With so many deck-defining Epic and Legendary cards in the game right now, it can be hard to find strong budget decks. The one exception is Galakrond Zoo Warlock, which can reach Legend at the modest cost of 1400 dust.
Zoolock has been a part of Hearthstone from the beginning. With Warlock’s Hero Power providing easy access to card draw, the core idea of a Zoo deck is to use lots of cheap minions that have good synergies with each other to gain control of the board and win the game from there.
Zoo lives by the board and dies by the board. If you lose the board, you lose the game. Luckily, Zoo can summon a huge number of minions, so even if your board gets wiped a couple of times, there are still opportunities for you to get it back.
Budget Galakrond Zoo decklist
Deck code: AAECAf0GAvIF8b8DDjCKB7EIwgjchgPEiQOInQP9pwPorAP5rgP+rgOqrwPTrwOCsQMA
There is a Legendary card in the deck, but that’s just Galakrond, which every player got for free. The cards that you did not get for free in this deck cost a total of 1400 dust.
A budget version lacks some of the punch that a full-cost version can have, so it is more important to tech it for the meta. For the current meta, I have chosen to include two copies of Acidic Swamp Ooze and one copy of Spellbreaker, which help fight against Hunters, Rogues, and Paladins.
Budget Galakrond Zoo mulligan
It is important to gain and retain board presence when playing as Zoo. You really want to get on the board at the start, and Flame Imp is the best minion to do that. Blazing Battlemage and Voidwalker can also be fine.
If you already have a one-drop, you should keep Beaming Sidekick to make it stickier and Dragonblight Cultist to flood the board more early in the game.
Sometimes you can also go for some synergy-based mulligans, such as Scarab Egg together with EVIL Genius. Knife Juggler can also fit in with some board-flooding cards. However, one-drops are the most important thing.
Budget Galakrond Zoo tips and tricks
Remember that every Invoke card floods the board for you because they all summon two 1/1 tokens in addition to the card effect. You can build some wide boards with this archetype, and make good use of Knife Juggler, Fiendish Rites, and Grim Rally to weaponize your tokens. The tokens are also good targets for Faceless Corruptor to get some additional power on the board.
EVIL Genius is at its best when it can eat a Scarab Egg, but you can also feed it some tokens or even a slightly bigger minion after taking a value trade first. The lackeys you get from it can help you discover suitable spells or dragons, or give something Rush for hard removal. If you need to remove something big, Dragonblight Cultist can become a big rush minion with the right Lackey.
Use your Hero Power to draw cards whenever you don’t need the mana for tempo. As Zoo, you are unlikely to tap on turn two or three, but once you have a decent board, you can start tapping to gain additional resources in case it gets cleared.
Budget Galakrond Zoo upgrade path
There are five cards in the deck that you can consider switching, the rest are all core. The five cards are the two copies of Acidic Swamp Ooze, the Spellbreaker, and the two copies of Faceless Corruptor. They have all been chosen to overcome weaknesses caused by not having expensive cards in the deck as well as for their ability to perform in the current meta. If the meta changes, their value may also change.
The most common expensive cards included in full-cost lists are Sea Giant, Veiled Worshipper, Leeroy Jenkins, and Kronx Dragonhoof.
In the current meta, not all of them seem necessary.
By far the biggest upgrade you can make is to add a pair of Sea Giants. What to replace depends on the meta and how useful weapon removal and silence are when you are making the changes. I would probably start by replacing one Faceless Corruptor and one Acidic Swamp Ooze, but situations can change.
Veiled Worshipper also seems to be worth it, although it is less important than Sea Giant. To add them, you can cut the second Faceless Corruptor and one more tech card, or you can add just one and leave two tech cards in the deck.
I do not currently see the need to add any of the Legendary cards to the list.
Budget Galakrond Zoo gameplay video
Finally, here is a recap of the guide and some Legend gameplay with the deck on video. I hope it gives you a better idea on how to pilot the deck!