Posts from International Match Tournament 2013 (Rus v s French)

Shnurov (Haven) loses to Jel (Asylum) - 141
Sorry, guys. I decided to play while slightly intoxicated and miscalculated. I played a few turns in a semi-conscious state. I found myself on turn 141 without buying diplomacy. I decided not to make things difficult for my opponent by continuing the game.

Shnurov (Haven) loses to Jel (Sylvan) - 145
He played better, but still not well. He clearly lacked experience for the join. He took his second town on day 6 or 7. Meanwhile, his opponent got 4 towns and the Gloves of the Master in the first week. He was only ahead in gold throughout the game, but that didn't help. The enemy came with a large force - 2 Grand Druids and a Tactics unit, levels 24-19, 18 Manticores, and 9 Phoenixes with 5 magic and Gargoyles. I had Grand Crusaders and a Life Grand Knight, level 5, a fast unit with general spell negation, and a Life Tactics unit, level 1. Also, 8 Titans, 6 Dragon Golems, and 3 Sorceresses. And I didn't have Immortality. So, of course, I was crushed.
He didn't live up to expectations. This map just isn't for me. I've played it a lot lately, but I still don't feel comfortable with it.

Game 2: CTPAHHuK (Necropolis) loses to Joseywales (Necropolis) - 144.
This game turned out to be quite long. We started it the day after finishing the first one. Then Josey went on vacation and, after a few days, found a way to get online there.

The clearing of the spawn point went well, although not exactly on schedule. The opponent came to me immediately after the yellow, two-way portal opened. But while he was looking for a path through my labyrinths, I managed to complete what was necessary.

On turn 143, after clearing the second utopia, I returned to the vicinity of castle 2, and for some reason, I positioned myself to be attacked near the mushrooms on the way to the main castle. I could have ended my turn near the second castle's resource point; Josey might not have been able to reach it. Also, for some reason, I placed devils in the front row against two melee units.

Shnurov criticized me for the pointless final battle and suggested that I review the recording to see what went wrong. There were several of my strange actions. For some reason, I didn't remove the immunity from the barely alive enemy assassin, who could have been defeated by the attack of the three devils in the next turn. In the second round, the ninja could also have used immunity, but instead, he cast a largely useless mass curse. I attacked the enemy tactician poorly, preventing my knights from attacking him with a charge.

The actions in the video seem somewhat confused. Sometimes attacking with heroes, sometimes with monsters. It was even a "surprise" for me when I saw in the recording how the enemy tactician fell. It was completely unexpected. Despite the very bad artifact situation: there were only 2 good artifacts - winged boots and an attack axe +40%. Despite the opponent having a death immunity and my failed plan with a paladin and the first strike + the assassin's frightening helmet. I could have won the final battle. I should have. I confess, I confess, I confess.

Thank you to Shnurov for playing the matches on time! I'm waiting for the remaining games to be completed!

P.S.: Video recordings:
1. Fr vs Rus: Bizarro CTPAHHuK vs Jel 132-133
2. Fr vs Rus: Bizarro CTPAHHuK vs Jel 133-135
3. Fr vs Rus: Bizarro CTPAHHuK vs Jel 136
4. Fr vs Rus: Bizarro CTPAHHuK vs Jel 136
5. Fr vs Rus: Bizarro CTPAHHuK lose Jel завершение.

Game 1: Havr (Haven) def. Duranix (Stronghold) - 143.
Essentially, I won right at the start. After both restarts, I got a life resource next to barbarians. However, the road layout wasn't great; it was almost completely blocked, and it took several days to reach some areas, with no mushrooms along the way. Plus, both one-way portals opened with the worst possible options. For the first week and a half, I fought with 4 Crusaders (I built them as quickly as possible in my home Castle) because both dwellings turned out to be useless. The roads caused a lot of pointless maneuvering, but it seems my opponent also had problems with the roads, as I was always ahead in terms of resources. The game started to progress around the middle of the second week when Angels started appearing in my Castle. I used two of them for clearing out areas. After taking my 4th Castle, I decided to use two Angels to take the large cactus from the Magic faction and a Gargantua (I had a Wand of Death, so I decided to take the risk), but it didn't go well; I lost one Angel. However, I immediately received two more in the cactus.
The Diplomacy building was very poorly located; I only researched it around day 1.3.1. After that, I only had time to visit both markets and take one Utopia. The upper Utopia, with a couple of Angel squads, large cacti around it, and some good artifacts, remained untouched. Instead, I bought both expensive artifacts I had, namely the Robe and the Mug.
However, I got lucky with the road opening to my opponent's territory. I cleared out the lower Utopia and the lower market, and a two-way portal opened. First, it was close to reach, second, I could take a couple more large cacti and add a squad of Crusaders along the way, and third, I could run into a neutral Castle to get Magic for the runner. On day 1.4.2, I jump through the portal and block the path to the bear squad that was guarding the Shield of Death (which was aimed against me), because I didn't have enough movement points to defend it myself. Plus, there was an unclaimed Utopia nearby. My opponent arrives, but doesn't reach me. Looking at his army, I realize that I don't even need to take the Utopia, so I just attack.
My army:
14 Angels, 9 Champions, 61 Crusaders, 2 Sorcerers, a Tactics hero with Life Advancement, a Life Grand Master, and a Runner with Expert Order and Death Advancement. All three heroes are level 17.
His army:
6 Griffins, 6 Bears, 18 Cyclops, 4 heroes levels 10-14, one of whom is a Mage with Master of Life.
If it had been a serious battle, I probably wouldn't have taken the Champions and would have split the Angels, but as it was, it didn't matter. My opponent surrendered almost immediately.

Replacement in the Zybr vs M8mat pairing: 1st game: CTPAHHuK vs M8mat 2nd game: Havr vs M8mat

Game 3: CTPAHHuK (Necropolis) loses to M8mat (Asylum) - 144.
The upgrade process was only fully completed in my last turn. I got Grand Master for the Demonologist and Grand Master for Order near the lower utopia. I didn't have time to learn the Grand Master skill for charm stealing and didn't have time to join forces with the four castle devils and several vampires. In the final battle, it turned out that none of this would have helped anyway. On my side, only the Devils and the Tactician managed to take their turns. The Mages attacked in a fan formation, damaging my Mage, then one French Diser burned away the remaining health of the sorcerer, and the second Diser destroyed the Tactician with 420 health and over 50% resistance. My Demonologist fell from a double strike of 4+4 from the Chaos Dragon. It all ended in the first round.

When I saw Matthew rushing towards me, even before clearing the utopia, I realized that I was short by just one day to complete the preparations for the battle. In the last turn, I started to worry a lot and made some silly mistakes. I entered the final battle with that mindset.

I watched the recording of the battle in the morning. It was difficult to come up with something more sensible. By not moving the devils, I was taking 2 Diser attacks and Hand of Doom, which could take them all out in one round. The only thing I needed to do was position the vampires to defend the Tactician from direct damage magic and place the devils on the flank. But this is about the preparation for the battle, which didn't go well.

Matthew and I both had a very weak setup in terms of artifacts and paths. He, of course, got the Sandals of Swiftness and Wings and the +40% axe, and I, of course, got the +30% staff and the Mullah's Helmet. However, that was all that was useful from such a large number of major artifacts. Matthew only used Dragons and came to me at 143 - you can imagine how inconvenient his paths were.

The hero upgrades turned out well on both sides. I have 2 Grand Masters, and one of them is a Demonologist. He has 3 Grand Masters. But overall, I think that Chaos won in this mutually weak situation. He won convincingly. There were few maneuvers. I believe in Havr. I don't have the spirit for it myself. I hope for 3rd place :)

Game 3: M8mat (Nature) lost to Havr (Chaos) - 145.
I think I played my most successful Bizarro. It all started with an excellent layout. Starting as Chaos, both level 1 dwellings were thieves, with a direct path to a Neutral Order site next to which was a dwelling of 40. What more could I wish for? As a bonus, there were great roads and a system of 4(!) two-way green portals. There is a purchasable robe, and overall the stats layout is great. The starting wizard went into Scout, the second wizard into Tactician, and taking the 40. By the end of the second day, I cleared the dwelling; losses didn't matter. After that, with two sorceresses, everything was fine. Thanks to the portals, I plotted a route where a couple of 40s easily cleared levels 1-2 and even took out two squads of vamps with the help of a hero with Misfortune. One of the squads guarded a medium cactus that gave exp to the Scout, and as a result, he reached his level by day 7. The Ancient Behemoths (AB) in the castle appeared according to the minimum schedule; nothing unnecessary was built, including experience, until they were constructed. The luck was only just beginning :) I freed a prisoner, and nearby was a witch's hut with Order. Without thinking, I dualed the prisoner into Order. The Scout would become a Grand Master thanks to the altars, and a Grand Master of Order against Nature is not at all a bad thing. Then it got even better. I hit the second Bizarro hut (the first gave 10 gems) and got 16 efreets into the army! I lost one immediately while clearing an abandoned sulfur mine (the first and last time bad morale due to the 40s in the army let me down), but those are trifles. By that time, the ABs in the castle were ready; I also bought more efreets and took the last castle (the home secondary was already taken). There, I decided to add goblins from the dwelling for a future join. Later there would be a join of one stack, but in the end, they give so much "change" when joining top monsters that you can't bring yourself to detach them. After taking the 4th castle, I looked at the path and realized there would be no more mushrooms. I thought I'd hang around here to step on the nearby ones on the next turn. As a spot to hang out, I spotted a large cactus behind the frenzied bulls with monsters. 1 AB, 4 goblins, and 23 efreets with hero support managed it. One hero died, but I had to go through the castle anyway. And the cactus gave an AB! How wonderful just before the join. With this army, I clear the AB dwelling (the second hydra, not needed), adding another AB from the castle on the way, and I buy diplomacy. Now, it's safe to join. The sorceresses were detached long ago so they wouldn't get in the way. From roughly this point on, you don't even have to think about the battles, especially after joining the first Mega-Hydra. A good tactician means none of the units on the map can do anything, not even to the single Mega-Hydra that ran ahead. The large cacti continue to please: two for 10K to the tactician, then about 3-4 times—not Order, I don't remember exactly—they gave +3 levels. True, they didn't give gloves for a long time; I only got them on 1.3.3 at the penultimate medium cactus. But almost everything went into defense for the tactician. After opening up, I clean up the last corner, and by the end of 1.4.2, I stand by the mushrooms near the passage to the opponent. I search for him there for a couple of days, leveling up a bit more on what I found along the way. Plus, with the lord, I buy a scroll for 25K — Hand of Death for the tactician — and I manage to transfer it to him, even though I had already given up hope.
Finally, on the opponent's territory, he finds me himself and attacks.
His army:
General-22 (defense 146 with Chaos breastplate), Demonologist-16 (Summon Devils), Bard-19 (GM Nature), 18 phoenixes, 3 squads of 5 manticores.
My army:
General-31 (defense 203, robe, ring of health), Wizard-21 (GM Order with stealing all spells, Master of Chaos, defense 100 with Nature breastplate), Pyromancer-20 (GM Chaos with Staff of Chaos in hand, Disintegrate hits for 1155, defense 84 with dragon breastplate), 6 megas, 10 ABs, 31 goblins, and 39 efreets. The tactician's sets are present: axe +40, ring of the warlord and commander's helm on one of the heroes, dragon shield and ring of protection on another.

The opponent tried to hold my megas and ABs with his manticores, and use phoenixes and devils to kill the Chaos caster. However, my Order caster stole immortality, specifically for him, right after the phoenix removed it :). And the manticores all fell on the first turn to the goblins, efreets, Hand of Death, Disintegrate, and megas, while the ABs flew in and removed the immortality restored by the tactician. On the next turn, both the ABs and the megas were already at the opponent's heroes. Game Over.

A separate thank you to Havru for all 3 points in our favor! I personally watched the completion of a very impressive upgrade and recorded it on my video recorder. Anyone who wants can watch the final recording to the tunes of Zeziuk :) I watched it again - my libido is rising again!

The first tournament on the neutral field of Bizarro was completed without major delays, but it's a pity that it was with a replacement for Zubr. I'm waiting for the French to send their map, and as soon as they do, I'll post it on the forum so that it can be tested. The next tournament will be held on their map. Thank you to the players for participating, and to those who watched - for your attention! May revenge come! :smile13:

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