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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

 The 10th Tribal Apocalypse Invitational ended with an unprecedented outcome: for the first time, the #1 seeded player (i.e. the player that concluded the season at the top of the leaderboard) also became the Ultimate Tribal Champion. So congratulations to Bandit Keith!

 And kudos to the three other finalists, too: ThyShuffler (seed #2), Yokai_ (seed #4) and Nydethess (seed #6). A result very true to predictions, possibly signaling a growing chasm between our entrenched top competitors and the casual components of our player base? Really, the only surprise was the elimination of a top seed during the first round, with Nagarjuna (seed #3) stopping his race short against Bnoru. On the other hand, the reigning Ultimate Champion was Generalissimo, a more experimental kind of player, so we might be good, after all.

 The Invitational also marks the time of the year the Tribal Council is renewed. Following the established rules (section K here), the new Council composition, based on the number of participations during the past seasons plus the Ultimate Champion, is as follows:

• Bandit Keith, Ultimate Champion with 52 participations
• Nagarjuna with 52 participations
• AJ_Impy with 51 participations
• ThyShuffler with 48 participations
• lovetapsmtg with 46 participations
• Deonmag with 45 participations
• -DiamondDust- with 40 participations

 In reserve:

• Generalissimo with 37 participations
• Nydethess with 37 participations
• Yokai_ with 32 participations

 Last year, lovetapsmtg forfeited their seat; if that's confirmed, one of the reserves will take their place. Given that Generalissimo and Nydethess have the same claim, we'll have to decide who gets the seat, and then elect this year's President. Everyone was up in participation compared to last year, by the way (the former composition had AJ_Impy and Nagarjuna with 36 participations, Bandit Keith with 33, ThyShuffler with 31, Deonmag with 30, CruelHellraiser with 28, Generalissimo as Ultimate Champion).

 Also, I was asked to formalize the way the Council convenes. So rule k3 now reads as follows: "The Council assembles every quarter to decide of possible new bans, unbans or restrictions to tribe in all formats. All Council members must have a functioning Discord account as a requisite for being able to join the Council. A Discord meeting is called by the President on a date one month prior to the quarterly deadline to present the changes; it will take place on such date and the deliberations will be considered valid provided there will be at least 5/7 of the members present. A second meeting is held closer to the deadline to confirm or repel the proposed changes."

 I also added the need to better motivate the Council's decisions, so this is now rule k6: "The ban must be accompanied by a text that elaborates on the reasons why the Council banned the cards. Failing the production of this text, the bans won't be ratified until the next quarter."

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 523 BE
• Date: January 16
• Attendance: 14
• Rounds: 4
• Subformat: Invitational – Round 1: Standard, Round 2: Pioneer, Round 3: Modern, Round 4: Legacy
• Winner: Bandit Keith with Cleric (Standard), Spirit (Pioneer), Goblin (Modern), and Human (Legacy)
• 2nd place: ThyShuffler with Peasant (Standard), Human (Pioneer), Zombie (Modern), and Wizard (Legacy)
• 3rd place: Yokai_ with Warrior (Standard), Goblin (Pioneer), Dragon (Modern), and Human (Legacy)
• 4th place: Nydethess with Human (Standard), Spirit (Pioneer), Faerie (Modern), and Elf (Legacy)
• 5th-8th place: AJ_Impy, Bnoru, -DiamondDust-, Generalissimo
• 9th-14th place: Arigal, Deonmag, _Kumagoro_, Nagarjuna, romellos, Takeoutree
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

 To celebrate our new Ultimate Champion (who was actually Ultimate Champion once in 2018 already, the first player to get the title twice), here's the four lists Bandit Keith has played throughout the tournament. He got a BYE in Round 1, as privilege of the top seeded players in case of no-shows, but if he had played the Standard round, he would have used this Cleric list.

 

 For Pioneer, the choice was easy: Spirit is currently one of the top tribes in the format, if not the absolutely dominant one.

 

 For the Modern round, it was time for the Goblins to come out and play.

 

 Finally, the most successful player in Tribal Apocalypse history took the trophy by using the most successful tribe, Human. Congrats again!

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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 22, 2021):

• Bandit Keith's Standard Clerics: $20.61
• Bandit Keith's Pioneer Spirits: $26.58
• Bandit Keith's Modern Goblins: $213.72
• Bandit Keith's Legacy Humans: $251.24

 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):

• 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.