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[Review] Analysis of DH vs DL in the IBL Playoffs in Infinity Kingdom

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Article Publish : 08/23/2025 05:37

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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. The IBL tournament differs from regular IB in that everyone will construct marches and skill builds using a fixed set of skills. At different stages of the tournament, more immortals and skills will become available. Everyone has access to the same immortals and the same skills. Castle skins and Lord Talents do not affect the more fast-paced battles of IBL. Relocations and marching speed are also faster. 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 first playoff match between Server 115’s Dragon Heroes(DH) and Server 336’s Dark of Light(DL). DL’s positions in this match will be denoted in green while DH’s will be in red.

💠Table of Contents

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

💠Overview

DH was ranked 34th in Season 6, and they have always been a decent mid-tier team. They entered the playoffs with a 5-2 record, losing to CN and BUNS. On the other hand, this is DL’s first IBL playoff season. They ended the first phase with a 6-2 record, losing to CN and DK. DH’s loss to CN was slightly better, but not by much. Both teams are able to field around 25 players every week, but the difference in experience is massive. DL is an extremely young team, so DL should be the heavy favorites.

💠Starting Positions and Talents

Started with 16 players and ended with 26
6 Attack talents
10 Defense talents
0 Support talents

Started with 13 players and ended with 26
12 Attack talents
1 Defense talents
0 Support talents

💠Tower 1

DL sent four players to Tower 1 and DH relocated six. The positions of all of the relocations were a disaster. Neither team was organized, and it’s clear neither team used any markers to help the team know where to relocate. With that said, DH should know by now. Neither team had more than one player next to the tower. Two of DH’s players tried to move into DL. If DL were any good, they would be able to destroy those without trouble.

💠Tower 4

DL only relocated three players to Tower 4, and DH sent six. If DL had to choose between Tower 1 and Tower 4, they should have given up Tower 4 to bolster their troops at Tower 4. As the top-sided team, they had a positional advantage. They had several spawns they could have used to block a couple of DH’s relocations. DH’s formation at Tower 4 was much better and more compact. DH should be able to take Tower 4 easily.

💠Central Tower

DL sent five players to the center, and DH only sent three. DL’s relocations need to be much closer to each other and to the tower. One of DH’s players tried to move into DL’s territory, which would eventually get blocked, and he would have wasted his time. DH should have given up Tower 1 for the Central Tower or vice versa.

💠Altars

Neither team sent anyone to either altar.

💠Home Towers

DL had one guard at their home tower and DH left theirs open.

💠Play-by-Play

At Tower 1, DL broke one relocation and also destroyed another, but they were a tad too slow. DL started throwing marches at the tower, while DH was focused on attacking the players. The result ended with DH stopping the attempts at capturing the tower while simultaneously zeroing a couple of DL members. A couple of minutes later, a couple of DH latecomers showed up at the tower, and they were able to capture the objective seven minutes into the match.

At Tower 4, DH destroyed a relocation, giving them a six-to-two advantage. They immediately attacked the tower and captured it two minutes later. One more DL member showed up to help, but he should have gone to Tower 1 instead because Tower 4 was a lost cause. DL was trying to rally with two players while DH was rallying both players. The best thing for DL to do when outnumbered is just to send solo attacks and hope you get some hits in before you get zeroed. DH made short work of the three enemies, and a couple started moving towards the center.

In the middle, DL blocked a relocation and started rallying the two DH members. However, their rallies were so slow, partly due to the distance between the players and partly due to the distance to the enemies. Before DL could even zero one, two more DH members relocated to reinforce their teammates. Not long after, it became a full-blown war. DL had over half of their team in the center, but they could not capture the tower. DH kept sending players from their spawn and eventually wore DL down little by little. DH finally captured the tower at the 27-minute mark. DH’s attacks were much quicker and deadlier. DL relied too much on rallies, and they crumbled when those attacks failed to zero many DH members.

At the same time, DL was committing so hard to try to take the Central Tower that no one was coming to help at Tower 1. DL had only three players attacking the tower, and because DH was doing more with less in the center, DH also had more players at Tower 1 at seven. DL held out well for a while despite having so few players around the tower. Those at Tower 4 should have given up and gotten zeroed earlier so they could relocate to help at Tower 1. DL tried their best, but just could not make a meaningful impact at the tower.

Meanwhile, at the 15-minute mark, DH relocated to DL’s home tower, where only one guard stood. Another showed up to help shortly after. However, the lone invader zeroed them both, and by the time they respawned and relocated to the tower, he was nearly finished with his heist. He stole the tower at the 24-minute mark, giving DH five towers and putting the final nail in the coffin. DL would eventually retake Tower 1, but they were already down 70,000 points with 20 minutes left in the match.

💠Summary

The MVP of the match was DH’s Red John as they won the match with 100,000 points to DL’s 15,900. DH rotated well and made it look like they had significantly more players than DL, despite having nearly equal numbers. They overtook the Central Tower with fewer people and forced DL to give up the other towers to respond. They had good instincts and did well to mix rallies with solo attacks, whereas DL relied heavily on rallies. It gave DH more tempo. DH could work on the positioning around the towers in the opening minutes. DL needs more experience and to understand some of the fundamentals around spawn and tower proximity. They could have given up Tower 4 in the opening minutes or Tower 4, when it looked like a slaughter, to help the other towers. They could benefit from using markers as well and stop relying on rallies. Given the same marches and skill builds, the playoffs favor the team that can send more attacks in less time and leave the result up to chance. DH will move on to face AoW, and DL will battle VT in the silver bracket.