The Purge - Australia’s Biggest Tournament So Far
This past weekend (Feb 10th and 11th) we had "The Purge" Kill Team Grand Tournament, which was a massive undertaking at Padstow RSL in Sydney. With 6 rounds spread over 2 days, and offering 2(!) Golden Tickets to the World Championship, it promised to be a key competitive event for the 2024 season.
The tournament also hit quite a number of big milestones, with some of them being:
- The largest Kill Team tournament in Australia
- The 1st 6 round Australian KT event
- The largest KT WCW qualifier in Australia
- The 1st KT WCW qualifier held in Sydney
- The 1st KT tournament to have representatives from 4 Australian States
Now to the podium. I’ve reached out and asked the top 3 a handful of questions to try get their take on the tournament, as well as their take on the meta and where we sit amongst it.
Left: 2nd place Aleksa Pavkovic, Middle: 1st place Liam Bladwell, Right: 3rd place Shannon Hawkins. Credit: Good Times Rolled
In first place, and the only undefeated player of the tournament, was Liam Bladwell with Novitiates. Having somehow dodged the world champ and 2nd place finisher Aleksa, it was certainly still no walk in the park. On the way to the W, Liam beat out 4th place (and local vet guard expert) Sam, 6th place Kasrkin enthusiast Jimmy C, 7th place Phobos enjoyer Cameron Matthews, and what was no doubt a tight Novitiates mirror match against Christine. In the end, though, and following on from his undefeated 2nd place in the previous GT, it seems Liam successfully proved the strength of the team. He also proved his own ability and consistency, this being his second GT gold medal from 3 events, alongside the aforementioned silver. Quite the feat. And as reward for his great performance he was offered, and accepted, one of the two Golden Tickets to the World finals in Atlanta.
Excellent work going undefeated and landing the gold on the weekend. That puts you at 2 golds and a silver across the 3 Sydney GTs we've had so far, which one must say is pretty impressive. You've also earned a Golden Ticket to the World finals, so congratulations on that!
Thanks! It's been a great feeling staying on top of the Sydney meta, definitely helped by the other fantastic players im able to play against on a regular basis.
Novitiates have surprisingly been off the radar for quite a while, and yet it seems they're unquestionably a very strong team. Why do you think they've been missing from the meta, and do you see them hitting a resurgence similar to Kommandos?
I doubt we'll see the Nuns taking over like Kommandos have, with only 10 relatively fragile operatives you really have to position and utilise every operative carefully to get through a game. I'd imagine the lack of Novitiates in the meta just stems from their somewhat unforgiving playstyle, if you don't get 100% out of each of your girls you'll run out of steam with another turning point or two left in the match.
What would you think are the toughest matchups for Novitiates, and did you do any specific preparation for those teams?
I didn't particularly want to get in the ring against a seasoned Kommandos player, Novitiates have the tools to kill them, but can't rely on any of their melee punch until they use up 'Just a Scratch' which makes the early game tough. Other than the greenskins, I was concerned about the Vetguard matchup, Sam - who I ended up beating in the finals - and I had played previously and the games were always tight, this time around I chose to concede primaries early to posture for a huge tp2/3 swing and it paid off.
If the World finals were tomorrow, would you consider taking the nuns? Would they have what it takes to beat the best?
They're definitely on my shortlist. My only concern would be against a savvy opponent my secondary game isn't the strongest. They have access to recon, but without a canid to confirm recover item tp1 and a faction tac op that can be somewhat map dependant I'd worry about locking in a victory when the games got truly close.
In second place was Aleksa Pavkovic with Kasrkin, finishing with 5 wins and a draw, the draw coming against Sam's Vet Guard. While Kasrkin did receive a buff recently, the prevailing thought is that they're very effective at killing single targets (particularly elites), but may not have the tools to secure wins against the top tier teams. Hard to say that arguably the best player in the world winning with them shows otherwise, but it does add weight to Kill Team being a very skill-based game. Seeing another Kasrkin player finishing 6th does suggest that perhaps the team is in a pretty good place now - it will be interesting to see how the team goes in other large tournaments around the world.
Well done on 2nd place with the Kasrkings, finishing with 5 wins and 1 draw, but more importantly securing 2nd best painted. Was there anything about the GT which you found particularly surprising, perhaps with the team spread or results?
Results were mostly as expected, our meta has never really been closely tied to world trends so the lack of the likes of Fellgor or Kommandos en masse like there is in the US wasn't particularly surprising. As most would expect the best players came out on top. Kasarkin are sitting on the edge of Top 10 but are fairly far from top5. They can play against those teams but if both players are equally skilled the lack of tools that Kasarkin have will hurt them alot. Just killing people is all well and good but the game isnt just about killing people 3.
Kasrkin did receive some buffs recently, though they were mostly written off as improving what Kasrkin was already good at and not addressing their main weakness(es), and yet the team had almost a 70% win rate across 3 players on the weekend. How would you place them currently, do they have enough to hold their own against the top teams?
Kasarkin are sitting on the edge of Top 10 but are fairly far from top5. They can play against those teams but if both players are equally skilled the lack of tools that Kasarkin have will hurt them alot. Just killing people is all well and good but the game isnt just about killing people
Talking about top teams, we would mostly still look at teams like Kommandos, Fellgor, Vet Guard. Are there any others you think the community hasn't yet noticed or latched on to, or perhaps is on the precipice and might just storm to the top following the next dataslate?
Other than those 3 the teams that people are missing in top 5 discussions are Gellerpox and cults. Both are extremely strong. Novitiates are also a fantastic team that has been slept on for a while now. Obviously Liam did well and it was a team I pushed for more play of all the way back at Worlds. They are similar to Kasarkin but with actual tools rather than just dice fixing and its that minor but significant difference that lets them hang in the top in my opinion.
Other than that there's alot of teams on the periphery. Hierotek, Corsairs, Breachers, Blooded, Hunter Clade. Inquisition exists there too though Im not as hot on them as some but minor shifts can push them up alot. All of these teams are 1 minor buffs or 1-2 less bad match ups away from the top. Kasarkin fit in there too. Its only really Kommandos I think are so far out of bounds that these teams struggle to compete with them. Obviously teams like Felgor are strong but I think its playable for most teams, just uphill. Kommandos i don't see how you can lose with if both players are equally skilled unless the dice truly do something insane.
In third we have Shannon Hawkins running the big bad Kommandos, interestingly being the only player to go 5 wins and 1 loss across the two days. I don't think anyone is too surprised to see Kommandos finishing quite high in the standings, but what is surprising is that the next highest Ork player finished 23rd with a record of 3-3, and the team as a whole perhaps underperformed (as we'll see in the stats) despite Shannon's efforts. Another interesting factor, though not to take away from his achievement, is that Shannon's path to the podium did come against (relatively) lower ranked players, with the highest victories secured against an 8th place Wyrmblade and 9th place Intercession, and his only loss against my 5th place self. Though such is the reality of tournaments, as I know quite well from my own GT gold previously... Regardless of any of that, Shannon has been a consistent top performer so one can only say a high finish was deserved.
How'd you feel about the GT overall, and what are your thoughts about your own performance?
I really enjoyed the GT, you could really see that alot of effort was put into this GT to make it the best tournament i personally have experience. From the board layouts to the room space, to even the food and vibe. The prize pool was AMAZING. I personally think i did well, with only one lose to yourself, i felt i preformed well both days. I felt with my match VS yourself i for sure could have done better. I felt maybe i snuck under the radar abit to finish 3rd but i fought just as hard as everyone else there.
In spite of the recent nerfs, Kommandos are still picked as one of the strongest teams in the game. How did you feel running them at the GT, and which teams were you worried about most?
Ever since discoving Warhammer/Kill Team i have always loved Orks, Their Lore and Stupidity entertains me. I had held off running Kommandos for a while since they were overpowered but when they got nerfed I thought I would buy a new set of them and repaint them as my first Kommando Team was the first team i had ever painted and wasnt painted the best. I thought the nerf was enough at first but seeing as how they are still dominating around the world maybe they could be given one more nerf to balance them. I was less worried about the teams i was facing but more worried about who was piloting what teams, When I saw Sam C playing Vet Guard I knew these could be trouble for my sneaky boys on open. Being able to treat a model as having an engage order can be huge against a team who is trying to sneak up the board. Also that Demo mine scares me Also seeing Liam play Novitiates had me worried too, if those flamers get into the right spot they can really do some damage, plus blinding aura making my gunners useless. Other than that it was just play what ever team is in front of me to the best of my abilities.
Moving on from the GT, do you think you will continue running the Orks at upcoming events, or shifting to something else?
I've always got itchy feet for new teams, last year I played 7 teams at 8 events, I will most likely shelf the Kommandos for now and play some other teams. I am working on some ork themed scouts and hopefully in the future make a Grot Guard team (vet guard) im also looking at going back to some other old teams I've played over last year i enjoyed, these include Fellgore, Gellerpox and Hunter Clade. I enjoy mixing it up and playing different teams
Special mention to fourth place Sam and his Vet Guard. Sam won 4 matches, featuring the same Wyrmblade and Intercession players from the top 10, as well as a Sydney high performer David "Brucey" Bruce running Scout Squad. More significantly, he managed a tight draw against Aleksa's Kasrkin, and only went down to Liam's Novitiates by 2 points in the very last round of the tournament. With Aleksa pre-qualified for the 2024 World finals by virtue of being the previous champion, and Shannon unavailable, Sam has accepted the second Golden Ticket.
As for the stats of the tournament, we see a sort of defiance of expectations. Key highlights near the top are Kasrkin finishing with a win rate of 69.44% across 3 players and Intercession with 66.67% from 2 players; while on the other end we have the most popular faction Kommandos below 50% at 46.67% with 5 players, and the also popular Fellgor Ravagers sitting at 38.89% from 3 players.
The Purge GT Overall Win Rates
Overall, I’d have to say it was an excellent time for most, bar just a few controversies. Personally, I had a lot of fun dressing up, meeting some new people, playing against a few interstate wanderers, and in the end finished 5th with a record of 4 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.
Group photo from the GT. Credit: Good Times Rolled
Now we look forward to the competitive scene heating up as we move out of the holiday period into the meat of the year. Coming up on the calendar in Sydney, we’ve got:
Hillbilly’s 2v2 Buddy System Open - 9th March at Castle Hill RSL
20 spots in a casual event, aimed at bringing experienced and newer players together for a heap of fun
The inaugural Hillbilly’s Monthly Romp #1 - 23rd March at Castle Hill RSL
20 spots for 4 rounds ranked competitive sweatiness, with the aim of repeating monthly
Northern Beaches GT - 6th & 7th of April at Decked Out Gaming
6 rounds over 2 days with a Golden Ticket to the World Championship on the line
