Zoodiacs in July 2017. OCG

Would the list be Zoodiacs' final nail in the coffin? Or are news of their death greatly exaggerated once again?




Source: @iriyairiya928
Vs Nekroz XOO
Vs True Draco OXX
Vs WW Spellbook Infernoids OO
Vs Trickstars OXO
3-1


The Blank Card is not mentioned.

 

 Without Zoodiac Broadbull to thin the deck, understandably Zoodiacs need more time to strengthen their board. The Zoodiac Boarbow direct attack is still viable, although consistency is a totally different question. Plenty of Hand Traps are played, even Ghost Reaper and Winter Cherries, which would explain the existence of Denglong First of the Yang Zing and Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier in the Side Deck.

Pot of Desires at three shows the intention to speed up the deck. Triple Cosmic Cyclone and double Dark Hole, both cards played at their maximum capacity for major disruption. Pot of Avarice for recycling your used Hand Traps on top of summoned Monsters.

And Zoodiac Combo makes a reappearance in order to attach Xyz Materials directly from the deck.

Even Zoodiac Bunnyblast is max out in this new version. Apart from increasing the Zoodiac monster count, Bunnyblast can retrieve other Zoodiac monsters.

Zoodiac Ratpier despite being at one, is played to mill a Zoodiac Xyz Monster, and then swap it with Ratpier with Zoodiac Tigermortar. Not only does this give you access to a Zoodiac Xyz monster with an Xyz Material of your choice (the milled card), it also places a Zoodiac monster in the graveyard hence allowing you to be able to activate the effect of Zoodiac Chakanine.

Zoodiac Chakanine is instrumental in summoning Missus Radiant, which power-ups the Zoodiac monsters.

In my opinion the deck can function better with more battle traps, in order to buy it more time.

Conclusion

I like the Zoodiac monster theme, personally, since it is based on the Chinese Zodiacs. Although I will admit that much thought can be placed into the designs to make it less overpowered. It is definitely disheartening to see key components of the deck - Zoodiac Drident, Zoodiac Barrage and Zoodiac Broadbull being Forbidden. I am hoping this won't be the new approach Konami takes in introducing newer archetypes - Release them as OP, wait, ban, move on to next.

I will entertain the idea of Zoodiacs being a balanced Tier 2 deck chasing the tails of True Dracos, but definitely don't bring me back to the [Zoodiacs everywhere] era again.