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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

 Double Tribal experiment in the bag, Tribal Apocalypse is ready to go on a little hiatus for the first time in its history, courtesy of a calendar that had both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve on a Saturday.

 We'll resume activities on January 8, with an Underdog event (January 2022 has five Saturdays, so the Invitational will be held on the last week).

 I've been toying with the idea of some big structural changes, because we have some inherent issues that are making the tribal experience sour for many – first of all, the big gap between Spikes and non-Spikes. I plan to do something about the "win at all costs" philosophy, perhaps even by moving away from the Swiss rounds format and into league or even non-competitive showcase with prizes based on anything but winning. I also thought about a full restyling with a change of title: after all this years, I realize "Tribal Apocalypse" is an ominous name, and I'd like to switch to something more cheerful like "Tribal Festival".

 This said, this kind of change is extremely complex to engineer, and I'd need a specific committee evaluating the various possibilities and helping me pick the right one (which might not even be the final one, of course; but we have to start somewhere). I think, all things considered, we might do a "conclusive" 12th year of Tribal Apocalypse in 2022, and discuss where to go next in the meanwhile.

 Until then, happy holidays! Diaries of the Apocalypse will return on January 14. See you all next year!

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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 571 BE
• Date: December 18
• Attendance: 7
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Double Tribal
• Winner: Bandit Keith with Human+Warrior
• 1-loss: ThyShuffler with Goblin+Human
• Tribes: Cat, Dog, Goblin, Human (x2), Ninja, Scorpion, Shapeshifter, Snake, Vampire, Warrior, Werewolf, Wolf, Zombie
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 He won most of everything in the past few years, including this season's leaderboard, so it makes sense for Bandit Keith to also win the Double Tribal, with the extremely safe pair of Human and Warrior. See, this is what I was talking about. If the very concept of Double Tribal makes someone think of quirky pairs like Cat & Dog or Scorpion and Snake, while other just try and determine what the most efficient pairing is, these people aren't really playing the same sport and making them face each other is kind of pointless.

 

 The other major Spike in recent times has been ThyShuffler, the leaderboard and event runner-up. And here's another "fun" pair, Goblin and Human. Oh, they make for a strong deck? Who would have thunk? (In hindsight, the usual Elf, Goblin and Human suspects should have been banned in the event).

 

 At least AJ_Impy went with a strong synergy, Ninja and Shapeshifter, that wasn't immediately obvious. Possibly not even strong enough, but still requiring a bit more of pondering than just shooting for the top aggro pairs.

 

 And this one, by -DiamondDust-, is the best deck in the event. It hinges on the simple fact that Hooded Blightfang is a Snake yet is enabled by most Scorpions too. So nothing incredibly insightful, but still more unexpected than most of the other pairs.

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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 December 22, 2021):

• Bandit Keith's Humans+Warriors: $79.02
• ThyShuffler's Goblins+Humans: $3.30
• AJ_Impy's Ninjas+Shapeshifters: $239.67
• -DiamondDust-'s Scorpions+Snakes: $6.74

 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):

• 12.01 (Week 572 BE), on January 8: Underdog

Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
Next banned and restricted announcement: January 14.
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.