Being blessed with some $GODS for being an early adopter of IMX/GU, I was hungry to earn even more with the Blessing of the Gods event while simultaneously trying for packs with the Weekend Ranked event.

One of the deck archetypes that I always enjoyed playing in card games was the Zoo archetype, which has themes of using low-cost, mana-efficient units to end the game early with an overwhelming board presence. This being my second week playing GU, I wasn't so sure of my deckbuilding abilities just yet, so I took the easy way out and netdecked. Yes, I'm that guy.

# Deck Overview

Being the dirty little netdecker that I was, I went to [GUDecks](https://gudecks.com) and did a little searching to find a Relic War deck that boasted a 75% winrate. It had a total deck cost of about 0.16 ETH, but its cost was mainly due to the inclusion of two **Scythes of the Harvest** which cost 0.06 ETH each as they were coveted epic cards in the Genesis set.


![Scythes of the Harvest](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23uQLdo5bVTtezBG2u2hU4dUBUdH2u1eveHtwco7F4YVuLvDQuEUf6kVMFzPAKZXA1Qp1.png)

To cut down on the cost, I replaced these two cards with some cards that I had available and ended up with [this deck (View on GUDecks)](https://gudecks.com/decks/GU_1_6_BCOBDyBDyBFvBGWBGWCABCABCAZCBBCBBCBhCBhCCLCCXCCjCCjCDqCDqHADHADHAbHAbIAcIAcICHIDjIDjIDoIDo?godPowers=100123&creator=caephler&userId=1267&archetype=Other%20War). The total cost of the cards came to about ~0.03 ETH (~120 USD), which was pretty reasonable - I sold two Master Tacticians for 0.022 ETH each to be able to buy this deck.


![Relic Zoo Deck](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23tRzSzmTjREnzvMDg3ekGHbJy4yMueAGQdxf67XCuUKqZqQB2TJvifH9qYvxoimjKajE.png)

The deck focuses on high quality low-cost creatures and relics to end the game early with an overwhelming board presence.

# First Impressions

As I had experience playing other card games like Hearthstone, I was already accustomed with the concepts of value and trading efficiently with my units. I found the deck very easy to pick up and play, with no huge hurdles even in my first few games. After all, the Zoo archetype is quite simple - control the board against other aggressive decks, and go face if against a control deck.

# Card Review

After playing 56 games with this deck (and a few more with an earlier version of the deck), I found certain cards to pull their weight heavily while I found some others being less useful. Here are my thoughts on some of the cards in the deck.


![Tavern Brawler](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23uEwkrwxYytC3N2j4kL9e86iW1vx3YMchY2MSdgjDkN8RnpoSgZVRGSbLTWGcUtqj7Md.png)

**Tavern Brawler** was easily one of the most valuable units in the deck, being able to deal with opponents' early threats. I found that I used **Tavern Brawler** in most matches to gain board control against other aggressive decks. Although it doesn't have any impressive card text, it is a valuable staple card in this deck.


![Dockside Prowler](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23xeb9XbZEd7gmwzvSzubYxKgX7xPMEw346AmNbDQy5EvGRzf6RfemHdsHRU7h8dN2ZJY.png)

Dockside Prowler is an unassuming 1-cost unit, but its Hidden ability enables many other cards in the deck to shine, such as **Thunder Caller** and **Redfume Serum**.


![Thunder Caller](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23u5ZEcCvpgyJDdfXnn25zW1zwb4ZzXDkEvKw9rR64TRES7MfMXM8DDvcjCf5NVbbDDpT.png)

**Thunder Caller** is one of the units that can snowball hard if the opponent does not have any answers to it early. Going first, a common combo is to play **Dockside Prowler** on turn 1 and use the extra mana gem to get **Thunder Caller** out.


![Out of Its Misery](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23uEwkrwyzDbZgmxUSpqJ2za1fhbbrAnhjg4o8vwkTz9BErHkhqc1dp3qGVcctB7raSfX.png)

I found **Out of Its Misery** to be hard to use correctly at times since it sacrifices current board presence for a strong unit. More times than not, I saw it sitting in my hand for many turns as I was not able to find a good time to use it.


![Valka's Captain](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kephler/23tv8ey4P258XZYagPWDAKFgcZm9TrKW4GnUAU5X3Z8tCd8vaPnPC976kQazcNuG1NsKa.png)

As much as **Valka's Captain** is a strong unit, being able to get out a 2/1 weapon with its body, I found that the lack of Vikings in the deck really hurt its playability. This might be a fault of the deck having too few vikings though.

# Results and Concluding Thoughts

I managed to get 21/25 wins starting with a rank of Twilight Shadow for the Weekend Ranked event. With a ~75% win rate throughout, I managed to reach Ethereal Diamond at the end of the weekend, which was pretty impressive by my standards. This is no Tier 1 meta deck by any means, being absolutely destroyed by some deck archetypes, but it seems strong enough to hold its own during the Weekend Ranked events.

I hope that you found my experience with this deck interesting! Hoping to see more of you in the arena soon.