Leeds GT 2026 Winrates and Rankings impact

Charles Gould
5 days ago
6 min read

The Leeds GT this weekend was the final checkpoint of 10th edition for the UKTC.

Rankings don't stand still. Big events move the table. And if you care about where you finish, the biggest events are where the biggest swings happen.

With 229 players in the field, 204 completing the event, 28 factions represented, and a rankings update that rippled from the very top all the way through the chasing pack, Leeds was what a late-edition super major should be: a trophy fight, a rankings battleground, and one last chance to make 10th Edition count.

And plenty of players took it.

Mani Wins Leeds

First, the headline result.

Congratulations to Mani Cheema, who took down the Leeds GT with Chaos Space Marines, finishing 1st overall after a perfect 7-win run across the event and bracket rounds.

The Leeds podium was stacked:

Mani Cheema Chaos Space Marines
Christopher Langton Chaos Daemons
Greg Chamberlain Tyranids
Scott Morris Aeldari
Antti “Tate” Kyllonen T’au Empire
Ryan Richards Thousand Sons
Theo Hayat Chaos Space Marines
Stephen Brain Orks
Kyle Grundy T’au Empire
Simon Quinn Emperor’s Children

That is an absurdly strong top ten, and the rankings impact shows it.

Mani was already ranked #1 before Leeds. After winning the event, he stayed there, but the important part is the gap. Before Leeds, Mani led Ben Jones by less than half a point. After Leeds, his lead grew to 19.14 points.

That is what winning a major does.

It does not just defend a position. It creates breathing room.

The Top Five Got Rewritten

The very top of the rankings did not explode, but it absolutely shifted.

Before Leeds, the top five were:

Mani Cheema
Ben Jones
Byron Sidhu
Nassim Fouchane
Greg Chamberlain

After Leeds, the top five became:

Mani Cheema
Ben Jones
Greg Chamberlain
Scott Morris
Christopher Langton

Greg Chamberlain jumped from 5 to 3 after finishing 3rd at Leeds. Scott Morris climbed from 7 to 4 after finishing 4th. Christopher Langton made one of the most important elite-level moves of the weekend, climbing from 10 to 5 after reaching the final and finishing 2nd.

That is three Leeds players moving into, or up within, the top five.

Meanwhile, players who did not attend were still affected. Byron Sidhu dropped from 3 to 6. Nassim Fouchane moved from 4 to 7. Andy Quas-Cohen moved from 6 to 9. Stephen Box moved from 8 to 10

Nothing went wrong for those players. The ladder simply moved.

That is the truth of rankings: when the biggest events happen, even standing still means going backwards.

Leeds Was a Rankings Engine

The numbers behind the update are the clearest reason to take these events seriously.

Of the 229 players in the Leeds placings file, 167 were already ranked.

Of those players:

146 climbed the rankings

151 gained points

Only 18 dropped places

The median returning Leeds player gained 220 ranking places

The median returning Leeds player gained 60.57 points

And it was not just a top-table effect. Leeds added movement across every band of the rankings.

Leeds players in the Top 100 went from 23 before the event to 27 after the even, players in the Top 500 went from 63 to 76, and players in the Top 1,000 went from 92 to 108.

That is the value of attending the biggest events. They do not just help the players already near the summit. They create movement for everyone with a good weekend.

The Leeds Meta: What Actually Won Games?

Leeds was not just a rankings changing event. It was also one last proper look at the shape of 10th Edition at a huge UKTC major.

Across the event, we had 229 players, 28 factions, 542 recorded table games, and one bye.

T’au Empire were the most popular faction in the room with 19 players, followed by Space Marines on 18, Astra Militarum on 14, then Chaos Space Marines and Blood Angels on 13 each.

But popularity and performance were not always the same thing.

The obvious headline is Emperor’s Children. Six players, a combined 19-9 record, a 67.9% win rate, and three players finishing on four or more wins. Simon Quinn also put them into the top ten, finishing 10th overall. For a faction with a smaller footprint, that is a huge conversion rate.

Chaos Knights also had a very strong weekend. Only five players brought them, but they finished 13-7 overall for a 65.0% win rate, with two of the five reaching four or more wins. That is the kind of performance that gets noticed, especially at a field this size.

Tyranids were arguably the strongest “larger sample” performer of the event. Ten players, a 31-21 record, a 59.6% win rate, two Top 20 finishes, and Greg Chamberlain taking 3rd overall. That is a proper faction result, not just one player spiking.

Thousand Sons were also excellent. Seven players combined for a 58.3% win rate, with three of them reaching four or more wins. Ryan Richards took them all the way to 6th place, turning the faction’s strong event into a serious rankings move as well.

Then there is Chaos Space Marines. Mani Cheema winning the event is obviously the headline, but the faction’s broader performance backed it up: 13 players, a 35-28 record, a 55.6% win rate, three Top 20 finishes, and three players on four or more wins. That is not just a winner carrying a faction. That is a faction (defilers) performing across the weekend.

T’au also deserve a mention because they managed to be both the most popular faction and one of the better-performing large factions. With 19 players, T’au finished 48-43 overall for a 52.7% win rate, put two players into the Top 10, three into the Top 20, and five players onto four or more wins. That is a very healthy return from the most represented faction in the event.

On the other side, some popular factions had tougher weekends. Space Marines were the second most played faction with 18 players, but finished at 45.3% with no Top 20 finishes. Imperial Knights brought 12 players but finished at 40.0%. Aeldari still had Scott Morris flying the flag in 4th place, but across the wider field they finished at 42.6%.

Special shout outs to our faction lone wolves Ryan and Jacob on Grey Knights and Imperial Agents resepectively, both skewing my stats with a 4-1 80% winrate weekend!

Already on Six Events? Leeds Still Mattered

One of the most important lessons from the update is that Leeds helped players even when their event count did not increase.

A total of 64 returning Leeds players had no increase in their “number of events” count after the weekend.

Even then, 48 of those 64 players still gained points.

That is a crucial rankings lesson: attending big events is not only about adding another result. It is about upgrading your score.

That is what the biggest events offer: more points, more pressure, more opportunity.

And If You Did Not Play?

Here is the uncomfortable bit.

Among players who were in both the pre-event and post-event rankings but were not in the Leeds placings file, 4,322 dropped places.

Inside the pre-event Top 100, the effect was even clearer. Of the 77 Top 100 players who did not attend Leeds, 75 dropped at least one place.

That is not because anyone did anything wrong. It is just what happens when a large event fires a huge number of points into the rankings.

The people who attend have a chance to improve. The people who do not attend are relying on everyone else not to pass them.

At a small event, that risk is manageable. At a super major, it is dangerous.

The End of 10th Edition: Crowning the King

Leeds also gives us the perfect moment to celebrate the end of the edition and the final King of 10th standings. We will be doing a full awards announcement soon to detail and celebrate the king of 10th rankings, these are edition spanning rankings and have been fought for over the last 3 years.

Next Stop: King of 11th

10th Edition is done. Leeds gave it the send-off it deserved.

Now the reset is coming.

The King of 11th begins with the Birmingham GT, and that makes Birmingham bigger than just the first super-major of a new edition. It's the chance to set the pace. The first chance to bank major points.

Everyone starts with a clean slate, but not everyone will use it to the max.

The players who care about rankings should already know the lesson from Leeds: the biggest events create the biggest movement. They give you more points, more meaningful results, and more opportunities to separate yourself from everyone staying at home.

Birmingham starts the next one.

If you care about your ranking, this is where your 11th edition begins.

See you at the next one

Coming up, we have a veritable host of events up and down the country - and tickets are selling fast! Make sure you secure your spot before they're all gone! This month we are launching the Bedford Super-Major and the first event of 2027 with the Nottingham Gt, both of which launch on Friday 26th @ 2PM. Set your alarms for that and be ready to buy when the tickets drop.