This deck aims to kill the opponent as quickly as possible with a mix of efficient creatures and burn.
There are two fundamental card types in any zoo deck, creatures and burn.
Creatures
Wild Nacatl
:
The best creature, 'nuff said. This kitty does some serious work, and most of your other creatures just function as less good nacatls.
Goblin Guide
:
You sometimes hear people say that his ability doesn't hurt you, that's not true, it does however hurt you a lot less than a 2/2 haste hurts your opponent. Goblin guide boarders the line between creature and burn, since you usually want to play it late to close out the game, to both mitigate its downside and because it is smaller than your other dudes.
Kird Ape
:
The one less power makes it a lot worse than the cat, but a 2/3 for one is still nothing to scoff at. It's the meat and potatoes of the deck.
Loam Lion
:
It's pretty much Kird Ape 5-8, but a bit worse generally thanks to the deck being less white than red. Being white does make it better against
Kor Firewalker
and
Burrenton Forge-Tender
.
Experiment One
:
This is usually the card you play turn one if you have it. Turn one it will usually be a better nacatl, since playing two creatures is easy and it can regenerate. It's a lot worse when you draw it late. It's good against sweepers like
Engineered Explosives
and
Anger of the Gods
since it can regenerate and then get pumped when you play more creatures.
Narnam Renegade
:
It's a bit harder to activate than the ape, but the deathtouch is quite good in the mirror and against eldrazi decks. You usually trigger it on fetches, though sometimes you can swing with your creatures and play it after combat. Sometimes it's correct you play it as a 1/2 if you can't activate it, sometimes you need to wait.
Burn
Lightning Bolt
:
The OG burn spell. It's really good because it also functions as removal.
Atarka's Command
:
This card might very well be the best card in the deck. 95% of the time it buffs your board and shoots for 3, which is burn for 4-6 and lets your creatures swing through theirs. The no life gain ability can sometimes be good. Putting a land into play is only ever used if you are playing it in their end step and has nothing else.
Boros Charm
:
It usually shoot face for 4, though giving your team indestructible is good resistance against sweepers, and occasionally a removal spell. The double strike is rarely used, though it does have some fringe utility.
Ghor-Clan Rampager
:
Don't be fooled, this is not a creature, it is a pump spell. It's really good for pumping your creatures through
Tarmogoyf
's, though just shooting their face for 4 isn't bad either. The trample is great synergy with the renegade's deathtouch. It is very occasionally played as a threat, though you rarely get to four lands. If you do play it as a creature it buffs the experiment to 4/4. The dream is to play it turn four along with boros charm, though I've never done it.
Removal
Path to Exile
:
Aside from the bolts, this is your only removal. Many zoo decks don't play the full play-set, but I really like it. It's really good for getting rid of large eldrazis,
Kitchen Finks
and so on.
Lands
Arid Mesa
,
Windswept Heath
,
Wooded Foothills
:
Fetches are the backbone of the mana base. Along with shocks they mean you can usually get the pretty tight mana requirements the deck gets, at the cost of a lot of life, which is less important since we are usually the aggressive deck in the match up. They also trigger revolt for the renegade.
Stomping Ground
,
Temple Garden
,
Sacred Foundry
:
Combines with fetches to provide excellent mana fixing. Usually you find Stomping first, then Sacred, and Temple if you get a third land drop, though it changes based on what cards you have in hand. Pay a lot of attention to your sequence when deciding what to fetch.
Horizon Canopy
:
Not enabling Nacatl, Kird Ape and Loam Lion can be awkward, but being able to turn a land into a useful spell is really useful. The mana base does not allow for more than one though.
Forest
:
The only basic land. You can fetch it to lose less life in aggressive match ups. You can find it when being
Path to Exile
d or
Ghost Quarter
ed. It also allows you to play better around blood moons.
Sideboard
Destructive Revelry
:
Obviously good against artifacts and enchantments. The main reason for having 4 instead of 3 is that
Chalice of the Void
completely wrecks the deck. Board in against affinity, eldrazi, merfolk, boggles and anything that runs troublesome artifacts or enchantment.
Pyroclasm
:
At first glance it looks weird in an aggro deck, but it only hits our own goblin guide, and it is a real game breaker against
Collected Company
decks, tokens and death and taxes.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
:
She's there to hate against non-creature heavy decks, most typically control and storm.
Leyline of Sanctity
:
Use against discard decks, storm and burn.
Rest in Peace
:
Graveyard hate, against dredge and living end most importantly. Also good against storm and jund.
Stony Silence
:
More artifact hate. Great against affinity, lantern and tron decks with chromatic sphere and star. It's also good against other tron decks.
Grafdigger's Cage
:
Graveyard hate that doesn't hit living end, but does wonders against elves, as it stops both
Chord of Calling
and deck:Collected Company. It also works against
Madcap Experiment
if you should ever run into that.
