N0X SoW (S17 M2) – All Hands on Deck… Just Not at the Same Time

I'm coming out of our first SoW match in Season 17 with good vibes and positive energy. This season feels like it could be a good one for N0X. Just as I’m checking my ranking in the Anniversary Event for my kingdom, the popup appears for our second match.

I’m not even sure I’ll reach max points in my own kingdom because I misunderstood how the Merchant Ship worked and split my Merchant Ship across several kingdoms... but this is a SoW story, so let’s not get sidetracked.😀

Moving into our second match, our opponent is none other than... drum roll... TheGreyArmy. Ok, if you follow my stories you probably know what I’m about to say next.😂 Who... the... heck... is IlI? Aka, TheGreyArmy?

Anyway, similar score, similar points. But it’s still early in the season and that can mean anything. On the bright side, since I don’t recognize the name, this should be an easy match for us... right?

Especially since it’s only our second game and we should be steamrolling teams until at least match four. Unless we get unlucky and run into one of the heavy alliances early. But this definitely doesn’t look like that kind of matchup. Right? Well... let’s see...

In a classic turn of events that I’m very familiar with by now, I'm assigned to the Hot Springs, again, like always. I probably know the way better than I could find the bathroom in the middle of the night with the lights off.😅

So here I am again with my tiny marches, trying to add a bit of pressure to the map without anyone really noticing me. I’m like a bandaid on a severed limb. Basically useless, but it’s the thought that counts. Remember, SoW is a numbers game... and we have... actually, we don’t really have the numbers this time.😱 Bad omen? I think NOT! But definitely a woopsie moment.

At least we secured Armory, so it’s a clean 50-50 split. Fine. Not great, not terrible. This reminds me of how AC matches start.😀

Soon enough we’re outnumbered almost ten to one at Hot Springs, so losing it isn’t exactly surprising. But this is just the first wave and we still have a strong points-per-minute advantage. All good. Respawn and back into the ring we go!

The usual cleanup happens on the way back to HS while the teleport cooldown finishes after leaving base. Everything feels standard so far. We still hold the overall points lead and the ppm advantage.

Then comes the HS suicide squad moment. Yeah, I made up a name for us!

But something doesn’t feel quite right... We didn’t group up enough at the Stronghold to build what I like to call "the critical mass" before pushing up to HS. So when we arrive at HS we’re... kind of getting squished again.😔

Before minute ten, we still have the points lead, but the ppm advantage is starting to disappear.

But this time something strange happens. Before we are even fully wiped, they start splitting up.😱

Some react to pressure we’re putting on their Stronghold, others move down to pressure our Stronghold. But they seem strangely eager to abandon Hot Springs. Which means... we end up capping HS.

Strange move from them, but cheap heals are cheap heals. Well... when I open the hospital and see over a month of healing, it doesn’t feel that cheap anymore. But I really don’t want to imagine what those numbers would look like if I were running full T5 lineups.

When the first dragons spawn, we are sitting comfortably in the lead with both higher total points and stronger ppm.

Each team secures one dragon since the first pair spawns close to each base.

So as the first quarter ends, they are chasing us, but we are clearly ahead.

I even have time to pick up a few boxes with my surviving march before recalling and heading back out.

Some might say things are looking up for N0X, but despite the strong start they are really pushing us hard. Both Hot Springs and our Stronghold are constantly under pressure. We are forced to react again and again.

I start getting the feeling that we’re being played a little here. They send a few strong marches to our Stronghold to keep a lot of us busy while a lot of their players roam the map freely. While we focus on defending against their heavy accounts, their smaller groups quietly work on map control. Maybe it’s coincidence... but the ppm numbers are starting to suggest it's their strategy.

The healing costs are also starting to pile up. Constant fighting against stronger accounts is draining my speeds faster than expected.

By the time we reach halftime the score is almost tied. Considering the nice lead we had earlier, watching them slowly catch up is... concerning. But we push on! For Victory!

But now the match feels like it could flip at any moment. Around minute 26 they make their move and start running both dragons.

This could be problematic for us but we react quickly and manage to contest the Sun Dragon. Our victory is now hanging by a thread.

The other dragon already looks compromised. If we also lose this dragon... we might just throw the game right here and now.

We charge in force, trying to convince the dragon to follow us instead of the reds, who currently have its attention.

I get picked off before I can even reach it.😔 My marches are wiped near their Stronghold before I can do anything meaningful.

Healing costs continue to climb, but at this point I’m committed. After investing this much, it would be painful to walk away empty handed. Especially after such a good start.

I rush back again as the entire match seems to revolve around this one red dragon now. But they still outnumber us almost two to one, and the Sun Dragon slowly begins drifting toward their base. Could this be where everything collapses for us?

Myself? I’m too far out. Our remaining players trying to flip the dragon are picked off one by one, until nothing is left of the N0X war machine on the right side of the map.

https://youtu.be/FZwI2mcW7ug

Eventually we retreat and regroup near their Stronghold, wondering where the rest of our team was and how we allowed this dragon to slip away... basically uncontested?!?

I think the players were probably there... just not there at the same time.😣Just like me. I arrived early and died quickly because we didn’t have enough fighters. Others probably trickled in afterward, only to die one by one as well.

I want to believe that most of us were present for the fight. Just never together. And that was the turning point we feared.

After a strong start and a slow midgame where the score tightened, the final quarter marked the doom for us. Once they flipped the score in their favor, we never managed to recover. The curtain falls with N0X losing by barely 5,000 points.

Almost exactly the amount we would have needed if we had secured those dragons instead of losing both.

A disappointing result, especially since I expected a comfortable win for our second match. But it just proves once again that underestimating your opponent is where mistakes begin.

We walk away with second place. Or as someone recently said on our Discord server... “A fancy word for loser.”

But like I said, N0X is not exactly a war machine in SoW.😅After a 50-50 start to the season, I’m hoping the third match will be a bit easier. Because if we don’t secure a win on Wednesday evening, morale might take a dive deeper than the US stock market.