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By: Tribal Apocalypse, Tribal Apocalypse
May 01 2014 1:40pm
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 Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse, the PRE where we're always on a journey. Hopefully not to nowhere.

   Table of Contents 

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

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


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 Journey into Nyx is almost online, all the cards are on Gatherer now, and my usual tribal evaluation is here (or will be shortly, depending how soon you're reading this). Cockatrice is a tribe now! Spanning three colors! Woot?

This looks more like a Birds of Paradise on Adderall.

 Next week will also see the return of the Legacy Tribal Wars filter in the client (fingers crossed), so we've a bright future ahead of us, or something. In this regard, these days we're deciding what to do with the Swords of X and Y (and Batterskull). You can see the current tally here. Keep voting, please, we're just halfway through (meanwhile, the Underdog event this Saturday will still have the abovementioned equipments banned).

 I need to address several questions about Batterskull specifically: its fate has been linked to the fate of the Swords because they're in turn all linked to Stoneforge Mystic: wherever the former are allowed, the latter won't, because their combination has long proved both broken and wildly popular in Tribal Wars (for a series of mostly obvious reason). And without Stoneforge Mystic, Batterskull is kind of a clunky thing (you can't seriously expect to have 5 free mana to save it from removal very often, unless we're talking super-ramp decks that will mostly have scarier stuff to do).

 A note on voting: if you express your vote through Facebook, please state your MTGO name, otherwise I won't know who the hell you are (there's a limit to my knowledge). And I can't allow for people to vote twice this way. In the tally there are 3 Facebook votes marked down; I think I've identified all three of them, but I'm not sure about two. Please confirm my guesses.

 In the meantime, the Purification Process proceeds in full swing: last week's Pure event saw the first Elf and Human victims; this time was the turn of Elvish Archdruid and Mother of Runes. Bye, Mom! You won't protect your favorites from our bullying anymore!

 


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 4.16, Week 173 BE
  • Date: April 26
  • Attendance: 16
  • Rounds: 3
  • Special Rules: Pure Tribal (no off-tribe creatures, complete rules here)
  • Winner: ScionOfJustice (Elf) 
  • Other undefeated: MisterMojoRising (Human)
  • 1 Loss: mihahitlor (Human), ChNidox (Insect), romellos (Soldier), Robin88 (Shaman), Leys7 (Artificer), smawatts (Vampire)
  • Special Prizes: Underdog Prize to AJ_Impy (God)
  • Tribes: Artificer, Elf, Fish, Goblin, God, Human (x2), Insect, Satyr, Shaman (x2), Sliver (x2), Soldier, Vampire, Zombie
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 ScionOfJustice is back! A veritable Season 1 comeback, since the last time I had him as a Top 4 was on December 2011, when he won the Elves vs.Goblins showdown, our first Duel Event (speaking of which, I'm going to put Plants vs. Zombies in calendar as special event for May 24. Details and possible ban list will follow). His Elf deck back then was very peculiar, involving Worship, Defense of the Heart and Blightsteel Colossus (you have to scroll down in the article to find it – I wasn't even using anchors back then!). This one looks way more traditional in comparison.

 

 You can see there were a lot of satisfying targets for the purification process here, especially Umbral Mantle, which I'm surely going to pick next time it shows up in an undefeated Pure Elf list, and Priest of Titania. The Archdruid felt like an ideal first choice, though, being more widely played in a large number of Elfball builds, which is what we're trying to discourage from showing up. Plus, he helps bringing his fellow Elves out of Pyroclasm range, which might be crucial.

 The other undefeated deck, piloted by this year's revelation MisterMojoRising, was this Human list that, conversely, being mostly a bread-and-butter WW build, had very few viable targets that felt worthy. Mom is a good one in the end, since she's able to create subtly degenerated board states in Tribal.

by MisterMojoRising - 2nd place
Creatures
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Mother of Runes
4 Silver Knight
4 White Shield Crusader
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Spectral Procession
3 Hyena Umbra
2 Battle Screech
17 cards
Lands
21 Plains
2 Kjeldoran Outpost
23 cards

 
Silver Knight

 

 For the rest, I have to applaud ChNidox for a Top 4 placement with this infect-based Insect build. I always have to applaud Insect decks doing well! 


THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Also known as: how much do the top decks cost? As of May 1st, 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, ScionOfJustice's Elves: $12.71 (nonland cards: $12.61; tribal base: $10.54)
  • 2nd place, MisterMojoRising's Humans: $17.72 (nonland cards: $16.96; tribal base: $9.12)

 We've got two very budget winners this time. We know Elf decks are cheap, and here the overall price was also considerably raised by the presence of Rofellos, who's worth one third of the deck's cost alone (and he's even currently one third of what he was worth last December). The only thing that could propel an Elf list of this kind into non-budget territory is of course Gaea's Cradle. But apparently, they don't even need it. The Humans had more or less the same kind of pricing, with the playset of Mother of Runes making up half the deck's worth, and Spectral Procession most of the rest.

 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.


WAR REPORT
by Smawatts

 After having done fairly well with the Vampires two weeks ago I decided to run them back in for the Pure event. The fact that the week had been a bit
hectic for me had nothing to do with me reusing the same list again!

 Round 1 vs. longtimegone: SLiving Death is one of those deck that seems to either do nothing all game or crush you when you're playing aggro. I love this kind of deck when there is no sideboard hate to dodge.

Round 2 vs. AJ_Impy: Replenish Gods, super super cool. It came out a bit slow, but I think with some tweaking it could be a great deck. Maybe adding some protective enchantments, Sphere of Safety, Elephant Grass or Teferi's Moat?

Round 3 vs. Deonmag: Zombies vs. Vampires. Once again a speed vs. power matchup. There were some neat interactions in his deck. The Vengeful Pharaoh/Zombie Infestation one seems like it could really get someone.


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!


 WHAT'S NEXT

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

  • 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)
  • 4.19 (Week 176 BE), on May 17: Tribal Kaleidoscope (only multicolored cards and lands)
  • 4.20 (Week 177 BE), on May 24: Special: Plants vs. Zombies (all players need to reg a Plants deck and a Zombies deck)

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!

4 Comments

It's sad that I got cleric's by MisterMojoRising at Fri, 05/02/2014 - 06:05
MisterMojoRising's picture

It's sad that I got cleric's best creature banned by playing humans.

What's the Plants vs. Zombies format? Do I need two decks? How does that work?

One plant deck, one zombie by AJ_Impy at Fri, 05/02/2014 - 06:37
AJ_Impy's picture

Each player brings two decks, one plant deck, one zombie deck. (There are enough Plant Zombies to run the same deck for both if you like.)

The person who makes the table gets one tribe, their opponent gets the other. Knowing what tribe your opponent is running is a powerful weapon in the right hands, but so can knowing that your opponent knows. Versus weeks are fun events that only come around a couple of times a year, so make the most of them.

Are other creatures allowed by MisterMojoRising at Fri, 05/02/2014 - 08:28
MisterMojoRising's picture

Are other creatures allowed in the Plants vs. Zombies decks? Are any cards banned? Do Changelings count?

No changeling, no off-tribe by Kumagoro42 at Fri, 05/02/2014 - 17:03
Kumagoro42's picture

No changeling, no off-tribe creatures. Banned cards, I still have to decide if there are any relevant (of course there's Grave Bramble, but that's part of the point of the event, since it's the card MaRo designed as a homage to the videogame Plants vs. Zombies).

Edited to add: after some thinking, it'll be no off-tribe creatures for Zombies, but the Plants will be allowed to have off-tribe green Elementals (mostly to allow for Avenger of Zendikar), Treefolk and Fungus (because they're their cousins).