We've got two undefeated decks in last week's Pure event, which potentially means two new purified cards. For the Goblin deck, that's simple: in the absence of Goblin Lackey (how is that guy still around?), the most dangerously abused card in the gobbos' winning list was definitely Goblin Warchief. As for the Sliver deck, well, within Sliver everything is an enabler, but I think I'll give them a pass for now, being the first time Slivers manage an undefeated result in Pure Tribal, and given that, indeed, almost every choice would be a crippling one. Next time, we'll see. Of course, what we would have really liked to see touched by the Purification Process was one of those Elf Infect/Berserk concoctions, which have started to annoy people but we can't seem to get purified soon enough. Anyway, Goblin Warchief now joins Goblin Chieftain on the ban list for Pure events. Good games, buddy.
No matter how many of their pieces you take out, the Goblins still keep coming!
And while we are on the Pure ban list, I took out Oblivion Ring from the T10 cards, since its inclusion made no sense whatsoever anymore: there are now THREE functional replacements (Banishing Light, Detention Sphere, Council's Judgment), all of which are better than the original O-Ring (well, Banishing Light is only better aesthetically, but there's that). So now the T10 becomes T9 again, and white is not the more hosed color anymore.
All legal now, in increasing order of effectiveness.
Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
Here's the Goblin list that gave MisterMojoRising his first first place of the year. The inclusion of Living Death is novel, and very interesting in its interaction with the Goblin's various natural sac outlets.
I mentioned the Elves going the Berserk/Invigorate/any-kind-of-great-pump-spell route (on Infect creatures or otherwise), now that Elvish Archdruid isn't playable in Pure anymore (not that you couldn't still build an effective ramp with all the other Elves). Here's an example of this trend by ScionOfJustice, who also gave us a commentary on all his matches. Thanks, Scion! (But damn you for beating my own Constructs! I need more Ugins. Ugin is great in Tribal Wars!)
arcbounddaylabor's Goblins, $4.46, 1st place on Event 111
NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.
THE UNHALLOWED
by m4vis
And here he is, m4vis is back commenting his games! Except these are from two weeks ago (with his Constructs against romellos's Wizards and Gq1rf7's Goblins), but hey, it's all good once we get to watch some commented tribal action, right?
SHOW AND TELL
Here's ScionOfJustice's Elves facing, and mostly overcoming, all kinds of opponents in last week's event. Enjoy Scion's after-the-fact commentary!
ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
Just to remind you of a few things:
Cockatrice Wants You!And Badger, too! Be the first to win a match with these new eligible tribes and you'll win a 1-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. Remember: only tribes with at least 3 members are effectively considered tribes in Tribal Apocalypse (since tribes that field an equal or greater number of Changelings than actual members count as Shapeshifter decks). Tribes with exactly 3 members are allowed to play in Underdog events with 8 slots filled by Changelings, whereas nobody else (but, of course, Shapeshifter decks) can play with more than 4 Changelings in those events. And of course this will happen only as soon as the Changelings will work on V4 as promised.
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 first quarter of 2015. The quarter will end March 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 Achievements (sponsored by AJ_Impy and vantar6697): Unlock the greatest number of Achievements from this list and AJ and vantar will grant you 10 tix per quarter! The current quarter will end March 28. Players with the same number of achievements will split the prize. 10 more tix will be given at the end of the year to that whole season's Achievement Master. Good luck!
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 5 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):
Last week, I have revised my infect deck after the event and I also tought about what should be truely banned from this deck. And my answer was: Invigorate
First, I have consider Berserk, but it is a redundant card that can be easily replaced for such doubling effect. Future version of such Infect deck can eaily splash for Red mana and use; Temur Battle Rage, Assault Strobe or even Fatal Frenzy. And among them, Temur Battle Rage is the optimum one as a following replacement.
I'm not sure. Invigorate doesn't win games by itself, Berserk does. And being forced to rely to red only for trampling effects (double strike alone is not enough) may be enough to discourage players. Scion had 4x Berserk and 2x Battle Rage. Were that 4x Battle Rage and 2x Fatal Frenzy instead, the deck would be way slower.
The card I fear for the infect deck is Vines of Vastwood. Being able to remove the pumped creature is the surest path to beating the deck, and being able to counter your removal lends it the edge it needs.
I mean Invigorate and Berserk are the top 2 problematic cards at that deck. But, banning Berserk first, won't change much at its pace and efficiency. At least, this is my thought about this case.
5 Comments
Last week, I have revised my infect deck after the event and I also tought about what should be truely banned from this deck. And my answer was: Invigorate
First, I have consider Berserk, but it is a redundant card that can be easily replaced for such doubling effect. Future version of such Infect deck can eaily splash for Red mana and use; Temur Battle Rage, Assault Strobe or even Fatal Frenzy. And among them, Temur Battle Rage is the optimum one as a following replacement.
I'm not sure. Invigorate doesn't win games by itself, Berserk does. And being forced to rely to red only for trampling effects (double strike alone is not enough) may be enough to discourage players. Scion had 4x Berserk and 2x Battle Rage. Were that 4x Battle Rage and 2x Fatal Frenzy instead, the deck would be way slower.
The card I fear for the infect deck is Vines of Vastwood. Being able to remove the pumped creature is the surest path to beating the deck, and being able to counter your removal lends it the edge it needs.
Agreed. Taking out the counterspell that costs 1 mana is probably more to the point than disabling the combo itself.
I mean Invigorate and Berserk are the top 2 problematic cards at that deck. But, banning Berserk first, won't change much at its pace and efficiency. At least, this is my thought about this case.