Pre-Season

In preparation for the season, like before official applications were sent out in order to choose a new cast of participants. Applications were released on June 9th, 2019, and the applications were closed on July 2nd. There were a total of 16 applications submitted.

The cast was announced on July 4th, and the season officially began on July 22nd. Like last season, the Discord group allowed for contestants to mingle and assemble before the season started.

Additionally, for the first time, trailers for the upcoming season were released before and during the course of the season, with the help of production member albie6544.

Twists

Captains Schoolyard Pick Tribes - For the first time in Minecraft Tribes history, the tribes would be selected on Day 1 by a schoolyard pick, where two captains (who had placed 1st and 2nd in the first challenge) would be able to select their tribes. The player who had come first in the prior challenge would get the first pick, followed by the player who had come second who got to second pick. Each captain would alternate picks until there were no more players eligible to be selected, ending up with 2 tribes of 4 players.

Poison Ink Sac - Following the first reward challenge, two players, one per tribe, were ultimately cursed by a vote and received an Ink Sac. For every subsequent Elimination Ceremony they attended until further notice, they would receive a penalty vote, increasing their chances of being voted out of the game. The only way the curse could be uplifted was if the cursed player decided to mutiny to the other tribe, for which they were given a chance to declare a mutiny or not before every immunity challenge. If a player cursed with the Poison Ink Sac was voted out, they were tasked to transfer the curse onto a fellow tribemate, inflicting the same effects onto that player. After the merge, the format of the twist had changed. No longer were players cursed indefinitely; instead for the next few rounds the most recently eliminated contestant would choose which two players still in the game would be cursed the same way, but only for one vote.

Gurbata Twist - The remaining players had expected there to be a merge at one point in the game, but instead were faced with the threat of players voted off from days 1-3 known as the Gurbata tribe. An immunity challenge was held where if the Gurbata tribe beat at least one tribe, they would win the opportunity to vote one of their own back into the game, replacing another player who was to be voted out from the tribe which had placed last in the challenge.

Ink Sac Nullifier - Purchased in the Minecraft Tribes Auction on Day 5, this book allowed the owner to "nullify" the Poison Ink Sac inflicted upon them for one vote, thus removing the extra vote the curse put upon them.

Audience's Challenge - Throughout the season, audience members in the official Minecraft Tribes Discord would get to have influence in the season, similarly to the prior season. Before the merge had started, a poll was opened up for audience members to suggest various challenge idea to be implemented for the Day 6 Immunity Challenge at the final 4. The suggestion that won the competition was an Elytra themed challenge, sugggested by former Minecraft Tribes contestant ZachTheBomb. (see Day 6 Immunity Challenge below)

Contestants

Season 5's cast consisted of a total of 8 players, split into 2 tribes of 4, selected by two players who had won the opening challenge. The order of selection was done by a schoolyard pick. Because of the clear challenge win, the contestants viewed the players who had selected the tribes as the definitive tribe leaders.

Challenge and Elimination Summaries

• Once the front gate of the sand pit opened, players would storm inside and dig up as much sand as they could in order to find one of two chests hidden below. Inside those chests were terracotta blocks, a yellow terracotta block in one chest and a green terracotta block in another. If a player found a chest, they'd take the terracotta block and head back up to the front of the challenge. The two players who came back with a terracotta block would become the respective captains of whichever tribe the color that they had found represented.
• After a bit a of a wait due to production difficulties, players began digging up the sands of the pit. Some players made staircase digging patterns down, while others dug straight down and then dug the whole column of sand every time they wanted to move a direction. It took a while for people to grasp good digging strategies, but once people got into the rhythm of it, out of nowhere spacejamedition came up with the greed terracotta block. With only one block left, people clamored to rush for the last one. Suddenly, boioks came out of the debris holding the yellow terracotta, although it was LurkingIsCrazy who had found that chest first.
• With the two blocks found, the challenge seemed to be over and spacejamedition and boioks were to be the captains picking the tribes, but boioks stepped in and asked if LurkingIsCrazy could take the spot of captain instead out of guilt for snatching the terracotta block from him.

• The first round started with a bang as everyone jumped down and stared hitting each other. With speed and agility f_urrry was able to quickly climb up the tree faster than anyone else to get the beans back, earning Ondu the first point. After the second round, boioks managed to get back the beans to put Lufoye on the board. It seemed close after that second round, but unfortunately for Lufoye they couldn't compete with Ondu as f_urrry successfully stole the beans from the tree on the third round to score a second point, and spacejamedition scored the final point to give Ondu the win.
• After Ondu was declared the winner of the challenge, all of the cast was instructed to move to a nearby platform. From there, each tribe took a separate vote, in which they would vote for the weakest person on their tribe. Members of Lufoye voted for Ldoggyy, while members of Ondu voted for Tortizzy. Everyone was then told that Ldoggyy and Tortizzy were now cursed with the "Poison Ink Sac" and that further details concerning this new twist would later be revealed.

• Players would chop down the acacia trees right in front of the tall walls to create a way to climb over them. They were allowed to use any strategy they wanted except for ladder making, while also being warned to descend carefully since fall damage could lead to death. After the whole tribe made it past the two walls, they would traverse through the parkour section. If a player fell off and into the pool of water, they were required to start from the beginning of the parkour again. Once finished with the parkour, the tribe would then have to use colored banners they were supposed to take from chests scattered along the first half of the challenge to recreate the national flag of Chad, using exactly the amount of banners that were supplied . In order to create it most effectively, the tribe would need to communicate and cooperate the best they could. After their design was approved by the host, they could then move onto the final part of the challenge. Using lettered blocks, they must decode a phrase (being "CHAMPIONS OF CHAD") from the series of letters given to them. The tribe that first solves this phrase would win the first immunity of the season.
• Before the challenge began, Tortizzy and Ldoggyy were given a chance to mutiny to the other tribe in order to get rid of their Poison Ink Sac. Tortizzy gave no response as he was offline when he was supposed to, and Ldoggyy signaled via Discord that he did not wish to mutiny from Lufoye to Ondu.
• Both tribes started off decently as they each found a way up the two walls. However as all the players tried to descend the walls, they were met with death because of the fall damage inflicted upon impact. Lufoye managed to get past the walls first, while Ondu was falling a bit behind towards the end of the wall portion of the challenge because of spacejamedition's slowness. With a bit of a headstart, the parkour was no problem for FirstTimeJames, boioks and LurkingIsCrazy. Met with the giant canvas where they'd have to assemble a flag, Lufoye thought they were making gradual progress. The Ondu tribe was struggling still once they attempted the parkour portion, but eventually got past and caught up with Lufoye. Ondu found the correct way to construct the giant flag of Chad and Lufoye realized that they were making the flag wrong, having to break most flags placed and start over. With a huge lead now, Ondu started to unscramble the letters they had to form the phrase. Lufoye eventually finished their flag and moved onto the word puzzle, where they were pleased to notice that Ondu hadn't made any progress. Both tribes were stumped and required the help of a hint from the host. After it was revealed that the middle word was "OF", FirstTimeJames figured out the phrase and had his tribe give him the letters he needed to solve the phrase. Lufoye solved the puzzle first to earn the first immunity of the season, sending Ondu to the first Elimination Ceremony.

• Going one tribe at a time, two members of one tribe would enter the box and try to make a match of their tribe's colored wool. To score a point for their tribe, the pair must successfully make a match of their own team's wool color by breaking blocks of sandstone to reveal a color underneath. Due to only two players allowed in the box at a particular time, if such a pair failed to make a match of their color, they wouldn't score a point, and must cover their revealed guess back up, so they could only rely on their memory of the placement of the colors for a legitimate strategy. Even though one could compare the challenge to a "Memory Game", a point could only be scored if their tribe color is revealed. So for instance, regardless of whether players on Lufoye or Ondu get a match with the color yellow, a match with yellow equals a point for Lufoye. The first team to score 5 points, or 5 pairs of their team's wool color, would win the Agriculture Set as reward.
• As Lufoye had four online players at the time as opposed to Ondu's two, they were required to sit out two players. Because a tribe could not have back to back sit outs, Lufoye tried to make a strategic move, they wanted to sit out players who would be crucial for winning the following immunity challenge, of which they didn't know what would be. Ldoggyy and FirstTimeJames opted to sit out because they seemed to their own tribe as the best challenge performers.
• Both tribes seemed to be evenly matched throughout the challenge. Sometimes Lufoye would score a point, sometimes it'd be Ondu scoring a point. At a certain point, Ondu was leading 3 - 2. After not matching, they happened to make the clumsy mistake of covering an already revealed sandstone block they weren't supposed to and leaving. Because of this, when Lufoye came into the box for their turn, LurkingIsCrazy and boioks found the incorrectly covered block they remembered to be yellow, so they were able to find another yellow block to tie the game up, 3 - 3. Later on, Lufoye and Ondu were tied 4-4, and after many non-matches, Ondu had a very easy chance to score the final point if they had remembered the location of the green blocks they had previously dug up. However they failed to pay attention and instead dug up a match of yellow blocks, giving Lufoye the final point instead, giving Lufoye a magnificient reward.

• Two representatives of each tribe would stand on their respective positions of the court, and at the beginning of each round would attempt to catch slimeballs which were shot down from dispensers above. In order to win a round, one must throw the slimeballs they had collected over an iron fence and onto a pressure plate to turn on a redstone lamp in each of the six booths on the opposite side of the court. The challenge was played out in the format of "best out of 3" so the first tribe to win two rounds would earn immunity.
• Right before the challenge started, the players cursed with the Poison Ink Sac were given an opportunity to mutiny to the other tribe. Ldoggyy felt comfortable sticking with Lufoye, and as the tribe leader, spacejamedition felt that he couldn't abandon Ondu.
• During the first round players had a tough time getting used to the strategy of throwing the slimeballs to land on the pressure plate, especially for members of the Ondu tribe. This led FirstTimeJames to get a clean sweep of 6 hits to Ondu's 0 to win the first round for Lufoye. With only one round left needed to win, Lufoye became overconfident while Ondu knew that the pressure was on to not head to another Elimination Ceremony. However, spacejamedition and f_urrry quickly got the hang of timing when they should throw the slimeballs, and rapidly racked up the points needed to win the second round while Lufoye struggled for some reason. At this point it was anyone's game as the final, sudden death round began. Ondu retained a solid lead over Lufoye. The score was 5 to 1 with Ondu leading, but soon FirstTimeJames started landing slimeballs on pressure plates, and all of a sudden the score became 5 to 4. But finally, spacejamedition landed the last shot to give Ondu their first immunity win, sending Lufoye to an unexpected Elimination Ceremony they thought they could avoid.

Day 2 Elimination Ceremony

Inc Sac Vote: Ldoggyy

Eliminated: boioks

• Back at camp, the mood was somber as no one wanted anyone to leave the tribe. Nevertheless, it seemed as if there was going to be a straightfoward vote as FirstTimeJames, boioks and LurkingIsCrazy seemed set to stick together. Despite working hard to contribute to the tribe, Ldoggyy was seen as the outsider, and it seemed simple enough to vote him out as the person outside the main Lufoye alliance. Though once the Elimination Ceremony started to come closer, new plans had been considered. LurkingIsCrazy and FirstTimeJames discussed the possbility of voting off boioks instead, being given the perception that the player was going to become a social and strategic threat in the future, despite having a major work ethic. Ldoggyy was informed of this plan and suggested to go along with it, but under the perception that both boioks and LurkingIsCrazy would be voting for him, he replied that he was dead-set on voting for LurkingIsCrazy.
• At the Elimination Ceremony general themes were thrown around in tribal conversation about whether to play safe for the moment or to think down the line. Before the vote, Ldoggyy was reminded that due to being in possession of the Poison Ink Sac, he was subject to an extra vote cast against him. After FirstTimeJames with 0 votes and then LurkingIsCrazy with 1 vote (cast by Ldoggyy) was declared safe, believing to have been played by the rest of his tribe, Ldoggyy expressed a calm "good job, guys...", ready to be officially voted out. Nevertheless everyone was surprised to be told that a tie had occurred between boioks and Ldoggyy, 2 votes against boioks and 1 vote plus the Poison Ink Sac vote for Ldoggyy. A revote commenced, only between Ldoggyy and boioks. In the revote, Ldoggyy's Poison Ink Sac had no power. As the results came back, boioks realized the inevitable fate that was to come and became infuriated with the rest of Lufoye. In a 3 to 1 vote, boioks was voted off and became the 2nd to Die, cursing the tribe on the way out.

• Players would race out in a free for all mad dash across a high-up platform to retrieve a series of materials and bring them back to their starting mats. Only one item was allowed to be taken per player at a time. Along the way was a narrow iron fence beam which needed to be crossed in order to get to the end platforms with the blocks. This was known as the "Attack Zone", where PvP of any sort was allowed in the attempt to knock opponents off to slow down their progress of retrieving these materials. If a player fell off the platform at anytime, they must return to the place they were last; if not possessing an item they'd return to the start, while if holding an item they'd return to the platform at the end with the blocks. Once a tribe has collected all their materials, they would next try to use such materials to replicate a structure behind the mats, paying a good amount of attention to detail. The first tribe to exactly copy the structure onto their area after calling for a check of their build structure would win a valuable reward, of which value few tribes in the series' history has earned this early in the game: a set with everything needed to make any potion a player wanted.
• Everyone raced out to the other platform to fetch back the blocks, some having more difficulty getting across than others. A lot of punching and PvP occurred, with some sneaky punches from the back causing unaware opponents to fall off the beam and start over. Ondu appeared to have a great lead over Lufoye, whose tribe members were having trouble crossing the Attack Zone. By the time Ondu had gotten all their materials back and began work on the structure, Lufoye still needed to carry back several blocks. With a comfortable lead, Ondu took their time, while Lufoye rushed back and started their building of the structure. Thinking that they had solved the puzzle, both tribes were surprised to learn how precise and detailed their build had to be to qualify for the win, asking for a check several times and being told that they were incorrect. Both tribes were making a small but crucial mistake: the terracotta blocks were placed in a way that oriented the blocks a different direction than the template build. FirstTimeJames was first to catch on and told Lufoye to fix the tribe's terracotta blocks. By the time Ondu realized the problem, it was too late. Lufoye asked to be checked, and were declared the winners, devastating the now struggling Ondu tribe, and crushing Lumpycheesecake's morale.

• Each tribe was given a set of materials (rails, powered rails, redstone torches) in a chest and use them to create one long functioning minecart track, only being allowed to place down rails along the gravel path. While building the track, the tribe must account for many obstacles standing in their way: bundles of logs, a bumpy section of the gravel road, winding paths under and over a bridge, and finally a steep ascent up MCCreeper Mountain, named after the Minecraft Tribes III player himself. At the top of the mountain was a finish station. Once a tribe thinks that they've built a sufficient track, they will need to deliver 20 gold blocks inside 4 minecarts with chests along the track they just made to the finish station, after which sitting and riding in minecarts through the track up to the top themselves. The first tribe to successfully deliver and place all 20 gold blocks on a granite platform would win immunity.
• Once again, before the challenge started, the players cursed with the Poison Ink Sac were given an opportunity to mutiny to the other tribe if they felt like it. Both Ldoggyy and spacejamedition proved loyal by not mutinying.
• Surprisingly, both tribes started the challenge extremely coordinated and efficient. While Ondu all stayed together building their track from the start of the course, players on Lufoye spread out and built different parts of the track separately. Naturally with this balanced division of labor, Lufoye got their course done as Ondu was only about two-thirds done. From here, Ondu began having communication problems as Lumpycheesecake was already in a nihilist and pessimistic mindset and wasn't helping. Lufoye was able to push one minecart to the finish station before struggling with the rest of their minecarts. Ondu finally got their track done, and sent the first of their carts to the finish. Lufoye managed to get the hang of sending more carts to the finish and eventually sent them all, including the ones with themselves in there, to the end. Having no chance to catch up, Ondu realized that it would be futile to continue trying. After transporting and placing all their gold blocks, Lufoye was declared the winner of the challenge, sending Ondu into a very unpleasant situation.

Day 3 Elimination Ceremony

Inc Sac Vote: spacejamedition

Eliminated: Lumpycheesecake

• Devastated with their second loss of the day, Ondu didn't even want to think about the upcoming Elimination Ceremony. Lumpycheesecake was already not having fun anymore and asked his tribemates to vote himself off. Even though f_urrry and spacejamedition desperately asked him not to throw in the towel just yet, his cynical attitude became too much for the other two on Ondu.
• The following Elimination Ceremony was very disheartening. It seemed as if the tribe's morale sank to an all-time low, easily obvious to tell by their responses to questions given by the host. Before the vote, spacejamedition was reminded that due to being in possession of the Poison Ink Sac, he was subject to an extra vote cast against him. However it didn't matter much as Lumpycheesecake had received 3 votes (including 1 vote he cast against himself) meaning that he now was the 3rd to Die.

• One member of each tribe would start on opposite sides of the course and spawn 2 horses on their starting platform. From there, they'd attach leads to the horses. When instructed to begin, the two players would start running through the course in a counter-clockwise direction while making sure not to break the lead attached to their horses. If they broke the lead, they'd have to reattach the lead and resume running. As they circle around the course, one person would have to be fast enough to reach the other person from behind and tag them by hitting the other player. This challenge was a winner-take-all scenario so the first player to do so would win the reward of an advantage in the next immunity challenge, which would eventually prove crucial as players were warned that the immunity challenge was extremely important to the course of the game at whole.
• Ldoggyy was chosen to represent the Loufoye tribe, while spacejamedition represented Ondu. Both got set up with horses and leads and were ready for the endurance race, Ldoggyy at the starting point nearest to the tribe mats, spacejamedition at the far end towards the other side of the course. Both started at an equal pace, but right at the time that both traveled about half a lap, Ldoggyy became stuck at the section of the course with a forest of trees and had major difficulty pulling his horses through the narrow passageway. This gave spacejamedition much time to gain lead on Ldoggyy. By the time Ldoggyy made it out of the forest, spacejamedition was just about to begin that section. Ldoggyy was able to travel well enough until he made it a bit more than a full lap and encountered the soulsand cliff where he tripped up and cost even more time. By this time, he was in the sights of spacejamedition and rushed for his life in the challenge. Once again the dense forest proved to be a burden upon Ldoggyy as spacejamedition was able to use this obstacle to fully catch up and tag him. Thus, Ondu's short losing streak came to an end as spacejamedition pulled through to win his tribe reward. Ldoggyy shortly afterward became very apologetic to the rest of his tribe for costing Lufoye an important loss.

• Upon looking around, contestants were disappointed and then horrified to realize not only that there was no merge just yet but there was another immunity challenge, which meant one of the remaining five people there wouldn't make the merge. Players who knew about Minecraft Tribes history were a bit confused since the last time a 4-player merge happened was the first season long ago and it just didn't make sense to them that the merge would come so late in the game. What also didn't make sense was that there was a third black mat in between the yellow and green mats for the usual two tribes. Suddenly out of nowhere, boioks appeared onto that black mat to represent the Gurbata tribe, the formed group of eliminated contestants vying for a chance to come back into the game proper. This caused panic among the rest of the cast who didn't want the past to haunt them. It was then announced that the boioks would participate in the next challenge on behalf of the Gurbata tribe and Lufoye and Ondu's placement in the challenge relative to Gurbata's performance would determine whether a player would be rejoining the game or not. If Gurbata beat out at least one tribe, one of their members would rejoin, but if they got third place, the game would remain the same and the merge would commence as normal. For Lufoye and Ondu, whichever tribe finished in third place would be sent to an Elimination Ceremony where another player would be voted off right before the merge.
• One representative of each tribe would jump off a cliff towards a total of three dispensers. They must time when they push buttons right above the dispenser to trigger a bucket to be released from it. Every time one jumps off, they must climb back if they need more attempts to jump and push more buttons. Once successfully collecting all three buckets, they would run forth from the cliff along a long lane made of slime blocks. At the end of the lane was a river where players would use the buckets they had in their inventory to collect water. Next, they would empty the water bucket down three holes in order to create an accessible passageway so that they could swim down and retrieve a lever from each underground room. After resurfacing with all the levers, they'll head back, past the start of the challenge to a redstone block structure. The first two tribes to place each of the three levers on the designated spots in order to open the three doors of the structure and take a red banner from the shulker boxes at the end would earn immunity.
• Ldoggyy and spacejamedition were given another opportunity to mutiny if they desired. Neither player opted to for the same reasons as they made before. As a reward for winning the previous reward challenge, spacejamedition for Ondu was given a bucket meaning that he only needed to collect two buckets from the dispensers.
• Everyone originally had trouble getting the hang of timing their jumps to hit the buttons exactly. With Ondu's reward challenge win, spacejamedition was one bucket ahead of Lufoye and Gurbata. Suddenly boioks was seen holding a bucket which tied Gurbata with Ondu, Lufoye trailing with none. FirstTimeJames then found the right strategy and in a short time collected 2 buckets, taking the lead for Lufoye. It was apparent that spacejamedition was struggling, while boioks and FirstTimeJames were getting the hang of the concept. Then from nowhere, boioks hit the remaining buttons to get the last two buckets needed and dashed down the bouncy slimeblock lane to put Gurbata in a leading position. Followed shortly after was FirstTimeJames for Lufoye. Only after did spacejamedition hit a button to release the first of to remaining buckets needed. Naturally, boioks and FirstTimeJames had ease using their now water-filled buckets to have safe passageway to their underground rooms and collected the three keys needed. Coming back up, the two passed back by spacejamedition, still struggling with the buttons, to reach the redstone building at the end and open their doors. Finishing first was boioks who placed 1st for the Gurbata tribe, followed a little bit after by FirstTimeJames in 2nd for Lufoye. This meant that despite the advantage, Ondu was doomed to attend another Elimination Ceremony while the Gurbata tribe would have someone rejoin the game. With the utmost joy, Lufoye celebrated the fact that they had made the merge.

Day 4 Elimination Ceremony

Inc Sac Vote: None

Eliminated: f_urrry

Returned to Game: boioks

• WIth only two members left, the Ondu tribe was devastated to become a tribe of one. However for the last few sessions of play, f_urrry had been inactive. After a few minutes of lounging at the Ondu camp with much sadness and guilt, already confused on how a vote would take place with two players, spacejamedition was called to leave camp and head to the Elimination Ceremony. From there it was announced that due to inactivity, f_urrry had been disqualified from the game. Because of this, the vote was canceled and spacejamedition was declared safe. This left spacejamedition relieved that he wasn't eliminated and could continue his adventure in the season, but curious on what his position in the game would be as the last player left from Ondu.
• The Gurbata tribe then began their portion of the Elimination Ceremony, and spacejamedition took a spot by the sidelines of the hut. Prior to the session, all members were instructed to participate in this Elimination Ceremony, but only boioks happened to show up on time. As a result, a planned vote to determine which member would re-enter the game was also canceled. Deservedly so, boioks was granted such a spot back in the game for a winning effort to participate in both the immunity challenge and the ceremony thereafter.
• Following this, spacejamedition and boioks were told to remain at the Elimination Ceremony site. LurkingIsCrazy, FirstTimeJames and Ldoggyy were instructed to meet up at the same place. Once the remaining five players were all together, the host signaled to them that the merge had officially begun, and to agree on a new tribe name, and determine which of the two camps at which to relocate. The merged players decided to call themselves Bersatu, which meant "united" in Indonesian. Because most players were from the Lufoye tribe, it was generally decided upon the old Lufoye camp as the location for the tribe. Additionally, spacejamedition and Ldoggyy were lifted free from the curse of the Poison Ink Sac, but the tribe as a whole was told that this would not be the end of the curse as a whole as it would be taking a new form during the merged phase of the game. As the sole member of the former Ondu tribe, spacejamedition was allowed 5 minutes to pack up all belongings from his old camp for permanent departure to a new camp. Due to rejoining the game, boioks was required to start over in survival, bieng required to obtain resources again some way or another.

• The new Bersatu tribe saw the usual set of bleachers and marketplace styled booth, and instantly they all knew what was up, bursting with excitement to indulge in the fun experience that was the Minecraft Tribes Auction. They were asked to sit down on the bleachers once they had arrived at the site. They were each given 24 emeralds to bid on whatever items they deemed to be beneficial for them, in increments of 1 emerald each. They were told that the auction would end without warning, so players were encouraged not to be hesitant and impulsively buy something if they liked what they saw. Also included were "dud" items in the mix alongside favorable items, and like seasons prior, they weren't told of this type of potential occurence. As an added trick pulled on them, there were more bad items than in a normal auction to intentionally give the players a harder time. Three "mystery boxes" were present for everyone to see for the duration of the auction.
• During the auction, items were sold in such a way:
  • 9 Diamonds - FirstTimeJames
  • Informative Book - LurkingIsCrazy
  • Mystery Box #1 (5 Scute) - spacejamedition
  • Elytra - spacejamedition
  • Mystery Box #2 (11 Sugar, Renamed as "Pentolach’s Old Fashioned Crack") - FirstTimeJames
  • Advantage for Immunity Challenge - boioks
  • Stick, Renamed as "CMan2717’s Poke Stick" [Knockback II, Fire Aspect II] - spacejamedition
  • Secret Book (Ink Sac Nullifier) - FirstTimeJames
  • (Swagger Dagger [Sharpness V], Overflow Bow [Infinity]) - boioks
• LurkingIsCrazy managed to successfully purchase an "Informative Book" only with the knowledge of what it was called. Upon reading the contents, he realized the mistake he made in buying this book. Inside, the book stated that he had "bought himself OUT of the auction" and was instructed to head back to camp.
• FirstTimeJames and spacejamedition bid on items aggressively while boioks waited for some type of advantage or optimal item to bid. When LurkingIsCrazy left from the auction, less competition caused each item to have a full-on bidding war. FirstTimeJames had successfully bid on a Secret Book, the contents of which he was instructed to keep a secret from the rest of the tribe until "the time was right". As players left the auction, Everyone except for LurkingIsCrazy (for obvious reasons) was satisfied with the items they had bought.

• Given two practice shots before the challenge proper, players practiced aiming a bow at a large vertical target with different colors and shooting an arrow at it. After this, players would take turns shooting a certain amount of arrows every round. The color on which their arrow landed would correspond to a certain amount of points (Brown = 0 pts, Red = 1 pt, Orange = 2 pts, Yellow = 3 pts, Blue = 4 pts, White = 5 pts, Button = 7pts) and after shooting the arrows, the total points accumulated would be counted up for the person. The player with the lowest score at the end of every round would be eliminated from the challenge and take a seat on the sit out bench right near the base of the target. The remaining players would then climb a ladder up to the next platform, which would make it more difficult for players to accurately shoot from farther away. For most rounds, players were dealt a total of 3 arrows, but the final round would have the remaining two players shoot 5 arrows. The last person remaining in the challenge would win the first individual immunity of the season, being the only one safe at the following Elimination Ceremony.
• Although boioks had bought the "Advantage for Immunity Challenge" in the auction, only LurkingIsCrazy, spacejamedition, Ldoggyy and FirstTimeJames showed up for the challenge on time, making boioks ineligible to compete, let alone use the advantage. However, a compromise was made that the advantage could be kept and use in the next immunity challenge if boioks survived until the final 4.
• After the practice round, players moved up to the second platform. FirstTimeJames and spacejamedition shot well scoring very high and LurkingIsCrazy shot decently enough to avoid elimination, while Ldoggyy wasn't able to perform as skillfully as the rest, getting the lowest score and becoming the first eliminated in the challenge. Having climbed to the third level, the remaining three realized how difficult accuracy and precision was becoming. In this next round, LurkingIsCrazy shot most of his arrows somewhat well but messed up his last shot. FirstTimeJames once again shot accurately and guaranteed himself a spot in the final two in the challenge with a higher score than LurkingIsCrazy. For spacejamedition he could feel the pressure, but managed to just barely outperform LurkingIsCrazy, knocking him out of the challenge to sit next to Ldoggyy. In the final two were FirstTimeJames and spacejamedition, and both shot their five arrows from the highest platform. Going first, the nervous spacejamedition shot mostly well, hitting many blue spaces and even a white space. FirstTimeJames shot his five arrows and had a very similar performance, with spacejamedition already congratulating him for supposedly winning the challenge over him. However the result showed that one arrow of his landed on a yellow space, giving him less points than spacejamedition and eliminating him from the challenge. As the last person left, spacejamedition won the challenge earning himself immunity. With tons of elation, he paid homage to his friend and ally by crying out, "That was for you, f_urrry!" and was awarded the highly coveted Individual Immunity T-Shirt (an enchanted chainmail chestplate) to signify his invulnerability in the coming vote.

Day 5 Elimination Ceremony

Inc Sac Vote: Ldoggyy, [FirstTimeJames]

Eliminated: boioks

• Way before Day 5 even began, the most recently eliminated player, f_urrry, was notified of the new Poison Ink Sac's rules (see "Twists" section of page above for explanation) and chose to inflict this new form of the curse upon Ldoggyy and FirstTimeJames, members of the old Lufoye tribe in order to help his once-ally, spacejamedition in the game. This meant that both cursed players would receive an extra vote at this Elimination Ceremony.
• The Bersatu tribe began scrambling and strategizing after the challenge. The names which seemed to come up as the to candidates for most threatworthy were FirstTimeJames and boioks. FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy of the Lufoye Lads agreed that it was the best decision to vote off boioks again due to the direct threat boioks was after rejoining the game, targetting former Lufoye members. Meanwhile, spacejamedition came up with the idea of forcing a tie between the two players so began to talk to wild cards boioks and Ldoggyy about a plan to blindside FirstTimeJames, although Ldoggyy blatantly turned down such suggestions.
• Pressure and excitement was building among everyone as the first merged Elimination Ceremony would see where loyalties truly stood. Somehow boioks gained knowledge of the other plan and decided to aggressively target FirstTimeJames in the form of responses during the question phase of the ceremony. Before the votes were revealed, Ldoggyy and FirstTimeJames were reminded that because they had been cursed with the new form of the Poison Ink Sac, an extra vote would be cast against each of them. Suddenly FirstTimeJames got out of his seat and surprised the whole tribe by announcing that he was going to use the secret book he had bought in the auction, which was revealed to be the Ink Sac Nullifier. The rules stated that when this is used, the effects of the Poison Ink Sac are negated for the owner, meaning that FirstTimeJames' extra vote against him was no more and only Ldoggyy would receive the curse for this ceremony. The votes came in and by a 4 - 1 - 1 vote, boioks was once agian voted off, this time for good, becoming the 4th to Die. This outcome shocked spacejamedition in particular, who realized that he got outplayed by the rest of the tribe when there was nowhere close to the tie he predicted.

• Standing on their respective colored spaces, contestants would wait at the start of every round to be allowed to race off and craft a specific item in Minecraft which was selected by the host. Players were responsible for finding resources needed to craft such an item. Once a player had crafted an item, they must ask the host to be checked on if they had successfully crafted the item. If successful, that player would have the giant glass canister on their space filled with a terracotta block of their respective color. The player who first overflows their canister (by receiving 3 blocks total) would win reward, a prized package of 32 diamonds and one of any item in the game they desired. Prior to any instruction, everyone was directed to put their existing items in a separate chest to prevent a player from cheating by using items they already had.
• The first item called for was a wooden pickaxe. Shortly after, spacejamedition came back with the required wooden pickaxe to give himself the first block in his canister. For every item afterward, it was Ldoggyy who was faster than his competitors in bringing back a cooked porkchop, an orange dye and finally a painting.
• In addition to the 32 diamonds he had won, Ldoggyy earned the choice of any one item in the game. He quickly decided upon an enchanted golden apple, knowing that it would help him out significantly at the PvP-based final immunity challenge.

• With the use of an elytra, each player would jump off a cliff and fly towards a series of towers. They must properly control their flight to land on the towers' platforms. If they didn't make one of the platforms and touched the floor, there was no possible way to reach a platform so they had to race back to the top of the cliff and make the trip again. On each platform was a chest filled with colored wool blocks inscribed with the name of a particular eliminated player. The color of the block corresponded to the tribe a player was on when voted off. Each tower held the name of a different eliminated contestant so one must travel to all five towers to retrieve all five names. (boioks' name was on two blocks, one yellow and one red for both eliminations) Once in possession of all blocks of wool, they would head back to the start where a tower of item frames was waiting for them. With the bottom being first voted off and the top being the most recent, they had to place the wool blocks on such item frames in the correct order of when contestants were eliminated. The first player to do so would earn immunity.
• If anyone felt comfortable enough or thought that it wasn't worth it to win immunity, an offer was open only for one taker. 24 diamonds were offered as a temptation for the first player who flew their elytra straight onto the surface and cross a line in the ground made of diamond blocks. Although this would eliminate them from the challenge, giving them no shot at immunity, the frequent thoughts from contestants about preparing for the upcoming final immunity challenge called for an increased demand of valuable resources.
• Like the previous season, an audience affected part of the game itself. Unlike last time where players submitted a twist idea however, they would instead suggest an idea for the Day 6 Immunity Challenge. The winning submission came from Minecraft Tribes IV player ZachTheBomb to hold an "elytra flying competition". The challenge was then adapted to incorporate a puzzle at the end yet still kept flying as a core part of the challenge's objectives.
• Right from the start of the challenge, everyone was struggling, especially due to massive server lag at that particular time. Despite the frustrations of everyone, people kept trying. Eventually, spacejamedition and Ldoggyy got the hang of controlling their elytras and picked up blocks from many towers. FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy continued to struggle and took a very long time before either of them was able to retrieve their first wool block. Back first with all of their blocks was spacejamedition followed shortly after by Ldoggyy with all blocks. Filled with immense frustration, FirstTimeJames started swearing expletives in caps-lock. LurkingIsCrazy then gave up and just stared at his largely empty item frames for a while. Suddenly spacejamedition called for a check, but was incorrect so had to fix mistakes he may have gotten wrong. He had everything correct except for the two boioks blocks which colors were in the wrong places. Then Ldoggyy asked for a check thinking that he had solved the puzzle, but placed his blocks in the entire reverse order, with the red boioks block at the bottom and the green Tortizzy block at the top. Ldoggyy tried to fix the mistakes to his best knowledge but when asking for a check again, his blocks were in the same locations and was declared incorrect again. Another check was made by spacejamedition but he had created even more mistakes in trying to correct perceived mistakes of order. Ldoggyy suddenly realized his mistake after getting confirmation from another player, telling him what the correct order should be and rearranged his blocks. Asking for one last check, Ldoggyy was finally correct and won immunity.

Day 6 Elimination Ceremony

Inc Sac Vote: LurkingIsCrazy, [Ldoggyy]

Eliminated: spacejamedition

• Originally, the Lufoye Lads alliance decided that Ldoggyy needed to be the next to go, but that plan was shattered due to Ldoggyy's immunity win. The only other player still left at the final 4 was spacejamedition so voting him off became their new plan. Being on the outs and knowing that he could be next on the chopping block, spacejamedition knew that he had to take out the one player with the most influence, FirstTimeJames and relied on his perceived bond with LurkingIsCrazy and Ldoggyy to get the job done.
• The most recently eliminated player, boioks was given the duty to inflict the Poison Ink Sac onto two players for Day 6. LurkingIsCrazy and Ldoggyy were chosen as the recipients and thus were subject to the extra vote at the following Elimination Ceremony.
• The mood at the Elimination Ceremony was in itself lighthearted as players congratulated each other for making it as far as the final 4, but the game still was afoot and players knew not to appear too outspoken. Players were set in their votes and made the initiative to ask the host to hold off on the questions and get straight to the vote. As Ldoggyy as immune, he canceled out the effects of the Poison Ink Sac given to him, though LurkingIsCrazy still retained the extra vote against himself as was reminded. Shortly after the vote was cast, spacejamedition was revealed as the player with the most votes, being voted by everyone else on his tribe, and became the 5th to Die. Before his exit, spacejamedition excitedly wished the remaining three the best of luck with the rest of their journey.

• Using the items they had acquired thus far in the six days they've survived in Tamja Chad, players would start from one of three marked positions and fight each other in a PvP battle to the death. Players were allowed to place or destroy blocks, and use anything in their survival inventory as they wished in order to help them gain some sort of advantage if needed. Once a person was killed, they were knocked out of the challenge. The last person surviving would win the final immunity of the season, guaranteeing them a spot in the final two and the sole vote in the last Elimination Ceremony.
• Before the challenge started, Ldoggyy happened to check the chests in the underground storage area, and surprisingly found a stash of diamonds and other resources. He looted such items and crafted armor and weapons, knowing that he may need them to beat out his competition in the challenge.
• The final three, Ldoggyy, FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy were teleported to the challenge to see that several Minecraft Tribes alumni, such as amapunk, HugeCupcakke, Earthythegamer, CMan2717, Sonato, and MedgeSZ, had all tuned in to spectate the finale and watch who would come on top by the end. This added pressure to the contestants as stakes had never been higher. FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy planned to team up to beat Ldoggyy as they agreed to take each other to the final two, both knowing how dangerous it would be to keep Ldoggyy in the game. However as the challenge began, they found it quite a lot more difficult to attack him due Ldoggyy using his overpowered items. The duo managed to position Ldoggyy in a soulsand pit where it was harder to move, which gave FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy the opportunity to deal some damage, but Ldoggyy was able to escape from the area. He climbed up to the platform above the soulsand and shot arrows from his flame bow at them both, while he was being shot with arrows as well. Quickly, Ldoggyy ate the enchanted golden apple he had won from the Day 6 Reward Challenge, and he easily recovered while becoming seemingly invincible. LurkingIsCrazy fell into a pit of lava and began taking frequent damage. At this point, Ldoggyy took his chance with his bout of power and aggressively swung his sword at him, which resulted in LurkingIsCrazy being killed. At this point FirstTimeJames and Ldoggyy went into full-on combat to see which person would come out on top. After a close battle, FirstTimeJames was killed and Ldoggyy earned the final immunity of the season and screamed "YESSSSSS" in celebration.

Day 7 Elimination Ceremony

Eliminated: LurkingIsCrazy

• Due to the challenge win, not only was Ldoggyy immune from the vote and guaranteed a spot in the final 2, since FirstTimeJames and LurkingIsCrazy could only vote for each other, they would not be able to vote at this final Elimination Ceremony, leaving the decision solely up to Ldoggyy to pick which of the two would join him in the finale. Both LurkingIsCrazy and FirstTimeJames were quite nervous about the fate they may receive as Ldoggyy still waivered about his decision.
• When the final 3 headed to the Elimination Ceremony area, as a last minute move, FirstTimeJames whispered to Ldoggyy to try and persuade him to spare him and vote off LurkingIsCrazy. At this time, LurkingIsCrazy had no idea this was occurring. Although Ldoggyy initially percieved FirstTimeJames as the greater threat to take out, but decided instead to go with his plea to stay. With only one vote, LurkingIsCrazy became the 6th to Die right before the finale, shocking spectators and players alike including FirstTimeJames himself.

• After walking through Memory Lane, the two finalists, Ldoggyy and FirstTimeJames, walked to a challenge no one in Minecraft Tribes history had never seen before. This challenge was essentially an obstacle course, made of smaller editions of all the previous challenges in this season, organized by the day in which the challenges were played to simulate their journey through their days of the game. Starting on Day 1, players would dig through the small sand pit right in front of them to collect a terracotta block, retreive cocoa beans from a tree, then use banners stored in a chest to recreate a smaller version of the flag of Chad. Day 2 had them dig blocks of sandstone to make a match, then take a slimeball from a chest and throw it onto a pressure plate above. Then they moved onto Day 3 where they'd construct a "tree" from the items given in a chest, and ride a minecart down the hill ahead. Next, Day 4 would have them mount a horse to ride it to the end of a lane and then go into a hole to retrieve a lever to unlock the door to Day 5. Here, they would open 3 blue "Mystery Boxes" and take out the items inside them, and shoot a bullseye at a target ahead of them. Lastly, they would craft a crafting table, climb up a ladder to a platform and use an elytra from a chest to fly off and reach the finish line for Day 6. The first player to successfully reach the end after going through all the obstacles would win the challenge and earn an extra vote to win the game.
• Both finalists started the course out swiftly. Soon into the challenge, FirstTimeJames took a slight lead over Ldoggyy who was right behind but trailing. For the obstacles that took up the first 5 days, the pace stayed the same as both players kept a steady speed. At the obstacle where FirstTimeJames was supposed to craft a crafting table, he mistakenly went past the obstacle and headed for the final elytra descent. He was then told to go back to the obstacle he skipped and complete it, which cost him crucial time and allowed for Ldoggyy to catch up and take the lead from him. Ldoggyy then climbed up the ladder to claim the elytra and fly down towards the finish line and win his 4th challenge in a row.

Awards

This section is written as a record for events and accomplishments throughout the duration of the season.

Most Voted Against: boioks

• Over the course of the season, boioks received a total of 9 votes, more votes than anyone else in the season and tying the all-time record for the most votes cast against with Carlisle54321 from Minecraft Tribes IV. On Day 2, things didn't go so well as a total of 5 votes was received in the first Elimination Ceremony for Lufoye, with boioks promptly being voted out. After re-entering the game, boioks received another 4 votes and for a second time was voted out of the game for good on Day 5.

Challenge Beast: Ldoggyy

• Although laying low in order not to become a threat early in the season, Ldoggyy managed to be on a tribe which won a majority of thetribal challenges. From then on, he kicked it into high gear and won the last 4 challenges in a row, from the Day 6 Reward Challenge onwards until the end of the game, dominating from the final 4 all the way to the final 2. Ldoggyy won a total of 9 out of 13 challenges.

Season Strategist: FirstTimeJames

• Throughout the season, FirstTimeJames secured himself a large amount of social capital by developing high levels of trust among his tribe, which led him to be able to direct the votes to his preference throughout the entire game. After being the last person still in the game to receive a vote at an Elimination Ceremony on Day 5, he began to be labeled a social and strategic threat. Despite this, he still made the right moves to get his competition out. Even sitting next to the challenge beast Ldoggyy at the final 2 with an impressive resume, he managed to persuade the members of the jury to vote for him to win on account of his strategic dominance.

Biggest Blindside: LurkingIsCrazy

• At the start of Day 7, LurkingIsCrazy was in a prime position to be in the final two as he was going to be taken to the finale. regardless of who won final immunity. Though because of FirstTimeJames' ability to persuade Ldoggyy to spare him, LurkingIsCrazy was surprisingly voted off.

Adversity Conqueror: spacejamedition

• Being the captain of a tribe that generally struggled and lost challenges, spacejamedition faced constant threat of elimination in the pre-merge. After Tortizzy was voted off with the Poison Ink Sac, he chose to inflict this curse onto spacejamedition, meaning that for every subsequent vote in the pre-merge he would receive an extra vote, increasing the chance of being voted off. After becoming the last player from the Ondu tribe left in the game, he went into the merge all alone and was considered a threat by member of the other tribe. Despite this, he made it through another round before being voted off in 4th place.

Cast Favorite: Ldoggyy

• Starting out as an underdog in the game, Ldoggyy made an amazing rise to dominance in the post merge, winning challenges which made it difficult for his opponents to vote him out of the game. Winning his way to the final 2, he was only one vote away from winning the entire game.