These are options, but you also have maindeck Qasali Pridemages and sometimes Green Sun's Zenith to get them when you need them (Zenith easily plays around Counterbalance as well. Postboard you can bring Krosan Grip, Pithing Needle, Red Elemental Blast or whatever else you like. If you want to go a bit outside the box, try out Thrun, The Last Troll. He's amazing in a lot of matchups.
my currently build for now is aggro zoo which do not have any GSZ in main deck.. i was lost last sat. here in our country battling with mox sapphire unluckly got lost in 2 Counterbalance deck CounterThopter and UBR Counterbalance with 2 Maindeck Firesprout =(.. i got locked up by counterbalance top combo.. if only i win the matchup either the two of counterbalance deck i will go to top8 playoffs.. i finished 4-2-1
2 losses via counterbalance draw on gwb rock.
Can you link your aggro build? My bud has been running something akin to the cat sligh zoo lists and really likes it, although if the meta slows down he mentioned probably switching back to GSZ zoo.
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
Here's what I'm currently playing. GSZ Zoo doesn't fit my play style. This list runs well in a combo-heavy meta.Originally Posted by chags
21 Land
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Arid Mesa
3 Plateau
2 Taiga
1 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
23 Creatures
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Grim Lavamancer
2 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Kird Ape
16 Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
2 Sylvan Library
2 Fireblast
15 Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Choke
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
2 Serenity
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
/doublepost
Lol. By runs well you mean loses easily.
I'll rephrase.
"It does a better job of 'racing' combo than turn 1 Noble Hierarch, go."
Heh, I know what you meant, was just being a troll. I would think GSZ->Teeg would fare better though?
This is what I have pretty much settled on for the GP, let me know what you guys think. I'll post my decklist first let everyone comment before explaining card choices. So here it is:
"Silver Bullet" Zoo
21 Land
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Arid Mesa
2 Plateau
3 Taiga
2 Savannah
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
21 Creatures
3 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Vexing Shusher
18 Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
2 Sylvan Library
2 Price of Progress
2 Green Sun Zenith
15 Sideboard
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Krosan Grip
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Pyroblast
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Thrunn the Last Troll
1 Bojuka Bog
Let me know what you guys think. Any ideas or constructive criticism would be appreciated and like i said I'll give card choice explanations as the comments come in.
If you cut Steppe Lynx, you won't have to run as many fetches to support it,thus making room for Wasteland. Such a deck can support the card, if you have access to them, run three
The deck needs the fetches even without lynx. Ive debated a one of wasteland mainboard for pain in the ass lands. the deck just is very color intensive, i cant see running more than two at the maximum of wastelands.
Wastelands in zoo seems a bit sketchy, the deck is so color hungry and already prone to being wastelanded I can't see how adding colorless mana that you have to sac would help. I've also never seen a zoo player not want to use all or most of their mana each turn.
Disclaimer: I don't play zoo this is just an observation, I'd be very interested to hear from the player perspective about the benefits of hurting your manabase for wasteland.
"Dredge isn't a deck, it's public masturbation with graveyard triggers."
I've tried both lists and have had much more luck with swinging for 5 with Lynx on turn 2 and having some combination of bolt, bolt, blast.
Okay, so if Wastelands were viewed as colorless non-basic LD, would that change the argument?
As a preface, I run two copies of wasteland with 21 lands total in a more traditional zoo build (i.e. no terravore/gsz).
I agree that the deck is rather color hungry. However, I feel like having access to disruption is important, even at a cost to the manabase.
Having two feels like a solid number. If I show them a wasteland game one, then they have to spend the rest of the match playing around it regardless of whether or not I actually end up drawing any copies for the remainder of the game. The threat of wasteland is almost as good as actually having it and two lets me not completely wreck the manabase.
Also, sometimes I can get lucky and can punish an opponent's greedy keep/fetch game two when I didn't draw wastelands game one.
Pushing it farther than two copies is probably too detrimental to the manabase. There are definitely some games where I can particularly feel the strain, especially against lists that happen to be running their own wastelands and aren't actually affected by it themselves.
Alternatively, viewing wastelands as 0cc land destruction seems alright, but then I'd start looking at my 22+ lands and be thinking that maybe that's a little sketchy. With that much land it feels like threat density is being sacrificed and that's not something I'd be comfortable with.
In a big zoo list though, I probably wouldn't run wastelands at all. That deck feels even more mana hungry and the increased curve makes me not want to be trading away my land drops for theirs.
I haven't tried Wasteland in traditional Zoo yet (mainly because I'm rarely playing it) but in Big Zoo it's pretty much amazing. I'm running four and it's really cool to pull some tempo plays with them. So far I've only played one deck where setting the opponent back one turn was stronger than in this deck, but that deck is still in development.
Zoo has the strongest one-drops in the format and dropping a threat turn one followed by Wasteland on turn two is really strong. Especially combined with Noble Hierarch is really strong, you get to slow down your opponent and to speed up yourself.
Also, the ability to completely take your opponent out of the game with Wastelands is very strong. Multiple Wastelands easily win against most decks out there, even if you only draw them from turn three or four on it can often result in a free win.
Nonetheless, two seem like a good number for traditional Zoo, I think I'm going to try that out. The ability to run both Steppe Lynx and Wasteland is really strong, even at the expense of Noble Hierarch.
does anyone tried Beast Within mainboard on Aggro Zoo?
Beast Within is meh. Even with the ability to make a 3/3 guy in a topdeck war and even with the ability to hit an opponent's Maze in a pinch, the fact of the matter is this. Beast Within is always versatile, but never really amazing.
I've been running Oblivion Ring in the sideboard of Zoo for quite some time. Specifically, ever since I realized almost every card I hate seeing with Zoo could be solved by Oblivion Ring. I don't think Beast Within is qualified to replace it.
What's your current sideboard look like?
Hey everyone this will be my first post, but I’ve been checking out the source for a few months now. I’ve had zoo built up for a few years now, as well as a few other decks. There hasn’t been much local legacy support in my immediate area (there is plenty of tourneys within 5 hrs. driving distance though) here in northwestern Pennsylvania until recently so I don’t have too much experience with the deck despite having it together for quite some time now. I also have dredge and teps in my arsenal but prefer bashing with little men and burning the opposition out. I’ve been ridiculed for playing zoo while I could be playing a “better” deck but just love the efficiency of the beaters and burn/removal package. I see so many different versions of the list though varying from sligh, zoo and big zoo. I’m still not too sure why people play big zoo as to me it seems like a bad version of bant or junk? So I’ve been trying a more traditional build of zoo as my local store has started running legacy events(EPIC)! Here’s the list I battled with the first week:
24 Creatures:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
2 Loam Lion
3 Grim Lavamancer
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Quasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
14 Removal/Burn
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
3 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
1 Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library
21 Land
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Arid Mesa
2 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
SB
1 Path to Exile
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Ranger of Eos
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Krosan Grip
I didn't take notes so i don't remember everything but round one i played High Tide and quickly won game one. I boarded in Teegs and Cannonists and played one on turn to in both games 2 and 3 only to have them bounced and i got the enjoyment of watching my dear opponent play with his deck for ten to fifteen minutes each time he ran his combo on me. Round 2 i played Junk and won game one very quickly. Game 2 i was blown out by wastelands, vindicates and very large men. We had a pretty epic game 3, which included a Stoneforge showdown but in the end his Maze of Ith left me 0-2. I promptly dropped.
My meta consists of High Tide, Junk, Goblins, Merfolk, Dream Halls, Lands, affinity, Turbo Poison and a few random others. I'm thinking of sleeving up something like this for the next event, which is i believe on may 21st.
24 Creatures:
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
2 Loam Lion
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Quasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Knight of the Reliquary
14 Removal/Burn
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
2 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
1 Fireblast (This card seems amazing however it seems i don't want to draw a second one as good as it is)
1 Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library(Same thing with Fireblast it seems i wouldn't want to draw a second one unless the first is destroyed)
21 Land (This mana base seems so good and i don't understand why people dumb it down with other land?)
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Arid Mesa
2 Taiga
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
SB
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Price of Progress
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Pyroblast
1 Mindbreak Trap
2 Phyrexian Revoker
The main deck hasn't changed but the board has seen a significant change. It seems i lose some percentage vs the aggro matchs with the loss of the Stoneforge package. They seems terrible vs Junk as i was just going with his plan and dragging out the game til i was out advantaged so i figured i would go balls to the wall and punish junk and lands greedy mana base with the POP. I'm not too sure how to fight combo as the just bounce my guys, so i have the 1 ofs so they to try and make it hard for them to play around my hate. The revokers seem awesome vs random decks. But like i said i am fairly new to this format, but zoo seems like the deck i really want to play and am just having a hard time trying to figure out the correct build for my meta. It would be awesome to have some help from some more seasoned vets of the deck. Please don't flame me too bad as i am new and will always post results and am really looking forward to discussing/playing this archtype :)
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