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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Dec 08 2017 1:00pm
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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


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 So, last week we've celebrated yet another tribe losing Unhallowed status: Sphinx is the third tribe in 8 weeks that won an event for the first time (this reminds me that I should really update the Sphingopedia, it's been 4 years!), following Pirate (winner of event 353) and Siren (first place three events later), all three piloted by the one and only AJ_Impy. Unlike the other two, though, Sphinx wasn't a new, or recently boosted tribe, it was an old dog that many players had tried to take all the way to the top during the past 7 years, including Michelle_Wong and, well, me. Michelle used an Azorius Control strategy using Moat as a trump card. My approach was linked to the graveyard, instead, with Living Death exploiting Vexing Sphinx and Sphinx of Lost Truths's built-in discard abilities.

  

 AJ took to the graveyard as well, but with the better-oiled Entomb/Exhume/Faithless Looting/Animate Dead package. Nothing wrong with that, but it's sort of bittersweet to see a tribe with so many possibilities getting the first win through the same shell that gave it to your regular brainless fattie tribe. It's still legit, but I'm inclined to track down all the tribes that only won thanks to that strategy and establish a separate 3-tix prize about taking a different route to first place. I'll have to do some research first, though. Next year.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 7.47, Week 360 BE
  • Date: December 2
  • Attendance: 10
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Underdog
  • Winner: AJ_Impy (Sphinx)
  • 1 Loss: Nagarjuna (Wurm), Deonmag ( Scarecrow), GyroNinja (Vedalken), Generalissimo (Kor), AEFabricio (Rat)
  • Up-and-Coming Prize: AJ_Impy (Sphinx)
  • Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg (Moonfolk)
  • Tribes: Berserker, Fish, Kor, Moonfolk, Rat, Scarecrow, Soltari, Sphinx, Vedalken, Wurm
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 In all fairness to AJ_Impy, his Sphinx build contained at least one Sphinx-based interaction with Sharuum the Hegemon essentially doubling down on the reanimation. I was always conflicted about not being able to include Sharuum in my Sphinx lists, because she doesn't work with Living Death.

 

 Speaking of cheating finishers onto the battlefield, Nagarjuna did it the other way by dropping Wurms from his hand with Show and Tell, Eureka and Omniscience.

 

 This was another "singularity" week, but well, with just 10 players it's a lot easier not to duplicate any tribe, isn't it? Especially in Underdog. Still, there were some cool decks, and I liked particularly GyroNinja's creature-based Vedalken build. It's another tribe that I used to play often, back when I used to play.


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 December 8, 2017):

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  2. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  3. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  4. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  5. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  6. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
  7. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
  8. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169
  9. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.70, 1st place on Event 145
  10. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $4.12, 2nd place on Event 141

 The Top 5 Cheapest Non-Goblin Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  2. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  3. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  4. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  5. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201

 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 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 Camel, Gremlin, Hippo, Hyena, Monkey.

 The Repopulation Award: Some tribes get played only once (to get the New Kids on the Block Award) and then forgotten. Never again! Register one of the following tribes three times in different events, then play all rounds of those events with them, and you'll get a 3-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. The list of these tribes, established May 5, 2017, is as follows: Antelope, Atog, Crocodile, Goat, Homarid, Incarnation, Leech, Licid, Metathran, Monger, Moonfolk, Nightstalker, Octopus, Orgg, Ouphe, Processor, Rabbit, Salamander, Siren, Slith. Already cleared: Jackal, Manticore, Ox.

 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):

  • 7.48 (Week 361 BE), on December 9: Regular
  • 7.49 (Week 362 BE), on December 16: Pure
  • 7.50 (Week 363 BE), on December 23: Regular
  • 7.51 (Week 364 BE), on December 30: Kamigawa Special

Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!

Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2017!

SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!