N0X AC S22 – Match 4: Two Minutes of Glory

After the super fun match we had earlier today with my alt alliance, it’s time to move up to the big leagues with the main team. N0X is facing an old rival, RRH, a name that always comes with a mix of respect and tension. I don’t even remember who won our past matches, but I do remember they were never easy.

Still, unlike those monster alliances that crush everything in sight, RRH is beatable. If we play our cards right, this can be ours. So I get ready, in the best shape possible: Agile up, 75% army size up, and into the map I go.

The first glance at their hive hits hard. Almost full participation, around 15% more people than us, and while the initial points gap isn’t huge, it’s also in their favor. The underdog feeling starts to kick in.

As the first wave of buildings opens, we race like mad, but the results aren’t great. N0X wins only one race: the far Outpost. Still, with Ser Enki sniping their weak swap, the trade isn’t bad, we get Warrior and far Outpost, they get Mother and our close Outpost. I’d call that a win, since stats are better than cheaper healing any day.😏

But the heal cost hits right after😅: one month’s worth of speeds for just over half my wounded troops. This match will be painful, but we’re not backing down.

Then the second wave starts, and before Ports even open, we lose Warrior to their timed rallies. Didn’t even see it coming, one moment the map is nice and balanced, the next it’s full red. Just like that, we lose all four buildings. Morale takes a hit. Our momentum’s slipping.

When the Ports open, Bel wins the close one, marking two for two on his races so far, but now comes the real challenge: can we actually hold it? Because holding has been our biggest problem so far.

A few minutes later, an unplanned “exchange” happens, and we end up trading Ports.

Then comes the third wave, Casterly Rock, the heart of every AC match early on. Everyone goes all in. We race, we speed, and we snipe it clean. But something feels off. No lines from RRH?. Nobody raced from their side? Suspicious! Either they’re up to something with their other buildings or they just want to trap us in CR for elimination points.

And right on cue, as soon as the bubble drops, hell breaks loose. Their rallies hit like a storm, and despite our best reinforcements, we get kicked out almost instantly. Another crushing blow. By this point, we’re holding just one building out of seven available.

But the Strongholds give us a new flicker of hope. We win a race, and we still hold their Port, not ideal, but at least we’re still in the fight.

But soon after we lose far port and our timed hits bounce shamefully off their Outpost.😭

Needless to say, after CR opens there isn't much going on for a while. Personal bubbles drop, both hives start burning, and I even exchange a few friendly hits with friends here and there, but nothing changes until the mines open.

Going into the mines phase, the score looks a bit rough; 50k for us, 69k for them. But in AC, the mines can flip everything. Hope returns once again, even if it’s faint. When the mines finally unlock, we charge. Both sides ready for the final sprint. And somehow, we win both races. For a moment, it feels like destiny. Cheers in chat, everyone rushing to reinforce, adrenaline spiking. We might just turn this around.

I send my march to the close mine, knowing it’s Spear, and for a few glorious seconds, I’m in. But then, I'm sent back? Probably random since the mine was full and we couldn't start new lines. Before I can even reinforce the far mine, it falls to RRH.

And just when I think it can’t get worse, I’m hit by a Bow account just as my marches return home. One hit. Everything gone. That’s when I realize they were probably watching our hive, waiting for troops to get back so they can hit exactly as they arrive. The entire surge of energy I had a minute ago evaporates in an instant. The hype turns into silence. Our morale collapses.

The final moments feel cruel. We launch rallies on the far mine, but RRH pops the stratagem bubble, and every single rally bounces.

Then, when the bubble drops, we somehow manage to take it. Reinforcements start speeding in. It’s chaos, but we get in, for a while...

They don’t even bother with rallies anymore. Just endless solos. Each hit chips away another layer of our defense, our troops, and not to mention, our hope. We hold the mine for barely two minutes, hoping to empty it, but for those two minutes, I felt more alive than at any other points this match. It’s the closest thing we’ve had to victory so far.

When we finally lose the mine, it feels like watching a candle snuffed out. And then, as if to seal the deal, RRH takes Casterly Rock back just before the end. The map is theirs, and we can only watch as they inch closer to that 100k threshold.

As the final screen fades in, I can’t even be angry. I went in with low morale but high hopes, and every bounce chipped away at that hope until nothing was left. RRH simply had more... more players, more power, more everything. 98 participants out of 100? That’s insane! Only a handful of our rally leads could even scratch their buildings.

I can only shake off the disappointment, knowing we faced a superior opponent and the outcome was to be expected. The cherry on top is that N0X is now probably out of the race for UC. With two games lost so soon out of only four played, our chances of making it to UC are slim to none at this point.

But even so, we step out with 60k points, reaching the next-to-last checkpoint of rewards, while RRH sits just shy of 100k. A wise man once said, “It’s not an easy win if you don’t finish with 100k points.” So I guess, even if RRH took the victory, we weren’t an easy opponent to face.