Let’s Hear It! Who do you think will win the SoCal Open GW events and WHY?

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The big event is almost upon us and now it’s time to check the lists over at BCP and starting placing some bets!

Now, we’re not actually betting of course, but we are calling out what we expect to do well!

AoS:

Who do you think will take it? There are some very good Destruction, Chaos, Death and Order players coming to the event. I think personally that we will see a Destruction army cause some upset and win a GT! Not the least because the top ITC player, Sam Valdez, will be piloting them. However, it is anyone’s game and I cannot wait to see who ends up on top of the heap! Can Count Vlad “the Impaler” Nica finally dethrone him?

What do you all think?

40k:

We’ve got quite a few Codexes out now, and of course the elephant in the room: Astra Militarum. Brandon Grant has been rocking folks with his Guard, and he is the local favorite to take it, but I know many folks are gunning for him. Chaos is still the most powerful army in my opinion and we’ve got a list of talented Chaos players longer than my arm who will all be hunting those juicy ITC points, not the least of which is pretty much all of the Rage Quit, Table Flip team! However, for my money, I am going to call it a Chaos victory. They’ve just got so many incredible tools to deal with everything in the meta right now, but we will see!

What do you all think?

Twitch:

Also, we will be live streaming the event! Be sure to tune in to our Twitch channel to follow the action all day Saturday and Sunday!

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Reece Robbins President
Co-founder of Frontline Gaming, and creator of the ITC, Reece Robbins has been a pillar of the tabletop community for over two decades. From developing Blood Throne to launching industry-leading hobby products and major events like the LVO, his career is defined by innovation and a lifelong passion for gaming since the 80s. Today, he remains a very active community organizer and business leader dedicated to the growth of the hobby.
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54 thoughts on “Let’s Hear It! Who do you think will win the SoCal Open GW events and WHY?”

  3. jared

    I really think destruction has a shot for the top in AoS. At the warhammer world GT, while a mixed legacy order list (pretty freaking crazy there) took the top, the Ironjawz player got really close. I think they were a sleeper hit this post-GHB2017 this season. Definitely looking forward to the coverage!

  4. Cephalobeard

    Soup of some kind.

    It’s a type of list that shouldn’t even exist, and overall I believe it’s negative for the game. Chaos/Imperium have too many options, and it’s going to negatively impact Xenos races opinion of events for as long as it continues.

    I’m firmly of the opinion that, hopefully, Chapter approved will remove this as an option, and that hopefully we’ll see something along the lines of a Battalion requirement moving forward, as well.

    1. rvd1ofakind

      Exactly. Who would win more often with similar skill players:
      a) a guy with a drawer full of weapons
      b) a guy with a garage full of weapons
      Who thought this would be balanced?

    2. vybert

      Soup is a bad thing when it is soup within a detachment. Honestly is should be culled for competitive play IMHO. I don’t have a problem with soup lists that mix different detachments. At least in that case you are doin more balancing

  5. Arthagoth

    Hi! Im spanish player (Sorry my english) and i love your voog, im suscribe to bcp for watching army list, but often i Cant watch the army list en 40k events. I dont uno why, can you helo me?

    Too, i want watch more tournament report, army list because im a competitivo player in spain i have Eldar, caos, astra, necrones, can you advice me about web, or blog, for Watch ir read battle report and tournament report?

    Thanks for all y congratulations for your blog, again sorry for me los level in english

  6. Arthagoth

    Hi! Im spanish player (Sorry my english) and i love your blog, im suscribe to bcp for watching army list, but often i Cant watch the army list en 40k events. I dont know why, can you helo me?

    Too, i want watch more tournament report, army list because im a competitive player in spain i have Eldar, caos, astra, necrones, can you advice me about web, or blog, for Watching battle report and tournament report?

    Thanks for all y congratulations for your blog, again sorry for me low level in english

  9. Requizen

    For AoS, I feel like we’ll see Tzeentch take it. While I don’t think they’re unbeatable or anything, Changehost is by far one of the top lists in the game right now and unprepared opponents can just crumble if they aren’t careful. Though I think Fyreslayers are their counters and we’re seeing more of those pop up.

    40k I think we’ll see Chaos take it. Daemon Primarchs, Brimstones, Deathstars, and the insane Stratagems in the hands of a good player, imo, put them on another level compared to many armies out there right now.

  10. Dbiesto

    Using logic the imperium does have a 3 to 1 codeX release so most people are going to probably put money on the imperium but chaos with demons soup will mostly place in the top 10 With the imperium placing first and maybe one or two forge world based Zeno’s players making it to the finals

      1. Broxus

        Let me rephrase, the most powerful single codex that was needlessly buffed from the index that makes most games unenjoyable for both the player and opponent. This is coming from an AM player. I can’t understand the needless Basilisk, Hellhound, and Stormlord buffs as an example. Why do even AM vehicles get traits.

  19. Marius Xerxes

    You will certainly see AM and AM inclusive lists all over the middle tables since its the new net hotness. But they were included in a ton of Imperial lists already so no surprise there.

    I think there will be a good showing of CSM and Deathguard in the top (20) tables by the end. Lots of straight forward and reliable tools in those armies.

    But as with all these size events, the best part is seeing what counter meta lists get brought in and how well they perform. Those are the players I like watching play most.

        1. Dbiesto

          Lol malefic lords are very good but cmon man have you read the actual codex? Alpha legion, word bearers, emperors children, renegades obliterators/termicide, slaanesh double tap. They are good, and most likely wont be nerfed due to the AM codex now but Ive taken 0 and have won games consecutively. I wont deny Imperial soup has a lot more options but we need to wait until most codexes drop to pass judgement on AM being a “broken” codex. I will admit beating them will feel uphill for awhile, especially with being able to combine armies currently.

  22. rawne_bal

    I would hope to see a few RG armies giving it big licks against most armies. They have the tools to deal with everything that is out there.

    I really wish I could come back out to the US to another big event after the joy I had at NOVA (My list then couldn’t deal with hordes, but not an issue now).

  23. Will Betts

    Well i could be wrong but your big 40k events are becoming like watching tennis, as is the itc scores. Same top folks all the time. Same army builds all the time. Same top scorers all the time. Funny thing with the itc overall scores is if you attend more events, your ranked higher than a player thats actually better than you but attends less. Shame.
    I dont now the restriction for this event, but assuming its normal builds then deamons will win it.

    1. Reecius

      Same army builds? Name this build please, that keeps winning, as I am very curious to hear it as I don’t see it =)

      The same players? Yeah, you have a group of people that are at the top of the game (as in all things) but it changes every few years. Those that consistently top the boards deserve to be there, though, absolutely. It is a testament to skill, if we had random names popping in and out every week, it would show that the game was well and truly just random chance.

      And no, lol, you don’t just have to go to more events to win. When PJ Pants won for most of the season he had the minimum number of events to get a full score, and was beating people that had gone to 4 and 5 times as many events. We cap the number of events you can score to avoid the exact scenario you are talking about, so I don’t know where you are getting some of your information. The entire scoring formula is on the ITC page though, if you’d like to educate yourself on it a bit.

    3. Tom Sawyer

      Having the same players at the top is a good thing, especially when they’re playing different lists. It puts a target on people’s heads and leads to more hype matches. Also, it proves that being a good player matters if its always the same guys.

      This is the same reason why people loving watching fighting games. The same guys are always at the top, but it makes it exciting when they get taken down by someone new!

  25. PandaSaurusRex

    Gonna put in a vote for Chaos. I think they have a very powerful codex and would love to see them take it (without Malefic Lords, which they can do).

  28. highwind

    My “favorite” would be something like this:

    Vanguard Detachment (Elysian Drop Troops with Talarn Doctrin)
    Elysian Company Commander
    Elysian Company Commander
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Officer of the Fleet
    Officer of the Fleet
    Vulture Gunship /w Punisher Gatling Cannon
    Vulture Gunship /w Punisher Gatling Cannon

    Vanguard Detachment (Elysian Drop Troops with Talarn Doctrin)
    Elysian Company Commander
    Elysian Company Commander
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Elysian Command Squad /w 4x Plasma
    Officer of the Fleet
    Officer of the Fleet
    Vulture Gunship /w Punisher Gatling Cannon
    Vulture Gunship /w Punisher Gatling Cannon

    Brigade Detachment (Cadia)
    Creed
    Primaris Psyker
    Commissar
    Commissar
    Astropath
    Astropath
    30 Conscripts
    30 Conscripts
    30 Conscripts
    Scout Sentinel /w Multilaser
    Scout Sentinel /w Multilaser
    Scout Sentinel /w Multilaser
    Heavy Weapon Team /w 3x Mortar
    Heavy Weapon Team /w 3x Mortar
    Heavy Weapon Team /w 3x Mortar

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