Scott John's TI Championship Deck:

"The Zoo" as played by Scott Johns, TI Championship, Nov '96
4 Kird Ape 2 Gorilla Shaman 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Incinerate 1 Wheel of Fortune 1 Regrowth	4 Savannah Lions 1 Disenchant 1 Swords to Plowshares 1 Balance 3 Psionic Blast 2 Mystical Tutor 1 Diminishing Returns 1 Timewalk 1 Time Twister 1 Ancestral Recall	4 Black Vise 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Pearl 1 Black Lotus
3 City of Brass 1 Library of Alexandria 4 Strip Mine 3 Volcanic Island 2 Tropical Island 4 Savannah 3 Plateau 2 Taiga 1 Tundra	Sideboard: 2 Disenchant 1 Gorilla Shaman 4 Guerilla Tactics	Sideboard (cont): 3 Meekstone 4 Whirling Dervish 1 Zuran Orb

Scott had these comments on his deck:
The reason I chose the zoo was in order to have a deck that could consistently beat necro and control, and was agressive enough to get a "freebie" from time to time. (multiple vice, or lightning fast start, etc.) This is real important, imho, in big tournaments, as it can become prohibitive to ask a deck to win 9 or 10 rounds on its own. This is one of the reasons I rarely play slow control any more in major tournies.

The "Zoo" continued to flourish around the country. Perhaps it's greatest success came on the East Coast, where a group of Nuetral Ground Players (Fleischman, Hastaba, O'Mahoney-Schwartz and Johnson) contunued to develop the ideas behind a fast attack deck that could survive the field and Necro.

"The NY Zoo", Nov '96 - Jul '97
4 Gorilla Shaman 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Incinerate 1 Wheel of Fortune 2 Ernham Djinn 1 Regrowth 1 Sylvan Library	4 Serendib Efreet 1 Psionic Blast 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Pyroblast 1 Timewalk 1 Time Twister 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Balance 1 Demonic Tutor	4 Black Vise 1 Zuran Orb 1 Sol Ring 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Sapphire 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Pearl 1 Black Lotus
4 Strip Mine 4 City of Brass 1 Library of Alexandria 1 Undiscovered Paradise 4 Volcanic Island 2 Tropical Island 3 Taiga	Sideboard: 1 Disenchant 1 Stormbind 3 Birds of Paradise 1 Maze of Ith 1 Control Magic	Sideboard (cont): 2 Hydroblast 2 Pyroblast 2 Mind Harness 2 Ernham Djinn

Patrick Johnson had these comments about the Deck:
"This deck is terrific against Necro because of the Vises, hurts control decks with lots of diversified damage, and beats up on zoo with lots of bolts and larger creatures. One of my favorite things about this deck is that no one card will beat it. Vises, blue and green creatures, and red direct damage are hard to combat simultaneously.

I like to start 4 gorilla shamans because they are almost built in card advantage against artifact mana, they are extra defense against meekstone, ivory tower/zuran orb, opponent's vises, and prosperity vise decks just hate them. I feel like I have a better than 50 percent chance of winning the first game against *any* deck and that my sideboard is well suited to take on weenies, land destruction, control, or someone else playing a similar deck. The comment I get most frequently is that "zoo is faster than that deck and does essentially the same thing" I believe that this deck matches up favorably to a standard zoo deck before sideboarding because I have 6 large creatures and all of their creatures can be eliminated with bolts. A lone erhnam can spell doom for many such decks. I also start a balance and a zuran orb, which are devastating to zoo. Balance is strong against decks that don't start all 5 moxes. In the second and third games, stormbind can be gamebreaking.

I also feel that I enjoy the occational "free match" that Scott Johns mentioned because of the possibility of drawing multiple early vises and strip mines or a very fast start."

Also Patrick said:
"There were 3 dominant deck types that I would see everywhere, and they were mirror, necro, and Scott Johns' Zoo. I wanted a deck that could have an excellent chance against all three. Against mirror, I had main deck pyroblast, sylvan library, not that many abyss-able creatures, and more pyroblasts in the sideboard. Against necro I had 4 Black Vises starting and a lot of burn, birds of paradise in the sideboard for Land D. Against Johns Zoo I had lots of bolts that I could eliminate all creature threats with, and erhnams that they would be forced to lose card advantage on. In the board I had mind harness and blue blast, birds and erhnams when appropriate.

I also liked that my main deck had room for a zuran orb, so I could outlast lots of burn decks and do neat balance tricks. Four starting Gorilla Shamans destroyed Prosperity decks that were popular at the time and were still useful against many opponents, destroying resources while they were under a vise.

My deck had exactly zero spells that cost more than 1 colored mana and 26 total mana sources, so my opponents were in mana trouble a lot more often than I was. What I liked most about the deck though, was that no one card would beat it. Abyss? Ok, I still have my direct damage and vises. Cop red? I still have most of my dangerous creature threats and vises, and you better not tap out."