
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
TRIBAL DEMOCRACY AT WORK
The exploratory vote to test the waters about turning Tribal Apocalypse into a league is a draw. That tells us nothing, so let's keep it open for another week and see if someone else is going to chime in. Of course a draw is the same as a "no" with respect to exploring the possible transformation further.
If you're interested, vote on Discord
LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: Week 627 BE
- Date: February 4
- Attendance: 9
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Underdog
- Winner: Takeoutree with Rat
- 1-loss: Deonmag with Archer, csrrcr with Rat, AJ_Impy with Praetor, KMDBroken with Devil, lovetapsmtg with Orgg
- Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Orgg
- Tribes: Archer, Devil, Dog, Orgg, Praetor, Rat (x2), Rhino, Shark
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
Here's a statistical consideration we rarely make. Rat is a relatively popular tribe. It's been played 149 times, making it the 18th most played tribe in Tribal Apocalypse. And yet, the first place by Takeoutree from last week is only the 7th to the Rat's name (these data are slightly imperfect because we miss records of registered tribes in some of the early events, but we still know the winners). This means Rats have a "victory index" of 21.28, meaning in average it takes them more than 21 participations to achieve a first place. For comparison, Human, which won 74.5 times across 768 participations, has a victory index of 10.30. And this doesn't even account for the fact that Human is prevented from entering at least one quarter of the events (the Underdog events, which exist since season 1). Elf scores even better, with 9.80. Goblin, the third most popular tribe, only reaches 11.44. But the most successful tribe with at least 10 wins is Eldrazi, with a victory index of 6.00. Spirit follows with 8.57, then Knight with 9.87. Fascinating, isn't it?
Still in monoblack, here's Praetor finally free of the need to field multiple colors. It could even be done without changelings, if we're okay running old-school Ebon Praetor
. AJ_Impy wasn't. And his list also includes a minimal splash of white for Vindicate
, to be precise.
Here's a tribe, Shark, that was played only five times. GringoP's attempt ended poorly, but they don't have that bad of a lineup. They look like they should be able to do much better than they're currently doing, both in terms of win rate and appearances. Save the Sharks! Don't believe the Jaws propaganda, they're mostly harmless, beautiful animals that are a key element of the entire marine ecosystem!
THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING
Here's the prices of all the featured decks (MTGO Traders prices as of February 10, 2023):
- Takeoutree's Rats: $4.09
- AJ_Impy's Praetors: $274.69
- GringoP's Sharks: $14.03
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
- -DiamondDust-'s Dinosaurs, $0.98, 2nd place on Event 539
- 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
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: Beholder.
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 in a specific format, they will not be allowed to register the same tribe and deck in that format again for 3 events (i.e. they'll have to register a different deck three times before coming back to the undefeated one). 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):
- 13.06 (Week 628 BE), on February 11: Modern
- 13.07 (Week 629 BE), on February 18: Legacy
- 13.08 (Week 630 BE), on February 25: Penny Dreadful
Check out the ban lists and the event calendar.
SEE YOU ALL IN THE #TRIBAL ROOM!
Art disclaimers. Revel in Riches art by Eric Deschamps; Herald of Anafenza art by Aaron Miller.