Hello, I’m Jeff “Gearbox” Mitchell and I want to take you on a Godtear journey. A journey of discussion and discovery as we discuss how I approach making a competitive constructed list for competition. With Adepticon 2025 less than two weeks away, now is as good a time as any to settle in on what you want to play at the tournament.
Format
Adepticon is an SFG4 tournament. That means you bring 4 champions, see the scenario and the 4 your opponent brought, then you choose 1 champion to leave behind and reveal it simultaneously with your opponent. This means that you’ll always be able to play any crew you bring, and your opponent can play any crew they bring. With no bans, the setup is simple and straightforward.
The Baseline
What champion do you enjoy playing? Everyone has a favorite champion in their collection. Whether it’s lore or paint job or rules or playstyle or power; everyone has a favorite. Start by choosing that one as the cornerstone of your list, because that champion will be more fun to play and we’re going into this tournament to have fun.
Got your champion dialed in? Good. Let’s get rolling on the next steps.
Scenarios
How good is your champion on the scenarios that will be at the tournament? What scenarios are they good at? Which ones are they weak at? What champions can you add to your list that cover the weaknesses of the core champion in the scenarios that the core champion is weak at?
Eventually, you’re going to want to make a list of all the scenarios, and which champions you’d be comfortable bringing on those scenarios. I wouldn’t bring Kailinn on Knowledge, for example, so I’d try to partner her up with a Guardian.
Popular Champions
Now it’s time to think about the most popular champions you are likely to see in the tournament, and how you’ll address them. You need a plan to deal with Raith’Marid. And every other popular champion you’re likely to face in a competition.
What is popular in your local group may shape your list more than you’d like. On a national stage, like Adepticon, I recommend checking the stats on Longshanks: https://godtear.longshanks.org/statistics/?system=godtear to see who’s popular and likely to show up on the other side of the table
Remember, you’re allowed to have mirror matches in constructed formats, so don’t feel bad about deciding you’ll play Raith into Raith and just outplay your opponent. It may not be the easiest game plan, but it is the easiest way to build a list.
Counterplay
The reason you’re considering all these popular champions is that you’re playing Godtear.
Godtear is not a game about list synergies, it is a game about list counters.
Countering your opponent’s champions with your own, by knowing who has a good matchup into who, is crucial to gaining a competitive edge in building a constructed list for Godtear.
This is not an exact science. Everyone eventually learns that Mourneblade gets crushed by Maxen, but there’s a lot of differing opinions on other champion matchups. Think back on all the games of Godtear that you’ve played and try to remember your favorite champion to bring against what you think will be popular. There are articles on this site to help you think about matchups.
For example, when Durthax was released, during the first few constructed tournaments where they were legal there was a distinct lessening of the number of Raith’Marids, and more Morrigan than I had seen in constructed play ever. Once Durthax’s popularity died down a little, Raiths became more prevalent again.
Scenario planning
Now we have a list, we can see what champions we want to play, or drop, in a vacuum. Maybe we bring Mourneblade and just leave him aside when we see Maxen across the table? Maybe we don’t play Kailinn on Construction? Maybe we haven’t considered this decision until we make a table of scenarios and fill it out. Now is the time to think about which crew you’re going to drop, so that you’re not surprised by the consideration at the tabletop.
The Journey
Let’s go on a Journey, you and I. Let’s go to Adepticon with Helena.
Helena has the 3rd lowest pickrate on Longshanks, ahead of only Morrigan and Rattlebone, but Helena is beloved and has a great model on the tabletop. Someone, somewhere, is obsessed with this crew and wants to win with her on the table.
However, she’s terrible on Death. Her limited speed, anemic lane clear, and reliance on objective hexes means that she can rarely make a significant impact on that scenario. Let’s pair her up, then. Which Champion addresses these weaknesses? I think Fenra fits the bill. Fenra moves Helena, clears blocking followers, and usually can crush a banner in the clash phase. Tack on Fenra’s ult to reposition Helena and she’s not such a liability on Death.
Now, who can we expect across the table? Rangosh, Raith’Marid, Fenra, Skullbreaker, Blackjaw, Luella, and Jaak seem to be the top 7 champions across the past year in Longshanks. Most of these are in your face brawlers that want to kill Champions and Followers. So we need some tanky, difficult to murder crews. Durthax is interesting due to the difficulty in killing them, and they’re a counter to Raith, one of the most popular champions. Rhodri and his Household Guard are really hard to take down. Peet is hard to hit, but if he is hit he dies. Jaak is just really good at keeping champions alive. We probably don’t want to double up on Guardians (or do we?) so we should look at Shapers and Slayers.
Keera can fight most of these champions at a distance through her dragons. Rangosh and Skullbreaker can duke it out with their counterparts. Raith is tanky with dodgy Splashlings. Styx doesn’t move when KO’d, though his Hounds die to Blackjaw. Hmmmm…
See, these types of thoughts are the ones that you should be having when making a constructed list. Do we want to double up on Guardians? How do we fight high dodge Slayers? Can we counter Raith, or do we just force a turn 3 Tsunami? Do we want one of every Class? All of these questions spawned from choosing 1 champion and a counterpart, then trying to cover their weaknesses and augment their strengths.
For illustrative purposes, let’s settle on Styx for our Shaper and grab Rangosh for a Slayer. This gives us a balanced, rainbow list.
With a focus on higher dodge and Banner control, we can bring Fenra, Helena, and Styx on most scenarios. Probably Life, Construction, and Knowledge. Rangosh can take Styx or Helena’s place on Death. Chaos is great for everyone but Helena in this list, I feel. And Change is almost entirely matchup dependent for this warband.
Conclusion
So there you have it, the vague and questioning steps I take when putting a Constructed list together. Choose a champion. Consider Scenarios. Choose a 2nd champion. Look at the popular champions; figure out your preferred counters. Pick your final two champions. Consider who to drop and when before the tournament starts.
I already went through this process for my chosen champion. Though, at the risk of giving something away, my chosen champion isn’t Helena. Remember, this is just how you set up a list. In Godtear, the dice and the decisions you make will have a greater impact on your game than what you’re fielding. Learn what your list can do. Understand what the opposing list can do. Consider and plan and think about how you’re going to achieve victory. But, most importantly, remember to Have Fun!
See you in Milwaukee!
Jeff “Gearbox” Mitchell
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