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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Sep 13 2013 11:31am
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 Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse, the PRE where Rebel plans finally succeeded.

   Table of Contents 

  1. Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
  2. The High Price of Winning
  3. Show and Tell
  4. Tribal Lab: The Insect Project!
  5. Announcement Time!
  6. What's Next

THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST

 So, Theros is approaching fast, at this point, and the spoilers multiply. We're starting to get a hold of the tribal elements. For instance, the new Gorgons are now three!

  

 Boy, monstrosity is certainly a slow mechanic, isn't it? The two black ones are the latter the greater version of the former, but at least Hythonia's ability is worth the effort, especially in a Gorgon deck. Which has now received new blood, but looks like will absolutely need a Cabal Coffers base. Speaking of tribes I like, the Sphinges got two spectacular new members, now entirely confirmed:

 

 This is strong stuff for sure. Can't wait to include both in my Living Death deck, especially the blue one. Great discard outlet is great. Three current new members for Satyr, too, which this way attain complete playability status without the need for Changelings.

  

 We already saw the first one, Theros' take on Tinder Wall. I like the second, one of the more playable bestow creatures so far, since most of the others cost 6 mana or more to be played as auras (which is the whole point). I wonder if this environment will really be that slow. The third Satyr seems to disagree, as it's a reimagining of Jackal Pup, which gives RDW a new toy. Not an excellent one, given the quantity of self-damage involved, but it'll see play in Standard like aggressive red critters always do. Again on the mana-intensive side, as it often happens, are the two new Archons:

 

 The bestow one is, at the very least, a nice 5 CMC one for the tribe. The Orzhov one is expensive, but also very notable: meet the new reanimation target of choice that will dethrones Angel of Despair in any format where things can be brought back from the graveyard to the battlefield. It's particularly good with Rescue from the Underworld, because after being rescued it makes for a perfect rescuer as well. Finally, for today, here's the 5th Chimera ever printed, and the first that's not an artifact. A living, breathing Chimera that looks like a star in Izzet decks!

 What do you think of Theros so far? I'd say the power level doesn't look incredibly high, and the flavor takes a great share of the proceedings, so it seems more akin to Innistrad than to Time Spiral (even the God cards, they aren't that innovative in the end, despite being an excellent design).


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 3.35, Week 140 BE
  • Date: September 7
  • Attendance: 17
  • Rounds: 3
  • Special Rules:  Tribal Underdog (only Underdog Tribes allowed)
  • Winner: Robin88 (Rebel)
  • Other undefeated: kokonade1000 (Rat), Heureka (Weird)
  • 1 Loss: pk23 (Kavu), Gq1rf7 (Specter), milegyenanevem (Berserker), ML_Berlin (Beast), mihahitlor (Myr)
  • Special Prizes: Up-and-Coming Prize to Robin88 (Rebel)
  • Tribes: Bat, Beast (x3), Berserker, Bringer, Griffin, Hydra, Insect (x2), Kavu, Myr, Ogre, Rat, Rebel, Specter, Weird
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Robin88 is on a roll! After his win with Faeries last week, our Hong Kong hero is back with a vengeance, storming the event with Rebels, here at their first win ever.

 

 I know, it felt like this kind of Training Grounds-fueled list (played several times by SBena too) already won at least once, right? But it always went very close to it, and only this time managed to seal the deal, against kokonade1000's surprising low-budget Rats (a tribe that also never took the 1st place so far).

by kokonade1000 - 2nd place
Creatures
4 Nezumi Cutthroat
4 Pack Rat
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Typhoid Rats
3 Chittering Rats
1 Drainpipe Vermin
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tragic Slip
2 Altar's Reap
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Doom Blade
2 Geth's Verdict
2 Sever the Bloodline
18 cards
Lands
22 Swamp
22 cards

 
Typhoid Rats

 

 And to conclude a trilogy of Unhallowed (or former so), also undefeated, although thanks to a round-1 bye, was Heureka with these Weirds:

by Heureka - 3rd place
Creatures
4 Blistercoil Weird
4 Fluxcharger
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Gelectrode
4 Steamcore Weird
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Clout of the Dominus
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Izzet Charm
1 Mizzium Mortars
18 cards
Lands
11 Island
7 Mountain
4 Izzet Guildgate
22 cards

 
Gelectrode

 

 And as far as more risky endeavors go, while AJ_Impy was trying Hydras, and I and slug360 were busy with our Insects, and none of us was particularly successful at that, romellos was trying himself, and equally failing, at the new Rex's challenge of playing with 16 green artifacts or enchantments. The resulting build was Beast:

 

 And that's it.


THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

 Also known as: how much do the top decks cost? As of September 13, 2013, here's the answer (MTGO Traders prices; mtgGoldfish charts and analysis; the cheapest version of each card is always used; basic lands count zero):

  • 2nd place, kokonade1000's Rats: $7.55 (nonland cards: $7.55; tribal base: $1.35) 
  • 3rd place, Heureka's Weirds: $6.53 (nonland cards: $6.33; tribal base: $1.04)

 I wanted to feature two budget decks this week, because both of them went undefeated. And the only reason the Rats cost more are because of two copies of Diabolic Edict worth $2.52 each. Most of the cards cost a couple cents. Be this a lesson for everyone who still thinks this is a money format exclusively.

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  2. Trickerie's Golems, $4.31, 1st place on Event 138 (cheapest event winner)
  3. arcbounddaylabor's Goblins, $4.46, 1st place on Event 111
  4. ellmaris's Goblins, $6.52, 2nd place on Event 103
  5. Heureka's Weirds, $6.53, 3rd place on Event 140
  6. kokonade1000's Rats, $7.55, 2nd place on Event 140
  7. mihahitlor's Goblins, $10.24, 1st place on Event 100
  8. mihahitlor's Vampires, $17.50, 1st place on Event 87
  9. AJ_Impy's Hounds, $24.26, 2nd place on Event 129
  10. brettmemphis1989's Merfolks, $25.35, 2nd place on Event 130

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


SHOW AND TELL

 

 Games for the Insect Project incoming! First, round 1 game 1, slug360 vs. milegyenanevem.

 And here's slug fighting SekKuar Deathkeeper in round 2. This is game 1:

 And this is game 2:

 Finally, against Gq1rf7 in round 3. Game 1:

 And game 2:

 And this is the only time when my own Insect deck decided to work properly, against romellos:

 Check the complete archive of Show and Tell here.


TRIBAL LAB: THE INSECT PROJECT!

  Previously on The Insect Project: Kuma and friends set themselves a preposterous goal: giving the Insect their first event win ever. The previous episodes can be found here.

 Last week, slug360 decided to play again his sacrificial aggro Insects:

 

 And I took my Recurring Nightmare build for another ride.

 

 And this is how (bad) it went:

 SLUG: For the first round I got paired against milegyenanevem piloting a very aggressive Berserker deck. I knew I had to try and take the least amount of early damage as possible, so I wouldn't die to possible burn spells in the future, therefore I didn't mind trading dudes. Unfortunately I was a bit mana screwed and couldn't develop my game, but even if I could, 3x Bloodbraid Elf is a very tough act to beat. There was a point where I could had Maelstrom Pulse'd both Bloodbraid Elves, which maybe was the correct play, but as I said didn't want to take too much damage.

Wreaking havoc since 2009

 SLUG: On the second round I faced SekKkuar Deathkeeper and his Bringers. This was an easy matchup for my deck full of Edict effects since his creatures would at least cost 5 mana and he will only be able to play one per turn, whereas my Edicts as well as my creatures were faster. Playing a Bringer deck it is very challenging since you have to designate some slots in your deck to either ramp or mana filter to cast them. Even though Sek managed to drop a Bringer on Turn 4 both games, I was always holding my Edicts to deal with them, luckily for me since a Turn-4 Bringer can get out of control really easily. As you can see in the game replay, I didn't have to make any tough decisions and even in game 1, where I had to use the last 2 loyalty counters from Liliana to deal with a Bringer, I then topdecked Consuming Vapors!

If you can afford the 4 mana, it always repays the effort

 SLUG: For the last round I got paired against Gq1rf7 who was playing Specter. To be honest before the game I thought it would be a favorable matchup for my Insect build since Specter is a slow tribe (most of its members cost at least 3 mana), and I also had Bane of the Living to easily deal with them as they don't have a lot of toughness. But this is Magic, folks, and Gq1rf7 was prepared to take advantage of that by playing Earthquake and destroying all the ground creatures while his Specters could still fly free and devour my hand. And that's exactly what happened in both games.

Pictured: those may seem Goblins but are Insects instead

 SLUG: Game 1, Gq1rf7 wiped my board on Turn 3 with an Earthquake and after that my only hope was to ride Ant Queen to victory, but he had Doom Blade ready to deal with it as well. After that, the game was over thanks to two (Quest of the Nihil Stone) and a Guul Draz Specter, which made it even tougher to decide if I wanted to play my lands and make the specter a 5/5 or let the specter hit me and therefore put counters on the Quests. In game 2, Earthquake made another stellar appearance killing all my creatures, but I was going to put some fight holding a couple Maelstrom Pulses to deal with his hordes. Unfortunately, when I managed to draw the third land it was already too late and all my weapons had been banished in the dark shadows of Mordor. It wasn't my greatest performance but as always I had fun playing Tribal Wars and will keep trying to get Insect to the top.

Still a great sight to behold

 KUMA: As for me, I was excited to test a build where Brood of Cockroaches provided endless fuel for the Recurring. The plan was simple: Jet Medallion would accelerate the protective Damnations and both the Recurring and the combo-enabler Buried Alive, fetching to the graveyard Hornet Queen to create tokens (also protective, in a pinch, due to deathtouch) and Craterhoof Behemoth to engineer a lethal alpha attack. The third target would be either Acidic Slime, if there was something annoying to get rid of, or Gigapede, in case I wanted to get rid of a Queen in my hand (this proved to be unnecessary and Gigapede itself constantly ended up being the annoyance in my hand). I also had a newly rebought Gaea's Cradle and a Crop Rotation to fetch it as a 61st card. Too bad the plan was constantly disrupted by preposterous drawings, and Gaea's Cradle in particular ruined a lot of first hands, to the point that I rage-sold it after the event (considering it had slightly increased in price since, so I didn't lose anything), in exchange for... well, quite a lot of other stuff. The deck finally did what was supposed to in Round 3 against romellos, like the replay shows (game 1 was similar, but without the explosive final). I can't honestly count this outing as indicative of much of anything, except for getting rid of Cradle/Rotation and Gigapede (back to a 4th Scute Mob, which isn't really effective with 22 lands, but harmless, a fast chump blocker and a Lightning Bolt conductor). Brood of Cockroaches was absolutely effective. We'll see if the deck will get best luck next time.

 TO BE CONTINUED!


ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

 Just to remind you of a few things:

Meet a new Challenge by RexDart: The Unnatural Deckbuilding Challenge! Here's the rules:

  1. Your deck must include at least 16 total cards that are either green enchantments and/or green artifacts.
  2. Your deck may NOT include any auras. If the challenge goes on long enough that cards with the new bestow mechanic become legal, those are allowed as they are not technically auras while in your hand.
  3. No colorless artifacts are permitted. Colored artifacts are only permitted so long as at least one of the artifact's colors is green.
  4. The deck must win at least two proper matches (no byes, no forfaits) in a Tribal Apocalypse event.

 The prize for this contest is one non-foil, digital copy of Mirri's Guile, valued at over 6 tix on MTGOTraders.com! Good luck!

 The Up-and-Coming Prize is now 3 tix! So go find a tribe that never won an event (the Unhallowed list) and try and be the first to break it!

 The Tribal Achievements: welcome to the second season of the Tribal Achievements! Find new ways to have fun within Tribal Apocalypse, challenge yourself to complete all kinds of strange MTG feats, and make some tix in the process.

 The Hamtastic Award: the Biodiversity Prize dedicated to the memory of Erik Friborg has started again, for its 6th edition: be the first to run 10 different tribes in a row and you'll get 5 tix on SBena_Bot! You have to play all the rounds of an event in order for the tribe to be added to your sequence. If you repeat a previous tribe, your whole sequence resets. Despite his work for the Insect Project (that froze his sequence), slug360 is still leading the run with 7 tribes played. AJ_Impy, justcanceled and vantar6697 follow with 5 tribes.

 The Mongoose Pride Prize!  As the last tribe standing after everyone else had been played at least once, Mongoose has become the protagonist of a dedicated prize that will remember forever that you all neglected them despite Nimble Mongoose being featured in high-profile, tier-1 Legacy decks. The Mongoose Pride Prize will permanently award 1 tix (at SBena_Bot) to everyone who'll just... play Mongoose. That's right, you just have to play them and you'll get 1 tix, till the end of times. Well, there's just one clause: you have to win at least one match with them within the event (byes and forfeits don't count). Let's show them all what the mighty Herpestidae can do, shall we?

  
Hard to kill, hard to play (apparently)

 The Champion Challenge: challenge one of our Tribal Champions, and win an Egg of Tarmogoyf (aka a Future Sight booster, courtesy of SBena_Bot) and 20 points in the seasonal leaderboard! In order to do that, you must: 1) choose one of the Challenge Decks; 2) end X-1 or better with it in a Tribal Apocalypse event; 3) beat its creator in a challenge! Follow this link for the complete ruling and the decklists.

 The Top Players Lockout: every time a Top Player (either a Google Era Top 8, an Ultimate Champion or a seasonal Top 8) will end undefeated, they will not be allowed to register the same tribe and deck again for — NEW RULING!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.

 Videos: Send us replays of your games and we'll feature them in these articles! Don't know how? Read this quick guide in 6 easy steps and start saving your tribal feats for posterity!


 WHAT'S NEXT

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

  • 3.36 (Week 141 BE), on September 14: Regular Tribal (just plain old Legacy Tribal Wars)
  • 3.37 (Week 142 BE), on September 21: Tribal Singleton (only 1 copy of each nonbasic land)
  • 3.38 (Week 143 BE), on September 28: Pure Tribal (no off-tribe creatures, no Big Shot Tribes nor T9 cards allowed)
  • 3.39 (Week 144 BE), on October 5: Tribal Underdog (only Underdog Tribes allowed)

Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2013!

Take the Quick Survey about the ban list and the event rotation!

 See you all in the Tribal room!