Hello, fellow Warhammer 40k fans! SaltyJohn from TFG Radio, and one of the Las Vegas Open Head Judges, here to bring you a wrap up of this week in the ITC!
In past iterations of this weekly spot for Frontline Gaming, I’ve discussed the overall standings, regional standings, and faction standings for Warhammer 40,000 in the ITC. This week I will, as promised, discuss the top 10 teams in the ITC currently. The top 10 is currently a wonderful mix of familiar faces and names, along with some up and comers and even a brand new team to the ITC! The current rankings are below.
In order to do this article, you the reader, and the teams in the top 10 justice I needed to really dig in and try to compile some information on these teams. So I contacted as many of the teams as I could and sent their leader, or whomever they chose, a simple questionnaire. To do this I needed to start on Sunday so as of today some of the teams I sent questionnaires to have dropped out of the top 10 and a few new ones popped in. I didn’t get in contact with everyone either because I couldn’t find contact info or members on Facebook easily. If you’re in the top 10 currently and I didn’t get in touch with you please contact me and I can include you in next week’s article! You can find me on Facebook and message me there. Let’s jump right in and look at the current top team!
“Death Spiral Down”
Death Spiral Down is the current number one team in the ITC with 1374.74 points and 10 of 10 events reported for their team. Death Spiral Down is technically led by Alex Fennel who you’ll recognize from my other articles about top players in the ITC, although he freely admits that being the team leader isn’t a position that holds any sway on his team. His history of the team is as follows one year several members played at the ATC and did so badly in the first round they ended up on the bottom tables. People were asking them what had happened and they went around telling everyone quote “we’ve had a wing blown off and are in a death spiral, going down” and the name stuck. When they got back from the tournament the name came back as well and it’s been in use ever since. Death Spiral Down has a roster of veritable who’s who in 40k with names that longtime players will recognize as being fixtures of the community for years. Besides Alex, they have Sean Nayden, Patrick McAneeny, Nick Rose, and Gareth Hunt among many others. They also benefit from being a team with diversity in terms of regions. They don’t all hail from the same part(s) of the US and I think that is a distinct advantage for a team, it opens them up to be introduced to a diverse set of metas. DSD finished in the top 10 last year and they could definitely be a contender for the top spot this year.
“Mugu Legion”
“Beast Coast”
Beast Coast is an East Coast team that currently sits in 3rd place on the ITC team leaderboard. Led by Phil Rodokanakis and Werner Born they’ve been a team for about 3 years and were the best overall team in the ITC last season! With teammates that include Nick Nanavati, Andrew Gonyo, Mike Brandt, Tony Kopach, and Matt Schuchman it’s easy to see how this team could come to be a dominant force in the 40k world for seasons to come. According to Phil the genesis of Beast Coast revolved around the collapse of the East Coast teams and Beast Coast rose like a phoenix from those ashes. It helps that the BCP has an option built in for teammates to not play each other in the first round and many of the players listed had grown weary of having to play each other in the first round on occasion. Their goal is simple, get the top spot as a team in the ITC while also achieving their personal 40k goals. With a team as stacked as theirs, I am sure it’s an attainable goal.
“War Room Gladiators”
“Frozen North Gaming”
Sitting in 6th place is none other than Frozen North Gaming Club home to Adepticon 2018 Champion, and Flyrant nerf causing, Matt Root himself! They came together 8 years ago and besides Matt, their most notable players are Ben Cherwien and Erek Nelson. They come from the “frozen north” and judging by the accent Matt wrote his responses to me in I am assuming it’s near Wisconsin and Minnesota, donchaknow. Their leader is Paul Huck and last year they finished in the top 10. I am going to let Matt tell you about his team “Well gollyeeee gee about dem deer 8 years ago in da middle of one o’ brisk minneeesota winters up here a bunch of Doods done decided to make dat dere gaming club so dat when we trudge troo da snow for dat dere gaming we can meet up donchaknow! It started as a little friendly chat oofdah but den it just kinda exploded golly gee and by da now time it has dat dere almost over a thousand members donchaknow! We hail from da frigid cold Nord where da weader can be kinda chilly donchaknow” Good sense of humor aside this team has some serious 40k chops, good luck this year guys!
“Double Dutch Rudder”
Besides probably the best team name in 40k Double Dutch Rudder is currently sitting in 7th place in the ITC. This team has also been together a long time, Thomas Hegstrom Oakey, Rich Kilton, and David Johansen besides being great people and wonderful opponents form the triumvirate that leads DDR into the 2018 season. According to Thomas, it all started out with humor. “So it started as a joke. My buddy Dave and I played in a duo charity tournament. We had recently watched (the then new) Zach and Mary make a porno. In the movie, there is a monologue about the ‘double Dutch rudder.’ So jokingly we chose that name for our duo team name. Then through a serious amount of luck, we won the tournament. So the name was announced to the whole con to much laughter. So when we started participating in the ITC we needed a name and this one came to mind. Especially since it was our only past team victory. And it has the bonus of making tournament organizers have to announce our name!” Their core ideal or principle is a simple one they want to play competitively and fairly, but above all they want their opponent to walk away from the table looking forward to playing them again. Besides being an excellent core principle I can personally attest to the fact these guys live up to that. Thomas and I played an amazing game at the first annual Hammer of Wrath GT in Pasadena CA during 7th edition and although I lost it still ranks as one of, if not the, most enjoyable games of 40k I have ever played. Also, he’s not a bad painter either…
“Brohammer”
Currently, in 8th place we find Brohammer slugging it out. Brohammer was formed by a group of local friends and competitive gamers at a house party after local stores closed down. Since then, they have grown into the largest group in Florida and are branching out to attend out of state events. Brohammer is constantly recruiting new players, as well as hosting local events at newly opened stores thanks to a resurgence in the Florida gaming community. While only 2 years old they just barely missed the top 20 in the ITC team rankings last season. Their leader is Cass Corneal and their goal is to play competitively while being gentlemen to their opponents! Their best players are John Lennon- best Tyranids ITC 2017 season, Crucible 6.5 champion Jeff Biery, and Daniel Monsalve #3 Asuryani player currently NOTE: If scores update by the time this article goes up, Daniel Monsalve could be #1 Asuryani. Brohammer is looking good in the Southern Region and could finish real strong overall as a team this season.
“Team Zero Comp”
Don’t call it a comeback. In 10th place, we find Team Zero Comp! After being in “hibernation” last year TZC is back and they’re looking for blood. Formed around 7 years ago by Reece Robbins and Frankie Giampapa as a reaction to the comp heavy formats and because they wanted to travel for 40k and take it more seriously, Team Zero Comp has been the home to some notable players both past and present. Currently, the reigns of the team have been ceded to Geoff “incontrol” Robinson who is well known in both the esports and 40k worlds as a prodigious strategy gamer. You can watch Geoff reviewing the latest 40k releases and playing games on his Twitch channel. While they have no slogan they admittedly have a strong desire to “let slip the dogs of war”, and with players that also include Ben Cromwell and James Carmona this mostly California based team should have no problem doing just that! I look forward to seeing this team go out and take some names in this “comeback” season.
EDIT: According to Reece, see comments below, Frankie and his friend Will founded TZC when they received zero for their comp scores at an event and decided they would just run whatever they want anyway. Reece, while not a founding member, is still one of the most well known members of the team. -SaltyJohn
“Warhammered”
Warhammered was in the top ten when I began to write this article. They have since slipped to 15th but their story is still one well worth the telling! If you’ve been reading this series of articles than you’ll already be aware of a few players from Warhammered. 40k power couple Jessica and Paul Bowman are members as is very talented Knight player Patrick McNeill, who sits atop all the Knight players in the ITC at first place. Jessica is an excellent player, maybe the teams best, she currently holds 1st place in the Necron Rankings having won 3 RTTs with Index Necrons. I have said it before, I look forward to seeing what she does with a full codex of options at her disposal. The team started as a few Naval Aviation and Surface Warfare officers, and Jessica wanted to rock some sick tank tops and play 40k while imbibing. It evolved from there to pick up old friends and new as Paul and Jessica moved across the country. While the team has been together three years they only really became competitive in the ITC halfway through last season, but still managed to finish in the top 50! Their goal this year is to finish in the top 16 while having the sickest tank tops in 40k. Both of those sound like achievable goals to me Warhammered, good luck!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s article, let me know what you thought and be sure to contact me if your team should have been included in this article but was left out! I’ll get you into future articles, you deserve the recognition and the chance to tell your team’s unique story.
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