![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() Scoreboards
Divisional
X-Ball
5-Man X-Ball
What do you think? Add your comments in WARPIG's TOURNEY TALK FORUM |
Eastern Conference - NXL All-Star Winners For its fifth tournament of the 2006 season, Paintball Sports Promotions headed to the Atlantic seaboard, placing the Mid Atlantic Open next to Charlotte, North Carolina. In some ways the event
was a return to tradition. In the 1990s and the first few years of the
new millennium, the promoters that came together to form PSP staged most
of their events at existing paintball fields. It was only in In addition to a
new venue in a new region, the tournament had a new division, or conspicuous
lack of one. As the National X-Ball League professional X-Ball schedule
has been built around 5 tournaments a year, PSP's addition of a 6th tournament
left the league with a choice between playing six or sitting one out. Something
of a more creative middle ground was found and the first NXL All Star game
came as a result. The MAO was planned with divisional X-Ball games, but
instead of full NXL play, there would be three games, pitting some of the
world's top paintball players against each other with the all-star players
from the Both Thursday and Friday saw the preliminary rounds for divisional X-Ball play. Division III had 30 teams competing in six brackets of 5 teams each, meaning the top team from each bracket would be a quarterfinalist, along with two wildcards to fill out the quarterfinal round. Division II was more unusually structured, running 6 teams per bracket, while PSP X-Ball rule 2.3.1 requires prelims to be played with brackets of 5 teams each. However as put into practice, expanding bracket sizes allows for an even division of games without having to turn away teams that would create a total not divisible by 5. Like D-III the D-II teams played four games each over Thursday and Friday, except in their case, due to the extra teams they did not play every team in their bracket.
Off field, the tournament trade show gave players from around the Carolinas a chance to look at products and talk directly to manufacturers. Booths and trailers included displays from Virtue, Sup'Air, National Paintball Supply, Archon, Proto, Planet, Nelon, Derder, Hybrid, Smart Parts, Custom Products, Mighty Paintball, Paintball Fury, DraXxus, Lucky Paintball and Action Village. While most manufacturers were holding off until Commander's Cup or World Cup to show new products, there were a few exceptions. Smart Parts display trailer had examples of several new team guns, including the Dynasty Shocker and Ion, Russian Legion Shocker, Shocktech Ion and Tremor Shocker. The Shocker NXT also made its official debut at the event. Across the thoroughfare Planet had the brightly colored new Bushwhacker Ego on display. Hybrid had new colors for their Suicide 3-Piece HALO shell, and National Paintball Supply had their recently released Reloader B2. The new model of the Reloader B features magnetic lid closure, and electronics with adjustable setting for both loader tension and sensitivity of the sound activation system. Saturday afternoon, the grandstands of the PSP field filled to capacity and spectators began standing along crowd control barricades, getting ready for the 1:00 start of the NXL All-Star Game. Far more than during the previous divisional play, fans were on their feet cheering impressive moves, as the first game in the three game series finished with an Eastern Conference victory, 12 to 8 over the West. Meanwhile, on the other fields, the 5-Man X-Ball teams started up their preliminary rounds in the morning, with Division IV kicking off first, and finishing up, freeing fields for D-III, and for the X-Ball Division III Quarterfinals. Split into four brackets of three teams each, the X-Ball D-III quarters went by relatively fast - teams only had two games each to complete, with the top team from each bracket being selected for the semifinals. These teams were East Coast Killers, Data Support Systems, Team Spray Paint and Triad. Like the first all-star game, the second had the grandstands once again packed with shouting fans. Also like the first, the second was won by the players of the Eastern Conference, but with a smaller margin at a final score of 10 to 8. The D-II Quarterfinals yielded Swatpaintball.com, East Coast Empire, 93 Bulls and Gridlock-PBC as their semifinalists. The D-II Quarterfinals yielded Swatpaintball.com, East Coast Empire, 93 Bulls and Gridlock-PBC as their semifinalists. When the remaining 5-man X-Ball teams had completed their preliminary round, the 38 teams playing in Division IV were narrowed to 16 ochofinalists, that played in four brackets of 4 teams each. The round winnowed the teams down to eight quarterfinalists. In the 5-man quarterfinals, both D-III and D-IV had eight teams each, playing three games per team in two brackets. The top two teams from each bracket became the semifinal and finalists. In the semifinals and finals the format was best two out of three games, with the winners and losers being paired for their finals games. Division IV of the 5-Man X-Ball competition drew to a close as DBS Kidz beat ECE Kidz in their first game, but fell in the second and won the third for a third place finish. SoFlaMafia.com beat Sin City Paintball twice in a row to claim first place over Sin City. D-III5X ended finished out with Runnin Wild taking down ECE Factory Team twice in a row for third place. TX Justice League also posted back to back wins for first place over Ginxed who finished second. The X-Ball quarterfinals had produced four semfinalists for each division. These teams played each other based on rank with the winners moving on to fight for first and second in the finals, and losers going to battle for third and fourth. In division III Data Support Systems beat Triad 4 to three, capturing third place, and Team Spray Paint's 5 to 4 win over East Coast Killers put them in first. Gridlock PBC hammered 93 Bulls 7 to 1 for third place in Division II. The DII trophy went to swatpaintball.com after they beat East Coast Empire 10 to 4.
The third round in the NXL All-Star competition also played out on Sunday. Despite two wins securing the fame for the Eastern Conference, the mix of pro players not usually seen together made for exciting paintball to watch. Sunday's game ended with a single point victory for the west at 10 to 9. For Paintball Sports Promotions, the 6th and final tournament of the year still lies ahead. Rather than its traditional date in October, the Paintball World Cup will be held later in the year, reducing the risk of interference from tropical hurricanes. November 8th through 12th, teams will converge on Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida as the divisional and NXL teams make last bid for the 2006 championships. |
Copyright © 1992-2019
Corinthian Media Services. WARPIG's webmasters can be reached through our feedback form. All articles and images are copyrighted and may not be redistributed without the written permission of their original creators and Corinthian Media Services. The WARPIG paintball page is a collection of information and pointers to sources from around the internet and other locations. As such, Corinthian Media Services makes no claims to the trustworthiness or reliability of said information. The information contained in, and referenced by WARPIG, should not be used as a substitute for safety information from trained professionals in the paintball industry. |