Pre-Nerf Harlequins v New Tyranids

The most oppressive list we've seen in years v the new hotness. Who will win?

Over the last few weeks I’ve enjoyed playing the new Harlequins against the staples of the old meta, with a somewhat oppressive level of success. While they've just been nerfed quite heavily, this report was written up before that and I still want to post it. So we're giving the Light Voidweaver spam a penultimate run by taking on a new test, one that looks pretty well-suited to blasting apart the theoretically-fragile boats: the new Tyranids. With mortal wound output to make Magnus blush and a lot of big guns to back it up, will Owen’s ‘Nids be able to do what the rest of the meta seemingly couldn’t?

Harlequins List

 Even I'm happy to see the end of this list


Light Saedath Battalion

Troupe Master (Foot in the Future/Player of the Light/Cegorach’s Rose, with fusion pistol) 90

Shadowseer  (Webway Dance/Veil of Tears, The Shadow Stone, Mirror Architect) 125

Death Jester (Harvester of Torment/Favour of Cegoach/Laughing God’s Eye) 70

Solitaire          110

5*5 Troupes, 4 squads with 2 Fusion Guns and a Neuro Disruptor, one without the Disruptor 395

5 Starweavers             400

3*3 Voidweavers        810

Total: 2000 points

You know it, you loath it. The only particularly interesting tweak in my version of this list is that I’ve ditched all the melee weapon upgrades on the Troupes in favour of various flavours of scary pistols. I’m of the view that the job of a Troupe is to ride around in their boat for awhile, then jump out to flip an objective and die. Close combat weapons rarely help much with the latter I’ve found, while the guns help a lot with the former. Otherwise, the list is pretty cookie-cutter: I’ve been running this setup since before it became a net-list, but can hardly take credit because it basically builds itself. Thank you GW for finally putting this build to bed.

 

Hive Fleet Leviathan

Warriors ready to rumble

Patrol

Hive Tyrant with Gestalt Commander, heavy venom cannon and Shardgullet                          190

Neurothrope with Synaptic Tendrils                                       100

3 Tyrant Guard                                 120

3 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords                         75

3 Zoanthropes                   150

Maleceptor                                       170

 

Patrol

Hive Tyrant with two heavy venom cannons, Strategic Adaption                 190

9 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords, three venom cannons, adrenal glands and flesh hooks                260

9 Warriors with deathspitters and dual boneswords, adrenal glands and flesh hooks                         245

3 Venomthropes                              105

Pyrovore              30

2 Harpies with heavy venom cannons, one with Synaptic Enhancement and the other with Voracious Ammunition   365

Total: 2000

 

This list is much more exciting than mine. Owen is on the same train as me about massed heavy venom cannons, and has even opted to protect his Tyrants with a squad of Tyrant Guard to keep them firing into the lategame. The obligatory trio of ‘Thropes is there with their friend the Maleceptor, boosting his durability and presenting terrifying mortal wound output that threatens to melt my 6-wound boats. Where I’ve been running minimal Warriors/Raveners and a bunch of Carnifexes, however, Owen has brought along a hefty combat presence in the form of 2 massive Warrior squads, each tooled up to kill me at range and up close. If I let them get a charge off into my Voidweavers that might be game over right there.

 

Mission and Secondaries

Solid cover, lots of focus on the middle

Today we’re playing Abandoned Sanctuaries, a mission that might favour either of us. The emphasis on holding the middle is likely to be a problem for me, as there will presumably be a massive deathblob of Tyranids in the centre by at least turn 2. On the other hand, Owen will have to be careful not to let me get free Primary points just for gunning down small units standing on the central objective, and the end of game 5-point swing probably favours my more mobile and long-ranged list.

Secondaries were fairly simple for me. My list is great at Stranglehold, and on a mission like this one it’s almost an auto-take. I’d normally love to take To the Last, but all those mortal wounds and Harpies look scary, so I’ve opted for the safer route of No Prisoners instead. I can’t max it, but I can get an 11 and should probably manage at least a 9, which is a much safer bet than the potential 0 on To the Last. Finally, Bring it Down won out over the Warpcraft secondaries because Owen has about a million Denies, and it seemed an easier route to a solid score than Retrieve Nachmund. I’d be unlikely to get all four quarters unless things go incredibly well, and Bring it Down should be worth more than 8 points to me in a close game.

Owen struggled a lot with his choices. Stranglehold was in, and Warp Ritual also seemed achievable, but the third choice gave him grief. Bring it Down was the obvious choice, but he’d watched several of my games and knew that Bring it Down will often only net 3-4 points against Harlequins if things start going south. In the end he opted for Investigate Signal, deciding that he was already going all-in on the middle so he might as well double-down.

 

Stranglehold/No Prisoners/Bring it Down v Stranglehold/Investigate Signal/Warp Ritual

Deployment

If there’s one time that the Harlequins really shine, it’s deployment. 14 vehicles, and not a single one exposed unless Owen really commits Turn 1. I love the weird shape of those boats! Owen obviously couldn’t do the same, setting up towards the front of his deployment zone to give him easy advances onto all three central objectives. One big Warrior squad was in the centre while the other was on the right, with both Harpies carefully hidden behind his LoS blockers. Owen knew I’d like nothing more than to shoot down both those evil bird monsters Turn 1.

Where are all the Harlequins?

With this deployment and mission, I desperately want to be going second. Can I use my laughing God rerolls on the roll to go first?

 

Harlequins Turn 1, 15:10

Boats move out to shoot the 'Nids off the table

Damn. With first turn I have to commit, fluttering a Starweaver onto all three centre objectives and moving my gunline out to get angles on Owen’s forces. My first priority is the Venomthrope squad, as not only will their -1 to hit be annoying, they’re also the only unit that will be able to Investigate Signal Turn 1 without needing to advance. Thanks to the Zoanthrope invulnerable save they soak up an incredible amount of firepower, a CP reroll letting them survive with a single wounded model after all my firepower with range/LoS is spent! 

Damned Venomthropes refuse to die

The rest of my guns go into the big Warrior squad as they’re the only viable target. Owen pops the -1D stratagem and they survive relatively unscathed, losing only two models to two full squads of Voidweavers. Ouch.

Warriors barely scratched by my terrifying output

It was only after the game that we realised that we’d been rolling 4++ saves for the Warriors and Venomthropes, even though as non-monsters they only had a 5++! Taking that into account the Venomthropes would have definitely died, and the double hit of losing the -1 to hit and having a worse save would have probably meant several more Warriors bit the dust too. Ah well, you live and learn.

At any rate, while my guns disappointed this round, I’m still holding 4 objectives, so next turn can’t go too badly.

 

Tyranids Turn 1, 15:21

Owen’s turn opens with the Harpies zooming up the field to bomb my Voidweavers. In hindsight, I probably could have screened this out by preventing them from actually landing anywhere, but it would have required committing all my Voidweavers to the left flank, which wouldn’t have been ideal. They promptly kill two whole Voidweavers between their bombs and their shooting, which honestly felt pretty crippling. Many armies don’t manage that over the course of a whole game!

If your list isn't starting with two Harpies, you're doing it wrong

All three Warrior squads make it onto their respective objectives to flip them and keep me to a 4 on Primary, while the Maleceptor and Zoanthropes both come out to play. Thankfully ole’ Mally can’t quite get within 12” of anything after he advanced, as Owen had already spent his CP reroll getting the left Warrior squad into position.

12.2" is absolutely clutch

Psychic goes excellently for Owen, with Warp Ritual being cast easily by the Neurothrope, Catalyst and Onslaught going onto the right Warrior Squad and a hail of Smites obliterating my middle Starweaver and most of the Troupe inside it. 

Zoanthropes ready to do some scary damage

The Shadowseer, of course, rolls a double-one to Deny Warp Ritual. Because of course he does. I forgot to mention that he failed his one cast on my first turn, because it honestly wasn’t even worth mentioning.

'Nids swarm forward to claim all the middle objectives

Shooting, thankfully, is much less effective. If Harlequins are good at one thing, it’s absolutely shutting down high-damage shots. Aside from the Harpies obliterating a Voidweaver (with the help of the Onslaught-ed Warriors), Luck dice rerolls mean I am able to shut down basically everything Owen throws at me. Now, if only I could take invulnerable saves versus mortals… 

Harlequin saves be fire

Finally, the Warriors on Owen’s right try to charge my Starweaver, only for me to skip out of range with the Light stratagem. Every time I contemplate ditching Light for something else, I have a moment like that that reminds me why it’s top-tier.

If that Starweaver doesn't flit backwards then there's nothing to stop the Warriors touching my Voidweavers

That turn was pretty brutal, but I do still have an army left to fight back with. Now I just need to roll some better dice!

 

Harlequins Turn 2, 29:21

Not the scoreline I wanted on this turn

Spoiler alert: I do not roll better dice.

My turn starts well, with the rightmost Voidweaver squad zooming off to the flank to get an angle on the Zoanthropes while the contents of the nearby Starweaver flip the right objective. The Solitaire also zooms over to charge the Warriors in case I don’t kill them in shooting. The rest of my army falls back from the left flank entirely, reforming in the centre to obliterate the Harpies before striking out again next turn. No sense in getting charged by 15 Warriors, after all. I also dart a Troupe onto the central objective, flipping it to give a neat 6VP swing on Primary and score me Stranglehold. Finally, the lone survivor from the Troupe decimated by psychic last turn leaps over most of Owen’s army, ready to charge his Hive Tyrant and flip his backfield objective!

You know what, maybe I don't want to hold the left objective

Psychic goes predictably (two failed casts), and my Shooting Phase is a nearly unmitigated disaster. 4 Voidweavers, 3 Starweavers, two Troupe squads, the Troupe Master, Shadowseer and Death Jester all go into Owen’s Harpies and do… 17 wounds. 

All of this firepower to kill one monster. Wow

That’s enough to kill one and mildly inconvenience the other. Ouch. All five Fusion Pistols and both Neuro Disruptors entirely miss, and the Prism Cannons aren’t much better. 

Not the rolls you want to see when you're hitting on 4s

The Troupe on the right objective and those in the centre do even worse, managing to miss with ALL of their shots. The only bright spots of the phase are my rightmost Voidweaver squad comfortably putting down the Zoanthropes and the lone Player in Owen’s backfield killing a Tyrant Guard with his Fusion Pistol.

Lone Player is casually my best model this turn

At least there won't be any more Zoanthrope Smites to deal with

In combat, the Solitaire goes first and wipes the small Warrior squad, which at least gives me some comfort. 

Solitaire making up for the Shooting Phase

Owen then interrupts with his Hive Tyrant, basing my lone Player to stop it getting onto the objective. As it turns out he then kills the clown outright, so it wouldn’t have mattered. R.I.P. that Player, who did more damage with shooting than ¾ of my army.

He killed a Tyrant Guard and cost Owen 2CP. That's what I call value

My Secondaries and the Tertiary all tick up this turn, so I’m not out of the game, but I really needed a better Turn 2 than that. Let’s see if Owen can take advantage.

Tyranids Turn 2, 29:41

Tyranids taking a strong early lead

The turn starts with Owen’s surviving Harpy highrolling on its bombing run to outright destroy another Voidweaver through its 5+++ against mortals, which didn’t leave me feeling salty at all. 

These were my 5+++ attempts. Lovely. 

Thankfully, the rest of Owen’s turn is more muted, as my pivot to the right flank has left a lot of his models out of position. 

'Nids storm forward to pursue my tricksy boats

My central Troupe are obviously evaporated in the psychic phase, and a number of my backfield boats also take wounds either from the mortals or Owen’s guns, but otherwise I’m unscathed. The Hive Tyrants get rudely laughed off by my Voidweavers again thanks to Luck rerolls, although the Pyrovore on the right flank does manage to strip 4 wounds with its flamer and melee attack. Ugh.

*Laughs in invulnerable saves*

*Laughs back in auto-hits*

Thankfully this turn wasn’t as devastating as the first one, but Owen accrued a lot of points from all his Secondaries and has taken the lead on Primary too. Things are looking grim.

 A lot of very damaged boats back here

Harlequins Turn 3, 43:41

At least my Primary is okay, but everything else is looking pretty bad

I pivot further to my back-right corner this turn, desperate to prevent Owen from finishing me off entirely. 

'If we hide in this corner, they can't hurt us

I’m left with an inconvenient choice in my Movement Phase of how much to commit to killing the Harpy. If I want to fire my Fusion Guns and large Voidweaver squad at it, then it’ll be difficult to also get backup angles on anything else. If I don’t commit them all, then it might just survive and kill another couple Voidweavers to seal the win for Owen. In the end I move almost everything into positions where it can see the flyer, only for my first two Fusion Pistol shot to remember that they’re actually really strong guns and obliterate it entirely. 

'Okay, now you want to roll well'

This leaves two Starweavers out of LoS/range of everything, and the whole three Voidweaver squad with LoS only on the Pyrovore. Needless to say, it dies.

30 points very, very dead

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Death Jester chips some wounds onto the Neurothrope in an attempt to disrupt Owen’s Warp Ritual casts, while the Troupe Master darts into the LoS blocker on my left to threaten the Tyranid Warriors on that flank next turn. 

Would've been a lot less effective if this wasn't the super Jester

Finally, the Troupe that had been on the right objective darts into Owen’s backfield once again to secure me Stranglehold and reduce Owen to 8 points on Primary.

Hot take: Troupes were already the MVPs of the Harlequin faction

Also of note: the Shadowseer successfully cast Smite this turn, only to be Denied by the Neurothrope. Why is this model so cursed?

 

Tyranids Turn 3, 43:57

Tyranids continuing to pull ahead on points

Owen has three things he needs to do this turn: he needs to clear my Troupe off his backfield, he needs to flip the objective on my right, and he needs to do damage to my backfield boats. The first problem he answers by flinging the surviving Tyrant Guard and Venomthrope back to rescue his Hive Tyrant, as well as casting with the Neurothrope instead of finishing his Warp Ritual. A hail of Smites and the Tyrants’ shooting promptly reduces the Troupe to a single model, which is then torn apart by the Venomthrope. 

Troupe dies a well-deserved death

Amusingly, Owen managed to super-smite twice in this process, before rolling ones on both rolls for mortal wounds dealt. To flip my right objective he charges over the central Warrior, while stringing his other squad out to hold both objectives and do his Investigate Signals action. That requires an advance as well as a move, so he has the Hive Tyrant put them back into the Maleceptor Imperative to make it happen, ensuring that his Neurothrope can’t Ritual as well as cast.

Finally, Owen’s Psychic and Shooting phases absolutely go off. The Maleceptor, annoyed at my consistent refusal to get close enough to be blasted in previous turns, managed to roll a six on his advance roll to get several boats into range. 

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no

He then rolls up a massive super-Smite that deals 8 mortal wounds to kill my last two central Voidweavers, before obliterating my Shadowseer with a Psychic Scream to follow up. That’s 305 points killed by one model’s Psychic Phase! 

Well, I guess that's what the Maleceptor does. You heard it here first guys, they're pretty good

A hail of HVC and Deathspitter fire also manages to gun down a Starweaver and a Voidweaver, really solidifying Owen’s materiel lead.

Lots of boats dying this turn

Owen attempts to charge the Starweaver on the right with his big Warrior squad, but it skitters away with the Light stratagem again. He redirects into the Solitaire, needing an 8” roll to make it, but even with a reroll he can’t get into range. He is still on the objective though, so I’m left on a miserable 0 for Primary. Ouch.

Maybe good not to get into the Solitaire anyway

That turn was absolutely devastating. My centre has basically collapsed entirely, it’s now just a couple of Fusion Boats and the Death Jester, while that Maleceptor is just standing there ready to blast anything that gets too close. It needs to die, this turn.

 Things are really not going well for me

Harlequins Turn 4, 54:57

Thankfully, I do have a few cards left up my multi-coloured and voluptuous sleeves. The Troupe Master speeds out to the left objective, ready to inflict Cegorach’s Rose on the unsuspecting Warriors, while the Solitaire and Starweaver abandon the right objective to try and flip Owen’s backfield, again.

Troupe Master about to flex on these Warriors

Blitz makes that Solitaire so good

Finally, my second-last Troupe leaps gracefully into the centre, intending to assassinate the Neurothrope (healed up to full from last turn’s psychic maelstrom) and flip the objective again.

In Shooting, the Starweaver in Owen’s backfield guns down the last Venomthrope, while the Troupe, Death Jester and Starweavers bring the Maleceptor down to a heartbreaking one wound. 

Really wish this Maleceptor had died

All my charges go off from a fairly short range, with the Solitaire effortlessly butchering the lone Tyrant Guard to leave me in control of the backfield objective and the Troupe finally bringing down the Neurothrope with a hail of attacks. 

I honestly don't know why you wouldn't bring a Solitaire these days. Consistent MVP

Neurothrope finally taken down

The real excitement was on the left flank, however, where the Troupe Master steps up to turn the game around. 7 attacks all hit, 6 of them wound after rerolls. Owen fails all of his saves, and suddenly all six of the surviving Warriors from that squad get picked up. That’s why we bring the D3 relic weapon!

Troupe Master unleashing hell on those Warriors

That turn went much better. I’m still behind on score, but at least I now probably have the materiel edge. I just need to try and capitalise on it in the final turn.

 Finally a few more dead Tyranids

Tyranids Turn 4, 54:75

Tyranids way ahead on the scoreline, but at least they're starting to die now

Owen starts his turn by receiving his CP and immediately spending it on Hive Mind Imperative to give his Hive Tyrant ObSec and regain control of his backfield objective. It severely limits his options for the rest of the turn, but it looks like he’ll need those 4 points. Otherwise, he has limited options. The last Warrior squad chains themselves back to hold both the right and centre objectives again, with the Maleceptor Imperative going on them via the Leviathan power to let them Investigate Signals as well as advance to get there. The Maleceptor shows why it needed to die this turn, blasting away the last of my Troupe in the middle, while the Smite and HVCs of the Hive Tyrants manage to finally bring down the Solitaire. The Hive Tyrant also managed to finish Owen’s Warp Ritual, annoyingly enough.

Solitaire falls at last

Owen didn’t kill that much this turn, but he scored a lot of points. It’s theoretically still possible for me to catch up this turn but it’s going to be very close.

Harlequins Turn 5, 72:75

Theoretically still possible to come back, but it's going to be hard

My route to victory was basically to table Owen this turn, and thus stop him holding the middle at the end. To that end I spread out over the field, locking in Stranglehold and trying to hunt down every Tyranid left alive. My last Troupe and Troupe Master sprint towards the centre, the Voidweavers zoom onto Owen’s backfield objective and my Starweavers hold both the outer two.

The final push

Shooting starts well, with the Maleceptor at last being taken out and the Warriors suffering crippling casualties. The Hive Tyrant in the centre is also wounded several times through Catalyst and his 4++, and I make the unfortunate decision to unload the final Voidweaver squad into it to weaken it up for my Troupe Master. A series of unexpected high rolls and the Tyranid monster falls, leaving my Troupe and Troupe Master out of charge range of anything else and unable to fully lock down the central objective! 

Once again, my shooting decides to switch on at the least convenient moments

It’s a critical error, and one I’m already sure that I’ll regret. I also forget to charge the other Hive Tyrant with the Voidweavers, leaving him free to move and use his ObSec (thanks to Gestalt Commander picking Alien Cunning at the start of the battle round) to try and flip the centre. This is bad.

 Pictured: it's very bad

Tyranids Turn 5, 72:88

Owen proceeds to do just that, his Hive Tyrant gently strolling onto the objective and almost obliterating the Troupe with shooting and psychic while the last Warriors secure the left objective as well. 

Hive Tyrant holding the centre to seal the Tyranid victory

This gives Owen 8 points on primary, as well as another 5 for holding the centre at the end of the game. The Tyranid menace had suffered crippling damage, but is nonetheless victorious!

 So close, and yet so far

Post-Game Analysis

Ironically, despite this game actually coming down to the final turn, it never really felt close until the end. Owen’s Tyranids did such an effective job of pushing me back and dealing out damage in the first two turns, and my own counterattacks were so ineffectual, that I really thought I was out of the game entirely. Taking out a mere two units from two turns of shooting with my entire army was just devastating, and it made it incredibly hard to recover.  I was well behind on both units and points until the very end of the game, and if I was fielding any other army I might as well have given up after that Turn 2.

Thankfully, I wasn’t fielding any other army, and the Harlequins really showed their merit here. Not only can they brutally stomp on an opponent when things go your way, but even when they don’t you still have a lot of options to claw back points. My speed let me retreat deeper and deeper into my back-right corner to prevent Owen finishing me off, while still enabling me to lash out and deny him points. The fact that I was able to get so close to victory while losing the first three turns so decisively says a lot about this list.

How would the game have gone if I had three less Voidweavers and some weakened characters? Honestly, much worse. The Harlequin ability to come back from potentially crippling losses was what made this game close, and with less Voidweavers on the table it would probably have been a sad time for me. Without those extra points I think I just get rolled over here, unless I play a lot more defensively at the start. 

If these were my last two Voidweavers it would probably have been game over

Speaking of list construction, Owen is ironically less happy with his than I am with mine. The Warriors were scary, and they constrained my movement a fair amount, but they were also far more fragile than either of us had expected them to be. They held out well on Turn 1 (although admittedly they survived much more than they ought, had we played the Zoanthrope’s Imperative correctly), but every turn after that they seemed to just fold to whatever I threw at them. In particular, the lack of -1D was critical once Owen started to run low on CP, and 4+ with no invulnerable save was also pretty rough. We agreed that a single big squad would be a good place to stick all the defensive buffs, while the other should probably be cut for some more firepower.

Killing 180 points of Warriors with a single character felt really good

Otherwise, the rest of the army felt really solid. The Maleceptor was a good looming threat, and once it finally made it into range it easily paid for itself immediately. Owen is contemplating bringing a second, and I think I agree. The Harpies were incredible, killing around their points worth and soaking up my army’s whole firepower for two turns. The fact that one unit can be both a ‘distraction Carnifex’ and kill a substantial amount of my list is incredible. I know some people have found these not to be worth their points, but I can’t imagine a competitive Tyranid list without them.

As far as in-game choices, Owen really regretted his Secondary picks. In particular, Investigate Signals, while it scored highly, massively constrained his choices in a was that he regretted a lot. While he dominated the centre relatively easily, he was constantly having to either waste a unit’s shooting or use the Leviathan power to let them do the action and still advance/shoot. Bring it Down would have scored marginally less points, but it also would have free up that power to do something more useful, like powering up the Maleceptor or giving the Warriors an invulnerable save. I was broadly happy with my picks: Bring it Down, as predicted, was better than I’d have likely done on Retrieve Nachmund without me having to commit any units to achieving it, and No Prisoners was only one dead Warrior off earning me 12 points.

Ultimately, Owen and I agreed that this game came down to some appalling dice in the opening turns, with a few small, sloppy errors at the end that prevented me from pulling it back. Ironically, our biggest takeaway from the game was how close it is, despite Tyranids looking like a bit of a hard counter to the ‘Quins. Had I rolled a bit better early it’s entirely plausible that this game goes in my favour, which is definitely not something either of us had expected. Of course, post-nerf things will likely be a lot less balanced, so look forward to some brutal Tyranid matchups in the coming months.

Finally, the question I’ll be asking at the end of every Tyranids battle report till the Codex comes out: did the legality of Crusher/Leviathan impact the game?

For Crusher, I think the answer has to be yes here. The lack of 5++ on the Warriors after Turn 1 made them much easier to deal with, especially for things like the Troupe Master which just picked them up without it. The Harpies would also have been vasty more infuriating with the invulnerable save and -1D, although I admittedly would still have killed one in Turn 2 and the second in Turn 3. This is ignoring the consistent increase in Owen’s damage to my non-‘Weaver models as a result of the Leviathan reroll, as well as the Transnid that was otherwise decreasing my damage output substantially. Overall though, I think this matchup becomes a lot harder with Crusher being allowed. 

This turn was bad enough without Crusher buffs on the Harpies

The Leviathan supplement was also pretty clutch. The redeploy did nothing of interest, although that would have changed if Owen went first, but the ObSec stratagem was incredibly valuable. Gestalt Commander was also incredibly good, functioning as a 5+++ for most of the game then letting that Tyrant flip the central objective in the final turn for a 14-point swing on Primary. Interestingly, if the Leviathan supplement was gone then the Harlequins would have probably won this game, with their Primary going up by 5 and the Tyranids’ down by 13!

I hope you enjoyed this brutal battle report (and getting to see Harlequins finally lose a game!). It turns out that the counter to pre-nerf Voidweaver spam was just an even newer, nastier Codex. Excellent. I foresee no problems with this. Let me know in the comments what you thought of the game and the lists, and how you think this matchup will play out with the new Dataslate!

Until next time, may those damned Harpies always die when you shoot at them!

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