Hearthpwn

This is a continuation of the Zoo (All Basic Cards) Deck and Guide

If you liked the guide check out my website BetTheValue.com

This guide assumes we have crafted all of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cards, but have not unlocked any of the adventures yet.

This is a very fast and aggressive variant of the Zoo Archetype. The way you win with this deck is a quick burst of damage for lethal. You want to try and win the game before turn 10. You can have huge burst of damage that your opponent never sees coming, For example Reckless Rocketeer + 2x Power Overwhelming + Soulfire cost 9 mana and does 17 damage.

 This is the only deck other than OTK Warrior that can realistically get you to Legend Rank without having the adventures unlocked and tons of Legendary cards. Even then most OTK decks use  Emperor from the first wing of Blackrock mountain. The guide to playing the deck is very much the same as from the original Zoo Guide.

Guide:

​The ideal game starts like this. You start off on turn 1 with a minion that isn't Abusive Sergeant. Then on turn 2 you want to play two minions and trade with anything he played in order to have board control. It can be good to play a Flame Juggler on turn 2 if you opponent has a 1 health minion on board or is 1 health away from being able to trade with your turn 1 minion. Even if not a 2/3 on turn 2 with a one damage battlecry is an acceptable turn 2. Then on turn 3 you continue to build you board and keep him from having any minions. A great turn 3 would include Dire Wolf Alpha + a Mortal Coil or a 1 cost minion. It is only okay to play a Darkshire Councilman on turn 3 if you have complete control of the board. With this strategy some cards in the deck are horrible to have in your hand during the first three turns. These bad cards are Defender of Argus, Reckless Rocketeer, Power Overwhelming, and Forbidden Ritual. You should never keep these in your hand. In games where you get stuck with a bunch of these cards on early turns you will probably lose. Power Overwhelming can be okay in combination with Possessed Villager for a trade, but ideally you save your Power Overwhelming for a lethal burst.

 

The goal is to burst your opponent with Reckless Rocketeer + Power Overwhelming + Soulfire on a late turn for lethal. Since this is such a huge burst of damage even if your opponent has cards that could prevent lethal they wont play them because they don't expect you to be able to kill them next turn. The biggest obstacle of this strategy are big taunt minions. Most classes don't play big taunt minions until late turns, so this is why we need to go for lethal by turn 10. ​​We don't always have to have the perfect burst kill with Rocketeer to win the game. If we control the board every turn we can just win with the huge collection of minions we have pushing face damage late in the match.

 

Sometimes it is better to ditch a Soulfire or Power Overwhelming in order to have board control. It is always painful to use one of your only two Power Overwhelming cards to make a trade, but sometimes that gives you a better chance to win the game than waiting for the perfect lethal turn. A good example is against Shaman. When they play Totem Golem on turn 2 it is perfectly okay to burn a Soulfire or Power Overwhelming to clear it. As long as we control the board we have a good chance to win the game with or without the lethal burst. Unlocking Wing 2 of League of Explorers to get the Dark Peddler can really help this deck shine. The Dark Peddler allows you to get more Power Overwhelming and Soulfire cards into the deck.

 

I brought Acidic Swamp Ooze back into the deck because on the ladder from ranks 5-Legend you see a ton of Warrior, Hunter, and Shaman. Being able to destroy their weapon is the edge you need to get a few wins you otherwise wouldn't. You don't want to just hoard this card to kill their weapon, playing a 3/2 on turn 2 is perfectly acceptable without getting to take advantage of the battlecry.

Mulligans;

If you do not have the coin you always want to have a 1 cost minion in hand. Always redraw all your cards if you don't have the coin and have not started with any 1 cost minions. Don't keep Abusive Sergeant if it is your only 1 drop minion. The best turn 1 is generally Flame Imp or Argent Squire

If you already have options for Turn 1 and Turn 2 it can be okay to keep a Darkshire Councilman As he makes a very strong play on turn 3. If you do not have minions to play on Turns 1 and 2 do not keep him though.

Vs Hunter. - It is great to keep Mortal Coil In order to deal with Fiery Bat. If you have the coin keeping Flame Juggler can be good for the same reason. It is wise to play around Unleash the Hounds

Vs Shaman - Getting your Flame Imp out to deal with that Tunnel Trogg Is a great start. Using the combo of Possessed Villager + Power Overwhelming + Abusive Sergeant Clears our the Shamans turn 4 7/7. Don't be afraid to use Soulfire to kill the Totem Golem. It is worth playing around Lightning Storm If you suspect your opponent has it in his deck. If you see him playing a Hex or a Mana Tide Totem he probably has 1-2 copies of Lightning Storm in his deck.

There is also a new control shaman deck out there that runs two Doomsayer two Lightning Storm two Elemental Destruction with some big taunt minions and two Ancestral Spirit. This is a bad matchup for us. I have only faced it once so far on ladder and won but I drew almost perfectly and he didn't find his board clears. This seems like a tough matchup to me. It is important to push damage early. This is matchup where having unlocked the Dark Peddler can come in handy to draw an extra Power Overwhelming. In all control matches you want to limit your opponents card draw so try and kill the Mana Tide Totem

Vs. Warrior- You have to build a board and push face damage. Most Dragon Warriors and OTK Warriors do not run a copy of Brawl. But all the Warrior decks have two copies of Ravaging Ghoul. If you are facing a C'Thun Warrior play around 1 Brawl. If he has a second copy you are probably going to lose, so after that first brawl is played just play YOLO as if he doesn't have a second copy.

Vs. Warlock - You are either vs Reno Lock or Zoo Lock. This deck matches up well against both. More often than not you are vs. zoo. If the person who you are facing has a golden warlock it is more likely to be Reno lock than if he does not have a Golden hero.

Against Zoo it is just a battle for the early game. You need to have strong cards to play on the first 4 turns as this will often decide the game. You need Flame Imp and Voidwalker in your hand. Keep the combo of Possessed Villager or Argent Squire+ Abusive Sergeant. If you go first this is a rare situation where you play your Villager over an Imp. that way you can use the Abusive to clear his Voidwalker. 

Against Reno it is helpful to watch how they mulligan. If they keep all their cards but don't play a minion you know they probably kept some board clears and have a turn 6 Reno so beware of that.  You just have  load up the board and try to kill him around turn 5 or 6. Our deck is so fast that unless they draw almost perfectly we will normally always win this matchup. Its okay to make a couple trades in order to have full board control. You don't really have to play around cards since he only will have one copy of everything, but here are some cards to be aware of Hellfire Cult Apothecary Demonwrath. With that said Reno is often very weak against us due to not running two copies of cards. Challenge them to have that one out in the deck. 

Vs Priest - This is a rare matchup on ladder. Similar to playing against other control decks you just need to try and kill him before turn 9. Beware of Holy Nova and Excavated Evil. Its okay to be very aggressive to kill off Northshire Cleric before he can draw cards. Against control decks you can not let them draw out a bunch of cards.

Replacements: Adding Dark Peddler and Imp Gang Boss will improve this deck. The Dark Peddler can be really helpful with adding additional Power Overwhelming for burst kills as well as Mortal Coil to help you make that perfect trade. In order to add in the adventure cards remove your Argent Squire and Knife Juggler. Knife Juggler is a slower card and not a great one to play on turn 2. It is a little too slow for this deck so it makes the list of one of the first cards to take out. With that said nothing is sicker than a late turn Knife Juggler + Forbidden Ritual & the Synergy with Possessed Villager is nice. Argent Squire is a great card but we cut it and keep Possessed Villager because of the synergy the Villager has with Darkshire Councilman

Replacing Reckless Rocketeer with Leeroy Jenkins will really speed up the deck. Since Leeroy cost 1 less mana you can get the lethal burst in with less mana. Summoning the two chickens means that you literally can't play him except for game winning kill though.

Update: Brought in 2 Acidic Swamp Ooze because currently you face so much Warrior at the top of the ladder. Destroying Eaglehorn Bow helps with Hunter matchup, and killing the Doomhammer in the Shaman matchup is critical. Also helpful vs Paladin and Rogue. I Cut the Knife Juggler because it is too slow for this deck. If you have a 2 drop in your hand on turn 2 I want to be able to play it. Unfortunately the Knife Juggler doesn't play well on turn 2 most of the time. I think they work better in a build with Doomguard

 

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