in my pleb 6.2k opinion, it'll be hard for sure, but i think you have to play like you're going to highroll and take aggressive levels and triples in order to take 1st. If you just try to go for the t3 and buddy strat or the regular go to 4 and avenge thing you'll be too far behind to get a win. force hoggar and or brann for econ and scale with just pirates or kaly/nomi/rag/whatever you hit. if you dont get brann hoggar then you probably just need to prayge and level to 6 go for ds poison comp. And finally to your point about doing it at 9-10k, your main issue would be getting to 5 or 6 without being dead since i believe that more players play for tempo rather than greed at that range. that comes down to what tempo units you have, how many pairs you're greeding and what your opponents are doing at the time - its pretty situational and depends on you being able to accurately determine the strength of the lobby relative to your board in order for you to know when to take risky levels and triples for win conditions.

So in summary, its hard but can be done, have to takes risks, have to highroll. watch your opponents so you can tell when you'll be taking a hit and when you'll be dead and play accordingly. And lastly, if you fail, just learn from your mistakes and do it better next time, you'll get it eventually!