and comprehensive enough to teach new players how to play the deck with out too much adjustment. Maybe theres enough to get people to think about picking it up and playing it again.
Also the "magic results" section should be updated at least weekly, so we can invite people to check in more often, but hopefully the "ZOO and YOO" section generate some conversation, as its all about people posting on this thread, they're current decklists, and what their results have been!
I read your primer, and it cracked me up to see that a "great land" can have power and toughness. Might want to correct the copy-paste.
Other than that (and the mysteriously broken colour tags), good work!
Glad to see people like it! Add fixed. Thanks for pointing it out! you caught the copy pasta. and dunno why the color has done that, its the 3rd time I had to fix it.
So, since you fellas seem like you know a lot more about Zoo than I do; I have a few questions;
Can you play Thalia in a Boom//Bust list with BBE? If I'm looking to curve into BBE, is 8 one drops enough? Do you count Vexing Devil as a 1-drop creature or can you also count it as a direct burn spell? This is moreso directed at Raalic; why only one KotR? Are the other creatures better than it in this list? (specifically Ranger?). How does Proclamation of Rebirth do in these lists? To me, it seems nuts with Vexing Devil and even pretty great with things like Loam Lion/Kird Ape and Goblin Guide.
So basically, after the reading the primer and with my questions still posed this is my tentative list;
When all was said and done, I basically did substitute 2 KotRs for Rangers. I am testing them with the Devils to much success. My list is pretty close to Boros with goyfs, and proc is really good in those lists. My numbers are still in flux, so I may very well bump the kotors back up.
So, since you fellas seem like you know a lot more about Zoo than I do; I have a few questions;
Can you play Thalia in a Boom//Bust list with BBE? If I'm looking to curve into BBE, is 8 one drops enough? Do you count Vexing Devil as a 1-drop creature or can you also count it as a direct burn spell? This is moreso directed at Raalic; why only one KotR? Are the other creatures better than it in this list? (specifically Ranger?). How does Proclamation of Rebirth do in these lists? To me, it seems nuts with Vexing Devil and even pretty great with things like Loam Lion/Kird Ape and Goblin Guide.
So basically, after the reading the primer and with my questions still posed this is my tentative list;
Very nice primer, Lantern. It's one of the reasons i decided to assemble my very own Zoo.
Awesome news! I'll post your list up In ZOO and YOO in a second, just let me know if you have any changes.
Ive been mixing thalia and Boom//Bust for a while now. I think the way to go about it is either having 3 in the side, with 4 main thalias, or run 4 boom//bust main and either 2 or 3 thailas main. Theres another issue, see below.
As far as vexing devil goes I've found that the 3 most successful builds of Zoo are Thalia's Menagerie, followed by Boom//Bust followed by "Boros" Zoo. But they don't mix too well. Thalia's Menagerie is very traditional zoo, just more creature heavy. Small curve, efficent creatures, burn ect ect.
Boom//Bust is more or less Big Zoo with a twist. Its good, but you have to keep big Zoo's Ideals, it wants value in creature threat, rather then just efficency. Knight, bloodbraid, ect. So it uses ramp rather than burn. Noble Hierchs and what not. But it doesnt really like kird ape, loam lion, guide, even Grim sometimes.
So that being said if you wanted to run boom//bust you got to think bigger.
I'm going to update the primer with a small tidbit in the verations sections.
Edit: done!
Edit V2: after some testing, I've decided that Boo//Bust is only worth it if you have bloodbraid elves to get the full benefit from it. To many times I would have just rather had Sowing Salt for the matchups I sided it in, or just magus of the moon. which can mess up control matchups too. I think of your big Zoo with Boom//Bust, then it works out for you, but if your normal Thalia Zoo, your better off SB Magus of the moon, blood moon, or sowing Salt
There's no such card as "Leatherback Behemoth"... it's Leatherback Baloth.
Being this is the longest thing I've ever wrote, and thats one nitpick I'm very ok with it. Thanks for the catch
PS guys. Alot of Boom Bust over the last month. Most with Thalias sideboard. Reaction to a ton of Tron? or New main deck incusions. I highly suggest you guys check out the daily section, theres been some pretty cool versions. Hound makes a guest appearance in one. Also, thank Mr. Blippy for the continued updates!
Speaking of updates, I added a knowing the meta section, with a brief explanation of other decks, links to their primers and how we as zoo players should play those games out.
Edit V2: after some testing, I've decided that Boo//Bust is only worth it if you have bloodbraid elves to get the full benefit from it. To many times I would have just rather had Sowing Salt for the matchups I sided it in, or just magus of the moon. which can mess up control matchups too. I think of your big Zoo with Boom//Bust, then it works out for you, but if your normal Thalia Zoo, your better off SB Magus of the moon, blood moon, or sowing Salt
That makes sense. I've played with Armageddon extensively in cube, and it typically shines in aggro or midrange with a few 4cc - 6cc fatties at the top of the curve.
III. Deck Building:
Zoo historically has been 20 lands 20 creatures, 20 removal/burn spells. This has been for constancy. Modern differs a bit from legacy. Since we lack Chain lightning, and other lower cost burn spells, we focus more on our creatures. We want 22/24/16 ish. Also since Thalia is so important to us most of our usual non creature answers (Blood moon, naturalize) to become creature answers (Magus of the Moon, Qasi Pridemage)
Right. So as some of you know I hold a monthly Modern Tournament online, and I lost round 1 with a zoo list. Had to hold off revealing the match, until Anne Noise lost or won the whole shabang, but he just lost, so i got the OK to reveal it.
I was up against affinity, So I knew I was in pretty bad shape the minute I saw the memnite drop. I'm not really ready for affinity, with vexs and what not. Sure enough game one was over pretty fast... I played the control, burn heavy. But I slipped up and let an ornathopter live. 2 equips of cranial plate later, I found myself at 6 life.
Side:-3 Vex, +2 qasali pridemage, +1 ancient grudge
game 2 I started with a hand of burn and a dumb choice. I needed white mana for almost everything (helix, path, knight) but I cracked for basics, (fearing the moon) and never got a white mana. I was able to hold of on my own, and make a pretty amazing comeback however, off the back of a Knight activating stronghold. Chunks of life came out of him then.
Game 3 was alot of the same, just me not being able to kill plate, and deal with aggro.
What I learned from this, dont underestimate the little aggro. I've rebuilt my deck to be a bit more hybrid of midrange and aggro, so I can more effectivly play the control in these situations. See below.
ZOO!
Primer 4.0
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=9879589&postcount=652"]Don't Feed the Animals[/URL]...
Last Update:1/1/14
Zoo Primer hasn't been updated since it fell out of favor. The old thread can be [URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=354866"]found here.[/URL] This was because zoo had a sort of "Death" after Wild Nacatl got banned. To make matters worse, Green Sun Zenith was also banned, our tool box spell. Zoo stopped being a tier 1 deck, replaced either by speed (Affinity) or bigger (Bant) or midrange (Jund) In many ways Zoo became Boros. However Zoo after jund had it's Bbloodbraid elf banned, we ended up getting that space between aggro and midrange back again! This is the evolution of Zoo.
II.Ideals of the Deck:
Traditionally, Zoo is a hyper-aggressive build that abuses the potential of undercosted, self-buffing weenies alongside burn and utility. Naya Zoo (the core of a Zoo build) is among the fastest aggro archetypes in the Modern format, and it almost certainly has the biggest toolbox. One of the key components to Zoo's success is the general lack of a single, game-breaking card to draw hate, but rather a team of incredibly efficient creatures that maintain board advantage with fast pressure that is able to maintain that into the midgame.
After all, Zoo got its names for the little furry critters that created it. Though the deck has changed since its birth (Bye-bye Savannah Lions. Hello Loam Lion!) it's still retained the distinction of caring about its critters. This is the key difference between all other aggro decks and burn decks.
With Zoo, efficiency is the name of the game.
III. History of Zoo:
Zoo has gone through a million transformations, in all formats of magic, and will go through a million more. This has to do with the range of options provided by its coloring. But the idea of zoo has remained the same throughout its entire run of magic: Efficient creatures that we care about, backed with powerful burn and good manafixing. In many ways, zoo is the evolution of the [URL="http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Sligh"]Sligh[/URL] styled decks of yesteryear.
In the Ravnica- Champions of Kamigawa block Standard*, this is where zoo really starts from. Taking on Slighs role of having a good mana curve, it became a huge deck of the time. It difined itself as different from Red Deck Win's archtype as it put alot more faith in it's critters and used burn to clear the way for them. While it was known as a sligh deck for a while, it was joked that because of all the animal's featured in it, (Savannah Lion, Isamaru, Hound of Konda, Kird Ape, and Watch Wolf as opposed to magical creatures like goblins.) it should be called a Zoo. Thus the name stuck.
Later it would emerge as an extended deck after Shards of Alara block came out**. It was called [URL="http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Domain"]Domain[/URL] Zoo during this time since it dealt with a keyword of the same name. Tribal Flames and Might of alara, 2 cards still used in modern's version of this deck, Gave zoo an explosive burn and reach. It also gained cards like Tarmogoyf, Wild Nactal and Knight of the Reliquary, which remained main stay zoo cards for the power vs mana cost ratio.
Finally when Legacy became a popular format, Zoo really found a niche as one of the best aggro decks. With bodies strong than their casting cost (2/3 and 3/3 for 1, 4/5 for 2, ect) Zoo found itself being an aggro deck with a very fast clock, while having a bodies that survived most hate. Backed with the best burn in the game, Lightning Bolt it remains one of the decks to watch in legacy.
And this is where our Modern version of zoo comes from. Its undergone some distinctive changes over time, but the core of: "Efficient creatures that we care about, backed with powerful burn and good manafixing" sticks. Modern Zoo started as actually a ton of different zoos. Some took the approach of just taking the legacy deck, and replacing burn and lands, some opted to go 20/20/20 with lands creatures and burn, and others took Domain Zoo.
American team Channel Fireball, under Brian Kiblar, took a zoo they dubbed Counter Cat.*4 It featured Zoo's normal aggression, but toned down the amount of burn in favor for main decking Bant Charm and having a full set of Unified will in the sideboard, which gave them access to basicly 8 sets of counter. This ended up being incredibly successful because Zoo out paced all the current midrange decks, was bulkier than the current aggro decks, and lastly didn't need the reach because the control decks were virtually nonexistent. This left it an easy victory against combo decks, which were the main kings of modern then.
This being Modern's early years, however, meant they earned the limelight, and thus bannings. Wild Nactal was ousted under the reasoning it was too strong of a body for other aggro decks to exist (Ironically mirroring the ban of Kird Ape in extended years before for the same reason) and Green Sun Zenth, a card with the dual purpose of mana ramping, as well as tutoring threats and answers. This crippled Zoo, even to this day.
Zoo would reemerge to prove itself as an ever tweekable deck under the guise of the short lived Thalia Zoo*5 before Jund became the new king of the hill. During, what could only be called the Summer of Jund 2012, Zoo could not handle the Green(rb) machine's 1 for 1 removal followed by finks and big blockers. It became very explosive, and less stable, to combat this, creating Boom Bust Zoo, and Domain Zoo.*6
This changed when the set Gatecrash was released, giving modern a semi Nactal replacement in the form of Experiment One. While other versions of the deck still exist, Gruul Zoo*7 is currently the most popular.
Lands
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Brushland
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Forest
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
3 Burning-Tree Shaman
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Kami of Ancient Law
4 Kird Ape
4 Savannah Lions
4 Watchwolf
2 Bathe in Light
4 Char
3 Flames of the Blood Hand
4 Lightning Helix
3 Shock
3 Hunted Wumpus
3 Guerrilla Tactics
2 Giant Solifuge
2 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Dark Confidant
4 Kird Ape
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Shadow Guildmage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
3 Umezawa's Jitte
Enchantments
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Seal of Fire
Instants
4 Lightning Helix
1 Tarfire
4 Tribal Flames
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Deathmark
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Sundering Vitae
4 Thoughtseize
Richard Bland - Grand Prix Madrid 2010
Creatures
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Knight of the Reliquary
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
1 Sylvan Library
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pyroblast
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Arid Mesa
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
22 lands
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
18 creatures
3 Bant Charm
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
20 other spells
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Flashfreeze
2 Gideon Jura
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Rule of Law
1 Tectonic Edge
3 Unified Will
15 sideboard cards
60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
21 lands
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
24 creatures
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
1 Seal of Fire
1 Tarfire
15 other spells
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Gaddock Teeg
1 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tormod's Crypt
20 LANDS
4 Arid Mesa
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Marsh Flats
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Forest
1 Blood Crypt
4 Goblin Guide
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Loam Lion
4 Kird Ape
4 Experiment One
3 Boros Swiftblade
15 INSTANTS and SORCERIES
4 Tribal Flames
4 Might of Alara
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Boros Charm
1 Shock
2 OTHER SPELLS
2 Rancor
2 Skullcrack
3 Rest in Peace
2 Path to Exile
2 Lightning Helix
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ancient Grudge
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Arid Mesa
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Sacred Foundry
23 CREATURES
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Boom / Bust
3 Lightning Helix
3 Lightning Bolt
5 OTHER SPELLS
3 Blood Moon
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Batterskull
1 Batterskull
1 Path to Exile
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Combust
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Sulfur Elemental
Zoo historically has been 20 lands 20 creatures, 20 removal/burn spells. This has been for constancy. Modern differs a bit from legacy. Since we lack Chain lightning, and other lower cost burn spells, we focus more on our creatures. We prefer creature utility over spell utility, that way we can provide a constant pressure, and put the enemy backing on its heels.
Use the following to evaluate if this creature/burn/land is good enough for Zoo!
Judging what makes a good land:
A "great land" has these qualities:
Judging what makes a good creature:
A "great creature" has these qualities:
Judging what makes a good burn spell:
Always compare to Lightning Bolt.
With all other spells, keep in mind efficiency. Why run Condemn, or Journy to Nowhere when you can run Path to Exile?
The Lands
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
4 Arid Mesa
Thats 9 lands, leaving you with 11-13 more slots. Next are the added fetches. These help mana fixing, deck thinning, and turning on Goyf, Kird Ape, Steppe Lynx, Loam Lion, and Knight of the Reliquary. There should be 8-12 fetches total. Add 4-8 more fetches to the above, colors depending on what youd rather see (usual red and white, then green). Heavier on the fetches if your running Steppe Lynx or Knight of the Reliquarys.
That leaves you with 3-9 slots left, depending on your fetch amount, you should fill it with any of these. Note, one ofs can be fetched with Knight!
Horizon Canopy- great 1of/2of. Hurts you, but never more then 3 life before you pop it. Draws you a card, feeds knights.
Dryad Arbor creature and land, less used now GSZ is out
Ghost Quarter Loses you tempo, but can knock Tron down a bit.
Flagstones of TrokairGreat with Boom//Bust Sac it, get a fetch land.
Slayer's StrongholdGive your guys haste, vigilance, and a buff! Top decking never seemed so good! And knight can tap and attack now.
Treetop Village Man land, great to dodge removal.
Kessig Wolf Run Trample and buff. Needs mana, try in bigger zoo.
Raging Ravine Mana land but costly. Again midrange/bigger zoo might pull it off.
Stirring Wildwood 3/4 with reach. It costs more than treetop, but it blocks spirit tokens!
Bojuka Bog Great as a 1 of with Knight. Hurts all graveyard based strategies.
Forest As a rule I always one 1 basic to fetch, but if you dont mind pain from shocks (meta with no aggro) this is fine not to have.
Mountain See above
Plain See above
Adding more colors! Sure, why not? Blue Zoo, Dark Zoo, and Domain Zoo, uses 4 or 5 colors. But be prepared, we simply do not have all 10 fetch lands, so perfect mana fixing is not going to happen. Not to mention the sheer number of shocks will add up in the hurt department later! Still the benifits of being more colors, can pay off. Look at Tribal Flames.
Common Questions About Landbase!
What colors should I be fetching for?
What ever colors heaviest in your hand, or is your first 2-3 turn plays. If that doesn't really matter, go for red or white first, then green.
How often should I fetch for shocks?
Probably the first 2 turns. After that grab basics of what you need if you need spells then and there, if not have the fetches come in untapped. If your against some fast aggro such as rdw or Affinity, go for basics when you need to bolt or what not, then tapped shocks when you can afford it. The damage will add up in those cases.
More to come as people post on this thread!
Note, there is different Zoo builds using different cores. To see those cores, go to Variations and Builds section.
The generally excepted core of Zoo Citters is:
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam lion
3 Grim Lavamancer
Note on above creatures:
These have shown to be extremely reliable and good for Zoo.
Tarmogoyf is an efficient beater, that takes up almost no mana. End of story.
Kird and Loam are diffidently not Wild Nactal, but they come close enough.
Grim eats other aggro more then any other card. It can simply wreck Jund, Boros, RDW, and Affinity. Don't get me started on fae.
The numbers of above can be switched up, but usually you want these, as they are the key to a good zoo build.
Fill the rest of your slots with the following:
Kird Ape/Loam Lion fill in spots with 1 mana 2/3.
Vexing Devil 4 damage for bolt is good.
Experiment One Usually a 1 mana 2/2. Sometimes 1 mana 3/3 or 4/4. If so, congrats, now you can regen him!
Noble Hierarch Mana excel and exalted.
Deathrite Shaman Birds of paradise, grim lavamacer,Ghost-Lit Redeemer, and Withered Wretch. 4 cards in one. Its only in half our colors, but if you dip into black, he should be the main reason for doing so.
Figure of Destany Mana dump and gets bigger
Goblin Guide early damage, usually gets in for 6 or more.
Plated Geopede Landfall killer, first strike too.
Snapcaster MageYou need a lot of burn, and hes bad with thalia, but in blue zoo he is very very good.
Burning-Tree Emissary- Allows for explosive turns, getting a creature and landing more or burn.
Keldon Marauders Early damage, with many more?
Qasali Pridemage- Kills artifacts/enchantments, and exalted.
Giest of St. Traft if your playing blue, this would be the beater over knight, as its just harder too kill.
Knight of the Reliquary 3 mana beater of choice. Tied with Loxodon Smiter
Loxodon Smiter if your meta has a lot of jund/tempo/control/grave yard hate. Heres your knight replacement. 4/4 stable body with the cant be countered or discared upside.
Bloodbraid Elf 3/2 hasty, that can hit Boom//Bust, burn, or creatures!BAN HAMMERRanger of Eos Wipe recovery with a body.
Thrun, the last TrollIf your facing a lot of control, hes a great beater.
Common Questions About Citters!
Why isn't (insert creature here) on this list?
Chances are it just isn't good enough, or theirs better versions of it. A good example is Kavu Predator with Grove of Burnwillows this dude can be awesome! But generally... Goyf is a better top deck, requires less work, and less life gain, thus Goyf is the go to creature.
Why isnt (insert creature with good effect here) in this list?
Check the sideboard section. A lot of those creatures are too situational to main deck. You might be able to do it to meta game it... But then see meta gaming section!
Why are we so creature heavy?
One word, Thalia. She is literally the thing bringing Zoo back to its feet. By being more creature heavy we avoid her downside for us.
Burn is pretty simple, as there is really only 2 spells that are really good enough on it's own, and they are key to any modern zoo:
4 Lightning Helix
I'd also highly recommend some amount of boros charm. Its at worst, 4 to the dome, but can also save your dudes from removal, or double strike as a sorta combat trick removal.
If your feeling like you need a tad more burn, try these out:
Tribal Flames- this is awesome. 5 damage for 2 mana is nothing to sneeze at!
Tarfire Feeds goyf (tribal), and is 2 damage for 1
Seal of Fire Feeds goyf, allows you to invest mana right away, and hold it out of hand.
Magma Jet Scry is helpful to set up draws.
Lava Spike Another bolt, but only to the face.
Searing Blaze Removes creatures, and still gets to the face.
Pillar of flame gets rid of fink and other recuring creatures.
Forked Bolt/Arc Trail little things in your way? Split the damage up and kill lots of things.
Common question about burn
Why is Lightning Helix good?
Its good because it can make a life difference of 6. That's relevant in aggro matchups. Also, note it can heal you back up after a fetch to shock.
This is everything that isn't covered in the above. That means enchantments, planewalkers, removal, ect, ect.
When it comes to other removal then burn, Path to Exile is the way to go. Other choices are:
Oblivion Ring 3 mana is alot, but it removes everything.
Journey to Nowhere Oring of creatures. 1 mana more then path.
Planeswalkers:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant Probably the best we can use. Gives our creatures evasion, and a buff, recovers a wipe and a threat on to itself.
Ajani Vengeant Gives your deck a bit of board control. It great against aggro, and can keep big threats down.
Others:
Rancor for all inteseive purposes, this is repeatable burn, dependent on creatures. Much better in smaller zoo.
Might of Alara- super giant growth. got to love it with boros charm or rancor!
Boom//Bust is a great card to give tempo. Most of the time it reads 1R destroy target land. You can achieve this by destroying your fetch, and cracking it in response, or destroying a Flagstones of Trokair and getting a dual out of it.
Not to mention you can Bloodbraid Elf into it and choice bust.Artifacts:
Creatures:
Enchantment
Instant/Sorcery
Land
Walker
Outside color options
V. Meta Calls:
Tweeking to your Meta
Tweeking to your meta can set you up for wins that you shouldn't earn, or just throw an overwhelming advantage. This can be changing your main deck to be more controlling or fast, or even by mixing in your sideboard to your main deck. See below for ways to improve your Main Deck and sideboard.
Knowing the Enemy, What is the Meta?
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=429800"]Restoration Control[/URL] Uses restoration angel and control etb effects to control the game, along with counters and removal.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=686"] Delver[/URL]- Tempo deck. Usually plays enough burn and disruption to keep people off their games as they take over the board state with value creatures.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=390899"]Tron[/URL]- Ramp deck. Plays the urza lands to speed up a mindslaver combo, karn, wurmcoil, or an eldrazi into play.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347941"]Pod[/URL]- Combo deck. With birthing pod and persist dudes, for recurring threats, and enter the battlefield effects. Add in Melria, and you have a never ending army.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=354849"]Affinty[/URL]- Aggro deck. Spews out their hand turn 1-3 for an army of
metal dudes. All in fast aggro gameplan.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=348011"]Jund[/URL]- Midrange deck. A deck full of removal and a couple major threats, they hit you with discard, then removal, and swing for the win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=358672"]Storm[/URL]- Combo deck. Using the mechanic storm, they generate enough draw/ ramp power to kill you with one huge spell.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=381780"]Cawblade[/URL]- Tempo deck. Just like the Standard version, this deck aims to stall you out, out tempo you, and hit you from the skies with some birds with swords.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=350356"] R(X)DW[/URL]Aggro deck. Many flavors (Boros, Rakdos, straight red) they all do one thing in common, hit you hard, hit you fast, burn you down.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347857"]Splinter Twin[/URL] Combo deck. Attach twin to Deceiver Exarch, make a million, win the game.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=425578"]Restoration Control[/URL] Control deck. You like counters? You like snap casting them back? You like blinking snapcaster, to make more counters? This is the deck.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=378681"]W/X Lifegain Aggro[/URL]- Aggro. Gain lots of life, while swinging in with white weenies
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=384892"]W/X Tokens[/URL]- Midrange. Make lots of tokens, and over run the enemy.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=379200"]Fae[/URL] Tempo. Counter everything, then attack with flash fliers.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=381780"]U/X Control[/URL] Control. Counter or kill everything. Land a threat in, protect it and swing.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=336081"]Death and Taxes[/URL] Tempo. Disrupt opponent's manabase, and over run with white weenies.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=392059"]Living End[/URL] Combo. Cycle lands and creatures. Bring them back violently to kill opponents field and them.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=391039"]Bant[/URL] Tempo. Control their midgame, put out your threat, protect it with counters.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=414066"]Zoo[/URL] Aggro deck. Get mountains, forests, and plains into play. Bring out your animals, over run. Burn whatever left.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=465409"]Rock (W/G/B removal)[/URL] Midrange. Remove everything they own and swing with a threat.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=401011"]Aggro Loam[/URL] Combo. Recycle your lands to kill theirs, or do direct damage to them.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=418264"
Infect[/URL]Aggro. Infect their face as early as possible with pump spells.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=347711"]Elves[/URL]- Aggro. Ton of elves, all want to eat your face.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=491720"]BUG Tempo[/URL] Tempo. Off set you, land a bomb, win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=397477"]Merfolk[/URL] Tempo. Keep you off balanced and win with a crap ton of lords.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=482743"]G/W aggro[/URL] Aggro. Lots of hate bears.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=456189"]Gifts[/URL] Control. Control the board, use gifts, drop a bomb win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=474558"]Draw go.[/URL] Control. Draw, go, control, Win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=491407"]Elemental Combo[/URL] Aggro combo Kiln fiend and Nivmagus, million spells, win.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=370860"]Eggs-[/URL] Combo. Crack eggs a million times, Burn egg you to death.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=474493"]GW Auras[/URL] Aggro combo. Put auras on hex proof dudes and kill you.
[URL="http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=398693"]Dredge Vine[/URL] Midrange Combo. Mills it's self into vengevines to run over you.
Below I'll talk about about how to A. recognize what they're playing, B. what their game plan is, and C. how to play against it.
Not in your favor at all Totally in your favor
Delver-Tempo Deck:rate5:This deck wants to unbalance you race you and kill you with their weenies. A. You'll recognize it by it's early plays. It's going to either put a weenie out, catnip, or leave open mana for counters. B. It's going to try and counter your big threats and key plays, and bounce your attackers.C. Burn their threats. if any of your creatures stick, you'll win. the board, and keep their crap down. That should be enough. Side in more burn, but if you don't have it don't worry, this matchup is Strongly in your favor. Your creatures are bigger, and your proactive.
Bug temp- Tempo-:rate4: A. The use the same G/B shell that jund and junk does. Confidants/ lilies B. They are going to knock you off balance and sneak in a tarmogoyf to win with. C. They are going to side removal in. Pack some anti removal hate.
Merfolk- Tempo-:rate5: A.They play fish. end of story. B. Removal protection is what they will side in. C. Just aggro over them they are weak to your constant burn/ bigger creatures.
Eggs- Combo-:rate1: A.Eggs... lots of little artifacts B. They will go faster next turn. C. This is a horrible matchup. Early thalia, exile grave effects, or artifact hate (basicly stony silence) might help you turn the tide.
DredgeVine- Midrange Combo-:rate3.5: A.Milling themselves B. Were favored because most of their stuff can't block. Sometimes they get god hands, and will try to combo off faster because you cant interact. C. Race. they cant block, so you can swing unheeded.
Gifts- Control Deck-:rate3.5: A. They will try to counter and burn everything B. Side in lifegain and removal C. Out pace the, constant pressure will set them on their heels and not let them combo off with their bomb. Just get in their for damage. Keep a boros charm mana open.
American Control- Control Deck-:rate3.5: A. Same deal with above, cept more burn, lifegain main deck. B. Same stuff C. same deal above.
Elemental Combo- Combo aggro-:rate2.0: A.Early elemental, lots of phyrexian mana B. side in removal and burn protection C. Tough cookie. they take alot of damage from their own spells. so you might be able to out race them, But if they combo, your dead. You can try burn, but generally past the first turn they can protect their combo peice.
Restoration Control- Control Deck-:rate3.5: Its going to try to be like old control, just with more creatures. Expect everything to be done on your turn. A. they are going to be using a lot of enter the battle field triggered creatures. they are going to try to control by countering and removal. B. They will do things dependent on what your doing. Over all they are hoping to grind you out of gas then take over with manlands or a finisher. C. they will side in removal and wraiths over their counters. thats not what you got to worry about. Instead focus on them abusing their finks, and reseting it. Watch out for giest of saint traft, as hes pretty much unkillable to us. My suggestion, power through, but hold back one finisher. If you are going to over extend, at least hold on to a bloodbraid elf to reset the board if you have too, or a boros charm to null a wraith
Super Friends Control-:rate3.5: The deck wants to stall you then kill you with planeswalkers. A.This screams control from their lands they play, the stalling with walls or blockers, removal up the butt, and disruptive plays. B. They want to stall you however possible, because the longer the game goes, the more the favor grows for them. C. Unlike resto control, you have to throw away the idea you can play gorilla tatics. This deck stalls in the same way as resto but has a more powerful late game than a mid power middle game. Don't let it go longer than 6 turns. If you can keep in mind sweepers (Boros charm it!) and hold back a bloodbraid elf to reset if it happens.
Tron- Combo/Ramp Deck-:rate1.5: The deck wants to put out Urza lands, then drop an eldrazi on you. Cue world ending. Its going to be either U/R U/W or R/G R/G has and burn to keep you down and better ramp to speed the game up, W/U has counters and bounce to slow the game down.. U/R has a mash up. A. You'll right away with Urza lands, or ramp. B. They don't really care what you do. To them their total is just a buffer, you can get it down to 3 and they will swing the game with one eldrazi. C. To put it simply, this is a baaaaddd matchup. Combo always is. You can make it better with Thalias or Boom//Bust main decked, but that can only buy you a turn or 2. Race as fast as you can game 1, It's really your only shot. Game 2 you wanna bring in your land hate, either more land destruction, or Moon effects, is the best here. Watch out for Wurmcoils, which come in for you.
Pod- Combo/Aggro-:rate3: They want to sac creatures with Persist to pod to work up the chain. With out, nothing dies.A. Pod, enter the battlefield effects, pod, tons of persist creatures.B. They are going to put Kitchin Finks and walls against you and make their creatures unkillable.C. Your going to need to burn away their early game and combo peices. Path the finks, they will kill you. Side in artifact hate (pridemages, ancient grudges) to take out their key engine. Other than that, you need to push through damage early game. After all they can chump to kingdom come. Side in too. That can shut them down.
Affinty- Fast-Aggro Deck-:rate4.5: The deck uses artifact's affinity/metal craft to spew out weenies.A. Artifact lands, and them tossing their hands on the table.B. They are going to race you. Thats it, plan and . They are an all in deck. If somehow they get to 4 mana, they could tezz you. If they can get to 3 they may you. Both are less likely. C. Burn is your friend here. In alot of cases, leaving burn mana up turns 1-4 is the correct move. Remember, your dudes are worth 10 of theirs. They out of gas, you don't. Make it to midgame, and its yours. Side in artifact creature hate or burn.
Jund- Midrange/Aggro:rate2:- Jund is a midrange deck focusing on good removal, and threats.A. G/R/B lands, mostly filter lands or fast lands, an early removal and burn, and turn 1/2 discard.B. They are going to try to out value you creature wise. They got "actual" removal as well as burn, and their creatures are generally bigger than yours. C. One word: "Grim-freakin-lavamancer. Dude is amazing in this match up. It really is a very "Who ever has the best removal" Make sure to take out their Dark confidant, because the CA they generate will kill you. Watch out for their Kitchin Finks, which they usually have 2-4 main deck, and more lifegain in the side, usually in the form of Deathrite shaman. Again, you wanna get in early damage while you can, top deck better than them, and out removal them. It can flip either way, this is a match up that is just too similar. Jund is king of the midgame, so it eats our early game if it stablizes
Storm- Combo:rate3:- Ritual and draw cards, racking up a storm count (the amount of spells played that turn) to blow the game out with a million copies of Grapeshot. A. empty plays, early draw. Blue and Red lands. B. They are just going to combo off on you as fast as possible, After all they know you cant really stop themC. Thalia them right away. Shes your golden ticket. Other then that, race as fast as possible. If you have open mana, burn them, time is not on your friend. Side in Ethersworn cannonists or Dryad Militant.
Cawblade- Aggro-Control:rate4:- They want to use a creature with a valid effect on the game (Snapcaster, Kitchin finks, Vendilian Clique , attach a sword and win the game. A. Counters. This is a much more control heavy deck, then normal "Fish" decks. [/B]B. They are going to try to grind out the game, thats how they win. Rarely swingy games at all.[B]C. What you want to do is like normal, burn their few treats, this time as they try to attach swords to it, then out gun them. You have to race them more then delver, because they pack sweepers and more counters. Watch out for . Side in artifact kill cards, because a broken sword/ slows them down a lot. Don't over extend. Always hold back a knight or a goyf in case of a sweep.
R(X)DW- Aggro:rate1:- Be a crazy with a bomb. Blow up fast and hard. Will either be R/W Boros aka landfall, B/R with Rakdos charm and Bump in the night, or straight RedA. Mountains and early damage (lava spike, bolt, ect)B. They will race you, try to kill you as fast as they can, and burn you're threats. C. Crack for basics first and for most. The early damage could get you in burn range before you stabilize. Next, Burn their dudes. If you have to block with your guys to keep your self floating at 9ish , go for it. Your creatures out gun them. A knight or Smiter can win you the game. Thalia and helix shines in this match up. Side in Kitchin Finks.
Twin- Combo:rate3.5:- They want to attach a on a Deceiver Enarch, or Pestermite or copy it with , and win the game with a million copiesA. Blue/Red lands, early draw, and countersB. They, like all combo against Aggro, are going to simply try to combo before they die. C. Go to the races. will set them back a turn or too. Gaddock Tagg stops the . Hold your burn. When a enarch or comes down, kill the crap out of it. They will try to it in at the end of turn, don't for it, keep burn mana up.
Zoo- Aggro:rate2.5:-You play it, you know what it is. A. Kird, ect. B. They will either try to race you, or burn your stuff.C. The matchup is both draw, deck, side, and opening hand dependent, a true 50-50. You'll need to make the best decision for yourself. Is your hand bomb heavy (tarmo/knight) or fast, or burn. Decide on that if you are the aggro in that match up, or the control. Will you burn their stuff then go, or try to speed them out?
W/X Lifegain Aggro- Aggro:rate1.5:- Lifegain/Beat down early, recursion and control later. A. followed by some weenie whitesB. They're are going to go hardcore stall gain on you, until they can get recursion or flying beaters.C. Burn everything they own! Late game you wont be able to compete with their virtual CA with lifegain. If you have life gain hate go for that too.
W/X Tokens- Midrange-Aggro:rate4:- Tons of tokens, all want to eat your face.A. token producers and pump spellsB. They're a midrange deck, so early game will be stallingC. hot them them hard, and hit them them fast. the wipes they use are -1/-1 or -2/-2, which your stuff avoids. Dont pull back any punches, just them with the most damage you can. they block with their tokens, sure, but then your checking their token amount.
Fae- Control-aggro-:rate5: A. Lots of islands. could do grixis colors, or izzet but they are centered on blue. They will be doing things on your turnB. They are going to counter in an attempt to stop your hoard. If they have red, it will be to bolt them.C. Don't give in, just go full throttle, and they will fall apart. they can kill combo decks, but have no shot against you. C. they're weak control and pound in, game will be over turn 6. They side in some kill and take control spells, so game 2/3 hold back the knight goyf til later. Go hardcore beat down, but keep an eye open for stealing spells. Dont be afraid to bolt your own creatures in response. If you have pridemages, side them in.
U/X Control- Control-:rate4: A. Your run of the mill control deck. They are playing blue and some other colors. Countering and doing pretty much nothing else... they are probably a control deck.B. They are the control deck. They are going to kill, counter, or discard everything you own.C. Turns 6ish on, they will own your soul. However, turns 1-6 is your ball park. This is when you want to them for as much damage as you can. You need to get in there. try to land a real threat mid game like a goyf or a knight. When you get to turn 6ish they should be be in low enough to either get in there with burn, make one last creature push, or go over them with knight fetching steppe or something. If you need to grind it out a bit more, keep burn mana and path open, and wait for your window. they have to make a move sometime, when they do strike. They will side in everything got for you. Boardwipes in, counters out. Game plan is the same, but you hold the knight or goyf to from their wipe. Watch out for and threads. If they have that, side in pridemages
W/X Control- Control- A. White centered control focuses way more on the board control. expect to see wipes and utility creatures and hate bears. B. They will want to control you after the fact. Clean up messes in one moveC. Use that to your advantage. You have time to them hard. If you get a knight online, fetch a slayers strong hold and give your guys haste. Throw all your burn at their face.
Aggro Loam- Combo/(board)Control-:rate3:A. Expect to see a lot of discard spells so they can discard their landsB. They will discard your early game, and try to burn away your creatures, then lock you out of the game with cruseable of words and/or recycling landsC. hit them hard. Cards arent safe in your hand. But remember this is a combo deck. they go off, your done for. you can race this one a bit more using your knights, but its going to be alot harder. Side in grave hate. can buy you precious time too.
Infect- Combo/Aggro- A. Any dude that says infect. B. They are going to try to win by cheating their little infect-ers to huge. C. Don't let a single damage get through if you can. Burn it all away. Always leave up blockers. a single guy attacking should be enough. you get to mid game you can win.
Auras Combo/Aggro- Sort of the evolution of infect decks. they are slower but are built to be resistant to hate. A. Hexproof dudes and auras. B. You have two choices, race and get a slight shot at winning, or finding some way to interact with them. Game 1 is not in your favor. C. Side in enchantment hate, pridemage, thalia, land hate, board wipe. What ever interacts with their fragile combo.
Living End- Combo- A. Cycling things right away. B. with Living end , bring back all the creatures they cycled C. hit them hard and fast. Put thalia out. Get a knight and nuke their grave. Grave hate them in the side. Burn away anything they if they go off early. A knight can still be bigger then anything they own.
Rock (W/G/B removal)- Midrange- Aggro:rate3.5:- A. They are going to put out efficant creatures and remove yoursB. tough creatures , removal, and discardC. Your the aggro in this matchup. If you keep the content pressure on you might be able to push through.
Main Decking Against your Meta
There is a couple different routes you can take to improve you're main game, but they all start with evaluating your meta. Is it combo, aggro, tempo, control, land based, or a bit of everything?
I'll leave the card choices to you, but I'll point out cards that can work very well if you maindeck these "hate" choices.
Aggro based
If you are facing a ton of aggro, you can make two choices to combat that. Either go "bigger" with your creatures, or go more burn/removal heavy.
Control Based
Control is a bit tricky. If its permission based, going speedy can result in the win, simply by overloading them. Vexing shusher is also a way to sneak in spells. If its removal heavy, making your creatures more "threat worthy" can cover come that. If your looking at tons of board wipes, then add some planeswalkers, Slayer's stronghold, and Ranger of Eos.
Tempo Based
See above. You can either try to can try to over load their tempo control, or you can simply out threat them. Burning their few threats is also an option.
Combo Based
Main ethersworn cannonists, gaddock taggs and hope for the best. Zoo really is no good against combo. But its the price you pay to be really good against aggro and control.
Midrange Based
Speed your deck up. Zoo doesnt want to compete with a deck built for midrange. Or take away their advantage. Boom//Bust or blood moon them.
Ramp Based
Lots of burn. Boom//Bust is good here, but speed is better. Usually with ramp you have the time to make early big plays and not worry about wipes. Use it.
Brew Based
Focus on your strong Zoo core. its the reason why this deck is so good. It will naturally punish brews by having very few chinks in its armor.
Gaveyard hate:
Color hate:
Wipe Hate
Lifegain Hate:
Control Hate:
Land hate:
Aggro Hate:
Enchantment Hate:
Artifact Hate:
Combo Hate:
VI. Budget Concerns:
Landbase
Land base is really hard to "Cheapen" with Zoo. We need a "Forest" out for our kirds and loams. You could always go more boros style with a green splash, but you're lurking out of Zoo territory. The fetches are pretty mandatory though. This shouldnt be too much of a problem since shocks "should" be reprinted soon. My suggestion, is get 1 of each shock, then fetch lands, and then use basics. Add blood moon and you should be fine.
In this post I will be explaining why "da goyf" if a irreplaceable card, why it is so powerful, and what you can do to imperfectly replace him (Or her. Who knows)
Goyf is so powerful because he is a beater for 2 cmc. He easily gets to 4/5 with out much effort, but sees play as a 5/6 or even 6/7 at times. He is graveyard dependent, but on all Graves, which is huge. Many times you can cast a "squire goyf" turn 2. That is saying one fetch land probably hit the grave yard. Saying they put out a creature and you bolt it, and also they ponder, your looking at at turn 3 4/5 goyf. A Leatherback goyf. Pretty big.
So why does everyone want him? Low mana cost means he is a beater for all decks. He costs meaning he can be splashed for, and he doesnt have a high color requirement. He's a good topdeck because when hes big (barring hate) he probably will be just as big, if not bigger late game. He gets big on his own, meaning you can go about your business, and he probably will grow all on his own with out you dedicating much thought to it. And thats the real key to him, thus in bold.
That covers why hes so powerful. Now on to why hes irreplaceable. Although there are many cards that do some of these things, none do it as well as tarmogoyf. Others do it less efficient (They cost more, dedicate more to making it happen, or cost more.) Its as simple as that.
Now how to replace him. It isnt as simple as "Fill gap with this", what you wanna do instead is to change up your gameplan a little bit. In Zoo speicifly heres what you can do. Id suggest choosing one.
1. Speed the deck up. Forget the goyf. Fill it with onedropers. Kird ape, Goblin Guide, Loam lion, wild nactl, Steppe Lynx.
2. Get a big body for cheap. couple options here.
Leatherback behemoth- 4/5 your average goyf size. 3 green mana is tougher to pull off then youd think though
Woolly Thoctar-5/4 that doesnt need the grave. Costs 3, means he comes online turn 4. that can stuck. His smaller butt means he might loose the knight/goyf war.
Knight of the reliquary- in the right list, she gets bigger, and has more utility. But is 3 mana and requires 2 colors.
Vinelasher Kudzu- play alot of fetchlands? thats what it takes, but is a bad top deck
Scab-Clan Mauler or Stormblood Berserker Dependent on you doing damage before summoning it.
Garruk's Companion- worse then above but worth putting on this "all inclusive list"
Keldon Marauders3/3 that will disapper but will leave a bloody trail before it goes
Watchwolf used in very old zoo lists. replaced by goyf.
3. Specializing your game plan to fix it.
Jötun Grunt- Makes their knights/goyfs smaller. It would make yours too (which can suck) and its harder to keep alive.
Quirion Dryad gets bigger as you cast more spells. Burn is awesome with this. Bad top deck (it starts off as a 1/1 and you got to start all over)
Kavu Predator Use with grove of the burnwillows. Combo with punishing fire. Has actually won a higher event.
4. Mana ramp instead- Use Noble Hierarch or something to ramp into bigger things
5. Burn. Use more burn. ect.
6. Get a hold of one or 2 tarmogoyfs and fill the hole with Green Sun Zenith. G/W Maverick in legacy does this.
7. Play a different deck. Zoo is good. Zoo is popular, thus it has a high demand. Supply and demand will make cards more expensive. He is used in legacy and modern. If budget is an issue, you should seriously consider building a different deck. Rouge decks tend to be more fun and give edges in "Unknown"
Lastly Im going to add a key words of how big the goyf is. I hope everyone uses this for fun sake.
Goyf of Kher Keep- Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1
Squire Goyf- squire 1/2
Knight Goyf- Knight Errant 2/3
Highland Goyf- Highland Giant 3/4
Leatherback Goyf- Leatherback Behemoth 4/5
Goyf Superion- Myr Superion 5/6
Tarmorygmos-Borborygmos 6/7
His power level is over 9000!- (none exist) 7/8
Super sayian Goyf- (none exist) 8/9
V. Sample Decklists/Variations of Zoo:
Naya Zoo
This is the evolution of your tried and true Naya zoo. It generally gos bigger than other zoo lists and relies on burn removal and disruption like Blood moon.
You have a bit more freedom if you go naya, but generally you want to have 5-9 mana dorks, to get your self to bigger spells. You can skip kird apes and go straight to smiters or knights, and top out with planeswalkers, or baneslayer angels.
PTQ Barsolona:
Andrea Ciotta - Planeswalker's Zoo
Top4
1 Ghost QUarter
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Forest
2 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Quasali Pridemage
2 Domri Rade
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Burst Lightning
2 Batterskull
3 Blood Moon
1 Seal of Fire
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Ajani Vegeant
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Spellskite
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Anciente Grudge
2 Sowing Salt
3 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Domain Zoo
The trick with domain zoo is to apply alot of early damage, but then domain out a huge damage out put. an example play could be turn 1 kird ape, turn 2 add rancor, swing for 4 (Op. at 16). turn 3 swing, add might of alara, boros charm doubled strike, hit for 22 (op. at -26. Yay.)
The above might be magical christmas land and all but its a very reliable damage output. However you open yourself up to a lot of shock land damage. Older lists used to be bigger and run things like bloodbraid elves and giest of st. taft. But with aggro being faster, and braid being banned, it can't do that reliably anymore. As such, its sorta merged with Small zoo, opting to be more aggressive early.
4-0 online
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
20 lands
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Loam Lion
4 Steppe Lynx
20 creatures
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Might of Alara
4 Rancor
4 Tribal Flames
20 other spells
3 Path to Exile
3 Pyroclasm
3 Skullcrack
2 Stony Silence
4 Torpor Orb
Aquarium/ Blue Zoo
Aquarium Zoo is a play on the fact that it runs blue. Whats a zoo with water called? Bingo. Anywho this deck plays like Domain zoo, but relies a bit more on Giest of St. Taft to win. His being hexproof and being a 6 powered dude, gives him a huge boost, and since you're already running more colors, you can push in on the Domain game plan anyways.
Seattle 24.20.2013
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazin...tq/0224seattle
1st place
1 Blood Crypt
1 Breeding Pool
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
22 lands
4 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Tarmogoyf
21 creatures
3 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Path to Exile
4 Tribal Flames
17 other spells
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Arc Trail
2 Blind Obedience
4 Molten Rain
1 Path to Exile
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Ray of Revelation
Gruul Zoo
This is the new guy on the scene, and making some big splashes. This deck is possible because the boggie man that is jund is gone. Also because Gatecrash gave us some crazy cards. A semi nacatl replacement in Experiment One, a "free" 2 cmc creature drop in Burning-Tree Emissary, and and uncounterable 4/4 tample pump/big creature late game in Ghor Clan Rampager. It also showed off the power that is Flint Hoof Boar. Most lists are starting to splash white, but below is the list that inspired the deck.
Seattle 23.02.2013
First Place
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazin...tq/0223seattle
1 Forest
2 Misty Rainforest
5 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Stomping Ground
1 Teetering Peaks
2 Verdant Catacombs
21 lands
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Experiment One
4 Flinthoof Boar
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
27 creatures
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Seal of Fire
4 Searing Blaze
12 other spells
3 Blood Moon
2 Deglamer
2 Dismember
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Shatterstorm
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Volcanic Fallout
Boros Zoo
60 cards
4 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
4 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
22 lands
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Plated Geopede
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Tarmogoyf
27 creatures
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
11 other spells
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Blood Moon
1 Combust
4 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Lightning Helix
4 Thoughtseize
Major Tournaments Results:
2013:
Ton of PTQs with Naya, aquarium, but mostly Gruul zoo and Domain.
2012:a
PTQs:
Many many tribal flames and boom bust. Its not really Zoo, more of a zoo jund love child, but worth looking at! Too many to list, but heres the link!
Protour Return to Ravnica-
Blue and Boom Zoo did well, but not well enough to top 8. Jund's deathrite shaman crushed them.
18 points or better:
Boom//Bust Zoo
Domain Zoo
6 spots of the Players Championships were domain/blue zoo. Reason being mostly because snapping back tribal flames is half a life. A lot of things such as using giest instead of knight, and the sheer power of grim lava macer shines in a tempo format.
Blue Zoos
Other Threads you might find helpful:
Everything you will ever need to know about modern
Online metagame
Who's the Beat down? by Mike Flores. When should an aggro deck speed it, and when should it be a more controling game?
Thanks for stopping by the Zoo! Lucky ya didn't get eatten See ya, next time!
Credits:
Primer 1.0 by Raalic
Dailies results provided by BlippyTheSlug
Decks to beat info Provided by BlippyTheSlug
Closing pic by Polishtamales
Edit: Primer complete!
However you might want to remove the Wild Nacatl from the older decklists; brings back painful memories of the bannings
In addition if Vexing devil proves useful Proclamation of Rebirth may also sneak its way into sideboards and could be mentioned. Also Thrun, the last troll could also be mentioned vs control.
Personally I like to play blue zoo atm and if you get time you could update that list. But the thalia zoo looks intriguing and I shall test it out!
I'm striving for the best primer it can be, and I'll be updating them with the dailys that roll in! Plus there was quite a bit I had to do yesterday, had to update a lot.
Edit: done as requested.
Looks really good, Lantern. Can't wait to see how Zoo does in the coming months.
And for our first forum list... my current build:
2 Kird Ape
1 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Loam Lion
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Vexing Devil
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
3 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Forest
3 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Slayer's Stronghold
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Leyline of Punishment
2 Krosan Grip
3 Shattering Spree
2 Boom / Bust
2 Mindbreak Trap
CG
will update it in a sec. I've added boom//Bust to my thalia as well, just as a 3 of for testing, seems promising though
Modern Junk Primer
Legacy ANT Primer
L1 Judge
Thanks. Did my best to make it up to date, and comprehensive enough to teach new players how to play the deck with out too much adjustment. Maybe theres enough to get people to think about picking it up and playing it again.
Also the "magic results" section should be updated at least weekly, so we can invite people to check in more often, but hopefully the "ZOO and YOO" section generate some conversation, as its all about people posting on this thread, they're current decklists, and what their results have been!
Other than that (and the mysteriously broken colour tags), good work!
Glad to see people like it! Add fixed. Thanks for pointing it out! you caught the copy pasta. and dunno why the color has done that, its the 3rd time I had to fix it.
Can you play Thalia in a Boom//Bust list with BBE? If I'm looking to curve into BBE, is 8 one drops enough? Do you count Vexing Devil as a 1-drop creature or can you also count it as a direct burn spell? This is moreso directed at Raalic; why only one KotR? Are the other creatures better than it in this list? (specifically Ranger?). How does Proclamation of Rebirth do in these lists? To me, it seems nuts with Vexing Devil and even pretty great with things like Loam Lion/Kird Ape and Goblin Guide.
So basically, after the reading the primer and with my questions still posed this is my tentative list;
1x Grim Lavamancer
4x Vexing Devil
4x Goblin Guide
2x Kird Ape
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Knight of the Reliquary
3x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Ranger of Eos
Other Spells: 12
2x Proclamation of Rebirth
2x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Helix
4x Lightning Bolt
4 Arid Mesa
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
3 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Raging Ravine
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Slayers' Stronghold
2 Path to Exile
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Elspeth Knight Errant
3 Ancient Grudge
Very nice primer, Lantern. It's one of the reasons i decided to assemble my very own Zoo.
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CG
Awesome news! I'll post your list up In ZOO and YOO in a second, just let me know if you have any changes.
Ive been mixing thalia and Boom//Bust for a while now. I think the way to go about it is either having 3 in the side, with 4 main thalias, or run 4 boom//bust main and either 2 or 3 thailas main. Theres another issue, see below.
As far as vexing devil goes I've found that the 3 most successful builds of Zoo are Thalia's Menagerie, followed by Boom//Bust followed by "Boros" Zoo. But they don't mix too well. Thalia's Menagerie is very traditional zoo, just more creature heavy. Small curve, efficent creatures, burn ect ect.
Boom//Bust is more or less Big Zoo with a twist. Its good, but you have to keep big Zoo's Ideals, it wants value in creature threat, rather then just efficency. Knight, bloodbraid, ect. So it uses ramp rather than burn. Noble Hierchs and what not. But it doesnt really like kird ape, loam lion, guide, even Grim sometimes.
So that being said if you wanted to run boom//bust you got to think bigger.
I'm going to update the primer with a small tidbit in the verations sections.
Edit: done!
Edit V2: after some testing, I've decided that Boo//Bust is only worth it if you have bloodbraid elves to get the full benefit from it. To many times I would have just rather had Sowing Salt for the matchups I sided it in, or just magus of the moon. which can mess up control matchups too. I think of your big Zoo with Boom//Bust, then it works out for you, but if your normal Thalia Zoo, your better off SB Magus of the moon, blood moon, or sowing Salt
Being this is the longest thing I've ever wrote, and thats one nitpick I'm very ok with it. Thanks for the catch
PS guys. Alot of Boom Bust over the last month. Most with Thalias sideboard. Reaction to a ton of Tron? or New main deck incusions. I highly suggest you guys check out the daily section, theres been some pretty cool versions. Hound makes a guest appearance in one. Also, thank Mr. Blippy for the continued updates!
Speaking of updates, I added a knowing the meta section, with a brief explanation of other decks, links to their primers and how we as zoo players should play those games out.
That makes sense. I've played with Armageddon extensively in cube, and it typically shines in aggro or midrange with a few 4cc - 6cc fatties at the top of the curve.
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Just as a nitpick, 22+24+16 = 62.
Great new primer by the way, very detailed!
Thankya, lottttt a zoo experiences. And I wanted to make it so after a read of this, you can make a deck and go at it with an easy transition.
Will edit that bit now
Decklist used:
4 Steppe Lynx
2 Kird Ape
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Loam Lion
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
1 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Slayers' Stronghold
I was up against affinity, So I knew I was in pretty bad shape the minute I saw the memnite drop. I'm not really ready for affinity, with vexs and what not. Sure enough game one was over pretty fast... I played the control, burn heavy. But I slipped up and let an ornathopter live. 2 equips of cranial plate later, I found myself at 6 life.
Side:-3 Vex, +2 qasali pridemage, +1 ancient grudge
game 2 I started with a hand of burn and a dumb choice. I needed white mana for almost everything (helix, path, knight) but I cracked for basics, (fearing the moon) and never got a white mana. I was able to hold of on my own, and make a pretty amazing comeback however, off the back of a Knight activating stronghold. Chunks of life came out of him then.
Game 3 was alot of the same, just me not being able to kill plate, and deal with aggro.
What I learned from this, dont underestimate the little aggro. I've rebuilt my deck to be a bit more hybrid of midrange and aggro, so I can more effectivly play the control in these situations. See below.
3 Loam Lion
4 Steppe Lynx
2 Kird Ape
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
1 Forked Bolt
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Marsh Flats
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Slayers' Stronghold
Modern Daily #3918778 on 06/04/2012Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
1 Breeding Pool
1 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Kird Ape
2 Loam Lion
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Batterskull
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
2 Psionic Blast
1 Pithing Needle
3 Spell Pierce
2 Stony Silence
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Torpor Orb
2 Unified Will
Interesting thing that 3-1'd in the dailies; Most notably; Geist over KotR and the addition of Psionic Blast.
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