GoTWiC [AoH] S5R5 "Real test"

The mood was great after some killer performances this season in the Arena of Honor, where they managed to stay in the top two since the start. That’s something nobody expected from us and something very few can brag about. Still, a gut feeling told us the real test was yet to come, because being at the top always draws in the most dangerous predators.

With that hype, they waited for the brackets to see who they’d be up against this time, but that excitement died down pretty fast once they saw their opponents. They’d been expecting tough matchups for a few rounds now but somehow managed to get lucky and dodge them; however, this time was different. These were players from the top alliances, and not just anyone. They might not have been the absolute strongest from their groups, but they were definitely way stronger than ours. The vibe in the chat suddenly got heavy; the silence that took over said more than any tactic could.

The strongest ones were in House Targaryen, led by Minity, an incredibly tough cavalry player.

Even though we had strong spearmen to counter her, taking her down was going to be really hard. She was the strongest player in the Arena, and her teammates weren't exactly weak either. House Lannister was made up of a mix of players from different alliances, with the strongest one definitely coming from ROD. All in all, we’re looking at a massive match, and it’s going to be tough to win this one.

However, Geert wasn't the type of player to just give up. She was going to give it her all. She had buffed up her spearmen specifically to test them against a top-tier cavalry player, and there was no doubt she finally had that chance. For her, this match wasn't just a game; it was proof that all that hard work training her troops had paid off. Everyone was strong, and it was clear from the start that the fight would be close, even if the winner was pretty much already decided.

Despite knowing how brutal the battle would be, they tried to cheer each other up, saying they’d focus on the infantry camps to try and capture the Towers for those big points. The match kicked off.

They quickly beefed up their strongholds so they could upgrade fast and start racking up points right away. The other houses did the exact same thing. "Man, we didn't see this coming. Everyone’s running the same strategy. Maybe we should switch it up?" At that point, they were considering moving over to the trading posts, but first, they wanted to try and capture one of the Towers to get some points. If the opponents managed to take their Tower away, then they’d pivot to the trading posts.

Before the first altar opened, Geert suggested that she take their Stranger, while Maverick should try to grab a neighboring one, since he was the strongest spearmen player and had a better shot at getting the protection status. We needed as many Strangers as possible to get that extra speed boost and hit the Towers first. But right from the jump, the first problems started popping up.

Geert was attacked by a heavy cavalry player, but luckily, she managed to defend herself easily. However, that same opponent immediately started a rally on her. "Geert shouted, 'Quick, send me as many spearmen as possible! I won't be able to hold them off with this few troops, he’s way too strong!'" But the rest of the team didn't have any troops left; they were all stationed in the infantry camps. It was a desperate call because the opponent hit with over 4 million troops and wiped Geert out easily. Seeing the stronghold walls crumble under that much force was the first real shock for our team.

We were left with only one Stranger that Maverick had captured. It wasn't an ideal start for us, but we pushed on. A new problem came up when our troops failed to take the Tower. We thought we were strong enough to grab it, but we weren't. Geert immediately asked to switch to the trading posts, but Mace didn't want to.

He wanted to try one more time and then go for catapults later. The first disagreements within the team started to pop up, which was definitely not a good sign. "Geert warned, 'We’re wasting precious time on a tactic that isn't working!' feeling the victory slip through their fingers because of Mace's stubbornness." The Targaryens had already started to pull away, and we could only watch as the gap grew. "Geert thought to herself, 'Let them go, it doesn't matter, we’ll wait for them at Glory, we just have to take it immediately and fill it up fast.'"

But she forgot that Minity is a cavalry player and much faster than our guys. As soon as Glory opened, Geert didn't even have time to send her troops, Minity was already inside. "Geert said, 'No way, she’s too fast. Quick, let’s try two spearmen rallies!' wanting to go first herself to soften things up for Maverick, so that he, as the stronger spearmen player, could deal the final blow." However, we didn't have enough spearmen to fill both rallies, so we sent more to Maverick. We moved out with whatever we had.

Both hits landed within a few seconds of each other, so the opponent didn't even have time to send in new troops, but it was no use. The walls of Glory stayed untouched under Minity’s command. Minity was just too strong for us to kick her out of the castle.

"Geert said, 'Forget Glory, let’s focus on other things, let's try to at least take second place,'" though she didn't even believe it herself since they were nowhere near second. She was also pissed at the leader, who waited way too long to switch the strongholds to trading posts after failing to even take the Catapults. That moment of internal drama was worse than any enemy attack.

She tried to salvage a losing match and save whatever could be saved. Maverick immediately took the Dragonpit, which would give us a lot of points. We sent him extra troops right away to secure the castle. We simply had to play it smart and stop rushing in blindly. The attacks started, since Minity was already in her castle, the others started hitting us, and they had some heavy hitters. Luckily, they were just solo attacks, so we managed to hold the castle. However, no one was wasting any time.

Maverick attacked another one. This time we were expecting a rally attack, but it didn't happen, and in a short time, we managed to capture two important castles and boost our score.

Geert started to feel hopeful that they might catch up to the Lannisters, who were 20k points ahead of us, but we also needed the Maidens. We only had one, so we went after two more to increase our point bonus from trading posts to 50%.

Geert couldn't go for them herself because she was attacking other Altars, so she just sent extra troops as backup. Those troops really helped in defending the Altars from attacks, and they pulled off another objective.

Now, with a significant jump in points, Geert’s hopes of reaching second place were growing. What came next were the Mine Shafts.

"Listen up, everyone. We’re going all in. Let’s try to take 6 mines and cut the Lannisters' lead in half!" Geert encouraged her teammates. Even though she wasn't the house leader, she really wanted that second place. For her, getting second in this situation would feel just like a win. She got her troops ready and attacked, and the others followed her lead. "Quick, send the rest of your troops to back up our teammates!" One by one, they entered the mines with backup right behind them; everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Geert checked how many mines the Lannisters had, and they were only holding two fewer than us. That wasn't a huge gap and wouldn't make much of a difference. But then, the attacks on our mines started. It was the Lannisters themselves, hitting our weakest players in the mines. Out of the six mines we held, only Mace, Maverick, and Geert managed to stay inside.

It simply wasn't enough. Geert asked the others to attack the mines, which they did, but they only managed to take one.

Geert finally realized it. "There’s no hope for a miracle anymore. This was our last shot."

Geert gave it everything she had, but the opponents were just way stronger than them. Third place wasn't what they were hoping for, but despite all their effort, they couldn't do more. Everyone was disappointed because they lost points, but at least they could afford that "luxury" after having a few great results in previous matches. It wasn't a bad day; their opponents were just better. This loss might set them back a bit or shake them up for a moment, but they’ll bounce back fast because they’re a solid team that knows how to play.

They realized they just couldn't compete with the top-tier opponents and that they were in a league below them. That’s exactly what Geert was thinking to herself. "Maybe we’ve reached our absolute limit and now we’re moving up to much stronger opponents." And that’s what kept her going, but she also hoped the next match would be against teams closer to their own strength. "Geert laughed and said, 'Looks like I'm still not on Minity’s level,' before leaving the Arena."