It's actually really nice to see Blood Angels doing well again, I hope it wasn't JUST because of mephiston, maybe Nate can tell the tale.
I really liked this tournament, it allowed people to have fun with models they might not have used for a while. I'm not exactly a comp sorta guy, but....let's face it, the meta has become a bit monoculture lately, so much so that my Tau are divergent just because they don't have 2+ riptides or 3 Missile squads.
Maybe we could have more tournaments with fairly random restrictions (well, cinematic and thematic, but game mechanically I think they will be random)? Just to shake things up, have people bring lists they wouldn't otherise. I'm think less comp and more "list turbulence".
Like I said, I really liked it, but I did have one criticism -- I think it was a mistake that First Blood was not present in these scenarios at all. Yes, I understand people don't like it, but it's about the math. I heard that something like 86% of wins at NOVA were people who went second (I could very well be misremembering, but anyway, it was high). I'd argue that was probably because first blood was minimized as much as it was. Basically, first blood counters both the fact that most missions are objectives, so it's better to go second. I understand why people don't think it's fun....that doesn't keep it from being good for game balance.