Zoo (TGT)
So, in case you missed it, Hearthstone’s new expansion, The Grand Tournament, finally released earlier this week. A new expansion means news cards, and new cards mean new decks! This Deck of the Week is looking at one of the first TGT reboots of an old classic, the zoolock.
This particular version was played by Eloise in the Archon team tournament this week. It’s a very aggressive version of zoolock with several low mana cards and capitalizes on two mechanics, buff-cards and discarding.
Discard
The discard mechanic has been in the game since the beginning. It is actually one of the core mechanics that warlock cards are balanced around. Soulfire and Doomguard are two examples of extremely powerful cards that are supposed to be offset by the cost of burning a random card from your hand. Well, some of the TGT cards now actually grant positive effects when they or another card is discarded.
The card that features this new twist on discarding in this deck is the Fist of Jaraxxus. You can play this card for 4 mana to deal 4 random damage to an enemy, which means either a minion or the enemy hero. Unfortunately, that’s not a very good value for you mana since you can’t control where the damage goes. The twist is that when you discard Fist of Jaraxxus, you also get its 4 random damage. Considering that this deck runs 4 cards with “discard” on them, it’s very unlikely you’d ever spend 4 mana to play this card.
Buffing
The other thing this deck features is an array of cards that buff, or grant bonuses, to other minions. Cards like Abusive Sergeant, Dire Wolf Alpha, and Lance Carrier are some good examples. These cards allow you to turn your low cost minions into powerhouses, helping you get excellent trades and maintain board control.
Take the Shieldbearer for example. On its own, a 0/4 taunt really doesn’t do anything. It can protect a Flame Imp from a Fiery War Axe or Shielded Minibot. However, if you can follow a turn 1 Shieldbearer up with a Lance Carrier on turn 2, you suddenly have a 2/4 minion with taunt that will trade with most 2 drops and still survive. That’s good value.
Be Aggressive
Even though this is still a zoo deck, it’s an extremely aggressive version. Your highest mana card is the Doomguard at 5, with most of the deck costing 1 or 2 mana. Of course, the myriad buff cards help in this respect, but if a game is drawn out too long, you will run out of steam. You always want to have a 1 or 2 drop in your starting hand, with Flame Imp being the best possible turn 1 play in most cases.
It’s also ideal if you can maintain board control early. This causes your opponent to make trades and use spells reactively and frees your minions up to deal face damage. Another key to success with this deck is aggressive use of your hero power. From turn 4 on, using Life Tap to draw an extra card starts becoming more of a priority. Try to make a strong play with a low mana card, then Tap so that your opponent doesn’t amass too much of a card advantage.
Because zoolock has always been a staple deck, crafting the required TGT cards should be relatively cheap for most players, making this an excellent deck to start experimenting with them. It’s also refreshing to play a bit faster version of zoolock after the demon zoo variant made the deck more mid-ranged.
Of the new TGT cards, the one I am most excited about is Fist of Jaraxxus. It’s a fresh take on an old mechanic, which helps keep the game interesting. What’s your favorite TGT card in the deck? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @AGRitterific.
