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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Sep 17 2021 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. Announcements
  4. What's Next

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


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is now live, and I want to correct something I previously wrote about the new Werewolf mechanic, since I was entirely WRONG (I'm not alone in that, though. Even Luis Scott-Vargas got it wrong in his Limited Resources video). It turns out, if you actually read the new rules, they're quite different from the way Werewolves worked in the other Innistrad sets. To summarize:

  • Old Werewolves always entered the battlefield on the front (day) side, then transformed to the back side.
  • Old Werewolves checked in upkeep what happened the previous turn; if no spells were cast, they would transform front to back; if two spells were cast, they would transform back to front.
  • This was already changed in Shadows over Innistrad, but originally, the back side has a mana value of zero.

 In contrast, new Werewolves make full use of the daybound/nightbound mechanic. Therefore:

  • New Werewolves enter the battlefield on the side that corresponds to the current game state, i.e. front during the day, back during the night. This could lead to very explosive casting costs that directly gets the superior back side. However, on the stack, they're always the front side regardless of the game state.
  • New Werewolves only check what the active player did the previous turn. This means that if we pass the turn without casting anything, they will transform to the nightbound side; the opponent can't disrupt this process by casting a spell in our turn.
  • The mana value for the back is the same as the front. Strangely, this is not indicated on the cards themselves, and it could have used some sort of reminder.

 Now that we've seen all the 19 new Werevolves from Midnight Hunt, some of which are "off-color" (a white one, a blue one, three black ones), we can say the most likely to impact Tribal Wars are: the lord/mana dork Kessig Naturalist; the incidental artifact/enchantment-hating bear Outland Liberator; the three-drops Hound Tamer, Reckless Stormseeker, and especially Tovolar, Dire Overlord, which is the tribe's card-drawing engine; and possibly the powerful curve-topper Tovolar's Huntmaster, which is the tribe's own Grave Titan.

 

 


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: Week 557 BE
  • Date: September 11
  • Attendance: 11
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Pioneer
  • Winner: csrrcr with Spirit
  • 1-loss: Generalissimo with Wall, Bandit Keith with Spirit, lovetapsmtg with Hippo, ThyShuffler with Angel, Deonmag with Vampire, Takeoutree with Vampire
  • Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Hippo
  • New Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg with Hippo
  • Tribes: Angel, Fox, Hippo, Spirit (x3), Vampire (x3), Wall, Warrior
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Congratulations to csrrcr for their first event win! Granted, it was accomplished through Pioneer's tier-one tribe Spirit (in more of a generic Azorius Flyers configuration), but it's still an admirable feat of gaming.

 

 As the first of the one-loss finishers, Generalissimo's Walls couldn't... stop the Spirits. It's a classic Bant build with Assault FormationArcades and Tetsuko Umezawa, but it also makes use of new Walls from recent sets, like the very efficient Secret Door from Forgotten Realms.

 

 It's notorious how real-world Hippos are actually much more aggressive and dangerous than sharks; it might apply to Magic's ones, too, since lovetapsmtg managed to pilot the semi-forgotten tribe all the way to the top four, with some help from other Stompy stars of recent renown.


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 September 17, 2021):

  • csrrcr's Spirits: $17.50
  • Generalissimo's Walls: $13.88
  • lovetapsmtg's Hippos: $7.74

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. -DiamondDust-'s Dinosaurs, $0.98, 2nd place on Event 539
  2. SirFalcon2008's Goblins, $1.54, 1st place on Event 389
  3. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  4. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  5. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  6. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  7. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  8. MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $.3.01, 1st place on Event 484
  9. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
  10. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422

 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. MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $3.01, 1st place on Event 484

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


ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Dark Horse 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. Tribes currently eligible for the award: Beholder.

 The New Repopulation Award: Play all rounds of a Tribal Apocalypse event with a tribe that's been played only three times or fewer, and you'll get a 1-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. The list of eligible tribes is here (the leftmost column, from the end). Tribes that didn't exist before this season aren't eligible.

 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 five times before coming back to the undefeated one). This means a different tribe; in some cases, specific combo or archetype-defining cards will also be locked out. 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):

  • 11.37 (Week 558 BE), on September 18: Modern
  • 11.38 (Week 559 BE), on September 25: Legacy

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: October 1.
Current watch list:
 Conspicuous SnoopCrippling Fear Shrieking Affliction.

SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

 

Art disclaimers. Revel in Riches art by Eric Deschamps; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.