Underdog Chronicles: The Mascot's Fight in Arena of Honor

The last Arena of Honor game of the season was upon us, and as usual, I felt a mix of excitement and fear. My account might not have the shiny T5 troops or the high investment like my teammates, but I’d carved out my niche. I'm more of a team mascot and I try to help as best I can, being the team’s eyes and ears, spotting opportunities, sniping undefended enemy Altars and retaking our Altars when contested. I'm trying to do what the big boys don't have time to do and let them focus on the bigger objectives. While 3 of my teammates had recently upgraded their accounts with T5s, I felt a little left behind. My account is also growing but at a much slower pace compared o them. It feels like I have a linear evolution compared to their exponential progress.

When the matchmaking revealed our opponents, my heart sank. Big accounts were populating the map, big alliances like the FDH faction with their giant accounts like Steel. To my pleasant and unpleasant surprise I even notice a N0X gang. I know those accounts can wipe the floor with mine so it became clear: we were up against superior opponents and I would be the teams mascot once again.

"Alright," I thought, "I didn't come here to be funny, it's time to make myself useful."

The Battle Begins

The first phase was the usual scramble for strongholds. We quicky get the 1st row and max it out before the 2nd row opens.

We take the 2nd row just as fast and start looking for Altars.

From now on my main role is simple, I shall remain vigilant and call out enemy movements, highlighting their strategy and possible weaknesses in their plans that might give us the upper hand. When the first Altars opened, the big guns on both sides clashed. HotepRa was testing his new T5 troops at the Altar of the Stranger, and while he held his ground for a bit, even he couldn’t stand up to the spear accounts that kicked him out. His account is clearly stronger then mine so if he got kicked, there was nothing I could do there, even in a Spear on Spear fight.

I didn’t have the stats to face these heavyweights head on, so I focused on uncontested Maiden Altars, trying to snipe and hopefully fly under the radar. My first target was an unguarded altar, an easy win. The second one was trickier, I was kicked by a strong female lineup so I let big brother take point. With solid reinforcements and a bit of luck, we barely held on. It was basically a mirror match, with 3 of our players defending against a single strong attacker. Not an ideal setup but we managed to defend.

Sniping and Scrambling

We had 3 Altars of the Maiden and were looking for backups but FDH quickly realized we could be problematic and started pressuring our Altars.

That’s when I shifted into mascot mode: running around the map, sniping altars nobody touched, retaking what contested Altars were left with no troops and drawing attention away from our main accounts, hoping they could carry the team and win the game for all of us. In a court of kings, I was the jester.

I even tried some solos on Altars that were defended by a single army without reinforcements. Did I stand a chance? Not at all. But at least I was running interference and blocking their troops. At one point I even weakened a big account before big brother took him out. How do I know I weakened him? Because big brother tried a solo on him later and failed. So my pre-hit, was actually useful, he he. You know how people pre-hit Rebel Leaders? Well, I pre-hit whales in AoH. What can I say, it ain't much, but it's honest work.

Forcing the enemy teams to react gave our team a few precious seconds to regroup elsewhere.

The Underdog Hustle

As the match progressed, the pressure mounted. We were neck and neck with FDH for second place, with N0X dominating the top spot. I asked for help in our Discord chat, maybe our alliance members could shift their focus on FDH and give us a bit of an advantage, but I don't think anyone was looking at the chat during the game. So I kept calling out enemy movements, providing reinforcements to our rallies and Altars and trying to snipe more Altars where I could.

I managed to take forgotten or abandoned Altars from distracted enemy factions. It didn’t last long, stronger accounts usually reacted quicky to reclaim them and I almost never made it past the 2 min marker to actually claim Altars in our name, but it was a reminder that even as one of the smaller player from our team, I could still count.

We were slowly falling to 3rd place and the mines were our last hope for to secure the 2nd spot. We took 4 mines, hoping to reinforce before the enemy could react. While we did manage to reinforce a bit, FDH sniped them from us. From there, it was a mad chase for Maiden Altars, but FDH had the upper hand, and the distance between our factions only increased as time passed.

The Final Push

With two minutes left, the outcome was clear. We were behind by 600 points, and even with our best efforts, second place slipped away. As frustrating as it was to lose by such a slim advantage, I couldn’t help but feel proud.

Did I mention we didn't even have the full 10 man premade group and we had to play with a random filler? I didn't, because it was actually a good thing. We got paired with a power house. Check out this report from our alliance members who attacked him. The guy defending was our random filler. He won! DAMN!

We’d held our own against some of the strongest accounts in the game. I say "we" because "I" didn't win a single 1v1, Lord vs Lord fight the entire game. But our team's T5s had proven their worth, and I'd like to think my scrappy plays had helped as well. In the end the top 10 elimination points board had 3 of our accounts.

I'm way down in the ranks compared to them, only the person defending our house had a lower score😅Bummer.

After the match, we hopped into the N0X voice chat to share some laughs and ask them why they ignored our plea for help. The mood was light, third place wasn’t what we’d hoped for, but we’d put up a good fight.

Lessons Learned

For me, the match was a reminder of why I loved playing with this team. Even though my account doesn't match their power, they valued my help. And while they were pushing the limits of their accounts, I was testing the limits of my creativity and strategy.

The gap between my account and theirs might keep growing, but so does my determination. Next time, I’ll be ready to run more interference, snipe more Altars, call out more opportunities, and maybe, just maybe, help us claim a higher spot on the leaderboard.

After all, every great team needs a mascot. And I’m proud to be ours.