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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Oct 02 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

 Slight change in the Tribal Council routine. Under the present rules, the renewal of the current Council was due right now, as it was originally linked to the occurrence of the yearly Standard rotation (it's when the Council was first established one year ago. Happy birthday, Council!). In hindsight, this was not a very functional choice, as it would make us look at the candidates' attendance in an incomplete season; and the new Ultimate Champion, who's now part automatically of the Council, wouldn't be elected until late January. So from now on, the Council is renovated the week after the January Invitational, by looking at the previous season's attendance. Therefore the first and current Council will remain in charge for a little longer. I have spoken.


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: Week 507 BE
  • Date: September 26
  • Attendance: 14
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Legacy
  • Winner: Deonmag with Scarecrow
  • Runner-up: Nagarjuna with Hydra
  • 1-loss: arcbounddaylabor with Elemental, -DiamondDust- with Zombie, ThyShuffler with Faerie, Nydethess with Faerie, AJ_Impy with Wurm
  • Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Boar
  • Tribes: Artificer, Beast, Boar, Elemental, Faerie (x2), Golem, Hydra, Kobold, Rogue, Scarecrow, Spirit, Wurm, Zombie
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 It's amazing how Scarecrow managed to remain in the Underdog crowd for so long, and now it wins Legacy events like it's nothing. And it's not like it picked up new members along the way, the lineup has been pretty much the same for years (the bulk of it comes from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor). Deonmag has always been a devoted fan of the old raggedy guys, it must be said.

 

 Out of the five iconics tribes that represent the top end of each color, only Angel has somewhat consistently ended on top in Tribal Apocalypse, with its 9 wins. Demon and Dragon both stopped at 3 wins so far, while Sphinx only won the once. Hydra, the smaller of the five, has two first places under its scaly belt, but came close here to catch up on its flying peers with this well-oiled Nagarjuna build. Though I still maintain Kalonian Hydra should have a place here. Doubling Hydroid Krasis counters can lead to a K.O.

 

 By the way, the modern-framed Wild Growth from Commander 2018 is still not available online, so the white-bordered Seventh Edition version sadly remains the only option to build an Aura ramp shell with, which is infuriating. Reprint it already, WotC! It's not overpowered when Utopia Sprawl also exists and got reprinted without a fuss in Masters 25!

  

 Here's an updated three-color Elemental aggro deck by arcbounddaylabor. It's a nice mix of cards from several Elemental-focused sets: Lorwyn, Core Set 2020, and of course Zendikar Rising.

 

 If Hydra wasn't established as the iconic creature for green (and it wasn't until relatively recently), Wurm would have been the next best choice. AJ_Impy reminds us the tribe can also field an effective monoblack build – with some red for the land-destroying Trench Wurm's activation. Remember Trench Wurm? No? Didn't think so.


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 October 2, 2020):

  • Deonmag's Scarecrows: $22.85
  • Nagarjuna's Hydras: $69.25
  • arcbounddaylabor's Elementals: $81.13
  • AJ_Impy's Wurms: $117.97

 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.


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: Otter.

 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 five times before coming back to the undefeated one). This means a different tribe; in some cases, specific combo or archetype-defining cards will also be locked out. 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):

  • 10.39 (Week 508 BE), on October 3: Underdog
  • 10.40 (Week 509 BE), on October 10: Standard
  • 10.41 (Week 510 BE), on October 17: Pioneer
  • 10.42 (Week 511 BE), on October 24: Legacy
  • 10.43 (Week 512 BE), on October 31: Halloween

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: December 23.
Current watch list:
 Aether VialBatterskullCloudpostHymn to Tourach,
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.