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Competitive Innovations in 9th: Final Countdown

By James "One_Wing" Grover

The release date for 10th is finally out of the bag, and the days before this column undergoes a fairly predictable name change are numbered. There are still a few weeks of 9th to go, but I’m goinChaos and cults run rampant as we enter the last few weeks of 9th Edition, all but sweeping the placings in this week’s Competitive Innovations. g to level with you – if you were paying any attention at the weekend you’ll know that our team has a lot of writing to do at the moment (in particular from a competitive point-of-view, go check out my look at the missions from the Leviathan mission pack here).

With that in mind, I’m going lite mode on this for the next few weeks – everyone’s still getting their shoutout, but Showdowns are going on hiatus until it’s 10th time (unless something very unusual or exciting happens). I imagine the tournament scene is going to pop off just as soon as the new books are in everyone’s hands, so I need to conserve my power a bit, OK? OK.

Today, we’re looking at:

  • US Open Kansas City Singles (major)
  • Kirtonian Total Carnage
  • Da Summer Waaagh 2023 Singles
  • Road to Atlanta – GT Italy Qualifier

Let’s find out which factions are racking up some last few trophies this week.

US Open Kansas City: Warhammer 40,000 Grand Tournament

74-player, 8-round Major in Kansas City, MO United States on June 02 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

I have based the placings here on what I understand to have been the outcome within the bracketed system the US Opens use, which may not correspond exactly to what’s in BCP.

TJ Lanigan – Tzeentch Daemons – 1st Place

Be'lakor
Be’lakor – Credit: RichyP

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Tzeentch Daemons

Final Round Matchup

94-72 Victory against Brett Perkins – Chaos Daemons.

Thoughts

At this point the question is whether TJ can be stopped before 9th is over, as his rampage with this list is a bit of an all-timer. Loads of movement tricks, loads of grindy damage, surprisingly sticky objective holders in the two horror bricks – it’s got everything a player as experienced as TJ needs to smash through event after event, and if anyone’s stacking up some secret tech to shut him down, better get on with it.

Brett Perkins – Chaos Daemons – 2nd Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Mixed Monster Mash

Thoughts

More Daemons on the top table here, this time featuring the two big Khorne hitters in cohorts with the Dark Master. The Be’lakor Locus Skarbrand trick remains one of the rudest plays 9th Edition supports, and while this list is a bit less capable of playing keepaway than TJs concoction, the brutal pressure the multi-Thirster approach provides can leave opponents in the dust, as happened all the way to the final here.

Charles Craig – World Eaters – 3rd Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

World Eaters Scorpion Skew

Thoughts

All chaos all the time on the podium here, with this hilarious build taking the third slot. As far as I can tell, the plan here is to deploy an absolutley minimal target profile on the table (mostly just the Scorpion, and hidden stuff) then use the Dreadclaws to pivot to a calamitous alpha strike very quickly. Extremely funny, though does sacrifice one of the strengths of World Eaters in that I don’t think it’s secondaries are quite as reliable as normal, meaning that if the opponent has ways of mitigating the additional damage pressure, they have more time to work with. This may have been what cost Charles the semi-finals against TJ’s tricksy Tzeentch nonsense, but what a stylish way to make it to third place.

Calvin Smith – Chaos Daemons – 4th Place

Credit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Invocatus and the boys.

Thoughts

Clearly Khorne has been having some words with his followers after the Space Wolves got all the glory last week (something about skulls and a throne), and Calvin has joined Charles in rising to the challenge, leading to a surprise World Eaters draw on table two in the final. The build here is a far more conventional World Eaters setup (though does add a bit of extra brawling durability in the Terminators), and at this point we know why that’s good – against everyone except other World Eaters it can trivially force Secondaries to max, putting opponents on an ultra-harsh clock to handle a violent onslaught. It’s a well-trodden formula at this point, well done to Calvin for taking it to a great finish.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the top eight were:

  • 5th – David Adelman – Ynnari: Lots of Aspect MSUs, lots of D-Cannons and the Yncarne plus some Light Harlequins for doing mischief.
  • 6th – Bryan Lakor – Chaos Daemons: Tzeentch and Khorne put aside their differences here, monster mashing with Kairos and Skarbrand.
  • 7th – Robin Roberts – Genestealer Cults: Aggro melee Twisted Helix with two big units of purestrains and a mid-sized Aberrant brick.
  • 8th – Regino Sanchez – Astra Militarum: Infantry/Armoured Sentinel heavy Born Soldiers.

Kirtonian Total Carnage III

45-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in England GB on June 03 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

David LaPorta – T’au Empire – 1st Place

Tau Commander
Tau Commander. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Bork’an Hulls and Suits

Final Round Matchup

86 – 57 Victory against Cameron Giles – Adeptus Custodes.

Thoughts

Tau rely heavily on being an active force in the late game to max their Secondaries, so the extra durability of Bork’an keeps proving to be an effective third option alongside Tau and Farsight. The two Riptides and the Crisis block here are just huge pains to shift, and while the burst damage is a little lower than some of the other variants, an extra turn as a going concern (plus the occasional opportunity to blow someone out with a no-invulns Riptide cannon) more than makes up for it, especially with two scary Commanders hiding behind them. This looks like a great setup, well done to David for notching up some points for the Greater Good.

Mikey Rzasa – Genestealer Cult – 2nd Place (Undefeated)

Credit: BuffaloChicken

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

All-rounder Industrial

Thoughts

The heroic revolutionaries of the cults were also apparently very unhappy about Space Wolf dominance, as they’ve had a busy week. Some sort of crossed wires about capitalist dogs. Anyway, this build is genuinely quite unique, combining elements of the Neophyte spam builds and more toolboxy melee stuff as seen in Helix or Claw builds to provide lots of angles of attack, and using a big brick of Aberrants as an emergency tanking tool to smooth over any situation where that starts to go wrong. As ever with such choices, you’re trading the ability to just fully list check armies that can’t deal with the pure horde version out for more options against those that can. Fewer free wins, fewer games that you lose to numbers – a trade that seems to have worked well for Mikey.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 3rd – James Mclean – Tyranids: Lurk Gorgon monsters with a couple of big Hormagaunt bricks for anti-horde.
  • 4th – Jonathan Summerfield – Salamanders: Chunky marine spam, with loads of flamer Aggressors and a full Terminator Assault brick, all backed by melta death.
  • 5th – Cameron Giles – Adeptus Custodes: Hull-heavy Emperor’s Chosen with a trio of VenDreads and two Caladius tanks.
  • 6th – Tom Keen – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff.
  • 7th – Paddy Baron – Tyranids: More Lurk Gorgon, this time with many Pyrovores.

Da Summer Waaagh 2023 Singles

37-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Horwich, England GB on June 03 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Mike Porter – Genestealer Cult – 1st Place

Neophytes. Credit: Rockfish
Neophytes. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Horde Rusted Claw

Final Round Matchup

86 – 45 Victory against Ben Facey – Leagues of Votann.

Thoughts

Repeat Genestealer pilot Mike takes a trophy for the cult here, going with a more hordey spin on Rusted Claw than he was running last time we saw him. With Desolation Marines as one of the biggest anti-horde predators, the AP reduction of the Claw is very valuable for keeping the army on the table, and bring able to potentially reach out and do some damage with Drive-By Demolitions also adds plenty of value. Mike’s still got plenty of ways to do big damage as well, with the Oppressors Bane Saboteur popping up as an additional high-threat shooty Character. Mike’s got to be one of the people (along with TJ) in contention for most first place appearences in this column in 9th, and it’s great to see him getting in some last big wins right here at the end.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – David Irving – Iron Hands: Actual Iron Hands with the true hero’s play of an Astraeus.
  • 3rd – Michael Armer – Adeptus Custodes: Shooty Emperor’s Chosen with Sagittarum, tanks and Bikes.
  • 4th – Matt Charles – Blood Angels: Loads of small jump pack units and a pair of Helverins.
  • 5th – Lewis Salter – Craftworlds: Ulthwe/Twilight with a bunch of pesty small units.
  • 6th – Ben Facey – Votann: Ultra-dakka Ymyr that’s packing two forts, Bikes and Thunderkyn.

Road to Atlanta – GT Italy Qualifier 3

34-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Roma, Lazio IT on June 03 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Simone Caroselli – World Eaters – 1st Place

Credit: Dylan Gould

The List

Army List - Click to Expand

Archetype

Invocatus Eightbound Spam

Final Round Matchup

96 – 85 Victory against Andrea Lelli – Necrons.

Thoughts

Go fast, score secondaries, pile skulls. Simple as. The one big unit of Berserkers is the only notable standout from the default here – presumably the plan is to push them to the middle of the board in a Rhino, then if the opponent tries to wipe them with inadequate firepower they’re taking their life into their own hands thanks to Blood Rage. Well done to Simone for contributing to the absolute end-run that Chaos has pulled off this week.

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

  • 2nd – Edoardo Rinaldi – Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers with a Dorn.
  • 3rd – Marco Santopadre – Chaos Daemons: All-rounder Daemons with a Bloodthirster and Big Bird, plus lots of Slaanesh stuff and an Enrapturess as shock troops.
  • 4th – Andrea Lelli – Necrons: Nihilakh Destroyers for days.
  • 5th – Daniele De Gemini – Word Bearers: A bit of everything here, Terminators, Obliterators, Characters and a utility Daemon Patrol.
  • 6th – Francesco Borchiellini – Death Guard: Mortarion, lots of Deathshrouds and some War Dogs to shoot while the enemy handles that.

Wrap Up

Not that many more sleeps till 10th Edition. We’re so close. I can taste it. See you next week as we continue to round out 9th.

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