Golden Ticket Winner Profile
Player name: Ronya Andersson
Age: 32
Country of Origin: Sweden
Where you won your ticket: Placing top (4) 8 last year in WCW
Let’s start with the basics. What army are you bringing to the World Championships, and why did you choose them? What armies have you been playing in 4th edition?
Currently on the fence between Tzeentch, whom I have been enjoying a lot lately (mostly cause they are very different from what I am used to playing and I feel like they have a lot of agency during the course of the game) and Nighthaunt, as that is where comfort lies.
Since the edition change, I tested around a lot. I started out with Nighthaunt; realized they were easymode and moved on to Gitz (squig based) and Flesheater Courts; played them for a few tournaments; then hopped onto Tzeentch around two months ago and been stuck there for a bit. I’ve been eying the Daughters of Khaine, Beast of Chaos and Ossiarch Bonereapers, so I’ll move to the next army quite soon.
Run us through your list a little bit. What made you choose this list, and why do you enjoy playing it?
If I go with Nighthaunt, we are looking at pure comfort:
- 2 drop
- Reiknor to get that +1 to cast wizard
- Drowler to move some slow ghosts around
10+5+5 Hexwraiths is most likely; they’re still a very strong warscroll despite their recent nerfs, and their Move 12 somewhat mitigates the nerf to Deathstalkers.
On the other hand, for Tzeentch I will be bringing a very staple list with double bird and a bunch of horrors, where “horrors” means flamers or Skyfire. I am currently fine tuning the balance between damage output and durability, and basing my Manifestation lore choice on if I feel like I need damage or if I can afford to go with utility.
What does the list do well against? What match-ups are you hoping to avoid?
I usually play the player just as much as the list they bring and at the moment I don’t feel like I have that many match ups I would like to avoid.
Are there any battleplans that you’re hoping to avoid? Why?
None really; possibly Starstrike, as that one has a bit too much RNG to it. Love playing Limited Resources as that forces players to put on their thinking caps and can often throw gameplans on their heads.
You earned your ticket for placing [4th] at the WCW last year and you’ve got a big trip back to Atlanta. When did you know you were coming back and what factors influenced that?
It’s been a bit up and down over the year, but I think I firmly decided that I would go once I won the Worlds singles tournament to try and make it a double whammy.
Knowing you had that ticket in the bag when did you start planning for the event? Is it similar to planning for the world’s team event at the end of third edition?
Usually I find a list I like run it a lot of times and fine tune as I go over a few months. But that hasn’t really been the case for Atlanta, mainly because the new edition has made me want to try a lot of different stuff — but also in part because faction indexes have been so thin in their rules, it’s made them less exciting to tinker and finetune with.
Do you think that list building is going to be more fun with additional regiments of renown added to the thin indexes?
I think they need to rework how drops affect the game or design really busted Regiments of Renown rules for them to have significant impact, the latter of which is a little bit unfair as there are usually just one Grand Alliance that can take each RoR.
As a vet to worlds, is there anything in Atlanta you would recommend to a visitor?
Went there with my partner last year and the Aquarium was quite nice; the botanical garden with Christmas lights was absolutely magical. (Note: the aquarium is a short walk from the event area, and the botanical garden is a long walk or short walk and MARTA ride from the event.)
How do you expect the competition to be different from other events? Is there anything you’re doing differently to prepare?
Being as seasoned as I am I always expect a few easy rounds followed by a few real challenging ones and judging by my experience from last year that checks out. Since it is so many rounds there are for sure many more challenging ones than at the other GTs I’ve played.
How do you expect you’ll do at the event? What’s a “good event” look like for you, record-wise?
I always aim to win. 11-0 is a good event, but I think I would be okay with a 9-x record. A lot depends on the luck of the draw on whether you get paired into easier matchups or harder ones. The main thing I am after is challenging matches and I’m rather sure I’ll find that at this event no matter what.
How do you feel about competitive play in this GHB season? How does the meta feel to you right now?
Love it; not been to a lot of international events in this edition but the meta seems rather diverse. Less focus on faction since they don’t have their own battle tactics anymore and more focus on just understanding the flow of the game.
It’s no secret that Nighthaunt have been one of the best armies in 4th. As a longtime Nighthaunt player during the dark times of 2nd and 3rd are you more likely to use the army when they are doing well?
Dark times? 11-0 100% winrate at Worlds, baby! Nah, I get bored with them if they are too strong so I’m happy they got the nerfbat. I do think they are one of the A-tier factions still and will probably run them for a bit in a near future.
Do you think that the balance passes have done enough to bring them in line with other armies?
Yes I think the top 10-ish armies are very close to each other. And besides faction strength has a lot more impact the lower you go in a tournament player strength and what they are comfortable on and against is what will decide an event such as the WCW.
Do you miss Blizzard?
Nope!
Is there anything else you wanted to say/talk about?
I’d like to throw in a word about this very nice gang of friends I got recruited by called OnwardsAOS where we help people improve their AOS game shoot us a message if you’re interested in upping your level of play.
Thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions. Good luck at the event!
Will you be attending the WCoW ‘24? Let us know in the comments below. Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
