Reports for the spring online tournament.

PReDS (sorceress, knight) def. Yasnikov (sorceress, barbarian, host) 134, HotSot, may he be cursed. Gunnar accurately described the map in ICQ, but I won't quote him. In the first week, no one built a Castle. I upgraded druids and elves and, with a lot of Phoenixes, reached the red barbarian Castle, as I got Blindness in the tavern. He attacked in the field, lost the remaining butterflies, some nomads, and 1 Great Druid. I took the Castle guarded by 2 Ogres. He crashed into the Castle with a knight who was constantly buffing himself. By the third week, he had Logistics, Scouting, and Wisdom (Paralysis in the tavern). Just as my father was getting ready to attack the opponent's Castle, he broke through the gnome passage and came to me with Phoenixes, druids, and elves. I attacked him, taking more unicorns and gnomes. Paralysis on the Phoenixes (Magic Power was 5), the morale of my Phoenixes in the first round, and in the second round, the opponent's hero dies. Then he surrendered.
Thanks for the game.

I confirm. I played this game too carelessly. Although there were all the prerequisites for victory. From the very beginning, I got a strong hero in the tavern, and the guards in the mines were quite weak. But I was constantly distracted from the game, resulting in losses in almost every battle. And I wasn't lucky with the chests either - a minimum of maximum items, and in one (or two?) - useless artifacts. In short, on the way to the red Castle, there were vampire lords, which I didn't risk attacking due to a lack of troops. Phoenixes didn't appear - even considering the exchange, I was short 2 Mercury items.
When I saw that the opponent was already dominating near the red Castle, I realized that my chances were slim. Well, I failed the final battle because I didn't have enough money for a ransom, and Paralysis helped the opponent a lot. And he had his entire army, while I only had archers and Phoenixes. And his stats were significantly higher. In short, it was a one-sided game.
Thanks for the game and the experience.