I want to address the classic “bad boards” problem.
To do so- I will enter the Raid Tournament with an average defense- but on start, immediately and deliberately lose all 4 battles in succession.
My observation is- the “average” defense becomes indestructible- ranks A grade “for free”.
Last week I observed this:
Which concluded with 7 straight defense victories in a row.
Question- how is it possible to get 7 defense wins in a row- which if everything else is equal- is like observing a 1/128 chance events.
Either:
I would really welcome feedback and thoughts, theories or whatever regarding this experiment- thanks in advance!
For reference- this week I entered this team:
And- in line with expectations- my defense keeps winning:
That defense is actually pretty good. And really high troops.
You assume you have identified all the possible causes. I would submit another: that because you finished the first day with a 1-4 record, resulting in a low score, the matching algorithm has paired you with lesser opponents
Wouldn’t that be in the second category? My defense being too powerful?
Here’s two teams that attacked:
Both seem as, if not more powerful, or?
Troops are much lower and also that’s their defence team. No way of knowing what the team they attacked you with is
True- no way of knowing. So, maybe they just raid and flee- could also be, right?
But what you are witnessing are now three back to back defense victories- on the back of seven back to backs.
How many more back to back defense victories would you need to observe before you start thinking “something is strange”?
Agreed - emblemed heroes and high troops. Would expect this team to easily be A-grade.
There is no reason to suspect this is a possibility.
Defense too powerful. This probably deserves some sub categories.
A. Your defense team is just too darned good.
B. Losing a whole bunch of your attacks right away has resulted in your defense team inappropriately getting matched against weaker attack teams.
C. Other - not sure.
Opponent suffered bad boards.
A. Naturally - luck can result in some weird swings.
B. Unnaturally
Other
The others above are to represent the possibilities we haven’t considered yet.
For example: maybe there are Bot players that SG has created to boost the defense scores of players who lose a bunch of raid attacks right away. This encourages the player to want to spend 75 gems to continue the fight, now wielding an A defense rating and the free points they got from that.
Or,
Most likely a combination of 2 and 3. There doesn’t need to be one single thing here.
Or,
Something else that hasn’t been presented yet.
It Depends on the defense, the quality of the attacking team, the format (bloody battle, etc)…
But to answer your question: a lot. If I am gonna invest myself in some sorta conspiracy theory, I will need a lot.
Especially since as others have pointed out, your defense team is pretty good 
Fair enough- let’s see what happens:) I will continue to update
Great insights- appreciate it.
Meeeh … others are better- but if the matching would be fair- and I’m not matched with easy targets then we would expect C grade defense, right?
Or their phone died, or they lost connection or an asteroid landed on them. Who knows. I dont really deal with assumptions. What I do know is this: You have a strong defence team that is tailored to performing well in this tournament.
For your claims to hold water that the game is auto manufacturing losses for your opponent I’d prefer to see a more middle of the line defence set up which would normally only be able to hold at 50/50 miraculously win 100% of the time
Next week, try a different test.
Instead of using a tank that is weak against the missing element, use a tank that is weak against an element that you’re enemies can attack. I went 4-4 last week and only racked up a C Defense for the week and had a nearly fully emblemed defense.
I don’t think that early poor results necessarily lead to great defensive results.
I’ve also had A defense when winning 18 or 22 on offense, so there’s that as well.
It’s largely RNG, but being able to put out 5 heroes with fully leveled Troops is definitely an advantage that those using 3-2 and mono in particular would not be able to match.
Regarding this week, I’ve found that my defense tends to do better with Rush Attack - it’s difficult to overcome a bad board, especially with the right tank in place.
But the previous Raid Tournament- that was just a 3800 TP 4* - Boldtusk & Colen- nothing special- and- same thing- constantly winning the defense raids. Here, these were my opponents who lost:
And you can easily compare my current 3* defense with the top ranking in this competition- it’s very very average. Indestructibly average- but still, average. Something I expect a level 70 experience player to defeat- unless … the boards were truly awful.
Which is so far, the only credible argument.
Absolutely- but I want to see how long I can keep this A ranking running- actually this is the fourth test- my first two had identical results- hence wanted to publish in real time
Can you show me an example in this event? Happy to try new things out
Priska? She’s the right tank? Hmmm … don’t see it personally
