Note: I'm glad he won the tournament with that particular list. Nobody could be upset at having to face down that army and he played it extremely well. But the guy who came second (with Eldar) was fielding a genuinely shit army featuring a bunker just so his opponent had a building to destroy. His score was 2.75 from memory, basically just because it was from the Eldar codex. He had no wave serpents, no Wraithknights and only one squad of warp spiders. He was using Shining Speers and doom weavers! If the comp scores were reversed the placings would have been reversed, and I think that was the true result, but nobody cares we just play to have fun and the winner was very gracious.
The core of any Maelstrom army for Marines is quite fixed:
Chapter Master on bike
Librarian (probably on a bike, often ML2)
3 bike squads
thunderfire cannon
sternguard with combi-meltas in a pod
That core is setting you back about 1100 points, so not a lot of customisation if you're playing at 1500. Note that the champ had all of these units.
Why do you need these units?
The Chapter Master does not give up slay the Warlord and is very capable of winning challenges for points. He also kills things in Assault, which is important in Maelstrom, especially for marines who rarely field dedicated assault units. The librarian harnesses the warp for cheap and is a useful utility unit capable of zooming to score, adding weight in assault and buffing units. The Sternguard get you first blood and their pod frequently scores linebreaker, and they neuter a key threat. The thunderfire cannon is the optimal unit for holding a back field objective and helps you score 'hold the line'. It's also dirt cheap and gives some infantry killing power that this list would otherwise lack. Bikes capture objectives better than anything because they are super durable, can meltagun tanks/MCs and are very fast when they need to be.
What changes could you make?
You could potentially take 3 Rhino squads instead of the bikes. It makes you more durable but less destructive because you lose the special weapons. Granted, it makes Imperial fists and Ultramarines tactics more viable, but that's hardly a benefit unless you're using comp scoring and want to use devastator squads. For the same points I think you can afford 2 full squads with meltaguns and one half squad with flamers. That's a lot of objective secured and the tanks are pretty fast. If you're playing White Scars then the troops are pretty fast too with hit and run.
The only other HQ I think is reasonable is Marneus Calgar or another Chapter Master in Terminator Armour with the shield eternal (210 points I think). Everyone else is either going to give up slay the warlord (Tigurius, a lone Librarian, Khan) or be rubbish (every other option). Marneus is nearly 300 points and works best in a drop pod army. But pods aren't too hot for Maelstrom because they aren't efficient at grabbing backfield objectives, though perhaps you could bring a cannon or some scouts to fulfill that function. Or you could bring a combat squad with a heavy weapon and drop their pod empty on a down-field objective...seems inefficient. A chapter master leading a squad of Devastator Centurions or assault terminators in a Land Raider is a reasonable option, but costs a fortune and won't leave you with much to score objectives with at 1500.
Storm Ravens are a great unit but give up scour the skies and can't score until late game, so they aren't perfect for Maelstrom.
What to do with those last 400 points?
The champion added a devastator squad with Imperial fists tactics (I would give extra comp points for IF tactics) and some tactical terminators. The devastator squad can also hold a backfield objective and has nice synergy with the bolster cover rule from the thunderfire's techmarine. Meanwhile, because of tank hunters they are effective at killing tanks, and heavy weapons do a decent job of whittling wounds off monstrous creatures and other AP3 annoyances (I think he had 2 lascannons and 2 rocket launchers). The terminators can stand in the midfield or deep strike onto a distant objective. In my experience, terminators are garbage (but I love them so!), so I wouldn't have used them. Admittedly, these are not the best units, so his comp score should be pretty high, but when >66% of your list is optimal maybe you shouldn't get a perfect comp score.
Other options. If you go full competitive you probably just want to add more bikes, perhaps a command squad (and maybe Khan) so you have a mini Death Star, or an Imperial knight. A second thunderfire cannon would be nice (probably more so than the devastator squad). Keeping it a bit more modest, I think you could substitute in a squad of Devastator Centurions to take the job of the Terminators (same # of wounds, much better guns; and grav helps against Tau), and a Vindicare assassin instead of the devastator squad, or perhaps a Vindicator. I wouldn't add a storm talon in Maelstrom because it will just give your opponent scour the skies.
So sample list (that I'm going to use in my next 1500 Maelstrom game)
Chapter master on bike with artificer armour, storm shield and thunder hammer
Librarian with force axe, auspex, ML1
Bike x5 with 2 flamers and a veteran sergeant with a power axe
bike x4 with 2 plasma guns, combi-plasma and an attack bike with a multi-melta
bike x4 with 2 meltagun, combi-melta, melta bombs and an attack bike with a multi-melta
bike x4 with 2 meltagun, combi-melta, melta bombs and an attack bike with a multi-melta
Sternguard x5 in pod with combi-meltas
Devastator Centurions x3 with grav-cannons and grav-amps and hurricane bolters
Thunderfire cannon
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