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By: Kumagoro42, Gianluca Aicardi
Oct 15 2021 12:02pm
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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


THOUGHTS OF A TRIBAL HOST
by Kumagoro

 To perfectly celebrate the Midnight Hunt era, Werewolves clawed their way into a first place in Tribal Apocalypse for the first time since October 2012! Awooo!

   

 Well, this was a Standard event, specifically, but it's a first step back to relevance. Most notably, in view of a possible expansion to larger formats, none of the Werewolves from that old list by romellos would ever make the cut in a deck featuring the Midnight Hunt additions (and the excellent Werewolf Pack Leader), with the only exception of Mayor of Avabruck. The issue with the older Werewolves is now also that they don't align with the day/night mechanic, so they don't necessarily transform alongside the new ones, and a card like Unnatural Moonrise does almost nothing for them, whereas Moonmist is forward-compatible and so are Full Moon's Rise and Moonlight Hunt. Some of these spells might have a place in a Pioneer or Modern Werewolf deck. The Mayor probably would. Old glory Huntmaster of the Fells, not necessarily. The curve is lower now, and the new two-drops and three-drops seem more crucial for the deck, while Arlinn, the Pack's Hope is probably a better four-drop with similar play pattern than the Huntmaster, even if she doesn't count towards the tribal total.

   


LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

  • Event Number: Week 561 BE
  • Date: October 9
  • Attendance: 10
  • Rounds: 3
  • Subformat: Standard
  • Winner: _Kumagoro_ with Werewolf
  • 1-loss: Bandit Keith with Zombie, Takeoutree with Cleric, Generalissimo with Shaman, -IceBR- with Noble, -DiamondDust- with Cleric
  • Dark Horse Prize: GringoP with Bard
  • Tribes: Bard, Cleric (x3), Dwarf, Noble, Shaman, Werewolf, Wizard, Zombie
  • Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 And by the way, those Werewolves winning the event? They were MY Werewolves! Awooo!

 

 Another "monster tribe" did well last week, namely Zombie, as piloted by the usual suspect Bandit Keith. The shambling undead have strong support in current Standard, and make for one of the best archetypes in Midnight Hunt Limited, which translates into a robust tribal setup. Champion of the Perished is one of the best one-drops the tribe ever had, and synergizes brilliantly with Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia. Bladestitched Skaab is a solid lord. And they even have a recurring Dragon to rely on as a finisher!

 

 On the other hand, Orzhov Cleric has been a major force in Standard since Zendikar Rising. Luminarch Aspirant is still one of the main reason to be white in this time and age. In fact, Midnight Hunt only added Lunarch Veteran to the lineup, which is good, but not critical. What is critical is black now having two of the best two-mana kill spells ever printed in Infernal Grasp and Power Word Kill. Can't Stay Away also complements nicely the inherent recursion theme, as Takeoutree successfully demonstrated during the event.

 

 Shaman is a not a particularly supported tribe in the current Standard pool, but it's always a large tribe, so it wasn't difficult for Generalissimo to dig up twenty of them and turn their subtype into a shell for an Izzet spellslinging build. The bulk of it comes from Strixhaven, including the extraordinary selection spell Expressive Iteration. The reprint of Thermo-Alchemist in Midnight Hunt might have been the missing key, though. Regardless, it's nice to see Galvanic Iteration copying something that's not Alrund's Epiphany these days.


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 October 15, 2021):

  • _Kumagoro_'s Werewolves: $93.09
  • Bandit Keith's Zombies: $58.71
  • Takeoutree's Clerics: $9.54
  • GringoP's Bards: $7.34

 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.


SHOW AND TELL

 A new Show and Tell from the recent past. Here's Generalissimo was piloting flicker-friendly Beasts in the Legacy event from three weeks ago. Enjoy!


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).


 WHAT'S NEXT

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

  • 11.41 (Week 562 BE), on October 16: Pioneer
  • 11.42 (Week 563 BE), on October 23: Modern
  • 11.43 (Week 564 BE), on October 30: Halloween

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: January 7.
Current watch list:
 Conspicuous SnoopCrippling 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.