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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Apr 05 2019 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. Announcements
  4. What's Next

Check the full archive for the "Diaries of the Apocalypse" series


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 March: Off the Machines has ended, No Mountain May is not there yet, and we just held our first Kaleidoscope event in almost five years. Time, how it flies, eh?

  

 I think Kaleidoscope can be a fun format, but it needs some trimming, strictly based on excessive efficiency leading to ubiquity. We were having a Knights Über Alles issue back when we stopped playing the format in 2014 – we stopped in part because of that – and it's not gone away in the meantime. Knight is the best tribe by far and features some overpowered members in the meta, especially Knight of New Alara, whose boost is insanely hard to face. Also, Kaleidoscope is a format where the fastest removal is Selesnya Charm, and otherwise you go up to three mana, with most legal removal cards (if not all of them) unable to deal with Stillmoon Cavalier.

   

 I'd say we should play it again in one of the next special event spots, but only after fixing it. One radical way to do that would be playing it as Underdog, thus eliminating the most obvious choices and reopening the field to experimentation again. But some ubiquitous creatures like Fleecemane Lion should at the very least be restricted to their tribes.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 9.12, Week 429 BE
  • Date: March 30
  • Attendance: 8
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Kaleidoscope
  • Winner: Bandit Keith with Knight
  • 1 Loss: ThyShuffler with Vampire, lowman02 with Knight, -DiamondDust- with Warrior
  • Tribes: Angel, Dryad, Knight (x2), Vampire, Warrior (x2), Wizard
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 And that's four in a row wins, seven in eight week for Bandit Keith, of course piloting Knights. Did everybody else drop the ball at this point? Should we stop recording points for the rest of the season?

 

 Same difference: the second Knight list by lowman02 ran an interesting Glare of Subdual, no blue splash for Deputy of Detention, but still an off-tribe Fleecemane Lion. I have no idea what the name of the deck alludes to, though.

 

 Congratulations to ThyShuffler for almost managing to beat Keith (and the Knights) with his Vampires. Almost.

 

 Another strong tribe in the meta is Warrior, especially after the printing of the Azras in Battlebond. -DiamondDust- made good use of them, backed up by Ashenmoor Liege (which is, surprise surprise, a Knight) and Judith, the Scourge Diva.

 

 And I was piloting the only Underdog of the week, Dryad. It has good potential in Kaleidoscope, even if it's missing the powerful (Bramble Sovereign). By the way, Dryad Arbor is legal because the Kaleidoscope construction rule only affects nonland cards.


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 April 5, 2019):

  • Bandit Keith's Knights: $63.97
  • lowman02's Knights: $28.72
  • ThyShuffler's Vampires: $67.99
  • DiamondDust's Warriors: $11.30
  • Kumagoro's Dryads: $90.21

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

  1. SirFalcon2008's Goblins, $1.54, 1st place on Event 289
  2. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
  3. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
  4. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
  5. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
  6. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
  7. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
  8. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422
  9. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201
  10. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.58, 1st place on Event 169

 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. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422

 NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.


ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Underdog Prize: During any event of the regular rotation (but not necessarily 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.

 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. There's currently no eligible tribes for the award.

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

 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.

 We're on Discord! Join us from here, chat about tribal things with other tribal players and arrange tribal games on MTGO all week long! (Or your can just keep using our Google Sheets bulletin board).


 WHAT'S NEXT

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

  • 9.13 (Week 430 BE), on April 6: Underdog
  • 9.14 (Week 431 BE), on April 13: Standard
  • 9.15 (Week 432 BE), on April 20: Modern
  • 9.16 (Week 433 BE), on April 27: Legacy

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar
SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

Art disclaimers. Revel in Riches art by Eric Deschamps; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.