A League SOW Finals

My first finals match in Siege of Winterfell left me with mixed feelings. It was bittersweet doing on my alt, which has not yet happened on my main. This match would be for all the marbles. The tension was thick. We would be fighting Unb.

A glance at their season shows they did not let anyone score 10K points. They easily dominated all of their matches. Coming into the final undefeated with a record of 8-0.

They were considered the favorites of playoffs early on and looking at those scores we can see why. When you compare them to how we did. We did extremely well but not quite the blow out matched Unb had. We were also coming into the final undefeated with a record of 8-0.

We were even with participation each team having 59 players. They outscored us with the starting points.

We were going to try, at this point we embrace our underdog status. Despite it not looking good for us, we were ready to go all out. I was on M O N O and skeeter ready to rain down shenanigans across the map. Those nervous last few minutes waiting for the match are the worst. At least once the match starts you are usually busy with game play to feel the nerves. But those moments between landing on the map and the final countdown feels like FOREVER.

I started with the normal route, taking the strongholds and outposts closest to our base with one march moving forward for the Battle of the Hot Springs.

Unb arrived first and were dominating the springs.

This was similar to what we faced last match with VMD. I began to scout ahead to see if there were any targets of opportunity. Some of my teammates had a similar idea.

The score was close, but we were behind. Not so far behind we couldn’t reverse our fortunes but for that outcome we could make no mistakes.  Their lead jumped up by them getting and delivering the package.

We were making this harder on ourselves. If we were struggling to close a small lead, it would be even harder to overcome a larger one… Thoughts of the score from Unb’s previous matches this season started creeping into my head. No Snap out of it, I scolded myself. Harder does not mean impossible. We only lose if we have the lower score at the end of the match or if we give up. I wasn’t ready to give up yet and neither was anyone else in Wxd. Skeeter and M O N O went on a killing spree. Both were swarmed but largely held their own.

The next package was ours but it came at a cost.

We were swarmed as we would get the package, take a couple steps, lose the package and they would take it a couple steps the other way. We had to fight hard for every inch of ground. Our hard work and determination paid off as we were able to deliver the package. This minor victory during the big war was just the motivation we needed. After all a couple more packages, and maybe we could even win this thing. Dare I dream?

Unb was waiting with a good-sized group for the next package. The other territories switched frequently as both teams were constantly gaining control of some and losing control of others.  Every account on the map was embroiled in a constant knock down drag out fight in every corner.

As I healed and resent marches I sent both M O N O and Skeeters fresh marches to assist with the package. I had concerns on if I would make it in time. Unb got control of the package before I had arrived. They faced resistance of course but we were outnumbered. I had noticed they didn’t go to a nearby base they had control of.

OMFG, they are getting ready to play hide the package.

Sidenote, I blame Nbe for popularizing this dang tactic. Lol

The mood in Wxd shifted again once the package was inside their base, out of our reach. We needed package deliveries if we were to have a chance at winning. This removes that opportunity and means we would have to catch up with territory alone. This would be impossible since, while we have had some wins, Unb largely dominated in the territory fights. With the package out of play they could just focus of keeping their lead.  

Right towards the end, they finally delivered what was to be the last package of the map, sealing their victory.  The fighting continued until the very end, even though we all knew we had lost. There was not enough time for us to catch up without being able to deliver the pack.

We could be proud of how hard we played and how close we kept that score. We scored higher on them then any other team this season. That speaks volumes about this RagTag bunch of neglected alts. We were very much an underdog team both in the regular season and the playoffs. We played well and more importantly we had fun. Finishing second in SOW playoffs is nothing to scoff at. My alt got her little fancy avatar frame

And message frame.

As far as the hide the package tactic, I am afraid we are going to be seeing a lot more teams using it. It is a smart strategy, but it does affect the spirit of the event. I suspect the Old Gods will have to weigh in and either not allow the package to stay in a base by counting it as a delivery, or they can just force the player to drop the package when entering the base.  They could also decide to leave it as is. Congrats to Unb for winning. It was a fun match.