What Should a Zoo Deck Look Like Right Now?

I’ve actually been playing Legacy with some frequency lately. I recently moved back to Virginia, and the local store here has a weekly Legacy tournament that about 25 people show up to. I try to go to this when not out of town for Pro Tour stuff, so I’ve been able to try out various things in my Zoo list.

Previously, I’d been advocating a one-drop heavy version of the deck. I was playing a total of 19 one drops including Goblin Guide. I Top 8’d the only StarCityGames.com Open where I played the deck (Richmond), and Dan Musser made the finals of two SCG Opens with a similar list. I think Goblin Guide is too bad against Snapcaster Mage to play anymore, though. It’s bad enough that they get to rebuy removal spells; I’d rather not play creatures that Snapcaster also trades with.

I think you want a few late game trumps in your maindeck right now. This is a role Knight of the Reliquary has often filled in various formats over the years. I do like that he is bigger than RUG’s Tarmogoyfs and very hard for them to kill. He is less exciting against Stoneblade, since their removal doesn’t care how big your creature is and they now have extra copies thanks to Snapcaster. I prefer late game cards that cannot be one-for-oned such as Sylvan Library, Stoneforge Mystic, and Ranger of Eos.

This is the list I’ve been playing recently:

Zoo

Pat Cox

Test deck on 03-11-2012

Legacy

Creatures (22)

• 4 Kird Ape
• 3 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Wild Nacatl
• 2 Qasali Pridemage
• 3 Loam Lion
• 2 Stoneforge Mystic

Lands (17)

• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 2 Taiga
• 1 Savannah
• 2 Plateau
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Arid Mesa

Spells (21)

• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Mountain
• 4 Chain Lightning
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 3 Path to Exile
• 1 Sword of Body and Mind

This list maintains the speed I like, with only a small sacrifice in consistency to not totally fold if the game goes long.

I’d been trying one Ranger of Eos, but I don’t think you can realistically maindeck that card in Legacy. Stoneforge and Sylvan Library aren’t good in non-attrition matchups either, but at least you’ll be able to cast them before the game ends. Ranger is still great when you want him, though, so he’ll find a spot in the sideboard.

Sylvan Library isn’t the worst thing to cast even if you’re trying to end the game soon since it can help you find more burn. It’s pretty great in the late game, but it doesn’t affect the board the turn it comes into play so it’s hard to justify playing more than one. I could see the argument for a second copy, but I’d never play more than that.

I’ve seen some Zoo lists take a play from Stoneblade’s book and run four Stoneforge Mystics along with Batterskull. I don’t like this. Zoo cannot protect Stoneforge and cannot realistically expect to cast Batterskull if she dies. Also, this is a pretty slow plan: you’re spending your second and third turns to get a 4/4 into play?

I do like running a couple of Stoneforges, though. You’re not looking to play them turn 2 typically, but if your opponent stops your initial aggression they’re a great way to get things going again. The longer the game goes, the worse a bunch of one-drops are going to get. Equipment makes each creature a threat.

I’ve been championing Sword of Body and Mind in Legacy forever, but very few people have adopted it. Think about the creatures that are bigger than yours: Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Nimble Mongoose (sometimes). What do they have in common? They can’t block a creature equipped with this Sword! In fact, no creature in RUG can block Sword of Body and Mind. And if they later kill the equipped creature? Well you’ve already incidentally made another that can carry the equipment! Also you can occasionally randomly steal games by attacking past Progenitus, and it’s always fun to see your opponent’s reaction there.

Umezawa’s Jitte is basically there to Tutor for when facing decks where Sword isn’t particularly exciting. There are also scenarios where your opponent has one or two x/1s (Noble Hierarch, unflipped Delver, Snapcaster, etc.), and Jitte is ridiculous. It’s not quite as dominating in Legacy as it has been in other formats, but it’s still great against almost any deck with creatures.

Qasali Pridemage is worth the maindeck slot mostly because Stoneblade variants are the largest portion of the field. It’s very unlikely that Stoneforge will actually live against you, but if you can’t close out the game before they hit five lands it’s nice to have a way to kill Batterskull. Pridemage also allows you to attack into opposing Tarmogoyfs and Nimble Mongeese.

The rest of the deck is pretty standard. I don’t think this is the only direction you can go with the deck, though. So before I go into the sideboard I’m going to give you a couple other variants.

One-Drop Zoo

For the reasons I mentioned above, I don’t necessarily advocate Goblin Guide right now. But if that is something you’re interested in attacking with, I’d recommend something like this:

One-Drop Zoo

Pat Cox

Test deck on 03-11-2012

Legacy

Creatures (23)

• 4 Kird Ape
• 3 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Wild Nacatl
• 4 Goblin Guide
• 4 Loam Lion

Lands (17)

• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 2 Taiga
• 1 Savannah
• 2 Plateau
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Arid Mesa

Spells (20)

• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Mountain
• 4 Chain Lightning
• 2 Reckless Charge
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 2 Path to Exile

“Big” Zoo

If you really want to play Knight of the Reliquary, I would sleeve up something along these lines:

"Big" Zoo

Pat Cox

Test deck on 03-11-2012

Legacy

Creatures (23)

• 4 Kird Ape
• 3 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Tarmogoyf
• 4 Wild Nacatl
• 4 Knight of the Reliquary
• 2 Qasali Pridemage
• 2 Stoneforge Mystic

Lands (19)

• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 2 Wasteland
• 2 Taiga
• 1 Savannah
• 2 Plateau
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Arid Mesa

Spells (18)

• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Chain Lightning
• 2 Lightning Helix
• 3 Path to Exile
• 1 Sword of Body and Mind

I don’t typically like Wasteland in Zoo since it can’t cast most of your cards. But it does help cast Knight of the Reliquary if you’re playing it, and of course can be Tutored up by Knight. If you do want to play Wasteland in a more typical Zoo deck, I’d treat it as about half of a land (i.e. if you’re playing two Wastelands, play 21 lands) or even just as a spell.

I say “big” because I know there are a couple of cards absent from your typical Big Zoo list: Noble Hierarch and Green Sun’s Zenith. I just can’t bring myself to play them. Hierarch obviously makes your other creatures better, but he’s a poor threat on his own. Your best start in a Zoo deck is attack with three one-drops on turn 3. Hierarch attacks for zero in this scenario. As for Green Sun’s Zenith: I’m not paying two for a Wild Nacatl. This is America.

Anyway, I advocate the first list that is “just right.” But I if you want to go “too big” or “too small,” these are good starting points.

Sideboard

Obviously your exact sideboard depends on your expected metagame; it’s very hard to be prepared for everything in Legacy. The decks that I’m currently worried about beating are: Stoneblade, RUG, Maverick, Dredge, and Reanimator. Storm combo decks don’t seem particularly popular at the moment, which is good because Zoo is soft to them. If you want a chance against Storm decks, you have to spend about eight sideboard slots on Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, and Mindbreak Trap. Luckily, we can instead focus on more winnable matches.

I’d play a sideboard along these lines:

1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Pyroblast
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Path to Exile
4 Graveyard hate cards

I’d love to ignore Dredge and Reanimator since much like Storm they’re pretty bad matchups. But unfortunately dodging isn’t a realistic plan. It’s hard to say what the best hate available to us is.

Purify the Grave seems best against Reanimator. The flashback means it’s not stopped by hand disruption. And unlike all of the artifacts, they will not know you have it. But on the flip side, having to leave up mana for the entire game is pretty bad. You need to be able to play out threats to kill them ASAP. Also, Purify is pretty mediocre against Dredge. You will of course side it in if it’s in your board, but they can probably win through Purify even if you draw it.

I haven’t had a chance to play with Grafdigger’s Cage yet, but perhaps that is the best option. It’s unfortunate that they will have ways to get rid of it, but hey at least when it is in play it stops both decks. I would probably go with three Grafdigger’s Cage and one Purify the Grave. If any Dredge/Reanimator players feel like sharing which hate they fear most in the comments, I’d love some help here.

Thrun is mainly for RUG since the games go long and they cannot deal with him. He’s also pretty solid against Stoneblade thanks to his ability to ignore/kill Jace.

Elspeth and Ranger are basically for other (non-blue) Goyf decks. Elspeth is great at tipping creature stalls in your favor. She is fine against the blue decks, but you’re trying to remain aggressive against them and she’s pretty slow. Ranger can also come in against Stoneblade since he lets you play into Wrath.

Sword of Fire and Ice is mostly for RUG. Much like Sword of Body and Mind, it makes their life pretty miserable. You also want it against other Goyf decks since it turns all of your creatures into must-block threats. It’s of course great if you somehow win the lottery and get paired versus Merfolk, but you don’t really need any help there.

Pyroblast is, shockingly, for the blue decks. Countering Snapcaster is a pretty big game, as is countering/killing Jace. And it never hurts to have a couple extra ways to kill a Delver. It’s also good against Show and Tell and passable against Reanimator. It kills Jin-Gitaxias and also counters all of the cards that help them find combo pieces. You don’t really want to sit back on mana in the matchup, so I usually just counter the first thing I can (Careful Study, Ponder, whatever).

Ancient Grudge is mostly to kill Batterskulls, but chances are you’ll find a couple of other reasons to side it in during a given tournament.

Gaddock Teeg is at his best against Storm decks, but with only two copies I’m not realistically expecting him to lead me to victory there. He’s solid against Stoneblade, stopping Wrath, Jace, Elspeth, and hard-cast Batterskulls. You will also side him in against Dredge since he stops Breakthrough and Dread Return. Much like Ancient Grudge, Teeg is a card you will find various uses for throughout the tournament.

The last Path to Exile is for creatures that are too big to burn. You mostly want Path against other Goyf decks, but it does kill most Reanimated creatures which is nice. You don’t want Path against Stoneblade since all of its creatures die to burn (except Germ tokens, but you’re better off killing the equipment).

The Matchups

RUG Delver

This deck’s popularity is actually the main incentive to play Zoo right now. They run not one but two poor man’s Nacatls. Three power one-drops shouldn’t require this much work! Your plethora of removal spells negates their plan A of Delver. Nimble Mongoose can be annoying, but Pridemage helps you attack through it with any of your one-drops and obviously Tarmogoyf is going to trump it. They also have Tarmogoyf, but it’s far easier for you to kill theirs than it is for them to kill yours. They don’t have any “kill anything” spells like Path to Exile. They do have Lightning Bolt to finish off your Goyf if it bounces off theirs, but so do you along with Chain Lightning, Lightning Helix, and Grim Lavamancer. The equipment is also pretty huge here.

In
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Pyroblast
1 Path to Exile

Out
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Loam Lion

Stoneblade

As discussed earlier, this matchup was a lot easier before Snapcaster Mage. I felt like a small favorite before, now I think it’s about even or perhaps I am a slight dog. One of the keys to the matchup is to kill turn 2 Stoneforge, which shouldn’t be hard with all of the burn. You’re looking to end the game quickly against them, since if they start casting planeswalkers and Batterskulls you’re probably in trouble. If you have a way to kill a hard-cast Batterskull, though, you’ll often win the game on the spot.

The equipment package doesn’t do a whole lot against them, so it comes out. I’m not actually sure if you want the Thrun since it’s so expensive and you aren’t looking to go long. Ranger is expensive too, but letting you play into Wrath of God is worth the cost. If you do side in Thrun, take out a Loam Lion.

In
1 Ranger of Eos
2 Pyroblast
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Gaddock Teeg

Out
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Path to Exile

Maverick

This matchup feels like a quasi-Zoo mirror. You have far more removal, so most of their creatures aren’t going to live against you. But they have a greater amount of large trump creatures: Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, late game Scavenging Ooze, and Green Sun’s Zenith to find them. I have previously run a Swords to Plowshares in the sideboard to act as an extra Path to Exile against these “too large to burn” creatures. If you’re worried about Maverick, you could try this.

Sideboarding against this deck is a pretty awkward balancing act. You don’t really want the game to go long, but it likely will so you need cards for the late game.

In
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Path to Exile

Out
1 Loam Lion
2 Lightning Helix

Reanimator

This isn’t a good matchup, but it’s not too bad for a combo deck. Many of their Reanimation targets can be killed with Path to Exile, and they don’t really interact with you so if they don’t go off immediately they’ll be dead. Also, one of their Reanimation spells takes half their life, and you run burn spells. I don’t like bringing in the last Path since you need at most one a game and they can Reanimate something with shroud.

In
2 Pyroblast
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Graveyard hate cards

Out
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sylvan Library
1 Grim Lavamancer

Dredge

People often tell me they think this matchup must be good for Zoo because “you can kill their Bridges.” Yeah, because it’s a winning proposition to leave a mana up over playing threats starting turn 2 and then two-for-one yourself. Don’t get me wrong, this is something you often have to do, but it isn’t necessarily winning you the game. Grim Lavamancer makes this plan a little more reasonable since you aren’t spending two cards at least.

In
2 Gaddock Teeg
4 Graveyard hate cards

Out
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Sylvan Library
1 Path to Exile

Burn

Apparently this deck wins in Legacy now? Weird. This matchup is certainly losable, but I believe Zoo is favored if you play smart. Even in old Extended, where your dual lands dealt two to you, I typically beat Burn. Granted, in Legacy their deck gets better whereas yours stays about the same (though the duals are nontrivial here).

The decks actually have pretty similar game plans: efficient creatures and burn spells. Being the one skewed towards creatures is a definite advantage. Your guys are bigger and better (Tarmogoyf anyone?). Also you have a burn spell that essentially counters one of theirs in Lightning Helix, and if you last long enough Umezawa’s Jitte will take over the game.

Be wary of Price of Progress. Fetch up your basics if at all possible. Also, don’t play out extraneous lands or fetch just to thin your deck. Lead with Kird Ape or Loam Lion since they trump Goblin Guide on turn 1. If you do lead with Nacatl, it’s almost always right to just trade with Goblin Guide.

You really don’t have a sideboard for this deck, but trade out the Sword of Body and Mind for the Sword of Fire and Ice.

Show and Tell

There’s not much to say about this matchup. You hope to Pyroblast their Show and Tell. If you’re really worried about beating the deck then you can play more Pyroblasts and Red Elemental Blasts. Phyrexian Metamorph is also pretty good here. But with Natural Order decks falling out of favor, I’m not sure that he’s worth the sideboard slot. If you can reasonably expect to face down both Emrakul and Progenitus in the same tournament, then it’s probably worth sideboarding at least one Metamorph.

In
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Ranger of Eos
2 Pyroblast
2 Gaddock Teeg

Out
3 Path to Exile
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sword of Body and Mind

I think this should at least give you a general idea of how to sideboard. But if you have questions about any other matchups, feel free to ask in the comments.

I’m still undecided about attending Indy. I plan to stop going to GPs when I hit 25 points, since the gap between that and 40 can only realistically be filled by a high finish at Pro Tour Avacyn Restored. I need one more point to get to 25, but it’s unfortunately eluded me on tiebreakers the last two weeks: 34th in Lincoln and 65th in Baltimore. I’m on my flight to Seattle right now so hopefully I’ll find the last point there. If not, I’ll probably see you guys in Indy.

Or I might go anyway just because I feel like playing Legacy. Writing this article has made me want to cast some Nacatls!

Pat Cox

@wildestnacatl on Twitter