Interportal - autumn 2011 The battle of sites - autumn 2011

Javdet (blue, Gunnar) looose TERM (red, Das) 141

We finished the match, Vanya calmly realized a huge lead in parameters. And it's not that he played badly, but apart from minor inaccuracies in a hurry, he didn't play well enough for such a rout.

The game was decided by several details; if luck had favored even one of them, I think the result wouldn't have been a one-sided affair.

1st moment: the color trade. The very first randomizer brings Inferno. Knowing how quickly Vanya thinks and executes, and that the demons would quickly rush me into time trouble, I sadly part with 500 gold. So I had to give up the color cheaply.

2nd: Vanya didn't break a small stack of trogs, behind which were 4 piles of gold. But I broke them to my own misfortune :( A scout hero ran through and found a Dragon Utopia behind the mountain. No other Dragon Utopia was spotted at the start of the game, so I moved toward it by the end of the second week. There was a Blackshard of the Dead Knight, and behind a teleport another Dragon Utopia - there were Titan's cuirass, boots, and the Tome of Water. Nothing to be happy about except the last artifact. Vanya, meanwhile, scratched off in the other direction and from the very first Dragon Utopia got a Tome of Air and Wings, after which he flies into another Dragon Utopia - a max one. The artifacts were slightly worse, but still on parameters.

3rd: on day 122 the opponent reveals that he broke a Pandora's Box near the castle with a shield, and his parameters shot up. I think the Pandora's Box was for experience, and there were artifacts - just the opponent had learning... I myself was planning to take it with the blue hero, meanwhile leveling up to 7th, and send the main hero to the other end of the map, but I changed my mind... In the end, I lacked that day and the max Dragon Utopia was taken from right under my nose.

4th: It's tough without scouting, especially when the opponent has it.

5th: I didn't risk going all-in. The moment itself is funny. This max Dragon Utopia is behind the mountain. Fiona has only 13 mana, the Grail was dug up, which is exactly one jump to the Dragon Utopia, but getting back out would be very, very far. But the opponent's main hero is wandering nearby, and who knows if it's worth the risk. As it turned out, it was worth it - Vanya didn't have Shackles, and I had first speed (((( I would have bought myself off easily.

Otherwise, I placed Manticores at home, opened a second front with vampires faster than the opponent, the chains worked properly, and then I even managed to stick Necromancy Knights there. By mid-game, besides equal armies, there was a mega-stack of 30 Necromancy Knights... The reds, however, had an external dwelling of drakes captured, while I blundered somehow, but they would have only mattered later on.

Thanks for the game.