Since the conversation here has turned to long games, it's time for me to write about my own games :)

But first, about the atmosphere and other things.
I arrived early, but for the hero Sam_56, this was not an obstacle and he didn't take a restart, for which I'm very grateful — he met me at the platform at 7:34 AM! Aldegir came up to us, who introduced himself as Antal, but judging by the results — apparently not without reason :smile01:

We went to the club. Along the way, the thoughtful Sam_56 even had metro tokens for us so we wouldn't have to stand in line. I immediately felt a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

When everyone had gathered, we started the drawing. I pulled scraps of paper with player nicknames from the Crazy Hat and kept waiting to draw myself and wondering if I'd immediately get a strong opponent. I drew Forrest, and everyone held their breath. The draw didn't pit us against each other. He got Rebelius, and I (as the second-to-last pair) got his worthy student — Vladimir, which upset both of us, since it was already clear we were knocking each other out of further competition.

And in fact — the game turned out to be worthy of the finals.
I took blue Dungeon, especially since Vladimir allowed me to leave him not Rampart but Castle as his opponent — as it turned out, his favorite town. We agreed on additional restarts for blocking and for meeting by day 116. Although this was less favorable for Dungeon, we wanted an interesting and full game. There was a generation where I already had an Angel and 2 Red Dragons with 130+ Troglodytes by day 113, but Volodya, seeing the Dragon Utopia not on the road, came to meet so as not to waste his restart on day 113 :(

We played a layout where I only got 1 stack of Troglodytes. I was already set on taking a restart, and the decision depended on the conservatory found at the respawn — it turned out to be a level 1 and fell on day 113 with the loss of 7 Troglodytes (about 70 remained). But there's the Angel — and the restart is canceled. Especially since there were also a secondary hero and an external Minotaur dwelling. Things went wrong with the money after buying for the conservatory. I went out onto the snow and sent the level 1 hero with Troglodytes to take a Tower — but ahead were several shooter blocks, which forced Shakti to help with the breakthrough instead of immediately going to another secondary. By this time, Volodya had already taken his secondary and saw a red flag in the tavern's first slot. But by day 115 — I surprised him by placing blue there ;) (2 secondaries on the same turn). For this, Shakti boldly broke through the Royal Griffins of LotS and conducted all fights only with the Angel. The other secondary turned out to be Rampart, which had a Stable, some money, and even a Hive! The tempo started to pick up, and I took a risk — I took the Hive at the beginning of day 117 to end the turn at the Stable. +4 Wyverns and 1 Angel. Shakti at the Stable. Scouting the respawn revealed another external Minotaur dwelling, but I couldn't take the first one — there was no money to buy, I could only place 1-5 in the Citadel. Especially since another conservatory was discovered near the Tower, and ideally after the Stable, Shakti was supposed to break into the Tower and take down that conservatory — but there was no money. Even resource exchanges at the markets yielded nothing — there weren't enough heroes for a chain. So Shakti ran on foot, lending the Angel to level 1 heroes mid-turn for clearing, and visiting stat boosters, but ultimately sleeping exclusively on the Angel. Shakti sensed a strength that clouded his eyes — and with that Angel, he wasn't afraid to even attack an external Minotaur dwelling :smile08:, but when he struck from wait, despite Expert Offense and not weak attack, the Angel did this :smile15: Killed only 1 Minotaur (the second had 10 HP left, and the retaliation took out 80!). In a panic, he cast Curse on the Minotaurs, but spell power 1 — sent him into shock — on the second round, they were as good as new. I thought Shakti's end had come :smile16:. But insight finally struck, and the Minotaurs were defeated :smile01:. If only that had taught a lesson...

There was a problem with Slow. Expert Earth was leveled up on the first day, but the Rampart guild gave only 2 Views for useful spells, and the expected Slow — no. I had to build a guild in the Tower too — there Slow was fine, and the level-3 conservatory fell without issue. The level-1 heroes formed a chain to the distant external Minotaur dwelling. I decided to give 3 Angels to Gunnar to avoid risking the Troglodytes from morale, which had increased slightly thanks to their dwelling and the Portal of Summoning. Shakti, through View Earth, saw that the passage from the snow secondary to the grass led not to the opponent, but to a treasury. At the entrance, a Shield +2, Naga Bank, and Dragon Utopia were visible. He headed there, intending to break the Dragon Utopia on day 131. Of course, I wanted to visit the Stable and Well at the start of week 3, but that would cost 2 days of tempo — it wasn't worth it, and I still had 19 mana. Here, Shakti, not having learned from the Minotaurs, attacks the horde of Griffins for the Shield +2, expecting there to be just over 50 of them, but he miscalculated — 98! Result — loss of an Angel, 2 days of tempo, but a consolation prize — the Stable and Well. I break back — take 2 Naga Banks there, buy out all the troops (didn't have enough money for Minotaur upgrade, decided quantity was more important in the Utopia). The Dragon Utopia was generous — a Book of Earth and Titan's Plate. I decide unequivocally to hit the Dragon Utopia and disturb the opponent. I marched boldly, after the doubled mana in the Dungeon, and although I was clearly behind in troops and battle stats (3 Angels left, 25 Minotaurs, 150+ Troglodytes, and 20+ Evil Eyes), I was glad to cast 2-3 Implosions for 1450 each and escape to buy on the next week with the money from the Utopia, finishing off the enemy with magic.
But Vladimir didn't flinch and used the Fire Magic (even without Wisdom) that was foisted upon him in a Pandora's Box. At first, I used Tactics to bunch everyone into a tight defensive formation, but I noticed smiles on the faces of Vladimir's watching supporters, and that tipped me off to Berserker :confused: I decided it would be absurd to fall for it that way and that it was better to take serious losses but blow up the ducks and the crossbow at Valkyrie's — without that, she wouldn't take the Dragon Utopia on her native respawn, and I would be left with external Minotaur dwellings and a Cats building in the favorites.
There was no Berserker there, but Blind played a cruel joke on me for the second time in a row, and under blindness, the Minotaurs left Shakti out in the cold already in the 2nd round, unable to escape or buy himself out.
Well done, Vladimir! A well-deserved victory :smile30:

We both played at practically maximum effort, so the game finished right up against the football match.

Added through 6 minutes
Photos from the Portal
http://www.heroesportal.net/events.php?id=52