Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse, the PRE where the end is always the beginning.
Table of Contents
- Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
- The High Price of Winning
- Show and Tell
- Tribal Lab
- Announcement Time!
- What's Next
Check the full archive for the "Diaries of the Apocalypse" series
THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
We're almost there, only one event is left this year (the Pure one, to be held tomorrow) , and then this season will be over! It was the third one since the beginning of the Blippian Era in January 2011, and it's already the most successful one with a total attendance of 999 players, versus the 910 of 2011 and 889 of 2012. I think the merit of that is partly due to the Gatherling giving us more visibility, partly to the fact that the monthly rotation of the 4 sub-formats helped consolidate the player base around what everyone likes best.
Speaking of which, I'm planning a big change for Tribal Apocalypse come next year, but I can't talk about it yet, as it's still all in the making. Suffice to say, it's about answering those requests for more rounds, without altering the way Tribal Apocalypse is played and the odds of getting prizes. You'll see.
Why don't they make these special cards anymore?
All right, there's a lot of other things to mention. For one, we're still in the holidays, so happy holidays! I wrote a SUNCOM article that was published on Christmas morning and filled with crazy, Christmasy and artsy things. You can find it here. The artsy part was to remind of The Art of War, the new bi-annual PRE whose first edition will be held tomorrow right after Tribal Apocalypse. So go build a one-artist deck right now!
And since we're also still in the Walker Week here on PureMTGO (that summary link will start working tomorrow, but you can find my Walkerpedia here), I'll reproduce my Liliana parody for your holiday pleasure.
And while we're on the topic of planeswalkers and tribal and holiday gifts, what about the surprise Christmas spoiler WotC made of a long-awaited planeswalker card with some tribal implications?
That's right, Kiora Atua is finally coming to the actual world of Magic cards! She was previously featured in a Duel of the Planeswalkers videogame, and in the well-known family portrait of all the planeswalkers (up to that point, and without Bolas, who's evil and cumbersome, and Venser, who's dead) made by Brad Rigney last year. Kiora is a lovely Merfolk that likes Krakens. That pretty much sums up her tribal implications, but it's still something. They apparently even used the great Scott Fisher's art from her promo image in the actual card. That deserves a close up.
That Merfolk got legs.
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 3.50, Week 155 BE
- Date: December 21
- Attendance: 20
- Rounds: 3
- Special Rules: A Regular Christmas (it was just a regular event, but with gifts if you played a "tree")
- Winner: pk23 (Human)
- Other undefeated: Nagarjuna (Wall)
- 1 Loss: KhantheWarlord (Goblin), pelao28 (Kithkin), _Kumagoro_ (Plant), Coolcat1678 (Elf), milegyenanevem (Plant), Gq1rf7 (Beast), DragonWarrior2 (Myr), Edison_88luckyplayer (Sliver), misterpid (Bird)
- Special Prizes: The Super-Nice Players (who got 300 cards on Pennybot and 3 Mythics courtesy of SBena_Bot): AJ_Impy, Coolcat1678, Dawwy, Deonmag, DragonWarrior2, dueyutah, Edison_88luckyplayer, Gq1rf7, hexalite, milegyenanevem, misterpid, ML_Berlin, pk23, SekKuar Deathkeeper, thorneweaver; The Nice Enough Players (200 Pennybot cards/2 SBena_Bot Mythics): ellmaris, Nagarjuna; The Naughty Players (1 Coal Golem): KhantheWarlord, pelao28
- Tribes: Assassin, Beast (x2), Bird, Elf, Goblin (x2), Human, Kithkin, Myr, Plant (x6), Shaman, Sliver, Wall (x2)
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
In the Christmas event where almost everyone managed to put their Christmas tree in play and get their presents (see the list above), pk23 was the one who used the singleton Treefolk option. And oh, he also won the tournament with this Pod build with Humans:
Then we got Nagarjuna with these Walls (no trees in there, though, just Plants. And planeswalkers. And Avacyn, for some reason):
I for one like a lot my own Plant build, with Vulturous Zombie reminding the world that plants and corpses are similar, and both can fly.
THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING
Also known as: how much do the top decks cost? As of December 27, 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):
- 1st place, pk23's Humans: $313.57 (nonland cards: $114.13; tribal base: $55.37)
- 2nd place, Nagarjuna's Walls: $185.53 (nonland cards: $94.02; tribal base: $2.31)
Notable, expensive cards in these builds, lands apart: Noble Hierarch, Birthing Pod, Wurmcoil Engine, Jace, the Mind Sculptor (still far from his peak days, of course, and with his From the Vault: Twenty version being 6 tix cheaper).
The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated
- morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154 (cheapest event winner)
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.70, 1st place on Event 145
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $4.12, 2nd place on Event 141
- Gq1rf7's Assassins, $4.18, 1st place on Event 147
- Trickerie's Golems, $4.31, 1st place on Event 138
- arcbounddaylabor's Goblins, $4.46, 1st place on Event 111
- Coolcat1678's Elves, $5.13, 2nd place on Event 149
- ellmaris's Goblins, $6.52, 2nd place on Event 103
- Heureka's Weirds, $6.53, 3rd place on Event 140
NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.
ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
Just to remind you of a few things:
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 concluded its 8th edition, won (for the first time) by AJ_Impy with this sequence of 10 different tribes in a row: Satyr, Gorgon, Octopus, Nymph, Golem, Slug, Sphinx, Hydra, Zombie, Plant. The Award takes a brief pause and will be back at the end of January, after the Invitational.
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 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 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):
Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2013! (2014 coming soon)
Take the Quick Survey about the ban list and the event rotation!
See you all in the Tribal room!
