4c Zoo – Vintage a.k.a. “Zoo Pissen”

[Bone]

4c Zoo – Vintage a.k.a. “Zoo Pissen”

The original decklist was played by John Michael Chrisostomo and placed fifth at the 42 players Neutral Grounds tournament 24. January 2010. I have had great success with this deck in my local unpowered metagame.  Here is the list and my results (sanctioned tournaments).

4c Zoo – Vintage a.k.a. "Zoo Pissen" – 6th march
3 Skullclamp
4 Aether Vial
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Crypt

2 Lightning Helix
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lightning Bolt

4 Dark Confidant
3 Epochrasite
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Jötun Grunt
2 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Magus of the Moon

1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Plateau
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Strip Mine
1 Forest (Horizon Canopy in the original decklist).
1 Karakas
2 Savannah
3 Wasteland
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

Tournament 1 – 6. March 2010 – 1st place

Sideboard for this tournament:
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Stingscourger
3 Shattering Spree
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Tsabo’s Web

R1 vs Goblins – Win
R2 vs ANT – Win
R3 vs Reanimate – Loss (he later got DQ after revealing two Brainstorm to an opponent’s peek)
R4 vs TezzVault – Win
R5 vs Pox – Loss
Semi vs Goblins – Win
Final vs Pox – Win

W – L – D
5 – 2 – 0

Tournament 2 – 10. April 2010 – 1st place

I cut 1 Plains for 1 Scrubland in the maindeck and played this sideboard:

1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Diabolic Edict
2 Stingscourger
3 Shattering Spree
1 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Extirpate
1 Ravenous Trap
(I feared the Reanimate deck from the last tournament)

R1 vs ANT – Win
R2 vs Affinity – Win
R3 vs Sligh Elemetals – Win
R4 vs Goblins – Loss
R5 vs Vintage Blightning – Loss (I was already in the t4 and this was a good matchup for me)
Semi vs Vintage Blightning – Win (exactly)
Finals vs Goblins – Win (I win game 1 and we are both tired and split the price)

W – L – D
10 – 4 – 0

Tournament 3 – 8. May 2010

I cut 1 Windswept Heath and 1 Forest for 1 Arid Mesa and 1 Plains in the maindeck and played this sideboard:

2 Diabolic Edict
2 Stingscourger
3 Shattering Spree
1 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Extirpate
1 Ravenous Trap

R1 vs TezzVault – Win
R2 vs Reanimate – Win
R3 vs TezzVault – Win
R4 vs Vampires – Win
R5 vs Dark Depths – Win
No t4 this tournament

W – L – D
15 – 4 – 0

You can say alot about my matchups (yeah, Vintage is not huge in my area) but I have won 3 tournaments in a row with this deck and it seems to have an answer against almost everything. I just love tapping sideways to win. I also like having so many different creatures (9) so my opponent don't know what to expect. The biggest problem with this deck is it's manabase. But after small adjustments it works okay (sometimes not). I think I will change the Crypt and Chrome to perhaps Pearl and Ruby if my budget can afford it, this will probably help out both on manafixing and tempo.

[xouman]

Congrats for your impressive run! Unfortunately, the meta looks more like Legacy than Vintage, so it's difficult to adapt it to a meta filled with Noble Fish, Drain Decks and workshops :p

Do you have any report, in order to make an idea about how to play the deck properly? Thanks!

[Bone]

Congrats for your impressive run! Unfortunately, the meta looks more like Legacy than Vintage, so it's difficult to adapt it to a meta filled with Noble Fish, Drain Decks and workshops :p

Do you have any report, in order to make an idea about how to play the deck properly? Thanks!

Thanks If I where to play this in powered metagame (say BoM IV or in the USA) I would play the same maindeck but with a different sideboard.

http://www.deckcheck.net/deck.php?id=32067 finished 5th/42 in a powered metagame 24. January 2010.

I don't have a tournamentreport yet sorry (whenever I try to write I make a play mistake right after).

The MPV's are Vial and Pridemage. Epochrasite (!?) and Grunt with Clamp are also pretty good. No one expects Epochrasite
If I where to cut any cards it would be Bolt/Helix... (but I won't do that)

[nineisnoone]

I do have to wonder why you'd play Helix.  Is the life gain important?  

I would think that Fire/Fire (even just the fire part of the card) or even Staggershock would have be better due to the odds of 2-for-1ing an opposing creature deck.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Given the ridiculous concentration of the color black in your meta, I'd recommend Compost MAIN over Epochrasite.

[Cyberpunker]

Wow...congrats on the wins with Zoo!!! In my meta, there is a guy who ports his Legacy Zoo into Vintage (By adding 2 Moxes and 1 Lotus) and he always crushes the Selkie matchup. Plus he can win against the MUD matchup too sometimes!

Good luck with the innovation!