The first week of Rise of Shadows has passed and it is time to get into some deck reviews. Meta shaping is slowing down a bit but still changing. Couple of decks are more or less established and tuned and we gonna see one of them. Zoo Warlock isn't a new archetype developed in this expansion but it did get many cards that support it and makes it one of the strongest decks in the current state of the meta.

Even with recent Hall of Faming of Doomguard that was considered a really strong midgame and even finishing minion of the deck this Zoo archetype found a different form that greatly compensates this loss. The deck is really fast and loaded with 1-cost minions but has a decent potential in the lategame as well, let's see the list:

As I said, the deck is loaded with 1-drops and this brings a lot of consistency in the earlier turns. Playing Zoo Lock, you are always on the aggressive side and should always be able to have board control or at least create enough pressure to make your opponent trade into your minions because you will be using your Hero Power a lot and lowering your health total is something you should try to avoid.

Star Cards:

Magic Carpet is probably the strongest card of the deck. If played on turn 3 it is so hard to remove it because of the 6 HP and it gives an easy way to get or remain in the control of the board with your endless waves of 1-drops. Works really well with all 1-drops, especially with Argent Squire, Voidwalker, Saronite Taskmaster, and Crystallizer.

EVIL Genius is just too good. Can be used to proc eggs but sacrificing any 1-drop is worth the effect. Lackeys give back so much tempo and sometimes value, (Discovering a Spell) also, two extra bodies that can be later used to summon cheaper Sea Giant and used with Magic Carpet buff.

Sea Giants get fairly easy on the board on turns 4+ because most of the time you will be having 5-6 on your side of the board plus some of your opponent's minions and Sea Giant will cost 4 or even less mana to play.

Also worth mentioning, Arch-Villain Rafaam is on the list. Usually, when you are starting to run out of cards but you need more value to make a last push through the opponent, you can drop him and on average random legendaries will be large minions. Sometimes even you can high roll a Princess Talanji that will summon your whole hand of legendaries but sometimes you will get Nat Pagles and Lore Walker Cho's.

Match-ups:

Rogues should be the easiest in the current meta. Tempo archetype of Rogue tends to start playing minions on turn 3 and because they lack board clears it is too hard for them to come back into the game. By turn 3 you should be able to have 3-4 minions on the board, most Rogue decks don't even run Fan of Knives but that is the card worth considering to play around. The wide board is what wins you games against them.

Mages similarly to Rogues don't make plays until turn 3-4, Khadgar Mage is the only archetype currently being played and aside from Firetree Witchdoctor, Acidic Swamp Ooze and Messanger Raven they have no early game. Also, they don't run board clears and going wide on the board is the name of the game. Trading is most of the time a mistake because if you give them enough time, Mage will have a huge tempo swing turn where they get like 20 or more power on the board and then it's over. Constant pressure is the way to keep them from doing that and forcing them to make defensive plays. Should be a fairly easy match-up.

Druids will also struggle versus Zoo Lock because they have only Swipe to get back on the board so only viable archetype would be Token. In this match-up trading is essential, Token Druid excels when they have a lot of minions on the board and you shouldn't let that happen. Early Magic Carpet is almost impossible to get clear by the Druid, on turn 3 their best option is Wrath and already 4 attack total on the board ready to trade in which won't be the case. Hero Power will eventually give you enough card advantage to push for the win. Don't rush it because if just a couple of Tokens are left behind, Druid can do massive amounts of damage in just one turn. Highly depends on the early game but because of how consistent this deck is, this match-up is often an easier one.

Shamans are a bit tricky, not the Murloc ones because just like versus Tokens you are faster and more consistent. The tricky ones are Control Shamans. They don't have early plays, most of the time until turn 4 or even 5 so the strategy is getting ready for when it comes. Sea Giants are a keep in the mulligan because that is when you are going to play them. Eggs are also important to make early Lightning Storms unable to stop yours from developing those Giants. Also, Argent Squires should be used with Magic Carpet to help you clear those Lifesteal minions without healing your opponent. With all of this on the mind, you should be careful with how much you commit on the board, they have 5 board clears 2 Storms, 2 Schemes and Hagatha Hero card so playing with small minions will be hard. If you can play Rafaam you should most likely play it and try to continue the pressure with random legendaries. Hard to play match-up but still favors Zoo Lock a little bit.

Paladins are in a weird spot in the meta but the current most popular deck is Mech Pally. It is a bit slower Midrange type of deck and it runs 2 Consecrations, no Pyros nor Equality so they lack clears and playing wide is the way. Another thing to mention is that they run Annoy-o-Module and Zilliax as Magnetic Taunts making them work well with Mechano-Eggs. While this can be a problem, it comes in later turns and Paladins will already be low on health so unless they make a huge Zilliax turn then just straight out lose. EVIL Genius is really needed in this match-up and the Lackey that can Discover a spell because Paladins are so slow, you can easily destroy them with Siphon Soul or Demonblast on a huge Magnetized Taunt. This match-up is a bit of a coin flip where Paladins that don't draw their Consecrations most likely lose by turn 6 and other times they make a huge wall and there is no going through it.

Priests are same as Paladins, although once the Priest starts throwing his Taunt into the play it is mostly over. The only tip I can give playing against Wall Priest is that you should manage your hand size to play around Witchwood Grizzly but then again it isn't wrong to play wide because they have only Mass Hysteria as a board clear. Priest isn't really that popular so not really expecting to play against it anyway.

Hunter is another easier match-up (Midrange and Mech) you are so much faster then they are and since they are mostly dependant on board control crushing them isn't very hard. One thing to keep in mind is Unleash and Hyena combo that can turn the game around easily, to avoid this the best you can you should be trading your 1/1s and leaving only healthier minions on the board so that if it still happens you can react to it with your own minions left after the combo. Sea Giants are a keep here also because they are also playing a lot of minions and getting them out early won't be a problem. Fairly easy match-up definitely in your favor.

Warriors, sigh, I can't say too much about it other than forget about it. Warpaths and Brawls are something you can't really play around and their life total can be hard to get any lower. Also, Bomb Warriors will be putting those pesky bombs in your decks that will worsen your Hero Power that by itself damages you. Not a favorable match-up there is no real strategy that can win you the game, maybe if they don't draw a board clears and you play Rafaam into excellent legendaries. Other than that, good luck!

Mulligan:

The mulligan doesn't vary too much so I will split it into two categories.

Versus Aggro: Keep Voidwalker, Crystallizer, Argent Squire and Dire Wolf Alpha
In faster match-ups, higher health minions with Dire Wolf will most likely be enough to take the board control, also versus those like Token Druid and faster Hunters keep Giants as they will come cheap really early.

Versus Control: Keep Flame Imp, Saronite Taskmaster, Scarab Egg, and Mecharoo
In slower match-ups, higher attack minion will be good to start pressuring your opponent really fast and make them use board clears early. Scarab Eggs and Mecharoos make those clear less efficient and leave behind tokens that will further make pressure on the opponent.

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This will be it for today's review. Here are my stats from rank 1-3 games. Zoo Warlock is definitely a strong deck, with only a few bad match-ups, at least for now. Meta is still changing rather quickly but this deck seems to be on the higher end of the ladder since launch and will probably stick there for now. It is not too costly to craft, 6 epics, and 2 legendaries and it is worth it.

Thank you for reading!

, z3ll