Even though the event is done and won (GG Finland) I figured I should probably do a write up of this for future reference. I can also include some commentary of the matchups each player went through since there weren't many.
Usual disclaimer about results & matchups: the unique WTC pairing system and team structure means that it is difficult to draw broad conclusions from the data and results. However, I will do my best to provide blunt and non-comprehensive commentary for your entertainment.
Player 1
Player: Christoph Van Der Schoot
Team: Belgium Brown
Team Placing:45/50
Rask [Arcane Wonder]
Maelok [Bunker]
Maelok -6
Bull Snapper +3
Bull Snapper +3
Sacral Vault +9
Gatorman Witch Doctor +3
Gatorman Witch Doctor +3
Thrullg +3
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Bog Trog Ambushers (min) +5
The Rask list seems like an all-rounder troop heavy type of list - some of everything except heavies, while the Maelok list seems to be a hard-skew against Cryx dudeswarm/ Body and Soul.
Matchups:
- Round 1: Rask vs Lucant. Result: Loss
- Round 2: Rask vs Vayl 2. Result: Win
- Round 3: Rask vs Mordikar. Result: Win
- Round 4: Rask vs Butcher2. Result: Loss
- Round 5: Rask vs Lucant. Result: Loss
- Round 6: Rask vs Bradigus. Result: Loss
As you can see, Maelok was not chosen ever, although it probably would have done better against Lucant or Butcher2 than the Rask list chosen, on account of attrition advantage and the Sacral Vault.
On the surface you think Rask vs Lucant is a better matchup since Rask cracks ARM and Lucant is a lot of ARM. However, Lucant can deal with Croaks and Spitters ranged attacks, and the lack of living models means Posse don't get a very long charge, or rerolls. No melee heavies also means the Rask list doesn't deal out really high single target damage. Maelok's feat also allows you to take out the Enigma Foundries very quickly, which puts you in a big attrition lead.
Butcher2 was a theme force, which means it would get stomped by the Sacral Vault. His opponents other list was Harkevich w/ Conquest and lots of Winterguard, which would also suffer somewhat against Maelok - you'll probably never kill the Conquest, but you can shred everything else.
Player 2
Player: Kevin "Kevina" Maeder
Team: France Obelix
Team Placing:17/50
Bloody Barnabas [Effigy of Valor]
Rask [Arcane Wonder]
Rask -6
Bull Snapper +3
Blackhide Wrastler +9
Swamp Horror +8
Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Shamblers +6
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Swamp Gobbers +1
Sacral Vault +9
Victor Pendrake +2
The highest placing team with a Minion player, and also with an awesome team name that hits me right in the childhood.
I really like the Barnabas list. I think it matches up very well against low to mid ARM lists, commonly found in Legion/Circle/Cryx thanks to some serious ranged firepower, but lacks any serious ARM cracking. That's where the Rask godzilla list comes in, which is pretty much what I would run with the exception of WE + Snapjaw over the Sacral Vault.
Matchups:
- Round 1: Barnabas vs Absylonia2. Result: Win.
- Round 2: Rask vs Doomshaper2. Result: Win
- Round 3: Rask vs Butcher3. Result: Loss
- Round 4: Rask vs Kreoss2. Result: Loss
- Round 5: Rask vs Rahn. Result: Win
- Round 6: Rask vs Haley1. Result: Win.
I think Kevina's two losses were both against pretty bad matchups - Butcher3 in my opinion is one of the hardest matchups for Gators at this time, and Kreoss2 theme force has a lot of tanky weapon masters. It's arguable the Barnabas list might have had better luck against Kreoss2, however the presence of Exemplar Gravus to negate Black Tide makes the matchup a little more complicated.
Haley1 is also a pretty bad matchup for Rask, so a win there is sweet. Well done!
Player 3
Player: Rob Kneekens (WTC results list "Jun Chan" as the player on the day however)
Team: Netherlands Hero
Team Placing: 31/50
Bloody Barnabus [Effigy of Valor]
Rask [Arcane Wonder]
Rask -6
Blackhide Wrastler +9
Bull Snapper +3
Ironback Spitter +8
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Another nice Barnabas list, which a slight anti-Cryx skew. And the second manliest Rask list around (switch out the Spitter for a Horror to go full man).
Matchups:
- Round 1: Rask vs Bradigus. Result: Win
- Round 2: Rask vs Bradigus. Result: Loss.
- Round 3: Rask vs Xerxis1. Result: Win.
- Round 4: Rask vs Syntherion. Result: Loss.
- Round 5: Barnabas vs Butcher3. Result: Loss.
- Round 6: Rask vs Xerxis1: Result: Win.
Looks like this Minion player was thrown to the wolves a lot, with no good matchups for either list, but managed to pull out 3 wins despite this. Good show!
Player 4
Player: Adam Fox
Team: Northern Ireland
Team Placing: 48/50
Bloody Barnabus [Bunker]
Bloody Barnabas -6
Ironback Spitter +8
Ironback Spitter +8
Ironback Spitter +8
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Gatorman Posse (max) +9
Croak Raiders +8
Gatorman Witch Doctor +3
Totem Hunter +3
These lists seem.... lacking. Like they both want to do something but don't go all the way. The Sacral Vault in the Rask list doesn't gel well in my experience, and Triple Spitter is pretty "all in noobstomping ranged assassination!" but lacks the rest of the skew to make it happen (ie. 3rd Posse, 2nd Croaks, Vault...) I dunno. Maybe there's some magic somewhere.
Matchups:
- Round 1: Barnabas vs Rahn. Result: Loss.
- Round 2: Rask vs Severius2. Result: Loss.
- Round 3: Rask vs Harbinger. Result: Loss.
- Round 4: Barnabas vs Irusk2. Result: Loss.
- Round 5: Barnabas vs Butcher2. Result: Loss.
- Round 6: Barnabas vs Skarre1. Result: Loss.
Tough luck :(
Useless Musings!
- 4
out of 250 something players played Minions. That is very few, and
definitely not enough to offer commentary of any value, other than
Minions are really not popular. What would the Minion numbers look like
if Rask had never been released? One wonders.
Also the team with Minion players did not place especially well, with the exception of France Obelix which placed respectably. This would indicate that the teams didn't put in as much preparation as the rest of the field, which in turn implies that Minions are not an optimal choice in the WTC team selection format. This could be because they don't have any matchups they really dominate (with the exception of Ret) and have big weaknesses against a few of the power lists. Thus teams would probably default to another faction that has more depth and strategic versatility given the choice, depending on how seriously you take the event.
It's also worth nothing that both Mercs and Convergence had 4 players each - Convergence in my opinion is quite strong but unpopular due to the limited releases, but I am really surprised there are so few Merc players. I guess the Earthbreaker/Galleon hype is dying down as ARM has become more popular and teched against.
- No Pig lists anywhere. Not too surprising - read everything I've ever written on Pigs on the blog to find out more.
- Rask was played a lot. The only other drop was Barnabas. Although Maelok was in a pairing, he was also never dropped. Does this mean anything? Probably not. We can conclude that Rask is very popular.... and very good. His dominance over his faction is comparable to Haley2 in Cygnar, B3 in Khador, Harbinger in PoM, and theme forces in Trolls :) This brings up interesting questions about internal balance.
- Interestingly, there were no Minion vs Cryx matches played before the last round, on the lowest tables. That's a little ridiculous when you consider that a) Cryx was the most numerous faction by a sizable amount (include a few all-Cryx teams), and b) the presence of a few anti-Cryx lists in the above pairings. I don't know whether this was intentional, or a result of opposite players choosing not to put their Cryx players into Gators (which seems crazy).
Freed from the need to produce a strict anti-Cryx list, I feel that we should have seen a bit more caster diversity - perhaps even a Carver or Nature of the Beast list.
- My conclusions would therefore be that a) Rask is way above the rest of the faction and b) Pigs are not respected at all. Both things that were already quite well established.
