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I have a game planned with one of my buds next week. He's started playing the 'stealers and I really haven't any idea of what to expect other than I've heard they have a table they roll on that could allow them to assault turn one which would really suck for my Tau. If that's their schtick I was considering loading up all of my suits with counterfire defence systems in lieu of EWO. Do the 'stealers deep strike much? Am I crazy for going for a BS2 over watch vs EWO?

EWO is very good vs GSC.
They can roll on the ambush table when infiltrating or arriving from reserves. If they roll a 6 on the table they can appear 3" from you and charge. Otherwise they'll probably just appear about 6" away and charge the next turn.

They can also re-enter reserves if they start their turn more than 6" from you (and didn't arrive from reserves that turn).

It makes for a highly aggressive army with lots of board control. Most of the army will appear right next to you. Units will be disappearing and reappearing all over the field to grab objectives.

EWO is great for removing all the units that rolled a 6 from turn 2 onwards, which is tough for the cult. However it won't help vs the infiltration on turn 1.
Expect to begin the game next to a horde of cheap, rending infantry.

Maybe I'll mix it up a little bit then between EWO and CDS. Stormsurges can't make use of CDS anyway since they can't over watch being gargantuan monstrous creatures so he'd be a good candidate for EWO with all of the different long range firing systems he has. Probably the riptide, too. I plan on running the hunter contingent detachment/hunter cadre so there'll be a 12" bubble for supporting fire. Here's the list I'm contemplating:

Tau CAD (primary)
Ethereal (warlord)
5x Fire Warriors
5x Fire Warriors
Sky Ray Gunships, Sensor Spines, SMS
Sky Ray Gunships, Sensor Spines, SMS

Tau Hunter Contingent
Hunter Cadre
Commander, NSJ, CCN, MSS, DC, PEN, OG
5x Fire Warriors
5x Fire Warriors
5x Fire Warriors
Riptide, Counterfire Defence System, EWO
3x Stealth suits, Counterfire Defence System
3x Stealth suits, Counterfire Defence System
5x Marker Drones
1x Stormsurge, Pulse Driver Cannon, Twin-linked Burst Cannon, EWO, Velocity Tracker
Sniper Drone Team, 3x Firesight Marksmen, 4x Sniper Drones
2x Broadsides, one with TL, one with CDS

Drone Network
5x Marker Drones

I would have suggested a bunch of kroot to bubble wrap your expensive toys, though fire warriors can effectively achieve the same goal.

Not sure that you're going to get much use out of the VT on the 'Surge unless he's bringing 'Nid allies and even then with the pulse driver instead of the blast gun, you're relying on your rockets and burst cannons to bring down flyrants and you're only doing ~1 wound a turn to them and can't fire the pulse driver at another target so I think it's a bit of a waste. Much better to hand that job off to the skyrays and maybe the riptide as the 'rays should drop a flyrant a turn and once they've racked all their missiles, they can still skyfire their markers so the 'tide can be BS5 ignores cover with his 12 rending shots.

Not too sure about making the Ethereal the warlord either, he's a free VP and as such, has a huge target on his back anyway, though I guess you could say the same for the commander, but at least he's T5 with 4 wounds and a 2+ where the ethereal is relying on LOS! rolls and is doubled out by TL devourers w/ Brainleach worms.

Regardless, should be a fun game, hop you enjoy it.

Thanks for the input - that's what I'm looking for actually. I took the ethereal to either jack up the fire warriors rapid fire range or give everyone a 6+ FNP plus since he's a CAD I was going to roll on strategic and pray for a 4 rerolling if needed so I only need a 5 to seize on. I know, I know you want to go second but not if I know I'll be assaulted first turn. The other guy does ally nids and runs either two or three flyrants so yeah I'm sure the ethereal will be a target. I'm thinking about attaching him to the broadsides so at least the flyrants will have to chew through some 2+ first.

As for VT on the 'surge I was thinking that the turn after I drop anchor 2x4D6 worth of the cluster rockets and 8 TL SMS should do some serious damage. Although you are right about the skyrays. There function is to take out flyrants first and foremost. If that fails then it's up to the 'surge and riptide to finish the job.

Kroot don't help to bubble wrap; they have to infiltrate and if he wins the roll he can infiltrate a unit close to your "castle" and kroot can't deploy there now.

I recommend drone net or regular fire warriors for bubble wrap. if you go first you should have a relatively easy game. If he goes first.... good luck!

Its the most mobile army in the 40k universe with infiltrate, appearance, and reappearance.
Firepower, mobility, and overwatch with a higher BS are key.

With the FAQ you do not have to infiltrate and are able to deploy every infiltrator normaly. Kroot could work.

The Problem will bei those annoying flamepistols. My buddy runs two units of five FP. Goodbye Kroot... :(

The Ambushing Rending horde is the GSC's main threat, but watch out for his psykers too. Mass Hypnosis can tail your firepower off quite handily if he's got 3+ dudes casting, Mind Control on your Stormsurge is liable to hurt, and Summons can drop all kinds of stupid stuff right in your lap.

Make sure your bubblewrap can't be rinsed off the table with Autoguns. Any rolls of 5 on the Cult Ambush table allow his dudes to make a free shooting attack during deployment, which can Pin your dudes and potentially punch a hole through the cordon that his other dudes can charge into.

Always try to wipe out units, or at least trap them on the table. He can't pull them into Ongoing Reserve if you have anything within 6" of them. If they do go into Ongoing and they're part of an Insurrection they'll come back with d6 dudes replenished.