Creature (26)
Land (20)
Instant (14)
Sideboard
Creature (5)
Enchantment (4)
Sorcery (1)
HELLO AND WELCOME! WELCOME AND HELLO! I'm very happy to bring this list to you, and of course happy that you're reading it here! I'm a big fan of Zoo in general, so of course I've got a list of my own. In this case we've got a great deck that keeps the pressure on from turn one until your opponent scoops. I'm going to do a short primer, because most people are familiar with zoo I'm going to focus more on the cards' effects in an actual match as well as giving some common sideboard scenarios. Let's get to the deck!
Pretty right? Okay, so the key to an effective zoo deck is the same as any aggro deck, efficiency. We've got the most effective creatures in modern, and they put our opponent on a very short clock. We've got Wild Nacatl, Kird Ape , Tarmogoyf, Loxodon Smiter and Knight of the Reliquary all offering great power and toughness for their respective mana costs (sidenote:Kird Ape has been my favorite magic card since I was seven! ). Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary also offer a bit of staying power, because as the game progresses they actually get better and better. Aside from the beaters we've got Noble Hierarch, Qasali Pridemage and Ghor-Clan Rampager in the main board. I can't stress enough how important the Exalted triggers are that we get from Noble and Pridemage. They let our goyf eat other goyfs, and they let us hit harder in general whenever we only have one beater to hit with. They also both offer utility that we use to keep our deck flexible. Noble Hierarch turn one gives us the option for turn two Smiter/Knight or the option to crack a land, bolt a dude and play a 3/4 goyf (it's good to have goyf out of bolt range). On his own Qasali Pridemage can be a Watchwolf , but he can also act as a Disenchant that keeps many decks off balance by threatening to destroy things like Splinter Twin or Amulet of Vigor. Lastly, Ghor-Clan Rampager is a card that zoo decks had been waiting for for quite some time. Normally Stampeding Rhino wouldn't even get a second glance in most constructed decks, but drop the mana cost by one and add some spice, and you've got quite the card. While there are times that you'll cast him over ninety-percent of the time he's an uncounterable buff spell that gives one of our creatures trample to get past the chumps and win the game. Rampager finishes games fast and hard, and that's what we want in zoo.
I'm going to go over the non-creature spells very briefly, but I do want to highlight the commands for a minute. In addition to Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile which are arguably the best removal spells in modern we've added a new piece of tech to our removal suite! Dromoka's Command offers so much value that you can smell it through the deck box. You can two for one your opponent by "countering" a burn spell and fighting a creature to the death, "countering" a burn spell and forcing them to sacrifice an enchantment or by fighting a creature to death and forcing them to sacrifice an enchanment. If any one of those modes doesn't work for you at the moment just put a counter on one of your creatures to make them a little tougher. Our other fresh-tech, Atarka's Command is just as versatile. It can be a Skullcrack (that goes global if you're in a group game for some reason). It can act a little like an Explore if your deck is running things like Steppe Lynx or Plated Geopede , and it can anthem for a turn. My personal favorite is to swing wide with a few creatures and combine burn and anthem turning Atarka's Command into a pseudo Tribal Flames . Well, that's it for the mainboard let's look at the sideboard and some common matchups.
Alright, I always feel that a sideboard should have more silver bullets than Sam and Dean Winchester, so that's exactly where I went with this. A lot of the usual suspects are here, so I'm going to go straight into pairings.
- GR TRON: 2xDromoka's Command, 2xLightning Bolt, 1x Tarfire out. 2xBlood Moon, 2xStony Silence, 1x Sowing Salt in.
- TWIN: 1x Tarfire , 2x Kird Ape out. 2xVines of Vastwood 1xHushwing Gryff in.
- BOTS: 2x Atarka's Command 1x Tarfire out. 2xStony Silence 1xAncient Grudge in.
- RDW: 2x Atarka's Command out. 2xKor Firewalker in.
Now in these matchups I didn't use Scavenging Ooze or Grafdigger's Cage, but they are valuable pieces to have in your sideboard. Both are great against Storm and Reanimator decks. Ooze comes in against Living End (a match up the cage is unfortunately useless in), and the Cage can hose decks that make use of Collected Company and Chord of Calling. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my deck, and the reasons behind my card choices. Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated, and until next time stay classy, win with humility, lose with grace and be somebody that you'd want to be around. My name is Ox, and I hope to see you again.
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| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 9 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 4 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 9 Rares 12 - 4 Uncommons 10 - 2 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.85 |
| Folders | Ox's Modern Decks, Decks I may want to play with... |
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