[Xietor]

I do not think losing your pretender means you lose the game.
It does not help obviously. But the water races are a bit isolated from the rest of the world, so you have that in your favor.

And most of the water races are not played by super aggressive players. most in fact would likely sign treaties.
Baalz is pretty much the only really veteran player in the water, and even he may be reasonable since he may be looking to get just a fair share of water provinces, then move onto land.