Altador Cup 2007
| This article documents a current event. Information may update rapidly as the event progresses. |
- This article is about the plot details of the Altador Cup in 2007. For information about Yooyuball, see Altador Cup.
Altador Cup 2007 was a gaming plot which began on June 1, 2007, and was the second installation of the Altador Cup.
Plot summary
With the return of Altador Cup in 2007, the previous years finalists (the Haunted Woods and Darigan Citadel) returned with key changes to their rosters, which they felt would vault them into being odds-on favourites to take the Cup. Darigan benched goalkeeper Mungo Lifler and brought in Reshar Collifey, while the Haunted Woods hired defender Autry Fulse. Whether these changes would give the teams the edge they needed or backfire horribly would remain to be seen.
Changes occurred in the line ups of many of the other teams, also, due to free-agent signings and the arrival of new rookies. An entirely new Yooyuball team, from Shenkuu, participated for the first time in 2007. The sport itself underwent some alterations, with three new kinds of Yooyuball to be brought into play for the first time - Normal, Clockwork, and Darigan - to make games more varied.
Furthermore, two additional ways for users to aid their team were added, Make Some Noise and Slushie Slinger, new to this years competition.
Kreludor's team, conspicuous by its absence, sent out a press release on the 8 June justifying why they could not compete this year. Derlyn Fonnet dispelled the rumours surrounding their mysterious non-involvement, citing an incorrectly set gravity control of their training ground. The insufficient bone and muscle density would have proved a health and safety problem were the team to play on Neopia's greater gravity, although whether this was an innocent fault or an act of vandalism to sabotage the team's chances could not be determined. The full press release reads as follows:
"As you may have noticed by now, Team Kreludor is not one of the participants in this year's Altador Cup. This is due to a malfunction with our training centre's gravity control that went unnoticed; it seems that we have spent the better part of this past year training in gravity that is weaker than that of Neopia. For this reason, it would not be safe for us to compete, due to insufficient bone and muscle density. Rest assured that the problem has been fixed. It is not known, however, whether the incident was a case of simple mechanical failure or the result of sabotage by disgruntled factions here on Kreludor.
We will continue our training in hopes of returning to form next year, but I'm afraid it would be impossible for us to participate in this year's tournament. We'd like to thank everyone who has supported us in the past and all of our fans both on Kreludor and in Neopia. Thank you."
Whether or not they will be able to return for the next tournament is unclear, as, with Shenkuu competing, there would be an uneven number of teams.
On June 11, in what was considered the most anticipated match-up of the Double Round Robin phase occurred. Krawk Island. undefeated in Yooyuball and the overall leaders, faced the Darigan Citadel, last year's runner-up and the odds-on favourite to win the tournament. The Citadel came out with a blistering offensive attack, sending a flurry of shots at Krawk Island goaltender Garven Hale, who bravely turned away nearly all of Darigan's volleys, but the onslaught was too much, and as a result a handful of shots managed to slip through. On the opposite end of the field, Krawk Island's creative use of passing and offensive created enough scoring opportunities for them to even the score. However, they didn't to come up with the energy needed to make a final push and take the lead. In the closing moments of the match, Darigan added a few late scores to pull away and secure the victory.
As impressive as the Citadel has been on the playing field (winning six of their seven match-ups), they've been far less formidable in the tournament's other two aspects. Today was no different, as Krawk Island slung more slushies than Darigan, and raised enough of a racket to come away with a draw in the noise-making competition. In the end, it wasn't a total loss for Krawk Island and their fans, because they not only managed to come away with a few points and keep their place atop the leaderboard, but they could also take heart in knowing another chance to avenge their loss to the Citadel lies in their future.
Despite the anticipation for the coming week's high profile matches, the match between Brightvale and the Virtupets Space Station on June 14 held everyone's attention, pitting evenly-matched teams against each other. Early on, the game was a stalemate, with neither side giving an inch. Brightvale's aggressive (and not surprisingly clean) style made gradual progress in wearing down the Space Station, while Virtupets' arsenal of elaborate offensive sets occasionally flustered Brightvale and created quality scoring chances. Goals were few, with the score dead even at the middle of the game.
From then on, however, the fatigue of the Space Station's players became more noticeable. Mental mistakes increased in frequency, with defenders losing a step or two in their rotations, allowing Brightvale to score more points. Rather than mounting a comeback, Virtupets struggled just to keep the match close. Despite a valiant effort by Keetra Deile and her Space Station teammates, Brightvale gained an impressive victory on the field. Their auxiliary competitions were far less competitive, with Brightvale's followers holding a decided advantage in slushie serving and noise making throughout the day giving them an across-the-board win.
Plot participation
Unlike many plots, where the course of the story is written and dictated by The Neopets Team, the Altador Cup is directed by the participation of collective users on Neopets - in particular, of their performance against rival teams.
Users could select their team on their own, but also had the option to be placed on a team via a quiz which tested what their personality was like. Unlike the previous year, users could not change teams once gaming began. The sign up time occurred between June 1 - 4, with matches began on the 5th. The score users contributed was calculated by their win/loss/tie record, the number of goals scored each game, and a average based on team membership (so a team with more users participating wouldn't have an advantage over a team with fewer players).
It a common misconception having a loss counted for a users score would give negative points towards a user's score, when in truth every completed game raised the users score higher, although this did not stop some users who wanted a certain team to win took advantage of the system as well, by signing up for an opposing team and purposefully lose in order to try and lower the chance of them winning. Supposedly, new scoring mechanisms in place in this cup stopped the practice that occurred during the first Altador Cup, where someone would sign up for a team on their side accounts and not play so as to reduce their overall score.
One is not allowed to sign up for the Altador Cup on a side account.
Besides playing Yooyuball, users also had the option of playing Slushie Slinger and Make Some Noise to contribute to their score. While these games did give the user points, the most points to be given were those for playing a Yooyuball match.
Tournament play was double round robin, which meant teams played every other team twice. During the round robin phase, each team was given a chance to prove itself by scoring the most overall. At the conclusion of the double round robin phase, the four best-performing teams will advance to the final matches that will determine who will reign supreme in this year's Altador Cup. The top two teams will meet in a final showdown for first place, and the teams that ranked third and fourth in the double round robin phase will battle for third place.
This differs from the previous years elimination method which justifies why users cannot change teams.
Match Schedule/Results
Schedule
An italicised team name means that team won the coupling. If both teams in a coupling are italicised, the match was a draw.
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June 5
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June 6
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June 7
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June 8
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June 9
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June 10
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June 11
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June 12
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June 13
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June 14
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June 15
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June 16
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June 17
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June 18
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June 19
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June 20
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June 21
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June 22
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June 23
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June 24
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June 25
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June 26
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June 27
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June 28
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June 29
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June 30
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July 1
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July 2
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July 3
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July 4
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Results by day
The winners are surrounded in green, losers in red, and if the match is a draw, both teams will be yellow.
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Overall results
The following table will change with each days updates until the tournament is finished...
| Team | Yooyuball | Slushie Slinger | Make Some Noise | ||||||
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| W | D | L | W | D | L | W | D | L | |
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5 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
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5 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 12 |
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17 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
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12 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 3 |
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1 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 14 |
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16 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 2 |
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11 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 2 |
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7 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 8 |
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11 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 9 |
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15 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 3 |
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15 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 3 |
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15 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 4 |
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7 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
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6 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
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2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
Prizes
Upon signing up for one of the participating teams, the user automatically received an Altador Cup Team Background of the team they joined, which they could use for Neopet Customisation.
It is speculated that users will receive an Altador Cup Site Theme as well as an avatar for participating, but whether these will be the same from last year is unknown.
Trivia
- Users were able to see their game achievements on the June 13 update.
External links
- Selected Petpages: Xiaotari's Altador Cup Help
- The Altador Cup
- Current Team Standings