AC S18 R3 - N3O Vs FVG - another Skribbl match?

The realms of Westeros, the mysterious world of Game of Thrones: Winter is coming were all riled up. Excitement and thrill were felt everywhere and tension, mixed with fear was the feeling many had experienced during Alliance conquest. This special event was everyone's favorite, it's what we all wait and train for. In this event two powerful families are fighting for control of Casterly Rock: On the one hand, Targaryen, lords of Dragons, mighty beasts that spread fear just by looking at them, their roar can deafen one's ear and their fire scorched earth throughout Westeros. On the other, Lannister, the mighty lions. Will the warden of the west prevail or will the queen of the seven kingdoms end her reign? as part of the event, two alliances meet on the battlefield, each one representing one family (Lannister or Targaryen) fighting for control of the buildings located on the battle map, they fight for glory and honor, and for a chance to secure a place on the top 16, which leads to UC (Ultimate Conquest) where they can compete for the title, champions of UC and all the spoils that come with it.

The 18^th season is ongoing, and we are now in the 3^rd round, we are coming to this match after we had one loss (BDR) and a win (tSB). If you remember from the last story (R2 of s18) I told u about our bad experience on S17 of UC, and we are determined to have a better season and a better outcome this time. We took it pretty hard, our emotions were mixed about what happened, it was a blend of disappointment, sadness, and a major shock. It also gave our leaders a lot of work to do, to come up with a better plan and strategy, so the outcome this time will be different, well, it is what we are aiming for. The question is can we achieve that? Can we claim a spot at the top once more? This will not be an easy task, our rivals have gotten stronger and they have improved their battle skills. We have our work cut out for us, especially for our leading team. 

As I said, this is the 3^rd round and tonight we are facing an unknown alliance, FVG. We haven't faced them before, but they are not a strong alliance, and on paper, this seems like an easy match, one that we should have no problem winning. We entered the map and placed our castle on the assigned spot given to us before the beginning of the match, we had all our gear ready for battle and we were waiting for it to begin. Our event leaders, Benni and Ana, are well-experienced players, they spoke to all of us and gave some last-minute orders. Yes, I know I said this would be an easygoing match, but this is still a battle and B3nni thought that this would be a good chance to practice in a less stressful environment. We might even get to play another round of our favorite pass the time game "Skribbl".

Everyone was ready and it was almost time for battle, the countdown was showing 5..4..3..2..1…TIME TO FIGHT!!

All racers were on their way to the 4 buildings that opened – Temple of the Mother, Tower of the Warrior, Lannister Outpost, and Targaryen Outpost. N3O has managed to capture 3 out of the 4 buildings (all but Mother), it was a very good start. After the race was over, B3nni wanted to make a swap, meaning was to have a stronger warrior in, one that would have a better chance at defending it, due to his strong army and stats. So he gave the order to reinforce and get ready to speed when he told us to. The one who needs to replace the current holder of the building already knows who he is and what he has to do and both our swap on our Outpost and Warrior were a success, and so was the one we did on Enemy Outpost. Now we need to reinforce them with enough troops and we will go for Mother as soon as the bubble drops or maybe try and snatch it if they will do a swap.  FVG was holding Mother, and we set off rallies to attack it, I know what you must be thinking right now, why a rally? when we can take it back with a couple of solo attacks, well, practice remember? we can use the opportunity to improve our rallies and this match is the perfect match to do that. Rallies were on their way, they were timed well (most of them… 😏) and they hit one by one and with good success, we took Mother as well. We were now( as expected) holding all buildings. 

Ports, important buildings to hold opened and racers from both sides raced each other to take first capture (gives initial points, 800 for each port), Our racers were successful and we got both ports. When we made the swaps, there was a bit of confusion and we ended up losing both, but fear not, this is the match to make mistakes and learn from them. In case you forgot, a swap (or as B3nni calls it " the old switchero") is a tactic used in the match in order to place a much stronger fighter in the building. It is usually one of our rally leaders, they are strong, have high stats, and stand a better chance to defend against attacks (it goes without saying that they need reinforcements right?). This means we have more things to rally and practice, so that is actually a good thing. After the bubble dropped our strongest fighters did a few solos and took the ports back, I guess no rallies huh? Oh well, as long as we have them back under our control. 

Ten minutes Have passed since this "exciting" battle began. It was that type of match where time goes by as slowly as a very old sloth …. It was time for CR, one of the largest buildings in this match, Racers get ready…. GO!! Our racer, Vinch was faster than all and he landed himself into CR, but he wouldn't stay there for long, he was a racer, and his job was to race as fast as possible and secure the building he was racing for. He will be replaced (swap) by someone much stronger, and this time it will be Meridianos (Meri) and so it was. B3nni did his famous counting 1,2………………..3!) and Meri was in and our troops raced in fast to reinforce him.

Meri at CR after a good swap :

One look at the map revealed that all of the buildings were under our occupation, all that is left to defend them, if and when FVG decided to come for it. We still have Strongholds to take and the mines will open up in about 30 min (give or take a few). There wasn't much to do really, unless they attacked and we might need to reinforce. FVG did manage to take both Strongholds, and that made our fighters happy, they now have something to solo and earn some elimination points, as soon as the bubble dropped, many blue lines were seen and the enemy stronghold was no longer under FVG control, same goes for our Stronghold. And now comes the boredom, so what do we always do when we have slow matches… can you guess? well, it is Skribbl! It was Elfy again who set the game and a few of us joined in and I can tell you it was quite fun. Some words are not as easy to draw and you find yourself racking your brain on how the heck do I draw that and make people guess it? For example – how can u draw the word invisible? and when u are not a native English speaker and you know how to say the word in your own language but you don't know how to say it is called in English.  Yes, we know how to use Google Translate, but when you are time-limited, this isn't always an option.  All this makes this game really fun and funny, trying to guess a word and hoping to win at the end, I have yet to win, I came really close tonight, but nope…Oh well. Next time ..Maybe.

Time passes by when u are having fun (On Skribbl yes? 😜The match was boring🙈) and it was time to race for the mines. Racers were ready and they launched as soon as the bubble dropped, Both teams were able to capture one mine. We filled the one we took and when the bubble dropped on the other one we took that from FVG and filled it up so we could earn the points faster. We won this game long before the mines opened up, but we wanted to score as many points as we possibly could, it will help with our final ranking at the end of the season, and that is why we went for the mines. B3nni and Ana both stood on the hill overlooking the battlefield, and they looked happy, they were smiling and I even heard a laugh.

We did well today as expected, we practiced and we did make some improvements, we still have more to improve on, but it is a step in the right direction" Benni told Ana as they were standing there together.

Yes I agree, I saw some improvements today from our guys, it is always nice to have a lazy match like this, tho not a lot of them, I do love the adrenalin rush we get from our tough matches, even if it takes a few years out of my life..

Both Ana and B3nni were laughing so hard after what she said. It was good to see them both laughing and having a relaxing moment, they both need that, well we all do, but they do most of all.

Final score:

Final rankings:

3rd match ended and we collected our 2nd win (we lost to BDR, remember?), we had 2 easy matches( and boring...did I mention boring? 😂). We all love the fast-paced matches we face against stronger alliances, the rush we get from that is amazing, but I'm sure for both B3nni and Ana it's a much-welcomed break from the pressure they are both under in these types of matches, leading a top alliance is not an easy thing to do, and they are doing a great job, they are always trying to find ways to improve our alliance and our performance on events. We have 3 more matches left before the regular season ends and we will do whatever it takes to secure a spot in the top 16. Our alliance has always been a part of UC and we don't intend to change that. We don't know who our opponent would be yet. but no matter who it will be, we will show up ready to fight and give our all, like we always do in every battle or challenge we face. Our leading team is working hard to make sure we have a plan for every battle and they are always pushing us to do better and improve for the good of the alliance, and we as a team try to live up to their expectation, hard as it may sometimes be.