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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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LAST WEEK ON TRIBAL APOCALYPSE...

• Event Number: Week 652 BE
• Date: July 29
• Attendance: 6
• Rounds: 3
• Subformat: Midsummer Festival
• Winner: -DiamondDust- with Zombie
• 1-loss: AJ_Impy with Dinosaur, Deonmag with Vampire
• Dark Horse Prize: Quarrenn with Ninja
• Tribes: Dinosaur, Knight, Ninja, Vampire, Zombie (x2)
• Event link (with all players, pairings, standings, decks, and results): here it is

 From Vampire to Zombie, the back-to-back first places of -DiamondDust- firmly remain in the undead realm. But this was the special Midsummer Festival event, where we take one tribe through each iteration it can have in the major Magic formats, a different deck per round. And it's kind of fitting to report on it during the week that celebrates the game's 30th anniversary – which is tomorrow, August 5. -DiamondDust- picked Zombie as the tribe to bring across the board, and this is how they looked in Pioneer. Orzhov base, self-mill with Stitcher's Supplier, discard with Cryptbreaker, then mass-reanimate with Rally the Ancestors and Return to the Ranks, to ultimately drain the opponent with Wayward Servant and Corpse Knight.

 

 The most interesting part of the event is to see how much of a tribal base carries over throughout the formats, especially in the case of a very synergistic tribe like Zombie. In Modern, red replaced white as a supporting color, with the build confidently relocating to Rakdos Sacrifices territory. Off-tribe Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat and Judith, the Scourge Diva replace the black-white drainers, and the triggers now originate from death, not ETB. Old-school Carrion Feeder (which is legal via Modern Horizons) is in charge of the sacrificial angle, with some help from Goblin Bombardment (from Modern Horizons 2), and the Zombies come back by self-reanimating or use Unearth (also printed in Modern Horizons). The only Zombie retained from the Pioneer list is the cheap and versatile Shambling Ghast.

 

 And finally, we get to Legacy Zombies, and this is a dredge deck. Stitcher's Supplier returns, as well as Silversmote Ghoul from the Pioneer list, but the rest of the team is very goal-oriented, and assisted by a large number of off-tribe helpers.

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THE HIGH PRICE OF WINNING

  

 Here's the prices of all the featured decks (MTGO Traders prices as of August 4, 2023):

• -DiamondDust-'s Zombies (Pioneer): $4.88
• -DiamondDust-'s Zombies (Modern): $22.24
• -DiamondDust-'s Zombies (Legacy): $58.90

 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. -DiamondDust-'s Dinosaurs, $0.98, 2nd place on Event 539
2. mihahitlor's Warriors, $1.95, 1st place on Event 233
3. morpphling's Vampires, $2.25, 1st place on Event 285
4. JogandoPelado's Berserkers, $2.80, 1st place on Event 248
5. kokonade1000's Berserkers, $2.95, 2nd place on Event 354

 NOTES: not adjusted to current prices; data collected since Event 85; Penny Dreadful events aren't counted.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Just to remind you of a few things:

 The Up-and-Coming Virtual Plaque: When a tribe wins an event for the first time ever (losing Unhallowed status), its pilot will get bragging rights.

 The New Kids on the Block Imaginary Commemorative Plate: 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 everyone's respect. You'll need a hard win, not a BYE or a win by no-show of your opponent. Tribes currently eligible: none. 

 The Hamtastic Trophy: The Biodiversity distinction dedicated to the memory of Erik Friborg is awarded to each player who registers the most different tribes (except Human, Elf and Goblin) during the year.

 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).

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 WHAT'S NEXT

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

• 13.30 (Week 653 BE), on August 5: Underdog
• 13.31 (Week 654 BE), on August 12: Modern
• 13.32 (Week 655 BE), on August 19: Legacy
• 13.33 (Week 656 BE), on August 26: 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.