The 2021 U.S. Masters is only a few short weeks away on July 10-11, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas. In advance of the event, tournament organizer Mark Cox has released the lists of all 64 competitors submitted after the recent list deadline. You can find them here:
2021-07-10 U.S. Masters 2021 [6/2300] [64] [US] – Google Drive
I have ranked each list based on the following categories: number of drops, number of scoring drops, total unit strength, number of Speed 7+ units, number of shots, and number of units with Defense 6.
You can find the underlying data in this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kGZuPFpPJKYMGfLrL-3vc2y1A2WplhvScMH0IzOPCFc
Below are my quick takeaways after looking over the armies’ rankings in each category:
(Most) Everyone Loves Scoring Drops
The scoring drop revolution has reached the U.S. Masters. The average percentage of scoring drops in the armies is 82%, which means the typical list around 14 drops only features 1-2 Individuals or other non-scoring units like War Engines. Eight armies do not have a single non-scoring unit in their lists, which seems more like those players have a theory on how you win in Third Edition than a happy accident.
There are armies coming that buck this trend to be sure. At the most extreme are two Goblin lists–Travis T.’s and Jeff O.’s–that actually have more non-scoring units than scoring units (12 of 25 and 10 of 22 scoring units, respectively). But even outside of those unique lists, there are lists that still value Individuality, including the reigning Master Erich T.’s Orcs that boast six individuals out of a total of 19 drops. Other notable lists in this vein are John G.’s Abyssals with four flying individuals in a 14-drop list and Kyle T.’s Dwarfs which are relying on three cannons and a host of individuals to get his nine scoring units into a game-winning position.
Finally, only one army, Cyle P.’s Goblins, marries an extreme number of scoring drops (15) with an equally extreme number of total drops (20). Most others trend one way or the other. Cyle has one of the most interesting lists coming, pairing the typical Goblin drop advantage and solid shooting numbers with five (!) units with Defense 6/Big Shield to give his opponents a third type of headache to deal with.
The Need for Speed Has Diminished
The typical army coming to Masters 2021 has a balanced diet of speed with roughly half of their drops being units with a Speed of 7 or more (the threshold at which a unit begins paying points for Speed according to what I understand of the R.C. formula).
By my count, there are only ten armies in the field that are relying on having a higher than average number of fast units as a tactic to win games, and some of those are only fast by the Speed 7 threshold I set rather than the all Speed 9/10 armies that come to mind when people talk about alpha strike.
For example, my own Undead list has ten units with a Speed of 7+ or more but only one unit with Speed 10–more of what I would describe somewhat contradictorily as slow alpha strike. ‘True’ alpha strike armies do exist, most notably Grant F.’s all-Elohi list with 11/12 of his units having Speed 10 or Keith C.’s 13-drop Herd army in which, with one exception, the slowest unit is Speed 7…with Wild Charge (d3)!
I don’t have any data to back this up, but this mix of armies feels significantly different with respect to Speed than the past where many more people were trying to build alpha strike armies to win.
The Shooters Will Always Be Among Us
It’s clear from reviewing the lists that CoK 21 killed the six Indirect War Engine build, at least at this level of competition (good riddance). This can be seen most clearly from the Goblin shooting lists, which have swapped the previous year’s three Mawpup Launchers/three Big Rocks Lobbers for three of those and three War Trombones. Not any nicer at bottom, but at least you won’t lose your entire army on Turn 1.
Instead, the new ‘gunlines’ are relying on an overwhelming mass of short-range firepower supplemented if at all by a smaller amount of long-range shots in the form of Lightning Bolt, Sharpshooter-type units and/or War Engines. The purest example is Dustin H.’s Northern Alliance rocking 100 Icy Breath shots between his four ice elementals and three frosty giants. Another is Alex C.’s Abyssals, which combine 40 Fireballs with twenty shots from two units of Flamebearers and Bael’s 7 Lightning Bolt, adding up to a sneakily high amount of shooting.
Interestingly, there are only a handful of players attempting to spam (18+ shots) Lightning Bolt when that was looking more like a trend in tournament results over the past few months. Maybe people have wised up that spamming Lightning Bolt is not all it was cracked up to be.
Jason B.’s Kingdoms of Men is a throwback shooting list raging against the dying light by pushing out 80 bow shots from his Archer hordes plus four indirect War Engines and a healthy amount of Lightning Bolt. Also worth mentioning is the only Elf player in the field (which includes cousins the Twilight Kin and Sylvan Kin) Keith R., who is attempting to put shooting Elves back on the map even without the horde-based shooting power of Kindred Archer hordes. Keith supplements the 24 Lightning Bolts put out by his Duracelf (triple Archmage) and allied Winged Unicorn with a respectable amount of long-range shooting from his allied Heartpiercers, Gladestalkers, and Silverbreeze.
Overall, I think the U.S. Masters lists show that shooting is largely in a good place with the possible exception of the ridiculous number of Blast shots that can be put out by the top-end shooting Goblin lists. The armies are making use of (most of) the varied options available, with only short-range non-Piercing Fireball/Breath Attack and normal Bow shots missing from the mix.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoyed this quick look at some of the bigger trends I picked out from a review of the U.S. Masters 2021 lists. Let us know if you agree or disagree with mine and whether you have noticed some of your own!
