The Impossible Dream

There have been many ups and downs in UTB’s Alliance Conquest Season. Our fearless leader Sfy had real life stuff that kept her unable to smack people upside the head and keep 'em in line a couple matches lol. When mom is away the kids will act a zip dang fool lol. There were multiple instances of rage quitting, the Arkarsha nerf of 2025, I think we knew playoffs were not in our future lol.

I had missed some of the matches myself, and needed a pilot. The couple games I could make just felt off, like something was missing. Even our wins weren’t as laid back and jovial as normal. When I saw our opponent, Sfu

My role has been growing in the event. No longer just a filler, but not really a strong rally lead. The new responsibilities have me back trying to learn all the things. As a filler it seems like rally leads have it the easiest in the event. They get to wear their chosen armour. Set their dragons as they wished and seemed the golden children of the AC world. Yall the grass ain’t always greener, let me tell you lol. As a rally lead having some buffs matter more, you need more speed ups, you are expected to attack, hold buildings, still needing to fill others and so much more. I wasn’t ready lol.

I didn’t want to be here, but I still showed up to play, going over that mental checklist to make sure I hadn’t forgotten something. Our side of the map wasn't filling as fast as normal. Several of the stronger players had gone off to play in playoff teams. Another small group had left for some other alliance. SFU was winning the participation and starting points war. OH BOY! We really might lose this one. Even once the match had started, they still held that slight lead. We would really have to work hard here, but could we do it?

We started well. Taking 3 of the 4 available buildings. Rushing to reinforce our holders before the bubbles dropped and attacks began. One by one as the bubble dropped reality began to hit us. While there were some rallies, they were largely launching solo attacks, bleeding us out bit by bit. Their methods were effective too. One by one our buildings fell as they managed to reverse our hold on the map.

This back and forth continued. It felt impossible but we kept on with the fundamentals. Keep rallying, soloing, effectively using the same strategy as SFU was using against us. The main difference being they were stronger then we were in our current form. One of my rallies managed to take Lannister Outpost. 

The alliance was so fast to reinforce me before the bubble dropped and once it did, chaos ensued. The attacks were relentless. Even the battles I would win, came at the cost of my reinforcements. It was here I also learned that apparently my own troops can be booted out while I am still holding the building…. Don’t judge me, I missed the memo lol.

The fights were furious as I watched the numbers on the Lannister outpost rising and falling like some kinda crazy lottery. There were moments we got so low, I just knew we would lose it on the next hit. I held out longer than I thought I would.   But alas, All good things must come to an end, so SFU eventually evicted me from the outpost.

We kept taking territory and losing territory. It was dizzying. Sfy was keeping us focused, knowing that without it we would stand no chance. She wasn’t as concerned about the victory as much as scoring as many points as possible for better placement and thus better castle shards. My twin in all things shenanigans, Vegeta managed to take a building. Continuing this back and forth game of owning the buildings. The match was becoming kind of fun. The fights were furious, the score was close, the odds were against us, our mood was improving collectively. This was when we were at our best. I began to launch some solo attacks to test the defenses of their holders.

Soloing the ones I could, bleeding them as they had bled us. 

The mines had opened, we grabbed both. Like the rest of the match, however, we soon lost one. Somehow, we were in the lead, but not enough to rest on our laurels. We continued to race, attack and heal over and over again stuck in a loop. Since we were not in a position to go to the playoffs, it almost seemed wasted, but the shards kept us going. My solo’s paid off as we gained another building. This one did not get reinforced as well as the first one. To be fair it was near the end of the match, with minutes remaining and mathematically Sfu couldn’t catch up at this point. That didn’t stop them from trying. Much like we were not prepared to give up, neither were they.

As those last seconds ticked down, we were elated from the victory. We fought hard in this seemingly inconsequential match that had cost us more than any other match this season. Sfu, while I am sure were disappointed, had several players congratulating us on the victory after the match. It could have just as easily been them winning. The differences came down in the playstyles I think. They seemed more focused on soloing, relying on their strength. Our strength is that we largely worked together. We knew they were the stronger team. Sure we solo’d too, but there were way more rallies coming from our side. In this match it made all the difference.