---

 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

 So, the first event where Cloudpost was legal again after March: Off the Machines ended saw a Cloudpost deck at the top. Ominous? Perhaps, although the event was somewhat twisted by the new Gatherling.one site being temporarily on the fritz (it's running properly now), resulting in a small event with manual pairings. Still, Scarecrow, which isn't even a major Cloudpost tribe (or so we'd think), has already won three events this year, despite the missing month. Then again, March saw Bandit Keith dominate the scene with his aggro lists, so it's hard to decide if Cloudpost's big mana has become too oppressive, or it's a necessary evil to keep the ecosystem balanced. It's true that many games against it devolve in just a race to kill the Cloudpost player before they hit All Is Dust or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon mana. We could ban one or more of these payoffs, but I feel like it wouldn't solve much, as there'll always be some overwhelming spell to cast at that point. Alternatively, we could target Glimmerpost, returning 12-Post to what it used to be before Scars of Mirrodin.

 

 What's alarming is how easy the shell is to build, how solved its composition feels, where the tribe itself plays a very secondary role, which is something we should try to avoid. It doesn't help that the Ugin promo sells for three cents, so everybody can slap four copies of the colorless dragonwalker on the pile and call it a (probably victorious) day.

 Hard to tell how to act in this regard, so we'll monitor the situation some more throughout the season. In the meantime, I'd just like to note how UrzaTron hasn't been explored enough in Modern Tribal. If it's good enough for regular Modern, it should be able to do something in our corner, too.

---

LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: 9.13, Week 430 BE
• Date: April 6
• Attendance: 6
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Underdog
• Winner: Deonmag with Scarecrow
• 1 Loss: Kumagoro with Plant, Nagarjuna with Treefolk
• Tribes: Berserker, Plant, Rat, Scarecrow, Skeleton, Treefolk
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 There's Deonmag's Scarecrow deck that ultimately took the miniature prize for this miniature event.

 

 The main antagonist was Nagarjuna with a Treefolk list very similar to the one I use to run occasionally, but with a white splash for Path to Exile and Gavony Township. I don't know that the latter feels really necessary to me, the Treefolk certainly don't lack in body size.

 

 Remaining in the vegetable world, my Assault Formation-fueled Plants did well once again. I even stole a game from the Scarecrows (thanks to Acidic Slime and Field of Ruin); one, not two, unfortunately.

 

 We might well feature ALL the lists, at this point. ThyShuffler was running these Rats. They usually do better.

 

 Bandit Keith ended his winning streak by relying too much on these RDW Berserkers. It should be argument of study how Underdog typically punishes this kind of deck, whereas Legacy and Modern welcome it with open hands. The tribal resources are reduced (you can't play the list as Goblins, Warriors or Humans), but not to an extreme degree.

 

 Finally, AJ_Impy went with Skeleton Control, without much luck. Incidentally, Skeleton might seem like it should have been a True Underdog here, but it was already been played more than five times and won an event (the season 6 opener). It's also one member shy of 50 now, so it'll soon check no Underdog category at all. A rule that doesn't often get recalled is that the Underdog Prize is not assigned in an Underdog event if there's only tribes with one Underdog category.

---

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 12, 2019):

• Deonmag's Scarecrows: $19.92
• Nagarjuna's Treefolk: $30.40
• Kumagoro's Plants: $65.15
• ThyShuffler's Rats: $80.68
• AJ_Impy's Skeletons: $56.81
• Bandit Keith's Berserkers: $7.72

 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):

• 9.14 (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
• 9.17 (Week 434 BE), on May 4: Underdog

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.