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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
May 11 2019 12:46pm
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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

 So, here's a research on all the decks running the Cloudpost package with one of its major associated tribes (Construct, Golem, Scarecrow) this season.

 Total: 18-12. Three times at first place, one second place, all with Scarecrow (in fact, both Construct and Golem have negative balances). It's worth noting that all the first places (one of which would have been illegal if it happened after the first month of the season, when the top players lockout would kick in) are from the same player, Deonmag, who's been playing Scarecrow since years; if Scarecrow is even any good now, it's because of his efforts tuning it. Also, Scarecrow can use the big mana to cast Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and All Is Dust (Deonmag runs three copies of the former, two of the latter), but it also plays as a five-color deck due to Reaper King, so it's a Cascading Cataracts deck first and foremost.

   

 Based on these data, any intervention against Cloudpost would feel very ill-conceived to me. Not least because it would seem a personal attack against one player who's piloting the archetype half the times it shows up competitively, and had a mix of good results and bad results with it. As for the Scarecrow tribe, it seems to have outgrow Underdog, this is for sure. We've seen it win a regular Legacy event, after all, while its more esteemed artifact cousins were struggling in comparison. In fact, Scarecrow is now the most successful artifact tribe in the history of Tribal Apocalypse. It's proved it can hold its own against any tribe. So, there we are: Scarecrow is now officially a major tribe. Which means it's not legal in Underdog events anymore.

 And Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is on the watch list. I've set a date, July 5, at which the ban lists will be revised, and a bunch of cards is on watch until then. You'll find the list at the bottom of the article, and in all the next articles as a reminder.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: 9.17, Week 434 BE
  • Date: May 4
  • Attendance: 11
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Underdog
  • Winner: ThyShuffler with Kobold
  • Runner-up: Nagarjuna with Scarecrow
  • 1 Loss: Socanelas with Scarecrow, AJ_Impy with God, JackSlagel with Ooze
  • Underdog Prize: lovetapsmtg with Rabbit
  • Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg with Rabbit
  • Tribes: Chimera, God, Horror, Kobold, Ooze, Rabbit, Rat, Scarecrow, Scarecrow, Soltari, Specter
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 ThyShuffler found a way to field a monored tribe during No Mountain May: by playing almost no lands at all. Kobold Storm is an interesting deck, which he had tried twice before this year, for a meager 2-2 total score. This time it worked like gangbusters, even generating a turn-one win (against me!). Storm is a very hard archetype to brew in Tribal Wars, because one third of your deck will get in the way. Kobold is possibly the only tribe that can pull it off, but the only previous win by the little dudes, Golden_Lin's on Event 319 two years ago, used the Enduring Renewal/Goblin Bombardment combo instead.

 

 Here's what will be the final Scarecrow deck in an Underdog event. It made second place while piloted by Nagarjuna.

 

 War of the Spark gave the God tribe some excellent new toys, and AJ_Impy debuted them here.

 

 I'm compelled to feature Ooze every time the slimy tribe shows up, even if JackSlagel's version doesn't run neither Prime Speaker Vannifar nor Biogenic Ooze, which are my favorites by far.

 

 I've also liked my Horrors, who managed to outrace Soltari and forced Scarecrow to burn through multiple Ugins. Equipping Ghostfire Blade on Eternal Scourge on turn two is not a bad way to start a beatdown. I should shell out to complete that Phyrexian Obliterator playset.

 

 And this is the other face of Cloudpost: Rabbit (and Chimera and Monger and whatnot: all the Underdogs of the Underdogs). Finally repopulated thanks to lovetapsmtg.


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 10, 2019):

  • ThyShufflers's Kobolds: $75.32
  • Nagarjuna's Scarecrows: $33.43
  • AJ_Impy's Gods: $165.94
  • JackSlagel's Oozes: $266.10
  • Kumagoro's Horrors: $60.50
  • lovetapsmtg's Rabbits: $30.81

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

  • 9.18 (Week 435 BE), on May 11: Standard
  • 9.19 (Week 436 BE), on May 18: Modern
  • 9.20 (Week 437 BE), on May 25: Legacy
  • 9.21 (Week 438 BE), on June 1: Underdog

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: July 5.
Current watch list: Aether Vial, Fireblast, Mutavault, Price of Progress, Thalia's Lieutenant, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Wasteland.

SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

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