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By: Tribal Apocalypse, Tribal Apocalypse
Jul 22 2016 12:00pm
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 Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse!

   Table of Contents 

  1. Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
  2. The High Price of Winning
  3. Announcement Time!
  4. What's Next

Check the full archive for the "Diaries of the Apocalypse" series


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 Hello, everyone. I don't have enough time today to tackle all the debates in last week's comment section. I'll come back to those. Briefly, though:

  • Legacy Tribal Wars needs combo in it. Otherwise it's not Legacy. It's healthier this way, if more dangerous. But the reason we play actual Legacy Tribal Wars only twice per month is to allow some escapism from that formula, something lighter (the "Treefolk etc" part of Tribal Wars). So we don't mess with Legacy Tribal Wars unless absolutely necessary (i.e. big, big, BIG meta twisters).
  • For the same reason, we don't mess with those two mandated Legacy Tribal Wars events per month, aka the Regular events. I'm convinced those are what keeps the event running. Hardcore tribal players who are here every week might want to deal with all sorts of made up subformats, but casual tribal players who only come once in a while just want to play Original Recipe Tribal Wars.
  • Modern Tribal Wars. Now, this idea has kept coming back over the years. Usually someone (myself included) ends up noting it's not such an interesting format, because a lot of the current most successful tribes are already Modern-based as it is, and focusing on the Modern environment just makes them stronger, and that includes Elves. This said, it is straightforward enough to appeal to casual players as well, so we could try it, see how it goes. Not in place of a Regular event, though (for the reasons expressed above), and Underdog is sacred; so Pure, which, I gotta say, is actually losing steam a bit, and I feel the Purification lost its novelty; and Pure is definitely not casual-player-friendly, because you essentially need to read a whole rule handbook before building for it. So next Fall we could replace one or two of the monthly Pure events with a Modern Tribal Wars event, then if we're satisfied, replace Pure with it entirely (or almost entirely) next year.

 Also, as announced last week, I'm officially restricting Griselbrand to the Demon tribe in all formats. From now on, only Demon tribal decks are allowed to include him. It's effective immediately, filtered in Gatherling and all. Back into the Helvault he goes. Where there's mostly Demons, you know.

He's not happy.

 Verdict is still not conclusive about the other discussed cards for possible unbans (Goblin Lackey, Swords of X and Y, Moat). We'll come back to those, as well.

 Also, Purification from last week's only undefeated Human deck: Dark Confidant. Not a good week to be devoted to evil deeds and counsels.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 6.28, Week 289 BE
  • Date: July 16
  • Attendance: 20
  • Rounds: 4
  • Subformat: Pure
  • Winner: Kasparadi (Human)
  • 1 Loss: mihahitlor (Human), TLR (Human), Dakmor92 (Ally), seaandrhythm (Rogue), CleberCaroni (Goblin), Michelle_Wong (Sphinx)
  • Underdog Prize: AJ_Impy (Gorgon)
  • Tribes: Ally, Cleric, Eldrazi, Elf, Faerie, Goblin, Gorgon, Human (x5), Kor, Orc, Rogue, Shaman, Sliver, Sphinx, Vampire (x2)
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 So, this Human brew is Kasparadi's second victorious deck in 4 weeks. Up-and-coming much?

 A bunch of other Humans and other major offenders in the 3-1 territory, so I'll focus instead on a couple of unusual tribe that did well. Starting from these Rogues by seaandrhythm. I always wonder why the Rogue tribe isn't more successful, given all the powerful synergies it got.

 

 And then and old favorite of mine, Sphinx, here played by Michelle_Wong who focused on the anti-greed manabase tech of Back to Basics, wisely combined with Propaganda and the sheer power of (The Tabernacle at Pendell Vale) (can you believe that card is 22 years old?). And yeah, the Tabernacle won't untap under Back to Basics. Big deal, uh?


THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Here's the prices of all the featured decks, courtesy of the amazing Deck Pricer from mtgGoldfish (MTGO Traders prices as of July 22, 2016):

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  2. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  3. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  4. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  5. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
  6. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
  7. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169
  8. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.70, 1st place on Event 145
  9. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $4.12, 2nd place on Event 141
  10. Gq1rf7's Assassins, $4.18, 1st place on Event 147

 NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85. A separate non-Goblin Top 10 is in preparation. 


ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Underdog Prize: During any event of the regular rotation (but not during the one-time special events), all players who are running an Underdog Tribe are eligible for a 1-tix credit certificate from MTGO Traders. The tie-breakers are first the number of Underdog categories (for instance, a tribe that's simultaneously Endangered and Unhallowed will take the prize over one that's only Endangered), then the points achieved in the final standings. During Underdog events, only the True Underdog tribes are rewarded (those are the tribes belonging to all three categories of Underdog at once).

 The Up-and-Coming Prize: When a tribe wins an event for the first time ever (losing Unhallowed status), its pilot will get a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders.

 The Hamtastic Award: The Biodiversity Prize dedicated to the memory of Erik Friborg has started the third quarter of 2016. The quarter will end September 24. By that date, the player or players who registered the greatest number of different tribes (except Human, Elf and Goblin) will get a 5-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. Congratulations to last quarter's winner, Generalissimo!

 The Top Players Lockout: Every time a Top Player (either a Google Era Top 8, an Ultimate Champion/Tribal Player of the Year, or a seasonal Top 8) will end undefeated, they will not be allowed to register the same tribe and deck again for 5 events (i.e. they'll have to register a different deck or decks 5 times before coming back to the undefeated one). With "deck" is meant a specific, recognizable archetype (e.g. Wall-Drazi), which in some case will be linked to a specific combo card (e.g. Helm of Obedience). A list of the current lockouts is maintained here.

 Wanna test your deck? Tell us when you're online, and look who else is there and when! All of this here!


 WHAT'S NEXT

 The upcoming Tribal Apocalypse events of the Blippian Era (every Saturday at 17:00 GMT):

  • 6.29 (Week 290 BE), on July 23: Regular
  • 6.30 (Week 291 BE), on July 30: Singleton
  • 6.31 (Week 292 BE), on August 6: Underdog
  • 6.32 (Week 293 BE), on August 13: Regular

Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!

Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2016!

SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!

7 Comments

I don't understand how AJ won by Generalissimo at Fri, 07/22/2016 - 17:45
Generalissimo's picture

I don't understand how AJ won the Underdog prize; he went 2-2 with a 2 category tribe but Michelle_Wong went 3-1 with Sphinxes, which is also a 2 category tribe. Am I missing something or was there a mistake?

Good question, let me verify by AJ_Impy at Sat, 07/23/2016 - 05:30
AJ_Impy's picture

Good question, let me verify the states of the tribes. I'll happily pass the prize details on to Michelle if need be.

Edit:
This does indeed seem to be the case. Both tribes are endangered and unhallowed, but not unpopular. Going by the prize rules as written, she has a better claim. Gorgons are less numerous than Sphinxes, but this does not appear to factor into the rules. Michelle, if you're playing today, I'll transfer the ticket credit over. :)

Gorgons by MichelleWong at Sat, 07/23/2016 - 06:47
MichelleWong's picture

Thanks AJ for clarifying. But no worries about the underdog prize, Gorgons are clearly less potent than Sphinxes, so your tribe is the real underdog here (if not in form then in spirit).

If the Gorgons turn me to stone for accusing them of being the underdogs, then I will blame you. Actually, I would be in stone form (stoned?), so I won't be able to blame anyone. In that case, please just hang a plaque on my stone statue which says "This woman messed with Gorgons. Let it be a lesson to others!"

The tribes are checked BEFORE by Tribal Apocalypse at Sat, 07/23/2016 - 12:48
Tribal Apocalypse's picture

The tribes are checked BEFORE the event numbers kick in. At that point, Gorgon was still unpopular, got three categories, ran unopposed.

Aha! Cool, didn't think of by AJ_Impy at Sat, 07/23/2016 - 16:41
AJ_Impy's picture

Aha! Cool, didn't think of that. My apologies.

Back to Basics by MichelleWong at Fri, 07/22/2016 - 21:23
MichelleWong's picture
5

Thanks Kumagoro for this article.

The Back to Basics plan backfired against me. I was ready to hammer CLOUDPOST decks and COLOR GREEDY decks like Kasparadi's (which runs not even 1 basic land). However the plan failed when I faced Mono White, then Mono Black, then Mono Red, then a Blood Moon deck which was also focused on punishing the non-basics.

I am not giving up on the Back to Basics plan, not until I wipe out a 12-post deck. This will be a lesson to the Cloudpost players :)

Yeah, it's real hit or miss by Bazaar of Baghdad at Fri, 07/22/2016 - 23:37
Bazaar of Baghdad's picture

Yeah, it's real hit or miss on here. Most of the winning decks would be punished by Moon effects, but you have to slosh through a lot of honest Aggro (many players on a budget here) first. A lot of burn lists don't run Price of Progress, which would ordinarily be a no-brainer, for the same reason.