Siege of Winterfell: Matches 4 and 5 | The Give and the Take

As any of us who has adventured through Westeros long enough would know, at some point you must face an enemy much mightier than you. As was illustrated to N0X for this week of Siege of Winterfell events, there is still some balance to be found in these unbalanced fights. The battlefield can bring triumph or defeat, and sometimes even one extreme after the other.

Coming up to the fourth match of this event season, N0X had already claimed a streak of victories. These previous battles had required intense focus, communication, and teamwork. N0X members were feeling a bit like a well-oiled machine by now, having the experience of these successful battles and a solid understanding of how to play well together. But the upcoming matches would be challenging if we would be able to play at all.

When the matchups were announced, seeing the alliance NBe quickly lessened N0X’s bright expectations for the match. N0X last faced NBe during an ill-fated Alliance Conquest battle in the last season, a match which crushed N0X’s spirits along with their chances of making the UC bracket. With a roster of goliath players to face, it would be assuredly impossible for N0X to claim a victory against them. 

Every N0X member knew this, but still prepared themselves to show up with their best preparedness for the battle. As we lined up outside the barrier, preparing for it to drop, one member declared our motto for the match: fight, kill, heal, repeat. 

Determined to make our stand, we race down to the Armory and Hot Springs, but the overwhelming might of NBe becomes apparent almost immediately. Our armies are quickly cut down and the fight is pushed up higher to our bases, and within a few minutes the main fights are at Stark Outpost 1 and 2. For a short time we put our fight, kill, heal, repeat motto into effect there, fueled with determination alone, until leadership makes the difficult call to stop healing and sending out armies, recognizing that our troops will only be consumed for elimination points going forward. 

Though the match was essentially over, and the enemy’s red colors filled every corner of the map, the timer was still far from running out. Some members did what they could to find their own fun on the map in the meantime, using secret pathways to sneak around undetected, and while they couldn’t claim any bases there was still some momentary chaos to be caused.

One of our fearless fighters, Belore II, twice managed to sneak his way into Winterfell and make a fight for one of the bags. Though it was no game-altering ploy, he still managed to bring his teammates some entertaining moments of levity in an otherwise crushing match. After watching our armies fall one after the other, the mood among us had been quite sullen, so the laughter and reprieve brought by Belore’s antics were much appreciated.

By the end, NBe managed a stomping 100k points in this match, versus our 1k. It was a crushing match, but these pairing happen sometimes, and to face one like this after our victory streak was to be expected. Instead of dwelling on the defeat, we looked forward to the next opportunity to fight. And just around the corner, almost as if the cosmic forces sought balance, we would find ourselves on the other side of a similar kind of battle.

In stark contrast to the feeling among N0X members when we saw NBe as our next opponents, learning who we would face for the fifth match of the season allowed us to let out a sigh of relief. 1FD is not an alliance we had previously met, but from previewing their match history we could sense that victory would be achievable for us.

On the battlefield, things would play out as an almost exact reflection of the events of our previous match. 1FD put up a brief fight at the Armory and Hot Springs, but since our goal was to achieve as many points as possible in this match we had to be efficient. We quickly pushed through them to claim their lower bases as soon as we could. 

Within just a few minutes, N0X had claimed the map. Compared to the helpless feeling we had while fighting NBe, the complete control we found ourselves wielding for this match was almost giving us whiplash. 

Our pairing was like us in other ways as well. Much like how our fighters had tried to find their own fun in an overwhelming match, 1FD had a few spirited members who liked to make their presence known on the map. In one particularly bold moment, a small group staged a kind of ambush by hiding along the hidden outskirts of the Hot Springs and then charging in together. It was as brave as it was brief, since they were quickly taken over by the armies we had there. 

In the end, we finished with a final score that looked like just a reversal of our scoreboard against NBe (though unfortunately, it still wouldn’t be enough for N0X to secure a high enough ranking to qualify for UC). 

Though the individual matches may have not been incredibly exciting, having the pair one right after the other made for a perfect illustration of the extremes that can be brought out on any battlefield. They also showed us how important those small moments of resistance can be, even when you’re doomed against overwhelming enemies.