Siege of Winterfell: S17M4 | The Need for Speed

Now past the halfway point of the Siege of Winterfell season, N0X was finding ourselves in a familiar but uncomfortable position. With two wins and two losses on the board for this season, we had already experienced highs and lows, and it was clear now that the upcoming battles would determine whether we had any chance of reaching the playoff bracket. The earlier matches had certainly shown us that we were capable of great gameplay when we worked together, and how quickly we would fall apart when we didn’t. As we prepared for the fourth battle, we were already apprehensive of what would come next. 

There wasn’t much surprise when RRH was revealed as our next opponent. We had faced them many times before across different events, and historically they were some of our toughest battles. They were a team we knew well, which unfortunately also meant we knew just how difficult this match would be. Even coming off the great performance we found in our last match, we couldn’t ignore that RRH had only gotten stronger since we fought them last. But even knowing all of this, our familiar rivalry with this team had us eager to show up for the fight. We would give it our all regardless of the outcome.

As we entered the battlefield and began preparing for the gates to open, the participation numbers gave us our first indication of how the match would unfold. RRH outnumbered us by 30 armies, and we knew that alone was not enough to decide the outcome, it was definitely starting us off on the back foot. Still, our leaders reminded us that no one would be giving up early.

I found myself once again heading for the first battle at the Hot Springs. As we moved in, there was a noticeable difference than this season’s previous clashes, where both alliances would arrive at roughly the same time and fight for control. This time, the Hot Springs were already filled with RRH marches as we trickled in. I watched the circle fill up with enemy marches faster than we could match them, almost as if we were late to the fight.

Late to the Party

Of course this circumstance made the fight at Hot Springs as brutal as ever. By the time our full force reached the fight, we were already trying to recover rather than fighting for control. We continued to push as hard as we could, but with our marches dropping so quickly we were unable to build momentum. 

Hoping that things might be going better on the other side, our leader Scythe called out to Belore, “How’s your side doing?” Only to find out they were in a similar position. “Horrible,” Bel responded. “They outnumber us four to one. And looking at how people are marching, I’m pretty sure I know the problem.”

As it turned out, this Siege of Winterfell battle was taking place during a special anniversary event which offered a special new castle skin as a reward. With the new skin came a big boost in your SoW armies’ speed, but they could only be won by putting great effort into gaining points in the event. “All of RRH has the skin and like 5 of us have it.” This difference really explained how RRH were able to make it to the buildings in full force before we even arrived.

As the battle continued, that difference was impossible to ignore. Besides overpowering us in raw strength, RRH controlled the pace of the entire battlefield because they could simply move faster than we could. Even when we tried to adjust and target less contested areas, we rarely made it there without being intercepted along the way. It created a feeling of being a step behind, no matter where we went.

Winning Dragons

With map control already slipping out of our hands, we shifted our focus toward the dragons, hoping to recover some points there. For a short time, it seemed like we might be able to make that work. With some very diligent fighting, we managed to escort two dragons to our base. Those small victories were enough to motivate us to continue fighting. But it wasn’t long until RRH was beating us to the punches with all dragons as well, and we were unable to turn those fights in our favor.

Losing Dragons

By the time we reached the midpoint of the match, the outcome was pretty much solidified. Our fight continued, but with much less urgency. We focused instead on conserving resources, and reaching smaller objectives like collecting chests and even clawed our way up to 20 thousand points. Unlike our loss to IlI, when the win had slipped away from us in the final minutes, in this fight we had been outpaced from the very beginning and never been able to catch up.

When it was finally time to debrief from the battle, our leaders were already putting the advantage RRH had illustrated to us into our plans. This season was certainly serving us teaching moments at every turn, so it was best to take advantage of that. Immediately following the battle, everyone was encouraged to push hard to win the new castle skin, and put more of a focus into increasing our speed as we prepared to fight again. What we didn’t know yet was that in the matches to come, this lesson would begin to pay off.