
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
THE END OF AN ERA
Last week marked the final event of Tribal Apocalypse with the sponsorship of MTGOTraders.com. It's been a long, long collaboration: I believe they were already the sponsor of the very first tournament, which was held in September 2009, predating the Blippian Era. Look at the comment section of that article, populated by historical names like one_million_words, Flippers_Giraffe, Lord Erman, ShardFenix, Paul Leicht, and of course AJ_Impy!
It's been a great 13 years, and we're extremely thankful to MTGOTraders and its owner Heath Newton for supporting us for so long.

And now what? Well, we keep going, naturally. We might find another sponsor. We might not. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
The Apocalypse will never end.

LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...
- Event Number: Week 629 BE
- Date: February 18
- Attendance:
- Rounds: 3
- Subformat: Legacy
- Winner: -DiamondDust- with Elemental
- 1-loss: Takeoutree with Bear, Yokai_ with Myr, AJ_Impy with Archon, KMDBroken with Angel
- Dark Horse Prize: lovetapsmtg with Hyena
- Tribes: Angel, Archon, Bear, Dwarf, Elemental, Hyena, Merfolk, Myr, Zombie
- Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is
While we waiting for Omnath's final, 5-color incarnation in March of the Machine, -DiamondDust- demonstrated for us how Elemental can still be successfully built as a simple, barely two-color aggro list, using less than 15 bucks.
This Bear list by Takeoutree comes really close to have all its tribal members as 2/2s for two, but if it fails to accomplish that, it's still commendable for running several unusual Bear-flavored cards like Bear Umbra
and Grizzly Fate
.
The Magic storyline is currently on Mirrodin (well, what remains of it after the Phyrexians took over years ago), but the plane's most iconic creature type seems unaffected, having apparently been "solved" as a tribe with the release of Scars of Mirrodin in 2010. Yokai_ built a classic colorless UrzaTron deck for the little Myr, and they can't be happier. You don't see every week a list that gets to use Wastes
as basic land of choice.
THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING
Here's the prices of all the featured decks (MTGO Traders prices as of February 24, 2023):
- -DiamonDust-'s Elementals: $14.86
- Takeoutree's Bears: $13.31
- Yokai_'s Myrs: $16.46
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):
- 13.08 (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.