Another tough, amazing UC match: HO$ vs LOK!

Since we suffered a heavy defeat to LsK in the second round, we have had a tough job to stay in the title fight. Now every new match is a final for us, as another defeat means elimination from the competition, much sooner than we had hoped. And all the remaining alliances in the competition are strong and there are no easy matches. The same cannot be said for our match from the third round, in which we met again with Wxd, in a match in which they entered with only 27 players.

The match was even more boring than the first round, so the only thing worth mentioning from that match is the result.

However, today we face a much tougher opponent, perhaps on the same level as LsK, who easily defeated us. Regardless of the fact that they finished in a low 15th place in the regular season, it is obvious that this is not their real strength, since they enter this match against us as an alliance that is stronger in base power. They have obviously also received some reinforcements for this UC, so we expect a tough match. The fact that they finished so low brought them perhaps the toughest possible opponent in the first round - ARP, to whom they lost and have been in the lower part of the draw ever since. We knew that this would be a very tough match...

The victory against Wxd in the last match brought us back to winning ways and gave us back our faith that we could win the title. But we knew that this match would be the complete opposite of the one from a few days ago. Luckily for us, LOK doesn't have that many strong players who use infantry, so we still have a slightly easier match than the one against LsK...

The preparations for the match went at the usual pace - we quickly divided who would go to the race and fight for which Castle and we could wait for the match to start. I was assigned to fight for the Tower of the Warrior. I have to be honest, I wasn't too happy about it, but not because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to or anything like that, but because it meant that we were missing some of our key players... Among others, we were missing Krakhead Bob, one of those players I knew from before and for whom I came to HO$. He was in charge of the Tower in every match, so in his absence I was given the task of replacing him...

Besides Bob, we were missing some other players, so we played this match for the first time with less than 60 players, 59 to be exact. I didn't like the fact that we were entering the match with such a small number of players, especially in such an important match against a strong opponent! Luckily, it seems that LOK also had problems with compiling a roster for this match, since they had even fewer players than us - 54, which gave us a small but sweet advantage before the start of the match! Although all their strongest players entered the match, so all the most important players are at their disposal, the fact that they were missing 16 players pushed us into the role of favorites. A very small favorite, but not important. As always, the plan was to try to leave Oberdon free to attack their Castles if necessary, which would mean that races are actually the most important item for us in this match! As I said in the introduction, LOK doesn't have that many strong players who use infantry, so our defenses will be much more effective if we manage to win the races. And the first 4 races have already started!

We couldn't have asked for a better start to the match - we won all 4 races!! Even though I didn't manage to get the Tower, it actually suited us - I still had that annoying debuff so it's better if someone else took it.

Of course, in a match like this, the opponent is expected to respond immediately to the task set before them, which LOK did - they launched a massive attack on the Temple of the Mother! Until it was time for the Port races, they were attacking our Temple!

Fortunately, most of them were solo attacks that could not do much damage since we defended all 4 Castles with a large number of troops, and this time we put a special emphasis on the Temple and Tower. Since we had nothing to attack, we were forced to defend ourselves against their attacks. But it is obvious that this is still a so-called "test of strength", i.e. they have not sent their strongest forces into attacks, but are obviously waiting for the remaining races to be completed and then to start more decisive actions. This meant that we won the opening match, so even though it didn't mean much, it was certainly an encouragement to continue the match! And the continuation of the match was the complete opposite of the beginning...

I'm not sure if their tactic was to keep us busy so that it would be easier for them to win the races for the Ports, but in any case they succeeded! It's incredible how quickly everything changed again - from a match in which we completely dominated, we now suddenly find ourselves in a situation where they are the ones getting more points per minute! Although this is still not a critical moment in the match, it is certainly not something we expected after a perfect start. And very soon we realized that this was not the end of our troubles either...

We also lost the Lannister Outpost!

Now the situation already seemed quite difficult. Although we have fought only two battles so far - we actually fought only one since the attacks on the Temple were not organized but were mostly sporadic attempts to provoke us, but that one battle we fought we lost, that is, we lost the Lannister Outpost. In addition, they won both races for the Ports without their strongest players practically even being involved in the match yet! Even though the main battle is yet to come, for Casterly Rock, we couldn't just wait for time to pass. We had to attack them, and Lannister Port turned out to be the best target!

Even though I didn't do much damage, more experienced players will say that the attack is successful as long as I move their troops out of the defense. My other teammates also joined the attacks and even though we didn't do rallies but attacked with solo attacks, we were very effective! There are fewer and fewer of their troops on defense!

We did it! At the best moment, they just started to catch up with our point advantage!

To make a quick recapitulation of the previous part of the match, before the opening of Casterly Rock, perhaps the key battle in the whole match: after we managed to take Lannister Port from them, we re-established the points superiority and at this moment we are getting more points than them, so even though our advantage is not big, we still enter the continuation of the match more easily than them. Although we haven't seen all of their strongest players in action yet, we've had some battles where we've shown that we can handle them so that even in an open fight we're not without a chance. The situation is very simple - the goal is to be ahead in points before the opening of Mines, and since we are already getting more points than them at this moment, winning Casterly Rock would mean a lot to us! Maybe that would guarantee us the final victory! However, not everything is that simple... Unfortunately, I have to mention again that debuff I have had this entire season, which makes any fight for the Castles much more difficult for me, so even though I managed to take control of Lannister Port, it is only a matter of time before I lose it, which is why we have to be very careful in the rest of the match. I even suggested that we make a swap and let someone else take over that Castle, but there was no time for that, the races for Casterly Rock will start soon! If we take CR, then even the very likely loss of Lannister Port would not be so terrible, at least in terms of points. On the other hand, if we lose CR - then the situation could completely change, for the worse, and in a very short time! Luckily, we still had Oberdon at our disposal if things went wrong, but even he is not omnipotent, as we could see in the match against LsK, so it is not wise to rely on him to bring us victory on his own. We have to win CR at all costs!

Since I already owned one of the Castles, I couldn't participate in the race, I could only watch the outcome and hope for the best. And the race had just begun...

Wu Tang got it!

Now the situation is very good for us! We have a points advantage, although LOK holds Targaryen Port and Lannister Outpost in their possession, we have the other Castles which guarantees us that we get many more points than them, and all we need to do is hold on to those few key Castles and we will record another victory, perhaps even easier than expected! In addition to all that, while I was worrying about defending Lannister Port which they expectedly started attacking - my teammates also took Lannister Outpost! However, as it usually happens in such matches - from this moment on, things go in a completely different direction...

Just as I expected - the attacks on the Lannister Port which was under my control began, and each of their attacks became more and more difficult to survive... We especially had a hard time surviving the attacks from their strongest player, LordBartimos. Somehow we managed to maintain our defense, new troops were constantly coming to defend us, however, when they simultaneously started attacking some other Castles, that thinned out and finally, after a dozen attacks that we endured, we finally had to sign the capitulation and hand over Lannister Port to them...

I must admit that I didn't expect to withstand this many attacks, but in the end we couldn't take it anymore. And to make matters worse for us - in parallel with the attacks on Lannister Port, they also organized strong attacks on Lannister Outpost, which they once again took back under their control, just as the races for the last two Castles before Mines - Strongholds - were about to begin. Although we didn't mark Strongholds as something we needed for this match, we still entered the races for them, so it's worth noting that we lost both races now, just like in the case of Ports...

Once again the match completely changed direction and suddenly they were the ones getting more points than us! Again we had to do something! Luckily, our strongest players were free to attack, and we decided to attack Lannister Port! Taking just one Port would have meant a lot to us again, but the most important thing is the points - again we would be the ones getting a lot more points! We decided to start with several simultaneous rallies, while Oberdon would try solo attacks. Since there were infantry in the defense of that Castle, I could not participate in the attacks, but I had more important things to do - while we were preparing to attack Lannister Port, LOK launched large attacks on CR, which needed defense!

Unfortunately, we didn't have much of a chance to defend ourselves since almost all of our players were busy attacking Lannister Port, so we lost CR and got into big trouble... At that moment, we only had three Castles in our possession while LOK was gaining a whopping 1000 points per minute! Luckily, almost at the same moment we lost CR, our troops reached Lannister Port and we managed to take it back!

The situation is now somewhat better, but we are still in a difficult situation, although we were still ahead in points. Although we are ahead, the difference is less than 4k points, and since they are now the ones who are getting more points than us per minute, it is certain that, if this balance of power remains until the end of the match, we would be the ones who would need both Mines to win! Now we could already start thinking about the end of the match and the fight for Mines - it is certain that none of us will secure victory before Mines, so now calculations and new plans can begin. The situation was quite clear for us - we have to maintain the points advantage, take at least one Mine and register a victory! But, the match was actually completely even and no one could guarantee us that we would be able to take at least one Mine! Therefore, we had to start a new wave of attacks on their Castles! After fierce battles, we managed to capture the Lannister Outpost, I even managed to capture the Lannister Stronghold, however, we quickly lost the Lannister Outpost again, while the Stronghold was not even defended, so we took turns in possession of those few Castles for a while. After a while, I noticed that their other Stronghold, the Targaryen Stronghold, was also poorly defended, so I decided to attack it and without much difficulty took it under my control. However, besides those attacks, we had a different, much more hellish plan - we decided to go for the most difficult possible target - Casterly Rock, which is held by LordBartimos, their strongest player! By conquering CR, not only would we now be the ones who would get more points than them, but we would also show them that we can fight even against their strongest players! Also, it would give us an extra wind at our back before the upcoming battle for Mines! Once again I could only watch the fight since I had the Targaryen Stronghold in my possession at the time, but even if I had been free to attack I wouldn't have been able to contribute much since LordBartimos is a strong infantry player against whom I have no chance. But Oberdon and the rest of my teammates do!

Suddenly, the situation completely changed again and now everything started in our favor again! Although we are only in the middle of the match and although the points advantage is not that big, in reality this was a really big advantage - not only did we ensure with this attack that we only needed one Mine to win, and there were only 10 minutes left until the opening of the Mines, we showed that we can fight even with their strongest player, which now creates additional pressure for them since now even they are no longer sure that they will be able to defend themselves if they take both Mines! And to make things even more favorable for us, VANLee made sure that he also managed to take the Lannister Outpost!

In fact, in the last few minutes we did a fantastic job - we completely turned the tide of the match in our favor and now we are in a situation where everything is clear: if we win one Mine, victory is ours! We managed to take away their Castles in time and thus prevent them from getting completely close to us in terms of points, and on the other hand, we ensured that the advantage was large enough so that we would not give them a chance when we collect all the points from the Mines! So, once again, the calculation is quite clear - we only need to take and defend one Mine! But before the fight for the Mines, we had to make a final decision - should we withdraw Oberdon from the CR so that he would also join the fight for the Mines, which would lose the CR, or should we try to finish the match in our favor without him? Even though we had a slightly more significant points advantage, we did not want to risk much, so we decided not to withdraw him from the CR! So - we are entering the most important fight of the match without our strongest player! Personally, I wasn't sure it was the best decision since Mines are the only important Castles for us now, but I still trusted my teammates that we made the right decision. I hope we made the right decision...

The final act of this match is starting! We need to win just one race, we have almost all the other Castles under our control, we just need to take one Mine... And I have been free to attack their Castles and run for Mines for some time now, which I will do - all our players must run for Mines! It doesn't matter who wins them, it's important that we win them! Our lead of about 8k points is not that big and if we lose both Mines, we will be in big trouble for the rest of the match! We can't let that happen! We only need one Mine...

The races are on!

I can't believe it!!!! We took both Mines!!

Victory is here!!!

Or maybe not...

I can't believe we managed to lose both Mines! From already winning the match, we now have to fight for our lives! Not only did we lose both Mines, but we also started losing the other Castles, which were now left poorly protected since we were completely focused on fighting for the Mines! Our 8k point advantage is melting away more and more with every second, if we don't do anything in just a few minutes, LOK will completely turn the match in their favor and defeat us! We went on the attack! WiNkY, their player who took the Targaryen Mine, is not that strong and we went on the attack on him!

However, LOK plays smart! When they saw that they were in danger of being left without that Castle, they activated a one-minute protection!

That's a lot in these moments, we lose a lot of points in that minute, which means that our advantage is getting smaller and smaller! We finally waited for that minute to expire and started new attacks!

And finally, after a dozen or so attacks from just me plus who knows how many attacks from my teammates - we managed to take the Targaryen Mine!

Yes, I managed to take it... As much as I was glad about it, I knew that we now had a terribly difficult fight to defend it, and our entire season depended on this fight! In these moments, there was not much time for analysis and thinking about tactics - it all came down to defending this Mine as best we could! Defense means victory, losing this Castle means defeat in the match and the end of the season! And LOK starts attacking!

The attacks continue! As expected, we suffer the heaviest losses when LordBartimos attacks! My teammates are doing a fantastic job and we always have enough troops on defense! So far, we have never been in such great danger of losing that Mine! But the attacks continue!

We are still suffering heavy losses but our defense is still working perfectly! And the time, or points, in Mines is getting less and less! We only have to endure a few more minutes, maybe a few more waves of their attacks and that's it!

And finally - after we defended ourselves and these attacks they finally gave up since there were no longer enough points left in Mines to change anything which meant the end of the match and our big victory!

WOW! This was a real UC match! From the very beginning until the last point that Mines had, we were not sure whether we would win or not! It is because of matches like this that people love this event so much!

We knew from the beginning that this would be an extremely difficult match, we knew that LOK is a really strong alliance that had the misfortune of meeting ARP right in the first round, which cost them a relegation to the bottom of the draw, and now their season is over, much earlier than they had hoped. I can't say about their other matches, but they really showed themselves in a very nice light against us, they played a great match, without mistakes, they played until the very end! It's a shame that they ended their journey so early in this season, but I congratulate them on everything they have played so far! We, on the other hand, played a truly fantastic match! Despite the fact that we entered this match weakened, with a smaller number of players than usual, like LOK, we did not make a single major mistake, we played the entire match at a really high level and deservedly came to victory! It would not have been undeserved if LOK had won, but since one alliance had to win - I'm glad it was us! And I'm glad that I finally showed that I deserve to be part of this alliance - in the key moments of the match I managed to take Targaryen Mine and defend it, which ultimately brought us victory! And now we are waiting for the continuation of the season, that is, in the next match we will face the losers from the match ARP and MAi, that is, the first and second alliances in the regular season, so a real spectacle awaits us in the next match!