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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. Show and Tell
4. Announcements
5. 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

 More D&D news from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, which is completing its preview season later today. As expected, we have Bard as a new creature type. Older cards that will most likely receive an errata: Elvish Bard from Alliances, Joraga Bard from Zendikar, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard from Magic 2015. Is music a green thing?

   

 The D&D world brought us new classes (Ranger is another one that's bound to become major down the line), but also entirely new races: Halfling, Tiefling, Gnoll, and Beholder (although the latter had previously appeared as a test card in Mystery Booster).

   

 Other classic D&D races have been rendered through existing Magic types. Hobgoblins and Bugbears are just Goblins (the former was already a thing in Eventide, cfr. Hearthfire Hobgoblin, Hobgoblin Dragoon, and Rise of the Hobgoblins); Half-Elves have both the Human and the Elf types, a combination that had never happened before.

   

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 546 BE
• Date: June 26
• Attendance: 13
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Modern
• Winner: Porkero with Human
• 1-loss: lovetapsmtg with Phyrexian, Bandit Keith with Human, -DiamondDust- with Phyrexian, AJ_Impy with Scout, Supergirl-Type0 with Phyrexian, ThyShuffler with Scorpion, hideyoshy1 with Human
• Dark Horse Prize: ThyShuffler with Scorpion
• New Repopulation Award: GringoP with Eye, Takeoutree with Eye, -DiamondDust- with Phyrexian, lovetapsmtg with Phyrexian, Supergirl-Type0 with Phyrexian
• New Kids on the Block Award: -DiamondDust- with Phyrexian, lovetapsmtg with Phyrexian
• Tribes: Ally, Eye (x2), Human (x3), Phyrexian (x3), Scorpion, Scout, Vampire (x2)
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 This Modern event was characterized by a huge amount of prizes, due to the simultaneous attempt at the New Kids on the Block Award by three Phyrexian players and two Eye players. Phyrexian made it, as predictable, but they failed to also immediately get the Up-and-Coming Prize, as they couldn't beat Porkero's Martyr Life Human list featuring four copies of Modern Horizons 2's Abiding Grace – which has basically been printed to fuel the mad synergy with "lifegain matters" and with Martyr of Sands specifically.

 

 And here comes the Phyrexian parade. First in line is the Orzhov-colored build by lovetapsmtg, which scored higher than any other in the tie-breakers for 1-loss finishes. It's a Yorion, Sky Nomad companion list, therefore it's 80+ cards, but still manages to stay below $3 of budget. Who would have thought, the Phyrexians can actually be a cheap bunch!

 

 Second of the Phyrexians was -DiamondDust-. And these are a lot more expensive, albeit mostly it's because of Thoughtseize. Still white-black, but the approach here is completely different, being a Pyre of Heroes list (the much more flavorful Birthing Pod was unfortunately unavailable in Modern!), with a small reanimator subtheme. Turns out the Phyrexians have a ton of good ETB effects, like all the Splicers, Perilous Myr and Phyrexian Rager, all ready to turn their bodies into perfect sacrifice fodder on the way to Soul of New Phyrexia and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.

 

 Last but not least, here's Supergirl-Type0's attempt at promoting the Machine Orthodoxy through tribal carnage. This super-streamlined monoblack build is yet another way to build a Phyrexian deck, this time capitalizing on the very flavorful Phyrexian Scriptures.

 

 Interesting to note, there wasn't a single Phyrexian shared by all three lists. The three most common, with eight copies each, were Blade Splicer, Fume Spitter and Phyrexian Rager. Seven copies for Bone Shredder.

   

 Finally, check AJ_Impy explaining his client-breaking, trigger-happy Scout list featuring Glimpse of Tomorrow in this week's Show and Tell. And of course, look at the list first.

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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 July 2, 2021):

• Porkero's Humans: $26.52
• lovetapsmtg's Phyrexians: $2.72
• -DiamondDust-'s Phyrexians: $66.94
• Supergirl-Type0's Phyrexians: $23.86
• AJ_Impy's Scouts: $78.76

 The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated

1. -DiamondDust-'s Dinosaurs, $0.98, 2nd place on Event 539
2. SirFalcon2008's Goblins, $1.54, 1st place on Event 389
3. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
4. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
5. morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
6. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
7. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
8. MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $.3.01, 1st place on Event 484
9. Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
10. Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422

 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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SHOW AND TELL

 AJ_Impy shows and tells you about his Scout list and its intricacies.

 The genesis of the deck idea came in with Ravnica: City of Guils, when Warp World first saw print. For eight mana, each player shuffled their permanents into their library and then revealed that many cards, putting all permanents onto the battlefield and the rest back in the library. So, you'd get a bunch of token-generator permanents, land fetching permanents, build your way up to the huge mana cost, and then generate massive advantage as your tokens and extra lands translated into even more permanents, whilst your opponent, with most likely a higher proportion of non-permanents, suffered diminishing returns. Of course, you could also get unlucky and give them a board full of wincons, but generally you could Warp World, recur it, cast it again with all your new untapped lands, and go through the cycle to put yourself in a winning position.

 

 Now, fast forward to Modern Horizons 2 and Glimpse of Tomorrow. What if Warp World, but two mana and three turns? What if Warp World, but freely cascaded into? What if Warp World, but completely one-sided? You can see where this is going. Even played "fairly", the card is insane. Three turns to max the permanent count and you still get your one-sided Warp far ahead of schedule. That's the principal engine, but two other MH2 additions kick things up a notch, and that's from a very high notch to begin with.

 

 Shadows over Innistrad's Tireless Tracker has always been a powerhouse, starting with power equal to cost and generating Clue tokens with what effectively amounts to landfall, then growing when those Clues get sacrificed. Modern Horizons 2 gave us Tireless Provisioner, also a Scout, with actual landfall, generating either Treasure or Food, so adding mana and life to the equation instead of cards. MH2 is also responsible for Academy Manufactor, which turns an already potent engine into a MTGO-breaking multiplicative mess which can easily flood the board with three digits, verging on four digits, worth of permanents. What if instead of one token, three tokens?

   

 The interaction here is with Glimpse of Tomorrow putting a Tireless Scouts on to the battlefield coterminous with a whole swathe of lands. Each Tireless then triggers, a token for each land. Unless a Manufactor got warped in as well, in which case you get tokens per land per Tireless creature raised to the power of 3 per Manufactor. So that's 27 tokens generated per land per Tireless creature if all three hit the battlefield. You can see how after a couple of cycles it can overwhelm MTGO, as the deck can easily get to a point where it strips every permanent out of your library, 4 Provisioners, 4 Trackers, 3 Manufactors, 24 lands, for a maximum of 5,184 tokens evenly split between Clue, Food and Treasure. At this point the client chokes to death and dies, if it hasn't already. It can't even handle putting the 192 token-generating triggers on the stack in such a circumstance.

 The rest of the deck includes Hellkite Tyrant, as it is laughably easy to get 20 artifacts relatively early on. Survive to upkeep, win. Failing that, it's a 6/5 flying trampler that steals an entire class of permanents; not a bad thing to flip into on turn 3. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim fits the "tireless" theme, fetches any land, usually The World Tree, to fuel its activated ability in conjunction with Treasure tokens. And we can cast Glimpse of Tomorrow off its ability straight away.

  

 Wood Elves also fetch lands into play to ramp up the permanent count or trigger landfall, can fetch dual Forests. Turntimber Ranger ups the permanent count, combos with other copies of itself and with Chasm Guide. The latter, giving everything haste, can just win there and then. Eternal Witness recycles our Violent Outbursts, any killed permanents, can keep the cycle going.

  

 The deck performed above expectations, the only match loss was due to clock, and only because my opponent exiled the Tyrant that I could have stacked to trigger for the win before the game-stalling unsuspended Glimpse that put my entire deck on the battlefield on turn 5. (Suspending it on turn 2 seemed a good idea at the time.)

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Dark Horse 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: Eye, Otter, Starfish.

 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):

• 11.26 (Week 547 BE), on July 3: Underdog
• 11.27 (Week 548 BE), on July 10: Standard
• 11.28 (Week 549 BE), on July 17: Pioneer
• 11.29 (Week 550 BE), on July 24: Legacy
• 11.30 (Week 551 BE), on July 31: Special

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: June 25.
Current watch list: Conspicuous Snoop, Crippling Fear Shrieking Affliction.

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.