Ok, so the last tournament got me where I wanted (diamond) but it was nothing to do with strategy - more with volume. This time round (as evidenced by the lateness of this post) I don't quite have the time to deal with volume, so I needed something better. It's a little too late to put up strategy here to help, so this post is very much about documenting feelings and thoughts in a general format. Feel free to stop reading now.
So far...[]
The fights have been tough, the meta unpredictable (probably because everyone around my level has just about all the heroes and most are level 12), and the bonuses incredible (doubly so for all the gold spenders). I get people with armoury bonuses which are easily 20+k more than me, and hero bonuses which are a third higher than my own. This led me to bank largely on the AI and, with some luck, the turns.
By using a combination of Capt Britain (CB for short) and assorted heroes, I've been able to hover around the 10% (diamond) border, but not quite entering vibranium. It started with psylocke, then wolvie, then QS, then Emma, and now I simply rotate around any hero I can that seems to work well.
I face a lot of Thors, Black Widows, Emmas, and the random CB and Wolvie, usually all in alternate costumes. I have the feeling (but this can't really be proven) that with an even bonus meter, I would have been able to win most of them, because I usually get some seriously overpowered attack killing me, rather than a few well-placed attacks. That's not really something I can help, because unlike others I don't have a constant and seemingly bottomless supply of gold - I fought a guy with 60 Uru Nuggets in his armoury, and I distinctly remember him having filled it up previously with other LE items (yes, I do log my battles).
What's Next...[]
It's three days left to the end (or four, depending on where you are and when you're reading this), and I hope at the very least I can get Diamond. I'm not particularly keen on the suit, but if I can I'd go for it. At the moment it's actually hard to stay afloat above 10% already, and on a good day I'd have lost over 100 points due to AFK, knocking me to the mid-range of gold. I've had a huge store of items, but as mentioned I don't quite have the time to make up using volume, so this is a tricky situation.
Let's see how it goes. (or went)[]
Tourney over - I expected a high volume of fights at the end (translate: last two hours) so I woke up early to get in a few more fights. Turns out when you're right you're dead right - I'd lost 200 overnight and the last two hours were a desperate race against the clock to climb up from 25% to anything below 10%. Not to mention that there was one fight on defense for every fight on offense I made, for a good hour or so. I made it barely to 9.8% and then fortunately it held for the last 2 minutes, giving me my desired Diamond League - I was actually hoping that I could have gotten the suit, but I think that might not have been realistic.
So I've got a new weapon, although one that looks like I might not use. Let's see.