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The Torrent of Fire Invitational is a five round, 32 player tournament taking place outside of Washington DC. Players were selected from a highly competitive grouping, consisting of tournament winners, top players on Torrent of Fire, and player/organizers from across the country. Two weeks prior to the event, February 15th, brackets were determined via random first round pairings. The tournament will play out as an elimination/consolation bracketed event, with every player guaranteed five games. First place will be the player who finishes 5-0. Second place will be the player who finishes 4-1, only losing in their final round. Third place will be the 4-1 player with the highest battle point score. If second place also has the highest battle points, third place will be given to the next highest battle point finisher at 4-1.

First Place: $400 cash, 2014 NOVA Invitational Ticket

Second Place: $150 cash

Third Place: $100 cash

For the first time, in true NCAA Basketball March Madness style, spectators will be able to make predictions on who they think will win the tournament. You can create your bracket here: http://challonge.com/tofinv . The event will be run from http://app.torrentoffire.com, but this will allow users to create brackets and attempt to match their favorite players. Please, only 1 bracket per person. The best scoring bracket will also win $50!

Predictions will be accepted until midnight, February 28th, 2014.

Full brackets, lists, mission packets, and FAQ are available at http://www.torrentoffire.com/tof_inv.

All proceeds from the event are being donated to the NOVA Charitable Foundation, which supports a number of charities benefiting our soldiers and their families, among other funds.

I got this!!!!! Hulksmash, you are going down!

I bet you say that to all the boys

But seriously it'll be a good time. I mean, it's in a bar!

 Hulksmash wrote:
I bet you say that to all the boys

But seriously it'll be a good time. I mean, it's in a bar!

We were hooked after first event hosted here last year ... I mean tableside beer service? Had to convince chip to use them :-)

This is very interesting. I recognize a lot of these names.

There are going to be amazing games. Are any of the games going to be live?

The odds on favorite got to be Ben Mohie. I still consider him one of the best if not the best 40k player in the US.

But since I never go with the favorites I am going with Andrew Gonyo and Eric Hoeger in the finals. I have seen Eric’s play in the last 2 major GT and he has impressed me. Andrew is a very good player and playing Tau so I would put my money on him. Normal I would say Justin Cook would give him a run for his money, but he is playing a subpar codex. I applaud anyone not bringing jetseer, especially Justin Cook and Simon Leen for bring subpar codexs.

I'm sad. I didn't get any props for my no grav SM list from Jay!

 Hulksmash wrote:
I bet you say that to all the boys

But seriously it'll be a good time. I mean, it's in a bar!

Winner buys the looser a drink, that way everyone wins!!!!

Btw feel free to fortify some of my terrain

Jay_Daboyz wrote:
This is very interesting. I recognize a lot of these names.

There are going to be amazing games. Are any of the games going to be live?

The odds on favorite got to be Ben Mohie. I still consider him one of the best if not the best 40k player in the US.

But since I never go with the favorites I am going with Andrew Gonyo and Eric Hoeger in the finals. I have seen Eric’s play in the last 2 major GT and he has impressed me. Andrew is a very good player and playing Tau so I would put my money on him. Normal I would say Justin Cook would give him a run for his money, but he is playing a subpar codex. I applaud anyone not bringing jetseer, especially Justin Cook and Simon Leen for bring subpar codexs.

Sadly Jay I actually have Justin as a favorite in my first round match against him - check out the mission. It's an alternate scoring design, so you can choose before the game starts the alternate objective scoring format. If he does (he will) he earns 1 point per objective he controls at the start of his turn, from turns 2-6. So with 120 gaunts + tons of contestors, I'm going to be in rough shape matching pace against him. Max points you can score on objectives, either alternate or each is worth 3 at the end of the game, is 9, so my guess is he'll max that without me being able to stop him. It'll be a very very interesting match, and it's interesting to see me playing Tau feeling the underdog against nids! Silly missions making my crutches less useful!

Jay_Daboyz wrote:
This is very interesting. I recognize a lot of these names.

There are going to be amazing games. Are any of the games going to be live?

The top table is going to be live streamed and we're hoping for 1 or 2 more tables to be broadcast.

You guys know what time it is?

PLAGUE DRONE TIME!

yermom wrote:
You guys know what time it is?

PLAGUE DRONE TIME!

There can only be one Bown daemon list that does well....

Money is on Ben if he takes Nemsor... Otherwise It is probably Matt DeFranza if he is able to break out of Ovesa Star from Justin Cook.

I will be curious how many are going to bring Dark eldar Beastpack and Seer Council star.

Wish I could have made it up there :( I will be in Cali :(

In my biased versions of my predictions I have me vs Ben in the finals, and I'm my more realistic versions I have Ben vs tony.

Darkwynn wrote:
Money is on Ben if he takes Nemsor... Otherwise It is probably Matt DeFranza if he is able to break out of Ovesa Star from Justin Cook.

I will be curious how many are going to bring Dark eldar Beastpack and Seer Council star.

Wish I could have made it up there :( I will be in Cali :(

If you're up in Northern Cali, give me a PM if you're interested in playing.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Very cool concept.

East Coast players have all the fun!

@ Huck Sorry Hulk, I didn’t get a chance to go through all the lists in detail I was lurking at work. No grav guns, I love it.

I also want to see Neil and Paul play! Battle of the pod casts.

@ Target Oh I just look at the missions. That first mission against Justin going to be a tough one. Either way he never going to let you off with easy win.

Darkwynn wrote:
Money is on Ben if he takes Nemsor... Otherwise It is probably Matt DeFranza if he is able to break out of Ovesa Star from Justin Cook.

I will be curious how many are going to bring Dark eldar Beastpack and Seer Council star.

Wish I could have made it up there :( I will be in Cali :(

Ben is taking a pretty wacky list, Eldar/DE/Inquisition. Here's his full list: http://www.torrentoffire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ben_mohlie.pdf

Everyone else's lists are available via PDF as well, http://www.torrentoffire.com/tof_inv

@Jay

I forgive

@Jy2

Not everyone attending is East Coast. We've got a couple of midwesterners (by adoption) like me and a few west coasties like Frank

Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

 Hulksmash wrote:

@Jy2

Not everyone attending is East Coast. We've got a couple of midwesterners (by adoption) like me and a few west coasties like Frank

A couple of midwesterners and 1 West Coast player (that I recognize) out of 32 players?

Obviously home-court advantage. Hahahaha.

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Triple-GK ravens isn't a list that top players normally take, but for this battle, gotta root for Tim Gorham and his Wraithwing Necron Airforce.

Oh....and gooooo Frankie!

well Jy2 you'll be disapointed in Gorham, he's running a centurion star.

@Jgrand

Deathstars are the current monsters out there. The problem with two of the major ones (seer council & beaststar) is that they aren't deterred by Mindstrikes. Taking to the skies isn't totally the answer because most flyers don't have the damage output needed and most of the deathstar armies can put a solid ground element in play as well.

That said I do think we'll see a shift soon. The meta finally stabilized enough for people to adjust a little bit. The fist year of 6th was insane in it's release. With IG up next I can see a solid amount of time to adjust to the current meta and shift it.

Personally I dislike deathstars but once in a while they are silly and fun. Though I do hate seer council and I'm sure I'll hate the plague drone army if I play it even if I love Nick

Which is why I have 1 Gk raven and 3 SM ravens for the event

This will be a real fun event and I hope we get a couple games streamed.

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Considering the skill of the players in the brackets, Id say that's a positive sign that so many players are trying different things in a hyper competitive environment.

 krootman. wrote:

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Considering the skill of the players in the brackets, Id say that's a positive sign that so many players are trying different things in a hyper competitive environment.

I call horse poop. There are basically 5 primary builds in play. Seer Council, Ovesa Star, Beaststar, FMC/MC Spam Nids and Bike Command Squad Deathstars. With a few common "meta" builds like centurion star, daemonic fmc spam, and all bike sm. Followed by a couple of rando's like myself, clauss, the two necron players, nick's drone army, and ben's Eldar/DE/Inquisition crazyness.

It's a pretty limited spread of lists.

 Hulksmash wrote:

 krootman. wrote:

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Considering the skill of the players in the brackets, Id say that's a positive sign that so many players are trying different things in a hyper competitive environment.

I call horse poop. There are basically 5 primary builds in play. Seer Council, Ovesa Star, Beaststar, FMC/MC Spam Nids and Bike Command Squad Deathstars. With a few common "meta" builds like centurion star, daemonic fmc spam, and all bike sm. Followed by a couple of rando's like myself, clauss, the two necron players, nick's drone army, and ben's Eldar/DE/Inquisition crazyness.

It's a pretty limited spread of lists.

Different lists? Where?

As Brad pointed out, most are known deathstars. There are a few that are a little bit different. Ben's list is odd, but I guess he really wants to get first turn.

Main Codexes:
Space Marines
Eldar
Dark Eldar
Necrons
Demons
Tyranids

Besides the Tyranids, who the jury is still out on, they are all the known good books. That is not much for diversity.

I guess that is how you get an invite though is by playing a deathstar on the east coast.

Ben Vs Someone - that is what I predict hahah.

Chip it was great meeting you at the LVO. I am so sad I an't make this due to family stuff. I wanted to hang out with everyone.

I am planning on making NOVA this year. Too bad I can't be one of the Daemon players.

And for shame putting Paul versus Ender there in round 1. Josh you better not let Paul win!

I love ben's "I always go first so take it" list ;p.

Should be fun to see what some of you guys are able to pull off. Hulk your techmarine spam looks interesting for sure.

 Hulksmash wrote:

 krootman. wrote:

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Considering the skill of the players in the brackets, Id say that's a positive sign that so many players are trying different things in a hyper competitive environment.

I call horse poop. There are basically 5 primary builds in play. Seer Council, Ovesa Star, Beaststar, FMC/MC Spam Nids and Bike Command Squad Deathstars. With a few common "meta" builds like centurion star, daemonic fmc spam, and all bike sm. Followed by a couple of rando's like myself, clauss, the two necron players, nick's drone army, and ben's Eldar/DE/Inquisition crazyness.

It's a pretty limited spread of lists.

Beats having half the meta be one list or one army. I am also the only fmc daemon player too and its not like that is a super common build.

I just wanted to paint and model half a dozen techmarines

In seriousness though I know quite a few people got invites that aren't east coasters and don't play deathstars. Some could make it and some couldn't.

And Blackmoor you forgot Tau from your list, the other super dex.

Though there is a sisters army there too

Hey internet let's take a step back and actually analyze these armies.

We can first look at the diversity of lists now: gun line tau/ovesa star, bike marines, jetseer, beast star are the common ones. Then we have 2 screamer stars an fmc daemon list 2 vastly different nid armies, 2 necrons with completely different lists, plague drones, bens alpha strike thing, tech marine blob thing, and some others variants.

Now let's look at the game a year ago at this time, right before adepticon. Does anyone remember the top 16? I do. Approximately 10 necron primaries, a couple hell drakes, 1 ork, 1 space marine, 1 nid, and 1 Eldar.

Ok even further back to 5th ed, grey knight razor spam, space wolf razor spam, blood angel razor spam, mech guard, am I missing anything?

Seems to me the game is growing in diversity of good builds, not shrinking.

 Blackmoor wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:

 krootman. wrote:

 JGrand wrote:
Seers/Screamers/Beast-stars make up 1/4 of the field. That doesn't even include the peppering of O'vesa stars.

The lack of imagination is a bit disheartening, especially because most of the players at this event can make a ton of cool builds work via superior skill. Not saying that the deathstars are unbeatable or need to be nerfed, but I do think a meta shift is coming. We're already seeing people take to the skies or reserves to avoid these units entirely. I'd imagine that extreme MSU with some anti-psyker via Rune Priests or Mindstrikes will become more popular as the psychic based deathstars become so ubiquitous.

Considering the skill of the players in the brackets, Id say that's a positive sign that so many players are trying different things in a hyper competitive environment.

I call horse poop. There are basically 5 primary builds in play. Seer Council, Ovesa Star, Beaststar, FMC/MC Spam Nids and Bike Command Squad Deathstars. With a few common "meta" builds like centurion star, daemonic fmc spam, and all bike sm. Followed by a couple of rando's like myself, clauss, the two necron players, nick's drone army, and ben's Eldar/DE/Inquisition crazyness.

It's a pretty limited spread of lists.

Different lists? Where?

As Brad pointed out, most are known deathstars. There are a few that are a little bit different. Ben's list is odd, but I guess he really wants to get first turn.

Main Codexes:
Space Marines
Eldar
Dark Eldar
Necrons
Demons
Tyranids

Besides the Tyranids, who the jury is still out on, they are all the known good books. That is not much for diversity.

I guess that is how you get an invite though is by playing a deathstar on the east coast.

Thats a pretty nice spread of codexs, considering the amount of tau, eldar, and daemon armies we have seen lately.