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, I was looking at the list of Underdogs, and I found out it was missing a few of the minor tribes recently added to the game, so I fixed it. I removed Dinosaur, though, since it feels like it deserves to be Major League right away. Pirate is still Underdog for the time being, but it might be getting too overpowered? Not sure, I guess we'll see. As you might know, Gatherling is being given a much-needed overall update, and the list of 3-member tribes is going to be updated too, to include all the seven tribes current having three online members (which therefore are allowed to use 8 Changeling creatures in Underdog): Badger, Cockatrice, Homarid, Hyena, Masticore, Mongoose, Rabbit.
Let's talk Pure Tribal now. I'm gonna change it, make it simpler: just the format where you can't use off-tribe creatures except the off-tribe lords and other helpers. I'll establish a specific list of what these off-tribe exceptions are, so there won't be any ambiguity. I'll drop the whole "purification process" brouhaha; Pure will just have its own banned list, and to better embody the spirit of the subformat, many power combos will be banned, especially those that have nothing to do with creatures (like Helm of Obedience
), and those that create off-tribe tokens (like Dark Depths
). In fact, I'm looking into the possibility to redefine the filter to restrict access to every card whose text mentions a tribe that's not the chosen tribe, not just creatures. So for instance, cards that create Spirit tokens could only be allowed in Pure Spirit decks. Sounds good?
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 8.03, Week 368 BE
- Date: January 27
- Attendance: 9
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Regular
- Winner: AJ_Impy (Construct)
- 1 Loss: Nagarjuna (Demon), Bandit Keith (Kithkin), TLR (Wizard), Golden_Lin (Archon), Yokai_ (Elf)
- Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg (Octopus)
- Tribes: Archon, Construct, Demon (x2), Elf, Human, Kithkin, Octopus, Wizard
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
In a third round that decided the winner, AJ_Impy enacted, and won, the Invitational match that didn't actually happen: his Cloudpost
Constructs against one of 2017 Ultimate Champion Nagarjuna's reanimator builds.
And Nagarjuna was indeed reanimating stuff again this week, this time some much more theme-appropriated Demons.
Last but not least... well, actually least, because it's a list that doesn't have very good chances to ever win a match, but hey it's Octopus! And it costs 80 cents, all included! Good job repopulating, lovetapsmtg!
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 February 2, 2018):
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
- kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
- 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
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
- kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
- 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, 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, Nightstalker, Octopus, Orgg, Ouphe, Processor, Rabbit, Salamander, Slith. Already cleared: Jackal, Manticore, Moonfolk, 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!
WHAT'S NEXT
The upcoming Tribal Apocalypse events of the Blippian Era (every Saturday at 17:00 GMT):
- 8.04 (Week 369 BE), on February 3: Underdog
- 8.05 (Week 370 BE), on February 10: Regular
- 8.06 (Week 371 BE), on February 17: Pure
- 8.07 (Week 372 BE), on February 24: Regular
Check out all the rules for the sub-formats!
Check out the full Tribal Calendar for 2018!
SEE YOU ALL IN THE TRIBAL ROOM!
