Ghost Plasma

Ghost Plasma on the podium

**Ghost Plasma** is a red-orange and white marble who competes in the Marble Rally. They were the first Sand Marble Rally champion. They originally come from Fantum.

## History

### 2016

Ghost Plasma had a strong start to Sand Marble Rally 2016 with two consecutive podium finishes in 2nd place in the first two races. They claimed their first and only race win so far in Race 4, which was enough to affirm their status as title contender for the season. Their non-points finish in Race 6 notwithstanding, Ghost Plasma continued their supremacy in the Sand Marble Rally by staying at the top of the standings for the rest of the season. They finished 7th in the last race, which was enough to secure their championship title with 194 points. They were also 21 points ahead of Big Pearl, which was the largest points margin until Red Number 3 broke that record in 2018.

### 2017

Despite being the defending champion, Ghost Plasma was required to attend the Qualifiers for Sand Marble Rally 2017. They finished third in their group, behind Crazy Cat's Eye and Lollipop, and thus qualified for the season. As the reigning champion, Ghost Plasma was a heavily favored championship contender.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case at all. In fact, Ghost Plasma started the season poorly, with a mediocre 13th-place finish in the first race, followed by five consecutive races without scoring any points. They had four consecutive DNFs. As of Race 6, Ghost Plasma was last in the standings with only 3 points.

In the second half of the season, Ghost Plasma began to improve, even to the point where they overtook Comet in the points standings by finishing 6th in Race 10. With their third-place finish in Race 11, Ghost Plasma was 19th in the standings and 17 points ahead of Comet. But the next two races would be the unmaking of the reigning champion.

Not only was Ghost Plasma no longer eligible for the championship title by virtue of points difference from standings leader Quicksilver, they also failed to gain any points in Race 12. The double points from the Final Race of the season would have been something Ghost Plasma could capitalize on, but they failed to do so and finished 13th. At the end of the season, Ghost Plasma was back at the bottom of the ladder in the points standings with a measly 54 points.

### 2018

Due to Ghost Plasma's under-performance in the last season, Ghost Plasma once again had to participate in the Qualifiers for Sand Marble Rally 2018. They finished third in their qualifier race, behind Big Pearl and Deep Ocean, which was enough for them to qualify for the A Division. Ghost Plasma was determined to redeem themselves after their performance drop in the last season, which saw them go from the inaugural champion to dead last.

This season turned out to be another tough one for Ghost Plasma. Outside of their podium finish in Race 5 and their other top half finish of the season earlier in Race 3, Ghost Plasma's overall performance in this season was terrible. They finished every other race within the bottom half. They even DNFd in Race 6. Ghost Plasma ended the season in 19th place with 35 points.

During this time Ghost Plasma had become a franchise with the launch of their Marble League team, Team Plasma. Unfortunately they failed to qualify for Marble League 2018. Most of the franchise's resources went to preparing Ghost Plasma for Sand Marble Rally 2018, leading to a drop in morale and lack of training for Team Plasma who decided to retire before Marble League 2019.

### 2019

The Plasma franchise was in poor shape going into 2019. However, the retirement of Team Plasma meant more resources, funding and training for Ghost Plasma as they prepared for Marble Rally 2019. Due to their unsuccessful previous season, Ghost Plasma had to participate in the Wildcard Race to qualify for Marble Rally 2019. They finished second behind Reflektor, earning them a spot in the A League. Given that they had two underwhelming seasons in a row, there was already fear that Ghost Plasma would once again finish the season in the bottom half of the standings, if not last place as they did in 2017.

Surprisingly, 2019 proved to be a return to form for Ghost Plasma as speed and remarkable consistency made up their season. They were able to finish every race but one within the top half, including one podium finish at 3rd place in Race 6. This made them end the season in 2nd place with 76 points. They also prequalified for Marble Rally Season 5.

### 2020

Ghost Plasma was invited to take part in Marble Rally Season 5 after the Qualifiers were cancelled.

They finished 9th in the first race and got three consecutive third-place finishes in the next three races. However, a DNF in Race 5 dropped them to 3rd in the overall standings. They did not falter in Race 6 after running outside the top 5 for a while they made a great charge into 2nd place before finishing in 1st their first win since Race 4 in 2016 they were also on top of the overall standings for the first time since 2016 as well at the halfway point.

Ghost Plasma was decent placing top 10 in the next two races but despite surprise poor performances in the next two races they stay in 1st place after a 4th place in Race 11 they would actually lose 1st place to Cool Moody and after running in the top 6 for a majority of Race 12 they surprisingly get stuck on the course, because of this Ghost Plasma got denied a second Marble Rally Championship as they finished in 4th but many were wondering if not for the DNF they would have finished on the podium regardless.

## Racer analysis and profile

Ghost Plasma's great success comes from their ability to defend their track position. Especially evident in their 2016 Race 4 victory, Ghost Plasma's expertise at dominating in the front row thwarted any attempts to overtake them, blocking off all conventional lanes of attack and canceling clean drafts/slingshots as well. While not the fastest or most technically gifted, Ghost Plasma is a very intelligent racer, using splits and unrimmed curves to their advantage by always taking the fastest route, and they also use their body to physically push off others attempting to either pass cleanly or push them off the track themselves. While their form has not fully recovered from the bombed 2017 and 2018 season, they have shown an immense amount of their former self, using both splits and great defense to gather 7 straight top 10s, a podium and a 2nd place table finish to top it off.

## Marble Rally results

### Sand Marble Rally 2017

#### Qualifiers

Ghost Plasma competed in Qualifier 5. They qualified for Sand Marble Rally 2017.

### Sand Marble Rally 2018

#### Qualifiers

Ghost Plasma competed in Qualifier 2. They qualified for Sand Marble Rally 2018.

### Marble Rally 2019

#### Wildcard Race

Ghost Plasma competed in the Wildcard Race. They qualified for Marble Rally 2019.

### Marble Rally Season 5

Ghost Plasma was invited to take part in Marble Rally Season 5.

### Marble Rally Season 6

#### Qualifiers

Ghost Plasma competed in the Friendly Race, having autoqualified for Marble Rally Season 6.

## Trivia

* Ghost Plasma is the inaugural Marble Rally champion.
	+ However, Ghost Plasma is also the only Marble Rally champion who had to qualify for the next season.
* Ghost Plasma has had a significant drop in performance from the champion in 2016 to dead last in 2017. The reason why is unknown.
* Ghost Plasma is one of only two marbles to participate in all Marble Rally races held to date, along with Slimer.
* Ghost Plasma holds the longest DNF streak, with 4 races.
	+ They also hold the anti-record for the most DNFs, with 11 races.
* Ghost Plasma holds the Marble Rally record for most career third places with 5 (including 3 third-place finishes in 3 consecutive races in Season 5).
* Ghost Plasma is the first marble to get three consecutive podium finishes outside of the last three races in a season. They have achieved this twice.
	+ However, Ghost Plasma is also notorious for their poor performances in final races, having missed the final podium twice consecutively (in Season 5 & Season 6) after having a large lead.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Stynth (13th September 2020). Who’s Tearing Up the Sand in 2020? – Part 2. Jelle's Marble Runs.
2. ↑ Skystrykr (2nd January 2019). The teams not participating in 2019 MarbleLympics Qualifiers.. Reddit.