ATC Results

Yeah! Take that Cryx! I think it's safe to say the salt throwing match between trolls and cryx has been decided.

Team tournaments are a very different environment from a regular 2 list masters event, and they're an environment Cryx thrives in. In a team tournament you can build a list spamming Incorporeal, like the 5-0 and two 4-1 Cryx players did (Incprporeal spam went 11-1 only losing to the Cryx mirror), and guarantee you will dodge factions like Retribution or lists like Karchev that will mulch Incorporeal like nothing. In a regular masters environment planning to dodge magic weapons is suicide since most people playing Gunlines need magic weapons to play a gunline into Protectorate, and factions like Ret just incidentally have magic weapons on what they typically bring anyway.

While the team environment is fantastic for Cryx as it lets us dodge our biggest issues, it's horrible for Trolls. Trolls has always been a faction who's core strength has been high armor bricks. Unfortunately for them Khador armor bricks are one of the big Boogymen of the meta right now, and people came prepared to deal with the likes of Karchev & Harkavich with nothing but heavies. Most things that can take down a Khador Jack brick are also effective at dismantling a Troll brick. 

Honestly both Trolls & Cryx feel like one dimensional factions at the moment, with the major difference being that Troll's gimmick (high armor bricks) is big in the meta right now, and people are teched for it. Cryx's gimmick (melee dude swarm) is largely considered trash so most people aren't building to deal with it and either solving for it incidentally or just dodging it outright. 

Which is their biggest problem right now IMO. I currently believe Cryx, Trolls, & Minions sit at the bottom of the faction heap.

Cryx is currently in the best position of the three because of the fact it's largely ignored and nobody's really preparing for it. Every Mark3 Steamroller I've gone to I've had at least one opponent who had no idea what my models did because they never see Cryx anymore. At the same time Cryx is still largely pigeon held into playing dude swarm because Cryx Warjacks simply aren't that good, and don't trade well into opposing heavies at all. Yes you can build Cryx Jack bricks with the likes of Asphyxious3, but you aren't going to out brick the likes of Harkavich, Issyria, or Madrak with it. If the meta Boogymen ever swung so that people were specifically teched out to take on Cephalyx, Khador Rocket spam, and other dude swarms there would most likely be a huge drop off in Cryx's performance. 

Minions in my opinion suffers from extreme lack of options. There just isn't much diversity within the faction, and they have a very limited scope of competitive models. The models that are competitive are insanely good though, so most people have prepared to face them. This puts Minions players in an awkward spot where their opponents are generally familiar with how to play their lists into the likes of Rask, and there's very little available tech the Minions player can bring to change the matchup up. 

Trolls has the Cryx problem, except unlike Cryx, you're caught in the meta crossfires like you said. Their primary gimmick in Mark2 was Armor bricks, but nowadays you can find better Bricks in Khador, Ret, Protectorate, & Skorne. This would ordinarily be fine, except Troll's other playstyles got gutted in the edition change for the most part. Trolls can play a gunline with Grim & Gunny, but it's nowhere near the kind of firepower you could muster up in Ret, Cygnar, or Protectorate. They can try a dude swarm, but you're not getting the same numbers you'd get with the likes of Cephalyx or Winter Guard as Troll units are expensive. Honestly Mark3 Trolls reminds me of Mark2 Khador, it's not that the faction is bad, it just feels like a jack of all trades master of none. Unlike most factions, I feel Trolls can build a good list in nearly every possible playstyle, but currently I feel Trolls can't build one of the best lists for any of those styles. While you can play anystyle you'll always find a list in another faction that can do it better. 

What I'd like to see happen for these 3 factions is Cryx get some battlegroup buffs that helps them in Heavy vs Heavy trades so we can actually trade effectively. For Minions I'd just like to see more new options, especially in the Warbeast department since it feels like many of their beasts just do similar things. Trolls I think should be focused on unit buffs & buffs to light Beasts. Many of the units & lights in Trolls seem pointless at the moment, & some feel like weaker versions of other Trolls. Giving a niche to the myriad of unplayable troll options (Trolls probably has the most bad models of any faction) should open the faction a lot and hopefully turn them away from being a Jack of all trades and give them more direction.

Cryx on the whole is not in a great place, there are lots of things that could be done to make many of their models more playable. And I am sure some of us could write the faction better than the designers have (what if the necrosurgeon was a CA for mechthralls?).

That said the faction is not without models that are good, it is just a somewhat limited selection. Cryx has done well in team events in the past due to being able to play around the typical meta that everyone else plays.

I think that was the crutch of MK2, play high DEF Cryx has Bilethralls, play high armour Cryx has ARM debuff, play guns Cryx dies horribly. Despite being a meta boogeyman everyone was more scared of boxspam trolls and armour skew so never took the tools to deal with Cryx.

going off topic so ill stop rambling

Looks like some interesting games. I'd like to hear about how the teams thought about setting match-ups for each round, although that might be their "super secret tech." I found that process very interesting/challenging in the one team event I played in.

And, congratulations to the Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow!

Yeah, but then you have to listen to Mike Ireland...

I kid, I kid. I'm his local no-longer-PG, and I would be failing if I didn't give him a hard time at every possible opportunity.