N0X AC S22 – Match 3: The Stratagem Stalemate

After the super fun match I had earlier today on my alt, it’s time to see how the main event looks. I think these mid-season games are the best. After the first two matches, the rank usually settles, matchmaking gets better, and the games feel more balanced. Right until the last ones, of course, when alliances start skipping matches to cheese their way into UC.

That being said, our third match is against, brace yourselves… another alliance I don’t know.😅Judging by the difficulty we have set, I guess we shouldn’t have much to worry about. So maybe this one will be a bit dull. Then again, you never know.

As the game is about to start, we clearly have the upper hand in every aspect.

Oh well, time to practice my racing. I’ve been messing around with races in both AAO and N0X, and I’ve even managed to win a few, so now I’m officially giving this role a shot. I got a front row spot, closer to the objectives. Let’s see if I can actually snipe something now that I’m officially a runner.

Here we go... I’m racing for Mother right out of the gate. My friend Grogu is racing for Warrior. I joke in chat that if I manage to snipe Mother and he misses Warrior, he’s a scrub. He’s been racing longer than I have, so he should have the edge. Anyway, timer hits zero and I’m out like a bat out of hell. Looked like I got there first… didn’t it? What just happened? Thankfully, we still captured it, and even better, Hotep got Warrior with his alt instead of Grogu, so technically I didn't lose the bet. But wait… how did I not get Mother?

When I check the replay after the game I finally realize it. I did arrive first, just like I thought! But my preset only had 450 T4 Cavs. And… I bounced, obviously. OMFG! FML! Facepalm.😱No way that just happened.

Anyway, shameful moment aside, moving on, nothing to see here... We secured 3 of the 4 opening buildings, except the close Outpost. Swaps went smooth and we locked them down with proper holders. A good start, if I do say so myself.

Next, we take back the close Outpost with little effort and complete our first AC Bingo line.

Time for the second wave and my rematch with Grogu. This time the preset is correct, but I’m slow. He beats me easily, but we win both Ports in one go and swap them without a hitch. That’s another Bingo line complete.

Now that completes out 2nd line of AC Bingo for the night. Let's see if we can go for 3 in a row.

Now it’s time for the big prize: Casterly Rock. But before it even opens, 7FD gets ambitious and launches eight rallies on "their" Port. Probably because it’s their closest building, but still… what a waste. All rallies bounce, and not even a single report shows up for me. That’s how one sided it is.

Once that’s done, it’s CR time. I race again, but Hotep is faster and gets inside. Since the holder couldn’t even attack in time, we decide to let Hotep stay there. He’s a rally lead anyway, so it’s a good choice. Another Bingo line secured.

Fourth wave now, the Strongholds. We race fast and grab both, with zero resistance from 7FD. The only real competition left is between us runners, trying to outdo each other for fun.

After Casterly, there’s that familiar mid game slow down. Personal bubbles drop, castles become attackable, and in one sided games like this, there’s not much strategy involved now. We clean up their hive quickly and spend the rest of the time waiting for the Mines.

And here comes the irony, after the AAO match earlier today, where we lost one mine and it could have nearly cost us the game, I couldn’t help but think, “Let’s not do that again.” Judging by how flawless this match had gone, what could go wrong now?

Yeah, about that...

When the mines open, 7FD wakes up like a grizzly after hibernation and snipes the mine closest to us. Total shock. Not even the one closest to them... they got the one closer to us. The nerve! I didn’t have troops left to race, maybe I should’ve recalled before the mines opened, but I was assigned to the far mine, which Grogu thankfully captures, so I couldn't have prevented this outcome anyway.

We pull off a clean swap on our far mine and start preparing a full retaliation on the one they stole. The entire team of free rally leads unloads a volley of solos, but before we can hit, 7FD trigger the stratagem to get another bubble for a full minute. Talk about annoying. We just stand there, watching that stupid timer tick down, waiting for the moment to unleash... again...

When it finally drops, we hit like thunder. And our Big Alpaca lands a massive blow and one shots twenty people from the mine. Absolute mad lad! Their defenses crumble instantly. Guess they should've stayed at home.

Lucky for us, Alpaca is the designated holder, so we don’t even have to swap afterward. Easy life. That also completes our fifth and final AC Bingo line for the night. With the entire map under control, we just run the math and see how many points we can squeeze out of this match.

Since we’re nice guys, we let them hit our hives a bit to reach their 30k minimum so they don’t go home empty handed. Generous conquerors, right?

When the final timer runs out, we’re sitting at 115k points. I was hoping for over 120k with how one sided it felt, but 115k for a mid season match is nothing to sneeze at.

So that’s two wins out of three so far, with a clean max score victory tonight. It might not have been the most exciting match, but it was executed with perfect precision. Well, almost.😜And the score bump should push us into a good position for the next round.

Until then, time to return to my LoL upgrades and chase that first spot for those lovely Sabrina Tokens.