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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

 So, Masters 25, celebrating the 25th anniversary of this little game's existence, is almost here. Will it be more iconic than Iconic Masters? (Meaning, will it be iconic at all?) Judging from the first half of the spoilers, it looks like it might be. And hey, Doomsday is there, and it will madly cheap now, so should we prepare to have to ban it in Tribal Wars?

 New artwork's sweet, anyway. I like some of the new art, like Azusa, Lost But Seeking's, which makes her look a little bit less like she's just frolicking while under the influence.

 On the other hand, Imperial Recruiter (more on him later) now looks very happy to be taking people to war, like he's going to perform a stand-up routine or something.

 For a moment that watermark tricked me and I thought they had retconned him as being from Tarkir, which they kinda should. But no, he's still from Portal Three Kingdoms, therefore from real-life Ancient China. Guess you have to celebrate such absurdities as part of Magic's 25-year history, too. Or let's just establish once and for all that our Earth is part of the multiverse and have an expansion set in Florida.

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: 8.07, Week 372 BE
• Date: February 24
• Attendance: 13
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Regular
• Winner: BoozeMongoose (Human)
• Runner-up: Goblin_hero (Human)
• 1 Loss: totalhate (Wall), Golden_Lin (Elf), Yokai_ (Wizard), jackslagel (Kor), DuckX (Vampire), Nagarjuna (Eldrazi)
• Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg (Metathran)
• Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg (Metathran)
• Tribes: Construct, Eldrazi, Elf, Golem, Human (x2), Juggernaut, Kithkin, Kor, Metathran, Vampire, Wall, Wizard
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Only two Human decks in a Regular event with a decent number of players is a good thing. Both of them ending up in the final for 1st place is not. But what the heck, there they are, Human credit where Human credit's due. Also BoozeMongoose and Goblin_hero's credit. Completely different builds anyway. Goblin_hero's RDW, while Booze brought back an Aluren list, which he had used twice last year (one with Bird), and it's here ending undefeated with Humans for the first time.

 

 

 And since we're talking higher-echelon tribes, Wall made a good impression here, thanks to totalhate, who had been experimenting with this deck since last year. It's a build more focused on card advantage (due to Wall of Mulch, Wall of Blossoms, Wall of Omens and Mnemonic Wall) than on ramp. There's a bit of a superfriend thing going on, with the recent and controversial Modern headline-hitter Jace, the Mind Sculptor, the always powerful Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and especially ETB Wall-friendly Venser, the Sojourner. And an interesting Chord of Calling package with Mystic Snake, Thragtusk, Sylvan Primordial and Eternal Witness, but no heavy hitters (the Primordial has a sizable body, but it's more focused on control and defense).

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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 March 2, 2018):

• BoozeMongoose's Humans: $362.97
• Goblin_hero's Humans: $139.60
• totalhate's Walls: $402.91

 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, Monger, Nightstalker, Octopus, Orgg, Ouphe, Processor, Rabbit, Salamander, Slith. Already cleared: Jackal, Manticore, Metathran, 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!

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 8.08 (Week 373 BE), on March 3: Underdog
• 8.09 (Week 374 BE), on March 10: Regular
• 8.10 (Week 375 BE), on March 17: Modern
• 8.11 (Week 376 BE), on March 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!