Undefeated - UK GT day two round up

So I entered day two on table 35 and again faced another Space Wolf army. Three in a row for me. 2 objectives, pitched battle. Once again I found that games can be won and lost on deployment. I got it wrong even though I went second and it made it more difficult for me to win. In the end my thunderwolves butchered everything close to his objective. In the end it came down to whether he could shift me off mine, time was running out and we were only on turn 5, a good assault left me moved off my objective and the game ended in a draw. The second game saw me against a tau player with a crisis suit heavy list. Not something I come up against so I was on the back foot from the beginning. 5 objectives, spearhead and yet again another game I lost first turn. My thunderwolves were less than 24 inches away but unfortunately my run rolls were terrible (a common occurrence for the weekend), I also failed to hurt much in a couple of turns and by turn three it looked to be over.My one saving grace was that I hadn't lost any troops. My scouts came on and blew up a devil fish and then I had another real space marine moment, 1 scout running off one of his troop choices. This gave me the draw in the end even though I didn't deserve it. My final game was annihilation against an ork army, heavy with Killer Kans, lootaz and boyz. This was easily my most fun game of the weekend, lots of combat, a really great opponent (although they all were) and some fun turns of fate. The game again ended in a draw but a thrilling one at that. I dramatically underestimated how tough nobz were in combat, I had never faced them alone and these had feel no pain which made them tough. They went through a squad of grey hunters, charged a long fang pack and ate them until my thunderwolves got in. I rolled terribly and lost all my wolves bar my lord who was eventually able to dispatch them. So all in all 1 win 3 draws and 2 losses, not the weekend I wanted but not one that I am disappointed with, 2 of the games I probably deserved to win, 2 I definitely deserved to lose. So the question is what did I learn. Well what I didn't learn is what makes the difference between a top player and someone like me who constantly lies in midtable winning as many as he looses. What I have decided after this weekend is that if I am to move up I need to stop playing with just what I enjoy and start playing with a more optimal list. My thunderwolves cost too much 560 points is too much for 5 models. I could have a lot for those points and I plan to, open war will be the last time I run the Thunderwolf heavy list at a tournament. I hope all other attendees had a great weekend like I did.