With the Covid-19 outbreak, travel restrictions, and the cancellation of many conventions, one of my favorite events of the year had to be canceled: Americas Team Championship (https://www.atcwmh.com/atc-information/ and https://www.facebook.com/atcwmh/). Nathan Hoffmann, Dan Wasmer, and I formed ATC to provide a World Team Championship-style event to the Western Hemisphere, and we’ve been running it since 2017.
ATC is one of the five-player team events that have become popular in recent years. The strategy of list composition, player skill, and matchup choices make these events a ton of fun to watch and play. It’s always exciting to see the different strategies employed by each team to try their hand at the Fates of Lady Luck—in fact, we often encounter lists that don’t normally see play that have a better shot at victories and success when the pairing process of the teams is applied. Being able to select the possible pairings for players gives you the ability to craft lists for a theoretical advantage in a team event. It also provides a greater diversity of lists and rewards players’ skills in overcoming unexpected hardships.
Full event statistics can be found at https://conflictchamber.com/?event=1171; seeing warcasters and warlocks such as Thexus, Strakhov 1, Tanith, Midas, and Testament is always the most entertaining. The lists you don’t recognize are sometimes the ones that end up defeating you. Of course, you should be aware that these lists were designed for a team environment, and therefore not all lists are likely created with single Steamroller events in mind.
It’ll be interesting to see how the choices players made this year will change in the months as we race toward the next ATC. Every year, the ebb and flow of lists change, and it’s always educational to see how players adapt to the new models, new CIDs, and changes to Steamroller that alter how we develop lists.
It’s easy to guess that my favorite aspect of this event is the camaraderie shared by all the players. Teams develop jerseys and mascots, and we’ve seen jersey swaps and new friendships born after a game from the conversations between a couple of players who’ve not met before. Team events really bring the community together.
And finally, ATC provides the ability for a U.S. team that spends a lot of time practicing to win a spot to WTC. Regional players have proved their mettle in the past and earned that coveted spot. While this prize is limited to U.S. teams only, we’ve still seen great international rivalries form in the quest to claim the top spot of this tournament.
Each year ATC grows bigger and better, and we’ll be very excited to see you at the next one! Until then, be healthy, be safe.
