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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Jul 19 2019 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. Show and Tell
  4. Announcements
  5. What's Next

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


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 The calendar for the season is now complete: I put a second Planeswalker Tribal for August 31, then we'll have the Halloween Special on October 26, and last but not least, the AJ Special on November 30. What's the AJ Special, you ask? Well, it's the event that coincides with AJ_Impy's 40th birthday, so the godfather of Tribal Wars will get to choose what to play as his own special treat. We talked about choosing 40 tribes as the only playable decks for the event, but it's up to him really. Additionally, he'll handle a special 3-tix AJ's Approval Prize that he's award to a deck list of his liking (other than his and mine); if no list in the event satisfies him enough, he'll assign the award in one of the following events, as soon as some concoction will be deemed worthy.

    


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 9.27, Week 444 BE
  • Date: July 13
  • Attendance: 9
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Standard
  • Winner: Nagarjuna with Angel
  • 1 Loss: Kumagoro with Elf, lovetapsmtg with Horse, AJ_Impy with Elemental, Bandit Keith with Soldier
  • Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg with Horse
  • Tribes: Angel, Bird, Elemental, Elf (x2), Horse, Soldier, Vampire, Wizard
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Standard keeps showing different winning tribe each week, proving to be a surprisingly rich and versatile format (changing face every three months helps a lot with keeping it fresh). This time it's Angel's turn, as piloted by Nagarjuna. He'll talk about it in this week's Show and Tell.

 

 As for me, I'm completely in love with Vivien's Arkbow these days, and I tried to leverage its flashy might again, by using Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves in-tribe as an Elf (so, it was more a celebration of his lupine companion Voja, Friend to Elves). Which means his complement Nightpack Ambusher got to be off-tribe instead. It made for another strong list, which however wasn't able to stop Lyra Dawnbringer and friends.

 

 After Core Set 2020's insane boost, Elementals are the tribal darling of Standard. Future birthday boy AJ_Impy married the Risen Reef team with the equally new Flood of Tears tech, which aims to drop Omniscience onto the battlefield and go crazy from there.

 

 And you can always count on lovetapsmtg to bring the unexpected tribe, like Horse. Last time he did it in Standard, I believe the mighty Crested Sunmare was still legal. Now there's a different cycle of mares, but one must give credit to lovetaps to always try and find some unusual angle, like in this case Justiciar's Portal and Profane Procession retriggering Plague Mare, Shield Mare, and of course Ravenous Chupacabra.


THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Here's the prices of all the featured decks, courtesy of the Deck Pricer from mtgGoldfish (MTGO Traders prices as of July 19, 2019):

  • Nagarjuna's Angels: $19.03
  • Kumagoro's Elves: $16.60
  • AJ_Impy's Elementals: $34.20
  • lovetapsmtg's Horses: $9.64

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. SirFalcon2008's Goblins, $1.54, 1st place on Event 289
  2. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  3. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  4. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  5. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  6. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  7. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
  8. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422
  9. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
  10. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169

 The Top 5 Cheapest Non-Goblin 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. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  4. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  5. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422

 NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.


SHOW AND TELL

 Nagarjuna: When I saw Bishop of Wings among the M20 spoilers, I knew it was the help Angels needed to survive aggro in the early game. So I dug up my previous Boros Angel deck and added Temple of Triumph and Feather, the Redeemed.

 

 Feather instantly changed the removal suite of the deck, since before I had Response/Resurgence, but now I could use Reckless Rage, plus Gods Willing and Defiant Strike – the best cards available to combo with Feather, I think.

  

 I included one Sephara, Sky's Blade to cast off the tokens the Bishop might create, but in the end I never drew her. Against aggro the life gain from Bishop and Deafening Clarion really shined, but lovetapsmtg's Profane Procession gave me a hard time. Losing my three best creatures and then facing them on the other side of the table was no joke. I just saw from his list that he had three copies of Procession, and he was also able to dig into his deck a little with Dawn of Hope – despite that, he only had Procession in game one, so I was lucky.

  

 I've also considered Angel of Vitality, but it is underwhelming without the life boost, and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, Lyra Dawnbringer and Resplendent Angel are too good to not run four of each, I guess.

   

 Against my own will, I went with 62 cards; we had talked about it in an earlier Show and Tell, and now I'm convinced to keep on doing so!


ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Underdog Prize: During any event of the regular rotation (but not necessarily 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.

 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 New Kids on the Block Award: When a new tribe is introduced in the game, or reaches enough members to be played as a proper tribe (i.e. at least 3 members, so you can build a deck that features 4 copies of each plus 8 Changeling creatures), the first player to score a match win with it will get a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. You'll need a hard win, not a BYE or a win by no-show of your opponent. There's currently one eligible tribe for the award: Trilobite.

 The Repopulation Award: Some tribes get played only once (to get the New Kids on the Block Award) and then forgotten. Never again! Register one of the following tribes three times in different events, then play all rounds of those events with them, and you'll get a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. The list of these tribes, established May 5, 2017, is as follows: Antelope, Goat, Nightstalker. Already cleared: Atog, Crocodile, Homarid, Incarnation, Jackal, Leech, Licid, Manticore, Metathran, Monger, Moonfolk, Octopus, Orgg, Ouphe, Ox, Processor, Rabbit, Salamander, Siren, Slith.

 The Hamtastic Award: The Biodiversity Prize dedicated to the memory of Erik Friborg rewards each player who registers 10 different tribes (except Human, Elf and Goblin) during the year with a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. You can go on and win the prize multiple times in the year, but you need to keep playing different tribes! (So if you manage to register 50 different tribes in one season, you can get up to 15 tix!)

 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.

 We're on Discord! Join us from here, chat about tribal things with other tribal players and arrange tribal games on MTGO all week long! (Or your can just keep using our Google Sheets bulletin board).


 WHAT'S NEXT

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

  • 9.28 (Week 445 BE), on July 20: Modern
  • 9.29 (Week 446 BE), on July 27: Legacy
  • 9.30 (Week 447 BE), on August 3: Underdog
  • 9.31 (Week 448 BE), on August 10: Standard

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: October 4.
Current watch list:
 Aether Vial, Mutavault, Thalia's Lieutenant.

SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

 

Art disclaimers. Revel in Riches art by Eric Deschamps; Show and Tell art by Jeff Laubenstein; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.