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[Review] Analysis of MYK vs GN in IBL Playoffs in Infinity Kingdom

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Article Publish : 03/30/2025 16:10

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💠Introduction

What’s up, folks? Welcome back to my Illusion Battlefield League(IBL) series where I take a closer look at different matches. IB is different from the IB League tournament in that you will use your normal teams, skill sets, talents, and decoration skins so strength is extremely relevant. The mode is also much slower-paced. Relocations and marching speed are slower. The event is one of the most entertaining events in Infinity Kingdom, and players enjoy spectating, almost like a sporting event. In this article, I’m going to take a closer look at the Top 16 playoff match between Server 73’s Mystic Knights(MYK) and Server 82’s Guardians Norheim(GN). GN’s positions in this match will be denoted in green while MYK’s will be in red.

💠Table of Contents

Overview
Starting Positions and Talents
MYK
GN
Tower 1
Tower 4
Central Tower
Altars
Home Towers
Play-by-Play
Summary

💠Overview

MYK entered the playoffs with a 6-2 record, losing only to their sister teams, BUNS and CUBS. In the playoffs, MYK defeated wargate and WV before losing to CUBS a second time to fall to the silver bracket. There, they defeated WV again to secure their berth in the Top 16. WV was the most difficult opponent they defeated throughout their journey. On the other hand, GN played 6 matches in the first phase and finished with a 5-1 record, losing only to What the Foxxx. They defeated VT, SH, and won in an upset against VA to win gold in their group. Their higher berth meant they would be matched with a silver bracket winner and it gives them positional advantage as the top-sided team. MYK was largely favored to win this match as they hail from a server that consistently produces contenders every season.

💠Starting Positions and Talents

MYK

Started with 28 players and ended with 30
9 Attack talents
15 Defense talents
4 Support talents

Started with 29 players and ended with 29
17 Attack talents
7 Defense talents
5 Support talents

💠Tower 1

MYK sent 11 players to Tower 1 and GN relocated 6. MYK’s formation was fairly good. 2 of the players could have been closer to their teammate who was closest to the enemies. Other than that, they had 4 players adjacent to the tower which is optimal. GN had no one next to the tower. They left the entire right side of the tower open and congregated on the top side of the tower. Instead of having 3 players in the second row, they could have been in the front and adjacent to the tower for more control. Either way, MYK had the advantage here just from their sheer numbers. In my opinion, if GN was only going to send 6 to Tower 1, they should have given it up entirely and committed to taking the Central Tower and Tower 4.

💠Tower 4

MYK sent 10 players to Tower 4 with an overlap. GN sent 9 players with 1 member aggressively relocating to block 3 MYK relocations. GN could have contested the bottom right corner position and blocked another, but overall GN made good use of their positional advantage. MYK should have given up the spots right next to the tower and fought their way back slowly or given up the tower entirely to focus on the Central Tower instead. If GN can block multiple relocations and destroy a couple, they would have a massive advantage.

💠Central Tower

MYK only moved 5 players to the middle while GN had 11 players. 5 players are insufficient to take control of the center against average teams. They should have committed those 5 players to Tower 4 instead. GN also moved one of their players to MYK’s side of the tower. Since that player has an edge spawn and most teams don’t usually move those players to the center, GN could destroy relocations to further secure the area. MYK’s distribution of players was a massive mistake in the early game.

💠Altars

Neither team sent anyone to either altar.

💠Home Towers

MYK had 2 guards at their home tower and GN stationed 3 at theirs.

💠Play-by-Play

At Tower 1, GN was able to destroy a relocation which meant MYK didn’t do a good job of sending their closest players to the furthest spots and MYK didn’t garrison in time. Despite having fewer players, GN was dealing significantly more damage to MYK than the other way around. GN was mixing in rallies with solo attacks that were breaking through MYK’s defenses and MYK wasn’t sending attacks quick enough. MYK tried to take the tower a couple of times but was stopped by GN. MYK should have been able to capture the tower, but too many were too focused on attacking the enemies. Unfortunately for GN, more players at the tower meant they had more leeway for mistakes. MYK moved up, surrounded GN, and slowly dwindled their enemies’ prosperities. At 7 minutes, GN realized Tower 1 was lost so they started moving to the center. MYK finally captured Tower 1 at 11 minutes when all of GN either moved or was zeroed.

At Tower 4, GN blocked 3 relocations, but MYK destroyed 1 in return. MYK quickly zeroed the blocker and GN did the same. Similar to Tower 1, GN had fewer members in the vicinity and no reinforcements were coming. They had too many players in the center where they already had control and didn’t need more than 7 members or so. MYK kept sending players back to Tower 4 and eventually pushed GN further back. At 8 minutes, MYK had 9 members at the tower while GN only had 4 and they still weren’t able to take the tower. A minute later, they finally captured it. GN kept sending players back to Tower 4 as they didn’t have a choice. They needed another tower and Tower 1 was completely devoid of their players.

In the center, GN destroyed a relocation and zeroed 2 enemies within a minute, outnumbering MYK 11 to 2. The final 2 followed the deaths of their teammates shortly after. By the 10-minute mark, GN completely controlled the tower and they had half of their team in the center. They controlled the center 4 minutes into the match and captured the tower at 11 minutes. Some came from Tower 1, but the majority of them sat in the middle for 7 minutes doing nothing. They should have moved to Tower 4 to help their teammates find a third tower. You don’t need 14 players guarding an objective, especially when your team is behind. By 15 minutes, MYK had a small 2,000-point lead.

At 12 minutes, an MYK player started moving to GN’s home tower. By 20 minutes, only a single player remained at Tower 1. GN already had 4 players near the tower and many more in their spawn. This was another huge mistake by MYK. They had 3 towers and all they had to do was split their forces between the 3 with 10 players at each tower and they would win the game, but they kept pushing for more. GN defended the tower well and MYK made no headway for 10 minutes. Even if they had taken the tower, it would have been difficult to hold.

At 22 minutes, with 1 of the 3 guards at Tower 1 low on prosperity, GN made their counterattack. 3 GN players teleported to Tower 1 and quickly zeroed 2. MYK tried to respond with a teleport of their own and 3 players started relocating to the tower, but it was too little and too late. GN surrounded the tower with 8 players and stole the tower at 25 minutes, giving them the third tower they were desperately looking for. This meant MYK had no choice but to make the invasion at GN’s home tower work.

Multiple players started relocating from spawn and Tower 4. At 29 minutes, MYK had half of their team at GN’s home tower and finally managed to steal it. With 30 minutes left, MYK only led by 1,000 points. Defending the tower next to the enemy’s spawn is the toughest task to do. Since the distance from your spawn to the tower is so large the optimal thing to do is send players from Tower 4 to the enemy home tower and then have players who got zeroed at the tower move to Tower 4 to fill the gap left by those who went to reinforce the defense.

By 50 minutes, the battle had raged on at Tower 2. While MYK did a fantastic job holding onto the tower, their numbers were slowly dwindling with no way to replenish them quickly. GN made a few attempts at MYK’s home tower, but they were stopped each time. MYK was up only 7,500 points. They needed to hold onto Tower 2 for a few minutes and then even if GN retook the tower, GN would not generate enough points to surpass MYK. Once MYK had an 8,000-point lead with less than 8 minutes to go, they should have stopped returning to Tower 2 and defended Towers 3 and 4. GN finally retook Tower 2 at 54 minutes, but they would need another tower to overcome the deficit. Simultaneously, 5 GN players teleported and besieged Tower 3. 2 of the 3 guards at the tower were asleep and just let GN take the tower at 56 minutes. GN overtook and won the match in the final 30 seconds.

💠Summary

GN’s PiterDA was the match MVP as they made the miraculous comeback with 85,850 points to MYK’s 84,700. MYK made a series of mistakes early and late in the match that cost them at the end. Firstly, sending only 5 players to the Central Tower was a mistake. GN made that same mistake at Tower 1. If teams are going to under-commit players to an objective, it’s better to send them to another tower than waste their time. MYK took too long to secure Towers 1 and 4 despite having more people there. Had they secured either tower 30 seconds earlier, they would have won. Secondly, MYK bit off more than they could chew with their attempts at Tower 2. With fewer teleports and 3 towers, all MYK had to do was secure their win conditions in Towers 1, 3, and 4. GN made a good decision to teleport to Tower 1 and steal the tower to stem the bleeding while MYK was shooting themselves in the foot. Finally, MYK didn’t have the foresight to just give up on Tower 4 in the last 8 minutes and defend their 2 remaining towers instead. Had they protected Tower 3 for another 30 seconds, they would have walked away with a win. MYK had multiple chances to win, but they failed every rotation possible while GN capitalized well on MYK’s misgivings. MYK was knocked out of the tournament and GN moved on to face CUBS in the quarterfinals.