Alliance Conquest S22 – Playoffs

 Second round – NoS Alliance versus VME – Poland battle

For the VME – VivareMilitareEst alliance, the playoff adventure began completely by accident. They were extremely lucky the day before the playoffs because, for certain reasons, another team dropped out of the competition and they took their place. If it hadn't been for that team's mistake, the playoffs would have been unavailable to them this season.

On the other side is NoS – Nocna Straż, one of the leading and oldest Polish alliances. Another playoff in which we are fighting for the best result, more prizes and new experiences.

In the second round of the twenty-second season, probably for the first time in the history of the playoffs, two Polish teams are facing each other. Who will be the winner, who will be lucky, and who will lose? The biggest Polish battle in GoT is about to begin.

• Preparations:

From the beginning, the atmosphere is nervous but calm. Our best boss gives her final orders, preparing the last elements of our tactics. After the match against NBe, morale is high. We scored over forty thousand points and won some great prizes, and here we are counting on a win. We know that our opponent will be challenging because they have several accounts that are stronger than ours, but our advantage is that we are a very well-coordinated team. Will that be enough? Or will the team that has more luck win?

Three minutes to go, both teams are missing four players...

One minute to go, and there are still shortages. Ultimately, the match will start with 68 players against 69 for VME, meaning our opponents will start with a slight advantage.

• The first moment:

At the beginning, we only manage to capture the Mother building. The opponent shows that he is quite fast. He captures three buildings at the very beginning.

From the very first minutes, the battle is fierce. Both alliances prepare a rally to quickly recapture the buildings. When one attacks, the other defends and quickly replenishes. However, VME has a clear advantage. Despite our experience, the opponent pushes us back and forces us to attack constantly. It is possible that we have become too relaxed, as our beloved boss points out with appropriate words. 

• Mid-game:

After some solid words of motivation from TinTin, the team gets down to business. We capture the most important buildings, Kings Landing and the Mother. I manage to capture something too. Motivation to chase enemy away and hope are growing. After the first twenty minutes, in which we were losing, the tables begin to turn. The middle part of the game definitely belongs to NoS. The points are flying like crazy. From a loss of three to four thousand, we take a decisive lead, thousand by thousand, until in the 30th minute our advantage is already over 5 thousand.

In a few minutes, we made up for the entire deficit and took a decisive lead.

• Second half:

The team felt too confident again. VME did not give up and began to make up for their losses. At one point, the score was tied, and VME even had a slight advantage. Our tacticians had to act quickly to prevent a disaster.

Fortunately, the situation stabilizes before the mine opens. Our loss has turned into an advantage. The tactic is working. But is it enough? Mines often determine victory.

• Mines – VME's last hope:

 The beginning is in NoS's favour. We manage to increase our lead, but our opponent is pushing hard. Now boots and speeders don't matter anymore. Everyone is using what they have, but are they really? With 13 minutes to go, everything changes. VME gets extremely lucky because one of the mines takes over their strongest account. An account that is beyond our capabilities. This forces us to give up on this building. Unfortunately, despite our superior skill, none of our accounts can compete with this one. Now we have to focus into the second mine. Our difficulty is that the fight is moving to the enemy's doorstep. We have to cross the entire map, while our opponent is able to defend themselves with just one click.

The final minutes and even seconds of the battle for the mines remain. We dominate the rest of the buildings, but it is the mines that are now playing the most important role. Unfortunately, we are unable to set up a proper rally. The boss and the council are working hard, but chaos ensues. The distance is too far to synchronise properly. We are suffering defeat here. Will these five minutes and two buildings decide the outcome of the entire match?

• Chasing the opponent:

The loss is not significant, just over two thousand, we are holding the buildings, but time is running out, the minutes are ticking away, the seconds are slipping away. We are recovering, point by point. In a few seconds, hundreds more appear on our account. Suddenly, unexpectedly, we lose Kings Landing. The atmosphere becomes very tense. The boss tries to calm us down, but with nerves like this, it's difficult. We try to rally. It's our only chance to win. One of us slips and the attack is launched. The leaders make the only possible decision – we attack. Raids come one after another, but because of this mistake, there is a lack of synchronisation. Speedy attacks fly, but everything falls apart. Despite this, the opponent is barely standing. Without a word, we try solo attacks, but the armies are just returning. The opponent has the advantage here. Unfortunately, they took advantage of our mistake and managed to replenish their castle. The loss is too great. Two minutes to go. Over a thousand points difference. We control most of the map, but the most important building is in enemy hands. The points are flying in our favour, but too slowly, far too slowly. There are seconds left, we already know the result. Unfortunately...

Summary

The pre-match predictions did not come true. VME showed that they can fight and even win. Sometimes all you need is a little luck at the right moment. In this match, the minings decided the final result. Respect to MondraBogdan for his incredible account, which created an indestructible barrier and determined the fate of this match.

Despite this, the match was very evenly matched and it was unclear who would win until the very end. Both teams played at a very high level. Neither alliance dominated, which made the match very enjoyable. Let's hope for more matches like this.

Finally we finished as 10^th alliance in this event.