Well then, hello every one, id just like to start off by saying that the old zoo thread has not had a post since November of last year and it played some arguable cards that didn’t seem right to my initial instincts. Currently, WGR is pwning type 2, a well-defined Meta that contains every single deck from agro to midrange agro to control and combo. Why is that deck doing better then the legacy one? simple, it plays the philosophy of fire, cards= damage= win. This means that every card played is worth a certain amount of damage in a game. Ideally when you have cards that equate to 20 damage, you win…

Lets look at the old zoo list and compare

4 goblin legionnaire
4 nimble mongoose
3 werebear
4 blastoderm
3 savannah lions

4 lightning bolt
4 incinerate
4 fire/ice

4 swords to plowshares
2 tithe

4 isocron scepter

3 wooded foothills
2 windswept heath
4 plateau
4 taiga
4 savannah
1 mountain
1 forest
1 plains

Note, this is only the list taken directly from the San Diego Zoo list, a deck that dose not revolve around the philosophy of fire. Cards like isocron scepter, tithe and swords, wile rather good in control decks, are horrendously bad here. What happens when you top deck scepter? I know what I do, I yell FUCK out loud and I wish to kill my self. So what is the remedy for this problem? Play a better fucking deck

Hears the list, there are some arguable cards in hear as with all decks, but please bare with me as I try to explain the importance of every single card.

Lands
4 wastelands
4 taigas
4 plateau
4 wooded foothills
4 windswept heaths
1 bloodstained mire

creatures
4 Kird apes
4 Grim lavamancer
3 Isamaru
1 Savannah lions
4 Watch wolfs
4 Wld mongrels

burn
3 magma jets
4 incinerates
4 lightning bolt
4 chain lightning
4 fire blast

Yes sir this is the deck. Is averages a turn 4 clock with mana disruption and the ability to finish out side of combat. Do you see the difference between this deck and that previous one? All of these cards are business spells. They all work directly towards winning you the game.

Hear are the card choices
Mana base
All of the lands are necessary; wasteland is VERY helpful in some of the more unfavorable match ups. Currently im playing 21 because wasteland makes the mana a little to tight for 20 lands. Wasteland is also more important then savannah because savannah cant be pitched to fire blast, or be used to disrupt your opponent

Creatures
4 kird apes- this guy is amazing. 2/3 for R yeah he’s reds best 1 drop

3 isamaru- I guess you could say that its kird apes little brother. As a 2/2 for 1 he’s still amazing, he gets the job done and helps with damage races. Also the other savannah lion is in there due to the legendary factor.

4 grim- this guy is great against every deck out there with the acceptation of combo. His ability to deal 2 damage makes him a very strong choice. He can finish games out side of combat as well as pick guys off so you can swing thought with your bigger creatures

4 watch wolf- 3/3 for 2, sure ill take it, actually, id take 8 if I could…

4 wild mongrel- well he is no watch wolf, but he can use your late game lands and turn them into damage. Also, combo with grim makes him next to invincible.

Burn
4 bolt- yeah

4 chain- yeah

4 incinerate- well I guess I could play helix, but then the mana is VERY tight and 1 waste land just makes it suck

3 magma jets- 2 damage was under whelming… I was never very impressed with this card, however, scry is useful and its better then the fire/ice crap they were playing in that other zoo deck.

4 fire blast- yes this card ends games. It says “take 4, and like it.” The ability to play it literally for free when you race against other decks makes this card one of a kind.

Cards that weren’t included
Mogg fantastic- well I was already playing grim and I didn’t using him against combo. He was just to slow.

Skyshoud elite- ehh, when your running wasteland, it gets interesting and I didn’t want to be put into that situation, besides, Isamaru is always a 2/2

Scab-clan mauler- well he is like 4 more watch wolves, but he’s also not… the fact that you must damage your opponent is very relevant. If decks can deal with turn 1 lack, then they can deal with this decks 1 drop threats.

Goblin Ligonier- very good card, excellent at everything, but is also WR to cast. I had trouble running him side by side watch wolf.

Lightning helix- again, the mana was just to tight.

All of the 3 and 4 drop creatures
They were just to slow, I would play them on there respected turns and realize that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with combo decks and don’t say mana acceleration because that’s just a big waste of time.

SB options and my personal choices
4 pyrostatic pillar- the best card against storm combo
4 red blast- good all around against fish, combo and blue based control
2 sword of light and shadow- insane against swords and fish decks, enough said
3 joten grunt- kills decks that work out of the graveyard
2 krosian grip- deals with random stuff

Match ups,
Goblins- wow this was surprisingly easy 70-30 pro board and 80-20 post board. The gobs player has 2 options, early vial (probably the best) and early lackey. If he goes early vial, then I will literally kill him in 4 turns provided that he doesn’t see any mana disruption. What does a goblins player do against kird ape? He crys because he realizes that a 2/3 for 1 is better the any creature he has in his deck. If he goes lackey, then you simply burn his lackey and kill him with 2/2s, 2/3s and 3/3s. If worst comes to worst, just slap down grim and kill everything he owns.

Threshold- 60/40 pre, 70/30 post depending on your board. Honestly, thresh cant deal with wasteland. They usually get thresh around turn 4/5 and by then, their dead… post board, you can bring in all sorts of cards from joten grunt to sword of light and shadow. You might be saying?!?! What? Why not fire and ice? Hears the reasoning… what’s the most common removal spell playing in 1.5? its easy, swords to plowshares. And SOLS gives pro white and also makes your guys equal to threshes bears. Lavamancer obviously doesn’t do much hear, but he can end the game if the board is locked.

Storm basted combo- yeah its not a favorable mach up (40-60 pre 50-50 post) although my brother has not lost around against storm combo playing only G/R ape shit… pyrostatic pillar is good game hear. Decks like TES cant deal with it and usually you can disrupt them with wasteland because there mana base is so terrible.

Dead guy- (60-40 pre 60-40 post) discard? Not that good… he has some good creatures, but yours are better. Just kill confidant early. Shade is also an easy target because you need mana open to make it work. The only creature to be worried about is joten grunt and he dies after 2 turns. Post board, bring it jitte and kill him. Hymn can also be anying early in the game, but if you hammer out early beats, you should win the game.

Truffle shuffle- (35-65 pre 35-65 post) wow this is bad. He has everything in his deck that kills you. Board sweeps, spot removal and on top of that, he can gain life to… how lame. Most times it just comes down to weather or not he had the hierarch or not. Wasteland does help, but not enough

Fairy stompy- (60-40 pre 65-35 post) honestly, I don’t see what is so damn good about this deck. It plays some of the worst cards in the game… come on psy blast? Are you kidding me? Also, they get pwned by their mana base because ancient tomb kicks the crap out of them. Wasteland will be relevant hear. Its also fun to watch them play sea drake on turn 2, scoop up 2 lands and then kill it with a bolt, very funny, I laugh every time… wild mongrel helps against the chalets. Post, just bring in jitte, that’s all that matters.

Lands decks like landstill and 43 land- (70-30 pre 75-25 post) Tabernacle is a plain in the ass, but most of the time, you only need to deal 10 points of creature damage. After that, burn to the dome and watch him die. If he drop Orb to save him self, finish with creatures, because his mana base will be nonexistent.

In closing, this deck as fairly good games against most of the meta, only decks with turn 1 wins of massive amounts of gain life cant really hang with it. Any thoughts on 21 lands? Any thoughts on chalice and its impact on the deck? Is philosophy of fire the right call here?