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, Amonkhet is on its way to be fully spoiled, and there's already a lot to make Tribal players thrilled. Or at least mildly interested, depending on your stance on God (I mean the tribe, not the Almighty). Because yeah, Amonkhet will finally introduce a different pantheon than the Greek fellas from Theros. And of course these ones are Ancient Egypt-inspired. And they're not enchantments anymore, but still appropriately indestructible and in need of some sort of worship.
Also, there are Jackals, because there's not limit to the number of former, excessively specific tribes that they were correctly subsumed under a larger tribe and now are detached again (I guess all these guys will have to change subtype now). Enjoy.
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 7.13, Week 326 BE
- Date: April 8
- Attendance: 16
- Rounds: 4
- Subformat: Regular
- Winner: Michelle_Wong (Beast)
- 1 Loss: Generalissimo (Dragon), Golden_Lin (Human), ML_Berlin (Goblin), Bazaar of Baghdad (Construct)
- Underdog Prize: DrPringles (Cephalid)
- Tribes: Archer, Beast, Beast, Cephalid, Construct, Dragon, Elf, Faerie, Frog, Goblin, Golem, Human (x3), Ooze, Sliver
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
Solid second victory of the year for Michelle_Wong, and only third time overall a Beast deck has ended on top. Their debut dates back to season 3, when they were an Underdog tribe and mihahitlor managed to outperform the competition with this very straightforward list. Michelle took the combo route, instead, with a deck based on the much discussed Helm of Obedience (and Rest in Peace, and Web of Inertia), with the Beasts providing a lifegaining & cycling shell to give time to the control elements to fall in place. Will Helm stay around forever? Maybe not, if it ever becomes too much of a go-to combo; but for now, it's there, giving aggro a run for its money, and teaching everybody to run some form of enchantment answers already.
Unfortunately, Michelle's Bestial Helm negated the triumph to this amazing Dragon list by Generalissimo, who successfully put together a 62 (most winning lists are 62 cards these days, due to Robin88's pioneering tribal theory) trying to keep the Dragon curve as low as possible, with a little help from the Changelings. Surprisingly, neither Thundermaw Hellkite nor Stormbreath Dragon are in there, leaving the stage to the more synergistic Scourge of Valkas and the slightly less midrange Thunderbreak Regent and Avaricious Dragon. Some removal and some ramp complete this very honest, uncomplicated brew. By the way, the deck's name might give us a hint about Generalissimo's nationality.
And this is the third time Frog ever showed up on Tribal Apocalypse, the latest since 2013. We can thank hideyoshi1 for the courage to rescue the not-so-hot amphibians from oblivion.
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 April 14, 2016):
The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated
- mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
- morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
- 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
The Top 5 Cheapest Non-Goblin Decks that Went Undefeated
- mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
- morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
- JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
- MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
- Gq1rf7's Assassins, $4.18, 1st place on Event 147
NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.
ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
Just to remind you of a few things:
The Ishkanah Prize: The first player to win a match with a Spider deck by activating Ishkanah's lifedraining ability for a lethal strike of at least 4 damage, will get a 3-tix credit certificate from MTGO Traders. Spider lovers, or simply ticket lovers, start building!
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 certificate from MTGO Traders. 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 New Kids on the Block Award: When a new tribe is introduced in the game, or reaches enough members to be played as a proper tribe (i.e. at least 3 members, so you can build a deck that features 4 copies of each plus 8 Changeling creatures), the first player to score a match win with it will get a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. You'll need a hard win, not a BYE or a win by no-show of your opponent. The tribes currently eligible for the award are Gremlin and Monkey.
The Hamtastic Award: The Biodiversity Prize dedicated to the memory of Erik Friborg rewards each player who registers 10 different tribes (except Human, Elf and Goblin) during the year with a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. You can go on and win the prize multiple times in the year, but you need to keep playing different tribes! (So if you manage to register 50 different tribes in one season, you can get up to 15 tix!)
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):
- 7.14 (Week 327 BE), on April 15: Pure
- 7.15 (Week 328 BE), on April 22: Regular
- 7.16 (Week 329 BE), on April 29: Singleton
- 7.17 (Week 330 BE), on May 6: Underdog
Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!
Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2017!
SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!
