[Deck] Zoo

[Rizso]

Barely ever encounter a real problem between the Lavamancer and Knight. If looks bad on papper but it barely every happends in a real game. Both cards are to good to cut of. I play 3 knights as well, I think playing 3 Stoneforge is 1 to many when you only use Jitte and the collar as your equipments. I use 2 Stoneforge 1 jitte, 1 sofi, 1 sols and extra stoneforge in the board with an extra Jitte and a collar. Love the Stoneforge package. Bit slower then 20 spells versions but more treats and the protection given by the swords are very useful.

[jandax]

So that means you have time to set all that up? Just curious

[hungryLIKEALION]

Got second today at TOGIT's Recall tournament with Survival Zoo. List and Report to follow.

But as a teaser, the matchups...

2-1 MonoRedSligh
2-0 MonoUFolk
2-1 Zoo
2-1 Deadguy Ale
ID
ID
Quarters:2-0 Zoo
Semis:2-1 UBFolk
Finals:1-2 Natural Order Elves. Still reeling.

[IrishLegend]

Can you post your list please?

[jandax]

Second sentence in, he says List and Report to come.

wow.

[Grillo]

I just won a 24-ish ppl event yesterday with big zoo!
Here is the list (it has been posted before) and a micro-report:

// Lands
1 [U] Savannah
1 [OD] Plains (3)
1 [RAV] Forest (2)
3 [TE] Wasteland
2 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
2 [U] Plateau
2 [U] Taiga
2 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
4 [ON] Wooded Foothills
4 [ON] Windswept Heath

// Creatures
3 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [TO] Grim Lavamancer
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [ALA] Wild Nacatl
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary

// Spells
2 [LG] Sylvan Library
2 [CFX] Path to Exile
4 [4E] Swords to Plowshares
4 [RAV] Lightning Helix
2 [ALA] Ajani Vengeant
2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 2 [DK] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 [IA] Pyroblast
SB: 2 [4E] Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 3 [SHM] Faerie Macabre

round 1: Death'n Taxes (green splash) Win 2-1
G1: Tough game. Tarmos + Mother of Runes are really annoying. Eventually Swords + Knight + Elspeth get there.
G2: He has Kitchen Finks this time joining the utility creatures. Some Mangara of Corondor tricks plus a horde of creatures kill me rather quickly.
G3: I Wasteland his lands and Grip his Vials. I kill him in short order.

1-0

round 2: U/G survival madness. Win 2-1
G1: I don't have an answer for his early Survival and I die turn 3 killed by flying Vengevines.
G2: He gets a Game Loss for bad deck registering. Lucky me.
G3: I sideboard Grips, Faeries and Crypts. I get to Grip a Survival. I Remove from the game a Vengevine and some Wild Mongrels and he can't get the engine going again. A big Knight gets there.

2-0

round 3: Zoo. Lost 1-2
G1: I basically can´t keep up with the constant stream of creatures. I lose. I really thought that the "mirror" should be easy for me. The result gets me a bit sad.
G2: I don't sideboard anything. I'm sure I should be able to beat Zoo with the main deck. This time I manage to do it.
G3: He beats me again. I just don't draw enough removal or threats. :(

2-1

round 4: Led-less Dredge. Win 2-0
G1: He mulligans to 5. I keep my initial 7. He starts playing a City of Brass. I Wasteland. He then does nothing. I win fast with a Knight.
G2: I side in Teegs, Faeries and Crypts. I draw a Crypt and 2 Faeries in my initial 7. He starts with Cabal Therapy naming naming Relic of Progenitus (fail). I play land, Crypt. He get his dredging started but I remove some creatures from the game (Path to Exile was great ;) and use my Crypt when needed. Knight does his thing again.

3-1

round 5: Merfolk. ID
This guy always plays Merfolk. His deck is very tight and he is a very good player. Luckily we agree to ID and we go to the top8.

3-1-1

TOP8

round 6: Ug Merfolk. Win 2-0
G1: He never gets into the game. I control the board and Hierarchs + Knight beat him to death.
G2: More of the same.

quarter finals: Eva Green. Win 2-1
G1: Tight game. But I get to control the game with planeswakers.
G2: I mull to 4!! I play land Nacatl. He plays land. I play land. He plays Hymn to Tourach! :S And I go into top deck mode.
It was a long game and I almost won it!! But in the end he had too much removal.
G3: I win playing turns.

finals: Merfolk. Win 2-1
This is the guy I ID with.
G1: I win fairly easy with big threats.
G2: He beats me. I make some mistakes out of tiredness and he doesn't forgive that.
G3: Long game. Swords and planeswalkers get me there.

WIN the tournament!!
I got two foil Natural Orders and a foil Burning Wish for my troubles.
Great tourney. Great deck.


By far the best tech are the Hierarchs and Knights. They win games.
Also planeswalkers are great recovering from bad situations when the game goes long.

[sauce]

a "zoo" deck w/o lightning bolts... i think its more like naya midrange than zoo.

[Grillo]

a "zoo" deck w/o lightning bolts... i think its more like naya midrange than zoo.

Well, I commented before that this deck might not be a Zoo deck any more.
But I feel that the discussion should start here anyway.

[Nelis]

Also planeswalkers are great recovering from bad situations when the game goes long.

Let me start off to concratulate you on your result.

I'm in doubt a bit when it comes to above statement. Not that they're bad cards (not at all) but is it not so that because of the high casting costs of these cards and the way the deck is constructed you enter games that go long more often? In other words if you would play a fast list with more burn you wouldn't get to the long game and thus there would be no need for those cards in the first place.

Now on a totally different subject. I have been playing UWT for a while and I've grown very fond of its sideboard which utilizes an Enlightened Tutor toolbox.
Since combo decks have been slowed down by the banning of Mystical Tutor I have the feeling it's worth running anti combo cards again in Zoo's sidebard. So I have started constructing a different type of sideboard with this in mind. At the moment its still in its concept stage:

3 Enlightened Tutor

1 Wheel of Sun And Moon
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod's Crypt

1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Gaddock Teeg

3 Krosan Grip

1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Path To Exile

What do you think? (about the card choices and/or about the concept in general)

[Valtrix]

I actually like the idea of an enlightened tutor board quite a bit, as I've tried such things in the past not with zoo, but other decks. My only concern with the Enlightened Tutor Board is that it might cost too much tempo. Say versus dredge turn 1 enlightened tutor into wheel sucks up our first two turns of mana. Likewise against combo, and they can still wish for answers. That said, since we have a very aggressive deck it's very likely that this type of board would work very well.

I think the GY hate is too much, since I'd rather get wheel to shut them down completely, or crypt for tempo, and relic is pretty meh in general when we have lavamancers, goyfs, and knights. Plus I think that much hate is unnecessary.

Two combo hate targets seem good. I like canonist and I like having a second target with thorn. I'm not sure about Teegs in the board. I've generally just hated them whenever I've played them, main or not.

Also, the board should have at least one blood moon. It'd be nice to have outs to lands.

I think the tutor board is most effective vs. dredge, combo, and lands. I'm not sure that there's back-breaking enchantments or artifacts in other colors. Perhaps you could find room for a choke, but I'm not sure you want to be boarding in tutors and a choke in blue MUs. It may be necessary against good blue control decks, but I'm not sure.

That said, I'd probably run a base of:

3 Enlightened Tutor
1 Wheel of sun and moon
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Thorn of Amythyst
1 Blood moon
(8 slots for the tutor part)

2 Krosan Grip
2 Duergar Hedge Mage
2 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Magus of the moon

Leaving 7 "regular" sideboard cards. I filled it in with things that I tend to run, but You could use them for whatever else you'd like.

[hungryLIKEALION]

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...14-10&p=481631

Report/List are up, as promised. Will happily answer questions here or there.

[lordofthepit]

LNow on a totally different subject. I have been playing UWT for a while and I've grown very fond of its sideboard which utilizes an Enlightened Tutor toolbox.

I think an Enlightened Tutor toolbox is a great idea. I'm leaning towards building my maindeck to destroy "fair" decks (like the mirror, Merfolk, and Goblins), while loading the sideboard with toolbox hate. I'm thinking of adding an Ensnaring Bridge (for the Show and Tell type decks) and a Pithing Needle (which is always handy game 2 when you know what to target early and can find your Needle with ET).

[Loxodon Baileyarch]

Since my meta is going back to traditional Counterbalance control, I'm thinking about cutting Lightning Helix and adding 3x Ancient Grudge, and 1x Teeg or something of that sort. This may not seem very optimal for an overall metagame, but in one where Counterbalance is always half the room, it seems the way to go. Plus I'm kinda not liking Lightning Helix as much as I used to, and there isn't very much true aggro so it seems like the right call.

Also, after playing Dragon Stompy for a good two months in tournaments, I wanna develop some sort of BloodMoon/Zoo list. It seems far fetched but I have seen the power of Blood Moon over and over again, and kinda wanna "innovate". So people with constructive comments about BloodZoo would be greatly appreciate.

[Nelis]

I think an Enlightened Tutor toolbox is a great idea. I'm leaning towards building my maindeck to destroy "fair" decks (like the mirror, Merfolk, and Goblins), while loading the sideboard with toolbox hate. I'm thinking of adding an Ensnaring Bridge (for the Show and Tell type decks) and a Pithing Needle (which is always handy game 2 when you know what to target early and can find your Needle with ET).

Personally I wouldn't want to cloud my sideboard with too many targets. I would focus on the really tough match-ups (combo) and make use of other solutions against the other decks. For instance I wouldn't put in Aura of Silence because it's tutor-able but would stick to Krosan Grip because its better.

I think the GY hate is too much, since I'd rather get wheel to shut them down completely, or crypt for tempo, and relic is pretty meh in general when we have lavamancers, goyfs, and knights. Plus I think that much hate is unnecessary.

Two combo hate targets seem good. I like canonist and I like having a second target with thorn. I'm not sure about Teegs in the board. I've generally just hated them whenever I've played them, main or not.

I think you have to take into account that you rather draw the hate than that you tutor for it. Also it is possible that they have an answer for your graveyard hate so you need to increase the chance of drawing or tutoring for another piece of hate.

I would maybe be inclined to make use of 2 Enlightened Tutors and add a hate piece for each match up. That takes one slot more but I feel that it is important to have enough hate to battle those match-ups because otherwise its of no use and we could just as well not run any combo hate.

Also, if I compare this deck to UWT we also miss a way to counter spells so that means we need more hate that those decks that also run counter-suite.

I've been a great fan of Teeg but it all depends on taste and metagame I guess.

@ Loxodon: I think if you want to go for a Bloodzoo deck RG sligh might be a better option. If you want to go three colors, you probably want to make use of Noble Hierarch. Maybe you should make red the third color so you can basically go for (simplyfied) plains, Loam Lion, forest Pridemage, mountain Blood Moon.

[Ecoris]

Stompy for a good two months in tournaments, I wanna develop some sort of BloodMoon/Zoo list. It seems far fetched but I have seen the power of Blood Moon over and over again, and kinda wanna "innovate". So people with constructive comments about BloodZoo would be greatly appreciate.

I guess you are already famailiar with "Blood Zoo" or "BB Zoo" from the old extended. Otherwise: http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=33131

[Loxodon Baileyarch]

Yeah I was thinking I would have to run more basics and runs Hierarch, and I would wanna keep it three colors. It would slow down my build that's "slower" than the sligh variants, but I would wanna play it anyway. Plus, I wanted to go the whole slower more control-ish route instead of a sligh version. It would remind me almost of standard Naya but without the cuteness factor of BBElf or any of that expensive stuff.

[Dark Ritual]

Aura of silence doubles as both combo hate and enchantment/artifact removal. It also cripples enchantress pretty hardcore, one of this decks more troublesome MUs. Aura of silence makes combo's LED's, chrome moxen, and lotus petals pretty bad, especially if they cannot make enough mana with rituals to combo off or are relying on casting AN with no mana floating after spending 3BB. But it is a little slow being 3 mana. An e. tutor toolbox is appropriate for some metagames but the real question is, what MUs does it improve? Is it worth the tempo loss/card disadvantage? Why is this approach to the SB better than more 'traditional' SB approach?

[BantFTW]

What do you guys think about the 3/2 can't be target of spells or ability's target opponent controls and regenerate 2 over knight of the reliquary.
I played against a zoo deck with it and lost all the games almost on him so...
I think that's a quite good card if you ask me?
What do you guys think?

About my sideboard, it's like this:
3x choke
3x REB
2x krosan grip
3x relic of progenitus
4x leyline of sancity

but I need room for 3 gaddock teegs so what I would cut?
Was thinking of 2x grip and & leyline of sancity?

Lemme know

[Nelis]

I think its worth against the real combo decks like AN variants & Dredge. Especially against Dredge we need a turn 2 (or 1) hate piece. AN give us some more time but I wouldn't want to wait too long. I think that against these decks the Tempo loss/card disadvantage is definitely worth it.

Personally I'm willing to ignore Enchantress. Of all the time that I play of Legacy I only encountered that deck once or twice. But if its part of someones meta-game then why not put 1 or 2 in the board.

What do you guys think about the 3/2 can't be target of spells or ability's target opponent controls and regenerate 2 over knight of the reliquary.
I played against a zoo deck with it and lost all the games almost on him so...
I think that's a quite good card if you ask me?
What do you guys think?

Troll Ascetic you man? It seems a bit slow and the GG can be a problem, especially when facing a deck with wastelands. Knight of the Reliquary can swing for a lot of damage. Did the deck also run Jitte?

[BantFTW]

yes jitte and collar, collar is a great card...
And kotr is just a PTE and it's gone so idk ^^