My problem with zoo locks

[Tenris]

I have found it getting easier and easier against zoolock recently and seen a lot less of them. I have seen so many priests atm it's insane.
The main problem is Warlocks are not overpowered in arena, they are not the top class, but when they can have specific cards they can get decks like zoolock which are easy to play and because of the hero power all the card draw is powerful.

[Deleted]

I never enjoyed playing Zoolock so I stopped doing it after a while and switched to Handlock. Not that I like the Warlockclass at all (Most played games are on Pally/Priest/Druid)...

Anyway, I dislike playing against them because it really comes down to getting a board clear or not. Last night I faced a Zoolock and I smashed his face in with my Magedeck because I got the right cards at the right time (Duplicating Sludge Belchers is so funny vs. Zoo though!). But in the end, the victory was hollow...

[OhpUldum]

thats what back to back power word death cards are for. or even better humility/equality+consecrate.

- - - Updated - - -
i love destroying zoo locks with mage aoe spells.

If only hunters had equality or shadow word death lol

Well timed frozen trap helps, snipe is OK. Just have to save Hunter's Mark and combo it with Unleash a few hounds or a Snake Trap. (Hunter is my main while ranking up to 500 wins for the first time. )

[mongoose6]

But in the end, the victory was hollow...

Nail on the head.

I'm not saying Zoo is difficult to beat, just saying I never leave a game against a zoo lock feeling like it was a well played game.

[Drikkink]

Why is it that people whine about Zoo as a "No Skill, Vomit Hand on Board" deck? Isn't Token druid just as much "Vomit hand onto board and get many minions out"? Not to mention they have a win condition AND board clear.

In my opinion, Zoo's biggest problem is a lack of clear finisher. Sure, Doomguard is 5 damage and Soul Fire is 4, but at absolute best you can do 13 if you're lucky. Doomguard + Power Overwhelming + Soulfire. You're discarding anything else you have. Zoo is also weak to Priest because 4 mana boardclear and 5 mana board clear.

[Mezzolith]

Quick death vs zootards > slow torture vs priests control warriors

More like this.

[Nikkaszal]

Zoo feels like a coin flip imo. You either get lucky and beat down the other guy or the other guy gets lucky and counters you. There's little room for anything else there, you go for face and hope for the best.

I still think is good that the options there. As you said, its cheap and easy... sort of an entry level deck. Also perfect for getting the summon 20 low cost minions and the beat down quests. I think a have a zoo like deck on my lock tab atm... want to make a handlock but zoo is too practical.

Zoo is designed to be played as overwhelming board control rather than face. As mentioned above, they have few options for burst finish - DGs and SFs, and SF is very often needed to clear out a taunt or similar. Unless a zoo gets dream draw and the opponent is getting shafted, the zoo should be aiming to keep his opponent's board nullified before mindlessly swinging for face. Because all it takes is one solid AoE clear coupled with minions left alive on the other side for a zoo lock to be VERY screwed, as their minions lack punch without being able to combo with Sergeant/DID/Wolf/PO/etc. They will struggle mightily to regain board control when the opponent will have minions ready to answer that are more than likely much stronger than what the zoolock can play naked.

[Deleted]

Why is it that people whine about Zoo as a "No Skill, Vomit Hand on Board" deck? Isn't Token druid just as much "Vomit hand onto board and get many minions out"? Not to mention they have a win condition AND board clear.

Well not really.

Because Zoo has such a low curve and an overpowered hero power(that refills your hand regardless of plays), its mechanics are usually considered skill-less.
By comparison, token can't just refill his hand and you need to treasure every minion(or token) you'll place on the field and every spell in your hand. You also have many tools for many situations, so its a much less autopilot deck then zoo.

[Deleted]

give me the "slow death" as i can actually draw things to change the game.

The problem is when those draws you take to change the game suddenly become obsolete when a priest can destroy 2 of your best minions and takes control of the other 2 in late game. Not to mention his thoughtsteals which blow up in your face most of the time.

Ontopic: Zoo locks are fun to play against as a Paladin. There's not much they can do when Consecration time comes and I've seen a few rage quits when one of my minions gets Blessing of Kings and they need to wipe their board clean if they want to remove it.

[muto]

More like this.

Nah Priests are worse, at least Warriors kill you with their own cards.

[Deleted]

No. Hunters are still far worse. I'd rather lose to a Handlock than Hunter scum. I don't even have a Hunter deck that's how much I despise them. I'm not going to play an easy mode class that's just herp derp go face.

Clueless about hunters

[Rucati]

Depends who you talk to, but honestly from what I've seen the same can be said about almost any class. Winning isn't very fun and losing is frustrating as hell because of RNG. You can have 25 health and a taunt up and still lose to Miracle Rogue in 1 turn, and you didn't necessarily do anything wrong, you just didn't draw enough taunts. On the flip side you can play Miracle Rogue and have both your Gadgets at the bottom of your deck and have no chance of beating anybody. Winning as something like control warrior doesn't feel particularly good, the games take 20 minutes and you just wait for all your legendaries then hope your opponent has nothing to counter them with.

I haven't found a class yet that I feel good about the wins, regardless of who I'm playing against. Every game is either "Oh hey, I drew the perfect cards" or "Oh hey, I drew nothing of any use". I generally stick to zoo in the beginning of seasons because the games are quicker and at rank 17 or whatever I just want the games to go fast. But later into the seasons, the last week or two, I tend to try a bunch of things. Just seems like they're all kind of the same. When my opponent top decks Ragnaros and he hits face and kills me it's incredibly frustrating, but when I top deck Ragnaros and kill the opponent I just feel like I got lucky, I don't feel like I did anything particularly good. Not sure, guess that's just how this game is.

[Anzen]

By far the quickest deck to rank up with though. I'm playing the newer naxx zoo deck (undertakers + eggs + haunted creepers) averaging around 75% win/loss currently, got to rank 10 in two nights of playing; I'll be swapping to either ramp/token druid or control war at rank 5.

Also to note, Deathlord & Sludge Belcher give me nightmares now.

Like even silencing Deathlord puts you at a disadvantage, opponent gets a 2/8 for 3 mana with no downsides? GG Not silencing it usually means wiping your entire board into it so it can pull out a Ironbeak Owl for you.

[Deleted]

Problem is you can get a good counter hand, play your game EXACTLY as anyone else would/should play it and they can just *tap/throw out hand onto board* and it starts again. Its annoying in the sense that they can just keep up tempo by trading off shitties and pathetic combos. Makes me mad everytime I play one because its such a scrub deck at this point. " I can't actually play proper decks so lets go zoo"

[Fleckens]

I don't really mind fighting zoo that much, as usually it's a game where you're holding on to the very end just trying to stabilise and turn it around. That can be quite fun. Hunters on the other hand, are the complete opposite of fun to fight against, as a good opening is not possible to recover from, as you'll be far too low on health and with their hero ability it's essentially over unless you play priest/warrior. It's similar to the miracle rogue before it got nerfed, once auctioneer is down and they start drawing you know you already lost. It pretty much takes all the fun out of the game when a loss is obvious after just 2-3 turns. If a zoo has good early game, you can still get a board clear and come back from that. If a hunter has good early game, you're already too low health and it's over at that point.

[breadisfunny]

By far the quickest deck to rank up with though. I'm playing the newer naxx zoo deck (undertakers + eggs + haunted creepers) averaging around 75% win/loss currently, got to rank 10 in two nights of playing; I'll be swapping to either ramp/token druid or control war at rank 5.

Also to note, Deathlord & Sludge Belcher give me nightmares now.

Like even silencing Deathlord puts you at a disadvantage, opponent gets a 2/8 for 3 mana with no downsides? GG Not silencing it usually means wiping your entire board into it so it can pull out a Ironbeak Owl for you.

its amazing how i can be on a losing streak and then i go to zoo and win within 2 games.

[hollafame]

Zoo performs like any other aggro deck. Go face and hope they have no way of stopping you. It's even better if it's double aggro because then it just becomes a face race.

I prefer tempo and mid-range decks myself.

Control for whatever reason is less fun in my opinion because most of them are p2w and you're basically banking on RNG of the draw/procs that an outcome could easily be swayed either way and if it's not in your favor, you will lose regardless of how much skill you have.

[breadisfunny]

Zoo performs like any other aggro deck. Go face and hope they have no way of stopping you. It's even better if it's double aggro because then it just becomes a face race.

I prefer tempo and mid-range decks myself.

Control for whatever reason is less fun in my opinion because most of them are p2w and you're basically banking on RNG of the draw/procs that an outcome could easily be swayed either way and if it's not in your favor, you will lose regardless of how much skill you have.

for me thats part of the fun of control.

[Nikkaszal]

Zoo performs like any other aggro deck. Go face and hope they have no way of stopping you. It's even better if it's double aggro because then it just becomes a face race.

I prefer tempo and mid-range decks myself.

Control for whatever reason is less fun in my opinion because most of them are p2w and you're basically banking on RNG of the draw/procs that an outcome could easily be swayed either way and if it's not in your favor, you will lose regardless of how much skill you have.

A face zoo will be much less successful than a board-controlling zoo. They have all the tools to turn cheap minions into strong traders, and if the opponent uses board clear without minions on deck the zoo can repopulate much faster

Conversely, if you dump your hand and go face... as you seem to think... once the opponent lays his board clear and still has minions up you are pretty much fucked. IDGAF if a zoo has knocked me down to 10HP early if I have a taunt up to stop DG burst and at least one other minion I can use to control what he plays before they're allowed to get buffed with Sergeant/DID/Wolf etc. He's lost momentum and unless I have VERY bad draw for a few turns it's usually a win from there.

[Fleckens]

A face zoo will be much less successful than a board-controlling zoo. They have all the tools to turn cheap minions into strong traders, and if the opponent uses board clear without minions on deck the zoo can repopulate much faster

Conversely, if you dump your hand and go face... as you seem to think... once the opponent lays his board clear and still has minions up you are pretty much fucked. IDGAF if a zoo has knocked me down to 10HP early if I have a taunt up to stop DG burst and at least one other minion I can use to control what he plays before they're allowed to get buffed with Sergeant/DID/Wolf etc. He's lost momentum and unless I have VERY bad draw for a few turns it's usually a win from there.

This is pretty much why i don't mind zoo too much, as once you get board control back you usually won, while against hunter's it's mostly still a loss due to their hero power.