Aggro Murlock Zoo (S37)[Full Guide!]

Hey everyone!

At the beginning of this season, I challenged myself to get to rank 10 with a funky, entertaining, and innovative deck. Yesterday, I was sitting at the bottom of rank 15. I had been trying out different wacky decks, but I hadn’t found one that worked. I built this deck to complete my murloc quest and to see if this deck was even remotely viable.

After some testing in ranked, I came up with this decklist and went to rank 10 with 12 wins in a row.

Welcome back, Warlock.

The Card Choices:

2x Soulfire – 1 mana 4 damage removal or burst? Yes please. (It is worth noting that because this deck has no discard synergy, this card can manage to discard some bad stuff. However, 4 damage is desperately needed against minions like Frothing Beserker, and you generally empty your hand pretty quickly.)

2x Bloodsail Corsair and Patches the Pirate – I included a pirate package to help crush aggressive decks. Patches is able to kill a small minion or finish off a larger one, while the Corsairs have good anti aggro stats and help crush Paladin, Warrior, and sometimes Rogue and Shaman decks.

2x Fire Fly – Good anti aggro stats, provides an extra minion that works well with Dire Wolf Alpha, and provides discard fodder for Soulfire. What’s not to love?

1x Grimscale Oracle – It’s a murloc that can help make favorable trades. I only run one copy because you generally don’t want to play this on turn 1 and it is ususally pretty bad topdeck when you are looking for board presence.

2x Murloc Tidecaller – This is one of the cards that makes this deck good. You can usually buff this to at least 3 attack, allowing you to make good trades or to push insane amounts of damage to your opponent’s face for only 1 mana. Pretty good!

1x Voidwalker – I felt like this deck was bad against hyper aggro decks like Pirate Warrior and was lacking in solid 1 drops. Voidwalker helps out in both of these areas.

1x Bilefin Tidehunter – I chose to run 1 copy of Bilefin because the taunt can be insane against aggro decks, and the 2/1 is a murloc. An all around good card to have in the deck.

2x Dire Wolf Alpha – Helps your 1 drops make favorable trades and can also help you find lethal in the mid and late game. Also has excellent synergy with Zoobot.

2x Murloc Tidehunter – This card is normally pretty bad statwise. However, two things make it really useful in the deck: the murloc tag, and the fact that there are two murlocs summoned. Because of these, this card has amazing synergy with almost all the other murloc cards, Zoobot, Dire Wolf Alpha, and especially Darkshire Councilman.

2x Rockpool Hunter – You almost always get 3/4 worth of stats for 2 mana with no real downside. Autoinclude.

2x Coldlight Seer – You may be thinking, “This is an aggro deck, why is this card in here?” Yes, this is an aggro deck. However, because most of our damage comes from big murloc boards, keeping them alive is necessary to win the game. This card not only helps keep our murlocs alive, but also has amazing synergy with Seadevil Stinger.

2x Darkshire Councilman – With the insane number of small minions and summon effects present in this deck, Darkshire Councilman can consistently get value and can sometimes be a major win condition.

2x Murloc Warleader – I don’t think I need to go in depth about how good this card is. It’s a huge buff and it is absolute bonkers with Seadevil Stinger. Enough said.

2x Vicious Fledgling – Zoo traditionally has had excellent tools to seize control of the board. If you have control of the board, then this is a great card to put pressure on your opponent. If he ignores it, this can get insane value. If he uses removal on it, then he likely won’t be able to remove more important cards like Murloc Warleader.

1x Zoobot – I am seriously considering adding a second copy of this card to the deck. Some of you long time Hearthstone players will remember that Sunfury Cleric used to be a 3/3, which was insane. This is like Sunfury on steroids. This deck has 4 beasts and an insane amount of murlocs. You can almost always get one buff out of it, and I was able to get two buffs in about half my games. This card is a great tempo swing and helps you keep control of the board.

2x Seadevil Stinger – This is the entire reason this deck is good. Playing this card onto a board of 2 or 3 murlocs on turn 4 or 5 in combination with Murloc Warleader or Coldlight Seer can singlehandedly win the game. Because this card receives the buffs from these two cards, it can immediately become a dangerous 6/3 or 4/4 that is a threat by itself. I haven’t done it yet, but I can only imagine what would happen if you chained both copies of this card together.

1x Leeroy Jenkins – This is an aggro deck that relies on minions to deal damage. Having an alternative source of damage is necessary to make this deck good. 6 burst damage can help you get through taunts or finish opponents off.

Mulligans:

I haven’t played this deck extensively, but this is what I think works best and what got me to rank 10.

A few things to note:

Always throw back Patches the Pirate and Leeroy Jenkins.

Grimscale Oracle is NOT a 1 drop. If possible, you never play it by itself. When I say “1 drop”, I am talking about 4 cards: Fire Fly, Bloodsail Corsair, Voidwalker, and Murloc Tidecaller.

Aggro Mulligans:

• 1 Drops: You need to be able to contest the board. 1 drops allow you to do this. The best anti-aggro 1 drops are (in order): Bloodsail Corsair, Voidwalker, and Fire Fly/Murloc Tidecaller. It should be noted that you only want to keep Murloc Tidecaller with one of the 5 murloc 2 drops. However, if you have no other 1 drops in your opening hand, you should keep Tidecaller.
• 2 Drops: There are a few general rules regarding 2 drops. If you have no 1 drops in your hand, you never keep a 2 drop unless you have the Coin. You REALLY need a turn 1 play with this deck. Also, you only want to keep ONE 2 drop, unless you are on the Coin. If you are going to coin a two drop on turn one, try to play either Murloc Tidehunter or Bilefin Tidehunter and follow it up with either Dire Wolf Alpha or Rockpool Hunter. If you have Fire Fly, Bloodsail Corsair, or Voidwalker, prioritize Dire Wolf Alpha as your 2 drop keep. If you do not have Dire Wolf, then you are looking to keep Murloc Tidehunter and Bilefin Tidehunter. If you have Murloc Tidecaller, keep the murloc 2 drops. The best keeps with Tidecaller are (in order): Rockpool Hunter, Murloc Tidehunter, and Bilefin Tidehunter. If you cannot find these two drops to combo with Tidecaller, it is still fine to keep Dire Wolf Alpha, as you really need a turn 2 play that is not Life Tap and pass. If you do not have any two drops, remember that Fire Fly and it’s token or two 1 drops can also be a solid turn 2 play.
• 3 Drops: There are also a few general rules regarding 2 drops. If you do not have a 1 drop and/or a 2 drop, you never keep a 3 drop. You can keep a 3 drop and coin it on turn 2 if you do not have a 2 drop. If you have a turn 1 and a turn 2 play, you always keep Darkshire Councilman or Zoobot. Only keep Murloc Warleader or Coldlight Seer with a Murloc Tidecaller and a murloc 2 drop. I’m still not entirely sure when you keep Vicious Fledgling against aggro. If you are pretty sure that the deck you are facing won’t be able to contest the Fledgling with the hand you have, then you can keep it. Remember, you should only need ONE 3 drop against aggro.
• Seadevil Stinger: The ONLY time you keep this card is when you are on the coin and have a really good murloc curve. Otherwise, this card will likely not be able to get full value.

Control Mulligans:

• 1 Drops: Bloodsail Corsair and Voidwalker are worse in these matchups, so you are really looking for Murloc Tidecaller and Fire Fly. Corsair and Voidwalker are still good keeps if you do not have the other one drops. Corsair is also significantly better against Warrior than any other class, so prioritize it over Tidecaller and Fire Fly when against Warrior. (EDIT: If you are on the coin and your opponent is not using a class with a “ping” hero power (Rogue, Mage, and Druid), you can keep Grimscale Oracle with Murloc Tidecaller for a turn 1 combo. This is the only time you keep Grimscale.)
• 2 Drops: The 2 drop mulligan against control is the same as aggro. The one exception is that if you are on the coin, you especially want to be keeping Fire Fly and Dire Wolf Alpha. 3 2/2s on turn 2 is really good in this deck, especially if control decks decide to ignore the 1/2s.
• 3 Drops: The 3 drop mulligan against control is also the same as aggro. However, if you have a solid turn 1 and turn 2 play, you should keep Vicious Fledgling because it is an excellent threat against control decks.
• Seadevil Stinger: This card, combined with Murloc Warleader or Coldlight Seer, is your main win condition against control. You can be greedy and keep this card even if you don’t have a 3 drop. On the coin, you can even keep Stinger with Warleader or Seer if you have a 1 drop.

Gameplay:

Against Aggro:

Aggro matchups are typically a tossup. It really depends on whether or not your opponent’s aggro deck is more minion based or more weapon/burn based, and if you are going first or not. Because this deck is a tempo heavy, board centric deck, you are generally better able to deal with board focused decks like Aggro Druid than you are against Pirate Warrior. Going first against aggro decks with a 1 drop in hand is a huge advantage for you.

The first thing you need to do is determine if your opponent is playing a more board focused deck. If he is, you need to do what ever it takes to control his aggression. Make favorable trades in conjunction with your buff minions, and try and build up a big board that you can use to push lethal over 1 or 2 turns.

Remember that Aggro Druid does have Living Mana and Swipe as board comeback mechanics, so try and play around those cards as much as possible. Many Aggro Druids are now using Bittertide Hydra, so be sure that you are able to kill an 8/8 on turn 5. If you had an aggressive hand, trading into the Hydra might give you lethal.

Against Hunter, which is more of a midrange deck but is still quite aggressive, you also need to control the board. Other than Scavenging Hyena + Unleash the Hounds, Hunter has no real board comeback mechanics. If you are able to keep board control until turn 4 or 5, you can start pushing damage while still dealing with major threats. If your opponent manages to achieve board control, you can still get back on the board with a murloc flood thanks to Seadevil Stinger. Because your hero power is self damaging, you need to watch your health total in aggressive matchups and make sure you don’t tap yourself too low, especially against Hunter’s deadly hero power.

If your opponent is playing a more burn/weapon heavy deck such as Pirate Warrior, you need to play more aggressively. You still need to deal with dangerous high attack minions. However, Pirate Warrior’s minions generally have lower health, and this allows Soulfire to get massive value. You can use the two small taunts in this deck (Voidwalker and Bilefin Tidehunter) in the mid to late game to tank Arcanite Reaper hits. Be very careful with your hero power and watch your health total closely. Remember that Pirate Warrior does have Mortal Strike, so if you have cleaned up his board and are pushing damage to his face, be sure to not activate Mortal Strike unless you have lethal.

Against Control:

Oh boy oh boy. This is where this deck really shines. Control decks these days seems to lack heavy board clear before turn 5 or 6. Yes, Shaman still has Lightning Storm, and yes, Warrior has the 3 mana Whirlwind + Sleep with the Fishes combo. However, if you can buff your murlocs up, they can ususally survive most early game AoE options. Like in the Aggro matchups, you need to determine whether or not your opponent’s deck is more board based or more spell/big minion based. Right now, the only real “board based” control deck is Paladin. Please correct me if I’m wrong on this!

Against Paladin, you need to play very aggressively while killing their important murloc threats. You will NEVER be able to outvalue Paladin, so you need to try and kill him as fast as possible. If he manages to land a turn 6 Spikeridged Steed, then you will likely not be able to win the game unless you have a huge board. The good news is that Paladin’s board clear requires 2 cards and he has to sacrifice his board to clear yours. Try and maintain a strong board and play more aggressively. If you can get one of your big threats to stick, you should be able to win the game.

Against Control Mage, you simply need to kill them before they reach their big board clears, their Ice Blocks, Medivh the Guardian, and Alexstraza. Play around volcanic potion by using your Murloc Warleader and Coldlight Seer to keep your minions alive.

Against Quest Warrior, you can generally play pretty aggressively. Quest Warrior is an unfavored matchup because of the insane amount of taunt’s and armor gain present in the deck. However, if you play very aggressively and find Bloodsail Corsair to deal with his Fiery War Axe, then this matchup is definitely still winnable.

Against Jade Druid, you pretty much need to go face. Jade has a ton of big taunts and healing, so you need to kill him before he can stabilize. The good news is that apart from Swipe and Primordial Drake, Jade Druid really doesn’t have board clear. If you can play around these cards, then you can likely keep a very strong board presence at all times.

Elemental Shaman is a bad matchup because of the insane amount of board clears the opponent will have. Try not to commit to the board as much. Play around Lightning Storm and Maelstrom Portal as much as possible, and do your best not to get frustrated if your board gets cleared due to a lucky Spell Damage totem roll.

Against Quest Rogue:

Don’t you love that there is a special section for this deck? This is an extremely favored matchup for your deck as Quest Rogue only has Vanish to deal with your board. Try to push damage as much as possible. If he does finish his quest before you kill him, try and kill as many of his minions as possible to give him a slow quest turn. You should win this matchup almost every time.

Substitutions:

This deck has 2 Legendaries, 2 Epics, and 1 card from One Night in Karazhan. Please remember, legendaries and epics are usually pretty crucial to the deck they are in.

Patches the Pirate – If you are going to replace Patches, you should probably also take out Bloodsail Corsair as well. You can replace these three cards with 2x Possessed Villager and 1x Zoobot . If you do not have One Night in Karazhan, you can use Argent Squire or a second Voidwalker if you want more 1 drops, Coldlight Oracle if you want more card draw, or Tar Creeper to have a better matchup against aggressive decks.

Leeroy Jenkins – Leeroy acts as burst damage, something which this deck lacks a lot of. If you are on a very tight budget and still want burst damage, then you can run Reckless Rocketeer. If you have it, Bittertide Hydra is an excellent large threat in most aggro decks. If you want more buffs and you have One Night in Karazhan, you can replace Leeroy with a second Zoobot.

2x Murloc Warleader – This card is too strong in this deck to have a replacement. If you do not have 2 copies of this, you probably shouldn’t play this deck. Sorry!

1x Zoobot – If you don’t have One Night In Karazhan, you can replace Zoobot with Argent Squire or a second Voidwalker if you want more 1 drops, Coldlight Oracle if you want more card draw, or Tar Creeper to have a better matchup against aggressive decks.

Conclusion:

Thank you for checking out this decklist! If you liked the guide/deck, please drop an upvote! If you have any suggestions/concerns/sarcastic remarks, please let me know in the comments area! I really need feedback from this community to help contribute better content to this awesome website. If I have or can craft suggested changes, I will test them out!

Good luck!

Immolate