[Modern] Bushwhacker Zoo with RESULTS and Sideboard

[glorfindel13863]

Bushwhacker Zoo with RESULTS and Sideboard

This past month playing this deck for FNM type small tournaments of around ten players has resulted in two 1st places and two 4th places.  Each tournament I was in the hunt for first place.  Favorable matchups have been against Elves (ty pyroclasm), Griselbrand combo, Naya Zoo (very close), Abzan Company (not favorable but winnable, usually very close), and Merfolk.  Bad matchups are American control, Bogles (almost won this match), and Burn.

Normally I run path to exile mainboard, but I am moving it to the sideboard and adding Ghor Clan Rampager for game one.  I want to go all out game one and then board in path as needed.  It works great mainboard, so you can leave it main if you want, but for my local meta and playstyle I have decided to go more aggressive and add rancors by cutting one Flinthoof Boar, one Reckless Bushwhacker, a land, and one Ghor Clan Rampager.  GCR will almost always be boarded out for game two. 

I set my sideboard up very simple to avoid over analyzing boarding.  I have three GCR mainboard, and that will be taken out for 3 path, 3 Helix, 3 destructive revelry, or 3 graveyard hate in most cases.  In some matches if I need more removal I of course will board in more than three cards.  I chose my sideboard cards for max utility rather than overthinking what could be.  This deck is great, it works, and is great for beginners.  I am just going to keep it simple and stop overthinking because I have found with aggro, especially very aggressive aggro, you don't want to board too many cards in and out.

[G. Moto]

   First off, congrats on your wins. Secondly I can see why the burn may have been an issue, Same for the bogles match ups. If you side board some enchantments or add instant pump spells then when the time comes you can  probably save well needed creatures. As for the boggles I see how hexproof and targeting can be an issue. If you incorporated first strike effects and wide range damage spells (maybe as side board) then it'll be less of an issue. Either that or do enchant destruction (since you are playing Green). Just so helpful advice after the fact, but once again good jobs on the wins you were able to pull.

[Konjiikhan]

good job. my meta is way different than yours. i had to semi retire my zoo deck. 15-25 decks at fnm and i never made top 5. i went back to my izzet unblockable deck. I still dont see how zoo makes an impact tho. no draw power in it. to me it stalls out. i still love the deck but dang...

[G. Moto]

     As strong as some decks may be, metas are shaped by the strongest deck in the area and then the ripple effect takes place. People build to beat the strongest deck, then people build to beat the next strongest, and etc. and etc. If your strong deck isn't performing as well as you hoped then maybe you should try playing that deck in different areas. That way you can see the impact that it has in different locations.

[WWolfe]

A few years ago the top 4 decks at the LGS I went to the most were all Zoo, which rotated back and forth between the four of us for the top spots with each of us adjusting like crazy to turn the tables on the previous weeks results. 

I broke the trend by switching to a Bogles deck with just enough removal to sustain their early advantages. Once I won with it a few weeks in a row, two of the other Zoo decks swapped as well- one to UrzaTron and one to UB Delver (I think that's what it was). A few weeks later the other Zoo player swapped to RDW.

Basically what I'm saying is for months Zoo ruled the shop, then over the course of about a month, the meta totally evolved to where Zoo wasn't a factor. It wasn't because Zoo got worse, it was everyone built to beat it.

[Konjiikhan]

oddly enuff im only zoo at my meta. have lots of control and burn and more often than not..affinity.other than haveing gob guides my zoo deck is just like other top 8 i see online. i just dont get it lol. i tried the 8 whack zoo and ya, no draw power makes it weak imo.
opening hands  i get 2-3 lands.1 buff 2 critters or no buff an just lands and critters. yes i use fetchlands,and shocks.after trn 3-4 i see deck stalling out.ive never made more than top 5 with it in my meta is why i semi retired it.

[G. Moto]

    The crazy thing about that is you wouldn't play a deck like that in ANY meta unless the other decks were not running counter or burn spells. Strong decks shape the meta, then the meta influences what decks people play. Here's an example:

If I see that Blue control decks are strong then I'm going to play G/W HEXPROOF creatures,
If I see G/W Hexproof is prevalent then I'll use B/R MASS board removal,
If I see B/R Mass removal is strong then I'll play G/U Evolution to GROW my creatures out of kill-spell range,
If G/U Evolution is big then I'll play U/R Creature Control to reverse their stats and then burn them at whatever's the lowest.
     
     You see how we just went into a nice little circle here? Everything has something that off sets or balances out another person's deck. Heck it may of just been ZOO's time to fall out of that power rotation and sit in the back burner for a while. It's not that the deck isn't good or hasn't been well played, that 's just the circle of life for magic decks.