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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

 Rotation is upon us! The one we played last week was the last Standard event with the cards from the 2019-2020 cycle. On September 16, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt releases online, replacing Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Core Set 2021. As we move closer to cross that bridge, I'll analyze in greater detail what this means for the meta of Standard Tribal Wars (some of that it's touched upon below), but we can look forward to a much-needed shake up, followed by at least a few months of Standard feeling fresh. That sensation never lasts a full year, or even half a year, but it's invigorating when it happens. Bring out the wolves!

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 553 BE
• Date: August 14
• Attendance: 10
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Standard
• Winner: Bandit Keith with Rogue
• Runner-up: _Kumagoro_ with Beast
• 1-loss: Takeoutree with Knight, lovetapsmtg with Squirrel
• Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Squirrel
• New Repopulation Award: lovetapsmtg with Squirrel
• Tribes: Beast, Cat, Cleric, Knight (x3), Rogue, Skeleton, Squirrel, Zombie
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 Standard still belongs to Rogues (and Rogues to Bandit Keith, since nobody else is playing them, which calls back to what I was talking about last week). Here's hoping the Werewolves will eat the sneaky suckers alive and spit out the bones. It all points to that scenario, since Thieves' Guild Enforcer, Slitherwisp and Drown in the Loch are going to rotate, but Midnight Hunt still can't come out fast enough.

 

 I actually tried to oppose the blue-black masters, and my monogreen Beasts performed swimmingly. Until the final round, when they had to bown their bony heads to a combination of Keith's gameplay and RNG. This lineup is also losing a lot of crucial elements like Lovestruck Beast, Questing Beast, Gemrazer, Garruk's Harbinger and Elder Gargaroth (so, yeah, basically every tribal creature except for Swarm Shambler). And since the next Standard event is in October, this is going to remain their best perormance in this cycle. We salute you, o beasties of Eldraine, Ikoria and wherever Harbinger and Gargaroth hail from (Garrukland?).

 

 Here's another tribe that was quite influential in this Standard cycle, especially during the first year, and won't probably be again anytime soon: Knight, which was greatly benefiting from the Arthurian theme of Throne of Eldraine. Takeoutree led them to the glory of a placement one last time. Imagine, the final instance of somebody getting wasted by Embercleave in Standard Tribal Wars!

 

 As for the Squirrels, they were triumphally returned to Standard and Modern legality during the past two years. Now they'll lose the member that began the new influx, Helica Glider from Ikoria. But that wasn't a particularly good creature. They get to keep Toski, Bearer of Secrets and Scurrid Colony, plus the changelings from Kaldheim. It's not enough to qualify as a Tribal Wars participant, but we can be confident a new member is going to be released in one of the upcoming sets. Maybe even some Squirrel Horror off Innistrad. In the meantime, lovetapsmtg celebrated them properly with a Top 4 placement and assorted extra prizes.

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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 August 20, 2021):

• Bandit Keith's Rogues: $23.42
• _Kumagoro_'s Beasts: $32.50
• Takeoutree's Knights: $7.57
• lovetapsmtg's Squirrels: $20.22

 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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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: Beholder.

 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). Tribes that didn't exist before this season aren't eligible.

 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):

• 11.33 (Week 554 BE), on August 21: Modern
• 11.34 (Week 555 BE), on August 28: Legacy

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.