antiaircraft Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Obligatory disclaimer: This news report was written to inform you all of the latest Altador Cup results in as entertaining a manner as possible. The rest of its content is largely fictional, composed from various fan comments and the whims of our imagination in an attempt to inspire a sense of realism through our reporting. While we do our best to keep things reasonably neutral, this report is in no way intended to be a completely bias-free listing of the day's results, nor does it claim to provide critical analysis of past and potential outcomes from qualified Altador Cup experts. Please note that the opinions formulated in this report are from a full team of different reporters, and in no way represent the views of only a single faction. If you're looking for 100% unbiased performance data, take a look at our standings page. If professional analysis tickles your fancy, you want our predictions pages (global/daily). <img src="http://www.thedailyneopets.com/uploads/articles/neopetsevents/altadorcup/topteams/top4-kl.gif" alt="Kiko Lake Banner" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> Well, the first round of the Altador Cup has finally come to a close, and it most certainly was not a mediocre opening to this year's tournament. With everything from drastic rule revisions to controversial roster changes, from intense analyst disputes to the rise of new powerhouses, round one of AC VI has been one of the most dynamic, action-packed tournament rounds to date. While many fans were disappointed with quite a few of their teams' results, you'll be hard pressed to find even one who can honestly say that feel totally let down. Take the hardy supporters of Team Kiko Lake for example: focused, well-organised, and defiant to the last, these low-ranked underdogs have formed themselves into one of the Cup's most formidable teams, with a long-standing reputation for tremendous upsets. The Kikos definitely lived up to that reputation yesterday, as they crossed guards with championship contenders Terror Mountain, and came away with a near sweep. Terror Mountain's fans held fast to their chilly slushie stands, staying well ahead of their competitors, but both Make Some Noise and Shootout Showdown went to the Kikos. Out on the field, the Yooyus were flying fast and furious as both teams played to the limits of their skill and endurance, setting new records for ball speed, passing rate, and formation toggle time on no less than eight separate occasions. The Terror Mountain Chillers managed to stay just ahead of the Kiko Lakers for most of the match, but with only fifteen seconds on the clock a long-distance equaliser from Kiko Lake forward Holbie Pinnock, followed almost immediately by a spectacular deflection shot from his counterpart Meela Kitah, put Kiko Lake one goal in the lead and sealed the team's overall victory. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2011/teams/terrormountain_1.gif" alt="Prytariel" style="float:right;margin:5px;" /> "I was completely blown away," admitted Prytariel, captain of Team Terror Mountain, when interviewed after the match. "Now, I'm not going to say anything against my team here - we got almost everything right out there on the pitch. Passing, positioning, tackle support, everything. I couldn't be more proud of how we played than I am today. But wow, what Poke and his squad came up with - and not just at the end of the match mind you, but right from the start - they were all over us, jumping back and forth all over the field, getting behind and around our formations... they had us second guessing ourselves the whole match, and we could never tell where the next shot was going to come from. Absolutely spectacular play on their part, and I'm honoured to have been a part of this match." <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2011/teams/kikolake_1.gif" alt="Cellers" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> Kiko Lake Team Captain "Poke" Cellers was in good humour over at his team's press conference as well. "You know, sometimes as a defender you feel a little inadequate in these matches," he joked, before adding, "but in all seriousness, that was one of the best matches I have ever played in my career - and I've had quite a long career. Both teams played at a level I wouldn't have expected from them on their best day, and really that last goal could just as easily have come from one of Terror Mountain's scorers as from us. Fyora knows, Ditan and I were hardly in a state to stop them." Things were no less intense over in the Colosseum's next section, where championship contenders Kreludor and Darigan Citadel battled it out in the tournament's most closely fought Yooyuball match to date. Neither team was able to gain the upper hand in Yooyuball or Slushie Slinger, and each took one of the remaining side games (the Minions winning Make Some Noise and Kreludor pulling ahead in Shootout Showdown), leaving the final match results inconclusive. Kreludor remains in a slightly better state than the Citadel for now, still ranked first in the standings, but the points margin between the teams on the entire top half of the leaderboard is small enough to be barely significant, and any day could see the top two tiers drastically rearranged. Things were slightly more decisive when it came to the showdown between the Virtupets Robots and the Krawk Island Pirates, with the Robots taking and maintaining an early lead in Yooyuball and Make Some Noise, while Krawk Island evened things out in Slushie Slinger and took a win in Shootout Showdown. The Pirates weren't especially worse for the wear however, as they still remain tied for fourth place despite their loss, but neither team can afford to rest on their laurels if they want to hold onto their spots in the top tier. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2011/teams/altador_1.gif" alt="Remis" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> Speaking of laurels, Altador Team Captain "Trapper" Remis' wreath was a little frazzled after yesterday's match, as his team suffered an across-the-board sweep at the hands of defending champions Lost Desert. After being hammered by a string of losses, this much needed win has certainly raised the morale of the Desert Marauders, and it seems that some analysts may be proven right as the Lost Desert looks to get started on its long trek back to the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Team Altador's supporters remained in good spirits, as their team is still performing significantly better than they did last year, and in fact possesses one of the Altador Cup's best Slushie Slinger records. "We'll take this one step at a time," explained one fan confidently, "starting with Slushie Slinger, we'll isolate and nail down our skills in each game. Some teams shoot to the top of the standings in a single season. But do they stay there? No, they spend a season or two in the top spots and then they plummet. We'll do it slowly, climbing bit by bit until we're at the top. And once we're there, we'll be there to stay." While their Slushie Slinger record isn't quite in Altador's league, Team Brightvale's performance at the slushie stands is certainly nothing to be sniffed at, and the Wizards drew on that strength when they faced off against the Maraquan Mermaids in yesterday's match-up. While they were unable to outperform Maraqua in Yooyuball or Shootout Showdown, the Wizards won a convincing victory in Slushie Slinger, and edged ahead in Make Some Noise, garnering enough points to keep them within swiping distance of the top tiers. Maraqua, meanwhile, remains perched uncomfortably in third place, with a veritable horde of teams hot on its tail. One of the teams in that horde is Team Meridell, who emerged with a hard-won sweep after a tough battle against Team Moltara. Meridell is followed closely by the Haunted Woods, who boosted themselves just above the twenty-point mark with a sweep over the Mystery Island Natives. While not initially pegged as tier one contenders by most analysts, both these teams have slugged it out over the first round and definitely placed themselves within reach of one of the coveted top four spots. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2011/teams/faerieland_4.gif" alt="Ciona Broan" style="float:right;margin:5px;" /> Team Faerieland fared a little better than Moltara and Mystery Island, denying the Shenkuu Ninjas a sweep with a win in Slushie Slinger. Shenkuu still won the day in the match's other games though, and morale among fans remains high as they hope to prove their championship potential with more victories against top-tier contenders. And as for Faerieland's supporters, the overall loss barely served to dampen their spirits at all. They may not be in championship shape just yet, but the Faeries are in the running for a tier three spot, and as one fan put it, "Up's the only way to go!" In the last (but certainly not the least) of yesterday's match-ups, Team Roo Island faced off against Team Tyrannia. While the Roos ended up conceding both Yooyuball and Slushie Slinger to the Fossils, they still ended the day with wins in the remaining side games. Tyrannia's fans might have wished for a little more from the match, as Tyrannia is now tied for fourth place with Krawk Island, but the long-standing side game powerhouse was hardly one to begrudge the Roos their victories. Spirits among the Rooligans are soaring high, as most fans are still eager for another run in the championship league, and looking at the Roos' swift recovery from the effects of the "winner's curse", it's hard not to anticipate more excellent matches from their quarter. Even opposing centre forward "Scrap" Taggert remarked, "I've gotta hand it to them. Until you've gone up against the Roos, you'll never know the meaning of 'rebound'. No pun intended. Well, all right, maybe it was intended." With round one of the tournament behind us, it's time for all eighteen teams to barrel into the second round full force, and while matching up to the frenzied excitement of the first round might seem like an impossible task (indeed, round two of the Altador Cup often ends up being a test of focus and stamina for all involved), it seems like we're off to a good start. Teams Maraqua and Krawk Island will be up against each other today, and not only are these teams adjacently ranked top-tier contenders, but they're also old war rivals, which will definitely make for an interesting rematch. Underdogs Faerieland and Kiko Lake will also be battling it out on the field today - in their last match these two teams were proven to be almost perfectly even, with a near across-the-board draw. Now, both teams are significant contenders in the Cup's lower tiers, both out to prove themselves once and for all. That's all for this report - good luck to all teams in the round ahead! If you want to see how well the teams in the tournament have been doing so far, don't forget to check out our standings page. This is AA, reporting for The Daily Neopets, signing off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blurrz Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 First they break our Shootout Showdown record, then they go ahead and embarrass us in the first round. LEAVE US ALONE KIKOS JUST LEAVE US ALONE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathanjoseph99 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 I'm hoping that SK would rising in the standings. I actually think our win against VP in Yooyuball boosted our confidence a lot! Our last match against Meridell was a loss but this time we're going to go out there full force and sweep them! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liad4 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Well shenkuu we survived the first round decently but we need to pick up those side games if we want to catch up to HW and break into 2nd tier but meridell BRING IT ON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flurps Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Well, at least we face an Moltara today. As long as there are no upsets, we should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Ryan Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Im really sad theres no break day. D: But eh, we can take turns going on vacation I suppose. xD Anywa, daaaaaang Kikos. Oh and GOOOO DC. We drew Maraqua AND Kreludor. RIGHT IN A ROW. AFTER A SUPER HARD SCHEDULE. Do you know any other team that could do that? :3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liad4 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 why did they not say if SK could make it to finals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Ryan Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Probably because its pretty unlikely unless all the powerhouses have a complete breakdown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 Oh and GOOOO DC. We drew Maraqua AND Kreludor. RIGHT IN A ROW. AFTER A SUPER HARD SCHEDULE. Do you know any other team that could do that? :3 Uuuum... possibly Maraqua? :P /teampride why did they not say if SK could make it to finals This is indeed fairly unlikely, considering the rate at which you'd have to rack up match points, and hope that a large chunk of the current top-ranked teams slowed down significantly. It's not impossible, but it will take a very hard push and quite a bit of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Ryan Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Maraqua could get a dead draw with Marqua after a tough week? Wow. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piximon Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Maraqua could get a dead draw with Marqua after a tough week? Wow. :P If there was one team that could get a dead draw against us, it would be Maraqua b) I signed on here just for you AA (: Great Article ;D I wish you would've written the day before's article because I'm pretty sure your take on DC vs MQ would be really entertaining x) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voteforpedro333 Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I'm proud of you, team! It feels good to see a fourth team under us in the standings. Tomorrow I want to see a fifth! Oh wait today is Darigan...I hold to my statement! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Person335 Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Man, I could really use two days of break right now. I'm on vacation, and have nothing to communicate with the internet besides a small netbook. And let me tell you, playing Yooyuball on a small computer is not a good idea. Yep, that's how bad my situation is. Ah well. When I get back Monday, I'm going to have to make up all the games I missed. The team Moltara faces that day is going to have one heck of a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Maraqua could get a dead draw with Marqua after a tough week? Wow. :P If there was one team that could get a dead draw against us, it would be Maraqua b) You are absolutely correct! :P I signed on here just for you AA (: Great Article ;D I wish you would've written the day before's article because I'm pretty sure your take on DC vs MQ would be really entertaining x) xD xD Thank you! :D Quite frankly though, considering how frustrated I was with Elon running *around* the Yooyu instead of actually grabbing it while I was trying to play for that match-up, I could have ended up quite nasty... Man, I could really use two days of break right now. I'm on vacation, and have nothing to communicate with the internet besides a small netbook. And let me tell you, playing Yooyuball on a small computer is not a good idea. Yep, that's how bad my situation is. Oooh, I feel your pain (I'm stuck on a netbook too xD ). Tips from a fellow small-screen user: full-screen mode helps a LOT. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Ryan Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 AND YOU PEOPLE THOUGHT THIS DAYS RESULTS WERE SUPRISING. Pfffft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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