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
So, Human won 8 times this year (out of 37 in five years and a half). Focusing on the Regular format (Human won Pure events as well), Bazaar of Baghdad did a research on these undefeated Human decks, but also on the decks that were Human by any other name (those other names, specifically, being Cleric, Shaman and Wizard; Soldier, interestingly, didn't win any event this year).
Mom's prettification coincides with her topping the Human usage in TribAp.
Of course, as I note in that thread, the thing is: Human is so huge it doesn't even qualify as a mere tribe anymore. With three times more members than the second largest tribe (Wizard), and a count that surpasses all card types but Enchantment and Instant, and amounts to one out of four overall creatures in the game, Human has become more of a supertype. It's the creature type they use when no other "race" applies. As a consequence, many "class" tribes are full of Humans anyway.
So, what to do about that? A subformat with no Human has been proposed by AJ_Impy, by the (great) name of Inhumanity. Accommodate it within our schedule doesn't seem easy, though. Maybe once Pure will start to become stale. But we can certainly start doing this for Top Players: their lockout now results in Human blocked for 5 weeks even when Human is not technically the tribe they used; it just requires the Human type to be on more than 50% of the creatures in the deck. If that's true, then both Human decks and any deck with more than 50% of Human creatures in it are locked. It's a start to impede Human proliferation at least at the top level.
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 6.21, Week 282 BE
- Date: May 28
- Attendance: 18
- Rounds: 4
- Subformat: Regular
- Winner: Bazaar of Baghdad (Human)
- Other undefeated: mihahitlor (Wall)
- 1 Loss: Yokai_ (Goblin), AJ_Impy (Human), pfirpfel (Eldrazi), Daviajagunan (Human)
- Underdog Prize: Angelic_Dawn (Griffin), MontanaSteev (Dryad)
- Tribes: Ally, Beast, Berserker, Dryad, Eldrazi (x2), Elf, Goblin, Griffin, Human (x4), Merfolk, Spirit, Wall, Wizard, Zombie
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
Oh look, a Human deck on top! Lupus in fabula. And it's by Bazaar of Baghdad himself. Guilty conscience? :P
Yeah, it's also an Aluren deck. Aluren is a very powerful combo. It's been left alone so far because it rarely showed up (also because it's a creature-based combo, so not so out of place in a creature-based format), but if its presence intensifies, it'll be dealt with, sadly.
Second place for reigning Tribal Champion and current leaderboard leader mihahitlor with a Wall-fueled Natural Order deck (with Primeval Titan fetching Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage to boot). Yeah, it was a week where combo dominated. It happens less often than you think, it's just more evident than all the times Goblin and Warrior win.
Finally, any Griffin deck deserves to be featured. We only had 6 of them in as many seasons. The latest one (with a subset of Humans included, because of course even Griffin decks must have Humans) is by new player Angelic_Dawn. Welcome to Tribal Apocalypse!
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 June 3, 2016):
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:
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 2016. The quarter will end June 25. 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, 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.
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):
- 6.22 (Week 283 BE), on June 4: Underdog
- 6.23 (Week 284 BE), on June 11: Regular
- 6.24 (Week 285 BE), on June 18: Pure
- 6.25 (Week 286 BE), on June 25: 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!
15 Comments
Just to make sure I understand the lockout:
Week 1: I play a deck with 20 knights, 11 of them are human & 9 non-human and I win
Week 2: I am NOT allowed to play a deck with 20 soldiers, 11 human/9 non-human. I AM allowed to play deck with 20 soldiers, 10 human/10 non-human
??
Some things will need to be clarified for sure. Yours is another good point. The google spreadsheet uses the phrase "at least" 10 human creatures, and the article, uses "more than." So the 10/10 split, as you point out, has mixed rulings so far. Also, an 11/10 split of, say, Soldiers and Humans, respectively, would be, as currently worded, lockout-eligible under the spreadsheet rules but fine according to the article.
I've sent some proposals privately. We'll see if we can't get this ironed out. At least it looks like it's going in a positive direction for tribal diversity. Well done!
I amended the rule after submitting the article. Couldn't post this until now.
The proper rule says: A top player ending undefeated with a deck that includes at least 10 creatures with the Human type will have the Human tribe locked for the next 5 events even if the deck's tribe was not Human.
So, you check like this:
1) Am I currently a top player?
YES: Go to 2.
NO: Nothing happens.
2) Did I just end undefeated in a TribAp event?
YES: Go to 3.
NO: Nothing happens.
3) Was my undefeated deck's tribe Human?
YES: Human tribe banned for 5 events for you.
NO: Go to 4.
4) Did my undefeated deck include 10 or more creatures with the Human type?
YES: Human tribe banned for 5 events for you in addition to the deck's tribe and combo cards as usual.
NO: Nothing happens.
So, as written, if I win with Humans one week, according to this rule, I can still use Wizards (etc.) next week. But not vice-versa. Also, if I win with Wizards one week, I can still play Clerics next week, as long as there are more Clerics than Humans in my deck. Both situations seem counterintuitive to your stated goals. Is that what you want? Perhaps the rule could be rewritten more clearly. Edit: unless by "lockout" and "banned," you mean different things; in that case, you're saying that a decklist during the lockout period must contain exactly ZERO humans.
With humans as an additional type becoming so common the clarification here definitely seems warranted.
Would mono blue Wizard/Human block you from playing B/W: Cleric/Knight/Soldier/etc..
Two other thoughts:
1) Could you please give a quick note as to the rule's retroactivity regarding current lockouts?
2) Under the rule, given either interpretation (lockout or full ban) any person who wins with Humans (and maybe 50% humans) is prohibited from playing the following three tribes in Underdog - Mystic, Pirate, and Werewolf - since those do not have 3+ non-human members online. Other tribes, such as Advisor, are severely compromised as well (Advisors only as 4 non-humans, all-legends, and if Changelings count as Humans, Advisors would also be eliminated under the ban theory).
any person who wins with Humans
Not ANY person! 10 persons!
I can list those persons:
mihahitlor
ScionOfJustice
Bazaar of Baghdad
AJ_Impy
Yokai_
NemesisParadigm
Robin88
ML_Berlin
Generalissimo
romellos
Imho if you are intent on banning excessive human use then do it. Be clear with: If you win with humans (undefeated), the next x weeks you can't play with humans in your deck. Be unambiguous. There is no way to qualify that to make an exception. (Btw this catches Mistform Ultimus and all changelings in the net but winning is a big reward for the big punishment.)
In fact I would be thrilled to see that rule applied to any winning tribe for the player that wins with it.
"Win with x tribe, can't play x tribe for y weeks." Unambiguous and has no exceptions to loophole around. Being gamers there will always be people looking for the little air holes to escape through.
I think the current form is fine: "10 or more." Initially it was confusing because one place was "half" and another place said "more than half."
So you would ban any Human winner from playing with Cockatrices (or any of 13 other sucky tribes) since that would require Changelings with the Human type in it. This rule is getting ludicrous.
For what it's worth this was my preferred suggestion that I had sent (slightly edited to avoid ambiguity): 1) that we should define Primary and Secondary Tribes, using his rules f1-f3 on the main rules page (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gFKhJtWCl6Yo82Ez0d_N4Iq58ruqfQWY...), and then appropriately blocking usage of humans as a Primary or Secondary Tribe during the lockout.
To do this, I would first add a new rule f4 on the main rules page under Tribal Identity. It would state: "Once a tribe has been identified as the Primary Tribe under rules f1-f3 above, for any registered deck that contains additional creature types that comprise at least half (50%) of the number of creature types of the Primary Tribe, the most common additional creature type is designated as the Secondary Tribe."
[Players Lockout rule]: "Whenever a Top Player ends undefeated with a deck featuring Humans as the Primary or Secondary Tribe, that player may not use Humans as a Primary or Secondary Tribe for the remainder of the lockout period. This rule does not apply to Underdog events."
The player lockout rule would be short and simple, but if he wants to use 10 instead of 50% for ease of hosting purposes, I have no problem with that.
The point was that people get hung up on what other people are winning with. So ban the thing they win with until some time later and make it hard to game around. Unambiguity. And according to Kuma's post below the changeling keyword does not (ugh fingers) make them part of the banned group so that settles that question. Not so ludicrous now but still unambiguous. In any event, it is moot since the rule's been stated as done for now. *shrugs*
if I win with Humans one week, according to this rule, I can still use Wizards (etc.) next week.
Yes.
But not vice-versa..
Exactly. It's designed to reduce the cases of Human winning, not to reduce the cases of tribes with a Human presence winning.
Also, it's not retroactive.
Also, Changelings are NOT Human. Changelings COUNT AS Human. As a meta-level they are not Human. They don't have the Human type printed. They start counting as Human AFTER a rule that bans a tribe takes place (i.e. when you start building a deck for the chosen tribe). Cfr. Rule e9.
Also, "ban" in that example is the same as "lock out".
counterintuitive to your stated goals.
You mean counterproductive. Counterintuitive is about comprehension. And actually denotes a true statement.
And no, it's not, because my goal is just to reduce a little the Human wins. A top player can't win more than once every 5 events with Human already. Now if they win with a deck with 10 Humans in it, it counts as their Human win for the next 5 events. Just that.
Also, I don't think it's been stressed out enough: THIS RULE ONLY MATTERS TO PLAYERS IN THE TOP 8. Those are literally 8 people. 9 right now since there's a tie at the end. 10 if you add the Hall of Famers that are still active but not currently Top 8. I won't overcomplicate ruling over something that concerns so few people.
Your idea and my idea of both complication and counterintuitiveness differ more than a little.
Why not just treat humans as not a creature type. A human soldier will be treated as just a soldier, and a plain old human would just be treated as a card with no creature type. Wouldn't that basically address the issue you are bringing up without too many complications?
It's possible to build a deck of creatures which only have the human type.