New tribes galore! Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths added four new entries to our roster, raising the total to 204 playable tribes. On top of the debut of Otter and Shark (the former is still not eligible for Tribal Wars events, but will be as soon as Commander 2020 gets online, the latter got five retcons at the expense of Fish), Pangolin and Squirrel have reached the coveted amount of three online members.
And Demigod still has to win its first match! Lots of 3-tix prizes to be won here!
In other news, the Tribal Council approved the use of companions in Tribal Wars (at least for the time being, we'll see what happens). So companion away to your heart's content!
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
Event Number: Week 484 BE
Date: April 18
Attendance: 13
Rounds: 3
Subformat: Modern
Winner: MisterMojoRising with Beast
Runner-up: ThyShuffler with Elf
1-loss: Yokai_ with Dragon, Nydethess with Elf, JackSlagel with Devil, Bandit Keith with Elf
Dark Horse Prize: AJ_Impy with Shark, lovetapsmtg with Shark
Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
Beware! 2014 Ultimate Champion MisterMojoRising is back, and he took his first event win since 2017, with a 3-buck, 5-color, Restore Balance deck that used only Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse as fetchlands, so it immediately entered the list of the cheapest undefeated decks ever (MisterMojo owns another entry of that list, an Insect build that went undefeated all the way back to season 4). The shell here is Beast, helped by new Ikoria cycler, Titanoth Rex. Pity such big boy was just destined to be discarded away and never reached the battlefield – maybe it's time to dust off Living End, too.
Of all the combo decks that did well in this event, Generalissimo's was the most original, an exert-based Warrior build exploiting the off-beat interaction between Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Combat Celebrant. Infinite creatures? What about infinite combat phases? Generalissimo demonstrates the combo for us in this week's Show and Tell.
And the Sharks are already coming. (Inset Jaws theme here). AJ_Impy built it as a Simic Flash deck, since you can use up to twelve of these big fish to ambush the opponent in their turn. You know, like in the movie.
The other Dark Horse specialist, lovetapsmtg, went even further with the theme, adding black for new flash lord Slitherwisp. Unfortunately, none of these two shivers of Sharks managed to bite their way into a non-BYE, non-no-show win. But I sense it coming. There's blood in the water.
The Top 5 Cheapest Non-Goblin Decks that Went Undefeated
mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422
NOTE: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85.
SHOW AND TELL
All this exertion didn't pay off adequately for Generalissimo, but was good exercise.
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. Tribes currently eligible for the award: Demigod, Otter (as soon as Commander 2020 gets online), Pangolin, Shark, Squirrel.
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 fromhere, 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):
