Today is one of the days I envy my readers. At the time I’m writing this, less than half of Gatecrash is known, while you’re supposed to know entire spoiler when you read this. However, the key cards were likely spoiled already—the shocklands are going to affect Standard the most. The format currently includes Jund and Naya without Stomping Ground; the lack of Breeding Pool seriously restricts the potential of Bant with Arbor Elf and Geist of Saint Traft. Watery Grave and Godless Shrine will aid the one-millionth attempt to build Mono-Black Control, etc., etc.
Better mana bases will allow Standard to support better decks, among them three-colored aggressive decks, often called “Zoo.” Old Ravnica was the last time Zoo was seen in Standard, so let’s try to revive it even though Kird Ape, Savannah Lions, and Watchwolf are nowhere to be found.
Why is Zoo an interesting opportunity for Standard? Because Mono-Red Aggro is good. Zoo is essentially the same as Mono-Red but with better spells and worse mana, so if it’s possible to find the right balance, Zoo will be good in the upcoming Standard. As an example of different approaches to this balance, I’ll remind you of the coexistence of R/G/W Zoo, Gruul Beats, and Boros Burn in Kamigawa-Ravnica Standard. The first was the most popular, while Mark Herberholz eschewed Savannah Lions and Lightning Helix in favor of better mana and won Pro Tour Honolulu.
An important note: Standard actually contains very few creatures with power more than converted mana cost, so the deck will look just decent compared to Wild Nacatl, Kird Ape, and friends. However, it will be enough, as our benchmark—Mono-Red Aggro—is happy with 1/1s for one mana and even 1/1s for three mana. Another important note: what makes the deck promising is its potential spells, almost all of which are from the new set.
Boros Charm is just unfair and perfect for Zoo—burn to the face and sweeper protection in one card. Skullcrack is a very useful version of Flames of the Blood Hand or Volcanic Hammer, which both saw play in Zoo. Finally, Moldervine Cloak is exchanged for Rancor and two newcomers: Ghor-Clan Rampager and Slaughterhorn. I’m not sure about the latter, but the former is very strong. Patrick Chapin even dedicated a whole article to him, so I won’t repeat it, just mention that Colossal Might didn’t include the words “can’t be countered” and was good in Constructed.
Boros Charm and Ghor-Clan Rampager suppose that our deck will be Naya-colored, but actually there are some options since Jund is promising too. It would be B/G Aggro with a slight red splash for Rampager and some burn, but it’s an option. The real question is not the exact colors of the deck but which color is primary. In original Ravnica, Stomping Ground was complemented by Karplusan Forest, while we have Rootbound Crag now. It’s harder to build a deck that’s able to cast its early creatures on time, so there should be a primary color. B/R Zombies regularly tried to get rid of Hellrider because it was hard to cast on time, and we’ll have this problem as well. Let’s look at our primary color options.
Green allows us to play fine one-mana creatures—Dryad Militant, Experiment One, Arbor Elf, and Avacyn’s Pilgrim—and the also powerful Strangleroot Geist. Mana dorks define Big Zoo, which would be used in it very effectively when Arbor Elf has Stomping Ground to untap, but I’m going to talk about Experiment One.
Standard contains very few early creatures which can grow to a reasonably large size (notably Cloudfin Raptor and Stromkirk Noble), and Experiment One is the most interesting of them. It won’t always grow to Wild Nacatl size, but Rakdos Cackler is fine in this Standard, so I have high hopes for this better version. In a Naya deck, Experiment One is a legitimate reason to play Call of the Conclave over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (or in addition to her), as there are not many early creatures with three power/toughness. The lack of Thalia may or may not be a mistake, but high-power creatures are needed and I’m planning to have ten or more noncreature spells.
Red offers Rakdos Cackler, Stromkirk Noble, and the new Legion Loyalist in the one-mana slot and, maybe even more importantly, powerful later plays like Flinthoof Boar and Hellrider. The deck will probably be similar to Mono-Red with better creatures. Is that what we need? Yes, maybe. Black offers Diregraf Ghoul and Rakdos Cackler as one-mana options, but I’d rather go with Zombies in a black-heavy deck and Humans in a white-heavy one.
Blue offers Cloudfin Raptor and Delver of Secrets, but they aren’t that good in a Zoo-like deck. I also tried combinations of different colored one-drops, but Rootbound Crag is definitely not Karplusan Forest. It’s hard to play more than ten turn 1 producing lands for both colors, so I decided to start with mono-colored combinations. Let’s look at some sketches.
Creatures (22)
- 4 Strangleroot Geist
- 2 Ulvenwald Tracker
- 4 Dryad Militant
- 4 Loxodon Smiter
- 4 Experiment One
- 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
Lands (21)
Spells (17)
This is a green-based deck with a minimal removal package and the most efficient creatures available. This list unfortunately can’t cast Hellrider reliably, so it relies on trample and burn to deal the last few points of damage while Ulvenwald Tracker takes care of creatures you actually want to kill. Any creature except Tracker allows Experiment One to grow once, and there are eight of them to create an artificial Wild Nacatl (not counting Ghor-Clan Rampager, which is supposed to be a spell). The sideboard contains a heavy anti-control package and the fine new Legion Loyalist to beat Lingering Souls (I expect some form of Orzhov to be a real deck).
The red-based deck features a completely different creature set, including Flinthoof Boar. By the way, the most common words about Flinthoof Boar and Stomping Ground include its comparison to the previously awesome Watchwolf and Boggart Ram-Gang, but Call of the Conclave isn’t popular these days and for a good reason. However, Gruul still has a reliable mana base and all the best red cards, so green additions could dramatically update the deck. The addition of white for Boros Charm seems fine, but I still don’t see any good R/W creatures, while Loxodon Smiter just doesn’t belong to red-based decks. Here’s my take on red-based Gruul Aggro:
Creatures (29)
- 4 Stromkirk Noble
- 4 Hellrider
- 2 Lightning Mauler
- 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
- 4 Flinthoof Boar
- 4 Rakdos Cackler
- 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
- 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
- 2 Skarrg Guildmage
Lands (22)
Spells (9)
I still like Burning-Tree Emissary’s synergy with Lightning Mauler and Flinthoof Boar, especially when the fair 2/2 for two can be backed with Rancor and Ghor-Clan Rampager. The newest addition to the deck is a pair of Skarrg Guildmages, who are very good in the late game to either give trample or animate excessive lands into reasonably sized creatures.
The mana base contains twelve Mountains to upgrade Flinthoof Boar, and it’s close to the minimum in my opinion. That’s the thing that prevents the Boar from being good in green-based decks, which normally can’t play more than eight Mountains. There are some shockland-heavy four-colored options, but Centaur Healer is nowhere near Lightning Helix, so I don’t expect these mana bases to be viable in a format with Boros Charm.
Aside from green-based and red-based aggressive decks, there is Big Zoo since both Arbor Elf and Avacyn’s Pilgrim are good now, especially when supporting devastating turn 2 plays like Loxodon Smiter and Geist of Saint Traft. Geist requires some care to survive, as usual, but I hope that Silverblade Paladin and the Charms of all three Bant-belonging guilds are enough to provide everything needed. And yes, I just want a deck that fits as many Charms as possible. It didn’t really work in Naya colors since Gruul Charm is on the edge of Constructed playability, but the Charms of Simic, Selesnya, and Azorius finely complement each other in the decks aiming to make any creature a deadly threat.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Arbor Elf
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Geist of Saint Traft
- 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 3 Silverblade Paladin
- 4 Loxodon Smiter
- 2 Frontline Medic
- 2 Master Biomancer
Lands (23)
Spells (12)
The deck is a little bit low on two-mana action, but it seems to be okay for a list relying on mana dorks. If the dorks die, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Selesnya Charm can still provide some action before your fatties can hit the board. Later in the game, Master Biomancer and Gavony Township will ensure that even extra mana dorks will become troublesome for your opponents.
Master Biomancer is an interesting and potentially very powerful creature, especially if we take into account that neither Ultimate Price nor Searing Spear nor Abrupt Decay can kill him. He would be super-devastating in some kind of tokens deck, but the 2GU casting cost is unlikely to fit into a B/W deck (while G/W/B could potentially afford a light Blue splash). Upgrading mana dorks and Silverblade Paladin seems very good. I expect Master Biomancer to be a recognizable force in Standard, probably in different decks.
If this last list played Cavern of Souls, it would be set much more often on Humans or Elves than on any kind of creature that is supposed to be in Zoo, but they are a necessary part of this deck. However, a dedicated Humans deck is more likely to be Boros or Naya colored. Such a deck is a topic for another article, so see you next time!