With just two days until the big event, it’s getting to be time to pick a deck. Really, it was time to pick a deck a few weeks ago, but there are very few people who are actually capable of doing this, as metagames and deck tech can all change on a whim. When everyone is hopping back and forth between decks, floundering in the water, what could be better than swinging for five on turn 3? What better way to swing for five than with Zoo?
For a long time now, R/G Aggro has been the consensus top aggro deck, producing draws like Kird Ape, Scab-Clan Mauler, Burning-Tree Shaman and finishing up with a smattering of burn to the face. Zoo can also play a Kird Ape and follow it with Scab-Clan Mauler, but it has redundancy in Savannah Lions and Watchwolf. In other words, Zoo has twice as many ways to attack for five on turn 3. In addition to this increase in creature consistency, Zoo’s White component allows you to play Lightning Helix. There’s not a ton to say about Lightning Helix, but you can rest assured that it is nearly a good enough reason on its own to splash White into R/G Aggro decks.
There isn’t a whole lot from the new set that makes it into the framework of “one-drop, two-drop, burn, burn, burn” but the few additions that do make the cut are big ones. In fact, they’re so big that I have heard talk about how they’re the central card in multiple matchups. Ladies and Gentlemen, the card I am talking about is Tarmogoyf. It’s hard to describe Tarmogoyf to someone that hasn’t seen it in action. You have to do a little bit of work to make sure he’s not just a two-mana 1/2, but the payoff for doing that work is so huge that it’s one-hundred percent worth it.
The “work” that I’m talking about is making sure that you can get Enchantments and Lands into the graveyard; getting Creatures, Instants, and Sorceries there is really just not that hard. Your manabase is already begging for a five-color land, and Tarmogoyf is the perfect excuse to run Gemstone Mine, since he’ll just grow when it runs out of counters. There are many times when you’ll drop a Tarmogoyf onto the table and he’ll look like he’s just a 1/2. However, when you untap and send a Rift Bolt at your opponent’s blocker, suddenly you’re coming across the table with a 3/4. When you start thinking about Seal of Fire and Horizon Canopy, you’re looking at a 5/6 for two mana.
Other Future Sight Additions
Horizon Canopy – This card is part of what makes Tarmogoyf tick. Getting lands into the graveyard is possibly the most difficult +1/+1 to obtain, but while this land sends itself to the bin to grow your Goyf, it also draws you a card. And it happens to be in two relevant colors. Unfortunately, this doesn’t have Brushland’s damage-free colorless option, but there are so few colorless mana symbols in the Zoo deck’s costs that that option is not sorely missed.
Riftsweeper – I talked about this little guy a couple weeks ago in my Gruul article. Basically, Riftsweeper can hit any number of Suspend guys like Aeon Chronicler and Detritivore, but its main goal in life is to stop a Storm deck from killing you buy taking their Lotus Bloom out. Even when you miss completely, you still have a serviceable attacker that you can apply to your opponent’s face.
With Tarmogoyf and Horizon Canopy in the maindeck, and Riftsweeper lurking in the sideboard, we have:
Creatures (23)
Lands (21)
Spells (16)
Sideboard
You should keep in mind the many other options for the sideboard. Some that I’ve seen, either on Magic Online or in netdeck lists are Seal of Primordium (catch-all), Tormod’s Crypt (Dredge, Project X), Temporal Isolation (MGA, Tarmogoyf), Jotun Grunt (Dredge, Dralnu), Aven Mindcensor (Dragonstorm), Luminesce (Wildfire, Bogardan Hellkite), Call of the Herd (R/G Aggro, the mirror), and Tin Street Hooligan (Signets). Each is a bullet against various matchups or opposing cards, and you can easily mix and match my suggested sideboard and any card you feel I’ve left out. Just keep in mind the fact that you’re going to have to cut efficient creatures or efficient burn from your super-aggressive deck, so it probably doesn’t make sense to try to sideboard a card that you can’t use aggressively.
Matchups
Dragonstorm (Unfavorable) – When you look at an aggro deck’s chances against Dragonstorm, you simply have to be honest with yourself. You’re looking at a combo deck that has a pretty good shot at killing you on turn 4. You’re also looking at a deck that can buy itself time with Remands and Gigadrowses. The only strategy, therefore, to use in pre-board games is to kill your opponent as fast as you possibly can. The best way to do this is to draw three one-drops and a truckload of Bolts and Helixes, but any draw that lets you curve out and finish with burn spells is a good one. After all, if you can attack for five or six on turns 3 and 4, then you only need to find two burn spells to close the game out.
Your sideboard gives you access to five cards that improve the matchup slightly. The Riftsweepers are there to try and snag Lotus Bloom on turn 2. While you might rather play a 3/3 than a 2/2, I’m pretty sure you’d rather play a 2/2 that eats a Storm copy and three mana than a vanilla man with slightly more power. You also get two Honorable Passages to try to use as extra burn. In the face of Hellkites and Hunted Dragons, Honorable Passage represents five to six damage for two mana, and that might be all you need to deal the last few points. Even if it doesn’t kill them, it will often buy you another turn to untap and play your last Char. Additionally, when they’re on the Hellkite plan, it can stop them from killing off your entire side with one spell. To make room for these cards, you should board out all four Seal of Fires and one copy of Tarmogoyf. The Seals are only good for two damage, and any 2/2 should be good for that much or more. Tarmogoyf is great in most matchups, but in this one he won’t often be bigger than a 2/3. Still, 2/3s don’t die to Pyroclasm, and there’s a chance that you’ll have to face that after boards.
Dralnu (Very Favorable) – Zoo is simply a faster Gruul with better reach when you’re talking about playing against Dralnu. You can afford to damage yourself dramatically with your lands, so your only goal is to get them as low as you can, as fast as you can. If they do manage to find and cast a Damnation before you can kill them with your two-drops, you will almost always find yourself sitting on enough burn to kill them before you get buried under Skeletal Vampires and Mystical Teachings. Most versions of Dralnu have dropped Deserts in favor of cards like Tolaria West, so your Lions should be just as good as your Kird Apes. Scorched Rusalka is also good to have around, both because it simply does more damage than not having one, but also because you can use it to fizzle a Tendrils of Corruption that might buy them enough time to take the game over.
Sideboarding is fairly minimal, since your maindeck is already extremely strong against Dralnu. Two copies of Saffi Eriksdotter come in to help you weather a Damnation, replacing two copies of Seal of Fire. The Seal does give you yet another way to Bloodthirst a Scab-Clan Mauler on turn 2, but with eleven one-drops, you don’t need it. It’s useful as a simple Shock to the face when you’re just trying to close the game out, but the two damage it does will be less than the three or four extra damage Saffi does when she saves your Watchwolf or Tarmogoyf from a Damnation. While it’s unusual to see them, if the opponent is running Aeon Chroniclers you should consider bringing in Riftsweeper. However, even if they do have Chroniclers, they will be Suspending them long after you want to cast your Grizzly Bears, so it is not usually worth it.
R/G Aggro (Close, but Favorable) – There are two things that matter in this matchup: the ground and burn. Each deck is filled with creatures that range in size from 2/3 to 3/4, with the occasional Tarmogoyf showing up as a 4/5 or 5/6. Zoo has the edge on both fronts. You have ground superiority because your creatures just compare favorably to Gruul’s. Your vanilla 2/1 costs half as much mana, you have twice as many two-drops, and you aren’t dragging the weight of unweildy Giant Solifuges. If the other deck isn’t running Tarmogoyf, then you are at a huge advantage, since he is easily a 3/4 and often larger in this matchup. You have burn superiority because you have Lightning Helix. These advantages come at a price, though, and that price is your manabase. You will be taking a fair amount of damage from your lands, since you can’t afford to slowroll your spells just to avoid playing a dual land untapped.
If you think about what you’re fighting over (burn and the ability to attack), then it becomes pretty clear what you should bring in: Griffin Guides and Honorable Passages. Griffin Guide on any of your two-drops will create a clock that is both difficult to stop and difficult to race, which is what you’d expect out of a 5/5 flyer on turn 3. Honorable Passage is a counterspell and a burn spell all in one. There is a line of argument against Honorable Passage in this matchup, where you might not like it because it doesn’t do anything unless your opponent is casting burn or swinging with Red creatures. This might be enough to dissuade you, but I feel that if your opponent isn’t casting burn or swinging with Red creatures, you’re probably in pretty good shape even if you have a dead spell sitting in your hand.
What you cut for these cards is a slightly more difficult decision. You can make an argument for cutting Seal of Fire, since it doesn’t stop Kird Ape, but I like that it can kill Rusalka and Elves, and that it gives you an “unblockable” way to Bloodthirst your Mauler. Personally, I like to cut the Scorched Rusalkas and two Chars. Char is a great way to close out a game, but when you combine the two Char damage with the amount of pain your lands dish out and the fact that your opponent is trying his best to kill you right away, you wind up dead more often than you’d like. I cut the Rusalkas because they simply aren’t that valuable in this matchup. Except in the rarest of circumstances, you would rather use your mana to play a new creature than deal one damage. You are also not very reliant on your Maulers, since you have the full boat of both Watchwolf and Tarmogoyf, so losing a one-drop isn’t the end of the world.
Zealot Dredge (Close, but Favorable) – The new breed of Dredge is much faster than the old Green/Black versions. You might find yourself on the wrong end of 21 hasted power on turn 3, but you do have the tools that you need to defend yourself. Seal of Fire is good both because it is a quick kill for any discard-outlet creatures they play on turn 1, and because it can sit next to a Rusalka or Savannah Lions and threaten to kill their Bridges. You also have Scorched Rusalka to stop them from going off, though you need to make sure to leave a Red source open, even if they don’t look threatening at the moment. Often, all they need is a one-turn window, so don’t give it to them if you don’t have to.
However, Zealot Dredge suffers from its own speed. The deck is technically capable of hard-casting Imps, Dread Returns, and Grave-Trolls, but it is much worse at it than it used to be. This means that, while the Dredge deck is now faster, you are too. There’s a decent chance that you can actually outrace them, since they will rarely want to block with their enablers unless they absolutely must. They have also lost a lot of reanimation utility in exchange for reanimation combo-kills. Where the classic Dredge deck might bring back a Hellkite or Blazing Archon on turn 3, this one has no such option.
Your board gives you one more way to disrupt Bridge from Below in the form of Saffi Eriksdotter. She is mana-free self-sacrificing, so having her on the board means that the Dredge deck can’t use Bridges to go off. While Saffi is not nearly as punishing as Tormod’s Crypt or Leyline of the Void, it is yet another form of disruption that can attack. When you combine Seal of Fire, Scorched Rusalka, Lightning Helix, Saffi, and just plain speed, you wind up with a recipe for success. I like to cut three Watchwolves for Saffi, giving my two-drop -1/-1 and the ability to stop my opponent from winning.
Other Matchups, Briefly
Solar Flare – Solar Flare has many of the same weaknesses to you that Dralnu does. In exchange for the inability to counterspell your game-ending Helixes and Chars, they get Court Hussars to block you and buy time for something huge to come out. However, without Giant Solifuge in the picture, a 1/3 blocker is simply a bump in the road. Watch out for CoP: Red out of their sideboard, though; that’s what Ronom Unicorn is for.
Project X – Seal of Fire, Char, and Lightning Helix are all instant-speed ways to break up their combo, so you’re mostly worried about their control elements. Hierarch, Ghost Council, and Glittering Wish into Glare can all pose problems. For the first two, sandbag a Char if you can afford to. Your sideboard gives you your own Saffis, which they’ll have to kill before they can go off. You might also want to bring in Griffin Guide; many versions of the deck have no targeted removal and very few ways to stop a large flyer.
Hatching Plans – Storm combo is usually favored over aggro decks, and things are not too different here. You are less worried than most decks about a second-turn Empty the Warrens for eight goblins, and you only have one spell that costs more than two mana, so Ignite Memories is also underwhelming. However, they have ways to make thirty goblins on turn 4, and there’s certainly no way that you can stop that if you can’t just kill them first. Your only relevant sideboard card is Riftsweeper, again to hit Lotus Blooms.
U/x Tron – Tron seems to have fallen mostly to the sidelines, with everyone excited about something else these days. They’re hoping to draw two Red sources and the full Tron as fast as possible, because almost nothing else will stop you from killing them on turn 4 or 5. If they do get to that point, then they can clean up with a Hellkite and lock you under a Spell Burst. You’ll want to avoid running your guys into a Sulfur Elemental, so having a Seal of Fire sitting around is pretty good. You can bring in Honorable Passages to stop Hellkite from wrecking your side and to deal five points in the process.
Overall, this deck has a lot of game against the format. You are blindingly fast, with only the combo decks being able to outrace you (which they won’t always do). When you’re walking into a metagame as unstable as the one that you’ll likely see this Saturday, killing people as fast as possible is always a good idea. However, if you think that everyone will be showing up with Storm combo, then there are better options than trying to get lucky repeatedly. Absent that, you should have the edge against most aggro decks and most control decks. Just draw the right lands.
As always, etc.
Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
ben at mundy dot net
SlickPeebles on AIM