Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse!
Table of Contents
- Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
- The High Price of Winning
- Announcement Time!
- What's Next
Check the full archive for the "Diaries of the Apocalypse" series
THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro
Time to check on Tsabo's Decree. It's been a while since we moved it from the old DCI ban list to our current Legacy-wide playability, and during this test period it has been played 6 times within 6 different tribal setups: two times by AJ_Impy, with Hag and Demon; two by Dawwy, with Golem and Plant; two by JogandoPelado, with Avatar and Angel. Of these, only two ended with a positive result (3-1 for the Golems and the Angels). It seems to me it's definitely not a problematic card, but what do you think? Do you have experiences to share of playing against it?
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 6.10, Week 271 BE
- Date: March 12
- Attendance: 12
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Regular
- Winner: Bazaar of Baghdad (Human)
- 1 Loss: ScionOfJustice (Angel), Robin88 (Archon), gumgod (Myr), Golden_Lin (Thopter), mihahitlor (Human), _ShipIt_ (Warrior)
- Underdog Prize: Golden_Lin (Thopter)
- Tribes: Angel, Archon, Dragon, Human (x3), Myr, Snake, Thopter, Wall, Warrior, Zombie
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
After a few weeks with unusual winners, the Humans rear their ugly heads again, thanks to this Thought Lash/Laboratory Maniac build by Bazaar of Baghdad (who's setting up a wonderful year for himself, in between last year's two champions: go BoB!).
But last week was truly Reanimator Galore, with several players following ScionOfJustice's lead from the previous week. Of course Scion ended up being the most successful one once again; this time with Angels in place of Archons.
And, hey, look who's back! The terror of season 1 (man, that was 2011! We're old!), Wall-Drazi, from its very creator and main pilot, NemesisParadigm. It didn't go very well, though: 5 years later, is it not so powerful a build anymore, or was it just bad luck? It was a slightly different build, anyway, with a soft Cloudpost base I don't remember was there back in the time.
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 March 18, 2016):
- Bazaar of Baghdad's Humans: $399.51
- ScionOfJustice's Angels: $158.52
- NemesisParadigm's Walls: $152.63
The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated
- mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
- morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
- JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
- MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169
- 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
- mihahitlor's Goblins, $4.22, 1st place on Event 240
NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.
ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
Just to remind you of a few things:
Cockatrice Wants You! Be the first to win a match with the last orphan tribe and you'll win a 2-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.
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 2016. The quarter will end March 26. By that date, the player or players who registered the greatest number of different tribes (except Human, Elf and Goblin) will get a 5-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. Congratulations to last quarter's winner, AJ_Impy!
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.
Wanna test your deck? Tell us when you're online, and look who else is there and when! All of this here!
WHAT'S NEXT
The upcoming Tribal Apocalypse events of the Blippian Era (every Saturday at 17:00 GMT):
- 6.11 (Week 272 BE), on March 19: Pure
- 6.12 (Week 273 BE), on March 26: Regular
- 6.13 (Week 274 BE), on April 2: Underdog
- 6.14 (Week 275 BE), on April 9: Regular
Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!
Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2016!
SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!
13 Comments
I tuned the deck for speed, but lost on consistency. Shield Sphere is fun for free extra mana from overgrown battlements, but it was often dead. It should have been Wall of Blossoms.
The cloudpost base is new, and it was added to support the crop rotation plan in cases where instant speed bojuka bog aren't needed. (not reanimator)
I also learned my lesson to split 2 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Path to exile to survive against meddling mage.
Also the metagame has shifted quite a bit since I played it last. It used to be dominated by goblins and elves. Now reanimator and combo are the kings of the hill.
Oh, ArchGenius=you. Yes, I agree with all your points.
The metagame has indeed shifted (well, it would be bad if it didn't after 5 years!), but I think "combo and reanimator are kings" is just an impression from these past few weeks. The last 15 event winners were:
Beast
Berserker
Elf
Elf
Elf
Skeleton
Goblin
Human
Human
Naga
Cleric
Ally
Shaman
Archon
Human
And I think not too many of them weren't good ole linear aggro, but it's the case of the most recent ones.
Goblin and Elves are less dominating also because in half of each month's events they're either banned (Underdog) or crippled (Pure).
If I had to redo this Thought Lash list, I would use Wizards over Humans (though still splashing for Containment Priest who is bonkers and for which I have tutors). I would cut the Alchemist's Apprentice copies, preferring the 1-drop Dakra Mystic. This helps support the 4th Meddling Mage too.
Also, Stormscape Apprentice from the list reminded me of the very old Tribal days, I'm pretty sure before the 2007 Grand Creature Update, where Wizards was a huge powerhouse tribe and Stormscape was a cornerstone. I think AJ used to play in those too, but I'm wondering if anyone else from the current roster of players was there back then.
Whenever I played against Tsabo's Decree it was very devastating. Discard clause is what makes the card so powerful, because you cannot play around it. And 6 mana is not that much for decks that play it. However, there are many far more powerful cards that are legal, so I definitely don't see the card as problematic.
I think Control needs all the help it can get (the best of which would be an extra 5-10 minutes on the clock, esp. in 3-round events), so I'm a big fan of access to Tsabo's Decree. Six-mana spells in Legacy SHOULD win games. This doesn't even do that, but it goes a long way. It's not overpowered, as, besides being six mana, it misses off-tribal stuff, non-creatures, and is susceptible to tier-1 all-stars like Enlightened Tutor or tier-2 all-stars like Isochron Scepter.
Wow, just saw Thalia's Lieutenant spoiled. That and Champion of the Parish will really make for some undercosted WW fatties (especially if used with Allies).
Have you seen Diergraf Colossus and the new Wolfir? Those things look crazy. Can't wait to combo Gravecrawler with the Colossus.
Yeah, Diregraf Colossus is insane (and I didn't even think of Gravecrawler interaction!) Not so sure about Silverfur Partisan, it requires building around it (probably with green pump spells, which is a strategy I am not too fond of), otherwise it's just a 3cc 2/2 creature that leaves a body behind if an opponent kills it with a spell.
The Wolfir is a build around me card, but with reusable mulitargeting and pitch spells, it's easy to exploit. Think pyrokinesis, bounty of the hunt, and travel preparations and you can make an army very quickly.
Great, we really needed something to enhance linear Human builds, there are so few of those.
Yeah, this set seems mostly to be a case of the rich tribes getting (uselessly) richer. Very few playables since the bar is already so high in those tribes.