My Dyrinor's Drifting Dolphins won the eigth [SL]UMBBBL Cup! Here is their story.

In round one the sea elves faced Ghost Ship's ethereals, who had hired a wizard and Wilhelm Chaney, amongst other goodies. The Dolphins received the kick-off and advanced slowly, but cautiously. Wilhelm tried to cause havoc amongst the elven lines, but only managed to score a ko. In turn 7 the sea elves scored. A snaked dodge by the ballcarrying banshee helped the Dolphins recover the ball early in the second half, only to lose it again a turn later. But the ethereals couldn't hold the ball in their team either, so Dolthaic happily recovered it for the elves. Nuffle was with the Dolphins as the Zap! spell misfired. No frog, and the ball remained solidly in elven sure hands, safe against the strip. But then Dolthaic also snaked a dodge and suddenly the ethereals got hope! One turn later the elves recovered it, only to lose it once more a turn later. Thanks to Nuffle the ball landed in the hands of another elf during the scatter. Still it wasn't over, as a wrestler dodged in the cage next turn and stole the ball once more. The ag5 banshee lobbed it into the hands of a wraith, who caught it in a tackle zone, but then failed his dodge on his way to the equalizer. Crazy game were the ball was cut loose 6 times in the second half. But in the end the Dolphins won: 0-1.

Round two brought the Dolphins to the far shadowlands, where they faced Dustys Revenge, a young team of dust goblins backed up by 1230 TV of inducements. The sea elves faced 2 tomb scorpions, 2 bone giants, an Ushabti, Ramtut, Ripper and some dusty gobbos. The first half quickly became chaotic, with lots of sidestepping elves trying to worm their way through the big guys. Thularin got maimed (and potioned afterwards - which proved critical to the tourney win), but eventually it paid off to put pressure on the ball. Caoran dodged in and knocked the ballcarrier down. A few chaotic turns later I managed to -2d push a bone giant, causing a chain reaction as an elf was pushed on the ball. Eventually it landed in the hands of Ethandril, who ran off and scored a turn later. Dead gobbos have shorter legs than living gobbos, which saved us from a successful oneturner. The second half was a defensive effort that nearly went wrong when the long-awaited fireball finally landed. The elves recovered though and despite high pressure managed to seal the deal with a second touchdown: 2-0.

The ironbreakers of Los Antidisturbios were the Dolphin's opponents in round 3. Backed up by a wizard, a bribe and a bloodweiser babe, these AV10 dwarfs would prove a hard nut to crack. The elves received and managed to score in 3 turns. Nuffle was definitely not with the dwarfs, as he let them fail the surehands pickup twice in a row. This allowed the sea elves to get dangerously close the ball, provoking the wizard to intervene. Dolthaic got zapped, but remained on the pitch for a few more turns adding to the havoc. The ironbreaker's ballcarrier finally managed to pick up the ball, but then failed a GFI and unceremoniously dropped it again, smashing headfirst into the turf. Thularin, who didn't miss the game because of the healing potion, put his AG6 to good use, but ultimately failed the last dodge after having worked some elven magic. The dorfs couldn't capitalize on the failed dodge though, so Thularin got another chance next turn. One pass later Guldir ran in the second touchdown of the evening. With only 2 turns remaining, the sea elves had a comfortable lead at half-time. The second half was a tight struggle with lots of elves and dwarfs involved in a brawl. The ball switched sides several times and eventually the dwarfs even scored, but much too late to threaten the Dolphin's win: 2-1 and up to the semi-final!

In the semi-final the sea elves faced the horrific Embutidos y Salazones. For the first (and last) time this tourney, the sea elves did not face inducements. Both teams combined carried 5300 TV to the pitch. A monster game! The Dolphins were not the favorites here, facing multiple claw/mighty blow and being actually slower than the opposition. The elves received the ball in the first half and approached the game conservatively. Khorne approached us aggressively, but ignored Lemsas, who had managed to slip through the enemy's lines. And that's exactly where the ball went to. By turn 6 we scored, surviving a 2d blitz on the ball. This left Khorne 3 turns to equalize before halftime and we had good hopes of stopping the chaos horde. Caoran had to leap in to free the ball - which he did - and he even managed to catch the ball in the process. He lost it again next turn, but the opposing frenzier caught it as well when he downed Caoran. No equalizer, as this was turn 8 already. The second half started not so good for the elves. By turn 2 we were down to 8 players. That's the price of pressuring the ball. But the sacrifice was worth it, as Khorne's frenzied blocks only pushed the sidestepping elves closer to the ballcarrier. The situation became messy and eventually a dodge to escape the mess was failed. Thularin put his AG6 to good use and recovered the ball. Next turn he lobbed it into the hands of an uncovered fellow elf who scored the second touchdown for the Dolphins! With only 3 turns remaining, this was a win. Embutidos y Salazones saved their honor by scoring a touchdown, but it wasn't enough. A 2-1 victory for the Dolphins and up to the finals!

There waited the she-elves of Secret League Princesses, backed up by Prince Moranion, a wizard and two bloodweiser babes. This would be an elfbowl final! Or not. The Dolphins received the first half. In turn 3 the opposing wizard launched his fireball, opening the path to a 2d blitz. The ball was gone but remained recoverable in the hands of a handmaiden. She was knocked down and Thularin picked up the ball, trying to hide in a sort of a cage. One corner was wrestled down though, opening the opportunity for another blitz on the ball by Prince Moranion, who knocked it loose. Things looked very dire, but then Nuffle intervened, rewarding Esmeralda with a snaked dodge on her way to the pick-up (and probable touchdown). Instead the Dolphins recovered it once more and moved forwards. It was not a walk in the park, but eventually Caoran ran in the opening touchdown in turn 8. Three sidesteppers on the line of scrimmage made a oneturner quite hard. In the second half, an early (not rerolled) double skulls in turn 2 made the Princesses lose the initiative. Instead of moving forward, they retreated, keeping the ball safe. The bait worked and the sea elves rushed forwards. Then the Princesses dodged through the lines, looking for the equalizer. Jasmine was not exactly safe though, so she got blitzed and lost the ball to Guldir. The remaining 4 turns were a chaotic brawl, typical to the Dolphin's gameplay this tourney. Pressure the opposition hard, push them to score. Either they score quickly, leaving sufficient time to the sea elves to score as well, or the whole situation gets entangled and scoring becomes difficult. Nuffle decided to go for the second path. Usually Caoran then uses his leaping strength to cut the ball loose, followed by Thularin's AG6 to steal it. This time Thelion's blodge/sidestep/diving tackle proved enough of a barrier to slow things down. Eventually The Dolphins even managed a blitz on the dump-off ballcarrier, freeing the ball. A strange thing happened then (bug?), whereby the ball apparently couldn't be thrown where wanted. The ball was loose and a sea elf picked it up. He lost it again in the last turn, but the ball dropped in the hands of the assisting linewoman, who had already moved. Game over and a 1-0 win for the Dolphins!

Dyrinor's Drifting Dolphins finally win the [SL]UMBBL Cup! They had been runner-up and semi-finalist before, and now they finally win the big one. Currently sitting at a staggering 2700 TV, this team plays bloodbowl as it was meant to be - massive, impressive and spectacular!