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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
May 04 2018 12:00pm
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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

 Idea for a new format, not necessarily only for Tribal. I was reflecting on the appeal of the budget formats (Penny Dreadful, Heirloom, not so much Pauper anymore) on the PRE crowd. But the thing is, I don't like the formats where you have to check the prices regularly, it feels like a pain to build that way. I guess finding that some useful card just dropped below some arbitrary threshold is part of the excitement, but it's not for me. So, I thought, what if there was a format where you just check this as a whole, and not singularly for each card? I mean a format where the entire deck has to be under a certain threshold of value, and you can even play one expensive card and a bunch of 1-cent stuff around it. This way, if you happen to own some prized planeswalker, you can still play it.

 This check is easily done with tools like MTGGoldfish's Deck Pricer. You guesstimate while building, then paste your list there, you get the price, see if there's the need to trim something. Easy peasy. But what threshold one should use? Well, it could even be tailored for the occasion, changing every now and then. But as a basis, I'd say, $9.99? Too strict? I have no idea, actually. $19.99? What do you guys think? We can try some version of this in one of the next special week previously assigned to Singleton. I honestly wouldn't mind a more workable $99.99 version becoming a regular fixture for Tribal Apocalypse, maybe married to Underdog. We've seen some $500 stuff at the top lately. This will bring things down to the MTGO version of the F2P (free-to-play) players.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 8.16, Week 381 BE
  • Date: April 28
  • Attendance: 10
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Regular
  • Winner: BoozeMongoose (Eldrazi)
  • Runner-up: Yokai_ (Wizard)
  • 1 Loss: AJ_Impy ( Assembly-Worker), Socanelas (Eldrazi), Deonmag (Golem)
  • Underdog Prize: AJ_Impy ( Assembly-Worker)
  • Tribes: Assembly-Worker, Construct, Eldrazi (x2), Golem, Homarid, Merfolk, Plant, Turtle, Wizard
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 I'll start by talking of the second place, which is Cephalid Illusionist coming to exact its cyclical tribute in a Wizard shell piloted by Yokai_. I'm having less patience than I used to with these cookie cutter combo builds lately. Maybe I'm getting old, but I think it's because they're always the same three or four decks. I still maintain Tribal Wars is won by fast aggro the vast majority of the times, and a Tribal Wars where fast aggro has free rein is not healthy to me. But going back to the same few power endgames is just boring and lazy (talking in general, no offense to who happens to have done it recently, maybe for the first time). And it's not a good way to present the tournament to new players, who I'm desperately trying to lure in (we'll have someone new tomorrow, for instance). I think veteran players who care about the event have an unspoken responsibility (which I've just spoken about, so it's not unspoken anymore!) of not playing stuff that wins in 3 turns, doesn't let the opponent do anything and overall causes such a negative play experience that ends up instantly pushing potential new players away. C'mon, guys, you're battling for a couple tix. Do something fun, do something thinking of who's sitting at the other side of the table, because who's sitting at the other side of the table, ultimately, is the reason you're still playing this format for free every week.

 

 And yet, lo and behold, power combo was ultimately beaten by power aggro. Post-BFZ Eldrazi has become of the top tribes in the format, and BoozeMongoose knows how to play them, which is, among the other things, with meta-calls like Chalice of the Void and Grafdigger's Cage. Then again, this is one of those $500 builds I was talking about. The definition of bringing a bazooka to a pocket knife fight. (Yeah, I feel very polemical today, I woke up like that).

 

 Now, see, the #1 player of the current leaderboard, and reigning Ultimate Champion, Nagarjuna, is doing Turtle during his time off from reanimator. That's friendly! And it's not a list without its mischievous strategy, even (namely, exploiting the Turtles' big butts and low power with Assault Formation and Ensnaring Bridge).


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 May 4, 2018):

  • BoozeMongoose's Eldrazi: $502.48
  • Yokai_'s Wizards: $283.04
  • Nagarjuna's Turtles: $357.55

 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, 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, Goat, Homarid, Incarnation, Licid, Monger, Nightstalker, Orgg, Ouphe, Rabbit, Salamander, Slith. Already cleared: Crocodile, Jackal, Leech, Manticore, Metathran, Moonfolk, Octopus, Ox, Processor, 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):

  • 8.17 (Week 382 BE), on May 5: Underdog
  • 8.18 (Week 383 BE), on May 12: Regular
  • 8.19 (Week 384 BE), on May 19: Modern
  • 8.20 (Week 385 BE), on May 26: 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!