Come on in here so you can see who exactly is in the top 8 and what we can expect from each match-up.
Now updated with the top 4 results!
Ok guys, the top 8 is here. It looks like a very diverse top 8 with only two primary factions actually duplicating and only one “Deathstar”. I have analysis of all of the quarter finals matches down below and will post the results here as well.
But, before we get into the rest I would like to give a HUGE shout out to the Best Coast Pairings guys, this kind of media coverage would not be possible without their hard work. Remember guys, download that app to look at their lists.
One more thing before we go into predictions, is William Abilez’s list. He was one of the few the Best Coast Pairings submitted lists which did not get put in. This is ok. This is a new thing that not very many people are used to, his opponent has already been made aware of his list and has had one night to prepare for it like everyone else. Will has been playing the same list all tournament long and here it is from memory so if I get it wrong please forgive me.
Farsight CAD
Commander w/drones
Some Single Crisis Suit Teams
2×2 Tetras
A Devilfish
2x Skyrays
A Stormsurge
Triptide w/ 2x Burst Cannons, 1 Ion Cannon
Update: Sorry guys apparently Brett’s list also was not on the BCP app, so here it is from Memory
1. Brandon Grant (Lionsblade w/Wolfstar)
8. Justin Curtis (Heralds Anarchic Demons w/ Magnus)
Analysis: Justin Curtis is going to have his hands full with the hottest player in the ITC and has the list to pull off the upset, if he rolls the right powers, and if he can pull off an early maelstrom lead or get warlord. Those are tall orders though, Brandon is an amazing player and rarely gives his opponent any extra points. Either way, watch Magnus here, he has the potential to break a list like Brandon’s every single game.
Game Result: Brandon beat Justin 8-3 off the back of a failed grimoire in the middle of some Star on Star action.
2. Sean Nayden (TauDar)
7. Matt Root (War Convocation)
Analysis: This is by far the game I am most looking forward to, and it is easily the game with the most intrigue. Matt Root needs a Quarterfinals victory to seal his fate as the ITC champion, and Sean Nayden has one of his hardest routes to making it to the top table at the LVO 3 years in a row. Breaking down the matches Matt Root’s army is less mobile and play’s the maelstrom game a little worse then Sean’s. Sean has to be careful though, War Convocation can get really nasty at zoning and being deceptively durable enough to pull out wins.
Results: Matt Root wins 11-0 after Sean failed two key powers and lost his Iyanden warlord wraithknight.
3. Brett Perkins (Renegades w/Demons)
6. William Abilez (Tau)
Analysis: William built his list to counter a Magnus heavy meta and you can see that, and solid Tau play, got him into the top 8. So it will quickly come down to Fateweaver’s survival. If Brett isn’t careful he could lose a key lynchpin in his army early and give up the game. On the flipside I am not sure how optimised William’s list is at killing Brett’s army off the board. He has a screamer star, artillery, bodies, and quick ways to kill riptides. It should be a bloody game and will most likely come down to whoever can maximise their leftover units properly. There is going to be a lot of balance here between both players, because if either of them over extend and lose a key unit early they may find themselves in an uphill battle against a lethal opponent.
Results: Brett seizes on Will’s Tau and wins 10-2. This was a tough one to watch because of the lethality of both lists.
4. Dan Platt (Heralds Anarchic Demons w/Magnus)
5. Carter Leach (Corsairs w/ Dark Eldar)
Analysis: This is going to be an interesting game. It will mostly come down Carter’s ability to play around Magnus and the rest of Dan Platt’s demons. With all of the pressure to kill 650 points of Dan’s Horn-Nippled Deathstar Carter has the firepower and mobility to shoot off Carter’s key ground units off the board and perhaps cripple the psychic onslaught. It should be a very interesting game of cat and mouse.
Results: Dan Platt beats Carter Leach 7-5 in a nail biter that came down to the final 7 minute turns for both players.
1. Brandon Grant (Lionsblade w/Wolfstar)
4. Dan Platt (Heralds Anarchic Demons w/Magnus)
Analysis: Brandon’s road to victory once again goes through a top tournament player in Dan Platt. Dan’s army has all of the tools to match Brandon’s stride for stride and even though Brandon just played almost the exact same match up one round ago it will be a different game. An interesting dynamic here is Dan beat Grant’s team mate Michael Snider who was piloting the exact same list as Brandon earlier in the tournament. On the flip side Brandon just beat almost an identical version of Dan’s list handily last round.
Result: Brandon beats Dan with the help of a Dreadnought roasting Dan’s screamerstar and some really clever move blocking from the Barkstar.
3. Brett Perkins (Renegades w/Demons)
7. Matt Root (War Convocation)
Analysis: Brett will have his hands full with the number 1 player in the world. Matt Root only has natural durability and on paper it looks like a tough match for him. Brett has the firepower, bodies, and durability to give Matt Root a hard time. Especially because Matt loves to play zoning games that require a lot of board control.
Result: Matt Root was tabled by Brett. It was an uphill battle for Matt who did not have the bodies or the first turn to threaten Brett’s army with some key charges. Brett did a great job here of speed bumping Matt’s close combat units and giving himself enough time to shoot at Matt unharassed.
Brett Perkins’ list is blank on the bestcoast pairings app. Could you add it to the article?
Magnus!!!
Would have been cool if he hadn’t cheated
It would have been way cooler if the guy wasn’t cheating with Magnus
How was he cheating?
Reaper Prime. You should watch what you say on the internet as it can come back to bite you. Mistakers were made on both sides that game. If you do not have proof do not post. I have known Dan a very long time and he would never do anything wrong on purpose.
Sorry but if you make top 8 and can’t keep track of your spells you need to bring a notebook
Could someone post the list from Brett Perkins? The BCP app just shows an empty page.
Seconding this, also having problems with getting up the BCP lists
Maddoc, updated it. Thanks guys for bringing the blank lists to my attention.
Bring it on home Carter!
Damn I wish I could play more. I’ve been pinging around the basic formula to Brett Perkins list in my head for a while. I’m assuming he’s abusing the 2++ reroll screamers in conjunction with ordnance tyrant to paste bunched up infantry. Can’t wait to see how it pans out!
William Abilez list shows blank in BCP app as well
When did it come acceptable to come to tournaments with lists that had little chance of completing a game if you played against other player with a similar time taking list?
I was going to run GSC this season but found the list I wanted to run wasnt completing within the time limits in my tests games, so I have put it on the shelf as I dont consider a 40k game that doesnt end with the random element a proper game.
I didnt see a single game this weekend finish due to a dice roll……
It seems we need 3hrs + for 1850 or to lower points since players will bring time consuming lists regardless
I doubt many people want a point reduction if I remember the voting awhile ago. It would definitely be a grind though but with most games at tournaments with how much pressure there is from time currently it seems to be a valid argument.
Let’s see how 8th ed succeeds in its streamlining rumours. If GW even does a semi decent job at it then we likely won’t need to reduce points.
The problem with lowering points is so many formations and detachments are just to high in cost that they become unplayable at lower point limits.
That is not necessarily a bad thing either!!
Formations are extremely give or take. Some armies just have better rules because of it. That said, I think this was one of the most diverse top 8 lists in the past few years.
#dammitTheScreamersAreBack
I just started list building for a 1650 tournament I signed up for
Its certainly more restrictive with what you can bring.
I hoping that not only will games finish on time but some of the crazy combos will go too because you can’t have your cake and eat it too
Most of the powerful formations are actually low enough points. Riptide wings, skyhammers, horror swarms, psyker conclaves, etc.
What lower points restrict are mostly the newer multi formation detachments heck even at 1850 the ork and guard versions are practically unplayable. Sure at 1650 battle compeny might not have a conclave or a few less grav or war convocation might have no allies or s bare knight but they will still fit in 1650. Heck eldar have one of the most flexible decurions.
Personally I’d love to see 2000pts be standard but fit in 2.5 hours. That’s not going to happen unless gw really changes the game a lot more than what people want.
Most 1850pt lists are not 1850pts. You forget that with free units and summoning, a lot of armies are already playing at easily over 2000pts.
Chess time clocks, I learned this at no mercy. Some people can’t or don’t want to play quickly, time them and enforce time limits per player turn
Not that it matters now, but i will say this: the nature of tournaments encourages smaller model count armies (that can summon more seems to be a theme for some successful ones). However if someone takes a list that is not a small model count, well… It is what it is. If someone has to think a little, that’s to be expected too. I think people bring steam roller armies sometimes and then try to make the other guy feel bad for having to think around the problem. The tournament itself has to decide if it wants to make longer rounds available. My feeling is that 3 hour rounds are kind of useful in the first 3 games to get people with larger armies warmed up and through their games. if they are still around by round 4, cool. Start tightening the screws to 2.5 after that. but a smaller army shouldn’t be angry that it takes longer for bigger armies to “do their thing”. I just dont like it when someone does it intentionally…but then there are TO’s for that. I had to intervene in one game at the Elvensword Ambassadorial Grand Tournament and it was just a simple case of the guy not really realising how much time had gone by. they finished their game to both players satisfaction and no problem. So sometimes a player just gets lost in his own head and needs a nudge. =)
It is bit telling of the state of the game, when 5 armies out of the 8 in the top is armies with “free” points. From either detachments or daemon summoning…
Sooo… who won? BCP app says Brandon but bloodofkittens says Brett?
Brett won.
Its not a points issue; regardless of what point level you put it at (could have a 2 hour tournament for 500 pts) some people wont finish. I do think everyone should practice and play under a clock. It makes your decision making skills faster. A chess clock would be pretty nice to see- as it would encourage people to play properly. One of the matches had a dispute about slow-gaming when turn 1 took 40 minutes. if you included a chess clock for 2.5 hour matches, the guy with a 40 minute turn 1 would only have about 40 minutes for all the following turns. It would encourage people to play what they can in a quick speed.
Tips for speeding up games:
-Practice (time yourself when you play, you can even practice by yourself for setup and deployment
-Make ‘cheat sheets’ for spells, gifts, and other variables that take a while to look up.
-have a ‘small’ display board. Make a ‘for points’ display board (looks beautiful, 2×2) but also have a carry board- 1×2 is generally big enough. Can be something like a baking sheet with padding. This allows you to carry everything at once.
-have all your rules. Rules disputes slowed the games down significantly. Have all the codexes tabbed OR have your own rules printed out (some people even make their own codexes from the rules and that seems to work well)
-talk things out while you play. a few top tables did this really really well- Thanks B. Grant!
-be good sport; dont have malicious intent. Hope you win, but wish for a good game more than anything. I rather lose with a smile than win with higher blood pressure. I think a part of this is keeping the ‘above the board’ mental game to a minimum. Dont be that guy
I completely agree Skallagoose. I prefer to play Mono Nurgle (0 summoning) with either CSM and/or Daemons, but I do not touch tournaments anymore. I have usually found Nurgle needs as much time as possible to move across the board, let alone capture all the points I need to win.
I remember an 1850 game I played against an Eldar + DE MSU player, where he had so much psychics and shooting that his first turn took nearly an hour. By the time the 2hrs was up I had just finally moved into his deployment zone…
What is this nonsense? How can Matt root win best mechanicus when he doesn’t even play that army?
I belive it’s becasue War Convocation is classified as a Cult Mechanicus formation by GW
We ever gonna get a breakdown of how the top4 went?
Eventually yes, we were up until 4am on Sunday closing up the hall.
I plan on doing a full breakdown this week. Not just for the 40k champs either.
Any AOS coverage?
Working on some now!