Well, it's about time I wrote down everything I think about this! :)

It all started for me late at night, when Lyokha sent me a text asking me to urgently call him back... And then it took off. I met Vovan at the train station. Then there was a tour. We met Dima and set off. Upon arrival, the Kemerovo guys were already waiting for us at the headquarters with a laid table :) After the feast, some chatting, and also finalizing the rules (by the way, the rules seem great to me for a small number of games and limited time), we started playing cards. I tried my hand at preference, which turned out to be a very interesting game! Some were playing poker, but I easily traded it in for preference. :) About the draw: I really didn't want to run into PReDS, but I was sure it would happen...

Dirty_Player (blue, Conflux, Luna, Neela) def PReDS (red, Stronghold, Tyraxor, Tyraxor) 132, Jebus Cross
We started off lively. 4 external dwellings of magic elementals, a mini-Griffin Conservatory, and several Dragon Fly Hives. On day 1 month 1 week 3, I decided to attack the cerberi, which turned out to be 41 of them, and they sent my army to rest. This was the only time in my entire game that I lost and didn't take a restart :cool: ! Luna took the mini-Griffin Conservatory, then the external dwelling of magic elementals, and the rest fell by day 1 month 1 week 7. I placed them in the castle without birds. On the second week, I recruited, and there were as many as 26 magic elementals!!! While Luna was getting the Titan's armor and Dragon Fly Hives, Nelka found the GO. (Dima joked before that, like, your fairies will be GO) and so it happened. After upgrading the magic elementals, I pass them to Nelka, who, with single units, breaks the dragons to pieces. Since Luna fell behind in the depth of the respawn, it was decided to do business with Nelka, who had leveled up quite a bit after the GO. Killing some other weaklings, she stumbles upon devils guarding Krylia and Chaynik :eek: . They turned out to be 8+7+7+7. After this fight, life became much more fun. Next, a Book of Water came to hand. Taking it, Nelka even outpaced Luna, who had just arrived at the center for the library. Tyraxor appeared, but not quite reachable. So Nelka takes a Dragon Utopia on her native respawn, which contained a Book of Fire, while Luna had 30 spell power!! Then we decided not to continue.

After the game, we went for lunch a.k.a. dinner, and just to walk around the city. Upon returning, we started playing the second game. I got to play against the organizer, which made me happy because I hadn't had a chance to play Ivan before.

Dirty_Player (red, Stronghold, Tyraxor, Tyraxor) def Van (blue, Conflux, Monere, Monere) 127, Jebus Cross
Good start. On the first day, I flagged the external dwelling of bear riders, on the second the mini-Griffin Conservatory. By day 1 month 1 week 4, I had already upgraded 2 bear riders, who were burning everyone no worse than Luna :D By the end of the week, I took another external dwelling. A third one was found, but by day 1 month 1 week 7, I simply didn't make it in time. On the second week, 8 cyclopes were tearing through absolutely everything, including the GO :) Having collected all the good stuff along the way to the central castle, I scouted the blue player. Taking a Dragon Utopia and doubling my mana to 520 with overwhelming stats, I catch up with Monere. Victory!!!

Having won two games and made it to the ITM, I went to sleep thinking about how to beat my rival from Barnaul. At that moment, Mike was leading in his game against Dust, and the probability of his victory was very high. I wanted to watch that game to the end, but I completely passed out. I woke up and found out that I was actually supposed to play against Lyokha! We had played countless times before, but never once finished a game. This was a great opportunity to finish one! After visiting the Beer Academy :cool: we started playing!

Dirty_Player (blue, Conflux, Luna, Broghild) def Dust_HL (red, Stronghold, Tyraxor, Tyraxor) 131, 2sm4d(3)
The layout is normal. On the respawn, I immediately found an external dwelling of welders and a Griffin Conservatory on weeks 3-4. Broghild arrived and got the log. I captured a necro secondary town next to which there was an exit to the treasure zone. In the treasure zone, a Prison was visible, guarded by 5-9 upgraded bear riders, plus an Air Sphere. I decided to hit them on week 1, which I did towards the end. Inside was Adelaide level 5, which upset me a bit, but the Sphere of Air is an excellent trump card for a rush. Birds were built in the stronghold on week 1, and Broghild also got an Explorer! On the second week, I captured the native secondary town, next to which a second Griffin Conservatory and a Dragon Fly Hive were found. The Griffin Conservatory near the castle turned out to be level 3 (guarded by liches, which killed the bird, although the computer suggested not losing it :smile11: ) I didn't go into the Conservatory immediately, but just spent the night in it. During Lyokha's turn, I thought out a capture plan. Still, only 10 power, and a level 3-4 Conservatory with Ghost Dragons. I finally decided to go in, and it turned out not to be in vain. The level 3 fell, and with the angels, everything else breaks without problems. I took the second Conservatory, sent Broghild through the adjacent secondary town. Meanwhile, in the castle, I was building a mage guild; on the 2nd floor, I got lightning bolt, and on the 4th floor, berserk :smile41: . On day 1 month 2 week 7, Broghild, having 3600 movement points with some to spare, reaches the enemy capital, where Luna is being recruited. The chains were broken, the growth was taken, the plan succeeded. On day 1 month 3 week 1, Brogh scouts Tyraxor in a secondary town, and Luna reaches him just in time. In the final fight, the Barbarians had no chance!

After the game, in high spirits, I went to visit an old friend from Kemerovo, at whose place we sat down to play poker on Stars, and not according to bankroll... After losing quite a bit, we still managed to pull the session to +$6 for the two of us :D :D :D .

The next day was departure from Kemerovo. As usual, everything was stretched to the last moment, just to barely make it to the football match, where guests from glorious Novokuznetsk were already meeting us. We were 6 minutes late for the football. It seems like such a small thing, but Sibir was already leading 2:0 against St. Petersburg's Zenit!!! :smile11: But we started off well and conceded 5 goals! :smile32: Sibir leaves the Premier League, and we left the stadium. After settling the delegation at a safe house, I went home. Let them tell you what happened there :D The next day, I picked up Zadira and put him on train 067, which would deliver him to his native Syktyvkar in a few days!

THE END!

P.S.: I want to thank all my opponents for the intense games, in each of which victory came with great difficulty. Thanks to the guests from faraway cities for coming to Siberia! I was very glad to see Dima - PReDS again and to meet Vovan - Zadira! I was very happy to meet the founders of the Kemerovo school of heroes for the pleasant conversation and the preference game ;) Special thanks to Ivan for the warm welcome and excellent organization! Everything was very decent and of a high standard! Thanks to everyone who cheered for me. And also a special thanks to Luna, who brought me victory — I knew you wouldn't let me down, my friend!!! :)