Dalamar wrote: Witch Elf death star is really the only competitive choice in swedish comp if you want your score anywhere near 12
This is a bold statement. How can you be so sure that you really considered all possible builds, from warlock deathstar to avoidance to pegasus spam to monster mash to two towers to bowline to all kinds of combined arms to all the things I am failing to mention right now?
Dyvim tvar wrote:How is it a "win" for comp if someone is able to show that a rarely-used choice is under-comped in relation to its actual utility?
People tend to field what they consider the strongest. And usually, what units are "the strongest" is generally agreed on among a large group of players. The result are armies that are very similar to each other.
Sometimes, an explorer appears who just wants to find a new path, without the need of any other incentives. They are quite rare, though, and many of them fail because they are not skilled or persistent enough. In my meta, for example, no one plays a black dragon because everyone who tried failed miserably. I think I am the only one who even tried out the medusa for more than a few games.
In Swedish comp, however, you sometimes field units you consider not so strong but OK enough because they help you with your score. And your opponent has a weaker army, too. Suddenly, you start to see corsairs, black guards, sisters - units that are generally considered useful but outshined by other choices. Which is nice by itself.
If something has a low score, it is not because some failure of the comp makers. It is a sign that this choice is not used in successful lists and an encouragement for players to explore it.
And if someone finds a way how to use something no one believes in, people will learn from him and become better players.
Dyvim tvar wrote:Seems like under your analysis Swede comp would always "win"
Yes, I think comp makes Warhammer better. I thought this was quite clear from all the things I have already written here.
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You keep saying comp only causes everyone to play deathstars. As I did not want to discard the argument without thought, I went through the lists of US Masters 2014 which used Swedish, accessible
here. While I found some deathstars, they were in a clear minority (if we use this term for similar units which might not be the case of course*). So, if you say comp promotes deathstars, what makes you think so?
* Do you consider a horde of 30 witch elves with a cauldron a death star? I do not. I consider it a strong unit but I would need to see at least a master with MR(3) in there to label it a deathstar.