2011 World Championship for Heroes IV Online.

BigAke (Nature) def. Zybr (Death) - Bizarro 215

It was a great game! There was literally everything: setbacks, luck, despair on both sides, and fierce battles. So, let's go over everything in order. I started well: by the middle of the first week, I had 3 castles and a Grand Master of Nobility. As my opponent later said, he felt like giving up at that point, but he pulled himself together and continued the game. And it paid off! After that, things got tough for me. First, I became convinced that almost all the treasure locations were blocked for me, and I couldn't get close to an Expert of Death. On the other hand, I encountered a Chaos village with a Creature Dwelling, which ultimately doomed me at the beginning.
On day 5, the devils didn't appear, unlike in the previous game - there was nowhere to defend resources, simply nowhere! They only appeared on day 7. I decided that with 1 devil, 3 venomoths, and some minor units, I would attack the Creature Dwelling. But there were 2 dragons there. They fried me. Well, it wasn't critical, but it was annoying. -1 devil. Things got even worse after that. In a fit of anger, I attacked a griffin nest with two more devils (it seems it was a few days later) and was defeated again. It was the middle of the second week, and I had low-level heroes, no army, and I didn't know where to go. It was a moment of despair. I thought about giving up. But in the end, we postponed the game. With a fresh perspective, I looked at the map, identified the only possible route, and outlined a plan of action. Taking the newly spawned devil and 6+1 ghosts, I went up, bypassing the two-way portal. Along the way, I captured the Dwarven Shield (+20% to defense), then took a Vampire Lair. This gave me some kind of army, capable of at least breaking through something. After that, I did everything, constantly speeding up the pace, but quite calmly and deliberately. I moved without backtracking, spending each move as rationally as possible. As a result, I managed to "from the back" open a couple of passages, and logistics improved. I upgraded the runner, upgraded the tactician. By the time I opened the passage to my opponent, I had 6+1 devils, two chaos creatures, and only Experts, a Grand Master of Running, a tactician 535, and an Expert of Death. By that time, I had only learned 1-2 circles of spells. I took 8 Dark Champions + 21 Ice Shields of Might (+30% to defense and a nature ward), then took a Legendary Axe (+40% to attack) from 6 Creature Dwellings + 14 ifrits, losing 2 devils (I consider this a justified loss), then defeated 11 phoenixes with earth elementals for a worthless cactus (+10k gold). On the mushrooms, I rushed to the center, towards the Creature Dwelling. With such artifacts, even 1 dragon would be a great help. I captured it without much difficulty and took the Creature Dwelling. I took a protective ring from the venomoths, and in the cactus, I got a cloak (just in time!). At the same time, a partisan war between gnomes and elementals, BigAke's heroes, and my thieves and pigs, had been going on for several days. I monitored his movements in every way.
So, not seeing the presence of his army nearby, I entered his territory, took the mushroom (again, they gave me junk, but at least not 1 imp, as it was at the beginning), leveled up on a tree, and took the Staff of Chaos from under 14 bulls. I returned, learned some magic. And here is one of the main mistakes: in the third castle, I didn't finish building the magic tower, and there, on the 4th floor, "Call of the Dead" was patiently waiting, a spell with which I could have easily dealt with the Fortress. But, unfortunately, I didn't learn it before the Fortress. After carefully checking my opponent's base with thieves and removing the effect of the fountain, I decided that with such an army and stats, I could easily defeat him and attacked. The Fortress battle went terribly - I attacked and didn't finish off the forty, for which I logically received a mass cancel (if I had "Call of the Dead," the mass cancel would have gone to my opponent, and the devils would have destroyed his heroes). After that, I made a couple more mistakes and received debuffs from my own spells (reflected by a mirror). With the tactics of my devils, it was almost impossible to defeat them (only 1 was killed), but the heroes were almost all defeated. In the end, when it became clear that I was losing the Fortress battle, I fled. But I decided to play it out to the very end. I built the 4th floor in the third castle, saw "Call of the Dead," and gasped (well, I won't elaborate on the remarks I made to myself :D). I gathered 10 venomoths and 3 old vampires (from the lair), took "Call of the Dead," and settled in the castle. I defended myself with a cool head, using my only chance - to kill as many phoenixes as possible with the venomoths and then raise them with "Call of the Dead" (a powerful tactician is still a powerful tactician, and it's hard to kill him - I had a guardian robe). As a result, the battle turned out to be interesting, difficult, and I almost managed to destroy my opponent's tank. But at the last moment, he managed to drink a Greater Healing Potion. That's where it all ended.
Whew, it turned out great. I'm happy that I managed to almost turn around a hopeless game (after all, in addition to losing against me, there was the terrain, as well as the cacti, which gave absolute garbage), but it's a pity that in the end I gave away the victory myself.
But BigAke is great! He played well and deservedly won.
Thank you for the game and good luck in the future!