antiaircraft Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 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). Hello again everyone, and welcome back to our coverage of the seventh Altador Cup. The results are in for day sixteen of the tournament, which proceeded despite a layer of photochemical smog that blanketed the city for much of the day (and continues to do so now). Officials from Altador's environmental council confirmed that the source of the smog was a highly controversial slash-and-burn agriculture operation running on the city's outskirts. The council moved to shut down this particular operation (and several other similar operations) several years ago, but while there is a strong case for these operations being in breach of Altadorian law, the dispute has been tied up in a long string of appeals submitted by Altador's farming consortiums. Fortunately, the underground placement of most of the Colosseum's internal stadiums minimised the impact the haze had on the day's matches, and emergency filtration systems kept the air inside at normal levels. While many fans still suffered from throat and eye irritation, as well as a number of other health issues, the players themselves took the disruptions in stride, with tournament play largely unaffected. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2009/news_image/ac9_darigan.gif" alt="Layton Vickles" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> Teams Kreludor and Darigan Citadel certainly showed no signs of slowing down in their match. As the top trio contenders clashed for the third time this year, the Citadel Minions unleashed their most ferocious display of aggressive play yet - with a twist. Instead of focusing on the midfield as conventional wisdom dictates, Layton Vickles chose to concentrate his team's monstrous offensive firepower on the left side of the field: Kreludor's right. Piling the pressure on Kreludor's quicker, but smaller and less hard-hitting players proved to be just what the Citadel needed to push forward into a fantastic early lead. For a while, it looked like they'd finally managed to put an unbeatable margin between their tally and Kreludor's, but as always Derlyn Fonnet's calm and collected leadership kept the Moons steady and on target. By half-time, the midfield was firmly in Kreludor's control, and leaving the centre open was beginning to cost the Minions dearly. Without control of the Yooyu, any offensive strategies the Citadel might have had were rendered largely ineffective, and they found it impossible to hold an airtight defence against Kreludor's twin sharpshooters Qyldae Wegg and Zenor Kevix. By the end of the match, Team Kreludor were able to equalise their massive starting deficit, concluding the historic game in a draw. While their dauntless efforts on the field were able to finally break Kreludor's perfect Yooyuball streak, the Citadel couldn't quite match up in the side games, and had to settle for an overall loss as their opponents took Shootout Showdown, Slushie Slinger, and (rather pointedly) Make Some Noise. Still, fans of both teams considered it a great game, with spirits high and rioting at an all time low for powerhouse-on-powerhouse matches. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/images/msn_buddy/msn_flag_rooisland.gif" alt="Roo Flag" style="float:right;margin:5px;" /> High spirits were also a common theme among supporters of Roo Island, as the fun-loving team managed their second consecutive sweep of (and third victory over) Team Haunted Woods. If the repeated losses to the Rooligans were a sore point for the Zombies, Zo Junior certainly wasn't showing it - the star forward was as upbeat as ever in his team's post-match press conference. "The Roos have their game plan down square, that's for sure. Bouncy, energetic, skillful, and smart - that's championship material right there. I still haven't figured out how they managed to stay below us in the standings, but hey, most of us have given up on trying to figure out the standings thing by now. It's a little nuts that we still haven't managed to level with them after three games, I'll give you that. I dunno, those guys work so hard, I kinda almost feel bad when I have to land one in their net. Almost." <img src="https://images.neopets.com/nt/ntimages/347_maraqua_cup.gif" alt="Barit Jowes" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> Adding to the day's tally of decisive victories, Team Maraqua capped off Vaeolus Bracket with a solid win over the Shenkuu Ninjas, coming out ahead in all but Slushie Slinger, where Shenkuu's exotic cocktails won the day. It was a slightly different story over in Minitheus Bracket's Lost Desert versus Altador match, as the Altador Suns came so very close to tying Yooyuball with the Mummies for the second time. A series of hard-won goals from Derbi Azar put the Lost Desert in the lead however, and Team Altador found their footing several minutes too late to equalise the score. While the Mummies managed to take Slushie Slinger and Shootout Showdown in addition to Yooyuball, things weren't all in the red for the underdog team, as hours of earnest cheering by Altador's fans put Make Some Noise firmly in their favour. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2010/popups/tyrannia/logo.png" alt="Tyrannian Logo" style="float:right;margin:5px;" />There were no side victories to be had for Teams Moltara and Virtupets, who were hit with across-the-board sweeps at the hands of Brightvale and Tyrannia respectively. Unfortunately for the Magmas and Robots, their supporters opted to stake their claim to Make Some Noise by hitting the stands as early as possible, with many of them exposed to the haze early in the day, before the air filters had a chance to completely clear the smog from the stadiums. As the day wore on, numerous fans were forced to seek medical attention, vastly diminishing the two teams' side game strength. While quite a few fans stayed despite the worsening symptoms, sadly for them, official tournament regulations dictate that coughing (even in sync) does not count towards a team's Make Some Noise tally. Emphasising the importance of swift medical treatment, one of the tournament's chief health officials explained, "It's incredibly important to address even what seems to be a minor ailment promptly. Fans are often willing to ignore the need for medical attention in favor of supporting their teams and Yooyuball has some of the most dedicated fans I know. This haze has several of us worried, especially for Neopets sensitive to all the dust and in general, muck that's being burnt off outside the City. Hopefully the committee has enough influence to stop them, we already have multiple cases of severely inflamed larynxes, eyes and noses, and and our Medical Officers have ordered those affected to avoid the stadium and making any noise until the swelling goes down." <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/freebies/msnicons/mysteryisland.gif" alt="Teylor Nix" style="float:left;margin:5px;" /> It was metal-on-stone in the opening match-up for Alabriss Bracket, as the Mystery Island Natives tested their strength against the might of the Krawk Island Pirates. While many analysts believed Krawk Island's wily field experience would prove a solid match for Mystery Island's thunderous aggression, when push came to shove the Natives were still able to edge out the Pirates in Yooyuball. The Pirates did manage to counter in Shootout Showdown, but Mystery Island's supporters claimed the remaining side games to carry their team to an overall victory. Teams Faerieland and Terror Mountain staged a very different battle on the Yooyuball field yesterday - while the Pirates and Natives rammed formation after formation into the opposition's defensive lines, Alabriss Bracket's two underdog contenders collided in a blinding medley of blurs and streaks, dashing and darting around each other to take full advantage of an often overlooked, but nevertheless critical element of any winning Altador Cup team: speed. The Chillers and the Faeries have been clocked with the highest average speed ratings of any two teams in the tournament, and yesterday they demonstrated just what that means when applied on the field: a highly dynamic, absolutely stellar game of Yooyuball. The game was such a pleasure to watch that it was almost a disappointment when the match didn't end in a draw (and certainly a disappointment that the match ended at all). It was the Terror Mountain Chillers that emerged victorious nevertheless, taking Yooyuball and all three side games to end the day with a sweep. <img src="https://images.neopets.com/altador/altadorcup/2009/news_image/ac9_kikolake.gif" alt="Captain Cellers" style="float:right;margin:5px;" /> Elsewhere in the bracket, the fourth match between Kiko Lake and the Meridell Knights (in three rounds) didn't have quite the turnout tournament organisers hoped for. Many fans seemed to be getting a little bored of the routine, with one Meridell supporter saying: "Oh, please, we’ve beaten the Lakers twice recently - and they were good games too, great showings from both teams. But it's not as interesting as when we were neck-and-neck back at the start of the season. Honestly, there are better matches to watch." And he wasn't the only one to recall the two teams' intense opening match from back on day one, where the Kikos began to carve out a name for themselves by crushing Meridell in Yooyuball and Slushie Slinger. This time around however, Meridell secured a near sweep, taking all games except Slushie Slinger, where the Kikos have a 15-1-0 tournament record they don't plan on dropping any time soon. The Kikos will face a challenge on that front however, as they go up against Team Faerieland for the second time today. Slushie Slinger has historically been one of the Faeries' specialities, and while Kiko Lake were able to maintain their record last time they met, only time will tell what the coming day will bring. Much the same can be said of Team Terror Mountain's match against the Krawk Island Pirates. The Chillers have suffered a few losses at the hands of the Pirates before, and most analysts expect things to go the same way today, but as Feldon "Dinksy" Collibridge of Krawk Island said, "Prytariel and her crew have never disappointed before, and they sure ain't gonna disappoint today!" Perhaps the most interesting (and certainly the most talked about) match of the coming day is the first meeting between Teams Meridell and Mystery Island this season. While they've yet to play against any other members of the top trio, Mystery Island are nevertheless established top trio contenders, and championship hopefuls Team Meridell will have to get past them if they're to have any chance of seizing the Cup. Most observers expect today's Minitheus match-ups to be fairly straightforward, with Teams Lost Desert, Tyrannia, and Brightvale taking on Virtupets, Moltara, and Altador respectively. Of course, knowing the Altador Cup's reputation, this could probably be seen as more of an opportunity for upsets rather than a day of one-sided matches - we'll all be waiting to see the results. The underdogs in Vaeolus Bracket also look to have a tough day ahead of them, with the Haunted Woods Zombies facing top trio contenders Darigan Citadel, and the Maraquan Mermaids taking on tournament leaders Kreludor. Finishing off our matches for the day, we'll also be seeing the third Roo Island—Shenkuu match of the season - word in the stands is that it might be a little more interesting than expected. This is AA, reporting for The Daily Neopets, signing off. Good luck to all participants, and stay safe! Mouseykins 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca~ Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Yay, go Kreludorks. :D Good match yesterday, though, DC. :O Not our perfect YYB score. ;-; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voteforpedro333 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Derbi Azar is doing great this time of year. She works silently while Vonde's the loud-mouthed one. I love that duo. It's also a little bittersweet to be playing Virtupets today, seeing as how they're getting hit just as hard as we were by the Winner's Curse last year. I hope we both come to the game with the mindsets of champions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice cream man Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Interesting TM and FL have the fastest teams in the AC I'm going to remember this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Interesting TM and FL have the fastest teams in the AC I'm going to remember this. Note that this won't actually affect your Yooyuball gameplay (where all players are perfectly even), it's just a bit of random trivia. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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