Let's start with the most obvious addition, Remand.
The inspiration for this iteration of the deck came from two places, the first was playing with Tarmo Twin, where Remand did a great job of either buying time/digging for the combo, or backing up Tarmogoyf by keeping the path clear for it to keep bashing in for damage. I realized that if Remand compliments a beat down plan in a combo deck so well (which is definitely their plan B) why couldn't it be used to great effect in a dedicated beatdown deck? Reason number two for trying Remand was the need for a card that helps against Kitchen Finks out of the Birthing Pod decks that isn't horrible against other strategies. So far in testing Remand has been accomplishing exactly what I hoped it would, it's bought time to finish them off, while helping to draw into the burn or additional creatures I need to close the game out. Like this bad boy.
Next on our list of oddball cards to see in a Zoo deck is Spell Pierce.
I will point out that I am not the first person to use Spell Pierce in a Zoo deck. The first version that I heard of using this idea was Josh Utter-Leyton's Counter Cat deck that he used to top 8 Pro Tour Philadelphia. Since then, the zoo decks changed around quite a bit, and people moved away from this card. However, I think that in a metagame filled with cards like Lightning Helix, Birthing Pod, Chord of Calling, Anger of the Gods, Splinter Twin, Pyromancer's Ascension, Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Cryptic Command, Batterskull, Gifts Ungiven, Electrolyze, Mana Leak, Living End, Cranial Plating, Blood Moon, Spreading Seas and the ramp spells out of the Scapeshift deck, it seems quite well positioned. Not only is this an extremely flexible answer to all of those cards and more, but it provides a huge tempo boost in the process. For example, say your opponent is at 20 and you're attacking with Wild Nacatl. They cast Lightning Helix, killing the Nacatl. You play another Nacatl and maybe a second one drop and pass the turn. You now have two creatures in play, your opponent is at 23, and they're about to untap with 3 mana (enough for a Mana Leak + Lightning Bolt). This is not a good position to be in. If we re-play that turn with a Spell Pierce, your opponent ends up at 17 (because the Wild Nacatl got to deal damage, and they gained nothing) and you still have the mana to play another one drop creature. Now that is an actual turn!
Ghor-Clan Rampager is another card that has recently been adopted into the Zoo decks, and is not an idea I came up with. However, instead of using it as a 1-of, I upped the number to 3. This card has been extremely valuable against opposing Tarmogoyfs, Spellskites, Restoration Angels and Kitchen Finks. I really couldn't imagine playing this deck with any less than 2 or 3.
The rest of the cards in the maindeck are included for fairly obvious reasons, so I'd like to talk about a couple of cards that seem unusual to leave out of the deck. The first of these is Path to Exile.
Most Zoo decks run x4 Path to Exile in the main deck, but in this iteration of the deck Path to Exile loses a lot of value. Strike 1: Path has some really negative synergy with Spell Pierce and Remand. Strike 2: against a lot of decks in this format, giving them an extra land is a very serious drawback, especially against Melira Pod and Splinter Twin, the two decks you'd most want to cast Path to Exile against. Strike 3: Path to Exile is almost completely dead against WUR control, which is definitely a matchup where you don't want dead cards.
Lightning Helix is the other card that seems odd to leave out of the maindeck.
My argument for this plan is that Lightning Helix is only exciting against Affinity (when they don't have Arcbound Ravager in play) and the mirror. It's mediocre to fairly unexciting in every other matchup.
Finally, I'd like to wrap this up with a quick word about the sideboard. Most of it is pretty simple, I have access to the 3rd and 4th Spell Pierce in matchups where its strong, more Pillar of Flame for Pod and Affinity, Lightning Helix for the mirror, Affinity and any other aggro matchups (that aren't hexproof decks) and Loxodon Smiter for UWR control. Destructive Revelry however is a card that is not quite as obvious.
This card has been nothing short of fantastic for me. It handles Splinter Twin, Blood Moon (float the mana in response to cast Revelry, let Blood Moon resolve, then cast it), Batterskull, Spellskite, any card out of the affinity decks, Leyline of Sanctity, Pyromancer's Ascension, and it's great against the hexproof decks! Part of the draw of this card is that it's a reactive card that still deals damage. That kind of utility combined with burn (allowing you to be proactive and reactive at the same time) for the price of two mana is a great deal. Don't leave home without it.
Thanks for reading!
In a deck with Lightning Bolt, Goblin Guide, Ghor-Clan Rampager, and Pillar of Flame (not to mention a lack of Path to Exile and Lightning Helix), I think I would play 4x Kird Ape before playing any Loam Lion.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, the decklist is pretty cool. I'd love to hear some playtesting matches.
well i guess at depends on if you are a cat person or not
DeletePerhaps, indeed! Haha.
DeleteIn this case, I was referring to the fact that many of his cards require red mana. Many more, in fact, than require white. So I wanted to have more Kird Ape's so that there was less tension between fetching red dual lands versus dual lands with white in them.
And if that means I'm not a cat person, well, so be it. And if you were just poking fun, then congrats! You have made a monkey out of me.
Ah, I see what you are saying now, mana base awareness is not my strongest suit so I admittedly didn't get what you were saying at first. But now it makes sense, thanks for the insight!
Delete@PIIR-Pierrot
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you should mention this, because I chose to play more loam lion's over kird apes due to the mana base! when playing 5 colors, it actually puts less strain on the mana base to have my spells spread out instead of focused on one color. imagine a hand of x1 goblin guide, x2 kird ape, x1 lightning bolt x1 tarmogoyf x1 arid mesa x1 verdant catacomb. With this hand, you can't fetch 4 different colors and play multiple spell in a turn. if the hand had the same lands but the spells looked like x1 goblin guide, x2 loam lion, x1 goyf, x1 bolt i can go turn 1 fetch for a temple garden, play loam lion. turn 2, play a loam lion and fetch steam vents, play the goblin guide or the bolt. this is WAY more efficient and allows me to be as fast as possible, while fetching up as many colors as possible.