Coming Together

I finally made it to the last match of Alliance Conquest. Vegeta dragged me kicking and screaming.

My mood had slightly improved since this dang event was FINALLY almost over. Yes I know, but ch1 Ultimate Conquest starts right after. I didn’t have UTB making the playoffs to be fair. We were too rocky this season. Even if we win this match we would end the season 4-2. Maybe wishful thinking or my own biases were at play, but could we even win? There are no guarantees in these Westeros Streets…I was somewhat familiar with our opponent, TFI.

Several strong accounts, and quite a few experienced players.

I had played with a few the last couple Arena of Honors. Seemed like alright people.

I wasnt sure of our chances, I suppose it would come down to us working together a lot smoother. Faster reinforcements, perfect swaps, winning the first captures when possible we needed it all. I joined the chat. I was apprehensive. To my surprise the mood was decent. There was some joking in the chats, and the overall mood seemed better. 

Leadership sounded tired as they gave the pre match run down. Who is racing for what, who would be slow marching. Basically the gist was we needed to win races, we needed to fill fast and no matter what keep healing and re-sending. I just knew this would be expensive. RIP speeds lol.

As the match began the racers and slow marchers took off. We did really well taking 3 of the 4 available buildings. We have always been decent at the first capture points.

After the first capture is the hard part. See the one who can get there first can not always hold it and that brings in the part I hate the most…. The dreaded SWAP… I understand the strategy behind it, your fastest is not always the strongest and to hold and keep generating points, you need strength. Plus it goes beyond the swap, you need to fill the one who will hold it fast, because until they have bodies reinforcing, they are a sitting duck for enemy snipers. So easy matches are for practicing swaps and more difficult matches it is used more strategically. The problem with swaps, is if the enemy is paying attention, they can take that building attacking at the right time, capitalizing on any mistakes.. These kinds of things can be enough to swing the game. An alliance can't avoid swapping in some cases. I am one of those who love looking out for the enemy swaps, and have developed a pretty good instinct for them. When you are a reinforcer who is muted, seeing the opportunities don’t help that much since by the time you type in chat, the swap has been done lol 😂.

While I understand the swap, I hate it. If me, a nobody, can spot one coming a mile away, I know the more experienced players can too. I am not special. So the stakes are high. After those initial captures, we had to swap.This made me nervous… We were playing better together as a whole, but mistakes can compound and shift the whole trajectory of a game as well as disposition of an alliance.  With most of the match still ahead of us, we were all probably nervous lol. One by one we focused on each building we wanted to swap. The first one went smoothly. TFI seemed to notice once it was already done and began launching counter attacks, trying to catch us before we could fill the building. We managed to stand strong. Moving on to the next building and the lingering question will we be as lucky this time….

(See Video in the comments)

With every new territory, with every new change in ownership, the swap hovered throughout the match. This one can’t hold it, that one is better off holding something else… Every twist and turn in the match depended on the swap.

We were doing really well. TFI would take something here or there, but we would get it back. While not perfect, it was a far cry from our previous performances. The match became pretty boring as it dragged on. All of my troops in some buildings. Not allowed to attack the hive because our special snowflake rally leads should be the only ones getting elims or having any fun.

We fillers are the T1 troops of Alliance Conquest. Meant to serve as meatshields for the glory of the rally leads.

Even still, I was a good ch1 and listened despite being bored to tears and us securing the win before the mines even opened. 

While we had won the match.  I couldn’t help but to think that the most boring match of the season was the one we played best all season. TFI was strong but I didn’t feel like they tried very hard either. They were pretty slow spotting many of our swaps and didn’t seem to time their rallies to strategically take some of our gains. With the power they have, they could have made life a lot more difficult. Does good play have to equate to a boring match? That question kept bouncing around my head. Is that why I am not a fan of Alliance Conquest?