Tyranids at NOVA 2012

I had some pretty high hopes for Tyranids at NOVA this year, but it just wasn't to be - there were only three Tyranid players in the GT this year, and none in the Invitational.  Despite an overall lack of experience (one had never been to a tournament, one had never even rolled to see if the game would continue on turn 5 before, etc...) in my opinion, their scores and placing in the end is pretty amazing. I think all three ended the day pleased with how well they did, and one was quite distressed at winning his last game Saturday night as he wasn't able to come back on Sunday.  He actually tried to lose by racing across the table with everything, thinking his opponent would just shoot him down: instead he practically tabled his poor opponent.

So let's talk about the lists themselves for a moment. None approached  'psychic choir' level (22+ powers), with a max of 14 powers in any of the three, so that's one build that didn't even show up.  If possible to do so without being condescending, I would characterize the lists as having indicators of a lack of tuning/playtesting, especially when seen through the lens of needs for 6th: small units of Hormagaunts, Raveners, and Ymgarl, trygons with adrenal (not tox); Doom is risky, and not an indicator of a lack of playtesting etc.., but I don't see the point of having him without a spore pod.  In an overall sense not related to any of these lists, significant for their lack of presence were multiple squads of zoans, gargoyles, devilgants, devilfexes, Primes, or even Harpies (which are surprisingly durable under NOVA FAQ rules of flying MCs can only be hit on a 6, even when Grounded).

Here's the lists and their standings, and a couple (mostly horrible) photos:

List #1 - Peter Thomas:

Competitive
Ranking      |Name                   |Bracket|Generalship|Appearance|Overall
48              |  Peter Thomas     |     2     |    50.417   |   0.559       |  1.059

Tyrant, armored shell, regen, OA, LW/BS, HVC, Leech, Parox

Tyrant Guard, lash whip, x1

Zoanthrope x3

HGx3 x2

Tervigon, tox, adrenal, dom, cat x2

Warrior, scytal, deathspitter x3; Warrior, scytal venom cannon (4 total)

Termagant x12

Termagant x12

Hormagaunt, ag x14

Trygon x2
The pic up top is from this army

List # 2: Jonathan Tomczak:
Competitive
Ranking      |Name                   |Bracket|Generalship|Appearance|Overall
117            |Jonathan Tomczak|      7    |   50.487    |   0.000       |  0.500

Swarmlord

HGx3

HGx2

Doom

Tervigon, tox, adrenal, dom, catalyst x3

Termagant x13

Termagant x10 x2

Trygon, adrenal x3

List #3: Nate Berman:
Competitive

Ranking      |Name                   |Bracket|Generalship|Appearance|Overall
137            |Nathan Berman     |     8     |   33.739   |   0.000       |   0.334

List #2: Nate Berman

Tyrant, wings, 2x TL dev, OA

Tyrant, wings, 2x TL dev

HG x3

Ymgarl x8

Doom, spod

Tervigon, tox, crushing claws, dom, cat, onslaught

Termagant x15

Termagant x13

Ravener, spinefist, x3

Trygon, tox x2

Aegis, quad gun

                                

Conclusions from watching hundreds of games this past weekend:

• I'm firmly of the opinion that 3 Tervigons are almost a requirement in order to sustain the tarpits needed for the killy things to do their jobs - and still be able to hold or contest objectives and quarters.
• More than ever, it comes down to generalship, not the list.  While there are definitely bad matchups, this seemed to be an artifact of the inability of many lists to prioritize effectively vs. flyers.  Success vs. many flyer-heavy lists often came down to ignoring the flyers.
• With the above in mind, there are multiple list possibilities a skilled Tyranid player could be successful with.  Psychic Choir and Nidzilla are both viable, and a Flying Circus may be.