Altador Cup VIII

The Altador Cup returns for the eighth year running.

The eighth Altador Cup of the summer of 2013 started with the Team sign-ups on the 24th of May. The real competition started on the 31st of May which lasted exactly a month. The Winners and Prizes were announced on the 1st of July.

New rule(s) in 2013

Tournament play is made up of five rounds. For each round, six teams will be placed into one of three brackets. During the round, every team in the bracket will play each other once.

This year, there will be four "bye" days. The bye days will happen once per round during the first four rounds, and will not fall on either the first or last day of a round.

At the conclusion of every round, each team in a bracket will be rewarded points based on how they played in comparison to the other teams in their bracket. With each subsequent round, the point values increase, allowing teams that may have gotten off to a rocky start to catch up toward the end. After all five rounds have been played, the teams. points will be tallied up and (if necessary) any ties will be broken. The following Monday, the results will be revealed and the champions will be named!

Story

Round One

• Alabriss Bracket

The Alabriss Bracket was filled with some interesting teams, last years top6. With powerhouses like Darigan Citadel, Lost Desert and Kreludor. Teams that missed the title last year by an inch like Meridell and Mystery Island and a team that hasn't achieved very much yet: Kiko Lake. Team Kreludor suprised in their first matches, everyone expected that Derlyn Fonnets team would suffer under the Winners Curse after becoming Champion last year, but they were able to earn a hard-foughted victory against Meridell and later against Lost Desert. Lost Desert was the team that dissapointed this round, not being able to jump along on the level of the other two powerhouses. Mystery Island was constanantly swept by the rest, while Kiko Lake suprisingly did good efforts in winning. But in the end it was Layton Vickles' Darigan Citadel that really convinced and took the 1st place in the Alabriss Bracket.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Darigan Citadel	13	13	1st
2nd Place	Kreludor	9	9	4th
3rd Place	Meridell	6	6	7th
4th Place	Kiko Lake	4	4	10th
5th Place	Lost Desert	2	2	13th
6th Place	Mystery Island	1	1	16th

• Minitheus Bracket

The Minitheus Bracket was compilled of the Teams from last years 7th till 12th place. These were Krawk Island, the old powerhouse. Middle-class teams like Tyrannia, Maraqua and Haunted Woods. And lesser teams like Brightvale and Terror Mountain. The Minitheus bracket was hard to figure out who would win. Completely unexpected, Tyrannia stood up as a major powerhouse, sweeping every single team in their bracket. Leaving the first place occupied since the first match. Not so very unexpected was the second place of Krawk Island and the third of Maraqua. In a short battle, Brightvale was able to capture the 4th place at the expense of Haunted Woods, who started off badly. Finally Terror Mountain dropped to be the last of the bracket.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Tyrannia	13	13	1st
2nd Place	Krawk Island	9	9	4th
3rd Place	Maraqua	6	6	7th
4th Place	Brightvale	4	4	10th
5th Place	Haunted Woods	2	2	13th
6th Place	Terror Mountain	1	1	16th

• Vaeolus Bracket

The final bracket exists from teams who ended at the bottom of last years Altador Cup. These teams were Altador, Faerieland, Moltara, Shenkuu, the winner of two years ago: Virtupets and the winner of Altador Cup III: Roo Island. The expectations were sky high for Roo Island that they would recover this year from their worst ranking ever. The same counted for Shenkuu, a team that once dominated the tournament but nowadays plays very poorely. As for Altador, Moltara and Faerieland, there were no expectations. They did not perform any different last year than the years before. Virtupets always surprises. As soon as the matches started everyone was stumbled by Altadors performances, they swept every team easily and with great numbers, even Roo Island! Beyond from that everything else went completely normal. Thus Altador won the bracket, leaving Roo Island 2nd, Shenkuu became 3rd, Virtupets 4th, and Faerieland and Moltara ended the lines, respectively 5th and 6th.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Altador	13	13	1st
2nd Place	Roo Island	9	9	4th
3rd Place	Shenkuu	6	6	7th
4th Place	Virtupets	4	4	10th
5th Place	Faerieland	2	2	13th
6th Place	Moltara	1	1	16th

Round Two

• Alabriss Bracket

The Alabriss Bracket of round two was a fierce one. Having Tyrannia, Krawk Island, Darigan Citadel and Kreludor. But also bottom line teams Shenkuu and Virtupets. The most intersting the follow was wether Tyrannia would be able to sweep Darigan Citadel and Kreludor as well. And what sort of resistance they could offer against the newly risen Tyrannian force. The answer was nothing. Loryche's team was unbeatable again, winning with big numbers again. Suprisingly, Krawk Island also bested Darigan Citadel and Kreludor. Leaving those two on respectively place 3 and 4 in the Alabriss Bracket. Virtupets and Shenkuu didn't have much to offer else then a fight to decide who wouldn't became last. That fight was lost by Virtupets.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Tyrannia	17	30	1st
2nd Place	Krawk Island	14	23	4th
3rd Place	Darigan Citadel	11	24	3rd
4th Place	Kreludor	8	17	7th
5th Place	Shenkuu	5	11	12th
6th Place	Virtupets	4	8	14th

• Minitheus Bracket

The teams of the Minitheus Bracket are Altador, Roo Island, Maraqua, Terror Mountain, Mystery Island and Lost Desert. For Altador there was no new big opponent in which they could test their strength. Nonetheless they still kept on sweeping teams and making themself a big favorite for the Cup and dared challenger of Tyrannia. Roo Island achieved the 2nd place in the bracket, failing it to the mighty Altadorian Team. Maraqua became 3rd. Terror Mountain made a jump, after becoming 6th in Round One, they made it to the 4th place this Round, besting Lost Desert and Mystery Island. Two teams who perform very much under their average.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Altador	17	30	1st
2nd Place	Roo Island	14	23	4th
3rd Place	Maraqua	11	17	7th
4th Place	Terror Mountain	8	9	13th
5th Place	Lost Desert	5	7	15th
6th Place	Mystery Island	4	5	17th

• Vaeolus Bracket

The Vaeolus bracket was excellent opportunity for Team Meridell to catch some points, at the absence of traditional powerhouses. Because their opponents weren't very scary, besides from Haunted Woods ofcourse. Teams like Brightvale, Kiko Lake, Faerieland and Moltara. Meridell earned victory every time, however, they underestimated Haunted Woods gravely, due to this, Krell Vitor's team was able to ensure some nice victories and finishing just behind Meridell after having a rough start. Brightvale made it to the 3rd place and the Kiko's 4th again. Moltara was working very hard again to increase their reputation as the worst team ever whil Faerieland ends 5th.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Meridell	17	23	4th
2nd Place	Haunted Woods	14	16	9th
3rd Place	Brightvale	11	15	10th
4th Place	Kiko Lake	8	12	11th
5th Place	Faerieland	5	7	15th
6th Place	Moltara	4	5	17th

Round Three

• Alabriss Bracket

The Alabriss Bracket is a mild one. Lacking brute strength or favorites for the title. But one of the teams in this bracket is Meridell, yet again facing a relatively easy bracket and thus an easy way to score some points for the ranking. Other teams are Maraqua, Virtupets, Shenkuu, Terror Mountain and Kiko Lake. The only real opponent for "Wizard" Windelle and his squad is Maraqua. Furthermore Team Terror Mountain seems to clime in the brackets as tournament moves on, while on the other hand Kiko Lake's performances only get worse. Shenkuu and Virtupets remain consistant, but with poor results. The final results of the Alabriss Bracket can be seen below.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Meridell	22	45	3rd
2nd Place	Maraqua	18	35	7th
3rd Place	Terror Mountain	14	23	10th
4th Place	Shenkuu	12	23	10th
5th Place	Kiko Lake	8	20	14th
6th Place	Virtupets	7	15	16th

• Minitheus Bracket

The Minitheus Bracket promised some nice matches. Altador facing with great rivals that take the shape of Darigan Citadel and Kreludor. The brackets do not favor Roo Island, Lilo Blumario's team has a hard time making it to the top because the share a bracket for the third time in a row with Altador. When the matches really started, it was shown again that Altador was unbeatable, even for the Citadel and Kreludor. This time actually Kreludor bested Darigan Citadel, leaving them 4th while they had to settle with the 3rd place because of Roo Islands unexpected amount of strenght. Haunted Woods and Brightvale were as expected unable to lift on the level of the top and finished 5th and 6th.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Altador	22	52	1st
2nd Place	Roo Island	18	41	4th
3rd Place	Kreludor	14	31	8th
4th Place	Darigan Citadel	12	36	6th
5th Place	Haunted Woods	8	24	9th
6th Place	Brightvale	7	22	12th

• Vaeolus Bracket

And last but not least the Vaeolus Bracket. Where Tyrannia resembles Altador, Krawk Island is their Roo Island. The pirates joined Tyrannia's bracket for the third time in a row. This doesn't increase their chances of winning the bracket but becoming 2nd seems very likely. Lost Desert is the other participant, Lost Desert has had a hard time living up to their average scores. Mystery Island, on the way to their worst ranking ever. And finally team Faerieland and Moltara, the actual worst teams ever. After some tough matches Tyrannia proved to be a master of their bracket, the only one to be able to stop them seems Altador, but they be sweeping everyone else. The Krawks end up 2nd just before Lost Desert who seems to recover a bit. Mystery Island makes sure that they won't be the worst team of this year becoming 4th and Faerieland finishes once again 5th before Moltara.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Tyrannia	22	52	1st
2nd Place	Krawk Island	18	41	4th
3rd Place	Lost Desert	14	21	13th
4th Place	Mystery Island	12	17	15th
5th Place	Faerieland	8	15	16th
6th Place	Moltara	7	12	18th

Round Four

• Alabriss Bracket

Round Four kicks of with the Alabriss Bracket with this years outsiders, but no real contestants for the Cup. Namely Maraqua, Kreludor and Darigan Citadel. But also some bottomfloaters like Faerieland and Moltara. And finally the middle-classed Terror Mountain. The matches started and Terror Mountain sweeped Faerieland, just like Darigan Citadel who swept Moltara. Kreludor surprisingly almost swept Maraqua. The next day Terror Mountain proved to be the diesel of the tournament, completely taking out Darigan Citadel. While Kreludor swept Moltara and Maraqua covered a sweep against Faerieland.In an exciting showdown between Kreludor and Darigan Citadel, Kreludor was able to convincingly sweep the Citadel. In the mean time Terror Mountain strengthend their claim on the first place in the match with Maraqua, whilst Faerieland beated Moltara. The next day Terror Mountain continued it's late and futile strike for the top winning in Yooyuball and Slushie slinger against Kreludor, while the Citadel and Maraqua sweeped their opponents. As soon as the sky was cleared Terror Mountain was shown to be the clear winner while Kreludor had to settle with the second place, Darigan Citadel with the 3rd. Maraqua, Faerieland and Moltara respectively 4, 5 and 6th.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Terror Mountain	27	50	10th
2nd Place	Kreludor	24	55	6th
3rd Place	Darigan Citadel	18	54	7th
4th Place	Maraqua	16	51	8th
5th Place	Faerieland	11	26	16th
6th Place	Moltara	10	22	18th

• Minitheus Bracket

The Minitheus Bracket is a mix of this years lower-tier teams. Teams like Mystery Island, Brightvale, Virtupets, the unlucky Lost Desert, Shenkuu and the spooky but tenacious Haunted Woods. In the upcoming matches Haunted Woods proved fruitful but there weren't very much sweeps at all. Therefor the outcome of this bracket was more exciting then any other, the results were very close but in the end Haunted Woods was just a little better than everyone else taking victory in this bracket. Closely followed by Brightvale, who was also sweepless. Lost Desert dissapointed once again, proving to have a really tough year, they lost to Shenkuu and thus had to be happy with the 4th place while Shenkuu took the 3rd. Virtupets claimed Yooyuball and Make Some Noise from Mystery Island and making it 5th by an inch, so Mystery Island once again last of the bracket, an unfortunate fall after last years 2nd place.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Haunted Woods	27	51	8th
2nd Place	Brightvale	24	46	11th
3rd Place	Shenkuu	18	41	12th
4th Place	Lost Desert	16	37	13th
5th Place	Virtupets	11	26	16th
6th Place	Mystery Island	10	27	15th

• Vaeolus Bracket

The absolute top bracket of Round Four is the Vaeolus Bracket. The two title favorites Altador and Tyrannia finally shared a bracket, probably now there will be decided who will bring home the Cup. Beyond from the fight for the title there is also a fight for the third place in the Vaeolus Bracket. Krawk Island and Roo Island are both contestants for the bronze medal. Furthermore are the brackets not really kind to Meridell this round, they're facing some top teams in this bracket and can probably forget about becoming third this year. The last team is Kiko Lake, which will likely become last. On the first day of the matches Tyrannia sweeped Meridell, while Altador almost swept Kiko Lake, only Slushie Slinger was won by Kiko Lake. The match-up for the third place started right away with Krawk Island versus Roo Island, in which Roo Island showed who's boss and took a broad victory. In the next day Tyrannia was beaten down by Roo Island in Slushie Slinger and Shootout Showdown! They will not be the first team to end with a perfect record after all. Altador sweeped Meridell and Krawk Island and Kiko Lake played surprising match in which the Krawks were only able to win Shootout Showdown. After that Roo Island was sadly sweeped again by Altador while Tyrannia swept Krawk Island. The day after that was the dicisive match for the Cup between Tyrannia and Altador. In the end Tyrannia swept Altador and so it's highly unlikely that they are not going to win this years Altador Cup. Meanwhile Roo Island nearly swept Kiko Lake just like Krawk Island nearly swept Meridell. On the last day, Krawk Island was swept by Altador, Tyrannia swept Kiko Lake and Roo Island swept Meridell. And so Tyrannia won the Vaeolus bracket, Altador became 2nd, Roo Island 3rd, Krawk Island had to settle with the 4th place, Meridell 5th and Kiko Lake last.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Tyrannia	27	79	1st
2nd Place	Altador	24	76	2nd
3rd Place	Roo Island	18	59	3rd
4th Place	Krawk Island	16	57	4th
5th Place	Meridell	11	56	5th
6th Place	Kiko Lake	10	30	14th

Round Five

• Alabriss Bracket

Eventhough the first and second place are already divided, there still an opportunity for both Kreludor and Krawk Island in the Alabriss Bracket to conquer the 3rd place this year, however that would require a victory of Roo Island, and they have already shown to be stronger than their opponents. For Maraqua there is not much to win in the Alabriss Bracket other then to strengthen their position. Virtupets doesn't get to say a lot about where they will end up, in this bracket they most likely will end last and then all they can do is hope Moltara and Faerieland will do the same so Virtupets won't become last this tournament. The last team of this bracket is Mystery Island, performing far below their old level. The most important matches were between Maraqua and Roo Island in which Roo Island was able to completely sweep Maraqua. Between Kreludor and Krawk Island, in that match Krawk Island nearly swept Kreludor, only Make Some Noise was won by Kreludor. On the second day of the Fith round the podium was decided. Roo Island was able to sweep Krawk Island and thus secured their 3rd place this Altador Cup. An outher worldly match was between Virtupets and Kreludor, in which Kreludor definately lost a chance to the 3rd place thanks to an impressive win from Virtupets in Yooyuball and Make Some Noise. The other matches didn't change a lot to the ranks. And so Roo Island wins the Alabriss Bracket, while Krawk Island becomes second, Kreludor 3rd by an inch closely followed by Maraqua. Mystery Island then 5th and finally Virtupets as expected 6th.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Roo Island	33	92	3rd
2nd Place	Krawk Island	28	85	4th
3rd Place	Kreludor	23	78	7th
4th Place	Maraqua	19	70	8th
5th Place	Mystery Island	15	42	15th
6th Place	Virtupets	13	39	16th

• Minitheus Bracket

The final Minitheus Bracket is for Tyrannia only a formality. Even if they would become last and Darigan Citadel first, then they can still count on a silver medal. But that won't be sufficient for the nearly unbeatable team. They've proven to be able to sweep all of these teams in the Minitheus Bracket, teams like the Citadel, Shenkuu, Haunted Woods, Moltara and Meridell. For Darigan Citadel there is a lot to win though, a top 5 position for instance. The most important matches were those between Darigan Citadel and Tyrannia, in which Tyrannia smashed Darigan Citadel to the ground, A sweep of Meridell over Darigan Citadel. And Tyrannia's impressive sweep over Meridell. In the end Tyrannia became first as anticipated, Darigan Citadel was able to become 2nd at the expense of Meridell, Meridell who started the tournament fantastic went only downwards in the rankings. Haunted Woods managed to reach the 4th place in this bracket, Shenkuu 5th again and Moltara becomes last, just like in every other bracket this year.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Tyrannia	33	112	1st
2nd Place	Darigan Citadel	28	82	5th
3rd Place	Meridell	23	79	6th
4th Place	Haunted Woods	19	70	9th
5th Place	Shenkuu	15	56	12th
6th Place	Moltara	13	35	18th

• Vaeolus Bracket

The Vaeolus Bracket was een easy dessert for Altador, against teams that don't even come close to their level this year. The other teams of the Vaeolus bracket are Terror Mountain, the team who moved upwards in the brackets from place 6 to 4th to 3rd to 1st in round four. Brightvale, Lost Desert, Kiko Lake and Faerieland. In the matches Altador clearly sought for vengeance after their lost match against Tyrania. Altador swept Kiko Lake, Brightvale, Faerieland and Lost Desert. Only Terror Mountain, this years outsider, managed to show some strong resistance. Terror Mountain won in Slushie Slinger and Shootout Showdown, while Altador won in Yooyuball and Make Some Noise. But eventhough Altador won a tight victory over Terror Mountain, their first place in the Vaeolus Bracket was easily covered. Terror Mountain made it 2nd. Brightvale, this years typical middle-class team became 3rd in this bracket, Lost Desert 4th. Kiko Lake, who started nicely this tournament ends 5th in the final bracket and Faerieland as expected becomes last.

Standing	Team	Points Earned	Points Total	Overall Standings
1st Place	Altador	33	109	2nd
2nd Place	Terror Mountain	28	78	7th
3rd Place	Brightvale	23	69	11th
4th Place	Lost Desert	19	56	12th
5th Place	Kiko Lake	15	45	14th
6th Place	Faerieland	13	39	16th

Results

Standing	Team
1st Place	Tyrannia
2nd Place	Altador
3rd Place	Roo Island
4th Place	Krawk Island
5th Place	Darigan Citadel
6th Place	Meridell
7th Place (tie)	Terror Mountain
7th Place	Kreludor
9th Place (tie)	Haunted Woods
9th Place	Maraqua
11th Place	Brightvale
12th Place (tie)	Lost Desert
12th Place	Shenkuu
14th Place	Kiko Lake
15th Place	Mystery Island
16th Place (tie)	Faerieland
16th Place	Virtupets
18th Place	Faerieland

Timeline of the AC VIII

• 5/24-5/30 - Team sign-ups and practice rounds begin.
• 5/31/-6/28 - Tournament play takes place
• 6/29-6/30 - Tiebreaker played (if necessary)
• 7/1 Y15 - Altador Cup champions are announced and the Prize Shop opens.

Winners of the AC VIII

• 1st place - Tyrannia
• 2nd place - Altador
• 3rd place - Roo Island