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 Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse!

   Table of Contents 

1. Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
2. The High Price of Winning
3. Announcement Time!
4. 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

 Hey, we crossed the 250 Tribal Apocalypses in the Blippian Era! Happy belated birthday to us!

 Quick reminder: this month is a 5-tribal-week month! The last of which will coincide with actual, real world Halloween night for once, so we'll do our annual Halloween Event, in Vintage Tribal Wars format (in-client we'll have to use the Vintage filter) and of course using Spooky Tribes only. But this is in two weeks; this week is just a normal Pure event, exceptionally not closing the month.

 For the rest, I still didn't find time to review the tribe in Battle for Zendikar, but I'll do that eventually. And in the meantime, enjoy the spirited debate on these past few week's comment sections; it's mostly about a new player joining the fold, but it touches several eternal topics in Tribal Wars, so go give it a look and add your own opinion if you like. Or, you know, do it below.

The true spirit of tribal.

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: 5.41, Week 250 BE
• Date: October 17
• Attendance: 26
• Rounds: 4
• Subformat: Regular
• Winner: romellos (Human)
• Other undefeated: ScionOfJustice (Goblin)
• 1 Loss: ML_Berlin (Human), Robin88 (Wizard), The_Sensei (Faerie), Chamale (Cat), Yokai_ (Goblin), milegyenanevem (Human)
• Underdog Prize: AJ_Impy ( Scarecrow), junketpo (Wolf)
• Tribes: Cat, Construct, Faerie, Goblin (x5), Human (x7), Kithkin, Merfolk, Scarecrow, Shaman, Soldier (x2), Warrior, Wizard, Wolf, Zombie (x2)
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 So, our reigning Player of the Year romellos is back (find more about him here), and also almost immediately back to 1st place. It's not been a fruitful year for him, due to the many missed events, but he's still got a chance at Top 8-ing the season. And this Human brew is indeed one of the lists he uses when he doesn't want to mess around.

 

 This was the second 26-player event in a row (woot!), but both of them were Regular, so half the tribes were Human and Goblin. Nothing surprising among them, the Humans were mostly white weenie or Delver, and the Goblins were, eh, Goblins. Amidst such desolation, The_Sensei's 1-loss, Splinter Twin-based Faerie deck feels fresh.

 

 And a money placement was also gained by Chamale's achievement-oriented Cat build, where every card is CMC=1.

 

 Finally, going from cats to their traditional nemesis, a shout-out to one of the two Underdog Prize winners (while AJ_Impy keeps demonstrating how unreliable Cloudpost decks are): newcomer junketpo, with these Wolves.

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THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Here's the prices of all the featured decks, courtesy of the amazing Deck Pricer from mtgGoldfish (MTGO Traders prices as of October 22, 2015):

• romellos's Humans: $239.92
• The_Sensei's Faeries: $250.39
• Chamale's Cats: $172.15
• junketpo's Wolves: $12.09

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

1. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
2. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
3. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
4. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
5. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
6. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169
7. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.70, 1st place on Event 145
8. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $4.12, 2nd place on Event 141
9. Gq1rf7's Assassins, $4.18, 1st place on Event 147
10. mihahitlor's Goblins, $4.22, 1st place on Event 240

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

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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 fourth quarter of 2015. The quarter will end December 26. By that date, the player or players who registered the greatest number of different tribes will get a 5-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. Congratulations to last quarter's winner, Generalissimo!

 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 December 26. 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 and congratulations to last quarter's Achievement Master, Generalissimo!

 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!

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 5.42 (Week 251 BE), on October 24: Pure
• 5.43 (Week 252 BE), on October 31: Halloween Special
• 5.44 (Week 253 BE), on November 7: Underdog
• 5.45 (Week 254 BE), on November 14: Regular

Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!

Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2015!

Vote for your favorite Board Sweeper on the Topdeck Awards!

SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!