They kept IMPROVING as the Super Turtle went on! Halo Wars 2

Match timeline

1. 0:00–6:00

   Picks, walls, and the Goldilocks zone

   The video opens as the previous game’s post-mortem wraps up: Andy and Gus credit those opponents, then repeat their rule of thumb that players who start a turtle well tend to end it worse (they abandon what works), while players who start badly end it better. Andy takes Johnson and Gus takes Atriox, their preferred super-turtle comp, with Gus planning to get Atriox out early and start leveling him. The new opponents open with walls instead of a rush, which Andy and Gus read as a sign they won’t attack, and Andy and Gus debate the “Goldilocks zone”: opponents good enough to be entertaining but not good enough to break the turtle. Two hours would be an acceptable game length, though neither host expects the opponents to last that long.

2. 6:00–14:00

   Boxed in by walls

   The enemy walls are awkward to deal with: they have to be hit directly rather than targeted, they stun, and attacking them doesn’t appear to grant veterancy (a viewer question later confirms that hunter walls no longer give vet). The opponent keeps dropping walls in front of a base, which Andy and Gus joke is boxing them in and setting screens, while Andy heals Gus’s base with Johnson. When Andy offers to pivot over, Gus stays put: the enemy has no detection, and Gus has Bulwark ready with Goliaths on the field. Around 14:00 the enemy shows up with only a couple of Wolverines, a probe rather than a real push.

3. 14:00–21:00

   First pokes and a Banshee trade

   Most of this stretch is chat between skirmishes. The action is a Banshee fight around 18:40: Gus’s Banshees trade into the enemy, a good number of them are lost, and the base takes no damage. Near 20:50 an enemy fake-out pulls a Pelican over to the other host’s side, and the two re-coordinate who is covering which base.

4. 21:00–29:00

   Beams, Bulwark, and a solo hold

   Andy has an EMP MAC Blast ready and offers heals, while Gus lines up a beam and keeps Bulwark on standby for the upper base; both bases hold, and Andy goes after the enemy’s Goliaths. Around 24:40 Atriox picks up kills (a Retriever among them) and closes in on veteran 3, and the enemy pulls back. Andy and Gus call it: “they’re gone,” but the opponents keep playing. From about 28:00 Andy steps away to refill water, and the enemy pushes on his main while he’s gone. Gus, short on units after wasting several, holds the line until Andy is back near 29:05.

5. 29:00–37:00

   An army wiped, then a fall-back

   Back together, they get a big swing at about 32:20, when the enemy army is “eviscerated” in a fight that Gus finishes with a beam. At 34:15 Andy and Gus float flipping their main bases. Around 35:45 the team falls back to defend another base; Andy and Gus note it was lucky the enemy didn’t push one base further, and by 36:35 they have killed the enemy’s detection. Andy’s Johnson reaches veteran 2.

6. 37:00–44:00

   Flipping mains

   Around 37:30 the team swaps main bases, which Andy and Gus call a hallmark of their turtles: it is timed right after the opponents commit to an attack, and they say it has never caused a real problem. One host criticizes his own positioning (“halfway all the time”), and Gus keeps Andy honest with a pop-cap check (roughly 21 Mantises in Andy’s army). Andy’s EMP MAC Blast catches enemy units sitting in it, and an enemy Goliath drop that goes after a base is stopped. Andy and Gus again speculate that the opponents are about to quit. A long chat lull follows, ending near 43:40 when they hunt down the last of the enemy’s Wolverine detection.

7. 44:00–52:00

   The opponents start improving

   At about 44:15 the enemy lands a hit that draws an “oh my god,” and Andy and Gus admire their creativity: they’re “playing better as it goes along.” Gus confirms it, and Andy and Gus joke that the idea should be called the “Gus theory”—the premise of this episode’s title. Around 47:00 the enemy takes heavy losses and Andy and Gus puzzle over its odd siege and turret choices, and by 47:55 a Scarab and a Locust are dead. Near 50:00 the enemy split-pushes with a large force and Gus’s beams land repeatedly because they “stand in the beam.” At about 51:00 the enemy retreats without an obvious reason.

8. 52:00–58:00

   A structure falls, a hero dies

   Andy’s EMP MAC Blast is about 25 seconds from ready near 52:50, and the shot around 53:00 doesn’t land cleanly. At 53:18 the game announces an enemy structure demolished. Gus uses Bulwark to protect his Banshees, then a veteran-3 hero dies around 53:40; Andy and Gus joke it may be for the best, and the team rebuilds. By about 56:00 Andy and Gus admit they are surprised the opponents are still playing this far in: when the game started they didn’t think it would last 20 minutes.

9. 58:00–1:05:00

   Gus’s villain arc backfires

   Around 58:00 Gus decides to try “something different” to make the opponents quit, and Andy dubs it his villain arc. The enemy responds by playing better: a veteran-3 hero is lost soon after, and waves of enemy units, some by air, push in. Around 1:01:00 the enemy hits Gus’s upper base; Gus needles Andy for being slow to help, Andy blames stuns and a controller that isn’t responding, then arrives and bails Gus out. At about 1:04:00 a beam from Gus’s Atriox catches a big part of the enemy army. Andy and Gus then discuss what it takes to break a super turtle: patience and a consistent plan, since one engagement won’t decide it, and they concede they could still lose.

10. 1:05:00–1:11:00

    Colony, Anders, and a teleport escape

    At 1:05:15 Andy and Gus name the opponents’ leaders as Colony and Anders and note they have no nukes, a poor comp for breaking a super turtle. One host declines to drop bunkers, citing a past turtle where the game crashed when they did. Andy and Gus agree this Badlands game isn’t ideal for Gundams (Century would be better) and note the enemy has plenty of detection. Around 1:07:40 a host predicts the enemy’s next play involves Scarabs. At 1:08:40 an enemy teleports out of danger, a “top 200 play,” but still eats a beam; Gus admits his taunt was a gamble that backfired. Around 1:09:15 Andy points out Gus floating roughly 80–90k and tells him to micro Atriox to get stars. Andy and Gus debate whether Century or this larger map is likelier to set a record-length game, arguing that this map gives the enemy more attack options and more reason to keep playing.

11. 1:11:00–1:18:00

    Pressure on the upper base and a costly hero chase

    The enemy keeps getting better and Andy and Gus say so. Gus double-shields the base, but heavy leader-power pressure on his upper base costs him another three-star Atriox near 1:12:00. Gus asks for a Pelican lift, and Andy’s Pelican briefly fails to unload before finally dropping. Around 1:12:15 Andy fears losing his Mantis army, and near 1:14:10 an enemy three-star hero shows up and he goes after it: the hero is nearly dead, escapes with almost no HP, and Andy loses his army in the chase. “I was trying to get his hero but instead I lost everything.” Andy and Gus note the game is about 78 minutes in and was supposed to be the last one of the night.

12. 1:18:00–1:22:02

    A thin army and the sign-off

    Gus mocks Andy’s roughly ten remaining units while the enemy trickles in and dies, and Andy and Gus weigh whether to wrap up: conceding, holding out a bit longer, or one of them trying to hold solo, though chat doubts that would work. One enemy play is called “the first mistake they’ve made since their renaissance of play,” but the enemy pivots and baits Andy anyway; Andy’s EMP MAC Blast cancels part of the drop and his main stays intact. The enemy keeps dropping Retrievers into the defenses and circling the base. Team Respawn wins the game, and the video ends on the sign-off.