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 Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse, the PRE where it's Week 10 since the Legacy Tribal Wars format was removed from MTGO then promised to be reinstated. Never forget. 

   Table of Contents 

1. Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
2. The High Price of Winning
3. Smawatts' War Report
4. Show and Tell
5. Announcement Time!
6. What's Next

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

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THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 So, this is it: Kaleidoscope lives! We reached a verdict, and the winning option was to reshape the third week of the month into what I now like to call "Specialist Week", with Kaleidoscope and Singleton taking turns over the course of the year, 6 events each. During the remaining months of 2014 we'll have 4 more Kaleidoscope events in May 17, July 19, September 20, and November 22. Tomorrow's event is still Singleton as scheduled. Here's the final tally:

 Pro-Kaleidoscope: romellos, Gq1rf7, mihahitlor, AJ_Impy, justcanceled, RexDart, Winter.Wolf, brettmemphis1989, smawatts, ChNidox, endless_nameless, BlippyTheSlug, Bazaar of Baghdad, SBena, Leys7
 TOTAL: 15 votes

 Pro-Singleton: MisterMojoRising, Dawwy, ML_Berlin, Gonzzy, longtimegone, arcbounddaylabor, Robin88, Deonmag
 TOTAL: 8 votes

 Abstained: Lord Erman
 TOTAL: 1 vote

 TOTAL VOTES: 24 out of 30, majority reached

 Now we can proceed with another decision: the fate of the Swords of X and Y (and cousin Batterskull). I've already decided to bring them back in Regular events, because I want those to be as closer to official Legacy Tribal Wars as possible. So now the question for all of you is this: Do you want the Swords and Batterskull back in Underdog and Pure events as well? Answer YES or NO. I choose to keep the fate of the Swords in Underdog and Pure consistent, because I don't want to create more confusion as to what's banned where. Either they come back in both the "safer events", or they don't (luckily, both Singleton and Kaleidoscope aren't affected by the change, since the former already gave access to every card not banned by DCI, and the latter already prevented all these cards to be played on account of not being multicolored). Also note that wherever the Swords will be back, including Regular, Stoneforge Mystic will return to be playable in Kor and Artificer decks only. Swords and universal Stoneforge Mystic can't be allowed to co-exist in the same format.

 The change didn't produce any significant variation in deckbuilding where equipments are concerned. The Mystic wasn't exploited in the least, and the absence of the Swords didn't cause a reduction in popularity or success of the tribes who are most likely to include them. I'm personally ready to welcome them back, after all, if that's what most players want.

 On other news, Journey into Nyx is entirely spoiled now, so we know how the tribal side of things is going to be influenced come May 9 (when the prerelease events will start, and the new cards will begin to flock into collections and lists). Namely, we'll get more of the tribes that the block's Ancient Greece setting focused on, like Satyrs, Minotaurs, Sirens, Nymphs, Chimeras, Hydras, and Centaurs. For the latter of which, we even get a nice lord:

That's a lot of bonuses.

 I'll make a complete set review as usual (eventually), but the first thing to note has to be the fact that we get another serving of obscure, unlikely tribes. We saw a Nautilus and a Starfish last week, both tribes that had just 1 member before. Leech had 9, but last time we saw one of them was back in Invasion, i.e. 14 years ago.

Look, it's a non-evasive Nightmare! Yay?

 But how not to mention the second Sheep ever? A sheep, you guys! (Well, it's actually sort of flavorful, isn't it?)

And you know what? It's not even a bad creature. It's the Sheep of the Gods!

 There's also a brand new tribe: Lamia.

Directly from the Greek myth, of course.

 Last but not least, it's worth mentioning this tribal-friendly artifact: every color gets its own Honor of the Pure now.

Will it be played? Time will tell.

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: 4.14, Week 171 BE
• Date: April 12
• Attendance: 18
• Rounds: 4
• Special Rules: Regular Tribal (just plain old Legacy Tribal Wars)
• Winner: MisterMojoRising (Elf)
• Other undefeated: romellos (Merfolk)
• 1 Loss: mihahitlor (Goblin), endless_nameless (Construct), Robin88 (Human), smawatts (Vampire)
• Tribes: Assassin, Construct, Druid, Elf, Goblin (x2), Human (x2), Kor, Merfolk, Myr, Sliver (x2), Vampire, Wizard (x2), Zombie (x2)
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 MisterMojoRising was a new name at the beginning of this season, but he has already won 4 events so far (of which, two consecutive ones), piloting 4 different tribes: Myr, Goblin, Soltari, and now Elf.

 

 The other deck capable of an undefeated run was another timeless powerhouse of Regular events: Merfolk, as piloted here by romellos.

 

 Among the other hard-hitting Regular monstrosities, here's a Construct build by endless_nameless, a classic Metalworker and Cranial Plating affair that we hadn't seen in a while, and whose opponents now wish not to face again anytime soon.

 

 Finally, to celebrate the return of his War Reports (welcome back, Shawn-Michael!), here's smawatts' Vampire list, one of those fast and furious budget builds that were especially popular during the Zendikar era, but never entirely went out of business, and to good reasons: they can generate such a massive initial onslaught from which it becomes really hard to come back.

 

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THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Also known as: how much do the top decks cost? As of April 18, 2014, 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, MisterMojoRising's Elves: $8.72 (nonland cards: $8.31; tribal base: $5.07)
• 2nd place, romellos's Merfolks: $972.11 (nonland cards: $491.13; tribal base: $177.26)

 Once again, a deck worth less than 10 bucks defeated a deck worth almost $1,000. A ratio of 1:100. It happens in Tribal Apocalypse. Especially when on one side you have a combo deck whose most expensive card, Quirion Ranger, is just half a tix, and on the other side you have Forces of Will, Tundras and True-Name Nemeses.

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

1. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
2. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154 (cheapest event winner)
3. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169
4. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.70, 1st place on Event 145
5. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $4.12, 2nd place on Event 141
6. Gq1rf7's Assassins, $4.18, 1st place on Event 147
7. Trickerie's Golems, $4.31, 1st place on Event 138
8. arcbounddaylabor's Goblins, $4.46, 1st place on Event 111
9. Coolcat1678's Elves, $5.13, 2nd place on Event 149
10. ellmaris's Goblins, $6.52, 2nd place on Event 103

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

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WAR REPORT
by Smawatts

 Hello! All things have finally settled down for me after moving across country, so I'm back. For the most recent event, I wanted to play something outside my normal range, and decided to play a suicide black style Vampire deck.

 First round I played against another mono black deck piloted by Winter.Wolf. He was focused on Tangle Wire as his disruption, and using
mana Myrs to leap ahead while his opponent was tangled. My Vampires were just too fast for him, and fortunately for me none of my removal was dead against black.

 In round 2 I faced our host Kumagoro, who was on mono-black Zombies "splashing" green for Birthing Pod. We had some super close games, speed vs. power. 

 Come round 3 we got to play against mihahitlor. He had a screaming horde of Goblins. Mono-red was a bad match up, and we needed to draw well to have any real chance. 

 In the last round we played Leys7 who was piloting a mono-green enchantress style deck that attempted to create giant monsters by covering Druids in enchantments. Awkward draws + Hymns decided the match. 

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SHOW AND TELL

 

 Very last chance to try the Robin and the Nine Hoods Deckbuilding Challenge! (This time is true! RexDart wanted to give the unclaimed challenge the opportunity to get Singleton as the last attempt, given that Singleton is a particularly favorable environment). Here are, once again, the rules:

1. Your tribe must be Archer.
2. Your deck must include one copy of at least 9 different Archery Theme cards from this list: Bow of Nylea, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Crossbow Ambush, Slingbow Trap, Viridian Longbow, Arrow Volley Trap, Arrows of Justice, Avenging Arrow, Borrowing 100,000 Arrows, Hail of Arrows, Infused Arrows, Serrated Arrows, Archery Training, Hankyu, Heavy Arbalest, Viridian Longbow, Wolfhunter's Quiver.
3. You must include one copy of at least 3 Legendary Archers to play the role of Robin Hood and lead your upstart band of rebels to victory.
4. You must enter Tribal Apocalypse with the deck and achieve at least 2 match victories, not including byes or forfeits.

 Only one prize is available and it is handled and assigned by RexDart (so not Kumagoro nor MTGO Traders). If two or more players both achieve the challenge in a single week, the player with the most match wins will take the prize. If the players are still tied, the player with the most unique number of cards from the Archery Theme card list will take the prize.

 The prize will be one Mercadian Masques non-foil copy of Bribery, so that you can rob the rich of their best creature and give it to the poor... or just give your opponent a nice face-smashing!

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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 on Pennybot. 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 second quarter of 2014. The quarter will end June 28. By that date, the player or players who registered the greatest number of different tribes will get a 5-tix certificate from MTGO Traders.

 The Tribal Achievements: The new list of achievements for the 2014 season is here. Unlock the most of them by the end of the year and you'll share a 25-tix Jackpot.

 The Champion's Challenge: AJ_Impy, our reigning Ultimate Tribal Champion, has issued a running challenge of his own: play with a deck featuring 4 copies of a card he'll nominate, and win 3 matches with it during a single event, and AJ will reward you with 1 tix (which you'll keep as eternal memento because it's the tix the Ultimate Champion gave you). You'll be required to prove through a screenshot (or calling either me or him as witnesses, but only if we're not playing!) that you actually played the card and/or activated the card's abilities at least once during the event. And the first chosen card is... Sunforger! Good luck, folks!

 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.

 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!

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 4.15 (Week 172 BE), on April 19: Tribal Singleton (only one copy of each card except for basic lands)
• 4.16 (Week 173 BE), on April 26: Pure Tribal (no off-tribe creatures, complete rules here)
• 4.17 (Week 174 BE), on May 3: Tribal Underdog (only Underdog Tribes allowed)
• 4.18 (Week 175 BE), on May 10: Regular Tribal (just plain old Legacy Tribal Wars)

Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2014!

Vote for your favorite Burn spell on the Topdeck Awards!

SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!