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Competitive Innovations in 9th: Last Orders pt.1
That does leave this week's writeups in a bit of a weird spot, as they now provide us with one last look at some of the horrors of the previous metagame. Let's take a tour, and as we cast our eyes over them we can consider what their prospects look like in the new world.
Given that this patch landed mid-way through this column's normal preparation period, I've had to scramble a bit to get everything written, and I'm afraid that means no Lists of the Week section this time around. It will return next week, hopefully ensuring we get to highlight some builds trying out the newly buffed factions even if they don't quite make it onto the podium.
Today we're going to look at the results from the three majors of the weekend, and in part two tomorrow we'll cover off the GTs, because there's loads of events again!
As ever, there's a list of Competitive Archetypes maintained here (and yes, updating that is now on my ever-growing to-do list) and lists other than event winners that were undefeated going into the final round of the event are marked with a ✪.
UKTC Coventry 3-day Event (major)
This event was using the updated UKTC map pack that you can check out on the warhammer-tournaments website. Having played eight rounds on it, I can definitely say it's a massive improvement over the LGT pack, generally providing an experience that was much better balanced between going first or second (I was hoping for a different result from the roll-off in different games).
All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
Mani Cheema - Orks - 1st Place
Wazbom Blastajet. Credit: RockfishThe List
Archetype
Freebooterz
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Mani's winning list is in many ways a fitting final sendoff for the previous metagame and (hopefully) for the era of planes dominating competitive play. RIP plane spam, 2017-2021. It will not be missed.
This army takes the fact that running four Freebooterz planes creates a nightmarish, nigh-unstoppable alpha strike and just runs with it, going up to the full six while packing in as many single-model units of the best buggies as possible. With plenty of Force Field coverage, the army is pretty much guaranteed to have a strong air force to use in its first turn whoever wins the roll-off, and the vast majority of opposing forces are just going to get wiped off the table in short order. The army does theoretically have a weakness of poor secondary play, but in practice it's so shockingly deadly that it doesn't matter - no one can stay on the table long enough to compete with it points-wise (though Joe Maylam's Drukhari in round six at least had a credible go at de-railing the Orky run). It does also have a cute addition for helping with backline Primary in Makari, because if he's standing next to a buggy the opponent has to keep back enough firepower to both pop the vehicle and push through his 2+ invulnerable save.
It's a neat little bit of tech that gives the army a cool extra angle, but it isn't going to change the fact that going forward this list is just dead - the Ork and Plane changes were practically precision-designed to stop exactly this sort of thing. Congratulations to Mani on the big win, and I look forward to seeing what he dreams up for the Austin GW event.
Malik Amin Rubio - Adeptus Mechanicus - 2nd Place
Tech-Priest Dominus. Credit: RockfishThe List
Archetype
Mars/Lucius
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Another player who needs no introduction here in second, as Malik puts in another spectacular finish with Dice Down's favoured flavour of AdMech. Compared to his LGT winning build, one plane has been shuffled out in favour of a couple more Ironstriders (much easier to usefully hide on the new maps) but otherwise it's pretty much business as usual - incredibly deadly shooting from Mars, durable and flexible infantry from Lucius with the Solar Flare alpha strike, and a neat toolbox of effects from utility units.
So what happens to this build post-update? Well, unlike Mani's list there's definitely still something here - cutting one Plane and one Ironstrider claws back the points with a bit of change, and there are various places you can nip and tuck elsewhere if needed, and what's left definitely still looks like a real army, but it'll remain to be seen how it lines up against other top builds that were less badly impacted. That's for the future - right now, congratulations to Malik for giving his current build an extremely stylish sendoff.
Adam Lane - Adeptus Mechanicus - 3rd Place
Adeptus Mechanicus - Serberys RaidersCredit: Pendulin
The List
Archetype
Mars Veteran Cohort
Why it's Interesting in 9th
More AdMech in third place, here with a mighty four planes soaring ahead causing mischief, and with a far more elite suite of Skitarii to get things done on the ground. Something that's worth mentioning when looking at this list is that scout deploy/pre-game move units were especially strong in the Coventry GT pack, as Vital Intelligence and Sweep and Clear were in the pack twice each, and on those you can use them to seize control of and lock in an objective straight out of the gate - pre-game move onto the objective, control it at the end of your Command phase, then move away in your actual Movement phase, and it's yours until your opponent comes and takes it off you. Both sizes of Serberys Raider squad here, along with the Infiltrators, are great for that and they're backed up by such nasty firepower and such horrendous melee blenders that it will be very difficult for many opponents to get back into the game after that. One (Joe Maylam again) was able to hit back hard enough to swing the tide, but in the other seven games the iron efficiency of the Skitarii won through (and you can read about one of them in our own Corrode's write-up of the event), and congratulations to Adam for taking third.
In terms of how this list changes, you have to start by losing two planes, and then have about 80pts to spend, and once again you've definitely still got a list after that, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some bigger shakeups tried.
Ruud Steenbakkers - Drukhari - 4th Place
Credit: WingsThe List
Archetype
Double Trueborn
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Really, Orks, AdMech, AdMech, Drukhari is about the most fitting possible top four to close out this era of the metagame, and this list neatly demonstrates why Drukhari have been so strong for most of the year - what if good units, but too much? Outside of the stuff we've seen many, many times before, something to highlight is the use of electrocorrosive whips on the Wrack units - more and more players are discovering that these are just a bargain for how much better they make the squad in combat, and with Covens getting a boost, expect to see more. Something that's been good but now may be seen less is tiny five-model Hypex Wych units - these were great for grabbing objectives at Coventry, but with a starting price of 60pts going forward they're going to be a tougher sell. Ruud also came through the event on seven wins, picking up his only loss against Mani's nightmare build and playing a host of other brutal matchups, so congratulations for rounding out the top four.
In terms of changes, this army loses quite a lot fewer points than the Admech builds do (~160 compared to 250+), but is still one of the hardest hit Drukhari loadouts. Once again you've definitely still got a playable list if you just cut out units till you're back under the point limit, but my realistic expectation is that Drukhari will swing more towards making use of Covens and maybe experiment more with Kabalite gun platforms like the Ravager.
The Rest of the Best
Two more players finished 7-1, and the seventh-placed player finished 6.5-1.5 after losing in the final to Mani. They were:
- 5th - Daniel Whitaker - Aeldari: The standard Craftworlds/Harlequins archetype gets shaken up massively with the addition of the Yncarne, providing a powerful tool to confound the opponent's plans. There's also a few other Craftworlds tricks snuck in, including a unit of Shining Spears (which ruled on these maps, mine were great all weekend) and this list looks like a blast in general and has me scratching my chin thoughtfully in the specific.
- 6th - Jamie Balcombe - Adeptus Custodes: All the big Shadowkeepers hits here, with one each of most of the best units lead up by Trajann, plus a unit of Sisters of Silence to hold home objectives.
- 7th ✪ - Konrad Bartkiewicz - Iron Hands Successors: The nasty combo of alpha strike and board control you'd expect from IH Successors with the Whirlwind/Born Heroes combo, further enhanced with a Whirlwind Scorpius to go big with various stratagems and running as Minotaurs to gain access to Hekaton Aiakos for double character dreadnought goodness.
UKTC Coventry 2-day Event (major)
All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
David Gaylard - Adeptus Mechanicus - 1st Place
Adeptus Mechanicus - Ironstrider BallistariiCredit: Pendulin
The List
Archetype
Mars/Lucius
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Do not adjust your sets here - the top three at this event were, in fact, the exact same players who took the podium slots at the Goonhammer Open, two with pretty similar lists. David has added a third plane to his build (it turns out temporarily) but the fundamentals are the same as ever for Mars/Lucius - absurd firepower and serious depth create a list that can go into every game aiming to win big. Just like the other AdMech builds this week it'll have some big changes to make, but it's also great to see David putting in a big win to close out this version, especially after he was pipped to the GHO trophy by a single victory point!
Martyn Cooper - Drukhari - 2nd ✪ Place
Drukhari Archon. Credit: CorrodeThe List
Archetype
Double Trueborn
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Martyn also goes one better than his GHO placing, making an undefeated run here with his spin on double Trueborn (tweaked to add in Blackstone Fortress Ur-Ghuls since the event allowed them). You are all fully appraised of why this army is good by now, but given how hellish the entire top metagame has been, piloting even strong builds to undefeated runs takes some serious finesse - great work from Martyn.
Mike Porter - Thousand Sons - 3rd ✪ Place
Thousand Sons Aspiring Sorcerer. Credit: Alfredo RamirezThe List
Archetype
Time/Duplicity Pressure
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Regular Competitive Innovations star Mike doesn't disappoint in third place here, putting down the Aeldari build he's been piloting for the last few months in favour of what increasingly looks like the strongest spin on Thousand Sons, the Cult of Time/Cult of Duplicity pressure builds. Bringing these two Cults together and utilising multiple units of Chaos Spawn gives you the tools to just utterly body the opponent when you win the roll-off, as you've got Scarab Occults teleporting forward with the Umbralefic Crystal and hosing stuff down with firepower, a unit of Warpflamer Rubricae that can come forward with Master Misinformator/Risen Rubricae to annihilate screens, and following hot on their heels are a Rhino full of more Marines and several units of Spawn that can haunt mid-board terrain. The Spawn are very much part of the X-factor here - they provide a lot of wounds for the points and can utterly blender things they touch thanks to Fated Mutation. They have to watch out for some flavours of firepower, but sticking Weaver of Fates on them puts them into full resilience mode, at which point you can yeet them into pretty much whatever you like.
On top of all that close engagement stuff, this army also has an incredibly good ranged damage dealer in the Orrery and Ensorcelled Infusion-buffed Contemptor. Volkite Contemptors are good in pretty much every possible setup, but "ignoring hit modifiers and damage reduction, and with AP-1" is about as good as you can possibly make one, and will just delete a high value target every turn with no bother. Adding that and the psychic firepower this list throws out to the early pressure it applies gives an incredibly potent combination, and in Mike's capable hands it's not surprising to see it taking down an event.
Angus Patterson - Adepta Sororitas - 4th ✪ Place
Credit: StarvoltThe List
The Standout Features
- Mortifier and Penitent engines galore threaten to overrun many opponents.
- Durable Valorous Heart units provide fire support without opening up weaknesses to anti-horde tools.
Why it's Interesting in 9th
The Adepta Sororitas have definitely proven themselves one of the armies able to challenge the top dogs in the right hands, but Angus' build here is distinctly different from the conventional ones, going big on Mortifiers and melee Characters for pressure and killing power, and filling out with the Valourous Heart rather than any of the three most popular orders.
What that creates is a build that does two things - pushes deadly all-rounder threats into multiple parts of the board, and presents no trivial targets. Mortifiers/Penitents have decent toughness and a Feel No Pain, while AP-1 and -2 firepower is going to be extremely anemic into the defences provided by the Valorous Heart Order Conviction. Immolators are generally considered to be somewhat overcosted, but here using them to hide the Retributors adds a reserve of hard-to-kill melta shots that'll draw firepower away from the Mortifiers if the opponent does want to deal with them, a neat demonstration of how overall list composition can shake up unit values.
It's also worth highlighting just how good Mortifiers themselves still are in the new book. Their flails got a bit of a downgrade in the new book, but the accumulated boosts they got elsewhere on the datasheet do a lot to make up for it. In addition, the fact that Penitent Engines are way better than they used to be makes a list like this, which wants a critical mass of similar threats, way more potent. I like the choice to mix the weapons on two of the Mortifier squads, as it further increases the army's flexibility, and leaves the one squad with all flails as the obvious target for War Hymn. In the current metagame, it's also really important to note the sheer power that buffing a unit with Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude and throwing them forward against Thousand Sons offers, as it can seriously cramp their style for an entire turn, and including it in the list comes at relatively minimal cost.
Sisters are well placed to make big gains in the metagame to come - they're already nipping at the heels of the best builds, they can tech for Grey Knights and Thousand Sons, and have a very wide range of possible builds as Angus has neatly showcased here, only losing to Martyn on the top table. Great work on the top four finish!
The Rest of the Best
Eleven more players finished 4-1. They were:
- 5th - Nicholas Willingale - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors as Prescient Brethren/Swordbearers.
- 6th - Robert Kimpton - Drukhari: Double Trueborn with the somewhat unusual choice of a Realspace Raid for the main detachment.
- 7th - Jamie Long - Adeptus Mechanicus: Mars Veteran Cohort.
- 8th - Billy Sutter - Orks: Freebooterz buggies and planes.
- 9th - Harley Scully - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors as Prescient Brethren/Swordbearers.
- 10th - Michael Boyle - Grey Knights: Swordbearers Dreadknights, with some Razorbacks for extra anti-tank.
- 11th - Dan Hill - Tyranids: Kronos shooting and a custom Hive Fleet monster mash, with the Swarmlord escorting Dimachaerons into battle.
- 12th - Jim Bessey - Drukhari: Grotesque and Cronos spam, with the former in a Realspace Raid as Artists of the Flesh and the latter sporting the standard Dark Technomancers. Look for a lot more Coven-heavy Realspace Raid builds coming up.
- 13th - Matt Guenzel - Orks: Freebooterz with an extra splash of Deathskulls.
- 14th - Chris Hardman - Space Wolves: High pressure wolf action here, as ThunderCav and Invictors team up to get right in the opponent's face.
- 15th - Ed Watts - Aeldari: Craftworlds/Harlequins with Shining Spears and Vibro Cannons in place of the normal artillery setup.
Mid-MO Maelstrom
All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.
John Indellicate - Drukhari - 1st Place
Haemonculus and Wracks of the Coven of Twelve | Credit: Garrett "John Condit" SeversonThe List
The Standout Features
- Grotesque Spam
- Standard tools and Talos as backup.
Why it's Interesting in 9th
So, uh, this has got to be by far the scariest list this week because it's a major-winning Drukhari list that has actually come down in points thanks to being all-in on the Covens units that received healthy discounts. GW can't really win on that front - non-Cronos Covens stuff has really only seen serious popularity in the last few months, having been widely left on the shelf prior to that, but it's started seeing success anyway in the Grey Knight-heavy metagame, as -1D from Artists of the Flesh is extremely good and having stuff that can hold positions sturdily in the face of Dreadknights is vital. Now that significant point cuts on Grotesques and Talos are here, there's a strong chance that if Drukhari continue to dominate then builds like this will be a big part of that.
Chewing through the big Grotesque units here is just a nightmare, and they have extremely broad killing power in melee. While spending lots of points on Covens units means this army has less to spend on trade pieces, the ones it does have are going to be even better than normal, as the durable flesh monstrosities provide great pressure pieces to force the opponent to commit to a fight. The list also completely wrongfoots plenty of the tools used to tech for Drukhari - this army laughs in the face of massed autocannon-style firepower, and doesn't especially care if you've brought tools to deal with FLY. It does need to watch out for the Orrery/VolCon combo from Thousand Sons, as that will roundly ruin their day, but against most other weapons they're an extreme pain to shift.
Combining deadly trade tools with serious staying power shakes up the Drukhari formula substantially, and John racking up a major win with his genuinely innovative build here shows it's got real legs. Get ready to adapt your elf countermeasures kids.
Dan Sammons - Adeptus Mechanicus - 2nd ✪ Place
Culexus Assassin. Credits: That GobboThe List
Archetype
Mars Goodstuff
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Dan racks up an undefeated run at a major with pretty much the same build we saw a couple weeks back last week, only this time the Assassin has been added to a detachment, as paying 2CP just to change one's ITC faction is presumably less appealing at a major level. The list remains extremely similar to the Mars Veteran Cohort lists, using essentially the same tools but valuing the psychic defence from the Culexus above the extra stratagems. With the Assassin being relatively better value and Grey Knights and Thousand Sons both likely to go up in popularity post-patch, that's potentially going to be a call we see lots of players making, especially as when you're already squeezed on points paying extra for Skitarii will look less good. Another sterling performance from Dan.
In terms of how it changes, this list is slightly less badly hit than the other AdMech we've seen, but still needs to drop a plane and some small change to get under the line in the new world. Like the others, it's very clearly still a functional list at that point!
Geoffrey Husser - Deathwatch - 3rd Place
Photo Credit: MusterkruxThe List
Archetype
Deathwatch Kill Teams & Dreadnoughts
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Nothing massively surprising from the Deathwatch here, but this is certainly a list to watch in the new metagame. Being able to create ObSec VanVet squads via Combat Squadding a Proteus Kill Team is an enduringly great trick, and having storm shields even across the Veteran halves of the units means that nothing in this list dies easily. For fire support, Deathwatch provide some of the best VolCon buffs out of all Marines, able to amp them up against flyers, strip away cover, punish spammed units with the Tome of the Ectoclades and hold back the one turn of Devastator Doctrine for a moment when it really matters. All these assets have made them popular and reasonably successful in the current metagame, and given that they can very probably adapt to hunting new spins on Drukhari they've got a great shot going forward. I also like the addition of Storm of Fire here, as there are definitely matchups (notably Grey Knights) where being able to have a turn where you go absolutely ham with the VolCons against spammed crunchy targets is useful. A very strong performance from Geoffroy here, and expect to see more success if he continues running this build out.
Ryan Olson - Iron Hands Successors - 4th Place
Credit: Head58The List
Archetype
Iron Hands Successors
Why it's Interesting in 9th
Another build extremely well positioned to prosper, the Iron Hands Dreadnought/Devastator/VanVet builds can alpha strike with the best of them while having the flexibility and staying power to make a play for victory in almost any matchup. These builds have been designed and tuned to have real game into pre-nerf lists from the big three, and have got to be one of the top contenders now that AdMech in particular has taken a bit hit. This build is a pretty down-the-line example of the archetype, with the only notable change from the default is that the March of the Ancients Contemptor is loaded up with a chainfist, making them much more of an all-rounder than the double gun option. I'm guessing this helps quite a bit against Grey Knights, as having something that threatens to counter-charge and reliably punk a Dreadknight restricts their options somewhat (and putting this into a squad of buggies is just rude). Ryan carved up several Ork opponents on the way to 4-1, only losing to Dan's AdMech, and given the margin there wasn't huge you've got to wonder whether a dropped plane turns that into a favourable matchup. Congratulations to Ryan for rounding out our last major top four, and if this list is a harbinger of a period of Iron Hands dominance...well that's just going to feel a bit nostaligic at this point.
The Rest of the Best
Seven more players finished on 4-1 records, and I'm also including the player on 3.5-1.5 who paired up into John in the final, as while they couldn't have won they event a win would have earned them second place.
- 5th - Taylor Barger - Daemons: Slaanesh Daemon monster mash with Be'lakor. Definite winners from AdMech, Orks and Drukhari all getting less shootier.
- 6th ✪ - Kyle McCord - Imperium: A hilarious three-way soup build that packs some Tank Commanders and Lucius Skitarii for ranged damage and durable infantry, then goes hard into skew with a spearhead of Swordbearers Dreadknights with a Brother Captain in tow. The Tank Commanders are both set up with Master Mechanic, meaning that it's likely that firepower will be pointed at the (also very tough) Dreadknights first, and this list is going to be a nightmare to stop for opponents who don't have loads of anti-tank...which it eventually ran into in the form of Dan's AdMech.
- 7th - Steven Larson - Grey Knights: Dreadknights and Interceptors.
- 8th - Jason Rogers - Death Guard: Shooty Inexorable that are extra-heavy on Daemon Engines thanks to the addition of Blight Haulers.
- 9th - Leighton Hitesman - Imperium: More Swordbearers Dreadknight skew soup, this time with a Knight Magaera thrown into the mix instead of AdMech.
- 10th - Joe Guzowski - Necrons: A somewhat unusual Szarekhan list with a mix of Warriors, Scarabs and Heavy Destroyers. Doesn't gain that much from the updates, but has Szeras kicking around, who would be able to ressurect a Destroyer that died from either units, so it has that going for it.
- 11th - Dyllan Holmes - Imperial Knights: The Freeblade Lance, dark horse of the balance slate puts in some foreshadowing here by taking the last 4-1 slot. I like the loadout here with Moiraxes, two Magaeras, a Preceptor and a Warglaive, and will be keenly watching its next outing.
- 12th - Joshua Thomas - Chaos: The Mortarion/War Dog list that saw some fringe play earlier in the year gets an update here, adding in Be'lakor as another high-end mobile threat that's non trivial to blow apart with shooting. Certainly won't hate the Armigers suddenly counting as five models each (though won't get the ObSec in a soup list).
Wrap Up
That's it for our majors, but make sure to come back tomorrow, because it's been a busy week for GTs and we have a mighty seven events to cover, including several more surprises among the undefeated lists. See you then!
