There's a modern 1K coming up, not sure if I want to go or not. The format doesn't interest me nearly as much as legacy, but I see an opportunity to take advantage of a shifting metagame with zoo. It's consistent and proactive, likely slightly faster than traditional burn but slightly slower than Prowess Red. The difference is resilience with a go-wide strategy. Heavy emphasis on 1-drops and blasting with Bushwhackers. Rancor is to make Lynx a 2 powered threat even without land drops and to make 1-drops huge.
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Loam Lion
4x Kird Ape
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Experiment One
4x Burning Tree Emissary
4x Reckless Bushwhacker
2x Goblin Bushwhacker
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Rancor
4x Windswept Heath
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Stomping Ground
2x Sacred Foundry
2x Temple Garden
Sideboard is a crap-shoot, probably something like this:
3x Tormod's Crypt
3x Destructive Revelry
2x Grim Lavamancer
3x Kor Firewalker
4x Path to Exile
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Uber-necro here, I haven't played Modern in 2020 yet...
Looking at this dude and thinking it might be time to rebuild Zoo with possibly 8 Steppe Lynx. Being red is a pretty big upgrade, which means it can be played off Burning-Tree Emissary. The amount of absurd 1-drops will be incredibly powerful, blitzing for huge damage. I think this replaces Experiment One easily enough.
Rough list:
4x Wild Nacatl
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Akoum Hellhound
4x Kird Ape
4x Loam Lion
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Reckless Bushwhacker
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
2x Rancor
12x fetchlands
6x shocklands (maybe 1-2 basics)
Sideboard options (I have no clue what the format looks like right now...)
Path to Exile
Destructive Revelry
Tormod's Crypt
Deflecting Palm
Ghost Quarter
Cleansing Wildfire
Stony Silence
Ancient Grudge
Blessed Alliance
Surgical Extraction
This guy *might* be good enough, haste is better than first strike like Plated Geopede. I don't think I want 2 mana dudes though unless it's BTE or Bushwhacker.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Narnam Renegade is a much better version of ape and lion when you are already playing fetches. This card is often overlooked whenever I see bushwhacker zoo variants list like these. Another thing to consider when playing zoo variant like this is Atarka's Command. Command can deal loads of unexpected damage in a single turn when combined with bushwahckers.
I will get the ACommands in there, I can easily cut some number of Rancor/Helix.
Narnam Renegade is ok, I might replace Loam Lion with that. The deathtouch is fine, but it will enter as a 1/2 a non-zero amount of times, and I don't know how I feel about that. Its greatest value is in being green so I can cast it off BTE. It's likely that Goblin Guide is actually a strict upgrade, but I am also eyeballing Pyroclasm as a potential sweeper.
The real question: is an 8-steppe lynx deck viable in modern? I haven't played the format in over a year, so I don't know the answer to that.
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
Thanks for the tidbit, being weak to Lava Dart would be very bad. Losing 2 creatures at instant speed for only R would be devastating. Mutagenic Growth could be an option alongside sandbagging fetchlands.
I haven't tried Elvish Reclaimer yet, it could be pretty good alongside so many fetchlands. I don't think I would activate it unless it enabled 2+ Lynxes and wasn't already a 3/4, but the option is really sweet against stuff like Tron (grabbing sideboard Ghost Quarters.)
Brainstorm Realist
I close my eyes and sink within myself, relive the gift of precious memories, in need of a fix called innocence. - Chuck Shuldiner
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