Hello and welcome to another RetRollSpective, where we reflect on the history of marble sports teams that have competed in the tournaments of Jelle’s Marble Runs. This time, we’re going to focus on the Black Jacks, a team that debuted in the Hubelino Tournament and returned from a hiatus to compete in the Marble League 2022 Showdown. Read on to find out how this team is suited for victory!
The Black Jacks originate from Las Veglass, far from where they would compete for most of their career. All four team members, Club, Diamond, Heart, and Spade, rose to prominence in the region, not for marble sports but for professional card games, specifically blackjack.
The four became some of the more prominent blackjack players on Marblearth, and they toured the globe competing in different tournaments. In particular, they spent much of their time in Buzznya, where the four players first bonded over a high-stakes game and a lengthy sightseeing trip. But by the time 2009 came around, they had begun to lose a bit of love for the game, as they believed it had become unenjoyable and were tired of traveling the world for these competitions.
A growing desire to leave the sport had started to affect the team. Spade was on a streak of bad luck, and their poor results were noticed by others, creating stress that they had never faced. They all started to grow interests in other things, among them marble sports.
“2009 was a difficult year for me, between a burnout from all the tournaments and my results becoming more inconsistent than they had been in previous years,” stated Club. “I had thought about it a lot, and I decided to announce my retirement in Herbotamia, after the final tournament of the year. I decided the first marble to tell my plan would be Diamond.”
Club decided to take Diamond on a roll through the streets of Chlorotopia to tell of their plan. As they were rolling, the pair noticed a crowd of marbles gathered around the side of a bridge overlooking a creek. Club and Diamond pushed their way to the front of the group to see what was happening. They noticed a mint green marble and a golden marble racing down the stream. The mint green marble held the lead; the golden marble tried to make a pass but was blocked, and the green marble was the first to pass under the bridge.
“I still don’t know how to describe it,” commented Club. “But something just immediately clicked for me. This competition, whatever it was, just seemed so interesting and exciting. I had never pondered marble racing through the water or being able to watch it from a bridge. It was an amazing concept.”
After the race, Diamond rolled back to the hotel to get Heart, thinking they would appreciate this competition. While they were gone, Club stayed at the creek – and learned more about what was happening. They heard two names: the Minty Maniacs and Golden Wisps. As Club learned, the two marbles racing were Minty Flav and Willo, and the bridge they were standing on was the finish line of this race, the first of four.
Diamond would return with Heart to catch the end of the second race, with Spade also tagging along. In Race 2, Spirit beat Minty Swirl by a sizable margin. In Race 3, Minty Drizzel held on to win over Pixie, and in Race 4, Minty Fresh pulled off a last-second pass to win over Fairy by five-thousandths of a second.
The members were all highly intrigued by what they just witnessed, and Club was the first to approach the two teams about future events and what they were doing in general.
“I remember thinking – if we all stopped wasting so much time at the card tables and focused our efforts on this, we could be just as good or even better than these guys,” Club recalled. “The level of competition, even between two teams racing in a Herbotamia creek, was a sight to behold.”
The Golden Wisps and Minty Maniacs never intended to reveal their competitions to the public, but usually, the marbles who watched their events were just casual passersby. Nobody was more interested in this event than Club, Diamond, Heart, and Spade, so the two teams promised to keep in contact with them.
One month later, they were back in Herbotamia and witnessed another event between the Maniacs and the Wisps. From then on, they decided they wanted to participate in the events, so they started training. After the event, the Minty Maniacs and Golden Wisps revealed that they were considering letting an additional team compete in their events. They decided that Club, Diamond, Heart, and Spade could join if they wanted to. The four accepted and agreed to take on the name “Black Jacks” for their marble sports team.
With the arrival of the Black Jacks, the series of turf tournaments would now have cumulative points standings for the first time. Unsurprisingly, the Black Jacks didn’t do great in their first year, finishing last of the three teams, as the Minty Maniacs won convincingly and the Golden Wisps finished in second. The Black Jacks did have some success – as they won the Pursuit Slalom, an event where marbles would sidewind their way through rows of mint plants. Given the team had the home-field advantage and past success in 2009, the Minty Maniacs were clear favorites for the events, but the Black Jacks bested them by a noticeable margin.
(Photo Credit: Vector)
“I look back at that Pursuit Slalom as one of the most important moments for our team,” stated Heart, beginning to stand out as the best athlete. “We knew we weren’t the best, but this event proved to us we were certainly capable athletes, and we had so much potential to catch up to the Minties and Wisps.”
Before 2011 kicked off, Minty Flav mentioned they had found a potential new team in a street race, who called themselves Team Phoenix. The Black Jacks were on board with another team joining because they figured they would fit in with another new team. Though they only captured one gold in 2010, the Black Jacks went into 2011 with hope and confidence, and their hope was rewarded immediately with a first-place finish in Event 1, the Block Push. They couldn’t keep up the momentum as they quickly fell behind the Minty Maniacs, but they fought the Golden Wisps in a close battle for second. The Golden Wisps held the position by two points going into the final event, the Halfpipe Dash, but the Black Jacks were able to win gold and snatch second overall thanks to a big final push from Heart.
In 2012, the tournament rebranded into the Herbotamia Tournament under the guidance of the Herbotamia Recreational and Sports Club (HRSC for short).
“The support that the HRSC gave us had its pros and cons,” Club stated, during an interview in a 2020 documentary on the original Herbotamia Tournament. “We were given the necessities of major tournaments, like courts, locker rooms, and proper equipment, but spectator access was still as limited as it was back in 2010. I mean, the HRSC budget wasn’t nearly enough to sustain the tournament for its duration. But thankfully, our past career was also in a professional sport, so we had the most money to offer. More often than not, we had to fill the gaps in the budget.”
2012 would see the first season as a professional tournament, along with the debut of the Ruby Rollers. The Black Jacks had improved over their first two seasons, but the brilliance of the Minty Maniacs looked difficult to challenge. Even so, the Black Jacks were confident in their abilities.
In the first event, the Minty Maniacs edged out the Black Jacks in the Catwalk by just one point. The following event saw a disappointing fourth in the Halfpipe Dash, but they managed to win Event 3, the Relay Race. Quartet Jump saw a second-place finish, and with the Minty Maniacs finishing last in the event – the Black Jacks had an outside chance at winning the tournament, with it being more likely for Team Phoenix to steal the crown. However, as the Herbotamia Tournament returned to the event where the Black Jacks had gotten their first victory, Pursuit Slalom, the team won it again. The tournament came down to Minty Maniacs and Black Jacks in the final event, the Maze.
In the most important event of their career thus far, the Black Jacks selected Heart to compete in Maze. It almost ended in disaster on the first run, but Heart stayed just ahead of the Golden Wisps, who got eliminated. Minty Flav got eliminated on the second run, elating Heart and their team. Run 3 saw a win for Heart as the Ruby Rollers followed suit. Heart needed to finish first in the event for the Black Jacks to win the tournament, and all that stood in their way was Nixy of Team Phoenix. Despite the pressure, Heart managed to roll to a win and an unlikely championship victory.
“Of course, we were overjoyed,” said Heart. “But we were also fulfilled, knowing for sure that we were as competitive as the Minty Maniacs, Golden Wisps, and the other teams, even if we weren’t as experienced as them. For us especially, there was so much to look forward to in the future.”
Despite the Black Jacks’ insistence that 2012 wasn’t a coincidence, they couldn’t keep up their stunning form. They ended up finishing the season without an event win for the first time, though they did manage to beat Team Phoenix in the standings.
During the midseason break of 2013, a reporter contacted the tournament, asking permission to show clips from the league for a TV featurette. But the teams weren’t keen on the idea.
“When we first joined the tournament, we would’ve accepted it without hesitation,” Diamond stated. “But we wanted this to be our thing – and we understood we didn’t need more publicity or if it would be helpful, so as a team, we declined. It likely would not have mattered, as the other teams also declined.”
2014 was more of a traditional season, as the Minty Maniacs returned to the top with the Golden Wisps in second. The Black Jacks finished in third, though a long way off the top two.
Before the following season, the HRSC announced that they would not be able to fund the tournament and that they would need sponsors to ensure the tournament’s survival. Given the Black Jacks’ wealth from years of competing in card tournaments worldwide, they had little choice but to serve as benefactors to keep the series going.
“I knew from that second what we had to do,” Club said. “We weren’t exactly happy about it, but we would give anything to compete. We did the same when we gave up cards, so we paid as much as we had to.”
Although we cannot confirm this, it was reported that the Black Jacks did not give as much as they could have and that they only donated enough so that it and the money earned off of the Golden Wisps’ jewelry raffle would be just enough to keep the tournament going for another season. Going into the year, however, it seemed likely that 2015 would be the last season of the Herbotamia Tournament.
Known as “the team that just wants to compete,” the tournament’s fate hit the Black Jacks the hardest. They would finish last, with zero event wins.
Having barely missed out on victory in the final event, Hurdles, Heart recalled, “I remember walking off the field for the final time, looking at my teammates, my competitors, and saying nothing. After all those years in Herbotamia and all that progress we thought we had made, it ended just like that. It was definitely the lowest point of our careers.”
Once the Minty Maniacs announced their retirement, effectively ending the Herbotamia Tournament, the Black Jacks returned to the blackjack tables, hoping to use their relevance as athletes to have a successful career. With this, the Black Jacks would settle in Herbotamia. Diamond would comment, “We had been living in Herbotamia for so many years, and it felt like we never got to appreciate the region. From the astounding skyscrapers in the cities to the rolling fields of the farmlands, or even to the empty desert dunes, Herbotamia truly is a lovely place.”
After some time away from racing – and more success at the card tables – the Black Jacks were thrust back into marble sports in 2016. Minty Flav contacted the Black Jacks and all other teams to tell them that Jelle Bakker, organizer of the Knikkigen Marble League, had proposed to bring the Herbotamia Tournament back. Jelle Bakker put this revival forward during the inaugural Marble League, a competition that was the first of its time, composed of the best teams in the whole world. Jelle Bakker had missed running a smaller and more regional tournament, so when they heard of the Herbotamia Tournament’s woes, they were quick to assist.
After some thought, the Minty Maniacs agreed to join the competition, and this alone was enough to get the other teams to agree to Jelle’s proposal. Hubelino Tournament 2016 would include mainstream broadcasting for the first time, all track parts supplied by the sponsor, Hubelino, and three new teams: the Green Gang, Valiant Violets, and Bluefastics. Many of the classic events, such as the Catwalk, were replicated with the new Hubelino equipment. The Black Jacks, at the sponsor’s suggestion, entered the tournament under pseudonyms to link themselves to the team, although they quickly came to find names like “Jack of Diamonds” too much of a mouthful.
Heart was chosen for the first event, Funnel Spinning, an event new to the original Herbotamian competitors. The event didn’t start as well as they hoped as they were the first to fall into Funnel 5, but playing their cards right with well-timed blocks and pushes, they fought back into contention. Heart outlasted the Minty Maniacs in the final funnel as they took home the gold for the Black Jacks in the first event.
Out of breath, Heart, in what would be the tournament’s first-ever televised interview, would say, “I didn’t know what I was doing. When you’ve been racing for a few years, this new stuff just kind of comes to you immediately.”
The Black Jacks continued their hot streak with two bronzes in the Catwalk and Halfpipe Crash. Having avoided carnage in the Elimination Race, Club lost the final heat to the Ruby Rollers, claiming silver. The team held an eight-point lead afterward, which fell to a one-point margin after Quartet Jump, where they finished in last place. During that event, Spade flew off the track, and the other three scored limited points.
The Black Jacks fell to third after Pursuit Slalom, when they lost their heat to the Green Gang by quite a distance, finishing seventh in the event. The event would cause a bit of infighting within the team, which Spade noted: “Club thought Heart was holding them up, and that’s what cost them so much time, but Heart said Club just fell behind. The two kept insisting they were right and the other was wrong for days. To be honest, it was arguing for the sake of arguing, and it didn’t help us at all.”
The championship was still close, and the Black Jacks had every chance to bring down the deficit, but in the Swing Wave, they finished last, falling to fourth. Going into what was to be the final event of the tournament, the team had little to celebrate. They had been in first for the first five events, yet they found themselves in fourth going into the event that mattered most. Diamond would salvage a silver in the Combination Race, moving them up to third and the podium.
However, they did not remain on the podium for long. After Jelle’s announcement that the tournament would continue for another four events, to be held either side of the 2017 Marble League, the Black Jacks could not keep their momentum going. With finishes of sixth, seventh, fourth, and fifth in the new events, the Black Jacks ended the tournament in fifth overall with 67 points.
While the team was disappointed to fall off the podium, Club reported in an interview that “we’re just happy the competition kept going, really. The original Herbotamia Tournament was always a friendly event, so we’re glad that Jelle offered us sponsorships to let us keep that atmosphere going even though the stakes were higher.”
Following the end of the Hubelino Tournament, Jelle approached the teams once more with an offer to join the qualifiers for Marble League 2018. Although several weren’t interested in the additional pressure of the higher competition standard, the Black Jacks decided to take the offer. “The decision was simple for us,” Heart later remarked. “We’ve always been that team that loves to compete, and after seeing the astonishing level on display at Marble League 2017, we were all more or less in agreement before we even finished reading Jelle’s letter.” The Black Jacks recruited Ace, a long-time friend of Spade from the HRSC who had designed their original uniforms, as their reserve member and began training for the upcoming qualifiers.
The Black Jacks joined Marble League 2018 Qualifiers alongside the Minty Maniacs and Golden Wisps (now rebranded as the Golden Orbs), as well as three other newcomers – Team Plasma, the Crazy Cat’s Eyes, and the Gliding Glaciers. Under the new qualifying format introduced in 2018, the Black Jacks were sorted into Group C and started their qualifying run well with a fourth place in Curling, and missing out on 3rd place to the Balls of Chaos on a tiebreaker. The second event, the Snow Race, ended dramatically for Group C as damage to the course caused none of the racers to finish. Diamond was awarded fifth place after the pile-up, keeping the team in fourth overall, but a sixth-place finish for Heart in the Ice Dash and fifth place for the team in the Halfpipe caused the Black Jacks to drop to sixth altogether, failing to qualify for the Marble League.
“We knew the step-up to the Marble League would be a big one, but we still weren’t quite expecting it to be that much of a switch from the Hubelino Tournament,” Diamond told interviewers after the qualifiers. “I think all the new teams felt it. The competitors at this level have the attitude and focus we haven’t needed since our card-playing days, and we just didn’t find enough of it this time.”
The Black Jacks attended Marble League 2018 to support the Minty Maniacs, the only one of the three Hubelino teams to qualify for the tournament, but watching their friends compete further proved how different the level was between the Marble League and the friendly competitions they were used to. The Black Jacks did take part in some off-season events, with Club finishing in sixth place in the consolation race for the unqualified teams and Heart pulling off a strong performance in the 100 Meter Water Race, finishing in seventh out of 28 racers.
However, in the lead-up to the next off-season event, the A-maze-ing Race Tournament, the Black Jacks, alongside the Minty Maniacs and Golden Orbs, announced their withdrawal from both this and Marble League 2019 Qualifiers in favor of the Hubelino Tournament. The Black Jacks also recommended a team from Buzznya, the Bumblebees, as a replacement for the now-retired Team Phoenix, with which the other organizers agreed given the Bumblebees’ success in the Bug Circuit.
The Black Jacks started Hubelino Tournament 2018 well with a silver medal in Swing Wave, only losing to the debutant Bumblebees. Dead last in the Catwalk event did knock them down to fourth overall, but a masterclass from Heart in the Funnel race, entering the penultimate funnel in sixth place and outlasting five marbles to win the event before even leaving that funnel, brought the team up to second place, and another silver medal for Diamond in the Halfpipes brought the team into first by a single point over the Bumblebees. “The Hubelino Tournament may not have prepared us for the Marble League,” Heart told reporters, “but our experience from Qualifiers is certainly helping us here.”
By the halfway point in the tournament, though, it was clear to the competing teams that interest in the Hubelino Tournament was waning. The Marble League had captured the attention of global marble sports fans, and while Jelle’s influence drew some interest in the tournament, there was little they could do. The Black Jacks once again offered to provide more funding to help keep the Hubelino Tournament running, but even that was not enough.
As the tournament continued, the Black Jacks kept their momentum up with another silver medal in Block Bumping, holding first place, before a disastrous seventh place finish in the Relay Race knocked them off the top spot, while the Minty Maniacs took the lead with a gold medal. Fifth place in the Maze was an improvement, but with their championship rivals, the Bumblebees and Minty Maniacs, taking the top two spots, the Black Jacks fell to third overall, with only an outside chance at winning the tournament. A DNF for Heart in the first heat of the final event, the Big Tower, folded the Black Jacks’ hopes of winning the championship, though they were narrowly able to hold on to the third podium spot by a single point.
After the conclusion of the 2018 Hubelino Tournament, the teams knew it was unlikely that the competition would continue even with additional funding. On top of disinterest from fans, teams were losing interest in competing any longer, and the Hubelino Tournament was discontinued in early 2019. “It’s heartbreaking to see the end of the Tournament after all these years,” Heart stated in a press release accompanying the announcement. “It’s been such a huge part of our lives ever since we first met the Golden Orbs and Minty Maniacs back in 2009, and while we have no intention of abandoning marble sports, the teams as a collective have agreed that disbanding the Hubelino Tournament is the best option.”
Surrounding the discontinuation of the Hubelino Tournament, there was speculation over whether any Hubelino teams would get invited to join the Marble League 2019 Showdown. While some had formally retired from competition, the Black Jacks remained hopeful for an invite. It was not to be, however, and their last-event DNF would prove more costly than they anticipated, as Jelle announced that only the top two teams from the Hubelino Tournament would get invited to join the Showdown.
“We were gutted, of course, but that’s how the cards fall sometimes,” Ace remarked in a later interview. “Heart was blaming themself for letting the team down, despite Diamond’s best efforts to convince them otherwise. But we just had to move on.”
Without the need to prepare for the Marble League Showdown, the Black Jacks found themselves at a loose end. “We knew we didn’t want to return to playing cards,” Club explained. “Ace had never been particularly interested – or good – and we’d spent enough time away from the card tables that we’d all more or less moved on from that part of our lives. We really wanted more racing opportunities, but with the Hubelino Tournament disbanded, that didn’t look likely.”
On their return to Las Veglass, the Black Jacks were expecting to be at a bit of a loose end, but to their surprise, their homecoming was met with considerable fanfare. The Hubelino Tournament had become a sensation in the City of Jacks, and as the local team, the Black Jacks found themselves thrust into the spotlight. In particular, their sharp uniforms had caught the attention of Las Veglass high society. “I’d designed the team’s original uniforms way back at the HRSC,” Ace revealed, “so having the local fans taking notice gave me an idea that, honestly, seemed far-fetched at the time, but it wasn’t like we had anything better to do.”
Ace approached the rest of the Black Jacks with a proposal a week after their return to Las Veglass: Since they were known for their sleek, stylish attire, why not start a fashion brand?
“We’d been funding the Herbotamia Tournament for long enough to know how investment worked, so we doubled down on what we were known for and assumed it would be a simple step up,” Heart claimed to reporters in 2021. “The others weren’t fully convinced it would amount to anything, particularly Club, but we decided it was worth taking a gamble.”
In late 2019, the Black Jacks launched their new clothing company, 52Styles. The company’s initial store on Casino Square in Las Veglass was an instant hit. Ace’s designer suits, which maximized ease of movement while staying sleek and stylish, became a sensation in the City of Jacks. 52Styles soon opened for business across Herbotamia, with the brand reaching as far as Accellaise and Rosaka by the end of 2020. The Black Jacks adapted quickly to their new roles as business marbles while holding onto their roots as athletes.
“The idea to branch out into sportswear is one we’ve had since we founded 52Styles,” Spade announced in a press release in early 2020. “We’ve always known the value of good equipment and clothing from our time as athletes, so we’ve decided to bring our own experience to the table with our latest clothing line: High Rollers sportswear, which includes uniforms modeled after every active team in the Marble League!”
52Styles’ High Rollers line was an instant sensation, with several Marble League teams helping to promote the new alternate uniforms designed for them. The Pinkies even took a sponsorship deal from 52Styles to use their alternate uniforms during the Marble League Winter Special in early 2021, hugely boosting the Black Jacks’ business.
However, with the announcement of a new CEO of 52Styles in mid-2020, followed by leaked paparazzi photos of the Black Jacks training at a gym in Chlorotopia, the City of Jacks started buzzing with rumors that the Black Jacks were returning to marble sports.
The rumors proved true a couple of weeks after the leaked photos with the announcement of the Herbotamia Reunion, a closed-doors event featuring the original Hubelino Tournament teams alongside the Bumblebees, Yarble Yellers, Grape Nuts, and Team Plasma. Despite several attempts by the press to learn the results of the tournament, the Black Jacks and other teams kept the Herbotamia Reunion private, but it was clear to the Black Jacks’ many associates that the event had sparked something.
A few months after the Herbotamia Reunion, the Black Jacks received another letter from the Minty Maniacs. The reunion had gone so well that the Minty Maniacs were planning another, more formal tournament – the Herbotamia Invitational. After their most recent outing, the team had a taste for competition again and was accepted. “Even after our success with 52Styles, there’s still nothing that gets me quite as excited as competition,” Diamond told reporters after announcing the team’s involvement in the tournament.
The Black Jacks’ return to televised marble sports had an underwhelming start. Their performance in the first event, Balancing, was more akin to their 2018 Catwalk form than their bronze-winning run in 2016, finishing in seventh place. Spade’s run in the funnels had a similar outcome, with their winning streak from the days of the Hubelino Tournament giving way to a sixth-place finish. The 5 Meter Sprint and Collision events continued this pattern with a seventh and sixth place, leaving the Black Jacks dead last into the final. “We knew we weren’t exactly favorites to win, given how long we’ve been away from marble sports, but this does still sting a little,” Club remarked after their 3-1 Collision loss to the Gliding Glaciers. “Back in the Hubelino days, we were some of the most consistent medal-winners in the tournament. But hey, at least we can’t choke it away this time!”
The final event of the Herbotamia Invitational was one the Black Jacks had been dreading. The team had followed along with the events of Marbula One and knew all about the tragedy that occurred the last time marble racing came to Minty Mania. Diamond, however, wasn’t deterred by the track’s history. “They’ve made so many safety changes after Speedy’s accident that there’s no real chance of it happening again. I’m more worried that I’ve never actually competed in a track race outside training,” they noted before the race.
Despite Diamond’s inexperience, however, the race proved to be a return to form for the Black Jacks. After starting on pole, Diamond held the lead for the first five laps of the race, eventually losing out to the Grape Nuts and Solar Flares but holding on to third place, the team’s first medal of the tournament. The bronze was enough to pull the team out of the basement into sixth in the final standings – a far cry from the top two and the places in the Marble League qualifiers on offer, but satisfying for the Black Jacks, who expressed to reporters that they were relieved not to have the pressure of Marble League Qualifiers looming overhead.
In private, however, the Herbotamia Invitational had only fueled the Black Jacks’ desire to return to marble sports. “I remember the drive home after Minty Mania,” Ace later remarked. “We were all a little down after our results, but Diamond’s medal sparked something, and our conversation was just stories of past competitions. It roused something in us.”
The fans from the Herbotamia Invitational had also felt something in the team’s return. Throughout the 2021 Marble League and beyond, the call for the Black Jacks to return to competition grew louder and louder, particularly with rumors of an extreme sports tournament planned by the Balls of Chaos and JMR. In the autumn, soon after those rumors began, observant Las Veglass residents noticed Heart rolling up to an exclusive VIP gym, and the speculation only grew.
In December, Marble ManiaX was announced as JMR’s new extreme sports tournament, and, to the delight of their fans, the Black Jacks were one of the first teams announced as competitors alongside their new coach, Jack. As a familiar face among several comparatively unknown teams, the Black Jacks quickly emerged as one of the favorites for the tournament.
Marble ManiaX kicked off a few weeks later with Extreme Diving, a daunting event for all the marbles involved. “They weren’t kidding when they said this would be extreme,” Club reported nervously. “We’ve done plenty of diving practice, but never from quite that high up! I can only imagine what it’s like staring down that jump.”
Despite Club’s worries, however, the diving board was a return to form for the Black Jacks, as the team tied for the best score of the event with the Purple Rockets and the Constrictors. The tiebreaker went to the team with the highest individual score, the Constrictors, while the Black Jacks and Purple Rockets, in a dead heat, were both awarded silver medals.
“That first time in the locker room after diving was an interesting experience,” Jack explained. “Doing a timeshare with the Purple Rockets on the podium was strange enough, but I learned more afterward about the Constrictors and their history. Since our team members were considerably better off than theirs, there was clear tension – the Constrictors definitely felt they had something to prove.”
The battles between the Black Jacks and the Constrictors didn’t end there. In the next event, Domino Bowling, the Black Jacks held second place before the half-time show, only for strong runs by the Constrictors and Purple Rockets to drop them off the podium – five points behind the Constrictors. While the teams never faced off in the Extreme Funnels, both were eliminated in the first round. The Obstacle Run saw both the Black Jacks’ and Constrictors’ captains facing off. After Heart made a last-moment pass on Boa to finish in third for the first round, the Black Jacks’ fortunes flipped as, after battling with the Constrictors again, Heart fell to the back of the pack. A last-minute change couldn’t pass the Pinkies, and the Black Jacks were eliminated. The Constrictors followed in the next round, keeping the tension between the teams high after two rounds of fierce racing and another side-by-side placement on the leaderboard.
By this point, things were growing ever more heated in the locker room between the Constrictors and the Black Jacks. Coach Jack later reported that “there’d been snide comments muttered under their breath before, but after the obstacle run it exploded into a slanging match. Thank goodness I was able to help their coach Charmer calm it down before it escalated anymore.”
Despite the two coaches’ efforts, the two teams’ attitudes hadn’t cooled by the announcement of the final event of the tournament – the return of Fidget Spinner Collision – just in time for the Black Jacks and Constrictors to face off for the first round. While Jack and Charmer hoped it would be a chance to clear the air in an official brawl, tensions only grew – if the Black Jacks won the match, they would stop the Constrictors’ run at the title and possibly beat them to the final podium. If the Constrictors won, the Black Jacks would be locked in the bottom half of the standings while their rivals went on to challenge for the championship. As the teams lined up at their gates, the anticipation in the stadium was palpable.
With the crowd roaring, the teams got released from the starting gate. On impact, the marbles went flying. The Constrictors splayed to the sides while most Black Jacks darted straight for the ramps and comparative safety. In the chaos that followed, three of the Constrictors were flung out of the arena, while only two of the Black Jacks got eliminated. 3-2 to the Black Jacks.
As the teams thundered towards each other for the second half, both teams had changed their strategy, and after a solid impact, only a single competitor from each team got knocked out of the ring. However, one of the Black Jacks was left dazed behind one of the fallen wall blocks and got missed by the referees. The officials’ call was 5-3 to the Constrictors – sending them to the next round by a single point.
Fans of the Black Jacks, having overheard the referees’ initial call, were quick on the draw with corrections pointing out the mistake, but the event continued without acknowledgment. The Constrictors were awarded the bronze medal before the news finally reached event officials, at which point an air of uncertainty swept over the Pandemonium as they conducted a review.
As Jelle rolled out onto the podium with an announcement, the marbles held their breath. “Thanks to the efforts of our spectators, event officials have noticed a miscount in the second-round match between the Black Jacks and the Constrictors. We will hold a tiebreaker round once we have prepared the arena.”
The Black Jacks and Constrictors wasted no time warming up, as did the Pinkies, Shining Swarm, and Balls of Chaos, who might have needed to return to the court if the Black Jacks won the tiebreak. The two rivals barely spoke a word as they rolled up to the gates for the tiebreak.
The fidget spinners got wound up, then released. Moments later, the starting gates opened, and the teams raced down the ramp.
Chaos broke loose as the Black Jacks and Constrictors slammed into one another. The teams splayed wide, with several competitors flying over the sides. When the dust settled, and the two remaining Black Jacks settled dangerously close to a fidget spinner near two of the Constrictors, they spotted a third opponent safely tucked between the arena wall and a fallen domino.
The Constrictors had won the match 10-9, affirming the original result. The Constrictors kept the Bronze medal and their second-place finish in the tournament, while the Black Jacks fell to seventh overall with 18 points. Though the team was disappointed, the event was conducted accurately thanks to the fans’ engagement, which was the most important thing.
By the time every team left the stadium that evening, the pitch blackness of night was punctured only by Hunluen’s neon skyscrapers off on the horizon. The Black Jacks rolled alone to their team van as Ana and Python sprinted up to them.
“Look, Club, all of that nasty business is a part of sports… but in the Bug Circuit, we are also looking for teams for an invitational this Spring…” we heard Ana say. “I know this is abrupt… why not come by if you’re interested?”
“Actually, the scheduling would work,” said Club of the Black Jacks. “That would work quite well.”
The Black Jacks traveled to Buzzkill a month later to join the Bug Circuit Invitational at Ana’s suggestion. Despite struggling through the first three events, the Black Jacks spun their momentum on its head with a gold medal in Collision, defeating the Constrictors in the final in a close match. That and the following silver medal in the Stinger Circuit finale let the team run the table, finishing the tournament in second place behind the Hornets and beating the Constrictors on a tiebreak. Although they weren’t close at the start of the Invitational, relations between the Black Jacks and Constrictors warmed during the tournament, mostly thanks to Ana, Charmer, and Jack.
The day after the team’s return to Las Veglass, Ace was woken suddenly by the sound of Märblehead’s Spades of Ace. Wondering who would be calling at such an early hour, they answered the phone.
“Uh, hi, who is it?” Ace asked groggily.
“Hi, Ace! Oh, goodness, I forgot about the time difference,” came the reply. “It’s Ghost. You know, from Team Plasma? We were chatting at the Herbotamia Invitational – I got your number from Spade.”
“Oh yeah, hi! Don’t worry about the time difference – I always get out of bed at four in the morning,” Ace joked. “So what can I do for you?”
“You were the lead designer for 52Styles before you got back into sports, right? I was hoping you’d be able to help me out.”
Six hours later, Ace still hadn’t slept. As they rolled down to join the rest of the team for blackjack & brunch, the others could all tell Ace had been up to something.
“What kept you up all night this time, Ace?” Coach Jack laughed. “Honestly, the amount of time you pour into new ideas at ridiculous hours of the day never ceases to amaze.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Ace responded, “If only I put that much effort into training, I’ve heard it all before. Check this out.”
Ace pulled a sheet of graph paper out of their satchel and unfurled it with a flourish. The rest of the team looked on, quickly realizing they were looking at a uniform design. “Ghost called me this morning. Team Plasma was invited back to the Marble League for this year’s Showdown and they wanted some design help for the new uniforms they’re making.”
“Wow, Ace, that’s brilliant!” Diamond exclaimed. “Definitely one of your better designs,” agreed Club.
As the others inspected the design more closely and Ace rolled over to the food station, Jack pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling.
“You know, that’s got me thinking,” Spade said as Jack dealt the first hand. “There’ve been a lot of calls for us to return to the Marble League, and if Team Plasma got an invite…”
“What happens if we get one?” Heart replied. “Honestly, I don’t know. Competing again has brought it all back, and the business manages itself these days, but you know how much of a step up the Marble League is from the Bug Circuit.”
“Hell, we couldn’t even beat the Hornets, and look how they turned out,” sighed Club. “Do we really want to put ourselves through that again?”
There was silence as the players completed the round before Diamond, the only loser, spoke up. “Guys, I know you all too well. We all miss the athlete lifestyle and always talk about how we love it when the stakes are high. If we get an invite, I vote we go all in.”
Spade nodded in agreement. “I was waiting for one of you to call it,” they said. “It’s like waiting for the house edge to swing your way. It won’t always come quickly, but if you put the time in, you’ll see results. No reason to fold now.”
“Spade, stop talking in card metaphors for once,” Heart laughed. “Honestly, just because you’re right doesn’t mean I’ll let you keep getting away with it.” Spade grinned at the joke, as well as the blackjack they hit with their next card.
Another quiet moment later, Club finally spoke up again. “Oh, screw it. It’s a risk, but I guess it’s more fun than sitting around being a business marble all day. Besides, it’s not like we’re guaranteed an invite anyway.”
Jack smiled, revealing the dealer’s next card with a flourish. “Are you sure about that, Club?” The team smiled at each other as they realized what they were looking at. “You sly devil, Jack!” Ace laughed, rolling up to the table with a plate of food. “Since when have you been good at keeping secrets like that?”
(Design Credit: GhostDM)
“Oh, you pick up a few things occasionally when you work with card players,” the coach responded with a wink.
The Black Jacks announced their return to the Marble League shortly before the 2022 Qualifiers. Their reunions with the Purple Rockets and Team Plasma were friendly, and the newcomers from the Wolfpack fit in alongside them. After the qualifiers had concluded, the event organizers proposed an appearance by the four new teams in the Friendly Round alongside the auto-qualified teams, which all four captains agreed to unanimously. “I figured if we were coming back to the Marble League, we might as well double down and get out there as soon as possible,” Heart said about their decision.
The Practice Round started slowly for the Black Jacks, with third place for Heart and Spade in Climbing and for Club in the 5 Meter Hurdles, followed by last place in Balancing. While the team got locked out of winning the practice, Diamond still had a strong performance in the final event, the Triathlon, leaving them tied for third with the Wolfpack. “It’s disappointing not doing as well as we’d like, but it’s better to get some of the bad early performances out in the Friendly instead of the first few events of the Showdown,” Coach Jack told reporters after the contest was over.
The Black Jacks spent much of Marble League 2022 watching from their box in The Pond, marveling at the unexpected success of the Pinkies and Team Galactic. At the halfway point in the tournament, however, the first half of the Showdown began, and the Black Jacks took to the arena once more to kick off their return to the Marble League.
The first event of the Showdown, the Wave, had been inspired by the version featured in the Hubelino Tournament, and unlike 2018 the Black Jacks’ experience there showed. The Black Jacks’ second run scored 38 points, equalling the previous event record and earning them a silver medal behind record-breakers Team Plasma. Diamond couldn’t match that success in the 5 Meter Sprint, finishing 14th, but Club carried the team back up to third in the standings with a nearly two-second victory in the Water Race, the team’s first-ever gold medal on the Marble League stage. “Winning something feels incredible,” Club told the media as they toweled off after the race. “We felt so disappointed not being able to win any rounds in the past few years, but now we’re back in the house.”
Eighth place in the Relay was enough to bring the Black Jacks up to second overall at the halfway point in the Showdown. Team Plasma had run away with the first half of the Showdown with three medals and a fifth place, but the Black Jacks and Wolfpack had also received attention for their strong performances. With the Black Jacks’ history, the question on their fans’ minds at the time was whether they could hold on to their success.
After seven more rounds in the main league, the Black Jacks answered that with a resounding yes. Competing in Group B for the fifth event, Block Pushing, the Black Jacks opened their run with the farthest push of the entire event, 92.9 cm. Though Team Momo matched their 90 cm mark twice to win the event, none of the other teams came close to the Black Jacks’ mark, leaving them with a comfortable silver medal and bringing them within two points of the leaders.
Heart followed this with fourth place in the Funnel Race, demonstrating that they hadn’t lost their touch after winning the event twice in the Hubelino Tournament. The team had a scare in Climbing as Spade and Ace finished dead last: Despite that, their previous results were enough to hold second place overall, and going into the final event, the Black Jacks were the only team left that could challenge Team Plasma’s miracle run, though they would need at least a silver medal to do it.
“We’ve already proved that we made the right bet coming back to the Marble League,” Diamond stated in a press conference before the Sand Rally. “We’re guaranteed a spot in next year’s qualifiers, and while the odds may not be in our favor for the Showdown title, we’ve played high stakes before. Sure, we’ll be happy whether we win or lose, but we’re going all in.”
Coach Jack selected their captain, Heart, to put the Black Jacks’ hopes on their back in the Sand Rally. A poor start out of the gate left Heart at the back of the field through the first few turns, but they clawed out of last through the next leg of the race. However, with Team Plasma already ahead and Heart struggling to break out of the bottom four in the race, it simply became a matter of pride for the Black Jacks’ captain and a few well-timed moves in the second half of the race slotted Heart into a comfortable place at the tail end of the top 10. While they couldn’t hold off the Wolfpack for that spot, 11th place was good enough to keep the Black Jacks in second place overall on the final Showdown podium.
With their return to professional marble sports entering on a solid note, fans anticipated that the Black Jacks would join Marbula One for its fourth season. Amid several surprises in the roster, the team’s invitation was made public in April 2023, with Heart and Club chosen to represent them. Coach Jack appeared optimistic in the accompanying press conference, stating, “The team has been fans of Marbula One ever since its debut, so receiving the invite was something we were all looking forward to. It’s a risk focusing our training and resources heavily on something new so close to the Marble League Qualifiers, but since when do the Black Jacks shy away from a high-stakes bet?”
The Black Jacks’ Marbula One debut was as uninspiring as their 2022 Showdown performance had been electrifying. Heart’s ninth-place finish at Sakura Garden was the highest the team finished in the first half of the season, with Club’s impressive qualifying run to P4 at Greenstone failing to translate to the race. After five races, the Black Jacks were in 15th place with just 22 points. Much of the media expected that the Black Jacks’ host Grand Prix would be their only success of the tournament.
At Sleet Street, however, Club turned the Black Jacks’ luck around with an uncharacteristically strong climb into sixth place, gaining positions from qualifying for the first time. Heart followed suit with a seven-position climb to ninth at Misty Mountain before Club doubled down on the team’s reversal of fortune to achieve sixth place and fourth place in back-to-back races at Electron Expressway and Stardust Accelerator, starting from 12th both times.
The Black Jacks’ turnaround saw the team rise to a comfortable 11th place and Club to 13th in the individual standings going into their home Grand Prix. Although the season’s top-heavy distribution of medals left the Black Jacks with no hardware, they were the highest-ranked team in the tournament without medals within close reach of the Green Ducks and Team Plasma above them. Unfortunately, Heart could not make up any more ground at Casino Square, with the house edge only turning out a tenth-place finish after qualifying in 13th.
Despite this, the Black Jacks’ second-half rise had resulted in solid results, with a comfortable 11th-place finish overall and an individual top 15. In the team’s final press conference of the season, held by the Casino Square track outside the 52Styles flagship storefront, Heart told reporters, “We came into Marbula One as we’ve come into every tournament we competed in – just wanting to race for the fun of it. Sure, we would have loved to come away with some medals or a better finish, but this first outing has just whetted our appetites for more. We’ve proven, not just to our fans but to ourselves, that coming back to the marble sports stage was the right call, and you can bet any money you’d like that we’ll be bringing our experience to the table in future tournaments.”
In RetRollSpective, the Black Jacks are a team that has used its skills on the card table and successfully transferred them to the marble sports world. They have proven their worth as one of JMR’s most beloved teams, and we look forward to seeing them in future events. Best of luck to the Black Jacks in the near future, keep on rolling!
Credits
- Writers: ElrQ, GhostDM, XBC
- Additional Writing: PippinPlover, Stynth
- Editors: Edu G. J., Fouc, Pastelle, Smacg13
- Artists: Pim Leurs, Toffeeshop
- Graphic Designers: Emmun_Isaac, Fouc, GhostDM, Jelle’s Marble Runs, MightyCucumber, Pim Leurs, Spex, Stynth, Tim Ritz, Turtle
- Photographers: JackJack, Jelle’s Marble Runs, Pesky, Vector
- Release: 06/09/2023
Project Marblearth 