Blizzard Blaster: The Snowmaster

With its steep peaks, ski resorts, ice lakes, and native Iron Birds hockey team, Winterpeg is a paradise for marbles in the winter. It’s also the home of Marble Rally competitor Blizzard Blaster, who has raced down the hills and mountains of Winterpeg countless times. Across seven years of competition in the rally, Blizzard Blaster has become known among fans for their consistency, having raced in the A-League in five out of the six seasons they’ve been active for. An overall podium placement eludes them, but to Blizzard Blaster, competing isn’t about where you are in the standings—at least not entirely.

Life has not always been simple for the fan-favorite rallyist. A prodigy on the snow from an early age, they were a fixture of Winterpeg’s youth ski team throughout their teen years, but they were passed up later on in their career for what they considered to be a guaranteed team captaincy by up-and-comer Polar Vortex. One of the fastest and most aggressive youth skiers in all of Winterpeg, they set the record time on the notoriously perilous K16, a ski trail which only the most adept—and most reckless—could challenge and live to tell the tale. Brash and boastful in a way Blizzard Blaster couldn’t stomach, the spurned marble eventually left the team entirely.

With their dreams of professional skiing dashed, Blizzard Blaster resorted to the family business—a local ice cream parlor that played 80s music on loop. Bitter thoughts of Polar Vortex replayed in their mind throughout dull days spent serving scoops and managing the store playlist. How could they improve enough to beat them? That question, never answered, plagued them constantly. Adding insult to injury, Polar Vortex was a repeat customer at the creamery, and during their frequent visits they would never go very long without mentioning the K16 race that had put their name on the map.

Blizzard Blaster had also raced the K16, but they had never been able to marry their high-risk approach with the precision needed to make good time. Their record lagged far behind Polar Vortex’s—when they made it down at all, and the trail was an insurmountable shadow on the horizon. Aimless, Blizzard Blaster became tunnel-visioned, losing sight of their goals beyond one-upmarbleship. Things only got worse for Blizzard Blaster when they crashed their car drag racing with two marbles from the old ski team—Boreal, who never spoke, and North Wind, who very rarely spoke. Though they escaped uninjured and without drawing the ire of the law, Winterpeg’s isolation and altitude made it notoriously difficult to leave without a vehicle. All of a sudden, they had rendered themself virtually trapped.

Frustrations seemingly unending, it wasn’t long before they lashed out. Polar Vortex had returned to the parlor once more, bragging and passive-aggressively insulting Blaster and the other customers. That was the last straw for Blizzard Blaster, who confronted them angrily in front of the other customers.

“Why don’t you shut your stupid mouth about the K16 for once? You think you’re a champion in the making, but you’re just an unbearable idiot who finished a single hard trail!”

Polar Vortex was startled to see someone challenge them, but they weren’t about to take it lying down.

“Your best days are behind you. I’d like to see you beat me even once,” they bragged.

Now with nothing to lose, Blizzard Blaster saw their in.

“Alright, then. Five days from now, the two of us, one race… down the K16!”

Now it was really on. The heated argument caught the attention of everyone in the creamery, none of whom were about to miss a heated battle between two athletes with an icy relationship. Blizzard Blaster spent the next few days practicing on the mountain down which the K16 descended, pushing themself further each time. They expected to see Polar Vortex training on the trail as well, but they were conspicuously absent, as if perfectly confident in their victory. Faced with the cold reality that they had made a mistake in challenging them and fearing humiliation, Blizzard Blaster decided to counter Polar Vortex’s perfection by forcing them to adapt their highly-practiced approach to their own unpredictable style of skiing.

On the day of the race, they thought it would be just them, Polar Vortex, and a sparse few spectators. But word had spread around Winterpeg and the surrounding region. When they arrived at the trailhead, they arrived to a thousand-plus crowd of marbles, all of whom had come to watch one of two things—either Polar Vortex would grind an inferior competitor into the dirt, or Blizzard Blaster would tame the untamable mountain and defeat their archrival.

The two battled fiercely down the perilous incline, staying unexpectedly close the whole way down the track. Marbles watching with bated breath were shocked to see the two tied as they descended the final slope. But those watching from the bottom would never see Polar Vortex at all. The last spectators to catch sight of them were bunched around the end of the second third, where Blizzard Blaster—trailing Polar Vortex unexpectedly tightly—took a hard last-second turn down a challenging time-save portion of the course, prompting Polar Vortex to do the same just a few seconds too late. Blizzard Blaster made it onto clear snow—Polar Vortex, having lost control, wiped out and had to be hauled back to the top of the trail, never seeing their rival take the victory. Blizzard Blaster was, however, unable to beat their top time.

The sight of Polar Vortex lying injured on the snow killed the celebratory mood. Blizzard Blaster had won, but only Boreal and North Wind would celebrate with them, and the underlying mood was dour. Moreover, though Blizzard Blaster had envisioned the race as a grand return to skiing glory, and Polar Vortex was looking at months of recovery time during which their regional throne would be left unguarded, their move was regarded by the local scene as intentionally reckless and at least partially responsible for Polar Vortex’s injury. Other marbles refused to race with them for fear of ending up in a hospital bed. For all their effort, Blizzard Blaster had apparently only returned to where they started.

It was not all bad news. One of the marbles who attended the race was Snowy of the Snowballs, who videotaped Blizzard Blaster’s win and posted it on social media. It became hugely popular, and an invitation was promptly sent to Blizzard Blaster requesting their participation in the 2017 Marble Rally. Blizzard Blaster was initially hesitant to accept. Their dream was to ski, not simply to race, and their sand experience was lacking. At the same time, they needed money, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime invite to compete in a professional sports league. Besides, it was their chance to make it big—to leave their wrecked skiing reputation and a broken Polar Vortex and their lonely hometown Winterpeg behind. After watching the 2016 Rally in full, they packed their bags and headed to Doornse Gat.

Blizzard Blaster had rarely raced without skis before. They were fit and swift, but the Rally was going to be an entirely new adventure, especially with the dramatic change in climate. To prepare for the new format they took part in two practice races around Glassmas, finishing in an encouraging fifth and seventh respectively.

As they were getting ready to take part in the qualifier race for Marble Rally 2017 nearby to the sandhills, they met Big Pearl, the inaugural season’s runner-up, while exploring the nearby town. They chatted and enjoyed a coffee together, with Blizzard Blaster unconsciously seeking reassurance from the more experienced rallyist. In the midst of the conversation, it was Big Pearl who asked what many observers of the rally had been wondering since Blizzard Blaster was announced for the qualifiers.

“Back in Winterpeg, you could’ve made it big. Why give that up to come all the way here?”

It was a good question, but difficult to answer, both for the obvious reasons and because it wasn’t yet clear if their promising early training could make them competitive among practiced Rallyists. Meanwhile, when it came to skiing, there was no room for doubt.

Blizzard Blaster went silent. “I don’t know,” they eventually confessed. “Sometimes, things just… compel me.”

The two ended up being paired in the same qualifiers race, alongside Slimer, Silver Bolt, Rastafarian, Starman, and Fantasy. Only the top four in the race would qualify for the Marble Rally.

Blizzard Blaster jumped out to the lead at the start of the race and found themselves in a close battle with Big Pearl and Slimer. Slimer being held up at the split with Fantasy gave Blizzard Blaster some breathing room later down the course, and they were able to finish in second behind Big Pearl—meaning that despite their inexperience on the sand, they’d qualified in their debut season.

“For a marble that’s more familiar with snow, you seem to be at home here in the sand,” Big Pearl told Blizzard Blaster after the qualifiers.

“It’s a similar texture to race on. The only difference is that sand is coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere.”

The rookie made an immediate impact in their first race, going up to the front alongside Nemo and Crazy Cat’s Eye and staying in the top five for nearly the entire race. When the plinko board held Nemo up, it left Blizzard Blaster and Crazy Cat’s Eye alone in front, until a late challenge manifested from Black Knight and H2 Blue. Blizzard Blaster held onto third ahead of Black Knight and behind H2 Blue, ending their first official race on the podium. Until Amethyst’s Season 6 debut race win, it was the only time a competitor ended up on the podium during their debut race outside of 2016.

However, Blizzard Blaster’s success was short-lived. A bad start in the next race left them as one of six marbles that did not finish. They were also a non-factor in the next three races, though they did manage to eke out a few points from two of them; then a late surge in Race 6 gave them a top five finish for the first time since Race 1. At the halfway point, Blizzard Blaster was in eighth place overall, 28 points behind the lead but only 15 behind a podium spot. It was a respectable position for a rookie, and a second-half surge could still lead them to the podium. That was not to be, however, as they would DNF the very next race after getting caught early near a split.

It took until Race 9 for Blizzard Blaster’s energy to really return. The frustration from the past few races was unleashed and they shot out to the lead. They led for most of the race with Fantasy close behind, up until Fantasy got caught and left Blizzard Blaster all alone until the plinko board. There, Ghost Plasma took advantage of a bump by Blizzard Blaster to take the lead. Blizzard Blaster fought to take the lead back, but their energy was being fast expended and a particularly agile Slimer overtook them just past the swing gate. Slimer won, but Blizzard Blaster took home a silver, and their best finish in 2017.

“I had some near misses and a couple slow races, but this felt like a prime opportunity. I got tripped up by the obstacles, so I’ve got to adjust for those if I ever want to win. But it’s Slimer’s win, so congratulations to them.”

–  Blizzard Blaster, speaking at a press conference after the race.

Having overcome the obstacles of the season so far, Blizzard Blaster and Slimer celebrated together that night in a venue near the sandhills. For Slimer, it was their first podium all season, but they were in even higher spirits than Blizzard Blaster was.

This new spark of success was as ephemeral as the first. Finishes of 13th, 11th, 8th, and then 14th in the double points final race ended the mediocre first season of Blizzard Blaster’s sand career. They finished in 13th with 85 points. It was hardly a momentous finish, but it was certainly better than some spectators had predicted. Most importantly, it was all theirs, free from the twin spectres of rivalry and revenge.

For a marble that was used to ice-cold temperatures and snow, the venture to sand marked a turning point in their life. The Rally had also gotten very popular internationally, and when they returned to Winterpeg, Blizzard Blaster’s recognizability had skyrocketed enough for the “K16 Incident” to be mostly forgotten about. Business had improved for the local ski resorts; the creamery had a record year of sales, and Blizzard Blaster was honoured by their original team for their work and Winterpeg’s increased visibility. Who would have thought a skier from a cold town would compete in a dry sandy tournament? Blizzard Blaster was filled with pride, and more than a little smug satisfaction with the knowledge that neither being superseded by Polar Vortex or the K16 challenge had stopped them becoming a famous athlete. As Blizzard Blaster’s popularity rose in and outside of Winterpeg, Polar Vortex’s public image shrank. After a lengthy stint in rehab they made a full recovery, but captaincy of the ski team had already been passed to their deputy, and they found themself accepting a laid-back instructor position at a resort in Old Zeldan, two planes and many time zones away.

Blizzard Blaster received VIP seats to Marble League 2018 at the nearby Arctic Circle, where the Snowballs were hosting their own version of the annual event. There they enjoyed most of the events from the comfort of a luxury box provided on the Snowballs’ dime. They made good friends with Snowy years prior to their ascension to M1 fame. A few of the other Marble Rally competitors also came to watch particular events, enjoying that same VIP treatment courtesy of Blizzard Blaster. The good times kept rolling—before a semifinal match against the Las Veglass Sliders, the Iron Birds had Blizzard Blaster perform the ceremonial puck drop. Although Winterpeg lost the game and did not advance to the final, it was a remarkable year of events for the city. More than anything, it was a remarkable year of events for Blizzard Blaster. They had gone from being disenfranchised and spurned to one of Winterpeg’s most recognizable and well-respected citizens, and there was no Polar Vortex to remind them of what it had taken to get there.

Success perhaps got to Blizzard Blaster’s head, and they ended up eating humble pie. In the qualifiers for the 2018 Sand Marble Rally, they had one of the worst races of their career. They spent the entire race in last and failed to advance to the main league, getting sent to the B-League. For a promising marble with plans to improve on their debut, it was a massive disappointment. In enjoying the social privileges and travel opportunities their newfound popularity granted them, they had neglected a proper training routine. Any hope of future success would ride on them picking up the slack.

That they were able to participate in the inaugural B-League was some solace to Blizzard Blaster, who was not yet ready to write the year off. The first race of the B-League helped silence some critics, with a late charge near the end of the race landing Blizzard Blaster a silver medal behind White Widow. While it was a podium, it didn’t feel right being in the B-League. They didn’t know if this one was worth celebrating like they had the two medals from 2017. It was followed by a dead last finish the very next race, further dampening any positive feelings they might have had. The subsequent race saw Blizzard Blaster lead for the first half of the race before being passed by H2 Blue—then a bad decision at one of the splits sent them spiraling to sixth. The final race saw them settling for fourth. They finished the B-League in fifth, a result they weren’t particularly impressed by, but something else quickly came to occupy Blizzard Blaster’s mind anyway.

Winterpeg had always been a seasonal city; a place whose prosperity came and went with the changing of the weather. Tourists flocked in for the winter but left in the summer, when the only slopes that kept their coat of snow were too challenging for mere hobbyists. Faced with the uncertainties of success after slipping into the B-League, Blizzard Blaster decided to invest their athletes’ fees and prize money into a bold business venture intended to keep the ski trade open year-round. The dream of an indoor ski slope was realized about a year later when, in July of 2019, SnowWorld opened its doors to a raucous crowd. For their financial contributions to the project, Blizzard Blaster was rewarded with a largely ceremonial managerial position and a share of the proceeds from the first few years of business. There was a throwback-style party to celebrate the grand opening with some classic acts from across Marblearth coming in to perform, including Talking Beads, Psychedelic Spheres, and New Division. Reflektor also showed up to photograph the event.

“I always wanted to open my own ski resort, but we already have plenty of those. Instead, SnowWorld really opens the doors for novices and experts to share the passion that I once had, year-round.”

– Public statement from Blizzard Blaster.

The successful opening of SnowWorld started a new chapter in Blizzard Blaster’s life, but while they had free roam of the facility, they were very rarely there, dedicating the majority of their time to training for the Rally outside of Winterpeg. In September of 2019, Blizzard Blaster turned in a much better qualifier race than they did in 2018. They finished second in Race B and returned to the top tier of the Marble Rally, putting the B-League behind them. Things could only get better from there.

Newly motivated, Blizzard Blaster’s first race saw them shoot right up to second place after the first split, although Crazy Cat’s Eye was well ahead at that time. After shuffling in and out of the top four for most of the race, they went straight on a zig-zag to gain some ground on CCE and separate from the rest. This move paid off in the form of a silver medal, an almost perfect start to the season. The second race saw them finishing in twelfth, but remaining strong in the provisional standings.

On the morning of the 12th of October, Blizzard Blaster arrived at Doornse Gat early. There they saw Phoenix getting ready, overlooking the sunrise over the hills. The two very different marbles hung back silently to observe the changing skies and the beginning of a new race day. What felt like a premonition overtook Blizzard Blaster—it was going to be a good day for them.

Starting in the middle, they took a shortcut at the split that allowed them to go straight to the lead while those on the main path lost ground. It was one of the boldest moves ever seen in the Rally, and once second-place runner Marbly McMarbleface got held up, Blizzard Blaster was all alone at the top. Their first career win in the Marble Rally A-League was a dominant one, finishing two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Reflektor. It was a huge relief for Blizzard Blaster to feel so secure early on in the season, to say nothing of the crowning achievement that was standing on the top step of the podium for the first time. Not only that, the two medals in three races were enough to put Blizzard Blaster on top of the provisional standings.

         “Having been here for a few seasons now, it feels amazing to finally have my own race win. This is a dream come true.”

– Blizzard Blaster, in a post-event interview

Unfortunately, the rest of the 2019 season would not carry through this initial success. Race after race passed in which Blizzard Blaster struggled to get anywhere close to their early-season performances. Fan optimism melted away as they recorded a 14-7-16 streak and descended in the standings just as they had once descended the K16. Rumors also spread at the time that they had ended up in an argument with Superball—false rumors, but it was true that the inscrutable sophomore got under Blizzard Blaster’s glass in more than one way. Feeling trapped in a cycle of poor performances, they sought out Red Number Three, who was once again ascendant in the standings. The advice they received was brief but sensible—rocketing out of the gate right at the beginning of the season was depleting their stamina. That in itself was something they’d neglected, focusing solely on going fast and improving their times. It was a tough pill to swallow, and unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Their next race was a 9th; respectable, but not good enough to keep them in contention for the podium.

A 13th place finish in the final race was the anticlimactic conclusion to Blizzard Blaster’s 2019 in racing. Their stronger start to the season and general consistency buoyed a sixth place finish overall; however, a significant improvement from their prior seasons, and that in itself represented a personal victory for Blizzard Blaster. Winning a season wouldn’t have suited their schedule, anyway—they were quickly called back to SnowWorld, where they were being requested to take on extra promotional duties for the facility. Days spent racing on sand or snow were replaced with days in front of a different camera, recording adverts and endorsements for SnowWorld. Fortunately, their star power had survived their 2018 sophomore slump, and the response from fans was largely positive.

SnowWorld was a definitive success, but it had yet to reach what Blizzard Blaster believed to be its full potential. Between shoots, Blizzard Blaster formulated the idea of a snow race, held at SnowWorld, to give the rest of the field a little taste of their home turf. Their request to Jelle was—to their surprise—accepted.  Even more surprising was that Jelle said that the next season would be split in two, and that instead of a one-off, they could schedule a couple of races at SnowWorld in the second half of the season. This was excellent news for both SnowWorld and Blizzard Blaster, whose proficiency in the snow and in the cold would hopefully give them the edge in the new non-sand races.

         There were no qualifiers for Marble Rally Season 5, though Blizzard Blaster was still invited. Their start to the season was nowhere close to as strong as their prior seasons. It began with a DNF in the first race after Blizzard Blaster got caught up with a bunch of other marbles and came to a stop, followed by a streak of tepid mid-pack finishes that continued through the first half of the season. Their best finish in the first half was a rather uninspiring seventh place, and by its conclusion they were in an equally uninspiring fifteenth place overall. Having spent a lot of their time over the break trying to actually attend to SnowWorld’s business affairs, the situation harkened back to 2018, where other responsibilities had similarly kept them away from training. Though they were loath to admit it, the issue was clear; if they wanted to train enough to win, other things would just have to take a backseat. During the season’s hiatus, Blizzard Blaster doubled down on their training in response, hoping to excel in the upcoming snow races. They had the unique advantage of being one of the few marbles able to race as well in snowy conditions as they did in sand, and they weren’t about to take it for granted. Two race wins could change their career forever.

However, in the month prior to the resumption of the season and the first SnowWorld race, they received some unwelcome news from Boreal and North Wind, who they were still friends with. Polar Vortex had returned to Winterpeg. Blizzard Blaster had occasionally checked in on their old rival’s career in Old Zeldan, but as the years passed, their own career interested them more. They hadn’t thought about Polar Vortex for a long time. But there was no avoiding their rival in such a small city, and it was eventually Polar Vortex who cut short the mutual avoidance and came to find Blizzard Blaster. 

For the first time in years, Blizzard Blaster and Polar Vortex spoke face-to-face. It was also their first time visiting SnowWorld, which was much quieter—though still catering to beginner skiers—during the winter season. In the conversation, which Blizzard Blaster had been reluctant to have in the first place, Polar Vortex explained that they’d returned to watch the SnowWorld races and to see their family still living in the area in-person again. They weren’t there for Blizzard Blaster—to blame them or reclaim the glory of years past—but they were down for a friendly challenge if they wanted one. In said demo race, Polar Vortex held their own against Blizzard Blaster. Between Polar Vortex’s injury and Blizzard Blaster’s move to the Rally, their old killer instincts had mutually dulled. The race was never filmed, and the winner has never been named.

The Marble Rally season resumed shortly after, and it was time for Blizzard Blaster’s beloved SnowWorld to welcome the rest of the racers. As a courtesy, Blizzard Blaster invited the rest of the marbles to compete in some short practice runs prior to Race 7 and 8 so they could get acclimatized prior to the actual races. Most of them enjoyed the change of pace that racing on snow brought, though there was hesitance among some of the marbles used to warmer climates. Blizzard Blaster excelled in both practice races, and though the results were also never officially released, there was some good-natured ribbing among the competitors about Blizzard Blaster being uniquely suited to the conditions.

The two snow races, Race 7 and Race 8, were landmarks in Marble Rally history. Red Number 3 returned to their old championship form in the first race and rocketed to the top step of the podium, while Blizzard Blaster would have an uncharacteristically middling finish on the ice, landing in twelfth. The second race was a big improvement, however, as a better starting spot led to a faster start out of the gate, and after spending some time on the edge of the top five, Blizzard Blaster had a jolt of speed and sped past Cool Moody into second. Their vision locked onto Comet, the race’s leader, and further sudden momentum brought the two into a fierce battle for the rest of the race. At the three-quarters mark, momentum carried Blizzard Blaster into the lead, where they stayed for good. On their home track, they celebrated their second career victory.

     “Out of my whole time here, I’d say this is my favorite moment of it all,” Blizzard Blaster reflected after the race. “After all this time, I finally got to prove my worth in the snow.”

“We should do more races here soon,” added Comet, who had earned themselves a comfortable seat on the podium too.

After the race, Cool Moody made an offhand quip to reporters about “Blizzard Blaster, the Snowmaster,” a nickname that took Marblearth by storm.  Initially taken by surprise, Blizzard Blaster has since come to embrace the Snowmaster nickname.

Blizzard Blaster was set to depart the frozen city and return to the sandhills among their fellow competitors in short order, but Polar Vortex wasn’t done with them yet. Energized by Blizzard Blaster’s win and also planning to depart their home city in short order, Polar Vortex made a bold proposition—another one-on-one showdown on the K16, a straight shot with an agreed-upon path, to end their rivalry once and for all before their paths diverged again. After a period of deliberation, Blizzard Blaster accepted the challenge, hoping it would give them both some closure and allow them to move on from the rivalry that had defined their youth.

Huge crowds showed up for the K16 race despite the impromptu announcement. The route had been designed with caution in mind—Blizzard Blaster had to preserve their physical condition for the latter third of Season 5, and Polar Vortex wasn’t eager to relive their career-defining injury. The two marbles lined up at the starting line together, eyes fixed on the descending slope. The starting gun fired, and they were let loose.

The race that followed was, to the disappointment of many spectators, expectedly tame. Polar Vortex pulled out all the stops skill-wise, as did Blizzard Blaster, but keeping a sustainable pace was the name of the game. Dueling across soft snow and sharp slopes, Polar Vortex crossed the finish line with a modest yet uncontested margin over Blizzard Blaster, and what had sounded like a spectacle turned out to be nothing of the sort. The years of bold, reckless racing were over for Blizzard Blaster—at least on the snow slopes.

In the end, both marbles got what they wanted. Polar Vortex got, after so long, the win against Blizzard Blaster they coveted, dignified and reflective of their skill on the slope. Blizzard Blaster, tempered by the fierce competition of their Sand Rally peers, was able to lose with grace. The two kept in touch, but rarely discussed skiing or career matters from that point onwards.

Blizzard Blaster was not totally out of the woods yet. With the bugging incident targeting Superball tarnishing SnowWorld’s reputation, Blizzard Blaster issued an apology on the establishment’s behalf to the public and to Superball and Lollipop.

The rest of the season saw the rallyists return to the sand, bidding SnowWorld farewell. Though Blizzard Blaster lacked the home-turf advantage, they backed their performance on the snow with a sixth in the first race back. The final three races wouldn’t be as fortuitous, with a rough 10th, 19th and 18th meaning that they ended the season in 12th place overall, a step down from 2019 and only slightly above their debut. They were becoming a racer of peaks and troughs, culminating in mostly middling results.

Returning to Winterpeg, Blizzard Blaster didn’t have much to do except train and carry out their SnowWorld duties. Though they attempted to take a page out of Marbly McMarbleface’s book and act as spokesmarble and face of the venue, polite interviews and PR smoothing didn’t mesh well with their hotheaded personality, and they preferred to let the slope quality speak for itself. When business quieted in the winter and the slopes were choked with tourists, Blizzard Blaster took some time to themself and traveled, skiing and meeting with fans at slopes across Marblearth.

Season 6 began with Blizzard Blaster rejuvenated and confident. Not even the cuts to the A-League field bothered them. Pre-qualifier interviews brimmed with confidence.

There’s no question that I’ll qualify. Not for me. It’s my year, and I know that for a fact.

Uncharacteristically, Blizzard Blaster’s self-assured confidence wasn’t punished- quite the opposite. In their qualifying race, they were able to win confidently, notching their best qualifying finish ever and placing them securely within the narrowed field. They had only one thing to say in the post-qualifying interviews.

Well, I said it was going to happen, and it did. It’s not fortune telling—I just put the effort in.

The first race of the season was remarkable for Blizzard Blaster only in how it impacted their record. Amethyst, the season’s rookie, managed to win their first race, and thus erased Blizzard Blaster’s record for the best rookie performance ever—3rd in 2017. Having assumed it safe after the rate of new athletes slowed post-2018, a mix of frustration and genuine admiration for the rookie’s guts colored Blizzard Blaster’s response to the new rallyist’s presence. If one argued—as many fans did—that Blizzard Blaster was a perpetual midpack marble, the early half of Season 6 was the opposite of a refutation. Another 7th followed their first 7th, then a 9th, then a DNF, then a 14th—early traction slipping unremarked into successive failures. At their best, Blizzard Blaster had consistency as a weapon, and now even that was exhausted.

The anticipation of further failure was broken up by a charity livestream arranged by and featuring Reflektor. As their old skis were signed and auctioned live, Blizzard Blaster talked SnowWorld, season ambitions, and the K16 race.

Don’t get used to seeing me on the slopes again. I mean, I’m literally selling these! For a steal, too, ‘cause I signed them and everything. Not that I’ve used this pair for a while. Still in good condition.

Reflektor: Do you want to give the audience a bit of a demonstration?

Uh… You kind of need snow around to ski, not sand. Have you ever watched one of my races before?

Reflektor: …Nevermind.

Blizzard Blaster picked up the pace a little as the second half of the season began, with a 5th in Race 6, though they were far behind the top competitors assembling at the front of the pack. Blizzard Blaster only managed to repeat the high-point low-point pattern with an 11th in Race 7, though the real wound was in the subsequent race, where a DNF locked them out of any long-shot podium hopes still held.

Their best finish of the season—and the closest shot at a podium—came in the penultimate race. Blizzard Blaster spent much of it at the front or close, a strong contender for the podium almost all the way to the finish line until Slimer—one of the season’s real stars—snatched the lowest step of the podium right out from Blizzard Blaster’s grip. Sensing with the same pre-season premonition of qualification that their shot at clearing the season with a medal was likely over, they allowed themself an evening of moping in one of the area’s late-night coffee shops. They met with Slimer on the dark road back to the athlete’s village, neither with much to say about the passive divergence of their fate.

In a pre-finale athlete poll, Blizzard Blaster threw their weight behind Superball to repeat their Season 5 victory. Here their powers of premonition failed them—Superball DNFed immediately and underwhelmed expectations with a 3rd place that satisfied them all the same. Blizzard Blaster placed a less glamorous 12th and rolled away from the Sandhills medalless—but at the very least, absence had made the heart grow fonder, and they threw themself back into SnowWorld during the busy summer operating period. They had become a fixture of Winterpeg’s external identity, though over time the opinions of the townsfolk had settled somewhere between the marble non grata of the K16 incident and the beloved hometown star of the 2017 Rally. Loved, hated, or tolerated, Blizzard Blaster helped put the isolated resort town on the map.

As part of their own training, Blizzard Blaster went back to basics on Sand Rally theory with Snowy, now captain of the Snowballs. Rarely, Blizzard Blaster got along with the prickly personality, perhaps due to their honesty and mutual inclination towards revenge-based hangups. The idea was to make their 2022 Showdown victory more durable for the upcoming League, and in the 2023 League, they ended up with a bronze medal to show for it.

In their grand tradition of unpredictability, Blizzard Blaster’s Season 7 qualification was much hairier than their Season 6 attempt. 0.06 seconds separated them from failing to qualify under the new time-based system. Perhaps the ambiguous moments where their participation was up in the air spooked them, because Blizzard Blaster’s season opening held at or above average for the first three races of the season—8th into 5th into 10th. Also encouraging was the news that they—as a representative of SnowWorld—were being invited to advise on the development of an indoor ski slope for the 2024 Marble League in Glidavik. Though it invited some gentle ribbing from Snowy over their deflection to the other side, all complaints vanished when Snowy netted a podium-making finish in the event come the winter.

17th in Race 4 was seen as heralding a decline, but even Blizzard Blaster fans had called it too soon. An 8th in the subsequent race kept them towards the upper end of the field, but paled in comparison to what came next.

Blizzard Blaster had finished Season 6 medalless despite the narrowed field. Prior to the beginning of Season 7, they’d spoken with confidence to the press and other competitors about their chances of redemption in the season ahead.

Yeah, well, that was just a one-off. I’ve gotten a medal every other season, even when I was in the B-League. Would’ve gotten one in Season 6 if it wasn’t for Slimer… uh, who won that fair and square, obviously. Anyway, don’t count me out!

Blizzard Blaster would once again bring their premonitions to bear on the track during Race 6, when a blistering run down to the finish earned Blizzard Blaster their first win since their home-turf Season 5 victory. The sight galvanized the fans who had fretted over whether Blizzard Blaster had gotten too comfortable since being allowed to return to ice and snow, and most importantly, it shot them to a flattering position in the standings.

The magic of winning was not to last, though by that point in their career few Blizzard Blaster fans—forged through proximity to Winterpeg, appreciation for their blunt style and risky racing, or preference for a racer who never surprised them too badly—expected it to. In almost comical fashion, Blizzard Blaster DNFed in Race 7, having perhaps exhausted their reserve of racing fire, and followed it up with an unimpressive 15th in Race 8. They at least managed to finish the final two races, something that not all competitors could say, and in the spirit of summer, ice-cream catering was provided to the pre-finale and post-finale parties according to their family’s traditional recipe.

Blizzard Blaster finished Season 7 in 10th, with 63 points and a gold medal to their name. Their second best finish ever was overshadowed by Blue Moon’s miracle win, but Blizzard Blaster still took a quiet pride in having bettered their previous performances by a respectable margin. Large crowds greeted them upon their return to Winterpeg, where the rest of SnowWorld’s on-season awaited them and their managerial priors.

One journalist jokingly referred to Blizzard Blaster as the anti-Ghost Plasma in a season coverage piece that went viral on Clicker—Ghost Plasma could be good or bad, but with Blizzard Blaster, you always knew what to expect—a mid-pack finish. It was Ghost Plasma who actually commented on the comparison during an interview back home in Ionise.

Yeah, I heard about that. I think it’s a little unfair. I mean, why not call me the anti-Blizzard Blaster?

As the burnished maple trees shed their leaves for the winter, Polar Vortex returned to Winterpeg for the funeral of an old ski-team senior who’d passed that autumn. Blizzard Blaster was also in attendance, and after the proceedings concluded, they met again in the forest overlooking the K16’s trailhead, closed for pre-season maintenance.

It was odd, Polar Vortex said, that they had both embarked on the initial ill-fated K16 challenge hoping not just to make it as great skiers but to condemn the other to failure. Yet in the end, it had unceremoniously ended both of their professional ski careers before they’d even gotten off the ground. Of the four of them, only North Wind had ever achieved the shared dream of their youth—in the intervening years since Season 5, they too had moved to Snoronto as a transfer to a local team. Boreal had settled down and started a family in the city further down the mountain, and Polar Vortex had all but made Old Zeldan their home. The small-town drama that had subsumed their lives almost ten years ago had gradually become background noise. Blizzard Blaster had even managed to keep all of their later cars intact… mostly. Their rivalry was over—it had been over for a while.

You know, PV, you say it’s over, but you’ve never beaten me in a Rally race…

Shut up! Can’t you tell when someone is trying to have a moment with you?

Credits

• Writer: Nordique Whaler, Millim
• Copyeditors/Editors: Toffeeshop, Io Twelve, Fouc, Stynth
• Artists: Toffeeshop
• Photo Credit: Jelle’s Marble Runs
• Release: 26/07/2026