2x Zealous Persecution
Sideboard
2x Zealous Persecution
Foxy, please elaborate. I need to know.
The last two maindeck slots were metagame slots.
I expected the metagame breakdown to be Tezz, Fish, Combo, and Workshop, in that order.
So, I wanted something that would be awesome in the Fish and/or Tezz matchup, and at least decent in all other matchups.
Preference went towards any card that answered Goyf, Time Vault, or helped give me reach to have lethal damage by turn 4.
I also expected Inkwell, not Colossus, as the Tinker target I would face.
I considered Hide//Seek, but I didn't consider Colossus and it was poor in the Fish matchup, so I decided against it.
Then I decided that I would either play Lightning Bolt or Zealous Persecution. I went with the latter.
Here was my rational:
Lightning Bolt answers potential problem creatures like Welder, Confidant, Sower, Painter, and Juggernaut.
It can also make a Tezzeret useless for a turn at instant speed. It also allows one of your little guys to trade with Goyf.
It deals extra damage whether or not your creatures connect. Lightning Bolt is decent in every matchup.
Zealous Persecution can kill multiple Confidants and Welders if they're in play.
I did not expect Sower to be a problem, and I did not foresee Painter or Juggernaut seeing play.
My deck is fast and has creatures, so I don't really care about a resolved Tezzeret unless I'm already going to lose.
I am assuming that Zealous Persecution will deal slightly less damage than Bolt, on average, since blocking will occur.
However, the only situation I can see where this is an issue is if someone is blocking and I need to kill them ASAP.
The only relevant scenarios I can think of for this is Tinker -> Colossus, which I assumed would not occur,
or multiple Goyfs being on the board, in which case Zealous Persecution is probably better anyway.
The difference is that Zealous Persecution is about as good as Bolt in every relevant matchup, but amazing against Fish and some other matchups,
so I picked it over Lightning Bolt.
Against Fish, the plan is to rush them with early creatures. This forces the Fish player to block.
If the Fish player blocks your guys and you play Zealous Persecution, you wipe out their team.
Lightning Bolt doesn't do this. In addition, Zealous Persecution can end up dealing more damage in the Fish matchup
by killing off one toughness creature(s) that would have blocked and then adding power to your creatures on top of that.
It also has some other interesting applications, like answering Empty the Warrens, killing all of Ichorid's one toughness creatures,
being swell against Goblins, allowing certain creatures to survive a Pyroclasm, killing Cold-Eye Selkie and Noble Hierarch at the same time,
and being the funniest card you can ever cast in the ELVES! matchup.
Additionally, I needed something else to bring in against creature decks (Mogg Salvage your Mox?), so I put two Zealous Persecution in the sideboard.
The only match I drew Zealous Persecution in, and wasn't already winning, was against Tezz in the finals, which killed me with Tinker->Colossus twice. Hm.
So, in hindsight, Zealous Persecution could have been better as either Hide//Seek or Lightning Bolt in this specific tourney, with my specific hands.
However, neither Hide//Seek or Lightning Bolt are legal in Standard.
