Day Twenty-Five (25 Jun 2013)

With the Altador Cup winding to a close, for most teams the only thing left to play for is pride, and that was in full display yesterday as only one team not in the top three earned a sweep. In the Alabriss bracket KD was handed a surprising loss by the Pirates, dropping every game other than MSN despite having posted relatively high scores over the course of the previous round. One of the few true upsets of the day immediately followed, as MI earned a rare overall win thanks to a sidegame sweep of VP. MQ did their best to continue the streak, but the Roos proved to be too much for them and they wound up losing every game by at least two points. In the Minitheus bracket, both TY and DC got their expected sweeps, while MD earned their first overall win in more than a week with a hard-fought sidegame sweep of the Haunties. It very nearly wound up being a total sweep for the Knights, but HW's Zo Junior managed to steal the Yooyu from MD forward Ethel Boortz just as she was setting up to throw what would have been the go-ahead point, and HW wound up using the stolen ball to score the winning point themselves.

Finally, in the Vaeolus bracket TM turned in a surprisingly lackluster performance, barely winning YYB thanks to the heroic efforts of team captain Prytariel and losing MSN outright with an attempt that was so weak that it barely registered over the noise of the crowd. KL failed to repeat their day 19 SS win over AD, though they did briefly give the Flaming Suns a scare when they took an early 5-2 lead. FL closed out the day with a nice MSN win over the Scholars, and the Faeries also came within a hair of forcing an overtime round in SOSD, but Delma Harrence's final shot flew a little too far to the left and the Yooyuball wound up bouncing off of the upright and straight into the jelly Chia's waiting arms.

The End Approaches (26 Jun 2013)

With the Altador Cup slowly winding to a close, most of the teams have begun to succumb to the exhaustion that comes from nearly four weeks of competition, but there are still a few left with the desire to make a splash before the season ends. One such team yesterday was VP, who faced an uphill battle against KD after their unexpected loss to MI the day before. KD got off to an impressive start in YYB, going up 4-0 in the first minute, but the Spacemen managed to slowly chip away at their lead and they wound up tied with 40 seconds left to go. After the tying score, both teams reset in preparation for the next Yooyuball, and to their mutual dismay a flash of purple could be seen emerging from the depths of the Colosseum. KD was the first to get ahold of the cantankerous Yooyu, but despite their best efforts their shots never even made it close to the net. After one such attempt VP defender Weldar Xupenfarb grabbed the ball out of the air on the rebound, then wove his way through the wall of players to the bottom corner of the field below KD's goal. With five seconds left on the clock, he gave the Darigan Yooyu a quick pat for good luck then threw with all of his might towards the wall. Miraculously, the Yooyu chose at that moment to fly upward, and right before the buzzer sounded it slipped into the gap between the goal's upright and Jurin T.'s outstretched arms. Both VP and the crowd went wild with the celebration, and after a few moments KD went over to congratulate the Spacemen on a hard-fought battle. Their momentum couldn't be sustained through SS, but VP managed to recover just enough to eke out a tiebreaker win in MSN, and the match ended with both teams winning two games apiece.

Most of the rest of the day's battles went about as expected, with MQ, RI, TY, MD and AD all earning sweeps and HW vs SK having a game-for-game repeat of their day 22 matchup, but KL refused to fall into the predictable pattern and wound up nearly sweeping the outmatched Scholars. Their YYB battle was one of the more exciting of the day, with both teams trading the lead thoughout the course of the three minutes, but it was KL who ultimately emerged victorious. SS turned out to be the lone BV win, though KL very nearly won that one as well. The Kikos got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, repeatedly sending the wrong slushies down to waiting customers, and BV had already finished with their game by the time KL finally began to catch up. The crowd watched with bated breath as KL's score slowly came closer and closer to BV's, and Meela Kitah had just turned around to fill another order when a large groan went up from the crowd. Apparently, the Kiko had failed to notice an empty cup heading down one of the tables, and the fallen cup happened to be the fifth one for KL, thus ending their run at perfection. The final match of the day saw FL attempt to pull an upset of their own, but despite their best efforts both YYB and SS slipped out of their grasp, and the Faeries had to settle for preventing the sweep with a single win in MSN.

Two Days Remain (27 Jun 2013)

Only a few days remain in the competition, yet there are still a few teams looking to fight all the way down to the bitter end. In the Alabriss bracket MI suffered yet another heartbreaking loss, dropping three out of the four games against KD by a single point, but they managed to find a little redemption by pulling out a win in MSN during the final few seconds. KI continued their last-ditch effort to unseat current third place holders RI with a triple win over the Fishes, though in all likelihood time has run out for anyone else to claim that third spot on the podium. RI, meanwhile, suffered what was perhaps their worst upset of the season, losing YYB to a team ranked below them for the first time. VP stunned the Roos by going up 5-0 in short order, and the team was so shell-shocked that they didn't get their first point until the final minute of the game. The spell seemed to be broken after that first goal was scored and RI began furiously racking up the points, but a combination of a successful banked trick shot from VP captain Keetra Deile and too little time left on the clock saw the Roos wind up on the wrong side of the final 6-5 score. The veteran team didn't allow the loss to faze them, however, and they went on to win the overall match with decisive victories in all three sidegames.

In the Minitheus bracket, TY logged yet another sweep, this time against HW, while MD earned a surprising sweep of DC which saw all four games come down to the wire. SK vs MT was similarly exciting, with the Ninjas getting come-from-behind wins in both YYB and MSN and MT pulling out a triple overtime victory in SOSD after both teams missed three shots in a row. Finally, in the Vaeolus bracket KL, who could only be said to be on the up cycle of their on-again, off-again season, had a dominating sweep of LD which saw the Kikos earn nearly double the points that LD did in all three sidegames. Only YYB was close, and while KL got off to an early 3-0 deficit they didn't allow that to cause them to panic, and the team began calmly chipping away at the Pharoahs' lead until it was they who held the top spot on the scoreboard. TM vs BV saw a triple victory for the Mountaineers with only SS going to the Scholars, while AD finished out the day with a sweep of FL that was pretty much routine until they faced off in SOSD. Unlike most of their past matches, FL went a perfect four-for-four in the first 4 rounds, and after Elbin Kroe's successful attempt in the fifth round everyone believed that AD had been forced into a rare tiebreaker until the sound of an official's whistle rose over the noise of the crowd. Apparently, the Shoyru had been slightly over the shot line when he made his attempt, and unfortunately for the Faeries his second shot was blocked by the nimble jelly Chia goalkeeper. "I don't think anyone thought we'd even come close to AD today," FL player Ciona Broan said afterward. "We would have liked to win, but it's still a good feeling to know we gave them just a little bit of a scare."

Upsets (28 Jun 2013)

Contrary to what might be expected, the second-to-last day of ACVIII ended not with predictable sweeps but rather with upsets. The biggest one came in the very first match, where MQ swept KD in a battle that saw both teams fighting tooth and nail for every last point. The other two Alabriss battles were also sweeps, with RI taking an unsurprising quadruple win against MI and the Pirates managing to hold VP to a mere 4 points in YYB then going on to easily take all three sidegames. In the Minitheus bracket, TY earned yet another uncontested sweep, while SK and MT both managed to pull out last-second wins in SS and SOSD, respectively. Finally, all three matchups in the Vaeolus bracket could be said to be upsets, with the first coming in the LD vs BV battle. The Scholars had been going through some struggles in YYB lately, but even taking that into consideration their failure to score more than two points for the entirety of the game came as a surprise. The team looked sluggish and confused for most of the three minutes, with several players running into each other when they mixed up their blocking assignments and numerous attempts at passes missing their mark and winding up in the arms of the other team. The embarassing loss seemed to serve as a wake-up call, however, and BV went on to win all three sidegames and the overall match. FL vs KL also produced a YYB upset, though in this one the game came down to the Faeries being the last team with the ball and thus being on the right side of the final 5-4 tally. Like BV, KL also won thanks to a sidegame sweep, but if it hadn't been for the tenacity of KL's Erli Quinnock the team would have lost both MSN and SOSD and the minor upset would have turned into a major loss for the Kikos.

The final game of the day was also a stunner, perhaps one of the more unexpected upsets of ACVIII. TM had been going through a major slump during the fifth round, barely scoring over 5 points for most of the games. So it was with the utmost astonishment that the assembled crowd watched them get off to a fast start against AD, racking up six quick points while the other team scrambled to catch up. As the tally got higher and higher, both teams threw their defense out the window, and while TM ultimately failed to hold onto their lead they did themselves proud, and the final combined score wound up tying the epic TY vs AD match earlier in the season for the highest number of YYB points. AD, perhaps worn out from the ferocity of the battle, made a number of uncharacteristic mental errors in SS, and the Mountaineers wound up with nearly triple the score that AD had. The reverse could be said in MSN, where TM may as well have been whispering as they fell to the Flaming Suns 8-2. SOSD turned out to be the closest of all the sidegames, but TM still wound up with a commanding victory, and the match concluded with both teams having two wins and two losses. "All of those low scores were just because we were resting up for this battle," TM's Evrem Guilako joked with reporters afterward. "In all seriousness, though, AD is a beast of a team this year, and we're really pleased with how well we did against them in YYB."

Final Day (29 Jun 2013)

The last day of ACVIII came to a fitting conclusion, with most of the battles being close yet all but one of them ending in at least a triple win for one team, plus one minor surprise to close out the season. The aforementioned surprise came in the very first Alabriss matchup, where KD nearly unseated the Roos in SS but wound up losing by a single point after one customer held onto his slushie an inordinately long amount of time while another barely sipped hers before sending it back down the table, thus forcing KD into the no-win position of chosing which cup to save from falling to the floor. What would have been a crushing loss for most teams only served to embolden the Moon Men, and they went on to win MSN with their highest point total since their battle against DC back on day 21. "We knew that there really wasn't anything we could do that would change the standings today," KD captain Derlyn Fonnet said after the win, "But we had a strong desire to finish the season on a high note, and I think we accomplished that." The other two Alabriss matchups went entirely as expected, with KI sweeping the Islanders and MQ earning the win against VP thanks to a sidegame sweep.

The final day in the Minitheus bracket saw TY earn another shutout victory, while SK put up a fight against MD yet never actually held the lead in any game other than SS, and DC took the overall win from the Haunties thanks to a sidegame sweep. Finally, the Vaeolus bracket closed out the season with two sweeps, one a tense match-up between LD and FL and the other a thourough beatdown of BV by AD, plus the only match of the day not to feature a lop-sided victory. Both TM and KL looked completely exhausted after their close YYB losses the day before, but it was surprisingly TM that wound up taking the 5-4 lead in the final minute of the game thanks to a no-look pass from Rinok Fitel to leading scorer Prytariel. The Aisha, after executing a flawless head fake against KL defender Ditan Colb, took a diving shot at the goal that flew just inside the very edge of the net for the go-ahead point. The Kikos managed to recover in time to win both SS and MSN, but several missed shots in SOSD meant they were forced to split the match 2-2 with the Mountaineers.

With no Finals being played this year and no teams in the top three needing a tiebreaker, the various final standings of ACVIII were already known by the majority of fans attending yesterday's games, but in keeping with tradition with ACPC announced that the awards and closing ceremony would be held on the first, after the committee had finished authenticating the results of the Tournament.

Closing Ceremonies (1 Jul 2013)

It's been a long season for the teams of Yooyuball, but after a month of blood, sweat and tears their hard work finally culminated in the awarding of the coveted Altador Cup today. Fans began to slowly trickle into the Colosseum at first light, and by the time King Altador stepped on to a specially built dais to kick off the closing ceremonies the amphitheater had been filled to overflowing, with even standing room at a premium for spectators eager to catch a glimpse of their favorite team. The king greeted the gathering, then gave a short speech thanking the fans for supporting the official pastime of Altador and conducting themselves with decorum throughout the Cup. A procession of teams then emerged from beneath the stands as he introduced them one by one, with each team being led by two standard-bearers dressed in their homeland's traditional garb. Once all eighteen teams had assembled on the field, the captains all joined King Altador on the dais where he congratulated each of them for a season well-played and spoke briefly about the accomplishments their teams had earned during the Tournament. The applause and cheering increased from the crowd with each new captain to shake the king's hand, and the noise was almost deafening by the time he made it to the final three teams. The Krawk which had won the amatuer pass, sling and block competition proudly presented each captain with their laurel wreath and trophy, and the AD fan couldn't resist giving a congratulatory fist bump to "Trapper" Remis when the time came to award his team the silver. Team Tyrannia was the last to recieve their trophy, and as Loryche hoisted the Altador Cup high over her head the jubilant TY fans began doing the iconic 'Dino Stomp', with so many others joining in that the stadium itself began to shake. Once the din finally subsided, King Altador welcomed everyone present to attend the post-Cup party to be held later that evening, then officially declared the close of Altador Cup VIII.

The traditional celebration marking the end of another Yooyuball season lasted well into the night, with fans, players and celebrities all mingling in a massive ballroom that had been painted silver in honor of Team Altador's historic second-place finish. Several teams wound up competing in an impromptu dance-off that saw the finals come down to Faerieland versus Darigan Citadel, while King Skarl challenged BV's Kayn Hireck to a pie eating contest. Queen Fyora was unable to attend, but several other famous faeries were at the gathering, including the normally reclusive Jhudora who was discovered to be a big supporter of Kiko Lake. Throughout the night fans debated with each other and reenacted their favorite moments from the Cup, while coaches that had been rivals only a few days before chatted amicably about their plans for ACIX.

As the last few revellers hugged each other good-bye and promised to meet again next season, the Colosseum's cleaning crew finished their remaining jobs and quietly left the stadium. With the jerseys neatly folded, the slushie machines scrubbed clean and the chairs stacked and put away, the Colosseum now lies dormant until the time that Yooyball's best once again descend on Altador for the battle to determine which team will earn the right to be called Champion.