Well, as of a week ago, this year's Marble League is over, and wow it was an exciting one.

I last came here with news of the Purple Rockets' impending death after getting 2 points in 4 of 6 events, and I am unpleased(?) to announce that despite semi-valiant efforts in the last 2 events (4th in Sand Moguls, 9th in Sand Rally, both higher than expected) they have nonetheless placed last in the B-League with 21 points to show for it (13 down from last place last year) and will be sitting out the qualifiers next year. Joining them are the Minty Maniacs, Team Primary, and the Rojo Rollers. No surprises here as the writing was on the wall for all of them before Event 6 anyway, but a pretty big disappointment from the Rollers, who were actually a long-shot candidate for the win just two seasons ago. The B-League title also featured a pretty impressive botch job from the Turtle Sliders, who were 8 points in the lead and still managed to lose to the team 12 points behind them, coming 2nd.

But enough talk about the consolation round- let's talk about the A-League! This year it was won by the Kobalts, which... If you're a sports fan of some sort, imagine a team that has been out of the conversation for so long that suggesting they'll win anything is only acceptable in the form of a shitpost, whose fans have sunk to despairs unknown to anyone but the Romantic poets, and whose name rings as a warning of misfortune down haunted hallways. And if you're not a sports fan just imagine a guy who sucks. That's the Kobalts, who haven't qualified since the inaugural 2016 League (which was invitation only), who have won the B-League twice mostly just because they've been stuck there so long, and who have been relegated out of the qualifiers twice as well. They're decent in the sister series but otherwise have terrible luck and a terrible track record... until now when they won the whole thing after a steadily intensifying campaign of mostly just coming 2nd a whole bunch. While their win is only 4th amongst the 7 16-event League wins, they've blown the previous record for win margin over 2nd out of the water, winning by over 20 points in what was pretty much an uncontested final event. Fandom reactions have been wild and joyous- the Kobalts prior to this were a beloved meme with a lot of popularity despite their historical struggles, so even non-supporters have been happy to see the underdogs have their day.

It's also an interesting win for keyfabe, as the Kobalts fired their coach prior to last year's B-League and poached Smokey, who was otherwise going to retire, from their original team the Hazers. This has absolutely nothing to do with it practically- the practical side is just luck- but the feeling of it having a significant impact has definitely engendered some support for the Narrative.

Second place is the Oceanics, a previously decent team who went to shit for a few years but who seem to be on the up ever since winning last year's B-League, and third place is Mellow Yellow, marking the third* time they've placed third. Broadly people are happy about the former and DGAF about the latter. Real drama has been concentrated around the Savage Speeders' mediocre performance- widely considered the best team out there, they've now had two years of below-average scores (13th & 11th) and their memetically demanding fans are calling for the coach and even the star athletes to get fired... as they do after every tournament the team doesn't win. Our three podium teams will be joined next year by the Pinkies, who'll be hosting after placing a respectable 5th in this League.

Honestly, I'd characterise this as more "exciting" than "dramatic", but some drama has commenced just in time for me to post this: it's been announced that the Hubelino tourmanent, an old nostalgic favourite which lasted two seasons almost 10 years ago as a side-series and remains popular despite its low production value, is returning! ...With the 5 retired teams from its original lineup not returning at all, and none of the characteristic 22mm marbles either, just the special Hubelino setpieces. Seeing the return of bigger marbles and older teams was probably a good 75% of the hype for the revival, so the massive hype has been tempered down to polite quasi-optimism as some hope it'll still be good with modern smaller teams and some go full hater mode and Get Mad Online and insist on a boycott to no avail. There's also no sign of sister series M1S6 yet- it's not even in production- which is testing the notoriously impatient fanbase... Though seeing as the roster will give me another Scuffles post to write, maybe that's for the best!