N0X AC (S23 UC M1) – Grand Opening, Grand Closing

So N0X is going to Ultimate Conquest again, for the 3rd consecutive season. While that’s great news, our 1st matchup is definitely not great news. Remember how during the regular season I kept saying we could only afford 1, maybe 2 losses, and those had to be reserved for the absolute monster alliances? Well... our very first UC match is against one of the top 3 alliances in the game. We’re facing BDR straight out of the gate.

BDR has won several UC championships already and they have a very real chance to win this one too. Regardless of who eventually takes the title, one thing is certain: they’re heavily favored against us tonight.

Still, the season ahead looks interesting. After BDR we should be facing OBV, and despite their superior account power, we actually beat them during the regular season. So maybe there’s still a path for us deeper into the bracket.

But I’m already getting ahead of myself with the theories and foreshadowing, so let’s focus on tonight’s reality first.

Who knows... maybe all of BDR is playing from the same location like an old school LAN party from the early 2000s and the power goes out. If all 70 disconnect, we might still have a chance, right?😅

As the gates open, it’s nice to see both alliances showing up with a full roster: 70 vs 70: https://youtu.be/iDf3wv0c5Po

Now regardless of whether we can actually win the fights, races are still fair game, right? At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I get my racer fingers ready for another stressful evening.

And surprisingly... the start actually goes our way. We manage to win big out of the gates and our racers, myself included, secure 3 out of the 4 opening buildings. For a brief moment, it almost feels like we might actually have a game on our hands against BDR.

But reality hits fast and hard. The swaps go through, the bubbles drop, and absolute chaos follows. Within moments we lose every single building we initially captured: https://youtu.be/d8BffM3GrsU

So Phase 1 ends contrary to how it started. We started strong... and somehow came out of it holding... absolutely nothing.

Phase 2 begins and we manage to win one Port. That’s something. We know we probably won’t hold it for long, but this is still nice to see we have map presence.

As the bubble drops on Port, we’re simultaneously reinforcing there while setting up rallies on Mother. The pressure is up for N0X to perform and despite giving it a solid effort, everything falls to pieces almost immediately as we lose Port and bounce hard on Mother.

Round 2 of tests starts on the close Outpost. We start tweaking the rally timer tool because some marches are landing too early compared to the others. After the Mother misalignment we make a few adjustments and the Outpost rallies look noticeably tighter, even if they’re not all perfect.

But at this point, every failed rally is just expensive training for the OBV match this weekend😀

Phase 3 opens and with it comes Casterly Rock, arguably the most important building on the map. If we can win the race and swap Balrum inside, maybe we can stabilize for a while?

We do exactly that. Balrum gets planted into CR, reinforcements flood in, and for a moment it actually looks promising.

But against BDR, “promising” has a very short lifespan. Their swarm of attacks crashes into us nonstop and eventually even our strongest holder gets sent back home and Casterly falls, just like every other building before it.

Phase 4 starts and the Strongholds open. Surprisingly, we win both races again. That honestly becomes the theme of this game: we can race with them... we just can’t survive what comes after.

At least we get more practice on the “reinforce under pressure” routine.

It would have been nice if BDR had allowed us to hold Mother for the healing buffs. By now the hospital bills are getting absolutely ridiculous. But on the flip side... who has almost full T5s? Well, not me, because UC adds another million troops, but if this had been normal AC...😏

Then comes one of the most absurd moments of the match. We disband the close Stronghold for a swap and the instant the bubble disappears, BDR is already inside. Not seconds later. Instantly!

So we pay attention during the far Stronghold swap too... and it happens again exactly the same way.

The millisecond we disband and the bubble is gone... there’s already a BDR line mid flight toward the building: https://youtu.be/1ScVuHS0iZc

That level of... let's call it "anticipation and timing" is hard to watch.

And before we know it, we’re already transitioning into Phase 5. Hives open, marches start flying left and right, and the map turns into a busty highway between our bases.

At this stage I stop healing. I keep only a few troops alive and send them carefully as reinforcements here and there, just trying to avoid feeding free eliminations.

But eventually the stress becomes too annoying to keep dancing around endlessly, so I decide my troops deserve a glorious ending instead. I send them straight into Casterly Rock on a suicide run. My troops, my choice! I decide how and when they die!

And halfway through the march I suddenly remember we also have CCS this weekend😀Cause this is exactly the vibe my hit in CR gives me.

At least I recognize the account holding Casterly now. Total Wreck was in FuK with me a long time ago. Yeah... nice account. Those stats are absolutely disgusting.

With my troops finally gone and nothing left to do until mines, I take a few minutes to stretch my legs before returning for one final test: the mine races.

When the mines open, I don’t even get the chance to select Attack before I already see the BDR line flying in and baby gets the far mine I was assigned to race for. While UrCunty gets the other one. And just like that, it’s all over. Check and Mate, nothing left for us to do.

We know there won’t be any pity points here like WxD generously gave us during the AC finale. Even though UC progression is based only on wins, BDR plays the match bard until the very end.

We do manage to cross the 30k reward threshold, mostly thanks to hive points and our research bonuses coming in. Realistically, those passive points probably made up for over half our final score anyway.

I know I wasn’t expecting much going into this match, but somehow... I still walk away disappointed.

Eh, that’s the reality of facing the absolute best alliances in the game. They’re at the top for a reason.

Still, the next matchup against OBV should be a lot more competitive for us. After all... we already beat them once this season😝