I've been running Naya Burn for quite a while now, and I want to go back to what I really enjoy - Zoo.
I don't have any more than the 2 CoCos (I actually have to pick up the second one at the shop tomorrow night) and the rest of the cards are similarly limited.
Is this decent? What would you change up?
So I took it to FNM, but couldn't find my 2 BoPs... so I ran Goblin Guides instead.
5 rounds of Swiss, I went 3-0-2 (IDs) against an Abzan standard deck, America control, and Junk good stuff. G1 of the Junk game he went first, Swamp, IoK - but I'd mulled to 5 (because no land) and kept a 4 lands and Loxodon. Giggle.
Top 8 was against Living End - I won that with not too much trouble.
Top 4 was against Infect - I lost handily.
First outing with Zoo in quite a while and I was giddy as a schoolgirl. I love this deck.
711.4a. While a double-faced card is outside the game, in a zone other than the battlefield, or on the battlefield with its front face up, it has only the characteristics of its front face.
**Knowing wizards though, there will be some "specific" ruling to these cards, and they'll just hit the graveyard as walkers haha~~~ -sigh-
Yep. They don't feed goyf unless there is a rule change. Interesting. That limits him more than I hoped.
711.4a. While a double-faced card is outside the game, in a zone other than the battlefield, or on the battlefield with its front face up, it has only the characteristics of its front face.
**Knowing wizards though, there will be some "specific" ruling to these cards, and they'll just hit the graveyard as walkers haha~~~ -sigh-
Yep. They don't feed goyf unless there is a rule change. Interesting. That limits him more than I hoped.
Yeah the front card (and the top half in the case of Kamigawa block's flip cards, from what I've gathered; not that it matters when the Ascendant cycle, the only cycle relevant to this thought experiment, is totally unplayable...) is the only detail that matters when it's not out on the battlefield and transformed. Otherwise you could be doing silly cheatstep things like Collected Company into, I dunno, Withengar Unbound due to transformed cards defaulting to CMC of zero (itself kinda a stupid quirk of MTG rules engineering regarding mana costless cards but eh what can you do?).
On a tangent, I really want the return trip to Zendikar to have Kird Apes. I'm not quite satisfied with the reprint options for it, and his colorshifted partner Loam Lion was in Worldwake. Laugh all you want, but paying the extra dollar for the black border Modern frame adds up after a while.
Looking to pick up tribal zoo as an alternative build to play since i've got most of the cards lying around already other than some shocks and fetches.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
It is going to make Aggro Delver and Affinity into amazing decks. It rewards any deck that can just vomit its hand onto the field. Honestly, it is so powerful, I would consider it for a version of Zoo with low curve and plenty of Burn.
Also, I'm not sure it will be a great matchup for Big Zoo when they reload their hands and nerf our Tarmogoyfs and Knight of the Reliquarys down to minimum size, all with one spell.
I think forcing 2 dromokas command with one in the side is the right way to go right now based on the top 5 decks in modern... jund, delver, twin, burn and grixis control. Plus I think with modern being so wide lately, you need to cover alot of ground, something that the collected lists do, as they can tutor answers, bring in tutor board answers, ect.
Alright. I'm calling it everyone. July 7, 2015, 1:47. Small "Classic Zoo" is dead. Sorry guys. We gotta move on, get over our 7 stages of mourning. Loam Lion, Kird Ape. I loved you guys more than most. Screaming monkey business at the 3 ape start... Making all the cat puns... But its time.
No, in all reality, I've tested about 10 variations of the "classic" zoo and couldnt get it to work what so ever. Moderns just not the same it was last year, alots changed, and the fact the deck is dead has ALOT more to do with modern as a whole than the power level of the deck. I used to do quarterly Zoo wrapups, so I guess take this as "Summer Zoo Update" if you will. No video because I dont wanna get bombed on youtube with hate comments wall of text incoming!
Modern as it is now.
Before I get into it, I need to provide some background info here. A lot of this is basic stuff, most people know, but I wanna make sure I give a full account here. In modern you have a good amount of aggro, but above all you got Zoo, Burn, affinity, boogles, and even infect. Why do I bring this up? They all do what "classic Zoo" does better. Look, burn is faster, you cant doubt that. Any attempts to speed up zoo makes it bad burn. Gruul zoo hits the ground running, but is way easier to stall out than burn is. Super crazy zoo, aka suicide aggro, is also an attempt to speed up zoo. It results in a pretty fragile deck, and its generally worse than boogles, since their "combo" is harder to break, but serves the same function.
On the flip end, the real reason why "classic zoo" doesnt work is if it cant do speed, it should be able to be a solid deck that doesnt roll over to hate (removal/blockers/midgame) but thats where it fails again, because affinity does that job and some. Yes, affinity dies to some sideboard cards... but the chances of decks packing those, let alone hitting them is slimmer than the hate we run into. I mean, main board finks followed up by pretty much anything is enough for us to lose. Prettymucheverythinginthemetahaseasyhatefor us that also comes in against other things too. And I could list more... I'm just lazy.
Kird ape, loam lion, e1, burning-tree, flinthoof, all these "vanilla creatures" are just outclassed now. I mean, look guys, we have a 5/5 for 1! Nacatl bbbbbaaarrreeely squeaks by here, and thats because it can swing on turn 2 and its comparable to a "Green Bolt"
But its not just what these creatures which are "big at a reasonable price" (unlike goyf and nacatl who are big at a way too reasonable price) we're hitting a weird over-saturation in diversity in modern. You can play your "top decks" delver, junk, jund, grixis control, twin, affinity, tron, merfolk, infect elves, big zoo. Cool, all of them are pretty healthy in the meta. But thats the 3% or higher ones... all and all the decks that I listed are about 60%... 40 left? Where is that 40? Well its a mix of decks that are proactive and fall in the cracks of hate. Stuff like boogles, living end, Grishoalbrand, scapeshift, storm, Suicide Zoo, kiki cord. Weird off beat stuff that is praying upon one simple fact. Modern doesnt have a card pool with enough main deck hate cards to answer all the questions posed by decks threats.
Boom, layin all the cards out on the table. I wish it was different, but modern is a format of "do you have the hate cards? No, then you better be faster to win." Thats why crazyyyyy deathshadows zoo works where gruul doesnt. It knows it cant answer any other deck, so it just aims to go faster. Grixis control was birthed seemingly overnight because Kolaghan's Command is one of the few cards that can answer a ton of threats... Its one of the only modern answer cards in existence, along with path, decay, bolt, thoughtsieze, remand/leak, blood moon (Im running outta cards here to mention actually...) unlike legacy with its Tons of answers to threats.
I'm not brining this up to compare formats, or bash. Simply because this is a truth we live in now. We either adapt to live in it, or you wonder why you keep losing money.
Adapting
How do we make this zoo work in the corrent modern? Well, I actually kinda answered it earlier, but we got two options. "Be fast, or have alright answers to a wide range of decks." Luckily, Zoo has access to fast cards and interactive cards, most of which only printed in the last 2 years. As far as I'm concerned after testing, you can either play one of these 3 types of zoo, or you ought to be playing a different deck (gruul zoo? Play affinity. Its just a better version currently)
Speed is pretty easy to understand here. Simply be a turn faster. Winning the game on turn 5 isnt an option anymore. You have to do it on turn 4. And not even "barely" on turn 4, you have to do it overwhelmingly. We're talking him at not 0 but negative 5ish. Modern has more decks that can win on turn 2-3 than ever, and you need to pressure those decks to fizzel. It also has more decks than ever that just stablize turn 4. As in, you didnt win by turn 4? Youre not going to win. Hell, even delver, which is loose and lucky with its draws/life, does that now with tasi and zombie fish.
But no worries, I'm not going to leave you in the dark here. Like I said, Ive tested about 30ish zoo brews over the last week I have had off, and even did some research. Heres what Id run if you want a small zoo:
Is it burn, is it zoo?! Its basically both.
The idea is simple. Take out the bad parts of burn. Fill it in with the good parts of zoo. What you end up getting is a weird mashup that actually works. Alot of pros have been sneaking this online with out much fan fare. Dunno why, but is very solid (3 outta top 8 a MOChamp today.) You can point all this burn at things on the field and attack, or you can (probably should) point it at the face and win off that. Nacatl is like green bolt, and ghorclan/mandrils add to the later game win. The deck still wins just as easily and early as burn, but as the added benefit of plan B, creature attacks. If you liked kird apes, this is what you should be playing. And before you ask, Yes, there is no goyf. Its too slow. I did that on purpose, tested and cut him. Id say its a valid budget option, but guide is like, 30 bucks each now. Hey, still cheaper than goyf.
Most of the deck is pretty self explanatory if you sleeve it up and try it. Shoot people with lightning, let animals (and a girl with a spear and a goblin, revel is a goat, so it counts.) attack. defend um with charms and commands. Or dont and dome em. Up to you.
Course I said we got 3 options. This one is basically "if you like classic zoo/small zoo/Gruul Zoo, play this instead. But I have some options if you like aquarium and Suicide Zoo as well.
So tribal is a little more viable than I thought. Id still say its the worst of these 3 options I'm giving, but its better than you're alternatives. So if you're super greedy and still wanna play all the colors... I wouldnt play suicide zoo with deaths shadow. Its a gimmick and youre going to win as often as you lose. And that sucks. Play this. It gives you good sideboard cards (mines a wreck, but you can more or less go nuts in there) which means you can, and should, be packing the most narrow, but game winning cards you can in there. Dont be broad, use what will win you the game in most matchups and give up on the ones that you will lose.
No rhino, yes company. Company is better to ramp into, since there is so much 1 for 1 removal flyin around nowadays. Plus getting a giest off it is better. Not to mention you want to find sideboard cards and pridemages. The deck likes pridemages. I'm sure theres black and blue creatures I'm forgetting to add to the side (and snap to the main. Baring for some reason you have 8 mana to cast flashback off him... but then again, flash back on company sounds gross and awesome too. Thats value mine friends... Probably should have snaps as I'm thinkin about it.)
The deck is greedy. You will lose to the greed. But you'll also win because of it. Its all in, but unlike gruul or classic zoo, its using cards worth being all in for. Just bare in mind this is a huge difficulty spike (not saying that means its a better deck or a good thing) fetching correctly, picking off company correctly, playing what creatures when... Lot of options, doesnt forgive well when you mess up. But high reward.
Heres what I beleive zoo naya die hards should be playing. Not the exact list (all of these can change...) But this is my current build. There is a reason to this belief. Modern has proven, in order to be a top deck, you dont have to beat the 60% of top decks all the time. You have to beat the other 40% consistently. The weird decks, the ones that you arent really expecting. And naya has the tools to do that. White still gives you the best sideboarding, but its really the main deck tools that pull the deck through. Knight of the Reliquary, Qasali Pridemage, Dromoka's CommandCollected Company and Savaging ooze are the cards that allow you to deal with everything else (company + sideboard mind you).
Its no hidden fact that pridemage is only gotten better recently, and knight still breaks stalls with getting wolfrun. But Dromoka's command is totally underplayed right now in our deck. Its NEVER bad. I repeat, in all my testing, its only ever been good every single time its been in my hand. Hell, The only reason the classsic zoos I was using did anything at all was because I could run 4 commands, and 3 pridemages.
This deck more or less gives you that "I can deal with anything that shows up. If I lose, its because I did my best and lost" feeling, rather than "hand wasnt fast enough, didnt draw the right sideboard card." This is zoos next evolution, and its not really even "big zoo" the only spell past 4 cmc, is basically a refuel spell, or over run depending on the situation. This is "classic" zoo, just with more options and a better overall game plan. Pridemages, oozes, they all beat as hard as apes and lions, but they dont suck later on in the game, and can function as utility. And yes, nobles are better than apes too because Knights are just better swining on turn 3, than two apes. Simple as that.
Much of this comes as an "ah duh" to people who have been playing zoo, but its been a little of a wake up call for me. I can try to force "classic zoo" all i like since Im use to it and its easy to me, but its just not working in modern anymore. Its been not working for about a year. Its just not working now more than ever. Play collected zoo. Dont try one drop zoo, play burn zoo.
We gotta adapt or go extinct. Animals follow Darwinism. This happened in legacy, and I ditched it to go to modern. This time gotta evolve.
Can Classic Zoo never exist again?
Honestly... Probably not. I'm just going to be real here. Modern will either head down 2 roads from here. The lack of good printed answers can continue, and the abundance of good printed threats can continue, and in that case, the problem for zoo gets worse. At that point, burn zoo is youre best option with a 5050 win rate. Or better answers are printed, and even then, zoo probably doesnt fare well. Because its getting answered along with everything else.
Classic zoo had one smalllllll niche in legacy (still does, but its gotten even smaller) its redundant. In a world where 1 mana is pretty much the curve, kird apes and loam lions are actually pretty strong. And that was before there were 1 mana 4/5s and 5/5s. Modern is mostly a 2-3 cmc format, so they are even worse outclassed. Modern would have to speed up alot, and cut its curve down to 1-2 cmc, before these things got better. It might get there, but thats no where soon.
Now there is a 3rd option. We can get more stuff like Dromoka's command, pridemage, or nacatl. I'll be more specific, so you understand fully what I mean. Pridemage is a ton of utility, while also being a beater. for 2 mana, you get a 3/3, who even helps you in a bind with chump blockers (making your bigger dudes bigger than the chump) and very easily hoses about every other deck. Ooze falls in this boat too, along with voice. the more of these we get, the more you can justify rocking smaller beaters, because the support will be there.
Or we can get another nacatl (not another 2/3 or less.) 3/3 is sort of a magic number for 1 mana. Its enough to be aggressive and win the game on its own. E1 doesnt cut it (close, but no cigar.) But if we ever get something like Hidden Herd (I'm gunna guess 90% of you all had no clue that card existed, didja! Boom, old school tech. Thats the original Nacatl.) You might be able to justify it. Again, youd use 8 1 mana 3/3s but you could add in 2-4 apes or e1s to fill that gap in aggressive support. Thats because you'd be jumping your clock by a turn, and youd be comparable to burn speed at that point. Its worth playing 12 1 mana beaters if you can match that speed. Until then, youre 1 turn slower, and out of the running.
The last one is a little more complex... but the most possible. Zoo needs better spells. Either better burn (which doesnt stop the fact burn is still better than you) ala Chain lightning, and since that will never happen, it could also get better stuff like Dromoka's Command. If that card allowed me to naturalize and choose, Id acually still be forcing small "classic zoo" because Id have a good reason. As is, the deck is still short on support.
The truth is "classic zoo" has enough 1 mana beaters. even enough 2-3 mana ones (arguably, knight could have better fetch targets like Tower of the Magistrate or wasteland, or a on color geist of st traft... but I digress) but its spell support is pretty bad. 4 path, 4 bolt is the core, but it needs a whopping 8 more spells at 1-2 cmc to fill in that gap. Rampager and command come close, but arent quite perfect. Honestly youd need something OP like a command that can protect the whole team with hexproof or indestrutablity, have a mode that can burn a player or creature, then have two modes that would be very broad sideboard stuff (like kill artifacts and nuke the grave)
its very unlikely, but I'm just being real with you.
Until any of those situations I described happen, I honestly think these are your best options. Fast, greedy, or answer filled, take your pick.
The idea is simple. Take out the bad parts of burn. Fill it in with the good parts of zoo. What you end up getting is a weird mashup that actually works. Alot of pros have been sneaking this online with out much fan fare. Dunno why, but is very solid (3 outta top 8 a MOChamp today.) You can point all this burn at things on the field and attack, or you can (probably should) point it at the face and win off that. Nacatl is like green bolt, and ghorclan/mandrils add to the later game win. The deck still wins just as easily and early as burn, but as the added benefit of plan B, creature attacks. If you liked kird apes, this is what you should be playing. And before you ask, Yes, there is no goyf. Its too slow. I did that on purpose, tested and cut him. Id say its a valid budget option, but guide is like, 30 bucks each now. Hey, still cheaper than goyf.
Most of the deck is pretty self explanatory if you sleeve it up and try it. Shoot people with lightning, let animals (and a girl with a spear and a goblin, revel is a goat, so it counts.) attack. defend um with charms and commands. Or dont and dome em. Up to you.
Wow, i'm blown away!!!
i have to show some respect for your choices.
I'm testing Eidolon Zoo for a Week now, but this is crazy!
My Core had been the same, but i decided to go for Kird Ape instead of Swiftspear,
no Spike, no Boros Charm.
What impresses me most is the Mana Base.
I durdled around with Copperline Gorge but couldn't figure
out how i should turn Wild Nacatl into a 3/3 constantly.
It took me down to 14 Life all the time, along with Hitting myself it became
a catastrophy.
Sure Sacred Foundry after Gorge does make a lot of sense,
but running both Playsets busts my Mind
I'll definitely try that one out.
Keep on the good work, i'm gratefule that there's a kind of budget Zoo
everybody can afford.
What's your oppinion about running Vexing Devil over Spike
or Rift Bolt?
Pretty sure I'm just going to jam the green Dig Through Time for as long as I can. Does anyone want to jam games on mtgo as the summer goes on? Just put in a buylist order to Cape Fear Games (they can pay out in Mtgotraders credit) so I finish my playset of digital Goyfs. Need to test for the RPTQ in October (You bet your tails I'm jamming Nacatls).
might try that version out been play testing against myself on cocktrice and seems good for the current meta as we are attacking on 2 different axis (creatures and burn)
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard : What is Stand-tart
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
So I took it to FNM, but couldn't find my 2 BoPs... so I ran Goblin Guides instead.
5 rounds of Swiss, I went 3-0-2 (IDs) against an Abzan standard deck, America control, and Junk good stuff. G1 of the Junk game he went first, Swamp, IoK - but I'd mulled to 5 (because no land) and kept a 4 lands and Loxodon. Giggle.
Top 8 was against Living End - I won that with not too much trouble.
Top 4 was against Infect - I lost handily.
First outing with Zoo in quite a while and I was giddy as a schoolgirl. I love this deck.
Not sure what the ruling was on that. Again, cockatrice=/=mtgo
Edit:
Yep. They don't feed goyf unless there is a rule change. Interesting. That limits him more than I hoped.
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Arid Mesa
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Forest
2 Plains
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Loxodon Smiter
11 Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
3 Collected Company
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Stony Silence
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Blood Moon
2 Choke
1 Bonfire of the Damned
Round 1 Goblins 2-0
Round 2 Grixis Twin 0-2
Round 3 Grisshoalbrand 2-0
Round 4 Jeskai Delver 2-1
Round 5 Affnity 0-2
Yeah the front card (and the top half in the case of Kamigawa block's flip cards, from what I've gathered; not that it matters when the Ascendant cycle, the only cycle relevant to this thought experiment, is totally unplayable...) is the only detail that matters when it's not out on the battlefield and transformed. Otherwise you could be doing silly cheatstep things like Collected Company into, I dunno, Withengar Unbound due to transformed cards defaulting to CMC of zero (itself kinda a stupid quirk of MTG rules engineering regarding mana costless cards but eh what can you do?).
On a tangent, I really want the return trip to Zendikar to have Kird Apes. I'm not quite satisfied with the reprint options for it, and his colorshifted partner Loam Lion was in Worldwake. Laugh all you want, but paying the extra dollar for the black border Modern frame adds up after a while.
My spells are going to be like this
4x Noble hierarch
1x BoP
4x wild nacatl
4x tarmogoyf
4x geist of saint traft
4x siege rhino
2x ghor-clan rampager
4x lightning bolt
3x path to exile
2x crackling doom
2x abrupt decay OR atarka's command
4x tribal flames
Need some help coming up with a land base that will lessen the chances of having awkward mana situations and will let me cast my spells on curve.
2-0 vs Grishel Shoal
2-0 vs Grisel Shoal
2-1 vs 8 Rack
2-1 vs Burn
Thalia was the MVP of the day with Ooze coming in 2nd place.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
just lurking around around other threads and Origins Spoiler,
some players claim that Day's Undoing will have
a huge impact on the Modern Meta.
Especial UR Delver Player's believe it'll bring back Tempo back
to there High Tide when Cruise was legal.
That'll be great news as Delver is one of our best MU's.
What do you expect of Day's? Breaking the Scene of MOdern or just be
a overhyped Card?
Green @ it's best
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
3 Loam Lion
4 Experiment One
4 Burning Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
4 Atarka's Command
3 Boros Charm
Also, I'm not sure it will be a great matchup for Big Zoo when they reload their hands and nerf our Tarmogoyfs and Knight of the Reliquarys down to minimum size, all with one spell.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
No, in all reality, I've tested about 10 variations of the "classic" zoo and couldnt get it to work what so ever. Moderns just not the same it was last year, alots changed, and the fact the deck is dead has ALOT more to do with modern as a whole than the power level of the deck. I used to do quarterly Zoo wrapups, so I guess take this as "Summer Zoo Update" if you will. No video because I dont wanna get bombed on youtube with hate comments wall of text incoming!
Modern as it is now.
Before I get into it, I need to provide some background info here. A lot of this is basic stuff, most people know, but I wanna make sure I give a full account here. In modern you have a good amount of aggro, but above all you got Zoo, Burn, affinity, boogles, and even infect. Why do I bring this up? They all do what "classic Zoo" does better. Look, burn is faster, you cant doubt that. Any attempts to speed up zoo makes it bad burn. Gruul zoo hits the ground running, but is way easier to stall out than burn is. Super crazy zoo, aka suicide aggro, is also an attempt to speed up zoo. It results in a pretty fragile deck, and its generally worse than boogles, since their "combo" is harder to break, but serves the same function.
On the flip end, the real reason why "classic zoo" doesnt work is if it cant do speed, it should be able to be a solid deck that doesnt roll over to hate (removal/blockers/midgame) but thats where it fails again, because affinity does that job and some. Yes, affinity dies to some sideboard cards... but the chances of decks packing those, let alone hitting them is slimmer than the hate we run into. I mean, main board finks followed up by pretty much anything is enough for us to lose. Pretty much everything in the meta has easy hate for us that also comes in against other things too. And I could list more... I'm just lazy.
Kird ape, loam lion, e1, burning-tree, flinthoof, all these "vanilla creatures" are just outclassed now. I mean, look guys, we have a 5/5 for 1! Nacatl bbbbbaaarrreeely squeaks by here, and thats because it can swing on turn 2 and its comparable to a "Green Bolt"
But its not just what these creatures which are "big at a reasonable price" (unlike goyf and nacatl who are big at a way too reasonable price) we're hitting a weird over-saturation in diversity in modern. You can play your "top decks" delver, junk, jund, grixis control, twin, affinity, tron, merfolk, infect elves, big zoo. Cool, all of them are pretty healthy in the meta. But thats the 3% or higher ones... all and all the decks that I listed are about 60%... 40 left? Where is that 40? Well its a mix of decks that are proactive and fall in the cracks of hate. Stuff like boogles, living end, Grishoalbrand, scapeshift, storm, Suicide Zoo, kiki cord. Weird off beat stuff that is praying upon one simple fact. Modern doesnt have a card pool with enough main deck hate cards to answer all the questions posed by decks threats.
Boom, layin all the cards out on the table. I wish it was different, but modern is a format of "do you have the hate cards? No, then you better be faster to win." Thats why crazyyyyy deathshadows zoo works where gruul doesnt. It knows it cant answer any other deck, so it just aims to go faster. Grixis control was birthed seemingly overnight because Kolaghan's Command is one of the few cards that can answer a ton of threats... Its one of the only modern answer cards in existence, along with path, decay, bolt, thoughtsieze, remand/leak, blood moon (Im running outta cards here to mention actually...) unlike legacy with its Tons of answers to threats.
I'm not brining this up to compare formats, or bash. Simply because this is a truth we live in now. We either adapt to live in it, or you wonder why you keep losing money.
Adapting
How do we make this zoo work in the corrent modern? Well, I actually kinda answered it earlier, but we got two options. "Be fast, or have alright answers to a wide range of decks." Luckily, Zoo has access to fast cards and interactive cards, most of which only printed in the last 2 years. As far as I'm concerned after testing, you can either play one of these 3 types of zoo, or you ought to be playing a different deck (gruul zoo? Play affinity. Its just a better version currently)
Speed is pretty easy to understand here. Simply be a turn faster. Winning the game on turn 5 isnt an option anymore. You have to do it on turn 4. And not even "barely" on turn 4, you have to do it overwhelmingly. We're talking him at not 0 but negative 5ish. Modern has more decks that can win on turn 2-3 than ever, and you need to pressure those decks to fizzel. It also has more decks than ever that just stablize turn 4. As in, you didnt win by turn 4? Youre not going to win. Hell, even delver, which is loose and lucky with its draws/life, does that now with tasi and zombie fish.
But no worries, I'm not going to leave you in the dark here. Like I said, Ive tested about 30ish zoo brews over the last week I have had off, and even did some research. Heres what Id run if you want a small zoo:
Is it burn, is it zoo?! Its basically both.
The idea is simple. Take out the bad parts of burn. Fill it in with the good parts of zoo. What you end up getting is a weird mashup that actually works. Alot of pros have been sneaking this online with out much fan fare. Dunno why, but is very solid (3 outta top 8 a MOChamp today.) You can point all this burn at things on the field and attack, or you can (probably should) point it at the face and win off that. Nacatl is like green bolt, and ghorclan/mandrils add to the later game win. The deck still wins just as easily and early as burn, but as the added benefit of plan B, creature attacks. If you liked kird apes, this is what you should be playing. And before you ask, Yes, there is no goyf. Its too slow. I did that on purpose, tested and cut him. Id say its a valid budget option, but guide is like, 30 bucks each now. Hey, still cheaper than goyf.
Most of the deck is pretty self explanatory if you sleeve it up and try it. Shoot people with lightning, let animals (and a girl with a spear and a goblin, revel is a goat, so it counts.) attack. defend um with charms and commands. Or dont and dome em. Up to you.
Course I said we got 3 options. This one is basically "if you like classic zoo/small zoo/Gruul Zoo, play this instead. But I have some options if you like aquarium and Suicide Zoo as well.
So tribal is a little more viable than I thought. Id still say its the worst of these 3 options I'm giving, but its better than you're alternatives. So if you're super greedy and still wanna play all the colors... I wouldnt play suicide zoo with deaths shadow. Its a gimmick and youre going to win as often as you lose. And that sucks. Play this. It gives you good sideboard cards (mines a wreck, but you can more or less go nuts in there) which means you can, and should, be packing the most narrow, but game winning cards you can in there. Dont be broad, use what will win you the game in most matchups and give up on the ones that you will lose.
No rhino, yes company. Company is better to ramp into, since there is so much 1 for 1 removal flyin around nowadays. Plus getting a giest off it is better. Not to mention you want to find sideboard cards and pridemages. The deck likes pridemages. I'm sure theres black and blue creatures I'm forgetting to add to the side (and snap to the main. Baring for some reason you have 8 mana to cast flashback off him... but then again, flash back on company sounds gross and awesome too. Thats value mine friends... Probably should have snaps as I'm thinkin about it.)
The deck is greedy. You will lose to the greed. But you'll also win because of it. Its all in, but unlike gruul or classic zoo, its using cards worth being all in for. Just bare in mind this is a huge difficulty spike (not saying that means its a better deck or a good thing) fetching correctly, picking off company correctly, playing what creatures when... Lot of options, doesnt forgive well when you mess up. But high reward.
Heres what I beleive zoo naya die hards should be playing. Not the exact list (all of these can change...) But this is my current build. There is a reason to this belief. Modern has proven, in order to be a top deck, you dont have to beat the 60% of top decks all the time. You have to beat the other 40% consistently. The weird decks, the ones that you arent really expecting. And naya has the tools to do that. White still gives you the best sideboarding, but its really the main deck tools that pull the deck through. Knight of the Reliquary, Qasali Pridemage, Dromoka's Command Collected Company and Savaging ooze are the cards that allow you to deal with everything else (company + sideboard mind you).
Its no hidden fact that pridemage is only gotten better recently, and knight still breaks stalls with getting wolfrun. But Dromoka's command is totally underplayed right now in our deck. Its NEVER bad. I repeat, in all my testing, its only ever been good every single time its been in my hand. Hell, The only reason the classsic zoos I was using did anything at all was because I could run 4 commands, and 3 pridemages.
This deck more or less gives you that "I can deal with anything that shows up. If I lose, its because I did my best and lost" feeling, rather than "hand wasnt fast enough, didnt draw the right sideboard card." This is zoos next evolution, and its not really even "big zoo" the only spell past 4 cmc, is basically a refuel spell, or over run depending on the situation. This is "classic" zoo, just with more options and a better overall game plan. Pridemages, oozes, they all beat as hard as apes and lions, but they dont suck later on in the game, and can function as utility. And yes, nobles are better than apes too because Knights are just better swining on turn 3, than two apes. Simple as that.
Much of this comes as an "ah duh" to people who have been playing zoo, but its been a little of a wake up call for me. I can try to force "classic zoo" all i like since Im use to it and its easy to me, but its just not working in modern anymore. Its been not working for about a year. Its just not working now more than ever. Play collected zoo. Dont try one drop zoo, play burn zoo.
We gotta adapt or go extinct. Animals follow Darwinism. This happened in legacy, and I ditched it to go to modern. This time gotta evolve.
Can Classic Zoo never exist again?
Honestly... Probably not. I'm just going to be real here. Modern will either head down 2 roads from here. The lack of good printed answers can continue, and the abundance of good printed threats can continue, and in that case, the problem for zoo gets worse. At that point, burn zoo is youre best option with a 5050 win rate. Or better answers are printed, and even then, zoo probably doesnt fare well. Because its getting answered along with everything else.
Classic zoo had one smalllllll niche in legacy (still does, but its gotten even smaller) its redundant. In a world where 1 mana is pretty much the curve, kird apes and loam lions are actually pretty strong. And that was before there were 1 mana 4/5s and 5/5s. Modern is mostly a 2-3 cmc format, so they are even worse outclassed. Modern would have to speed up alot, and cut its curve down to 1-2 cmc, before these things got better. It might get there, but thats no where soon.
Now there is a 3rd option. We can get more stuff like Dromoka's command, pridemage, or nacatl. I'll be more specific, so you understand fully what I mean. Pridemage is a ton of utility, while also being a beater. for 2 mana, you get a 3/3, who even helps you in a bind with chump blockers (making your bigger dudes bigger than the chump) and very easily hoses about every other deck. Ooze falls in this boat too, along with voice. the more of these we get, the more you can justify rocking smaller beaters, because the support will be there.
Or we can get another nacatl (not another 2/3 or less.) 3/3 is sort of a magic number for 1 mana. Its enough to be aggressive and win the game on its own. E1 doesnt cut it (close, but no cigar.) But if we ever get something like Hidden Herd (I'm gunna guess 90% of you all had no clue that card existed, didja! Boom, old school tech. Thats the original Nacatl.) You might be able to justify it. Again, youd use 8 1 mana 3/3s but you could add in 2-4 apes or e1s to fill that gap in aggressive support. Thats because you'd be jumping your clock by a turn, and youd be comparable to burn speed at that point. Its worth playing 12 1 mana beaters if you can match that speed. Until then, youre 1 turn slower, and out of the running.
The last one is a little more complex... but the most possible. Zoo needs better spells. Either better burn (which doesnt stop the fact burn is still better than you) ala Chain lightning, and since that will never happen, it could also get better stuff like Dromoka's Command. If that card allowed me to naturalize and choose, Id acually still be forcing small "classic zoo" because Id have a good reason. As is, the deck is still short on support.
The truth is "classic zoo" has enough 1 mana beaters. even enough 2-3 mana ones (arguably, knight could have better fetch targets like Tower of the Magistrate or wasteland, or a on color geist of st traft... but I digress) but its spell support is pretty bad. 4 path, 4 bolt is the core, but it needs a whopping 8 more spells at 1-2 cmc to fill in that gap. Rampager and command come close, but arent quite perfect. Honestly youd need something OP like a command that can protect the whole team with hexproof or indestrutablity, have a mode that can burn a player or creature, then have two modes that would be very broad sideboard stuff (like kill artifacts and nuke the grave)
its very unlikely, but I'm just being real with you.
Until any of those situations I described happen, I honestly think these are your best options. Fast, greedy, or answer filled, take your pick.
Alas, little zoo.
Delver was your best matchup.
Bring back Treasure Cruise.
Wow, i'm blown away!!!
i have to show some respect for your choices.
I'm testing Eidolon Zoo for a Week now, but this is crazy!
My Core had been the same, but i decided to go for Kird Ape instead of Swiftspear,
no Spike, no Boros Charm.
Hooting Mandrills had been great so far, i run 12 1-Drops, 6 2-Drops (4 Eidolon + 2 Flinthoof Boar),
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager and that doesn't feel right.
What impresses me most is the Mana Base.
I durdled around with Copperline Gorge but couldn't figure
out how i should turn Wild Nacatl into a 3/3 constantly.
It took me down to 14 Life all the time, along with
Hitting myself it became
a catastrophy.
Sure Sacred Foundry after Gorge does make a lot of sense,
but running both Playsets busts my Mind
I'll definitely try that one out.
Keep on the good work, i'm gratefule that there's a kind of budget Zoo
everybody can afford.
What's your oppinion about running Vexing Devil over Spike
or Rift Bolt?
Green @ it's best
Follow the link for nice cheap clothing.
Playing:
Death's Shadow Jund
Played:
Kiki Chord, Zoo variants, Goblins, Burn
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj5oWNcwh-W4uoNbwxiJRwG0AOPSa_R-I
Its alright. Its win rate is up there with burn. bout 50-50. I think Collected Company is still the better of the two, especially after testing.