[Free Article] A Trip to the Zoo

[voltron00x]

Hi Legacy, it's been a little while...

I was testing some Legacy this week, mostly playing Zoo, and it struck me that a lot of people who have dabbled in Legacy weren't really familiar with the story of Zoo in 2009. So, that's my article this week, building a bit on my choice of Qasali Pridemage as my favorite new card of 2009 in last week's article. I track Zoo at some of the big events in 2009, starting with the "Naya Burn" list (as its listed in the SCG database) deck Brian Six played at GP: Chicago through to more recent lists from this year's SCG $5Ks.

I believe that Zoo has been a very good thing for Legacy. For people that own Goyfs, it is affordable, competitive, relatively easy to learn, and doesn't require overwhelming knowledge of the format (which is difficult when the format in question is Legacy).

However, Zoo's results seem to be tapering off of late, and I wonder if that isn't because Zoo has moved awfully far from its original lists to include bigger creatures and less burn (like Price of Progress moved to the SB or cut completely) to gain an edge in the mirror - a mirror match that's becoming more rare, if my local meta in any way mirrors what's going on nationally. I offer some thoughts on this as well.

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/18489_The_Long_Winding_Road_A_Trip_to_the_Zoo.html

Enjoy.

[Aggro_zombies]

Fireblast still seems kind of crappy in this deck. Price of Progress is a better (and less risky versus blue) finisher that doesn't strain your mana or set you behind if you have to use it early for whatever reason. Besides, pretty much the only thing in the format that dies to Fireblast but doesn't die to your Bolts is RWM, and three-for-one-ing yourself to get rid of it seems rather underwhelming.

Personally, I don't see the problem with going for the big dude approach. It gives the deck a bit more staying power against aggro-control decks that can block (Counterbalance) or race (RMW, Jitte) your burn spells. I've been using this list in my testing lately, and find it to be quite solid:

4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chain Lightning
2 Lightning Helix
3 Price of Progress
3 Path to Exile
3 Sylvan Library

4 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
3 Taiga
2 Savannah
1 Plateau
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain

[Meister_Kai]

As a side note, I believe that nobody plays Skyshroud Elite because he is mostly a worse Kird Ape, the creature that to many is the weak link in Zoo's creature base anyway.

I do not play Zoo, do not own Zoo, do not wish to do either of the aforementioned, but Zoo is still one of my favorite decks. The reason this is is because Zoo, in my opinion, acts as a sort of buffer. Basically, if your proposed johnny magic playing self can not come up with an aggro deck that cannot beat, or at least test as well as Zoo, you don't play it. I believe that the deck, like Tarmogoyf, stifles creativity in some ways. For instance your aggro deck is probably just worse.

However, I feel that this is good. I think that Zoo attempts to solidify the format. It cleans it up, much like Belcher and variants of ANT are the mostly the only combo decks worth playing. It also takes a lot of older legacy decks that people still try to play occasionally, such as Angel Stompy and Enchantress, which were designed to beat the Zoo's of their time, and shows that once and for all the decks just don't have it anymore, that it is time to move on and either build a different idea, or join the party and build a proposed tier one deck. I think that moves like this are bad for people who play Legacy like its "nostalgia - the format" but good for things like Starcity 5ks and people trying to make Legacy a pro friendly format, a format they won't groan on about playtesting - there won't be as many decks to playtest against. Reprinting duals and the such would also help this a ton, and I am totally in agreement to reprinting said duals, but thats neither here nor there.

Also, I definitely agree with you about pridemage, that card is just insane.

[THEchubbymuffin]

Loved the article, very well written.

But there is one part that actually made me spit water (missed my keyboard though!).


there are other combo decks (like 43 Land)

Is it really considered a combo deck? I always imagined it as almost a control deck, slowing down the pace gaining advantage and beating with man-lands.

Not to nit-pick on a well written article, I am actually wondering if I have been an idiot this whole time (would not be a first).

Thanks for the free articles!

[voltron00x]

Loved the article, very well written.

But there is one part that actually made me spit water (missed my keyboard though!).



Is it really considered a combo deck? I always imagined it as almost a control deck, slowing down the pace gaining advantage and beating with man-lands.

Not to nit-pick on a well written article, I am actually wondering if I have been an idiot this whole time (would not be a first).

Thanks for the free articles!

You know... I have no idea. I suppose I sort of thought of it as a big-spell combo deck. Think Enduring Ideal, for instance. That deck needs to find and resolve Ideal, and then it becomes a control deck from that point as it locks itself into Phase 3.

43 Land kind of does the same thing. It needs to resolve an accelerator (Manabond, Exploration), AND find Life from the Loam. From there, it quickly works to enter Phase 3 where it takes control of the game.

However, it basically runs no traditional control cards - no removal (outside of Wasteland and Tabernacle, if you count that), no counterspells, no traditional card draw.

If you want to consider it a Loam Control deck, I'll buy it, but I think if you look at the cards its using (Intuition, Gamble) it feels like a combo deck to me, albeit a nontraditional one.

My article next week goes over my favorite decks from 2009, and 43 Land is on there because its such a weird animal...

[voltron00x]

Fireblast still seems kind of crappy in this deck. Price of Progress is a better (and less risky versus blue) finisher that doesn't strain your mana or set you behind if you have to use it early for whatever reason. Besides, pretty much the only thing in the format that dies to Fireblast but doesn't die to your Bolts is RWM, and three-for-one-ing yourself to get rid of it seems rather underwhelming.

Personally, I don't see the problem with going for the big dude approach. It gives the deck a bit more staying power against aggro-control decks that can block (Counterbalance) or race (RMW, Jitte) your burn spells. I've been using this list in my testing lately, and find it to be quite solid:

4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Knight of the Reliquary

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Chain Lightning
2 Lightning Helix
3 Price of Progress
3 Path to Exile
3 Sylvan Library

4 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
2 Arid Mesa
3 Taiga
2 Savannah
1 Plateau
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain

I'm perfectly ok with this list, and I'd definitely sleeve it up and play it, save for one part - 3 Sylvan Library is probably one too many. I'd think you'd want to change one into a 3rd Knight of the Reliquary for synergy with Lynx. I know that Library is awesome (especially in a deck packing Lynx), but any hand with 2 is probably an auto-mull.

[Shawn]

Nice article. I really like Price main, yes it's bad against merfolk and the mirror, but nuts against most of your other matchups.


Qasali Pridemage and Path to Exile would come later in the year, but this list is already playing Ethersworn Canonist as an anti-combo measure in the sideboard.

Path was already available.

[voltron00x]

Nice article. I really like Price main, yes it's bad against merfolk and the mirror, but nuts against most of your other matchups.



Path was already available.

That part was poorly worded on my part. Pridemage literally came out later; Path was available, but not widely adopted by the format until later.

[Aggro_zombies]

I'm perfectly ok with this list, and I'd definitely sleeve it up and play it, save for one part - 3 Sylvan Library is probably one too many. I'd think you'd want to change one into a 3rd Knight of the Reliquary for synergy with Lynx. I know that Library is awesome (especially in a deck packing Lynx), but any hand with 2 is probably an auto-mull.
This is true to a certain extent, but Library actually works quite well with Lynx by ensuring you a never-ending supply of lands, at least well into the midgame. Knight can do this as well, but you're generally less happy to tap a 5/5 or bigger Knight to turn your Lynx into a 4/5 than you are to just take a land out of your top three and play it for the turn.

2.5 Libraries actually seems to be the right number from testing. At only two copies, it doesn't quite show up in the frequency I want it to, but at three it can occasionally show up too often. Given the number of shuffle effects in that list, I'm more okay with the latter scenario than the former. Sticking a Library is ridiculous versus, like, 70% of the format.