An Early Lead Means Nothing in CCS - From First to Fourth in a Few Minutes

After running CCS on my alt just to prove a point, it was time to queue up with my main.

As I prepared to step into the battlefield, I asked myself how different this would really feel. I often play the same events on both accounts to compare perspectives: entry level / F2P versus mid spender. Usually, the experience differs significantly.

But CCS is probably the biggest exception.

In Champion City Siege, there are essentially two categories of players. You are either the 1% of the 1% who can rally lead and decide fights… or you are there to reinforce and sacrifice troops. There is no House holding like AoH. No scouting or running like AC. In CCS, if you're not the rally lead, you're the meatshield.

And with that mindset, the only real difference going in was... army size? My main has a significantly larger base march, and with a 50% buff the difference compared to my alt is noticeable. My dragon is far stronger too… though only optimized for Spear. And I had a feeling tonight that dragon would not matter much.

First development: the “favorite” alliance rejects our application. That makes the decision easy. We join the "contenders".

I park next to my in-game-significant-other and remember that CCS doesn't have bubbles, so no one even sees our fancy skin. Sad.

Match starts. TERRY rushes center and somehow we secure the City of Judgement right off the bat.

From the underdog alliance... yhat was unexpected.

I speed in to reinforce and land right in the middle of the festivities. It doesn't take long before I am sent back home. Two hits and I am out.

But that first hit I tanked was very profitable. In fact, I got my 1.5M eliminations in the first two minutes of the match.

Basically, I could leave right there. But TERRY holding center that early changed the mood.

The question became: can we actually keep this?

But the answer comes quickly. Nope, we can't!

Within five minutes we are out, and 7R5 takes the throne. Goosey 2 becomes Conqueror. I am fairly certain there are even bigger accounts on the map, which makes this kind of interesting.

We start landing some decent rallies against mid. And that opens another question: can we actually retake it?

Our damage is respectable, but coordination is kind of lacking. We need synchronized rallies to force them out completely.

Meanwhile, Goosey’s hold time already exceeds TERRY’s. The uphill battle we predicted starts to come true.

Still, our rallies keep flying. We might just be able to get it back soon.

Then something interesting and very unexpected happens. They disband... on TERRY?!?

Was that random? CCS holders usually choose their disband targets.

The reason becomes clear shortly after: they want to rotate Goosey out and put Candy in. GG!

Unfortunately for them, Candy cannot solo TERRY!😅But 7R5’s starts more rallies on us. Their siege is far more consistent than ours was. It's clear they have more people on the map and more leads.

But we're committed to holding the City of Judgement, that's why we got 31 accounts inside trying to defend it😂

But it's not enough. 7R5 eventually kicked us out, and Candy settles in comfortably.

With Goosey, we had a chance to get center back... With Candy… I'm not so sure anymore.

My hospital and altar start filling after repeated failed hits. Around mid game, I change to a more conservative approach. No point suiciding troops for a goal that's out of reach. If a real opportunity appears, I'll send again. Until then, I'll just wait for one to appear.

Most rallies continue bounce. But some hits go through, and the reports are kind of good. Alas we cannot rally faster than they reinforce. Every time we kick a few of them out, new people replace the losses before we can finish the job.

Around this time is when I notice the map slows down. All alliances fail rallies on center and everyone seems to be waiting, just like me.

And our patience is eventually rewarded, as Candy almost randomly disbands and chaos starts.

The map explodes again, every alliance back in action trying to snipe center.

In the scramble, my bubble buddy lands a beautiful hit on a random holder. Nice, cheap elimis. Good one!

But this second disband from 7R5 was also calculated. Because they rotate again, this time bringing Ana a inside? Who's Ana a?

Doesn't matter. Candy held for over twenty minutes. First place is essentially out of reach for us. Now the real fight is for second place.

TERRY still has a strong chance at silver. We land decent rallies against Ana a and score some respectable kills. But again, we cannot secure a decisive kick. We simply aren't enough.

As we enter the final quarter my interest peaks. TERRY’s early five minutes plus the disband windows keep us in second place. But fifteen minutes remain. Fifteen minutes are enough for anything to happen and they go by feeling like an eternity.

Anything can happen. And it actually does... again... they prove that their reinforcement speed is better than our rally coordination. And slowly, we slip from second to third. But that's not so bad, now, is it?

But if I were 7R5, I wouldn't stop there. I would push for all three podium spots. And that is exactly what they do.

With only minutes remaining, Ana is swapped out and Goosey goes back in.

Four minutes left. Goosey only needs two to pass us.

All we need is one successful kick and a one minute hold for TERRY. We know we can beat Goosey. We did it earlier. So we set up a new wave of rallies.

But something is different now. Our rallies fill slower and with lower tier troops. Fewer reinforcements overall. It's painfully obvious several players have left after getting their Battle Diamonds. Our drive from the start is no more.

In the final minutes we trade without progress. And slowly, inevitably, TERRY drops out of the top three.

From first. To second. To third. And now, just two minutes before the end, to fourth and off the podium entirely.

I feel for TERRY. It would have been a great underdog story to hold a podium position against that level of competition.

But realistically, we were not quite there and we knew that from the start.

As for me, I leave the map and I'm happy with the 60 Battle Diamonds in my pocket.😜

Overall it was a similar match to my alt, but from the losing perspective, somehow even more ruthless.

This just goes to prove that in CCS, he who has the most support and reinforcements, walks home with the crown.

And that was not us this time around.