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!
First, not a whole lot has happened in the standings the last two weeks. We still have a few bigger events approaching and a lot of the Factions and the Top 10 have solidified for the moment. We’ll start to see a lot of changes in Factions where there previously wasn’t a lot of competition and/or they were still using Index. Knights and to a lesser extent Renegade Knights, Orks are rapidly approaching with Space Wolves rumored to be hot on their heels. Aeldari are set to suffer the most in the post-Imperial Knights meta, at least initially I believe, so watching what the top Aeldari players do to adapt will be interesting. Locally the idea of Aeldari flyer detachments has become popular. We’ll just have to wait and see. I have the top ten currently in the ITC below, you’ll note a lack of major change.
Josh Death, our current number two player in the ITC graciously agreed to answer some questions about himself and how this season is going for him, but before we do that I wanted to go over some of the news from Best Coast Pairings again, as their App makes the ITC possible and their expansion into other systems while improving a great product is great to watch unfold! If you don’t follow them on Facebook you should. 
Paul and the rest of the crew at Best Coast Pairings work really hard to put out a quality product. My favorite part of being a subscriber is I can see lists that are submitted to any event in the App! It makes looking through and assessing the meta shifts a bit easier. This weekend has a lot going on, in terms of competitive 40k.
That screenshot from the ITC page here on Frontline Gaming shows that this coming weekend there is a GT in Minnesota and 4 (yes that’s 4!) Majors! Preferred Enemy in Australia, Caledonian Revolution in the UK, The American Team Championships in Tennessee, and TSHFT in Washington! I am really excited to see the lists, results, and shifts in the meta and ITC standings from all these great events this weekend. It will be especially fun to see the shifts that could occur outside of North America as the UK and Australia events are for regions with the most opportunity for upward and downward movement in the standings. Next week I hope to have responses from the current ITC leader Matt Root, but today we have an equally talented 40k player answering my questions. The current number 2 player in the ITC in the world, Josh Death.
Question 1: How long have you been playing 40k? How long have you been playing it competitively? 25 years.
Question 2: What got you into the hobby originally? I got suspended from school and found a hobby shop while wandering around downtown, the guy behind the counter asked me if I wanted to see a cool game…
Question 3: What is your favorite part about playing 40k competitively? example: do you enjoy list theory, math hammer, the competition, the camaraderie, your team etc I love the puzzle that is trying to unlock that winning combination. Watching the meta evolve and constantly facing a new challenge when it does.
Question 4: If you’re on a team, what role does your team play in your competitive 40k life? Is it a support mechanism, a sounding board, just a group of friends? etc. I bounce lists off them all the time, and we practice heavily.
Question 5: What is your take so far on the ITC and BCP now that it’s several seasons in? The ITC single-handedly saved competitive 40k, and I feel it’s a strong reason why GW came back into their desire to support the competitive community. BCP was the technology that allowed the ITC to maintain the growth that they were starting to display and it’s what is going to take competitive 40k into the future.
Question 6: What do you attribute your success so far this season to the most? I found a winning combination early in the season and was able to capitalize on that quickly. I also moved across the country towards the end of the previous season so that I could have access to a more frequent and higher caliber of practice.
Question 7: How do you prepare for events, big and small? Do you have a routine or regimen? A 2-3 day hard practice regimen leading up to leaving for the event. When I play practice games I will often play one game with my list, and then we will immediately swap lists and play the other person’s list, same mission same deployment. It really helps to let you pick apart your own list and see where it can improve and also helps you learn what to prepare for if you face different lists. If lists are publicized I will print them out and go through them one by one, I then write notes on each list telling myself what to look out for and general tips on facing the list. It helps to be able to look at the lists without the pressure of needing to start the next round right away or the mental drain of previous rounds.
Question 8: What faction do you play? Why? I play every faction. I get each codex when they come out and will spend a month or so working on each one. I figure it is the best way to know what I may be coming up against in the future and what tricks to look out for if I know how to play each list.
Josh has some very impressive routines for preparing for an event. The idea of playing a game, swapping armies, and playing again is very valuable. I have found, the more I talk to the top ITC players because of this article series, that they all share very specific things in common that make them good. One of those things is an organized, and intensive, regimen for preparing for events through practice, analyzing lists, and analyzing the newest codices. It is certainly something that takes a lot of time on the part of these players, but that type of commitment is what it takes to be one of the best 40k players in the world. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Josh’s responses, and I look forward to seeing the results of this weekends events!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
Wait a minute, isn’t this the dude who has been caught cheating at multiple GT’s, and been kicked out of a couple? Great interview subject FLG. Keeping the sportsmanship alive in the game. Maybe in his next interview you guys can ask him how to cheat and not get caught. #prostrats
Joshua is aware of the reputation he had got at previous events and made a conscious choice to try and work to overturn it. Not only at the top 8 of LVO- which, as Hiveminded points out, would’ve been a HUGE sacrifice to make for any competitive player- but also at other events where he has done his best to represent himself well. Several of the players at the London GT commented positively on their experience playing against him, specifically calling him out as someone who behaved with utmost politeness and amicability and saying that their game against him was perhaps the best of the weekend for them.
Poor behavior in the past or not, we owe it to players who are attempting to change their ways to give them a chance to improve. I think there is more than ample evidence that Josh is doing so, as he’s made some significant personal sacrifices to maintain what he feels is upstanding behavior. You don’t have to personally love the guy, but he at least deserves credit for what he’s done.
He doesn’t deserve anything other than a ban for the amount of people he has cheated. I have witnessed his cheating first hand at March Madness in central AR. He took a $700 prize on an obscure, ultimately, illegal list and cheated actively in his games. The interviews should be with the people who play honestly and don’t have a bad rep. Why would frontline and ITC want to glorify a guy who literally breaks their own rules, takes money from honest players, and gets banned my local TOs? At a time now especially when cheating is rampant in competitive 40k. The dude is not honest, he’s decietful and deserves a ban not glorification.
You really seem like you have a bone to pick with the guy; I can’t speak to what happened at that tournament, because I wasn’t there and I don’t know anything about it. I can only speak from my own experience and what I’ve seen, which includes Josh forfeiting a top 8 spot at LVO and a very good shot at winning the entire tournament and possibly even the ITC. If you think that is a meaningless action, I’m not sure what to say to you.
Josh isn’t perfect, and I’ve had my problems with him in the past, and he is just as aware as anyone of his reputation and the problems it’s caused. But saying that he is a _willful_ cheater and claiming that he always will be and that he should be ejected from the hobby entirely is a pretty huge step, because the implication there is that one infraction should damn a player forever until the end of time.
Man, about 50+ people here locally have a bone to pick with that guy. He stole $700 of prize pool money through cheating and deceit, was caught, admitted to cheating, a didnt repay the money. Thats stealing man. Dudes a thief. You can polish a turd but its still a turd.
Also, it was not one infraction. Our tournament here was not the only victim. Several Tournaments here in the midsouth have banned him for cheating
Josh is a stand up guy.
Example:
In this year’s LVO, Josh made the final eight. The next day, after previous day’s score were locked and the final eight had been announced and finalized, Josh’s round six opponent informed the judges that a scoring mistake was made. TO told the player that scores were final.
Josh heard about the scoring issue and VOLUNTARILY gave up his spot in the top eight, so the other player could have the spot. I know Josh personally, and making the final eight at LVO means a lot to him. This was a huge sacrifice for him to make, but he did it because he felt it was the right thing to do.
In my opinion, this type of sportsmanship doesn’t get enough press.
He is working hard to turn a new leaf and as AP said, I too am strongly in the camp of helping people on the road to improving so let’s give him a chance to prove himself.
I understand. But also someone who was and is a habitual cheater and liar shouldn’t be glorified. Especially when competitive 40k is plagued with cheating right now thats being called into the open. I have seen Josh’s cheating and dishonesty first hand when he took a $700 dollar prize at March Madness playing an obscure and ultimately illegal list and purposefully lied to players whom had never played that style list before. That is not a “standup guy.” Just my 2 cents.
Agreed, He is NOT a stand up guy, a stand up guy would have returned the prize money that he stole from the players by cheating at the MM event.
How someone can cheat and be removed from 3 events in a year and still be on the ITC rankings goes to show you just how pointless those ranking numbers are.
I used to get in all the fun of ITC rankings but now it is just garbage.
^^ This. ITC’s complete lack of integrity is why competitive 40k is becoming a joke. No punishment ITC wide for cheating is catching up to them. You guys need to listen to the honest players and ban these guys that go around cheating getting money and just a slap on the wrist when they get caught.
>why competitive 40K is becoming a joke
Competitive 40K is both more popular and more competitive than it has ever been in any edition ever before. There are more events, more players, and more accountability than has ever previously existed.
You seem to think that these players are somehow getting rich off of their cheating- guarantee you they are not. I don’t know a single tournament player who can say they so much as break even on tournaments in a given year, much less earn back anything even close to the time and money they invest into the game with painting, practice, travel, etc.
Exactly, its becoming larger, however ITC is unwilling to address the growing issue of cheating, especially with players in the upper rankings. There needs to be a tighter standard. I think you misunderstand my post on the other article. I understand its harsh, but if you are being dishonest and taking money from honest people punishment is deserved. And if you just get a slap on the wrist there is nothing to prevent you from going on and doing it again. If the implement some form of 3 strike policy ITC wide, this would put pressure on perpetual cheaters.
Also, you can ask anyone from this area, I put a lot of time and effort into my armies. I play honest and fair and if I have a crap opponent I always make the best of a bad situation and have fun. Its not fair to rush to the defense of these guys who cheat honest players like myself and others like we don’t put as much time or effort in. Your statement on that front is ridiculous and furthers my point. Honest players are being cheated and it hurts more because WE DO PUT IN THE EFFORT, MONEY, AND TIME. And we play the game honest and don’t have to cheat to have a good time. I have a lot more respect for guys that don’t cheat and lose than dudes like Josh that have a bad rep for cheating but are at the top. Real men and women dont have to cheat to win.
I have no idea who you are, so I don’t really know anything about the work you put into your armies. Similarly, you claim that Josh “stole” $700 from you and other people, a claim that I have never heard anything about prior to your posting here- and unless it happened quite a long time ago, that is a bit surprising given the nature of the internet.
I’m not saying you’re a liar, but you’re making a lot of claims based on nothing but your own testimony, and you pretty clearly have a HUGE bone to pick with Josh. Maybe you’re right and he is a thief, but I’m not going to take that at face value just because someone on the internet said so- just as I wouldn’t expect you to believe me if I made such a claim about someone you knew.
Step back for a second and look at this from the perspective of an outsider that wasn’t at whatever tournament this was: in the absence of any kind of posts from the tournament organizers themselves or testimony from multiple disinterested third parties, you’re asking us to condemn someone based on nothing but hearsay. And hearsay isn’t always wrong, but _it’s not always right, either_, and most people tend to lean towards guilty until proven innocent.
I know for a fact that Joshua Death declined a spot in the LVO top 8 because he felt it would reflect on him poorly to achieve it in that way. I cannot verify the claims you are making about him. Why would you expect me to take your words as gospel?
I understand. Here is the story. The guy who commented, Maaraach, can verify as well. Also other members of our gaming group have been chiming in on the podcast regarding the incident. This did happen 2 years ago. It was 7th ed. Josh was using a harlequin list out of an outdated 5th ed book that was obscure and no one really knew what to look out for in list judging. Later the day after when his list was posted up for review as he took 1st, a member of a gaming group familiar with that book was reading said list he noticed that he had taken multiple relics. Due to the obscurity of this list and it being printed off word, there was not an easy way to verify and at large tournaments with multiple lists to review, it was not caught. After this came to light paired with multiple comments from the people he played against including the guy who took second, it came out he intentionally took the list with the goal of decieving his opponents and essentially making things up on the fly. When confronted by our TO and a TO of a seperate tournament, Josh acknowledged he’d been caught but refused to repay the $700.00 prize pool to be given to the 2nd place guy. Our TO only gave him a one year ban from ours, but several other tournaments organized by friends of our gaming group Josh had pulled the same stunt at placing in the top 3 taking prizes, banned him permantly. He actually was going to come this past year, idk why, but he was given a stern warning and we had a judge set aside just to monitor all his games so he declined to come.
That is the story. Honestly I wanted him banned for life from our tournament. This was one if those things where someone in our group posted the article and it reopened some old wounds. I personally do not like him and think he’s dishonest and a smug 2 faced chump. Thats my opinion. As I said I understand if you dont see it my way regarding him personally, but thats the truth. As I said, I am an honest person and an honest gamer. If anything I said wasn’t true I’d take it back, find Josh and apologize on the phone or face to face. But I know what I witnessed.
Just got a message from our TO on our team. Josh has apologized amd has offered up the money for this next years March Madness Tournament. As I said I am a man of my word and an honest guy. I am glad he has come back and is going to return what he took. I am haply he is making ammends.