Legend Brann Zoo Lock June 2016

Hello everyone! So i just hit legend with this deck (EU) and figured i’d share it.

Sections:

Introduction
Goal of the deck
Ways to lose
How to mulligan
Minion positioning
How to play
Deck variations

Introduction:
It’s really hard to define Zoo lock with 1 label. It is aggro, token, combo and tempo all in one, you could also argue that it is control. It all depends on the stage of the game. I’ve decided to list it as combo, seeing as that is how i win most of my games. I wear them down slowly while maintaining board control through tempo plays, while i’m drawing into my burst cards.
I hit legend with this deck (EU). From the time i hit rank 1 ’til hitting legend i spend literally only 20 minutes. I had 5 extremely fast wins in a row (1 where my opponent missed lethal on me, and i top decked my lethal right after, lol).
Zoo lock has a quite high win-rate, but what makes it most effective is how fast it plays. You often outright kill your opponent by turn 6 or 7, or know if you’ve lost the game by that time, so even if the win rate isn’t the highest, your can still climb faster, because you can play 5 zoo lock games by the time you’ve played 2 control style games (assuming you’re not only facing zoo locks or other fast decks during your 2 control games 😉 ).

The goal of this type of zoo lock is to get board control early game, and keep it by buffing your minions for favorable trades, and having sticky minions to survive board clears, and winning the game through burst damage.

Ways to lose:
If you completely lose board control, you will lose. Luckily the deck is designed with that in mind of course.
If you run out of steam, and your opponent is far from burstable. This happens if you make too many poor trades, and it generally happens if you have bad draws and your opponent has good draws.

How to mulligan:
This deck has A LOT of one drops. It is probably the only deck where you’d ever mulligan a 2 drop. When you are not only looking for 1 drops, you need to look for very specific 1 drops depending on what class you play against. Note that by 1 drop, 2 drop etc, i mean 1 cost, 2 cost etc. MINIONS. I will refer to spells individually.

Vs. Warrior: You want Argent Squire as well as Possessed villager. The reason for this, is that your Flame Imp and Void Walker gets taken out by Fiery War axe, and you can lose board control very early because of that. I’d still recommend keeping 1 Flame Imp / void walker in hand just to be sure to atleast have a 1 drop. They are better than not getting a 1 drop, and your opponent may not have Fiery War axe.

Vs. Warlock: It can be tricky to play vs another warlock, because it depends on what style of warlock it is. If it’s zoo, you need to consider that they may have Voidwalker to deal with your 1/1’s, in which case you’ll either want a 1/1 combined with abusive sergent, or you’ll want a flame imp. If it’s a control-oriented warlock, you’ll want possessed villager, in case they play doomsayer. So your average best starting hand vs either type of warlock would be a possessed villager with an abusive sergent. But either way you should keep any 1 drop in your opening hand.
Vs zoo, your Forbidden ritual and sea giant can sway the game in your favour very quickly, not only do they pair very well together, but zoo locks usually don’t run any AOE. You may consider keeping forbidden ritual in your opening hand, if your other cards are absolutely perfect, but only then.

Vs. Shaman: You mulligan against shaman as you do against zoo lock. You need a way to deal 3 damage early on because of Tunnel Trogg. So flame imp or any other 1 drop paired with abusive sergent. This match up relies heavily on early board control. As warlock you tend to have a better chance at winning the board, but shamans will occasionally run Lightning storm, so keep that in mind.

Vs rogue: Against a rogue you want to have a very explosive start and then just cross your fingers. They have so many things to play around, that it may just be best to take a chance. Voidwalker is a really good counter to rogue hero power, that otherwise deals with your 1 health minions. Flame imp is very vulnerable to backstab. Fan of knives/dark iron skulker can clear your board. At early game, keep your minions from dying to 1 damage, while also being careful of backstab. Later on, keep your minions from dying to 2 damage, while also being careful with Shadow Strike. It can be tricky.

Vs Priest: This class is very rare to face. I didn’t meet a single one once i got past rank 7 or so. If necessary, i’ll come back to this section later.

Vs. Paladin: Against a paladin, you’ll need to beware of Doomsayer, in which case you’ll want to open up with possessed villager. If you don’t get that in your opening hand, then be prepared to possibly sacrifice a minion and then tap, unless you can somehow deal 7 (flame imp -> double abusive sergent).

Vs. Mage: Tempo mage is a scary match up. Early game you’ll want to mulligan something that can deal with mana wyrm. So any 1 damage 1 drop paired with abusive, or simply a flame imp. Voidwalker (and Imp Gang Boss later on) is good for soaking arcane missles. If they don’t play mana wyrm, you need to beware of doomsayer.

Vs. Hunter: Here you’ll want your Argent squire, possessed villager or voidwalker against Fiery Bat. Also having a dire wolf alpha or abusive sergent ready to boost the damage to clear the King’s Elekk on turn 2 is really great. Some lucky Flame Jugler 50/50’s early game, has probably won me a lot of games vs hunters.

Vs. Druid: It’s hard to say what the best mulligan is vs a druid, since druid openers can vary a lot because of innervate, wild growth and Living roots. I try to aim for Voidwalker (good vs living roots) and Flame imp (get the damage going fast, if they try to ramp).

<<<In case anyone views this deck, I’ll be finishing it up later (tonight or tomorrow)! With card and class links as well!>>>