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Welcome everybody! It’s still really early since the Knights of the Frozen Throne has graced us with its release and we are still discovering the new list of cards and archetypes we can make from them. They all appear to be strong and have since even given new life to classic decks that were pushed out of the meta. One such deck is zoo! Warlock is my most played class with well over 5000 wins, and ALL of those wins have come via the zoo or discard zoo archetype. I hit legend every season and peak towards the end at a high standing and then drop to around the 200-300 range depending on the time I have available. I speak from experience, I am a pretty good player and I want to share with you my take on a classic deck, even though we are forced to adapt to a more mid range, slower style. I’ve peaked with this deck at rank 50 legend NA and slipped a little since to around 250. This is the exact list I’ve used, but I am going to change a few things which I think will higher the win rate against jade druid and paladin.
The main point of this deck is to maintain a steady presence and trade, trade, trade until you are in a completely favourable situation. I cannot emphasize enough that this is a board control deck. You will win more games if you make optimal trades and keeping resilient minions on board.
Try to aim for Prince Keleseth in your opening hand as that increases your chances of winning significantly. However, don’t be greedy! You want to always start with a 1 drop and continue on from there. Flame imp, possessed villager and argent squire are your best friends and if you can get your 1-cost buff minions, hang onto them as they will allow you to trade up with your opponents 1-2 drop minion and you will have 2 minions on board. This is where the board control takes place. Using your buff minions in tandem with weaker ones will help you with these trades and allow you to have a stronger board each turn. Deathspeaker is an amazing card in this deck and can help preserve your stronger minions without taking damage. It is also an amazing card against anything poisonous as you can trade into them without worrying about your minion dying.
This deck runs various mid range threats from turn 3 onward. Ravenous Pterrordax and Devilsaur Egg protects both from AOE and forms two massive bodies when in combination. It is a slower way to approach the game than your traditional zoo, but it brings about bigger threats. Also, use your pterrodax optimally. Use it on a very weakened minion after it trades and survives, mainly a token. Also choose your adapt for the situation carefully. That itself can be a winning/losing play. And Darkshire Councilman synergies with anything in the deck.
Despicable Dreadlord has been performing amazingly as it is able to do that 1 extra damage needed at the end of the turn to finish off a pesky taunt or even swing the game back if you are facing a token deck by eliminating multiple low life threats.
Cobalt Scalebane also is a great card as it is immune against dragonfire potion and also buffs up your weaker minions making them more threatening. Plus it is a decent body.
Bonemare is able to swing the game in your favour as it can turn a wimp minion into a formidable threat with taunt. It’s a good equalizer and stabilizer.
Sea Giant is also great in this deck as you can really punish token heavy decks and do swing turns.
Remember, zoo isn’t as straight forward as it seems. Trade optimally and know when to switch gears, depending on the match up. After seeing many jade druids and paladins on ladder, it might be wise to tech in a Spell Breaker and maybe a Black Knight. I took this zoo build as a more resilient build against AOE as to being a hybrid for being both reactive/active. It has given me success and even got me a 15 win-streak at Legend.
I’ll write up on possible substitutions after and match ups. But overall, it is a strong deck and worth experimenting with.
