Marble League 2021 Qualifiers

The qualifiers for Marble League 2021 were held on 18 June 2021. The qualifying system changed from the previous year, and instead of 20 teams, 24 teams enter the qualifiers in two groups of twelve to claim participation spots in the main tournament, but only 12 of them will make it through alongside the four auto-qualified teams from Marble League 2020.

The Savage Speeders, O'rangers, Minty Maniacs, and Crazy Cat's Eyes did not participate in the Qualifiers as they had auto-qualified. They instead competed in the Friendly Round.

The Turtle Sliders, Snowballs, and Limers were originally ineligible to participate the ML2021 Qualifiers or the ML2021 main event because they were the bottom four of Marble League Showdown 2020. However, due to changes in the qualifying format, and the retirements of the Jawbreakers and Hornets, these three teams competed in the event.

On 13 April 2021, it was announced that the Gliding Glaciers would return to the Marble League and take the place of the Jawbreakers. Additionally, it was announced that a new team, the Solar Flares, would take the place of the Hornets in the Qualifiers after the Bumblebees' takeover of the Hornets.

## Draw

All 24 teams hoping to qualify for Marble League 2021 were randomly placed into two groups, Group A and Group B, with one team per group being revealed between June 6th and June 17th 2021 on the JMR Subreddit. On June 8th however, a promotion video on the JMR Twitter revealed the 24 teams' placement in groups, resulting in a premature release of the qualifying groups in Marble League 2021.

## Medals

### Winners

A: Mellow Yellow
B: Raspberry Racers

### Runners-up

A: Thunderbolts
B: Limers

### Third Place

A: Rojo Rollers
B: Solar Flares

The first event of the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers was held on the 18th June 2021, featuring the first event, the **Swing Wave**, or **Wave** for short.

### Event

In the Swing Wave, the marble teams roll down a wave-shaped track. The farther each marbles goes, the more points they get. There are 10 waves numbered from 1 to 10, with a red catch tray at the very end. A marble scores points equivalent to the numbering of the wave it stops in; falling into the red catch tray scores 0 points. Unlike the Hubelino Tournament variation, there is no 12-point strip, and there is a single lane in the track. The teams' score in the event is their best result after two heats. The team with the highest score wins. If there is a tie, countback is conducted in each team's best run (most 10-point scores, then most 9-point scores, etc.)

## Medals

### Winners

A: Leap - Jungle Jumpers
B: Rezzy - Raspberry Racers

### Runners-up

A: Foggy - Hazers
B: Ducky - Green Ducks

### Third Place

A: Mary - Team Primary
B: Honey - Bumblebees

The second event of the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers was held on the 18th June 2021, featuring the second event, **Funnel Endurance**.

### Event

The race was similar to previous Funnel Races. It featured 10 funnels. The top 5 funnels were orange Hubelino funnels, while the bottom half consisted of 2 blue funnels and 3 green MaBoRun funnels. The rules were the same as previous funnel spinning events (the last marble to finish wins).

## Medals

### Winners

A: Mellow Yellow
B: Indigo Stars

### Runners-up

A: Team Momo / Midnight Wisps
B: Shining Swarm

### Third Place

A: N/A
B: Raspberry Racers

The third event of the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers was held on the 18th June 2021, featuring the third event, the **5 Meter Relay**.

### Event

The 5 Meter Relay was similar to previous versions of the Relay Run. One marble from each team rolls down part of the track as quickly as they can. They then collide with the next marble on their team, setting them off to complete their part of the race. The fourth marble on the team completes the final part of the race. The team with the fastest time wins.

## Medals

### Winners

A: Thunder - Thunderbolts
B: Pinky Toe - Pinkies

### Runners-up

A: Alpine - Gliding Glaciers
B: Bonbon - Chocolatiers

### Third Place

A: Smoggy - Hazers
B: Azure - Kobalts

The fourth and final event of the Marble League 2021 Qualifiers was held on the 18th June 2021, featuring the fourth event, **Sand Rally**.

### Event

In this event, 12 individual marbles race down a sand track. The first marble across the finish line is the winner.

## Standings

### Overall Standings

#### Group B

█ The team won.
█ The team finished second.
█ The team finished third.
█ The team did not qualify for the Marble League 2021.
Ties are broken by highest event points.

## Trivia

* During the video, Greg Woods made an error by saying that Momomo will be taking over Momomomo as the captain of Team Momo. Instead it should have been Momo who is the new captain of the team.
* In the video, the standings showed the Thunderbolts finishing with 40 points and the Balls of Chaos getting 9 points, while it should have been 39 points for the Thunderbolts and 10 points for the Balls of Chaos.
* In Group A, every team that finished in the top 6 in the Swing Wave event qualified for Marble League 2021.
* In both groups, the top 2 finishers in the Swing Wave were in the same heats.

## References

1. ↑ JellesMarbleRuns (13th April 2020). How will the 2021 league qualifiers work?. Reddit.