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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

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THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 Core Set 2021 is almost here, and it'll bring an important tribal development that we rarely witnessed: the death of a tribe. In a couple of weeks, Hound will no more be a creature type. Welcome to the Year of the Dog.

  

 Is it a good change? Meh, it's pretty much just cosmetic. I'm in the camp of those who, unlike Mark Rosewater, think the term "hound" felt more at home in a fantasy setting. Then again, "hound" is a subset of "dog" in real life, and not all Hounds in the game were actually hounds. So yeah, we have Dogs now. It can't be that much more ridiculous than an army of squirrels. Can it?

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 491 BE
• Date: June 6
• Attendance: 
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Underdog
• Winner: _Kumagoro_ with Troll
• 1-loss: Bandit Keith with Serpent, arcbounddaylabor with Devil, Nagarjuna with Treefolk
• Dark Horse Prize: AJ_Impy with Carrier
• Up-and-Coming Prize: _Kumagoro_ with Troll
• Tribes: Carrier, Devil, Dinosaur, Pangolin, Scout, Serpent, Treefolk, Troll
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Speaking of dogs and their under-variants, Troll did it! The tribe that dwells under a bridge (not all under the same bridge, I guess). And I even happen to be the one piloting their winning list!

 

 I'm pretty happy with this pile, which maximizes all the Troll with the highest individual power (as opposed to tactical helpers like Varolz, the Scar-Striped). It could be improved, though. Squee, Goblin Nabob is there to combo with Lotleth Troll, but if they two don't cross paths, Squee is pretty much useless, so it could be easily replaced with more Food providers for Feasting Troll King (so you can actually discard the King to Lotleth Troll), or more ways to get rid of the Goats that Clackbridge Troll creates – i.e. more copies of Witch's Vengeance, although it never came up a case when it made more sense to Vengeance the Goats rather than the opponent's actual creatures. Also, three slots for the legendary Shadowspear might be too many, as the second copy was a dead card in my hand in several occasions; then again, I also won more than one game thanks to an equipped Ascetic or Thrun.

   

 Here's the three decks the Trolls had to overcome on their way to glory, one per each broad archetype. On turn one, AJ_Impy faced them with his Carrier deck, which is a small tribe, but potentially able to control the board, since every member is removal on legs, and Molten Echoes created even more of them, ready to sacrifice and bring something else with them. Luckily, half the Troll tribal lineup having some form of hexproof is a big counter to the Carrier's targeted shtick.

 

 After the control matchup, turn two was combo time, with Bandit Keith revisiting Living End via Serpents. These were three very tense games. Lotleth Troll's free discard ability was key in at least one occasion, to offset the Living Death routine. I like the spicy addition of the little played Commandeer in Keith's list, which can be played for zero and still doesn't interfere with cascade, but I don't believe it made an appearance during our match.

 

 And finally, here's aggro with arcboundayabor's Devils. Once again, hexproof was the Trolls' main asset.

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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 June 12, 2020):

• Kumagoro's Trolls: $97.89
• AJ_Impy's Carriers: $240.37
• Bandit Keith's Serpents: $143.14
• arcbounddaylabor's Devils: $75.29

 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. MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $.3.01, 1st place on Event 484
8. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
9. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422
10. MisterMojoRising's Insects, $3.55, 2nd place on Event 201

 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. MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $3.01, 1st place on Event 484

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

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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, 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 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).

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 10.23 (Week 492 BE), on June 13: Standard
• 10.24 (Week 493 BE), on June 20: Pioneer
• 10.25 (Week 494 BE), on June 27: Legacy

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: June 26.
Current watch list: Aether Vial, Batterskull, Cloudpost, Hymn to Tourach, Isochron Scepter,
Necromancy, Shrieking Affliction, Sinkhole, Witch's Vengeance.

SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!

 

Art disclaimers. Revel in Riches art by Eric Deschamps; Show and Tell art by Jeff Laubenstein; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.