Zoki is an exceptional player. Why you guys would settle for him to leave and join another alliance is beyond me. I do not know if he assisted others around him from Pheno perspective, but he was handling battling VP pretty solo. Zoki has been trying to get out of Pheno for the past 2 weeks to my knowledge.
As far as David, you should know he didn't leave your alliance because he was scared of losing cities. He's another great turtle you guys had at your disposal. However, since day 1 of this "World War" he didn't like Pheno. Your previous/current leaders made a huge mistake. They encouraged/welcomed this war. Maybe not from all angles, thinking they had other alliances that would assist them when it came down to it. However you guys did not. David recognized that since day 1.
Both of these members were not deadweight within Pheno. Or at least they didn't have to be. They could have been great assets to your entire alliance if they were in the middle of the core. However, to be honest, they were far from being inside of your core. They were on your borders, where others nearby them were turning ghost or were deadly inactive players. VP has lost interest in Pheno a long time ago however we're still taking cities off of you guys at the same rate as we always have been. The first month we struggled, however after Feb 1st. You guys became a joke for VP. And I think it is because you guys had alliances hitting you from all angles. Your border members would not be able to play that type of war because they needed support from you guys when they could not get it. Too bad, some of them were decent members that just quit because they couldn't take the heat anymore and weren't offered another home or didn't seek one.