Tables Turning, Sinking Feeling?
For those unfamiliar with Sinerania, right off the bat
Synergy Factor have been the clear leaders and
Terrain Titans have safely been second. After that, well, that changes with each round of GBG. Sinerania is still quite young which means that GBG has a bigger influence on the ranks, especially for mid-tier guilds whose prestige and guild power is almost solely derived from GBG.
SF and
TT do have a sizeable GvG holding though which really separates them from the rest, and at first
SF kept a healthy lead in GBG just like GvG... but not any more.
Lets compare the guilds:
Synergy Factor | Guild | Terrain Titans |
35,656 | Prestige | 30,106 |
32 | Level | 28 |
68 | Members | 77 |
Platinum (several rounds) | League | Platinum (first round) |
Gisklerific | Leader | Britt the third |
112 | Top 1 Days | 0 |
SF have kept more or less the same lineup since the start of the world, but
TT have had a more enthusiastic recruitment strategy, including about a dozen former
WS players. If we look at the top player ranks, 6 of the top 7 are in
SF with
TT's Sierra Sola in 3rd being the exception.
GBG
Due to
SF being ranked a league above the rest, it means each round has involved the top 5 guilds, typically the bottom three don't make it to the top BG next round due to the MMR gains of winning a lower league. Having said that, guilds like
TT, LS and
NR have found themselves frequently fighting at the top.
The first rounds of GBG went more or less as everyone expected with
SF winning, and few serious deals forming. Some guilds like
TT wanted to take on
SF no matter what,
LS instead tried having a truce with
SF to secure 2nd place and the majority of the mid-tier guilds either gave up or got swept away, leaving
SF safe to get a win each round... but the cracks were starting to form early.
In
round 3 SF faced off against
TT and
WS.
TT tried to ease off
WS in the hope that the two of them would become natural allies against
SF, but it wasn't to be and the
Wolves instead sunk their fangs into the
Titans to secure second place for themselves.
Round 4 saw
SF and
LS on opposite sides of the map with a truce to not cross the middle. This left
NR fighting
LS and
WS fighting
SF and the truce looked rock hard... and then it cracked.
LS broke the deal, some say it was players just attacking without reading orders, others say it was
LS players wanting to lash out against
SF. Either way, the truce broke. It was too late to change the outcome of round 4, but this was the last time
SF would have it easy.
Round 5 saw
TT and
LS - the two strongest rivals of
SF - together again in Platinum and things went differently. They teamed up and delivered and pushed
SF down to 3rd. Remember that while 3rd (out of 5) doesn't increase MMR/Prestige, it doesn't drop it either. It wasn't what happened to
SF that was important, two more important things happened. 1)
TT got a nice boost to help close the gap and 2)
TT and
LS would stay in Platinum next round to do it all again.
Round 6 - this time it wasn't just
TT and
LS, but
NR and
KIS joined in on the act too.
SF realised their energies would be better placed elsewhere and stepped back taking last place.
The invincible had fallen.
So what happens now in GBG?
Gisklerific from
SF had this to say about future rounds:
"
We approach the game with long term goals in mind. Winning or losing some GBG rounds matters little, it’s not worth spending all our troops and goods on a marginally better reward. We are always open to negotiating with anyone and will stick to the letter of any deals we make. I just think most have made up their minds about who we are and what our intentions are."
That last line echos a sentiment that anyone familiar with the top has felt. Are
SF arrogant? Are they just looking out for themselves? Or are they playing the same game as the rest of us, and the hate just comes from them being in the top spot?
Future rounds of GBG will be interesting, given the results it should be more or less the same, maybe with
KIS replaced by another mid-tier guild like
Shadow Assassins (formerly WS and TPS). From talking to the leaders, there don't seem to be any long term alliances, rather short term truces to focus on
SF for now, but what if
SF find an ally? What if cracks form between
TT and
LS?
XxFloxX from
NR had this to say on the matter:
"My feeling is they have the lead and they are treading water once they can all pull together they will wipe the board."
Where does this lead?
The language used gets uglier and uglier by the day.
SF have won many rounds of GBG, but haven't won many friends. So what happens beyond GBG? If other guilds continue to team up and beat
SF in GBG will
SF spill the fighting out into GvG to make up lost ground? Surely in the higher ages
SF could out-muscle
TT and any allies they have.
I asked
Gisklerific from
SF about this and got this reply:
"Currently we have an agreement with TT, well Sierra, that we’ll leave each other alone in GvG. The maps are still mostly open and there’s plenty of room."
When asked about the possibility of
SF declaring war in GvG,
Britt the third from
TT had this to say:
"SF have already been working hard on their GvG land to make up the prestige difference to remain first. We play this game day to day to have fun and meet new people. We love our little group of TTs and we will work together to handle SF as needed."
It sounds like GvG war is unlikely... for now, there's a lot to lose for anyone involved, but there's one very significant thing to win.
The crown.
Thanks for reading, I am not in either SF or TT so a lot of information is second hand and I may have interpreted it incorrectly. If there is a mistake, please let me know and I will try to correct it. Thanks to Gisklerific, Britt the third, XxFloxX, Venus the Proud and anyone else who helped with the article and information (os, Godisgood).