"Might vs. Magic"

SEM_56 (blue, Swamp, Wystan, Wystan) def Hermit (red, Rampart, Coronius, Grindar) 2sm4d(3), 223
red orb rules - mages nervously smoke!!!

That's for sure!.. Grindan and Pyre were sitting in the tavern. I really wanted to play as Pyre, but for the sake of experimental purity I decided to make Grindan the main hero, and that was a mistake. I realized the opponent had three secondary heroes, one of which was their native one, while mine had to hurry through a monolith behind a pack of sharpshooters. The respawn was very poor, the opponent's underground secondary respawn was also poor. Roads were slow. I quickly leveled Grindan's Earth to expert, picked up Mini and Max conservatories, barely managed to buy some troops, and by the second GM2 there was Lightning, and by that time Grindan was already an expert in Intelligence and Air. I went for the opponent through his underground Inferno secondary. I managed to capture the capital, defended by a scout hero, though I lost the majority of my elves. The opponent said he had the red orb, and I immediately lost the desire to play, but hoped it was just a bluff. Then I captured the opponent's native Rampart secondary. Wystan in the treasury with some unknown army... Built and upgraded elves there, and barely broke through the GO — a horde of cavalry with an upgraded stack. Because of morale, I lost all my elves, dendroids, more than half of the unicorns (4), and an angel, but I managed to set up troop deliveries from the capital. Barely built in the native GM4, where there was Resurrection, so I managed to take the Utopia. It gave a necklace +3 to everything, LoM, and Titan's Plate. :) I went for the opponent's Swamp secondary and captured it. I saw him get the Mantle of Equilibrium in the treasury — that made me even more hopeful he didn't have the red orb. Then I bought what I could and FB. Troop-wise we were roughly equal, but with the red orb, my Grindan of course couldn't do anything against the Beastmaster. Thanks to the organizer for not banning it. From me, I'll say that if it weren't for this worthy artifact, my chances of victory, considering Grindan's magic stats and Resurrection, would be nearly 100%! Next time, I'll only start as a mage, and I'll make a warrior the main hero with a clear conscience, because when the opponent finds the red orb, it's also no longer a sword vs. magic scenario. However, for me, this game proved the red orb is cheating, and one can conclude that for a mage player, transitioning to the contact phase as early as possible is advantageous.

Thanks for the game.