The Zoo or simply Zoo is a multicolored Aggro deck for the Modern Format extending an archetype of deck.
Description[ | ]
The deck is named Zoo for the wide variety of creature types that appear in it, most often animals.[1] The deck will often play Naya colors (red, white and green) but will use every color in the color pie at times. It thus sets itself apart from other aggressive decks which are often mono-colored and/or tribal based.
Most current Zoo decks will feature Wild Nacatl, followed by the stable Kird Ape or Loam Lion, as well as Tarmogoyf, who is often a 4/5 or 5/6 for 2 mana. Towards late game they have some sort of beater in the 3cmc slot like Knight of the Reliquary but more recently Loxodon Smiter.
Zoo usually employs either some burn or a full suite of burn, either to burn creatures out of the way, or to finish off someones life total.
History[ | ]
Zoo was one of the most anticipated decks at the start of the format. In the transition from legacy it only lost Chain Lightning, as well as a few cards that it wouldn't use often like Mother of Runes or Sylvan Library. However, due to its natural weakness to combo, it didn't fare all that well during the beginnings of modern.
Eventually, Zoo being Highly tweakable, took up blue and became more tempo. It took the name counter cat, or aquarium (see below). During this time, Zoo became the most played deck as it was king of the aggro decks, as well as being able to stop combo decks (control at this point was almost non-existent).
After this time 3 cards that zoo was using was banned. Green Sun's Zenith, Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire. For a time, zoo was abandoned, but eventually its highly tweakable shell would come back into use, this time under Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Which hurt the tempo decks at the time, as well as combo.
While Jund is King of the hill in modern, Zoo was Tribal Flame Zoo (See below) as well as Boom//Bust Zoo, aiming to punish greedy mana bases.
Zoo remained tier 2 without Wild Nacatl, and became more Gruul oriented (See Below) and creature heavy in order to provide constant pressure and speed only seconded by Affinity.
On February 3, 2014, Wild Nacalt was unbanned because, "At the time Wild Nacatl was banned, we hoped that this would allow room for other aggressive decks to shine. Artifact-based aggressive strategies have remained popular and a few other aggressive decks have emerged, but the Zoo decks eventually disappeared as a result of the ban and nothing else emerged as a viable traditional aggressive deck. We expect that with the return of Wild Nacatl, those decks will return as a viable option."
Zoo did come back, and has remained a constant in the meta game since the cats return.
Counter-Cat/Aquarium[ | ]
Counter-Cat is a variant of the Zoo introduced by Brian Kibler and his crew at Pro Tour Philadelphia 2011. Unlike more traditional Zoo variants, it leaves out Black and taps into blue for the capabilities of Bant Charm and Counterspells in the sideboard. Thus the deck moves slightly out of straight-up aggro play and becomes more off an Aggro-Control deck. The deck primarily relies on Knight of the Reliquary to provide a flexible manabase and as a late-game finisher. Josh Utter-Leyton piloted an identical maindeck to a top 8 finish, but with different sideboard choices.
Tribal Flames/Haunted Zoo[ | ]
As the meta game started to show Jund as the top dog, and regular Naya Zoo had a bad match up, Zoo opted to go the more explosive less consitant route for a time. It played the best of what modern magic had to offer creature wise, backed up with the explosive Tribal Flames. However it was at the cost of a shakey mana base.
Gruul Zoo[ | ]
As Jund died down after the banning of Bloodbraid elf, and Gatecrash came out, Zoo became more focused on g/r. The reason for this was because of Experiment One's ability to replace Nacatl, and the explosive power of Burning-Tree Emissary. This new version of zoo was much more creature heavy and put speed pressure on opponents.
Nacatl Returns[ | ]
In 2014, Nacatl is unbanned. With it is zoo's real return to the format. During this time, there was a debate as to what would be the best zoo in the format. Zac Roorda delevers with Dark Naya
References[ | ]
- ↑ Melissa DeTora (May 20, 2015). "Modern Cats". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.