Boomsday Zoo – Your In-Depth Guide To Win

Boomsday Zoo – Your In-Depth Guide To Win

You can never go wrong with Zoo Warlock. In every season since Hearthstone’s beta, Zoolock, or midrange, has remained a fun and viable option for all players from Angry Chicken to Legend. Boomsday has put Zoo back on top again, but it’s more expensive than ever.

Now, over a month since The Boomsday Project was released, I’m here to show you two ways in which Zoo can revitalize your game and win consistently. I have chosen one deck from a professional player and a deck of my own for comparison, because they roughly represent the two main options you have when playing Zoo: with Prince Keleseth, Happy Ghoul combos and The Soularium, and without.

If you want more of an all-or-nothing, highs and lows experience, go for the Keleseth archetype. If you want more consistency and a more traditional Zoo experience, play the first deck. Also, in the true value-focused spirit of Zoolock, deck one is far cheaper in Arcane Dust!

Deck One: Domination with a Discount

Copy this deck code into your game to view the cards and play it yourself:

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This is a no-frills deck designed to hold up against most decks that are big on ladder right now: Token Druid, Even Warlock and Deathrattle Hunter. It doesn’t have any specific tech choices, however, because I want this deck to be an all-rounder. The reason Zoolock has been relevant in every meta since time immemorial is because it’s so flexible; this deck is about being able to adapt to anything any class throws at you.

A key component here is the Defile and Bloodmage Thalnos (he can be replaced easily with Tainted Zealot or even Kobold Geomancer) combo. This takes the deck in a slower control/midrange direction, as opposed to the Keleseth deck which is far more aggressive. Defile is a must-have card in any Warlock deck that doesn’t contain Keleseth.

Defile pushes the skill-ceiling upwards. In other words, having Defile enables you to deal with very large boards and start a comeback that would be almost impossible without it. Against Even Warlock, which centers around making giant Taunts (or should I say making Giants Taunt?) there is little you can do if you don’t have the kind of removal I’ve included here. The same goes for Taunt Druid and Deathrattle Hunter.

Defile is also extremely good against Token Druid, and it’s pretty obvious why. The two Despicable Dreadlords give you extremely strong area of effect (AoE) removal – you could even swap one out for a Hellfire if you want the extra face damage. Hold your Defile as long as possible and wait for your opponent to overextend. They will likely anticipate that you are playing the Happy Ghoul/Keleseth Zoolock, and will therefore not expect much AoE. Then you wipe the board with a Defile and fill it with your own small minions.

This deck gives you the freedom to play much more conservatively than you would with the Keleseth/Happy Ghoul version. Of course, if you are facing a Quest Rogue or Malygos Druid, then you need to flood the board and smash the enemy hero as fast as possible. This deck contains a serious amount of burst damage for that purpose: you can aim for a Soul Infusion on a Doomguard and a Soulfire, for 11 damage from hand (12 if you can get Thalnos out beforehand).

That kind of burst has been rare in Zoolock since Power Overwhelming (RIP) was relegated to the Hall of Fame. On that note, if you have Leeroy Jenkins, feel free to add him in. The Doomguards can be buffed with the Void Analyst as well as with Soul Infusion. Don’t be afraid to use them to wrest control of the board, taking out medium-sized minions. With your enemies, Hunters in particular, you must remember that Zoo is first and foremost a control deck. Holding onto your Doomguards, Soulfires and Fungalmancers in the hope that they’ll drop low enough for a cheesy KO is a recipe for disaster.

Keep in mind that while you do have strong healing in the form of Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, it isn’t as reliable as the other Zoo deck. Against Malygos Druid, you may not even have a target to Lifesteal from.

Deck Two: Princes, Demons and Voodoo, Oh My!

Copy this deck code into your game to view the cards and play it yourself:

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The Happy Ghoul/Prince Keleseth type, exemplified by this deck from the Legend player MRS Blackhole, is currently the most competitive Zoo in a long time. Your goal with this deck is to set up surprise burst with Lightwardens and swamp the early game with free 3/3s. You should hard mulligan for Prince Keleseth, but if you have the Voodoo Doctor/Happy Ghoul combo then keep it.

There isn’t any room to play slowly here. The deck will largely play itself – such is the simplicity of Zoo – but you need to flood the board as soon as you can, regardless of your opponent. Play Happy Ghoul and Fungal Enchanter on 3 if you have no better alternative; having bodies on the board is crucial because you have few comeback mechanisms (eg. Defile).

The fun thing about this deck is that you can absolutely steamroll your opponent by turn 3 with a little luck. Draw Keleseth or Happy Ghouls and a heal and your win rate will skyrocket. It’s much more of a gamble playing this deck, but if that’s your thing (and as we discussed a few weeks ago, if you’re a hardcore Hearthstone fan you may be pretty comfortable when it comes to gambling!) then go for it.

Boomsday supercharged Zoo with The Soularium. It’s your adrenaline shot. Use it aggressively once you have 5 or more Mana – drawing more expensive cards you can’t play is too much of a risk before turn 5 or 6. It’s your big Preparation & Sprint recharge, but packaged into one card for just 1 Mana! When you feel like the steam is running out later in the game, pull this trigger and push ahead for face damage.

Mastery of the early to mid-game is more reliable with this deck. By sacrificing removal, you can pack the board with small, buffable 1-cost minions and follow them up with 4/4 Doubling Imps. You’re able to Life Tap far more often with this deck, since you have so much healing. You really don’t have anything to fear by tapping as often as you can – the goal is to burn through your deck ASAP.

Overall, this deck is a bit riskier. You do have to think hard about when to play Lightwardens, as they can win you games outright when played correctly. It may not be wise to throw them down and hope for the best. Still, you’re less likely to draw duds with this deck – almost every card can be played on its own. You won’t find your hand filled with too much removal. Tap hard, consider your Lightwardens and go face and you’ll go very far with this deck.

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