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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

 It's that time of the year again: the Tribal Apocalypse 2020 Invitational will be held tomorrow, in place of a regular event (but January has five Saturdays anyway, so we won't lose anything in the rotation). Here's the 16 qualified players from last season's leaderboard that will give battle for the title of Ultimate Tribal Champion as well as 20 tix and a seat on the soon reforming Tribal Council. In seed order:

1. Bandit Keith, 408 pts.
2. ThyShuffler, 281 pts.
3. Nagarjuna, 270 pts.
4. Yokai_, 190 pts.
5. AJ_Impy, 188 pts.
6. Nydethess, 156 pts.
7. -DiamondDust-, 137 pts.
8. Generalissimo, 123 pts.
9. Deonmag, 110 pts.
10. _Kumagoro_, 98 pts
11. lovetapsmtg, 46 pts.
12. Takeoutree, 45 pts.
13. romellos, 32 pts.
14. Arigal, 28 pts.
15. Bnoru, 28 pts.
16. pk87, 27 pts.

 Full information on prizes, registration links and rules can be found here. The tournament will be single elimination, the four rounds will feature different tribes and lists, in increasingly large formats from Standard for round 1 to Legacy for the finals. Failing to show up gives a bye to the opponent. Good luck, everyone!

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 522 BE
• Date: January 9
• Attendance: 11
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Pioneer
• Winner: Bandit Keith with Spirit
• Runner-up: -DiamondDust- with Vampire
• 1-loss: Takeoutree with Zombie, ThyShuffler with Human
• Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Camel
• New Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg with Camel
• Tribes: Camel, Cat, Cleric, Elf, Human, Hydra, Spider, Spirit, Vampire (x2), Zombie
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Is Pioneer our least successful format? It's possible. It lacks the dynamic nature of Standard, the pool size of Modern, and the complete nature of Legacy. It might be a failing format outside of Tribal Wars, too. We'll keep it in the calendar for 2021 nonetheless, and see what happens. In the meantime, Bandit Keith won yet another event, with the very dominant Spirit tribe, especially when further strengthened by a splashed Collected Company.

 

 The final was played against the always kind of dominant Vampires, piloted by -DiamondDust-.

 

 From Company to companion. I personally admired this landfall/mutate Cat list by AJ_Impy. For once Kaheera, the Orphanguard gets to help her own main tribe.

 

 And the New Repopulation proceeds. It's the turn of Camel, which lovetapsmtg built as best as the tribe allows, with the off-tribe and offbeat combo between Adanto Vanguard and Font of Agonies.

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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 January 15, 2021):

• Bandit Keith's Spirits: $54.40
• -DiamondDust-'s Vampires: $51.55
• AJ_Impy's Cats: $10.28
• lovetapsmtg's Camels: $8.38

 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: Otter.

 The New Repopulation Award: Play all rounds of a Tribal Apocalypse event with a tribe that's been played only three times or fewer, and you'll get a 1-tix certificate from MTGO Traders. The list of eligible tribes is here (the leftmost column, from the end).

 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).

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• Special (Week 523 BE), on January 16: 2020 Invitational
• 11.03 (Week 524 BE), on January 23: Modern
• 11.04 (Week 525 BE), on January 30: Legacy

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: March 26.
Current watch list: Aether Vial, Batterskull, Conspicuous Snoop, Hymn to Tourach,
Necromancy, Shrieking Affliction, Sinkhole, Witch'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.