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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Apr 03 2020 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

 Ikoria is upon us! But before delving a bit into it, it's Banhammer Time! Here's what the Tribal Council decided for the first quarter of 2020.

  

 Changes to the Underdog List: Archon, Illusion and Snake return to Underdog; Hydra and Wolf rise to the Major League and aren't legal in Underdog anymore.

 Changes to the Watch List: Batterskull, Hymn to Tourach, Necromancy, Shrieking Affliction and Sinkhole are added; Gaea's Cradle is removed.

 And now, let's go back to the regularly scheduled All Monsters Attack! Magic: The Gathering got itself its own King Kong vs. Godzilla! (The latter won't be called Godzilla in the game, the official booster name will be Zilortha, Strength Incarnate).

 

 Such flavor. And when they fight, they kill each other!

 The Toho monster most likely to become a Constructed staple has to be Mothra, though. I mean, Luminous Broodmoth.

 

 It looks like it'll be a fun, Timmy/Tammy set. And there's a ton of Cats, for some reason. Big cats. Also, a legendary Otter, because that's something that complements Godzilla well.

 Speaking of the new companion mechanic, I think we should amend the Tribal Wars rules and allow a single companion in the sideboard. It seems the kind of thing that's meant for our kind of format, and losing it due to a technicality seems bad form. What do you think?


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: Week 481 BE
  • Date: March 28
  • Attendance: 13
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Legacy
  • Winner: BoozeMongoose with Merfolk
  • Runner-up: Nagarjuna with Demon
  • 1-loss: Nydethess with Eldrazi, ThyShuffler with Goblin, AJ_Impy with Wizard, Deonmag with Scarecrow, Bandit Keith with Eldrazi
  • Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Demigod
  • Tribes: Demigod, Demon, Devil, Eldrazi (x2), Goblin, Horror, Human, Merfolk, Scarecrow, Shaman, Warrior, Wizard
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Colossal creatures will give battle in a couple of weeks; in the meantime, our latest Legacy event was conquered by simple Merfolk, assisted by Legacy heavyweights new and old, like Oko, Thief of Crowns and Force of Will. But it also marked BoozeMongoose's return to first place, so we salute it nonetheless: congrats and welcome back!

 

 Some big dudes were around, anyway, thanks to Nagarjuna and his Sneak Attack Demons, featuring no black mana sources. Putting down Rune-Scarred Demon so you can immediately fetch the next thing to sneak in seems like an extremely obvious move, but it's just what the archetype needs. In fact, the whole tribe lends itself well to Sneak Attack shenanigans, featuring death triggers like Havoc Demon's or ETB effects like Overseer of the Damned's. Razaketh, the Foulblooded is effectively another Rune-Scarred, and we all know what Mr. Griselbrand can do.

 

 Here's another tribal combo deck: Goblin Storm by ThyShuffler, with Fecundity as an engine, Goblin War Strike and classic Empty the Warrens as payoffs.

 

 Finally, AJ_Impy went with Monoblue Tempo Wizards, and look how effortlessly the tribe can field 20 members with flash.


THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Here's the prices of all the featured decks, courtesy of the Deck Pricer from mtgGoldfish (MTGO Traders prices as of April 3, 2020):

  • BoozeMongoose's Merfolk: $451.46
  • Nagarjuna's Demons: $162.04
  • ThyShuffler's Goblins: $39.84
  • AJ_Impy's Wizards: $84.82

 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 currently is one eligible tribe for the award: Demigod.

 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. Still to clear: Antelope. Already cleared: Atog, Crocodile, Goat, Homarid, Incarnation, Jackal, Leech, Licid, Manticore, Metathran, Monger, Moonfolk, Nightstalker, Octopus, Orgg, Ouphe, 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):

  • 10.13 (Week 482 BE), on April 4: Underdog
  • 10.14 (Week 483 BE), on April 11: Pioneer
  • 10.15 (Week 484 BE), on April 18: Modern
  • 10.16 (Week 485 BE), on April 25: Legacy
  • 10.17 (Week 486 BE), on May 2: Underdog
  • 10.18 (Week 487 BE), on May 9: Standard
  • 10.19 (Week 488 BE), on May 16: Pioneer
  • 10.20 (Week 489 BE), on May 23: Modern

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: June 26.
Current watch list:
 Aether VialBatterskullCloudpostHymn to TourachIsochron Scepter,
NecromancyShrieking AfflictionSinkholeWitch's Vengeance.

SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

 

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