Warlock Zoo Mulligan Strategy & Guide
Higher Priority (Keep every time)
- Fire Fly, Flame Imp, Kobold Librarian, Voidwalker – Those are the best cards you can drop on Turn 1, depending on the matchup and the situation. Ideally you want to open with one of them and then Keleseth on Turn 2, but since you won’t always get Keleseth, it’s fine to keep multiple 1-drops, so you can fill your Turn 2 with them too. Fire Fly and Voidwalker are better against Aggro, while Kobold Librarian and Flame Imp are better vs slower decks.
- Prince Keleseth – There is never a matchup or situation where you want to mulligan Prince Keleseth. The win rate associated with this deck skyrockets when he’s in the opener. If you have it – keep it!
Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)
- Glacial Shard – Glacial Shard is one of those 1-drops that get better over time – if you go first on Turn 1, it’s usually just a vanilla 2/1. You can keep it when going second against Aggro, but only if you have no other good 1-drop.
- Tar Creeper – Keep against Aggro. It can be used to protect the rest of your board or even your life total – since you’re playing a fast deck, your opponent will have to get through it quickly if he doesn’t want to lose board control, and he might need to use lots of resources to do that. However, DO NOT keep it if you don’t have any 1-drops in your hand – those are more important!
- Vicious Fledgling – Keep in slow matchups. Aggro decks might have some kind of board to trade into it, and it might be just a vanilla 3/3 for 3, which is obviously bad. Against Control, it has a higher chance to get attack and snowball.
- Despicable Dreadlord – Can be kept against Paladin, but only if the rest of your hand is good. It can really win you that matchup, but at the same time, keeping it with a bad hand might mean that you skip Turn 1/2 and then lose because of that.
Warlock Zoo Win Rates
Winrate stats are currently unavailable for this deck at the moment!
Warlock Zoo Play Strategy
Vs Aggro
Zoo is one of the decks that can’t do anything without board. Without a reactive game plan, and with limited ways to deal damage without a board, you simply need to maintain the board control throughout the game. The thing is – you can outlast any Aggro deck thanks to your Hero Power, but you can’t always outtempo them. That’s why during the early and mid game you want to play for the tempo.
Life Tap is a very powerful tool, but don’t use it unless you absolutely have to, or you would have floated mana otherwise. For example, if you can choose between a 3-drop and 1-drop and Tap on Turn 3, you play the 3-drop, simply because it’s a higher tempo play. Similarly, if you Life Tap too much before Turn 5, your Doomguard and Soulfire will be much worse – those cards are best when your hand is empty (then you don’t need to discard anything). That’s why it’s best to empty your hand and then start each turn with Tap (or Discard card if you draw one) – this way you maximized the early / mid game tempo, and your Discard draws are great, since your hand is empty or nearly empty.
A harder decision would be dropping a Doomguard when you have Bloodreaver Gul'dan in your hand and you’re going to discard it. Whether you should do it really depends on the situation – if you either desperately need that 5/7 with Charge, or that 5/7 with Charge is going to put you in a game-winning position, then do it. If you have no other plays, then also do it. Lots of Aggro games won’t last until Turn 10, and as much as DK Hero is a great finisher, you might not need it. However, if you’re close to Turn 10 and you can make another play, I’d still try to avoid discarding it, since dropping it is usually an instant win vs Aggro.
Prince Keleseth is obviously very useful. While you don’t hard mulligan for it (like, you don’t throw away your 1-drops hoping that you will get Keleseth), getting him is big for one reason – your minions can trade much more efficiently after they get the +1/+1 buff. Since Keleseth is initially a low tempo play, plus you need to draw some of the buffed minions for it to work, after you get Keleseth, don’t go aggressive! Just control the board and you should win the game – between your Hero Power and minions being buffed, you have a very high chance to get it. But by going aggressive, you give your opponent an opening. Just play it slowly, trade everything and at one point you’ll overwhelm the board thanks to the +1/+1 buff. That is, unless your opponent also played the Keleseth, then you might want to go aggressive depending on the matchup (generally – if you play against faster decks, you want to play defensive and when you play against slower decks, you want to play defensively).
One more thing to think about when it comes to Keleseth is – do you play him as soon as you can? Obviously, if you get him on Turn 2, then yes, you do. But if you draw him on Turn 5? Then it really depends. If you have a better, higher tempo play to make – such as dropping Descpicable Dreadlord vs 1 health minion(s), then you should wait. At worst, you will lose out buff on a single minion, which is not a big deal. Disrupting your game plan just because you draw Keleseth in the mid/late game is a quite common mistake, and it’s not something you should do. Keleseth you drew late doesn’t have that big of an impact anyway, so you can delay it even further if it means that you will gain more tempo.
Despicable Dreadlord is often your MVP of Aggro matchups. Not only it puts a solid body on the board, but it deals AoE damage repeatedly. Not once – if it’s left on the board for multiple turns it can snowball the game really hard. Going into Turn 5, you want to set it up as well as possible. Do some minion trades, leave your opponent’s stuff at 1 health and let the Dreadlord do his job. If you’re ahead, it will be incredibly hard for your opponent to clear it. He can Silence it, but you don’t mind it that much – you will be able to trade into that Ironbeak Owl or Spellbreaker easily, while Dreadlord has already did its job (+Silence turn is generally a slow play, so you will get ahead even further).
Try to use your buffs efficiently in order to trade up. Dark Iron Dwarf can be played on low health minion to trade up with it. For exampe, trading that 1/2 into opponent’s 3/3 is a big deal, because you get a nice tempo boost and a 4/4 body on the board. You can also use it to make Tar Creeper more useful on your own turn – since it only has 1 attack, but quite high health, you can also use it to e.g. trade into that 3/3 minion and it will still be alive. Fungalmancer is even better if you have at least two minions on the board, since it also buffs health. You want to use it to get efficient trades. Buff the right minions so you can trade while leaving them alive. Most of the Aggro decks don’t run AoE clears, but if they do, try to play around those too.
Vs Control
Games vs Control are less centered around controlling the board and more around trying to kill your opponent before it’s too late. While it’s true that Zoo has insane staying power among aggressive decks, even your resources are limited. At one point, later in the game, your opponent will be dropping big minions or having access to huge board clears and even when drawing two per turn, you might end up with e.g. two 1-drops. Which basically means that you ideally want to finish the match before late game. At the same time, you rarely want to go all-in, because you will just play into your opponent’s AoEs. You need to find the right balance between tempo and value.
Managing resources, including using your Hero Power, is much more important in slow matchups. Against most of the aggressive decks, going all-in on the board is not a mistake, since they rarely run AoE clears. But when you play against Control, ideally you’d want to have around 5-7 damage spread among 2-4 minions. Of course, sometimes having more is fine, depending on the context (like, if your opponent already used most of his AoEs, or when he’s dropping many Taunts you need to get through). But that number is generally enough pressure to force a board clear without you being really hurt by it. You always want to have some sort of refill in case of a board clear – you need to keep up the pressure constantly. Giving your opponent even a single turn to breathe might be too much and you might lose.
Trading vs not trading – this part is very complicated. Generally, you prefer to deal face damage and let your opponent do the trades, and that’s what you’re going to do most of the time. However, there are situations in which trading is just better. First situation is having a good way to trade up. Let’s say your opponent has a 5/4 on the board, and you have a 2/1 minion + Dark Iron Dwarf in your hand. Trading a 4/1 into a 5/4 is a great, high tempo trade, and you want to take it – otherwise that 5/4 would be able to kill one of your bigger minions. Another reason to trade is when your opponent might be able to set up an AoE.
Let’s say that you play vs a Control Priest, who can drop a Duskbreaker. If you have a Dreadlord, and he has a 2 attack minion on the board, it might be wise to clear that minion with something else. If you don’t – he might run it into your 5 health minion and then Duskbreaker your board. Trading would mean that you would be left with a 4/2 Dreadlord after Duskbreaker, which is a huge difference. And finally, you always want to trade off the high priority targets. For example, cards like Northshire Cleric, Wild Pyromancer etc. which can punish you for leaving them alone – just kill those while you can.
Even if you’re doing some trades, you want to send as much damage face as possible every single turn. But, if you haven’t managed to kill your opponent in time, Bloodreaver Gul'dan comes into action. The card is amazing in those slow matchups (and in this case you really don’t want to discard it, unless you absolutely have to). Not only it re-floods the board with a single card (and your opponent might already be very low on board clears after so many turns of you putting pressure), but it upgrades your Hero Power. Yes, you no longer can draw multiple cards, but having the ability to deal 3 damage per turn can really put your opponent in an awkward spot. Especially if you face a deck with no natural way to restore health (like Priest or Warrior with their Hero Powers) – 3 damage per turn will stack up very quickly even if they remove the initial board full of Demons.
Warlock Zoo Card Substitutions
Prince Keleseth
There is no direct replacement for Prince Keleseth in this deck. Just removing him from the list leaves a gaping hole in your mana curve that cannot be filled by a single card. Warlock Zoo can certainly be successful without Prince Keleseth, but you need to build it differently. If you don’t have Keleseth, you need to fill your 2 mana slot in a meaningful way. The best 2 cards to do that right now are Vulgar Homunculus, Dire Wolf Alpha and/or Demonfire. The first one is a solid 2/4 Taunt with a Demon tag, it’s a well-rounded card and a good Turn 2 play in most of the matchups. The second one is a good 2-drop in board flood decks, since you will be able to buff your small minions / tokens and trade up. The last one, while not amazing, can be used either as a buff on one of your small Demons, or as a 2 damage removal if you need it. It’s a good follow-up to Turn 1 Demons such as Voidwalker or Flame Imp.
In order to fit those cards (you’d want at least four 2 mana cards), you want to remove some of the other cards – Glacial Shard would take the priority, you can also get rid of a single Spellbreaker, since Silence is not THAT good in the current meta, or perhaps a Saronite Chain Gang, since it’s slightly worse without Keleseth.
Other Card Replacements
Besides Prince Keleseth, Zoo Warlock is a deck that can be built on a budget quite easily. This build runs only two other Epics / Legendaries, and both of them can be replaced without hurting your win rate that much.
- Bloodreaver Gul'dan – One fun card you can run instead is actually Glinda Crowskin, if you’ve unpacked her, but don’t have a Gul’dan. She gives the deck a nice late game staying power, and if she sticks to the board she can really do wonders. Just imagine dropping a bunch of Kobold Librarians if you have enough health, in order to draw a few cards. Or possibly flood your board with 2/1’s and freeze your opponent’s board by replaying Glacial Shard multiple times? That said, if you’re looking for a more generic replacement, there is no card that directly replaces his ability. You would rather just play a stand-alone strong card, such as Acherus Veteran, Duskbat, Defender of Argus or Mortal Coil.
thanks a lot for the deck i just reached legend yesterday.had a hard time finding a good standard list and I was frustrated not getting legend for the first time in a long while last month.what do you think about crazed alchemist for the second sea giant?
Sounds fine!
Hey. I have All the cards in this deck except Leeroy amd Gormok. I have enough dust to only craft one of them. Which one do you think will be the best choice?
Leeroy, but I might be updating this to the Doomguard version that is starting to look more popular.
What about Dreadsteed?
Way too slow and has no real synergy in this deck.
Thank you.
why no board clears? i’ve won several games with hellfire and currently run at least one
Because you clear boards with your minions, Hellfire would be hard to play if you are constantly playing minions.
I like the one. No more. Gives it depth.
There is a thing that I don’t understand in this deck? How positioning works? I tried to see a lot of streams to learn it but i still don’t understand it.
Here’s a good guide on the subject: http://www.enterthehearth.com/zoo-positioning-guide/
wow, thanks, this will help me a lot.
I have made the deck … but it feels extreamly weak … I dont understand how its tier 1 I waisted too much money on this game and im disappointed in the results …
A deck similar to this placed top 20 legend, it’s a very strong deck. How were you playing the deck, and at what rank?
U can’t just pour money into this game and expect to be competitive. It takes a lot of time to learn the decks being used and the counters to them.
I have got to rank 7 with zoo and this is my third month playing hearthstone. I have noticed that cult master has been a great fit in replacement of a second defender of argus. Has definetly won me games and almost can always get atleast two draws with it. Please try it you won’t be dissapointed.
Cult master? why? You already have your life tap, if you play it good enough you don’t need to squeeze your deck for something, and a 4/2 body isn’t too good. In the other hand, if you see defender of argus, he allow you to trade more efficiently, help your to survive due to the lack of healing in the deck, stop an aggro shaman from Doomhammer + Rockbitter your face, save your big minions of getting kill by a weapon or another minion, too much sinergy with defender of argus in many situation that is a mandatory card in the deck, indeed 2/3 for 4 mana isn’t too good either but is safe behind buff taunts.
Don’t have 1 sea giant and 1 gormok, replacements ?
Dark Iron Dwarf and second Argent Squire.
Is harvest golem still the replacement for imp gang boss?
Yes, it should be fine.
Argent horserider wont work?
Those would work as well.
Succubus too
Just out of curiosity, why no alchemist?
It can easily be added, I actually should mention it as a tech card in this guide. If you’re running into a lot of Doomsayers then you could cut a Dire Wolf Alpha for it.
Replacement for Leeroy?
Sorry never mind. Just saw the replacements up above 🙂 Thanks for all the awesome work you do! This site has helped me out alot!
Mo problem, glad the site has helped!
Hey! It’s just my phone or there are 3 PO?
Whoops, accidentally put in an extra Power Overwhelming! It was supposed to be Soulfire, thanks for mentioning it!
No problem, glad I’d helped!
And I have an aditional question: Do you thing that Hunter is still viable in the current meta?
It’s absolutely viable right now, it’s gotten a lot more popular recently. Check out MrYagut’s list: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/mryaguts-midrange-hunter-may-2016-season-26/
I will defenetly try it as soon as I get Call Of The Wild! I have all the other cards 🙂
Should I use argent commander
He’s pretty slow and this deck is speeding up.
Can be Brann Bronzebeard added to this list? Seems like a good replacement for Gormok, wich I don’t have.. 🙂
You could probably cut the Argent Squire for it.
Trying to run this deck on a dummy account to get a feel for what Zoo can play each turn or whatever… I got Gormok, and saved 700 for Dark Peddler, but I’m still missing the two Imp Gang Bosses and the Sea Giant.
So for now I’m running:
Bilefins instead of the Imp Gangs
Frostwolf Warlord in place of Sea Giant.
But I can’t win for beans.
I feel like Frostwolf is kind of a decent replacement for Sea Giant, but Bilefin seems weak compared to Imp Gang Boss as it doesn’t get the AOE justice value that Imp Gang does.
Any suggestions for replacements for the Imp Gang Boss and Sea Giant that are more reliable than what I have?
You can try Harvest Golem for Imp Gang Boss. Frostwolf is a decent replacement for Sea Giant. You might just try a second Dark Iron Dwarf or Argent Squire instead.
Why would you ever play HS on a dummy account? It´s not like losing matters..
Super OP deck !! Just managed to get Legend rank for the first time after coming close twice on rank 1 ( with tempo mage on previous seasons ) .
i didnt have forbbiden ritual, any replacement?
Second Argent Squire and a Bilefin Tidehunter.
another question, spawn of n’zoth can be good for this deck?
It’s okay, but generally doesn’t see play in this deck.
What about nerubian prophets?? just 1 or 2 and im having solid results
– 1 doomguard +1 leeroy, its good ?
That would be fine.
I don’t have Gormok, but put in Shieldbreaker instead. Silence is always good, right?
Opinions?
I’m guessing you meant Spellbreaker, but I think that card is a bit slow for this deck. I’d go second Argent Squire or a Bilefin Tidehunter instead.
I didn’t mulligan cause i was afk and still won 😀
How is this deck and the one with leeroy different?
I’m working up to this deck slowly as I’ve only been playing for a few weeks. Here’s what I’m running with at the moment, with what I’m planning to upgrade to reach this deck in brackets:
*Priority Upgrades
2x Forbidden Ritual
2x Power Overwhelming
2x Flame Imp
2x Possessed Villager
2x Voidwalker
2x Darkshire Councilman
1x Soulfire (Upgrade with 1x Dark Iron Dwarf when craftable) *1
1x Abusive Sergeant
1x Agent Squire
2x Dire Wolf Alpha
1x Knife Juggler
1x Mad Bomber (Upgrade with 1x Knife Juggler when craftable) *2
2x Amani Berserker (Upgrade with 2x Dark Peddler when craftable – LOE 1) *3
1x Bilefin Tidehunter (Upgrade with 1x Abusive Sergeant when craftable) *1
2x Harvest Golem (Upgrade with 2x Imp Gang Boss when craftable – BRM 2) *4
1x Argent Commander (Upgrade with 1x Sea Giant when craftable) *5
1x Shattered Sun Cleric (Upgrade with 1x Doomguard or 1x Argent Squire when craftable) *2
1x Spawn of N’Zoth (Upgrade with 1x Doomguard or 1x Dark Iron Dwarf when craftable) *2
2x Defender of Argus
1x Frostwolf Warlord (Upgrade with 1x Gormok the Impaler or 1x Sea Giant when craftable) *5
It seems to be working pretty well but is there anything better I could run with while waiting for the upgrades? Planning to save gold for the first wing or two of BRM and pay cash for LOE eventually.
Is it just me or does it feel like power overwhelming is almost always an option with peddler. May be a case to drop PO from the deck list and replace with something like a flame juggler and second Argent Squire, thoughts?
Peddler has a higher ratio for class drops. From playing it seems like 70% or so warlock cards. Keep 2x po the meta is very taunt heavy and you will miss it if peddler doesn’t help you out. If also won several games due to a double po on my last minion.
What about Shadowflame instead of Gormok and Dark Iron Dwarf?
I am often in difficulty because I cannot destray or deal damage to enemy’s minions!
Thank you!
To answer someone’s question Volcanic drake is also a decent replacement for mountain giant, and actually better in some situations.
Replace gormok with summoner of n zoth ?
I mean I’d just go with second Argent Squire or Dark Iron Dwarf, but that’s worth a shot.
Any replacement for dark peddler?
Second Argent Squire and Dark Iron Dwarf.
Is worth disenchant deathwing and majordomo executus (i don’t use them) for 1 sea giant and some rares? I don’t have gormok
You generally don’t want to craft rares because you’ll get them in packs eventually. Sea Giant is a reasonable thing to craft, but I’d try to play arena or use your gold to get packs for the rares.
One of the strongest aggro decks this season. It gives even aggro shaman a run for its money.
what about replacement for sea giant
Second Dark Iron Dwarf or maybe Bilefin Tidehunter although that card’s better with Sea Giant.
Any replacement for Gormok? I was think maybe brann
Brann is fine.
really nice deck, went from rank 3 to legend in about an hour and a half with it, here were my winrates
24-11
—————-
zoo 6-0
shaman 7-2
hunter 1-2
rogue 4-1
paladin 0-1
druid 1-2
mage 4-3
warrior 1-0
thanks
I currently don’t have enough gold saved up for an adventure, so I wonder if there’s a substitute for Imp Gang Boss? Will the deck still work properly without it, and what reachable rank do you think this deck can come to?
I think you’ll be okay with something like Harvest Golem or Argent Horserider. The deck should still be able to hit legend.
I tested Lerroy and Brann instead of 2x Doomguards and it works absolutely perfect ! It is insane exactly as the previous ‘wild’ zoolock, there is no difference at all. Gormok is a must card in and lerroy too ! Check it out Evident !
I’ll check it out!
I agree on that and also added 2x Bilefin 2x flame jugglers -1 Squire -1 Dwarf -2 flame imps.
The tempo now is crazy and the deck returns really aggressively after mass wipes. Also crazy sinergy with Brann knife juggler and Councilman.
I personally play 1xsoulfire instead of Gormok. Since it helps better to produce the Jenkins Combo that can hit 16-22 dmg ( Jen + power + abussive + soul fire)
Hello. What would be a good substitute for gormark? And I was wondering if the raid leader would be better than the dire wolf
Second Dark Iron Dwarf or Sea Giant for Gormok. Raid Leader being 3-mana makes it worse then Dire Wolf.
Replacement for imp gangboss?
Second Argent Squire and Dark Iron Dwarf. Argent Horserider or Harvest Golem could also work.
Hi do you think Spawn of N’zoth is a good fit in this deck or is it too slow? I’ve replaced it with a doomguard and with PO on it it can easily boost your board for 1/1 and also clear a big taunt such as Twin emperor.
It’s too slow and unreliable. It’s one of those cards that allows your opponent to generally dictate when it is destroyed so it’s hard to get good value from it.
i got rid of squire and one of the imp gangbosses and put in two “thrallmar farseer” as long as i keep board control and toss them both normally they cant down them at the same time then with “power overwhelming” and the other buff cards its enough to end it when i need a surge. Most i’ve done with it was 36 damage on one round with one card. rarely works that well but its normally good for 10-18 damage.
I’m hitting a wall at around rank 15. Any advice?
Any advice against fucking mages?
Tempo : If he gets a good oppening and you dont, you lose, Flamewaker is a pain, but your Councilman can carry if you get a big one
Freeze Mage : If he has Doomsayer / Frost Nova at turn 5 it will be VERY hard and requires the right draws to win. It’s even harder than usual because Freeze tends to cut Archmage and add even more direct burst cards and even more draw, so you need to be carefull with life tap sometimes
Both are hard matchups really, but Tempo Mage matchup has a huge part of RNG imo
Nice deck, classic whit something new. Do you think that the dire wolf still fits? I alwais supposed that ,out of the basic effect, it was mainly included for the egg enabler ,that is no more present. I love the brewmaster ( both of them , but the 3/2 is more viable) to save a creature after the power overelming and to re use some battle cry .
I think it still fits, it’s not a good drop on turn 2, but it helps you get the most out of your small minions.
The whole point of wolf is to get value out of your 1-1 tokens, and you have just as much or even more 1-1 tokens than before in Zoo decks 😀 Still as effective as before, maybe even more
but WHY Argent Squire instead of Possed Villager who has alol more synergies … with juggler for example ….
Possessed Villager is in this deck? I’m confused what you mean.
WARLOCK ZOO STANDARD with Imp Gang Boss ? hmmm…
Blackrock Mountain is legal in Standard.
Hi evident.I would like to ask your opinion once more if you don’t mind.So I went from rank 20 to rank 9 with a midrange hunter in about 2 hours but I usually run into bad match ups with it such are priest and some warriors.Can this zoolock help me out on climbing and if yeah is gormok and leeroy really nessecary in this deck?How far can this deck go?Thanks for your time !!?
Well, I think Midrange Hunter should also do the job for you, but Zoo is usually a good choice for climbing to legend. You don’t need Gormok or Leeroy. You can play the Doomguard version that doesn’t run either card: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/rdus-top-10-legend-warlock-zoo-may-2016-season-26/
Wow this deck is amazing. Darkshire Councilman is an all-star, being very hard to remove when you drop him down, and then getting pumped up to 5-6 attack.
No need for removal or black knight. its over before they can play anything heavy.
This deck is broken.
Instead of Argent Squire, I’m running Bran. There are 8 battlecries that would be good to duplicate, which to me seems like a good investment.
I’d recommend at least one shadow flame I ran a similar deck list and the shadow flame really helps out a bunch vs twin emperor vek’lor. The main problem with this deck is that taunt ends up destroying half the board. Shadow flame allows you to counter these minions while at the same time leaving you with a potential board wipe. I’d cut a doom guard for it. However, give me your opinion on this change
‘
Usually you win before Twins or you have a strong enough board to clear them. Wolves help, moutain giant helps. This matchup is all about baiting the swipe, and if you ever go late game, then you pray for Doomguard/finishers before he gets C’thun x)
Shadowflame would be a dead card most of the time and you really dont want dead cards for Zoo since most of your cards are very early game focused or token synergy.
Having it in your hand instead of another card hurts you sooo much so I dont think it’s worth it (and you cant get value out of it without power overwhelming)
NIce deck !, I don’t have Gormok, but it’s works well without it. I was im ranking 9, now i’m in the ranking 7 and going up, just 1:30 hours of game!
I would say Black Knight is a new must have for every deck. So many good taunts running around.
It’s a dead card for most of the game and a 100% dead card against anything that isn’t C’thun druid basically (if you go turn 8 against Paladin you lost already even if you remove Tirion and lose BK to the weapon)
Just like I said for Shadowflame : You really dont want dead cards for Zoo since most of your cards are very early game focused or token synergy.
Having it in your hand instead of another board control card hurts you sooo much so I dont think it’s worth it