Posts from Diamond Monster

21.07.2013 theShevanesian (blue, Conflux, Monere) def Vodik (red, Rampart, Kyrre) Diamond 136
The start is quite difficult, blocks everywhere, but I still managed to capture the opponent's Castle; on the second week I chain four Hives, on 124 I take the Shield of all +4 and the Book of Fire, on 126 the first Dragon Utopia falls. I take four Dragon Utopias in a row — minimal-value ones. My opponent consistently has a stronger army visible, but I have control, two main heroes with Dimension Door. Finally, Kyrre overextends, I grind 57 Attack Value and attack. Thanks for the game!

21.07.2013 theShevanesian (blue, Conflux, Moner) def Vodik (red, Rampart, Kyrre) Diamond 136
The start is rather difficult, blocks everywhere, but I still managed to capture the enemy's Castle; on the second week, four Hives via chains; on 124, I pick up the Shield granting +4 to all and the Book of Fire; on 126, the first Dragon Utopia falls. I took four Dragon Utopias in a row — all minimal. The opponent keeps showing a stronger army all the time, but I have control, two main heroes with DD. Finally, Kyrre blundered, I upgrade 57 Wivs and attack. Thanks for the game!

That was indeed a game! I played frankly poorly, while my opponent played well.
Thanks for the game!

26.07.2013 WiZarDX_576 (Red, Stronghold, Gunnar, Gunar) def darkello (Blue, Castle, Caitlin, Arlash) Diamond 135

The opponent picked all the resets, I picked one — we begin.
In the Castle, wolves are built, Gunar arrives, there's an external marketplace near the Castle, and the meat spawn is decent — we play.
On the first week, an external dwelling of birds was found in the native treasure zone, a Dungeon village, where the birds were portal'd. At home, Bears and Orcs are in the Castle.
Scouted an excellent treasure zone with several Dragon Fly Hives, Pandora's Boxes, Wings, and a Chalice. Plus there was a native village.
There was also a Crag, but I leaned toward Guna with advanced Logistics and Earth Magic at that point.

With the external marketplace on 122, almost a full buyout, we take the first Dragon Fly Hive — max. Got it with a loss of the Sprite.
We run as the main hero into the treasure zone, leveling Earth Magic along the way. The Mage Guild at home is royal: Stoneskin, Slow, Haste, Bless, and Arrow.
Without issues, we take the Wings with 50+ Gorgons, dive into a portal nearby — and there's Arlash on Horses with max movement. The plan — to overwhelm. The chain goes to upgrade 20+ birds, and we already have 25 Wyverns on hand. The birds got upgraded with an exchange of all resources, but unfortunately they were quickly lost in the chains and remained sitting on the Horse. Attacked with Wyverns. Took down 2 Horses, and the opponent bought peace.
Scouting in that direction, swapping Horses. Near the portal, a Griffin Conservatory — pity it's a 1. Picking up Dragon Fly Hives in our own treasure zone, a couple of Pandora's Boxes for experience and 90 Gnolls. A Chalice for 30 Champions.
Arlash arrives on 127 in person. The meat situation is bad there, and on 131 we attack. He has 5 mana, I have 8. He casts Oil, I think it over and decide not to reveal mine yet and cast Haste on the Wyverns. Having cut down 8 of his Wyverns and Archers, while he takes down an Angel and a couple of birds in return, the opponent buys peace.

All the new growth goes to beat the Swamp computer. Meanwhile, Guna runs ahead.
The opponent's treasure zone is found with Bracers, a Dragon Fly Hive, and a Shield +4 all, again guarded by Champions. Didn't risk it without mana against them. Took the Dragon Fly Hive, Bracers, and a couple of Pandora's Boxes a bit deeper. And through a Well on 135, I reached Castle's main.
Blue decided not to pull the cat by the tail and capitulates.

Thanks for the game!

26.7.2013: twaryna (red, Conflux, Fiur, Gurney) def pofigu (blue, Necropolis, Isra, Isra) Diamond 131

We started playing without rests. Small central respawn, but excellent road connections and Gurney came. On day 2, I scout in the adjacent zone wings for unicorns. Then from the lookout, another 2 hives + boxes and a +5 all stats sword from bears — fantastic. Gurney pushed forward, on day 1 he took an external dwelling of cows and hydras, a Pandora's box with 60 lizardmen. Built birds. Ciele came by the way — helped a lot too. On day 121, I press on the creature bank for a box and a hive. Kill it without problems. The box is empty, the hive has 6 Wyverns. Next, I attack the horde of diamond golems. There are 99 of them — they kill me, taking 4 birds, 36 air elementals and a ballista. No despair. I rebuy at the external tavern and finish them off. The box gives 20k gold. The Dragon Fly Hive has 6 Wyverns. I break into an adjacent Tower zone. There I take another Dragon Fly Hive with 6 Wyverns and a Griffin Conservatory with 2 angels. The box has 3 Titans. The 3rd week is also approaching. Gurney retrieves the +5 all stats sword. He prepares to hit the wings and the Air Book. Opponent surrenders. Thanks for the game!

26.7.2013: twaryna (red, Conflux, Fiur, Gurney) def pofigu (blue, Necro, Isra, Isra) Diamond 131

confirmed, thanks for the game

26.07.2013 WiZarDX_576 (Red, Stronghold, Gurni, Gunnar) def darkello (Blue, Castle, Caitlin, Arlash) Diamond 135

Opponent picked all the rests, I went alone - we begin.
Wolves built in the castle, Gunnar arrives, there's an external market near the castle, and meat generation is decent too - we play.
On the first week, found an external dwelling of birds in the native treasure zone, a Dungeon village, where the birds were portal'd. At home, bears and orcs in the castle.
Scouted an excellent treasure zone with several Dragon Fly Hives, Pandora's Boxes, wings, and a chalice. Plus there was the native village.
There was also a Crag, but I leaned towards Gunn with advanced Logistics and Earth magic at that point.

With the external market, almost full buyout by week 2 day 2, take the first Dragon Fly Hive - max. Took it with a loss of Overlords.
Run with the main stack to the treasure zone, leveling Earth magic along the way. The Mage Guild is royal: Stone Skin, Slow, Haste, Bless, and Archery.
No trouble taking the wings with 50+ Gorgons, dive into the portal nearby - and there's Arlash on horses with Movement Boost. Plan - to suppress. The chain goes to upgrade 20+ birds, and I already have 25 Wyverns on hand. The birds got upgraded with an exchange of all resources, but unfortunately they were quickly lost in the chains and ended up staying on the horse (logistics hero). Attacked with Wyverns. Killed 2 horses and opponent bought peace.
Scouting in that direction, swapping horses. Next to the portal is a Griffin Conservatory, too bad it's only level 1. Collecting the Dragon Fly Hives in my treasure zone, a couple of Pandora's Boxes for experience and 90 Gnolls. A chalice for 30 Champions.
Arlash arrives on week 3 day 1 in person. Meat situation is poor there, and on week 3 day 5 we attack. He has 5 mana, I have 8. He casts Oil, I think it over and don't reveal mine yet, and cast Haste on the Wyverns. Having cut down 8 of his Wyverns and Archers, and he in response kills an Angel and a few birds, opponent buys peace.

All the new growth goes to fight the swamp neutral. Meanwhile, Gunn runs forward.
Found the opponent's treasure zone with Bracers, a Dragon Fly Hive, and a +4 All Stats Shield, again behind Champions. Didn't risk it without mana. Took the Dragon Fly Hive, Bracers, and a couple of Pandora's Boxes a bit deeper. And through the Well on week 4 day 1 reached the Castle main.
Blue decided not to drag it out and capitulates.

Thanks for the game!

One-sided game with a bad luck coefficient

Losers' Semifinal:

twaryna vs WiZarDX_576

The winner advances to face HellLight.

17.07.13 KobRa (red, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti)-1700 def Piterius (blue, Stronghold, Tyraxor, Tyraxor)+1700 on diamond at 115 FullWT

Since I won the auction, I had to play as the Dungeon faction. There were some good prospects with 300 troglodytes and 40 pegasus on the second turn (+KB with mass haste and +10 Knight, and a cloak for quick engagement), but my opponent didn't have a good start, even though he had a good artifact setup.
Thanks for the game!

07/17/13 KobRa (red, Dungeon, Shakti, Shakti)-1700 def Piterius (blue, Stronghold, Tyraxor, Tyraxor)+1700 on diamond at 115 FullWT

Since I won the auction, I had to play as the Dungeon faction. There were good prospects with 300 Trogols and 40 Pegasuses on the second turn (+KB with mass haste and +10 Knight, and a cloak for quick engagement), but my opponent didn't have a good start, although he had a good artifact setup, even a very good one.
Thanks for the game!

I confirm.
Thanks for the game.

14.08.2013 WiZarDX_576 (red, tower, neela, galthran) def twaryna (blue, fortress, tazar, tazar) Diamond 145

We picked all the rests and went.
Tough start, because the 2nd hero came as pikeman with one stack, resulting in a starting army of 50 gremlins and 10 gargoyles. One road led to the sandy treasure zone for orcs, another went through boars and dwarves into the underground.
On the first week I scouted the sands a bit. In one underground I quickly found a comp that cut down my scout, in another - a block of golems and inferno dogs for a Dragon Fly Hive (which I went for later). Nearby, wings for 20-49 horses. I pushed through off-road into a grassy treasure zone, where I found an external dwelling of gremlins and several Dragon Fly Hives. I also found a strategic lookout that revealed half of the opponent's spawn. Little money, so nagas in the fort and 5 heroes on the first week.
I started the second week with a Pandora's box for 5k experience for Gosha. Gremlins and skeletons were being gathered. By week 2 day 4 I took the first Dragon Fly Hive with 6 Wyverns, a Dwarf Cottage with 20. Earth magic was leveled up, but there was no Slow.
The opponent appeared in the nearest teleporter, which led towards the Rampart comp captured by Twaryna on the first week. This forced me to play on constant edge.
Week 3 day 5 - a tough fight with 50 cows with Haste for a prison. Minus morale on gremlins, resulting in losses of half the skeleton stack, a naga, and golems. The lookout reports that the opponent has Luna, who ran through a Griffin Conservatory. And Tazar was showing in the tavern with better stats.
In the underground I found another trio of Dragon Fly Hives, decided to hang around there a bit and start gathering everything with the delivery on the 3rd week.

No tempo, the opponent has everything better according to the tavern, but we don't give up.
Found a scroll of Slow, and through a well, Gosha by week 4 day 1 near the wings.
Week 4 day 1 - with Slow, a warmachine, and a decent stack of blue horses fall without much trouble.
Week 4 day 1-3 - gathering Dragon Fly Hives. One guard was arch devils, who kicked the Wyverns and gremlins pretty hard. But the last Dragon Fly Hive in this zone was rewarding - max. Total: 26 ducks, 200 gremlins, and about the same number of skeletons.
Week 4 day 4-6 - clearing the grassy treasure zone, with 3 Dragon Fly Hives and a Gladius.
Week 4 day 7 - a chain through 2 Dragon Fly Hives and Gosha finally stands before one of the revealed Dragon Utopias, where nearby is a cloak +2 to speed. Gathered a stack of 60+ ducks, but according to the tavern, the army power there is better.
Week 5 day 1 - delivery, Dragon Utopia (+4 all, hat +4+4). Nearby a grave and a Pandora's box for 10 angels. We take it and... all 4th level magic. Exactly 12 mana to cast Town Portal to refill mana at the castle, and I target the next Dragon Utopia.
Week 5 day 2 - I check the grave - a bronze hat with ears, or in common terms - a teapot! I pass it to the main hero and dive into the next Dragon Utopia - a book of air. A plan emerged to run over to the swamp and upgrade my Wyverns.
Week 5 day 3 - the last Dragon Utopia in sight, a red orb and 2 books of water. Also a nearby Pandora's box for a hundred archmagi on all earth magic and a cuirass +12 to spell power. Tazar runs into the grassy, already cleared treasure zone. There are 7 angels, 60+ griffin ducks, and the rest is meat. At least we've matched in parameters. Now definitely to the swamp.
Week 5 day 4 - through a break and the nearest external tavern, Gosha on the last moves reaches the opponent's capital, not enough mana for Town Portal home, and only 18 mana. Didn't manage to scatter in time, time was tight, so just upgraded Wyverns, bought 20+ basilisks and 30 dragon flies, and held my breath waiting for what happens. Tazar disappears from sight. The opponent's turn drags on for long minutes. Phew - not caught.
Week 5 day 5 - strategic lookout and we see Tazar nearby. Debated what to do, attack or keep running, but didn't really want to keep grinding, have money to buy peace, so I decide to attack. The opponent had no anti-magic, nor any offensive magic. I had Implosion for 2400 and Lightning Bolt for 1000. Magic decided it.

Thanks for the game!

08/14/2013 WiZarDX_576 (red, tower, neela, galthran) def twaryna (blue, fortress, tazar, tazar) Diamond 145

I confirm. The losing streak continues. It was a difficult start – many ranged units, but we are gradually gaining momentum. We have Moon, which is very good. Tazar is leveling up like a king – earth, log, tactics. In the 1st week, I kill the computer ramp. Moon levels up – takes a building for 5k experience. There are 2 cons buildings – a level 2 and a throne room (4) – I take them all in the 2nd week with Moon. After that, everything is great – in terms of pace, map control, and power, we are far ahead of the opponent. But there is one small "but" – zero undead on the entire explored map and 2 relics – a +5 all stats sword and later a Kurta +4 defense and attack. Well, and naturally, this decides everything – there is full control, stats, and combat magic. They take my main and I almost fail to create a chain to return troops – that way, Tazar would kill Galthran in the castle without mana, but alas. Thanks for the game!

21.08.13 Redwhait_HP (blue, conflux, random, fiery, Luna) def HellLighT (red, ramp, Kyrre) diamond 132
My opponent chose all the rests right away, giving me the chance to look at a few setups, and I found the optimal one almost immediately. Luna, an Air magic tower from the Conflux built, and another Necropolis from the start, Boots of Speed with 50+ cloth, a Stable, fast roads, and several directions. The opponent killed a computer player on 111, I decided not to fall too far behind and took a town.
On 112, I pushed the second direction; Luna already got Advance Defense :)
In the treasure zone, a Pandora's Box for 50+ green dragons is behind gold golems.
113, took a Castle; found a 2nd Dragon Fly Hive, a prison behind gray bears, a Library behind green liches, and a Book of Earth for 10-19 nagas, and a Well next to it!
Quickly level up what I have to Advanced Fire Magic and on 115, with 5 spell power, I break the book; there are 16+3 nagas, but a relatively favorable terrain lets me take them out right away. I Town Portal back home, set up a University there, and buy Earth Magic.
Then I start slowly clearing the treasure zone; with the book there are no problems anymore, and I also grabbed Boots to the Log and Stable.
On 117, I built Griffins and with oil took out 7 gray bears, freeing a level 20 hero, who immediately headed closer to the Stable.
On 121, I buy 2 more Griffins, enter the Stable, Town Portal to the treasure zone, and take out the green liches for the Library, and they were also blocking the path to the opponent. Getting ready to rush soon.
122, +4 spell power, another Dragon Fly Hive, and a Chest for 5k experience. Luna maxed out Log and also got Intellect 2-5-13 (150).
123, I break into the opponent's respawn and capture his main (there are only Elves there, and the Barbarian Castle town that was captured on the first day; bears are already there). Not enough time for much scouting.
124, terrain scouting revealed a Book of Fire + Dragon Fly Hive behind green liches, another Dragon Fly Hive, a Fountain of Mana, and a Dragon Utopia. I had enough turns to collect the Dragon Fly Hives with the book and enter to double the mana; it became 300.
125, I didn't have Harpies, so the Dragon Utopia fell nicely :D it gave a Chalice and a Black Orb. Then I took a fat Pandora's Box for 100+ experience pots; Luna 11-11-22 (200) heads towards the Red Orb. Right now, what I'd least want is for the opponent to snatch it; it's in his treasure zone, and in that area his noobs were snooping around, might have found it; the Cape was lying with me, I wasn't worried about it yet.
126, Red Orb is mine; the noobs go to capture the Orange computer player; near it is a Dragon Utopia, and a day and a half's travel away is a Book of Air.
127, Crag Hack with 3 logs overcame a Mage with 1 Swordsman in the computer's Citadel. Luna Town Portals there, takes the Dragon Utopia (it only gave gold) and runs to the Book of Air, stopping at a Stable not far from it.
131, the Stable is checked, the book is taken, Town Portal home, buying, and we go look for Kyrre.
132, Kyrre appears on his own with a small stack of Wyverns. I attack, immediately implode the Wyverns, and the opponent surrenders.
Thanks for the game!

21.08.13 Redwhait_HP(blue, conflux, random, feud, Luna) def HellLighT(red, rampart, Kyrre) diamond 132
Thanks for the game!

Confirmed, I crushed all the restarts to scrap and got one Luna with a starting roll, then immediately through a rest from my opponent he gets another Luna, which on a diamond cuts harder than anywhere else, and the draw didn't disappoint him either, only a Cursed Scroll could have saved me, which for some reason I didn't spot unlike my opponent.
btw
19.08.13 HellLighT(blue, rampart, Crag) def WiZarDX_576(red, Citadel, Gurnison) diamond 135
Until turn 125 I was doing complete nonsense, despite having collected 2 Pandora's Boxes with dwarves and an external dwelling of horses, from which I couldn't even buy due to the timer on the first week, lots of troop losses, then suddenly within 3-4 turns I chopped 30 Wyverns, captured +6+4 all and КЗ, Dragon Utopias started falling, a couple of conservatories and with full control I overwhelmed my opponent, spotting him on one of the Dragon Utopias, thanks for the game.

Since only 1 SoD game remains in the tournament, we can now analyze the statistics. A total of 51 games were played in SoD, and for each Castle, the number of games, win percentage, and win-loss record are listed.

Rampart - 18 games, 78%, 14-4
Flax - 10 games, 70%, 7-3
Dungeon - 15 games, 53%, 8-7
Swamp - 4 games, 50%, 2-2
Stronghold - 22 games, 41%, 9-13
Tower - 13 games, 38%, 5-8
Castle - 14 games, 36%, 5-9
Necropolis - 5 games, 20%, 1-4
Inferno - 1 game, 0%, 0-1

Castle turned out to be unexpectedly weak; in my opinion, this result does not fully reflect the Castle's actual strength. The Necropolis result is also not entirely representative, simply due to the small number of games.

Statistics for starting heroes:

Castle: Valeska - 10, Caitlin - 4 (it's not very clear why Caitlin was chosen)
Rampart: Ivor - 9, Kiri - 8, Mephala - 1 (here's an interesting competition for the role of starting hero)
Tower: Ain - 6, Nila - 5, Torosar - 2 (in my opinion, Torosar is underrated; I would start with him for the Tower)
Inferno: Kalh - 1
Dungeon: Shakti - 13, Gunnar - 2
Stronghold: Gurnisson - 15, Crag - 5, Dessa - 2, Tyraxor - 1 (Crag and Dessa are clearly not suitable for this build)
Swamp: Tazar - 4

Most frequent Castle pairings:

6 games - Rampart vs. Castle 6:0 (here seems to be the reason; with a score of at least 4:2, the statistics for the Castles would be more adequate to their strength)
6 games - Stronghold vs. Tower 4:2
4 games - Rampart vs. Stronghold 4:0
4 games - Stronghold vs. Castle 2:2
4 games - Rampart vs. Dungeon 2:2
4 games - Flax vs. Dungeon 3:1
3 games - Dungeon vs. Stronghold 3:0

I don't really understand people who chose pairings like Stronghold-Rampart or Stronghold-Dungeon; it's already clear that Stronghold is significantly weaker, and they were once again convinced of this - 0:7.

Statistics for colors - 22 wins for red vs. 29 wins for blue. Red rush was allowed, but it didn't help...

Average game length - 18 days, i.e., 1.3.4.

Interesting statistics!!!
There will be plenty of food for thought for statistics enthusiasts.
Torosar is clearly underestimated, although more matches are needed for a complete picture, which would go beyond a single tournament.
It's great that Rampart has been so strong lately. Apparently, there's a trend for using this faction)))