Legacy Zoo deck

UPDATED MARCH/2022
Zoo is a rather generic term which describes a creature-based aggressive deck that is usually centered around red and green.
==Overview ==
The most common color combinations for Zoo decks are Naya and Gruul.
Although it is mostly associated to multi-color strategies, a Zoo deck is essentially a creature-based aggro strategy that could (in theory) be present in any color or combination of colors. However, the mono-color decks are usually refered to more specific names.
As a curiosity: the term Zoo comes from the creatures that have been present in the strategy along the years: <c>Kird Ape</c>, <c>Loam Lion</c>and <c>Wild Nacatl</c>- creatures one would expect to see in a real-life zoo.
The zoo strategy takes advantage of cost-efficient creatures. The goal is to amass a small army of sorts and overpower the opponent before they have time to react.
The Zoo strategy is very efficient in the early game and can win by turns 3~5.
==Early Decklists==
Most Zoo decks in Legacy used to feature a suit of small creatures with effects that made them stronger as lands of neighboring colors came into play.
Among those were <c>Kird Ape</c>, <c>Loam Lion</c>, <c>Wild Nacatl</c> and <c>Tarmogoyf</c>.
Additional creatures such as <c>Grim Lavamancer</c>, <c>Gaddock Teeg</c> or <c>Qasali Pridemage</c> either gave some board control or added to the long game.
The creatures were usually complemented with a suite of red Burn spells such as <c>Lightning Bolt</c>, <c>Chain Lightning</c> and <c>Lightning Helix</c> which could either kill creatures standing in the way or just be used for direct damage.
<d title="Zoo - Richard Bland - Grand Prix Madrid 2010">
Creatures
4 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Knight of the Reliquary
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Chain Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
1 Sylvan Library
Lands
4 Arid Mesa
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Plateau
1 Savannah
2 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Krosan Grip
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Pyroblast
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Umezawa's Jitte</d>
==Contemporary Decklists==
Although Zoo became a relatively rare strategy in recent years, there are still players who put it in practice.
The deck even achieved 3rd place (in a 50-people tournment) and 5th place (in a 60-people tournment) in two distinct events in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In both cases it shared the top spots with decks like UR Ragavan, Hive Mind, Bant Control, Stoneblade, Elves and Hogaak Vine.
One of these lists is found below:
<d title="3rd Place: Naya Zoo - Daniel Martins - 79º Alpha Event (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - 19/12/2021">
Lands
4 Arid Mesa
1 Mountain
4 Plateau
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Taiga
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
Creatures
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Kird Ape
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
Instants and Sorceries
4 Chain Lightning
3 Fireblast
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Price of Progress
Other Spells
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Sylvan Library
Sideboard
1 Containment Priest
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Sylvan Library
2 Tormod's Crypt</d>
== Notes on Zoo ==
It is hard to theorize all the clear and correct reasons as for why Zoo became more rare.
Perhaps it could do with the fact that the deck actually needs a many old duals to survive. This could possibly drive players away of this archetype. Or maybe it was just the meta shifting in a way that made Zoo less viable. Or even a combination of those factors.
But with Zoo showing good results in formidable tournments in late 2021, it is possible that the reason wasn't a shift in the meta.
There haven't been many experimentations (in Legacy) on wether Zoo can be a competitive strategy without the old duals. Despite the Modern format having an established competitive Zoo deck.
With the possible replacement of the old duals for shock lands, a Zoo player could lose from 4~9 life points in a game just by playing fetchlands and shocklands. This could either be too much to take for a zoo player or be a good opportunity to implement a Death's Shadow strategy alongside Zoo.
Even though Modern has already tested the strategy, experimentation with Legacy Zoo is yet to be seen.
== See also ==
* Legacy
* Vintage
* Modern
* Naya
* Gruul
* Aggro
* Reserved List
* Revitalization of Legacy
Category:Tournament decks