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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

 Last event of the season coming up! And it's the very experimental Kamigawa Special, of which I'm going to remind you the rules.

• Only the following tribes are allowed: Demon, Fox, Kirin, Moonfolk, Ninja, Ogre, Rat, Samurai, Snake, Spirit, Zubera.
• Only creatures from Kamigawa are allowed, including off-tribe. These includes creatures originally printed in Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, or Saviors of Kamigawa, plus creatures that are meant to be from Kamigawa but have been printed elsewhere (e.g. O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami from Commander 2017, released online in the Treasure Chests; or Kaseto, Orochi Archmage from Commander 2015, released online in the Legendary Cube Prize Packs). If you're not sure whether a card represents a Kamigawa creature or not, check with me before running it.
• You can play a special Demon/Ogre mixed tribe, provided all creatures are from Kamigawa. For instance, you can have 7 Demons and 13 Ogres in a 60-card deck, and it will count as tribal legal.
• Non-creature cards can be from any set, not just Kamigawa-related.
• However, if you play a deck were all cards, except basic lands, are Kamigawa cards, you'll automatically get 1 tix. All three Tamiyo cards (Tamiyo, the Moon Sage, Tamiyo, Field Researcher, Tamiyo's Journal) count as Kamigawa cards.
• If you win a game with O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami in play, you win 3 tix (eligible only once per player).
• The ban list is the same used for Regular events.
• Some of the restrictions aren't enforced by Gatherling, so make sure to double check before entering the deck, I'll verify it before starting.

  

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: 7.50, Week 363 BE
• Date: December 23
• Attendance: 16
• Rounds: 4
• Subformat: Regular
• Winner: Socanelas (Sliver)
• 1 Loss: EDUGAL (Human), Goblin_hero (Human), Bandit Keith (Kithkin), mathguy31415 (Human)
• Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg (Moonfolk)
• Tribes: Dragon, Elf, Golem, Human (x3), Kithkin (x2), Merfolk, Moonfolk, Phoenix, Samurai, Shaman, Sliver, Spirit, Warrior
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Hey, we're back to 4 rounds! It didn't prevent this season from being the one with the lowest attendance in Tribal Apocalypse history, but it's nice to see we're still able to hit 16 players per week. This Sliver deck by Socanelas ended up at the first place mostly due to a concession from a member of his team on round 4 (something that is very deprecated and will be covered by a specific ruling next year), but I'm happy nonetheless to see the little metamorphs on top, something that hadn't happen in 3 years. Also, there's now 16 competitive-friendly lands that don't care what color your Slivers are while you're casting them, so 5-color Sliver has become really easy to build. Well, provided you can afford Cavern of Souls, that is.

 

 Here's another tribe that occasionally reminds us it's pretty strong: Kithkin, here once again played by specialist Bandit Keith, who managed to score a place in the money among a plethora of Human decks with a very cheap build.

 

 Finally, this list didn't accomplish much, but it's a Phoenix list by AJ_Impy. We don't see Phoenix often. Let's this be a good omen for our future after this disappointing year!

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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 December 29, 2017):

• Socanelas's Slivers: $298.96
• Bandit Keith's Kithkin: $6.62
• AJ_Impy's Phoenixes: $93.58

 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.

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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, 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, Slith. Already cleared: Jackal, Manticore, Ox, Siren.

 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!

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 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!