The Eyes Play Tricks

We went into the Arena optimistic. Having accepted this new reality and managing to finish in an ok place in the last match, we had hoped for a decent match again. A whale or two was expected but as long as we were not surrounded by them we should be ok, I thought (put a pin in that lol). We landed on the map and looked around while discussing the strategy of our House for the match…We were the great House Tyrell for this match and I was determined not to share the fate of the house in the series lol.

Arkasha was conflicted… There were a few big players, but not teams that would obviously easily dominate the map, so it didn’t appear to be a bad matchup. Do we go the trading post route for sure points? Do we build some troops to take watchtowers and catapults? Do we have a chance for the city? On one hand I was glad I get to just worry about the fun stuff lol, but on the other I did not understand his hesitancy. This map appeared easier than the last match and we finished alright, so why the concern with this one?

Full disclosure, sometimes I do get tunnel vision lol. Arkasha seemed distracted as we were taking the strongholds. 

He mentioned settling on building Spear camps, yet constructed the trading posts. I was confused, but figured we knew what to do with these. Focusing on points will let us focus on rank and try to keep us from landing in a place that would cost us points. We filled quickly to finish them off so we could focus on the other shiny things on the map, starting with the altars. 

I grabbed an altar of the maiden, and it didn’t take long before people started to try and take it from me. I KNOW! The audacity! Lol. It was here I got to test the real power of the enemies around us. 

I was taking notes with each of the hits, seeing some familiar faces from the last match…

I even took a hit from a bootleg Vegeta before getting knocked out. FUK!!! lol

There really must be a shortage of players in the 1900 time slot, I thought. It can be great when it works in your favor with someone you can win against, but a lot less great when they are someone you have no chance to beat. It seemed like we avoided the latter, dare I dream of us taking the castle?

Before I got too ahead of myself, I reminded myself there were plenty of other things that needed taking to bring myself back to the moment. We were doing all the things we set out to do, but for some reason it felt like we just were not gaining points. We managed to take plenty of altars, mine shafts, even the dragon pits…. Yall know I have an issue with those lol With time not on our side, we decided to finally try for the City of Glory…

We would have 4 rallies hit right around the same time to hopefully increase our chances and this is where we met someone we had virtually overlooked. Don’t get me wrong, I recognized the name and knew they were strong, but I don’t think I have ever seen their stats.

This is why we collect battle reports yall lol. Getting to know the players you will be fighting before you fight them, gives you a slight edge…. Had I gotten that slight edge here, we may have abandoned our plan 😂. None of our rallies did very much damage. We did try a couple more times but the results were the same. The castle was not an option for us on this map. We couldn’t take it let alone hold it. Humbled we retreated back to our lane at the altars. This was becoming a disaster and I wasn’t sure we had time enough to get us back into a neutral position. Willing to try anything that would give us points, I took a dragon pit again.lol

We couldn’t pinpoint what was off, but something was. After a shockingly decent map last match, maybe we were too optimistic. Maybe our eyes had lied to us by failing to recognize we had some certified killers on the map lol. I am still not sure why our point gain seemed so nerfed at the moment. It was hard to not feel defeated as the time ticked closer to the end of the match. Our opportunities were dissipating before my eyes and my hopes and dreams of a neutral finish went with it. 

There was nothing I could pinpoint that we did catastrophically wrong. I had expected a better finish than this. We executed our objectives, but this time the Gods were not on our side. The other houses fought better than us, as good as we felt we had done. I couldn’t get mad at the team, or myself honestly. We did what we could in the moment. We just have to keep growing these accounts of ours to get stronger and stronger. As we improve, so will our chances in the Arena of Honor. The ladder to success can be endless, but the view when you get there is priceless. Isn’t that why we subject ourselves to this torture at the end of the day?