Tournament Summary
Note: I’m a little late getting this write-up out — I’ve been traveling for work and spending some time up in Marquette, Michigan, with limited internet access. But I was excited to dig into the data once I got the chance, and I’m glad to finally take a close look at the results here.
The UK Clash of Kings 2025 once again delivered the biggest Kings of War event in the world. You can view the full results on the Mantic Companion live site.
Congratulations to Tom Robinson, who continued his streak of dominance with a flawless 6–0 Undead run and the highest Elo of the weekend. His consistency at the very top of the game remains unmatched. I have the full spreadsheet below where I’ve parsed the data. Note that I sort people based on Elo, not official tournament points, so my standings will vary from the official ones.
Top 25 Players
Here are the top finishers from Clash of Kings 2025:
| Player | Faction | W-L-D | Elo | SoS Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Robinson | Undead | 6-0-0 | 1880 | 1678 |
| Jorge Cuerva Morante | Trident Realm Of Neritica | 6-0-0 | 1841 | 1579 |
| Javier Talavero | Varangur | 5-0-1 | 1782 | 1556 |
| Justin | Dwarfs | 5-1-0 | 1776 | 1652 |
| Joshua Mchale | Halflings | 5-1-0 | 1765 | 1636 |
| Piotr Darkowski | Empire Of Dust | 5-1-0 | 1764 | 1625 |
| Jonathon Quayle | Empire Of Dust | 5-1-0 | 1757 | 1631 |
| Simon Cooper | Salamanders | 5-1-0 | 1753 | 1599 |
| Richard | Elves | 4-0-2 | 1752 | 1612 |
| Chris Christopherson | Basileans | 5-1-0 | 1749 | 1614 |
| Peter Wrench | The Order Of The Brothermark | 5-1-0 | 1743 | 1590 |
| Timothee Aubriot | Basileans | 5-1-0 | 1738 | 1586 |
| Mario Murillo Raja | Dwarfs | 5-1-0 | 1736 | 1582 |
| Piotr Nowak | Halflings | 5-1-0 | 1730 | 1559 |
| Brendan Heath | Undead | 5-1-0 | 1717 | 1518 |
| Łukasz Jarochowski | Salamanders | 4-0-2 | 1708 | 1515 |
| Daniel King | Basileans | 4-1-1 | 1696 | 1606 |
| Joanna Mitchell | Elves | 4-2-0 | 1691 | 1681 |
| Francesco | Dwarfs | 4-1-1 | 1690 | 1590 |
| Kacper Szczytowski | Basileans | 4-1-1 | 1690 | 1555 |
| Leo Midwinter | Nightstalkers | 4-1-1 | 1681 | 1552 |
| Simon Brand | Noble Undead | 4-1-1 | 1675 | 1558 |
| Martin Dahl | Northern Alliance | 4-2-0 | 1669 | 1631 |
| Chris Lynch | Northern Alliance | 4-2-0 | 1666 | 1619 |
| Konrad Krzanowski | Undead | 4-1-1 | 1661 | 1539 |
Faction Performance
Faction results underline what I wrote in my meta health overview: this is a healthy, balanced meta. We saw a wide spread of different factions in the top 10, which shows that balance is strong: it isn’t about picking the “right” faction; it’s about the player piloting it.
| Faction | Wins | Losses | Draws | Games | Win% | Avg Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varangur | 8 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 77.3% | 1642 |
| Noble Undead | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 75.0% | 1680 |
| Undead | 34 | 17 | 3 | 54 | 65.7% | 1615 |
| Dwarfs | 26 | 13 | 3 | 42 | 65.5% | 1639 |
| Basileans | 32 | 17 | 5 | 54 | 63.9% | 1600 |
| The Order of the Brothermark | 11 | 6 | 1 | 18 | 63.9% | 1586 |
| Empire of Dust | 32 | 22 | 0 | 54 | 59.3% | 1560 |
| Trident Realm of Neritica | 36 | 26 | 4 | 66 | 57.6% | 1561 |
| League of Rhordia | 7 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 58.3% | 1548 |
| Forces of the Abyss 2024 | 44 | 36 | 4 | 84 | 54.8% | 1536 |
| Elves | 28 | 29 | 9 | 66 | 49.2% | 1523 |
| Salamanders | 35 | 36 | 7 | 78 | 49.4% | 1494 |
| Forces of Nature | 9 | 9 | 0 | 18 | 50.0% | 1468 |
| Northern Alliance | 23 | 25 | 0 | 48 | 47.9% | 1501 |
| Free Dwarfs | 10 | 11 | 3 | 24 | 47.9% | 1463 |
| Halflings | 29 | 34 | 3 | 66 | 46.2% | 1472 |
| Abyssal Dwarfs | 24 | 30 | 6 | 60 | 45.0% | 1471 |
| Ratkin | 18 | 23 | 1 | 42 | 44.0% | 1461 |
| Twilight Kin | 9 | 12 | 3 | 24 | 43.8% | 1458 |
| Sylvan Kin | 10 | 13 | 1 | 24 | 43.8% | 1452 |
| The Order of the Green Lady | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 | 41.7% | 1446 |
| Orcs | 11 | 16 | 3 | 30 | 41.7% | 1434 |
| Nightstalkers | 14 | 20 | 2 | 36 | 41.7% | 1420 |
| The Herd | 7 | 11 | 4 | 22 | 40.9% | 1438 |
| Ogres | 34 | 47 | 7 | 88 | 42.6% | 1439 |
| Kingdoms of Men | 11 | 19 | 0 | 30 | 36.7% | 1390 |
| Riftforged Orcs | 16 | 29 | 3 | 48 | 36.5% | 1395 |
| Goblins | 8 | 14 | 2 | 24 | 37.5% | 1396 |
| Ratkin Slaves | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 33.3% | 1417 |
| Unknown | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 1452 |
Revisiting Predictions
Halflings Surge but Stop Short
Halflings lived up to the hype from my Halflings Army Review, with strong representation, multiple 5-1 finishes, and several players near the top. While they didn’t take the crown, they had a noticeable impact. That said, their overall performance was right in the middle of the pack at 29-34-3, so they weren’t dominant, just solid.
Meta Balance Proved Out
The field was wide open, with Dwarfs, Basileans, Varangur, Undead, and more all showing up near the top. There were a total of 9 factions in the top 10. This validates my pre-event call that we’re in a healthy, balanced meta (full analysis here).
Statistical Look: The Five Lists I Picked
In my preview I spotlighted five lists:
- Shane Heaney (Dwarfs)
- Daniel King (Basileans)
- Matt Gorham (Salamanders)
- Page Neo (Forces of the Abyss)
- Marcelo Rouco (Order of the Green Lady)
Results of My Five Picks
| Player | Faction | W-L-D | Elo | SoS Elo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel King | Basileans | 4-1-1 | 1696 | 1606 |
| Shane Heaney | Dwarfs | 4-2-0 | 1653 | 1597 |
| Matt Gorham | Salamanders | 3-1-2 | 1648 | 1587 |
| Page Neo | Forces of the Abyss | 4-2-0 | 1580 | 1545 |
| Marcelo Rouco | Order of the Green Lady | 3-3-0 | 1546 | 1578 |
How did the picks do? The five averaged 65.0% win rate (field 50**%**; 95% CI [56.7%, 71.7%]), a medium-to-large effect (Cohen’s d 0.77). On Elo they averaged 1624.6 vs 1498.5 (d 0.87). Four of five landed in the top quartile by win rate (p ≈ 1.6% if picked at random). Against tougher schedules (SoS_Elo 1582.6 vs 1497.6), the group still cleared the field. A 50k-trial permutation test found only ~4.9% of random five-player sets match or beat that mean, supporting that the preview calls outperformed chance. In other words, if we set aside player skill (which is a big caveat), these lists outperformed the field pretty significantly.
Looking Ahead
The 2025 Clash of Kings showed a balanced, vibrant meta with plenty of room for innovation. My preview calls held up well, Halflings made their mark, and multiple factions proved they can compete at the very top.
With 4th Edition Kings of War set to be announced later this month, it’s hard not to get excited. If the balance of CoK 2025 is a preview of what’s to come, the future looks bright for competitive Kings of War.
