Matches Heat Up in Final Stretch; Slushie Prices Rise

[Midtime]

Rise and shine, Cuppers! It's time for the report! Welcome back to The Daily Neopets' most excellent Altador Cup X report. This is Brooke, coming to you live from the studio and running on caffeine, sugar, and lots and lots of dreams. Alright! Round Five! Let's go!

The new Alabriss bracket lineup kicked off with a match between the Darigan Citadel and the Lost Desert. The Minions fought valiantly, as they usually do, but came up short against the superior skills of the Mummies. One would think the Citadel would be discouraged, starting things off with a sweep after closing the previous round with one as well, but the general merriment coming from their corner of the slushie tents suggested otherwise!

Moving on. The second matchup featured lower-tier team Moltara and last year's winners, Haunted Woods. The Zombies appear to be suffering from the so-called "winner's curse", which sees winning teams immediately plummet in the standings the following year, and today wasn't any particular exception to their current streak. After sweeping the Magmas in the last match of the fourth round, the Magmas bit back, taking a win in Slushie Slinger and a draw in Yooyuball.

In the last match of the bracket, Kiko Lake and Meridell went head-to-head. Annnnd the Kikos did what they do so very well and swept the Knights like so many dust bunnies under the bed. What else is new, really?

That wraps up the Alabracket! Hooray! I shall now turn things over to the magnificent Midtime!

[An impromptu musical number begins, and goes on for some minutes. Unfortunately, no one who participated has any coherent recollection of the event afterwards, save for a general agreement that the glockenspiel was absolutely heavenly.]

[It can be safely presumed that the song segued smoothly into Midtime's report.]

- is fulfilled of the lively and liberated energy that characterises the Cup, that is communicated from person to person by every hand and every word, that fills us all up until we occasionally cannot help but let it pour from our lips. By this, I of course mean slushies. Now, let us commence with the results.

The Virtupets Robots seem not at all disheartened by their losses against Kreludor and Tyrannia, having leapt right back into the fray to snatch the next game out of the Mermaids' hands. The Mermaids rallied as best they could, but unfortunately only managed to draw in two of the side events; the Robots' Yooyuball win was supplemented - as all things should be - by a steady flow of triumphant slushies and sugary foods.

The Natives, too, have brought their best Yooyuball play to bear, leaving the Pirates high and dry with an exhilarating double score in the final minutes of the match. I pity the fan who didn't see that televised, and who is now watching this report to catch up on what they have missed, thus being a member of the majority group of our audience. On second thought - I actually thank you very much for your patronage, and think you are temperate and discerning. Ahem. This match was not a sweep, however: supporters of Krawk Island, undeterred by the direction the game was taking, gave all they had to bolster their team. They did not quite win back the match, but the fire of their fervour completely drowned out the cheers for the Natives, and forced a draw in the refreshments category.

Unlike the other two winners of this bracket, Team Tyrannia gave no quarter to the Ninjas, but began the round with another clean sweep. With the start of the new round, Tyrannia have stepped onto the podium at last; yet there are still four more matches in which they may be displaced. For Shenkuu, too, this is the final stretch - after the devastating losses they suffered in their previous bracket, will they be able to make a final push for success?

Instead of providing any answer for this perfectly fathomable question, I will direct you to Matt, who has the Vaeolus results. Matt, if you please - ?

[The feed cuts smartly to Matt.]

Thanks Midtime! Let's get straight into the results! The fifth round of the Altador Cup started out with yet another set of sweeps in the Vaeolus Bracket. The underdogs of the bracket, Faerieland and Altador were swept by Kreludor and Terror Mountain respectively. The Moons' consistent scores of 8's were too much for the Faeries to handle. With a three point gap in Yooyuball and a five to six point gap in the side games, the Faeries struggled in today's matchup. Hopefully the Faeries will be able to regain their composure, because the worst is far from over. Up against Terror Mountain, the Faeries are sure to have a difficult time once again.

The results from the match between Altador and Terror Mountain were a little closer, however, the Chillers were still able to walk away with a commanding sweep. Known for their side game prowess, the Chillers dominated all three side games, ending the match with an impressive eight point gap in Make Some Noise. However, that was partly due to the Sun's strategy of focusing all their efforts in Yooyuball. Unfortunately, that strategy failed as the Suns were just shy of making the match end in a draw. With a few more minutes, the Suns would've been sure to even up the score. As for today's matchup, the Suns are up against the Rooligans who are sure to give them a challenge.

In our last sweep of the bracket, Roo Island surprisingly took down Brightvale in today's match. Brightvale, who did very well during the fourth round, was helpless in today's match. The Rooligans asserted their dominance in the side games, and although the score in Yooyuball was close, it seems as if the Rooligans had control of this match from the very beginning! This is definitely not the same Brightvale team that we saw find great success in the fourth round. The Rooligans did well in buckling down in all aspects and getting revenge for their previous match at the start of the fourth round. Is this the start of a downhill spiral for the Wizards, especially as we near the end of the tournament? Or will the Wizards be able to overcome this hurdle and come back with even greater intensity?

Today's match between Maraqua and Mystery Island will certainly be one to watch! Although the Mermaids are predicted to have a slight advantage, anything goes as Yooyuball and Shootout Showdown will be a very close game, and will likely be decided by one or two points. The match between the Wizards and the Moons will also be very interesting! The Wizards have been performing very well in the last few days, and while the Moons are a podium contender this year, the Wizards might be able to pull off an upset. Will Brightvale be able to take Yooyuball from Kreludor? Find out in tomorrow's report!

That's all for now, this is Matt signing off.

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).