We Didn't Take the City of Glory, but a new MVP Holds the Crown in Our Team

Real life has been crazy lately, and I haven’t had much time for GoTWiC. But Sunday is my favorite event, and this time, I was online before matchmaking, unlike my last AoH where I barely made it 4 min before the gates closed.

My overall alliance event attendance has been a bit off lately. I’ve missed 2 out of 4 SoW matches and barely managed to play in 1 of 2 I did attend. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if I have "the talk" with N0X leadership soon.

At least my AoH game is still strong and I haven't let down the team, so far.

As we jump into another match, our team looks great. A few teammates are flexing their new bubble skins from SoW, something I can’t exactly brag about given my attendance record😅

As expected, reinforcements start strong, but I won’t be surprised if we don’t finish building the 1st row before the 2nd line opens.

And just as I suspected, the 2nd row is late. Still, we manage to hold onto 2nd place in score, so at least it’s not just us having this issue.

My leads snipe two Maides the moment they open, and we quickly reinforce to hold until the bubble is up. With new altars opening at a fast pace, I’ve noticed this is a safe strategy as players tend to go for new, "empty" altars rather than contesting already claimed ones.

But before we can actually enjoy the bubble, we have to defend. And so we do! Even without his lord march, my guy Wind is a beast.

The battle rages on, and I notice nobody is taking the Sept. Knowing I can now win a solo over it, I send my lord march that way to help my team out with some healing reduction. I’m sure their T5 healing costs are outrageous and they could use the help.

If I thought Wind was strong without a lord march, just look at this hit we defend with his main march. Insane stats on this guy; I’m glad he’s on my team, hehe. I'm sure Hotep is envious but his account will catch up soon.

I try to snipe some altars that cheeky enemies took in our backyard, but I’m met with heavy resistance. And guess who it is? Doom! My 1st mentor from 3 years ago. While it’s nice to see him in game, I don’t appreciate his Jon Inf march smashing into my spears. I’d call friendly fire, but I doubt he even remembers me after all this time. Shameful defeat on my side, but hey, good to see you’re still here having fun, buddy! :)

The game is actually going well for once, unlike our previous attempts, and we’re on a solid path to 2nd place. But just as the big mine is about to open, the unthinkable happens. Again! What a surprise! Not!!! House Tyrell, the ones attacking us, went for Troop Stats. They’re Inf, and we were defending the House with an Inf account, but guess what? Their Inf became stronger. And we all know what that means... we lost the House again. That’s now 3 games in a row where we lose the house.

Since my lord march was free, I immediately take the House back. This is very bad for us. Not only did we each bring one army size Inf in a game with only two main Inf accounts, both F2P and without an Inf rally lead; but now everyone has to block Spears to reinforce me. And, of course, the House attacking me is Inf with heavy Inf stats thanks to their Troop Camp strategy. Just f*king great.

At least I get proper reinforcements. Just kidding😒Proper as in most players reinforce me in the house but with a mix of troop types. Somebody didn’t notice we swapped and kept sending Inf, while someone else probably didn’t have Spears and sent Cav instead. I appreciate the reaction, but I can’t really use these troops, and I’m afraid I’ll lose the House again. At least I got some T5 Spears. I know Hotep has them researched, but he’s still training his Cav empire, so these are probably from Wind. MVP again!

I actually think Wind is having fun this match. He calls for reinforcements on a rally using his off-main troop type and without a lord march. And still, look at the results. Taking back one of our altars that was being held with a lord march and heavily reinforced. Did I mention he’s our MVP this game? Probably not enough, as he keeps proving it again and again.

After a few hits, my T4 army dies off little by little and I’m left with only 1/3 of what I initially had in the House... so we lose it again.

I get kicked just as the small mines are about to open, and I notice a new strategy in AoH. At this stage, everyone expects all Houses to focus on the mines, so they send out several random attacks on altars, hoping that while every House is busy planning for the mines, they forget to contest their altars. The entire map is "blinking"; every House is taking other Houses’ altars.

As I’m shamefully kicked and with little time to figure out a new approach, somebody else takes the House. And if you haven’t guessed who by now… yep, it’s Wind, using his 2nd account. He even gets 7 reinforcements, making me just a little envious.

As the game enters its final moments, despite our best efforts, we somehow drop two positions in the overall rankings. Not really sure how, since we were monitoring the point intake for every House and had no real reason to be concerned; but somehow, from a comfy 2nd place and 20 Fame Points, we end up in 4th with no Fame Points. What a shame to end like this after the game we had.

Just as we expect to see the scoreboard, a miracle occurs. We somehow step up one rank and end in 3rd place, securing at least 10 Fame Points for our troubles. I have no idea how this happened. We didn’t take any buildings in the final seconds, but probably House Targaryen lost something, and we managed to overtake them at the last moment.

I check the rankings to see how well we performed, and it’s no surprise. My two boys are top in both Eliminations and Healing. While both had very similar results, and with all due respect to my current mentor, Hotep, I have to give this game to Wind. For the game you had, you deserve 1st place.

You barely outscored Hotep on heals, but 1st place is 1st place. I’m just glad my Sept helped you both out here! 😊

Overall, we performed well as a team. With strong leads like Hotep and Wind, we fought smart, and adapted to the chaos of the battlefield. Sure, we had setbacks, losing the House again for the 3rd game in a row is incredibly frustrating and demotivating, but we never gave up, and in the end, we still scored a solid 3rd place.

Looking ahead, we might change up the roster a bit. If Wind’s 2nd account had been in the House from the start, things could have played out differently. Maybe next time, we’ll start like that and see if we have less troubles.

No matter what, this game proved once again why I enjoy AoH; its unpredictable nature keeps things interesting, and every match forces us to adapt to new challenges as a team. New strategies appear each round, new challenges arise, but we adjust and manage favorable outcomes together.

Oh yeah, did I mention we played vs 0DiN and his team again? That’s 3 consecutive matches now. He finished 4th in Eliminations this time, but surprisingly, he wasn’t our main threat. His team won, but at least, they weren't our biggest threat.

Overall, a lovely game as usual! CCS next weekend; time to train some troops to be sacrificed for War Badges!

Until we meet again, see you on the battlefields of Westeros!