Ruin Rivals: When the Only Danger Was My Own Impatience

As you might know, my alt's alliance didn't make it to UC in the A League, so we get to play Ruin Rivals instead. Meanwhile my main alliance finally got knocked out of UC, so I guess my main will also play the final RR round later. Until then, plenty of opportunities to practice on my alt.

Last time we played RR with the alt alliance, I went full warlord mode and hit anything that moved. Sure, I got 1st in eliminations and in healing... but not even 1st in Breath earned. After spending hundreds of days in healing speedups and getting mediocre rewards, I promised myself I would never do that again.

So while matchmaking spins its magic, I decide today's approach will be chill. No rank chasing. No rampage. Just play the objective so we win.

When the match is ready to start, we get Barren Army again. Probably because we are the slightly bigger alliance and the solo side suits us better. Maybe on my main I will end up in Combined Army, which would ruin all my alt training, haha.

As countdown starts, we almost outnumber the enemy two to one. Looks like my chill game is guaranteed, whether I want it or not.

And yet I still pop a 20 percent army size buff and realize I am sitting at almost one million troops. 

Close enough that I want to see the full million army size, so I activate one of my 10k army size LoL castle skins. Funny how I refuse to use a 50 percent army size buff but casually waste a rare skin. #Priorities! Well it is an alt, so it has messed up priorities.

The game starts, I port in at the last minute like a diva making a late entrance. #Drama.Queeen!

And someone tries to take my assigned building? So I need to speed in! Maybe this match will be intense after all, not because of the enemy, but because we might compete with each other for kills. If nothing else, that still counts as entertainment.

Once my "holder alt" is parked in the top camp, I spread reinforcements everywhere for Breath points so I can unlock T5s faster. I said I would play chill... but if I am already here, at least let me warm up a bit. I will probably calm down once I see the T5 healing bill.

Pretty soon, there is almost nothing to hit. The enemy brought more people and we go from 52 vs 43, but even that is not enough to satisfy our hunger. We start watching bubble timers like hawks watching rabbit holes.

At this point, playing two accounts in a slow match hits like torture. There is not much to do... on both accounts.😅

I am swinging left and right with no time to scout, just speeding in with my 1 million preset and hoping I do not land on a spear whale. But out of 43 players, what are the chances of that, right? Slim to none, right? Right?

Well yes... kind of. No spear whale. Instead I hit a whale-ish Cav account with Baelish that's still breaks my not-quite-finished female Cav synergy. It kind of a brutal loss too... and it kind of kicks my mojo in the gut. Highlight of my day, so far? Yup, look like it!

Before I can even think about calling an air strike, they recall. Almost like they knew what was coming. Fine! I learn my lesson and mark them as a target to avoid.

But little do I know... this is not the last time I get brutally countered this game; for there is another!

A few minutes later I start again, blind and confident hits, only to land on a bow account with almost no bows in the defense... but a bunch of spears waiting for me. The report comes in. A very close fight, but not close enough to go my way. Everything slows down for a second while I stare at the result, half annoyed, half impressed that yet another someone on this map can actually stop me?

I sit there, letting that moment sink in. The second hit I cannot win? Really? What is this alt world coming to? And for a second it feels like maybe this match will wake up after all.

Then that little bit of frustration fades out and the instinct kicks in. If I cannot win it solo, I can still burn it with backup.

This time I bring in that Inf Bleed synergy waiting on standby, and they smash through the Bow/Spear defender that bullied my horsies. Bows tank it like a boss, but the mine still falls. There were more Spears at this point anyway, perfect for the Inf air strike I ordered. Revenge delivered! Order restored. Time to move on.

As the match enters the final twenty minutes, the map is almost completely ours. There is not much left for the Combined Army to do. We had a few "fun" and expensive moments, won most fights, lost a couple, and now the match winds down as we wait, uncontested again.

Right before the end, I swing for one last hit for a nice screenshot and check the rankings. They reset afterwards, so I look while still inside.

No top 10 in eliminations. Ok, fine, so be it!

Top 10 in healing though? Which I was hoping to avoid, but T5 mistakes are never cheap.

Overall it was a cute match, nothing like the adrenaline of our previous one. We spent an hour playing whack a mole, waiting for bubbles to drop, and had only a handful of highlights. Hopefully the final RR on my main gives a bit more excitement, because RR on an alt in A League is definitely on the low end of the thrill spectrum.