K105: The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

 

Joining BAD TANGO in K105 was a wild gamble. I knew no one. I had no plan. It was November 2024, and I was just coming out of a rather forgettable experience elsewhere. But something about the vibe clicked — and before I knew it, I’d stayed until February. That’s ages in TB time.

Soon after I joined, Joker and Stalker followed me into TANGO, and things started to feel oddly familiar — but with better clan activity, especially in epics. For once, it wasn’t just me carrying the grind. The management was warm, active, and sometimes borderline R-rated — in the fun, chaotic kind of way. Let’s just say, it wasn’t boring.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

The clan leader, Cptsaulding, was one of the nicest, most active leaders I’ve come across. He was the one who added me to all the chats and patiently coordinated CP Defenders with me — something that takes saint-level energy.

I had actually first messaged Biggus to get into the clan. He had this quiet, no-nonsense energy — all action, little chat — and I kind of admired that. He was mostly busy hunting, and I legit saw him collect 17 billion from someone in one go. Despite the trillions he might’ve stashed, he was not the sharing type! Sadly, the game wiped our chat history, and my memory’s about as reliable as a leaky sieve, so I can’t remember much more about our interactions we had during my time at TANGO.

The sups — Ruler, Masius, Finda, Lorraine, Fourloco — were also solid. But like most kingdoms, CP defenders were in short supply. One of them told me about a player who offered CP runs for silver: MGBrickworks. He even put in a good word for me.

At that point, my S9 research was nearly there — 10/10 and 8/10. And with MG’s help, I finally unlocked full S9 across two KvKs. I guess 105 was my good luck charm after all.

MG deserves special mention here. He tolerated my chaos and questions during KvK CP runs, never snapped, and somehow remained a genuinely kind soul through it all. After spending billions in silver and millions in gold, I finally had a full s9 set. We became friends, or at least I think we did. These days, I try not to assume too much — sometimes people are just being nice, and I read too much into it. Oops.

The Stalker Saga: 

I first met him back in K78, during my eternal “please someone give me silver” phase. I had set up this little system where I exchanged gift passes for silver, and he was one of the people I traded with. We were both from Pakistan, ended up on the same TANGO server, and I even added him as a friend.

At first, it was all innocent — just compliments and casual chats. But then it got… clingy. He kept calling me dear and darling in clan chat, and I had to lay it out gently:

a) I’m a cancer survivor.
b) Radiation basically wiped out every cell with romantic potential.
c) I’m just here to play the game in peace.

You’d think that would be enough to make someone back off, but nope.

And then real life hit me like a truck.

My father was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and passed away in January — just 25 days later. I shared it on the clan server, but somehow, the guy who never missed a message suddenly “didn’t see it.” Right.

The second reason for his disgruntlement was that he had supported me during my CP runs with MG by sending Amani with 1 soldier. It’s not as simple as it sounds — we’re talking about more than 40–50 attacks, and the march dies at each one and has to be sent again to your city. The person supporting you not only has to be online but also needs to be actively coordinating with you throughout. He wasn’t online at the time MG gave me, so I asked him to come online. However, when he asked me, I was quite literally in mourning. It was just 2–3 days after my father had passed away. Naturally, this was added to the list of grievances against my so-called selfishness. 

We stayed on polite terms, but the cracks were already there. He would eventually follow me into another clan, and that’s where things would properly fall apart.

The Joker Meltdown: From Besties to Blocked

Then came the whole Joker situation.

He joined shortly after I did — curious about the clan and probably swayed by my overly enthusiastic review of it. We clicked instantly. We joked, lit up the chat together, placed our cities side by side, and bitched about people in PMs like the little chaos gremlins we were.

Until one day I made a comment about low performers during an ancient. Nothing wild — just something like “people below norm should be hitting.” Next thing I know, he’s in my PMs with a whole lecture about how I “always” make digs at people. Huh?

I explained that I don’t even have high-end gear, and I managed norms even without S9 — it was never about shaming anyone. But apparently, that was the hill he chose to die on.

I finally told him, “You’re no friend of mine with that snide attitude.”

And boom. The gloves came off.

Suddenly I was a drama queen, attention-seeker, impossible to talk to. He accused me of throwing tantrums and just… spiraled. I told him — very clearly — please don’t message me again.

So, of course, he followed me to Discord to drop this little gem:

“You horrible person. You are where you deserve to be. Disgusting behaviour and personality.”

Yeah. That happened.

So I blocked him. Obviously.

Here’s the thing — if someone flips this hard over a minor disagreement, that’s not a friendship. That’s a red flag with a username. And if standing up for myself makes me the villain in his story, then so be it. I’ll take being the villain over being someone’s emotional sponge any day.

After that, I couldn’t stay.

He had made a few friends in the clan, and soon they were shifting their cities away from mine, being icy in chat, and sending every signal possible that I was now the outcast.

And honestly? I’ve dealt with bigger losses in life. A few in-game cold shoulders don’t scare me. But I play this game to escape, not to tiptoe around egos.

So I left.

105 gave me S9, a few battle scars, and a reminder that all things come to an end especially the good times!