Welcome back to Tribal Apocalypse!
Table of Contents
- Last Week on Tribal Apocalypse...
- The High Price of Winning
- Announcements
- What's Next
Check the full archive for the "Diaries of the Apocalypse" series
THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro
Time for the quarterly announcement from the Tribal Council! Not much movement this time, although there's an ongoing vote about Living Death
whose outcome will be reported before July 24, which is the first upcoming event where it'll be relevant. For now, the Council has thusly spoken:
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: Week 547 BE
- Date: July 3
- Attendance: 12
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Underdog
- Winner: Bandit Keith with Kor
- Runner-up: hideyoshi1 with Kor
- 1-loss: lovetapsmtg with Eye, ThyShuffler with Wraith, Generalissimo with Berserker, Supergirl-Type0 with Noble
- Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Eye, ThyShuffler with Wraith
- New Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg with Eye, Takeoutree with Otter
- New Kids on the Block Award: lovetapsmtg with Eye, Takeoutree with Otter
- Tribes: Archer, Berserker, Crab, Dauthi, Eye, Kor (x2), Noble, Otter, Treefolk, Warlock, Wraith
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
And this is the Kor vs Kor final that pushed the Council to move the Equipment-obsessed Zendikari albinos out of the Underdog pool. Their tricks have become kind of hard to stop for the lesser tribes, as proved by both Bandit Keith and hideyoshi1 not losing a single game prior to their final confrontation. The tribe has now three different members able to attach Colossus Hammer
for free (ideally, to Kor Duelist
), plus one member
to search for it, or for one of the other high-profile Equipment, and one member
to protect the whole endeavor. Kind of the perfect package. Sigarda's Aid
means one can go turn-one Duelist into turn-two drop the Hammer and attack it, immediately swinging for 22 damage before the opponent might even have had time to play their second land. That's not the aid you were supposed to give, Sigarda!
The two finalists' lists were almost identical, but hideyoshi1 ran a less expensive mana base without horizon lands, Steelshaper's Gift
as an additional tutor, and Modern Horizons 2's Kaldra Compleat
as extra task for Stoneforge Mystic.
In the lower echelons of the standings, far from the Kor apocalypse, two new-ish tribes at last gained their very first match win, thus earning their pilots the New Kids on the Block Award (Starfish was the only one left at this point, but Forgotten Realms helped repopulate the list – I'll discuss the new types next week). The first is Otter, which debuted last year in Ikoria, and reached Tribal Wars eligibility soon after in Ikoria Commander.
This is how Takeoutree built the aquatic mustelids. The presence of ETB deniers to combo with Eon Frolicker
made the inclusion of Phyrexian Dreadnought
and Eater of Days
a no-brainer, but I suspect the two artifact behemoths did all the heavy lifting in the end.
The second tribe to lose match-winning virginity is at the opposite end of the age spectrum. Eye is indeed a very old tribe, dating back to 1994's Legends. After a callback in Time Spiral, it was only this year with Strixhaven that they reached a third black-bordered member – one that unfortunately loses most of its appeal in Tribal Wars, since we don't have a sideboard to put lessons in.
The build by lovetapsmtg was this monoblack "good stuff" list with a madness theme to at least exploit the rummaging side of the learn mechanic.
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 9, 2021):
- Bandit Keith's Kor: $126.79
- Takeoutree's Otters: $21.13
- lovetapsmtg's Eyes: $9.79
The Top 10 Cheapest Decks that Went Undefeated
- -DiamondDust-'s Dinosaurs, $0.98, 2nd place on Event 539
- SirFalcon2008's Goblins, $1.54, 1st place on Event 389
- mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
- morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
- morpphling's Goblins, $2.35, 2nd place on Event 102
- JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
- kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
- MisterMojoRising's Beasts, $.3.01, 1st place on Event 484
- Gq1rf7's Goblins, $3.32, 1st place on Event 154
- Bandit Keith's Soldiers, $3.48, 1st place on Event 422
The Top 5 Cheapest Non-Goblin Decks that Went Undefeated
- mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
- morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
- JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
- kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354
- 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 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: Bard, Citizen, Halfling, Starfish, Tiefling.
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).
WHAT'S NEXT
The upcoming Tribal Apocalypse events of the Blippian Era (every Saturday at 17:00 GMT):
- 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: October 1.
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; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.
