Demian Coca

am 30/04/2024 in

Magic the Gathering Modern

MTG - Modern Deep Dive: Zoo Scam

Detailed deck explanation and Sideboard Guide

Ever since the Leyline of the Guildpact was spoiled for Lost Caverns of Ixalan, people have become excited due to its potential synergy with Scion of Draco. Initially, I was very skeptical of this strategy, as I thought the combo was too reliant on a lucky draw. Additionally, I believed that Domain Zoo was already a strong archetype and that adding four cards to the deck that are only effective in the opening hand would decrease the deck's overall consistency.

After playing only a few matches with Leyline of the Guildpact, I realized that the potential of this card was in fact much higher than I had thought. Not having to fetch, perfect mana, turn one Leyline Binding – those are some of the upsides that I had overlooked and that helped this card to change the Modern meta. There have been attempts to merge Domain Zoo and Scam in the past when Fury was still legal but never to any great success. Since the release of LCI the archetype has resurfaced with the Leyline/Scion/Binding package starting to pop up not only in Domain Zoo, Rhinos and Murktide ... but also in Scam!

Decklist

4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
2 Orcish Bowmasters
4 Territorial Kavu
4 Grief
4 Scion of Draco
1 Troll of Khazad-dûm

2 Fatal Push
4 Thoughtseize
4 Not Dead After All

4 Leyline of the Guildpact
4 Leyline Binding
3 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Zagoth Triome
1 Ketria Triome
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple Garden

Decklist

Position in the Meta

I think Zoo Scam or Domain Scam is among the underexplored decks with a lot of potential. Though it has had some success in MTGO Challenges and a Top 8 finish at LMS Prague, there are not many competitive players playing the deck. Therefore, it is difficult to evaluate its current position in the Modern meta, and while the deck can obviously be very explosive and have unfair openings, it is a very high variance deck. It shares some of the strengths of Rakdos Scam in that it can dismantle the opponent's game plan in the first few turns while at the same time applying pressure. The biggest difference to Rakdos Scam is that this deck can go bigger and over the top of other midrange strategies, using cards like Territorial Kavu, Leyline Binding, and Scion of Draco in combination with Leyline of the Guildpact. It has a second "unfair" opening in Leyline into Scion. I believe it to be similarly well-positioned against the decks that Rakdos Scam is good against (Titan, Murktide, Goryo’s Vengeance, Living End) and slightly better than Rakdos against the weaker matchups (Domain Zoo, Yawgmoth). Some matchups like Coffers, 4C Omnath, and Creativity are still bad and require a bit of luck to fight through.

Gameplan

As mentioned before, this is a high-variance deck that favors players who know how to mulligan with it. The deck's main game plan is to have an aggressive or disruptive opening (ideally both) and follow up with efficient removal spells and big threats. Assuming you don’t know the matchup, your explosive turn one plays in order of strength are: Grief scam, Leyline of the Guildpact into Scion and Ragavan. Ragavan or Grief set you up for a perfect start in which you are the one pressuring, while Leyline into Scion fixes your mana perfectly and even gives you the option to play Thoughtseize or hold up Fatal Push. Of course, you can also have the so-called “nuts” in turn one Leyline + Ragavan into Scion or even the lottery of Grief scam + Leyline into Scion. Follow any of those plays up with disruption like Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, or Leyline Binding, and the game should go in your favor right from the beginning.

If you don’t have the explosive start, it is fine to play a more laid-back midrange plan. Remember that fetching for Triome, turn two Kavu, or anything like that were normal plays of Zoo decks before Leyline was printed. If you have a slower start, I advise thinking about the mid and late game already in the first few turns. You will probably not be able to close the game before your opponent can apply their game plan, which means that you’ll have to react to that. Ask yourself: How are my cards lining up against theirs? And how can I use my resources in the most efficient way? Much like old school Jund decks, Zoo Scam can switch between aggressive and more controlling roles. The important part is to know when to switch to defense and hold back your resources and when to lean in and push damage. If you want to learn more about these decisions, I strongly recommend you watch any video of Reid Duke playing boomer Jund.

Card Choices

Creatures

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer – The monkey, the myth, the legend. Ragavan is still one of the best possible turn one plays as it sets you up for a possible explosive start. Not much to say that you haven’t heard already. Just keep in mind that Ragavan is much weaker on the play due to Wrenn and Six and Orcish Bowmasters.

Orcish Bowmasters – In this slot, I was going back and forth between Dauthi Voidwalker and Orcish Bowmasters. Though I believe Dauthi to be the stronger card in the current meta, the Orcs are much more reliable. Dauthi is difficult to cast on turn two if you don’t have Leyline of the Guildpact or rather: It makes reaching Domain afterwards more difficult. In a deck that is already trying to assemble certain combinations of cards, having yet another risk seems unreasonable.

Territorial Kavu – One of the domain payoffs of the deck. Kavu hits hard, basically always being 5/5 the turn it attacks. It is a great threat to follow your early game disruption. The two modes of its attack trigger also add a lot of value to the deck. Remember about those Leylines that were useless drawn midgame? Need to keep your Murktide opponent off Delirium? No problem, Kavu can handle that.

Grief – It’s a sign of strength when people hate a card as much as they hate Grief. Scamming Grief is our strongest play since it provides both pressure and disruption. Make sure to fetch the second black source as early as possible to hard cast Grief (and Dauthi). Also, don’t be afraid to evoke Grief without bringing it back if you know that you’ll be able to take an important piece out of your opponent’s hand or if it’s possible that they might combo off the next turn.

Scion of Draco – The new Splinter Twin of the format. Even though people have adapted to it and are playing more removal that can answer it like edict effects, Leyline into Scion remains one of the strongest plays. While having Leyline in play, a Scion can even bring you back from situations that look almost unwinnable because of the life gain. Make sure to not unnecessarily expose your Scion of Draco to edict effects and don’t forget to play it pre-combat if you have black creatures that are about to attack

Troll of Khazad-dum – This is a new card I’m trying out. It’s an additional black card for Grief that can fix your mana base while also representing a late-game threat. Additionally, it helps find the Swamp if your opponent plays Moon effects or if you decide to board in your own Magus of the Moon.

Instants and Sorceries

Fatal Push – The one-mana removal of choice. Fatal Push over Bolt because it pitches to Grief.

Not Dead After All – To make Grief and friends not dead after all.

Thoughtseize – Helps a lot against counterspells or combo strategies. Can be used to disrupt your opponent’s game plan or to protect your threats from removal. Make sure to board it out against very aggressive decks or in matchups where it’s all about card advantage.

Verzauberungen

Fable of the Mirror-Breaker – The glue that holds the whole deck together. If things go wrong and you end up with a land and two Leylines in your hand after your opponent has answered your threats, you’ll be very happy to have Fable in your deck. The card does it all: creates a ramping token, smoothens your draws, and represents a late-game threat. Don’t forget to hold back unneeded lands to be able to discard them to Fable. One of my favorite plays is copying a Grief in the opponent’s draw step while they are topdecking to essentially lock them out of the game. Also, remember that if you have two Reflections of Kiki-Jiki and at least one being active, you can create copies of the other reflection equal to your available mana in your opponent's end step to then either swing with all in your turn or copy a bunch of other creatures.

Leyline of the Guildpact – Leyline turbocharges the deck: fixing mana while not having to fetch and, of course, combo-ing with Scion of Draco and Leyline Binding. If you have two Leylines in your opening hand, I would generally advise holding back one of them as it both pitches to Grief and can be discarded to Kavu or Fable for a fresh card.

Manabase

As I was writing this article this section got so long, that I have decided to split it up and do a separate post on the manabase of this deck. For now, I will just present what is my current version of the mana base and will explain more about it in the next post.

Matchups and Sideboard plans

Our Sideboard consists of the following cards:

3 Pick your Poison

3 Stern Scolding

2 Spell Pierce

4 Leyline of the Void

1 Unmoored Ego

Instead of going over each individual card, I will discuss them during the matchup discussions. The only thing I want to say here is that I’m still uncertain whether Spell Pierce or Stubborn Denial is better. We’re lacking a bit in 4+ power creatures which for now makes me think Spell Pierce is the better choice.

Domain Zoo

One of the two "mirrors." Looking at the decks’ differences: we have more disruption and less aggression. Which means that I would generally try to play a bit as if you’re behind and value your resources highly because at least pre-board, it’s likely that if you trade all resources and end up in topdeck mode, you’ll draw into Thoughtseize and Not Dead After All while they have a higher threat density. An exception to this is obviously a Grief scam start; then you want to go all in and pressure them. It's very important that when thoughtseizing them, you choose the right card to slow them down. The same goes for using your removal. Sometimes they will have a redundant hand, and that’s when you’ll feel inferior to their deck. I would say that this matchup is slightly unfavorable. Post board, we have access to Pick Your Poison, which will help against the Leyline/Scion combo.

-3 Thoughtseize; +3 Pick your Poison

Rakdos Scam

The other “mirror” is the one we like much more. Again, comparing the decks, our threats are bigger and with the Leyline/Scion combo, we have a threat that they have a lot of difficulties handling. The thing they have going for them is that they have more removal. Be aware that most Rakdos lists are playing either Sheoldred’s Edict or Angrath’s Rage, which can handle a lone Scion of Draco through the hexproof. Some Scam lists are even bringing in Liliana of the Veil post-board. Therefore, I like to hold back on Scion if I can. Some other tips and tricks: Watch out for flashy Orcs when you attack with Kavu. It’s okay to keep slower hands if they are powerful. Make sure to respect a possible game one Blood Moon if you can. I believe this matchup to be favorable.

On the Play (OTP): -3 Thoughtseize; +3 Stern Scolding

On the Draw (OTD): -3 Ragavan; +3 Stern Scolding

Yawgmoth

Yawgmoth is one of the reasons why you could choose Dauthi Voidwalker over Orcish Bowmasters. While the Orcs are also okay, Dauthi really presents a problem for their deck. Leyline/Scion is very tough for them to handle, though most lists are playing a one-of Haywire Mite which you must be aware of at all points in the game because of their tutors. If you get them in a position where they have to react to your stuff, you’re definitely doing something right. Use your disruption to delay Yawgmoth. Remember that Stern Scolding can counter Grist (and almost all the other creatures they are playing). In post-board games, I’m a bit scared of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron comboing with Grist, Yawgmoth, and Fulminator Mage, which makes me bring in some of the Leyline of the Voids. I believe this matchup to be slightly favorable.

-4 Ragavan, -2 Territorial Kavu; +3 Stern Scolding, +3 Leyline of the Void

Amulet Titan

Titan is one of the matchups where I would consider setting up an early Leyline Binding to handle an Amulet of Vigor. It’s very important that we keep them off their game plan since they are faster if we don’t. It’s also a matchup where I play Grief quite often without the undying effect just to make sure they can’t combo. However, it’s also important to pressure them since Titan is one of the decks that can easily pull off a combo out of “nowhere” given enough time. Don’t forget to fetch for basics whenever you can to set up your Magus of the Moon. Yes, you heard it right, we’re playing a Moon Effect in our domain deck! Even though Rakdos Scam is better against this deck, I would still say that we’re slightly favored.

-2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, -2 Orcish Bowmasters, -2 Scion of Draco; +3 Pick your Poison, +1 Unmoored Ego, +2 Magus of the Moon

Creativity

This is a tough one as we don’t have that many ways to interact with their combo. If Creativity keeps rising in the meta, we might have to dedicate more sideboard slots to it. There are several versions of the deck, the most important ones being the Jund version that uses Persist and the version with Reprieve and Mana Tithe. I’d say the Jund version is slightly easier to handle. Hold back your removal to deal with the Dwarfs, and if you don’t have them: make it obvious that you could have them, bluff, and hope for the best. This is a matchup where Orcish Bowmasters is better than Dauthi Voidwalker, especially against the Reprieve version. This matchup is unfavorable.

OTP: -2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, -1 Scion of Draco, -2 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer; +2 Magus of the Moon, +2 Spell Pierce, +1 Unmoored Ego

OTD: -4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, -1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; +2 Magus of the Moon, +2 Spell Pierce, +1 Unmoored Ego

Goryo's Vengeance

A relatively new addition to the top of the meta, but rather simple to tackle. It’s somewhat an A + B deck in that they need to have their threats in the grave and the reanimation spells in hand. If you can disrupt that, you should be fine. Not that they can’t win without reanimating Atraxa, but it’s certainly much more difficult for them. Combined with the fact that we can bring in four Leyline of the Void post-board, that makes this a favorable matchup.

OTP: -2 Fatal Push, -2 Territorial Kavu; +4 Leyline of the Void

OTD: -2 Fatal Push, -2 Ragavan; +4 Leyline of the Void

Mono Green Tron

This is a matchup where the Leyline/Scion combo doesn’t shine as bright. Tron can easily go over the top and has access to Oblivion Stone, which can clear the board given enough time. We rely heavily on our disruption: discard spells to take away their threats and Leyline Binding to keep The One Ring in check. If you can keep up some pressure while doing that, you should be on a path to victory. I believe this matchup to be slightly unfavorable.

-2 Fatal Push, -2 Orcish Bowmasters, -1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; +2 Magus of the Moon, +3 Pick your Poison

Murktide

This should be a fine matchup as long as we can delay the Murktide or have a Leyline Binding ready to handle it. Kavu is helpful since it can shrink their graveyard, either to pick away the instant and sorceries or to keep them off Delirium. The fact that some Murktide lists have included Pick your Poison even in the main deck shows how hard it is for them to handle a hexproof Scion. When playing Thoughtseize or Grief, pick whatever is most concerning in the moment. That can be the removal or counterspell to protect your threat, or their own threat, if you’re worried about a Murktide hitting the battlefield soon. Make sure to play around Moon effects post-board by fetching basic forest when you can. Since they bring in Subleties, Stern Scolding, and generally have a lot of removal to handle a scammed Grief, I’m experimenting taking out that combo. I believe this matchup to be slightly favorable.

-4 Not Dead After All, -2 Grief, -1 Ragavan; +3 Pick Your Poison, +4 Leyline of the Void

Mono Black Coffers

Coffers is a rough matchup like Tron. The One Ring, mass removal, and Karn that can go over the top or find answers to our combo are very hard to overcome. But the deck can be slow, and if they stumble and we can get enough early pressure going, the matchup is winnable. Though, be aware of Damnation and Deadly Cover-Up and make sure to not unnecessarily overextend the board. This matchup seems to be slightly unfavorable. Many recent Coffers lists are not playing any Sheoldreds anymore and lack threats in general. That’s why I like to bring in Unmoored Ego.

-2 Fatal Push, -2 Orcish Bowmasters; +1 Unmoored Ego, +3 Pick Your Poison

4C Omnath

Like against any other The One Ring deck, we must be quick to win against 4C Omnath. Once the value train starts rolling, it is very hard to keep up. Teferi, Time Raveler is a pain since it can bounce Leyline of the Guildpact and clear the path for their removal. Also, many lists are playing Supreme Verdict, which is scary. A lot has to go right for us to get through the many removals and counterspells this deck is playing, but it is not impossible. Keep threat-dense hands and play aggressively. Don’t forget you can Leyline Binding an Omnath in response to its ETB trigger, or push it if you have a fetchland. Once Teferi is downticked, it’s generally better to go face with your creatures, unless they are close to a second activation, or you really need to play something at instant speed. This matchup is unfavorable.

-2 Fatal Push, -3 Thoughtseize; +3 Pick Your Poison, +2 Spell Pierce

Living End

This archetype has been declared dead but recently had some success on MTGO. It is traditionally a very easy matchup for Scam, which partly makes it favorable for Zoo Scam as well. Even though we’re not running Dauthis, the discard spells and post-board Leyline of the Void help a lot. Remember that you can discard Troll of Khazad-dûm in response to a Living End to have a hard-to-block threat after it resolves. This might not sound great, but if you have successfully brought them down to a low life total and maybe have some other threats already in the grave, it can be just enough to push you over the finish line. For the same reason and to delay their cascade spells, I would aggressively evoke Grief. I think this matchup is even and slightly favored after boarding.

-2 Fatal Push, -2 Leyline Binding, -3 Scion of Draco; +4 Leyline of the Void, +1 Unmoored Ego, +2 Spell Pierce

Closing Thoughts

While Zoo Scam is not as reliable as both Rakdos Scam and Domain Zoo, it has a very high ceiling. It’s strength lays in explosive and disruptive starts as well as the combo of Scion of Draco and Leyline of the Guildpact. Those two aspects combined give the deck game against both linear decks and fair decks.

If you like to be the evil one for once and hear your opponent’s complain about how unfair Grief or Leyline/Scion is, this deck is for you! While building and playing this deck I have learned a lot about manabases in 5C decks and also about mulligan decisions. In my next article, we will have a closer look about those two aspects of the deck and how you can optimize them for success.

I’m happy to hear any thoughts, criticism, and feedback on this article. If you end up playing the deck, let me know how it went!