The date is fast approaching, the teams are set, the armies are locked and we’re ready for the hype to begin. A few of the Dash28 team have gotten together and kicked out some predictions for Masters in the U.S. (North America really considering there is a sprinkling of Canadians attending). As always, these statements represent the opinions of the individual authors and are entirely meant to be taken super seriously and cause hurt and disrespect (for real, don’t take this stuff too seriously). Let us know your own predictions, what we got wrong and what we got just about right in the comments here or on Facebook.
List can be found here
Favorite List
Keith Randall: Cory Walizer
Greg Person: Ray Weiandt – Undead
Tom Annis: Kyle Timberlake’s Dwarfs – I love toolbox lists and Kyle’s list has all of them. From the old school classics like A Berserker Lord with BotBS and cannons to new school like perfectly-kitted out stone priests, Kyle’s unit choices scream “I’ve played this list 100 times and know exactly how to play it.” Love it.
Alex Chaves: Mike Rossi – Dwarves
Mike Adkins: Marc Taylor
Jessica Townshend: Northern Alliance
Mike Rossi: Lex Simon’s Abyssal list. Double Chroneas and Well of Souls for wound shenanigans
Brinton Williams: Keith Randall Elves: It makes me sick to my stomach to admit but this is an excellent list, tuned just about to perfection and looks to do its job with savage efficiency. It’s a list that seems purpose-built to murder other, lesser Elven builds with just enough shooting and magic to put a dent into people, and a flying swarm of annoying chicken dragons ready to pressure the entire board. Playing against this probably feels like being molested by an octopus, just when you thought you were safe you get violently touched somewhere you least want the enemy to be.
Filthiest List
Keith Randall: Dustin Howard
Greg Person: Jeff O’Neal – Goblins
Tom Annis: Mike Szedlmayer’s Ogres – Unlike we honest and noble 8×8 players, Mike goes the full 9×9, a list which he pioneered and has been the boogeyman in his region all season. I can’t wait to see how he does with it.
Alex Chaves: Jeff O’Neil – Goblins
Mike Adkins: Jeff O’Neal
Jessica Townshend: Northern Alliance when muddy
Mike Rossi: Adam Ballard’s Filthy Nightstalkers
Brinton Williams: Any of the Twilight Kin Gladestalker builds with Latheal as well. If I had to pick I’ll say Corey Reynolds but y’all are guilty of rolling around in the filthy mud pile. The part of facing this list that feels so bad, and elevates it for me above some of the Ogre and Nightstalker filth we’re seeing, is how the layering of special rules reduces counterplay. Stealthy bubble, units with built-in Hammer of Measured Force, Scout to shoot with 24″ range shooting on the first turn from cover without penalty etc… feels bad to play against. I’m not removing the skill component from the players, I totally get you need good pilots to win with Twilight Kin, I just feel it wins out in the filth fest because it has a few too many built-in advantages that remove counterplay.
Who will be the Master?
*Master is the best battle score over 6 rounds
Keith Randall: Adam Ballard
Greg Person: Mike Szedlmayer – Ogres
Tom Annis: Dustin Howard – I hate to be a homer, but Dustin’s list is incredible. It has the core grind element with his favored monster mash/heal strategy but introduces a whole new alpha strike component with 3 shadowhounds and 3 soulflayers. Those two groups plus three scarecrow regiments for scenario play makes this a list that has an answer for every list and every scenario. The list will absolutely blank shooting spam and is an elf’s worst nightmare.
Alex Chaves: Mike Szedlmeyer – Ogres
Mike Adkins: Mike Szedlymayer
Jessica Townshend: I really liked Michelle Gomez
Mike Rossi: Mike Szedlmayer
Brinton Williams: Garret Mercier: Sorry to curse you. Love his list, I think it plays really well against most of the field. The hydras are spicy as hell against trash builds and he has a ton of practice with the list. This could be his year.
Who will be the Paragon?
*Paragon is the best overall score over 6 rounds counting Paint, Sports and Battle equally
Keith Randall: Dustin Howard
Greg Person: Corey Reynolds – Twilight Kin
Tom Annis: Jeremy Duvall – he has been close before, and assuming he can finish painting it, his Twilight Kin army is Jeremy completing the third leg of the stool—a hard as nails list to combine with his normal beautiful painting and A+ sports.
Alex Chaves: Dustin Howard – Nightstalkers
Mike Adkins: Dustin Howard
Jessica Townshend: Steve Hildrew
Mike Rossi: Corey Reynolds
Brinton Williams: Jeremy Duvall – I’m just manifesting here and think he has a great-looking army, is a solid player with exemplary sports.
Dark Horse/Breakout Performance?
Keith Randall: Jeremy Duvall
Greg Person: Marc Taylor – Forces of Nature
Tom Annis: Matt Griffin – Matt has been rocking a similar Sylvan Kin list for the year and getting great results. The list has so many ‘questions’ to ask if it’s opponents, which is always a good thing – Def 6 tree herders, surging GAE, speed 9 cav and LOTS of elf bow shots. It would not surprise me to see Matt make a name for both himself and the power of the Sylvan Kin list this year.
Alex Chaves: Matt Griffin – Sylvan Kin
Mike Adkins: Matt Griffen
Jessica Townshend: Steve Hildrew
Mike Rossi: Marcelo Rouco from the MA. IF you don’t know he’s here to let you know…
Brinton Williams: Tyler Schulz – It’s risky picking two dudes who test together for Master and Dark Horse, but I think he is an excellent player, puts in work, and has a list that could be a great counter to the low attack volume / high attack quality some of the other top lists are bringing. Five Infantry Hordes!
Best Battle Region?
Keith Randall: South
Greg Person: South… sigh…
Tom Annis: Sorry to be boring, but this is probably the South’s strongest battle team ever, boasting TWO former masters along with the usual rogue’s gallery. Our biggest competition is likely the Midatlantic.
Alex Chaves: Mid Atlantic
Mike Adkins: Mid Atlantic
Jessica Townshend: Oxfordshire
Mike Rossi: The South….again….
Brinton Williams: South again cause at this point it would just be really funny to see.
Other predictions?
Keith Randall: Southeast comes in last in all awards
Greg Person: Paragon Region – Northeast, baby!!!!!!
Tom Annis: Mantic will be selling lots of Air Elementals and Greater Air Elemental models after this tournament. There are six Forces of Nature lists, they all have Air Elementals, and I want to fight exactly zero of them.
Alex Chaves: ::Crickets::
Mike Adkins: West Region will have their best battle placement so far.
Jessica Townshend: The world will end in 2012
Mike Rossi: Jeremy Duvall will be on table 1 or 2 going into the last round.
Brinton Williams: Can’t duck out without mentioning the pair of Mike Szedlmayer & Tom Annis: Ogres – I think they have the potential to do great and murder a lot of folks hobby. This list type is a damn abomination taking super-efficient scoring characters, great unlocking warrior units, and one of the best Living Legends in the game with Nom-Nom. This list breaks a bunch of the standard ways you think to play Kings by flooding the board with quality drops, and dangerous hitting power. Tom has opted into some insurance with Doppelgangers while Mike is the pure distilled version of the list archetype. Absolute filth and scary as hell to face.
Well that’s our predictions. I’d like to think we’ll take a look back once the results are done, but honestly, it will probably too embarrassing when someone nobody on this panel thought of crushes the event and is rightfully crowned Master!
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That did it. Thanks!