40K: The Future of Magnus
Magnus is getting some changes in the new Thousand Sons book – let’s take a stab at a few.
Games Workshop surprised everyone by having a game of Adeptus Custodes vs Thousand Sons on their Twitch Stream. We got a list of things they revealed but we know there were more changes that weren’t explicitly stated. After-all, they were showing off the Adeptus Custodes with a heavy focus on them and not on the new Thousand Sons! But with that said, we’ve got an idea of things that are going to be changing for Magnus from the stream. Let’s talk:
Magnus The Red (Index: Chaos)
Confirmed Changes
Primarch of the Thousand Sons – we know that the rules for that have changed. The “re-roll invulnerable saving throws of 1” has been completely removed. The re-roll hit rolls of 1 is still in however. We’re also pretty sure we saw some re-rolls during the Psychic Phase of 1 as well.
Gaze of Magnus: We know he’s still tossing out a meaner version of Smite as well.
Psychic Powers: He’s still chucking out at least 3 powers a turn and can attempt to deny 3 powers (they didn’t show him denying powers, as he was fighting Adeptus Custodes, but we’re pretty sure that was mentioned at some point).
Psychic Phase Bonus: Just like last time, he’s still going to get a bonus to casting psychics based on his remaining wounds – that chart is pretty much the same.
Stat-line: From the sound of things on the stream, it didn’t look like Magnus’ stat-line had any changes, either.
Unconfirmed Changes
Magnus Points Increase – after doing some “back-of-the-napkin” math based on previous points (and the models used in the stream), we think that Magnus is going to cost more points than previously. Currently he sits at 415 and we think he’s going to be up closer to the 450 range.
Power Level Increase – Again, based on the units on the table and some rough estimates, we’re also pretty sure he’s going to cost more in Power Level as well. But we’re thinking only a couple (1-2) points increase.
Crown of the Crimson King – We think that this will still provide the 4+ invulnerable save, but we think it’s going to offer some sort of Psychic Protection as well. Perhaps protection vs Perils or something similar.
Magnus has been a big deal in the meta for over a year now. He’s made his presence felt on the tabletop and he’s certainly a fantastic model to have as your centerpiece also. But we also think it’s about time to see his points shift up to be more inline with what he’s bringing as a force multiplier. We’re also glad to see the “Re-roll invulnerable saves of 1” go away as it made him tougher than he needed to be. Here’s hoping GW has found a good balance between his Power Level/Points and his abilities. We like that Thousand Sons players have him as an option, but we also hope some of these changes make him less of an “auto-include” and more of a “also ran” option.
Are you looking forward to Magnus’ Rules changes? Did you catch any other ones from the stream?
