1000 is impossible without spending serious cash.

meekersX wrote:

but I still can't recommend that someone struggling to hit 1k join a bracket early. Even if it takes 3 shield hops to get to 1k, you can easily join in the last 12 hours.

not sure I agree there. 12 hrs is about when I start my big push and it usually starts from the 600s. this event since I didn't like the boosteds I'm running a 166 (bp) and a 140 (witch) with my 245 gsbw, so I started this mornings push (at about 11 hours out) from about 590. pushed to 913 in one go. not sure I could do that from 0. now I have 2 hops and event end to get there. if 1K is your main goal, I'd personally much rather start from 600 than from 0 when I pushed at 12 hrs out.