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, the Pure Reform is here! From now on, and starting from tomorrow's event, Pure is the format where:
- You can't play off-tribe creatures, with a list of exceptions called Auxiliaries.
- Known non-tribal-based power endgame combos are banned.
The current list of allowed Auxiliaries is here. Cards not in the list aren't allowed. If you feel some card should be allowed and I forgot about them, please let me know. The current banned list for Pure is here. Everything that was banned before has been unbanned, then key elements of power endgame combos have been banned, while also adding all the cards already banned in Regular. Again, if you feel I forgot something, let me know.
In the future, I'll try and work a system to restrict in Pure all cards that created tokens that aren't part of the tribe, so that you can only play token-creating spells with tokens of your tribe. It's something that must be enforced by Gatherling, though, otherwise stuff will keep slipping through.
In other news, after building it myself, I don't think Dinosaur deserves to be excluded from Underdog just yet. So I brought it back among the tribes allowed in Underdog events. We'll see how well they do.
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: 8.05, Week 370 BE
- Date: February 10
- Attendance: 10
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Regular
- Winner: Socanelas (Eldrazi)
- 1 Loss: jackslagel (Faerie), Nagarjuna (Dragon), Yokai_ (Elf), Deonmag (Golem)
- Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg (Processor)
- Tribes: Demon, Dinosaur, Dragon, Eldrazi, Elf (x2), Faerie, God, Golem, Processor
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
First win of the year for Socanelas, second for Eldrazi, that prove to be more and more of a top tribe in Tribal Wars. Which is particularly noteworthy, given that they're one of those tribes we could call "local", tribes that only appeared in a few specific blocks (it's the same for Sliver and Ally).
On the other hand, Faerie doesn't win an event since all the way back to Season 3, August 2013. They got close this time with jackslagel, but they're not there yet, even with the help of Pestermite
's partner in crime, Splinter Twin
. I think they're not played too frequently because they're perceived as a high-budget tribe, but they don't need to be.
Good news (sort of): I started playing again! I don't have many cards (thank the Gods Taiga
and Savannah
are as cheap as taplands these days!), and I built a pretty casual Dinosaur deck, but it was fun when it managed to put Forerunner of the Empire and Ripjaw Raptor on the battlefield. Also, felt good returning to the fold once more after almost two years.
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 16, 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):
- 8.06 (Week 371 BE), on February 17: Pure
- 8.07 (Week 372 BE), on February 24: Regular
- 8.08 (Week 373 BE), on March 3: Underdog
- 8.09 (Week 374 BE), on March 10: 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!
