Atlantic City Recap

Midway through the National Xball League’s 2017 season almost 200 teams came together in Atlantic City, New Jersey in order to compete at the highest level of play available in the world. Being the third event of five this season this was a very important event for the teams who are beginning to focus on the overall 2017-season title along with a new venue location.

The past two events of the year concluded with the types of finals that we have all grown accustomed to since the conception of the NXL in 2015. With both Dynasty and Heat winning in two incredibly close and spectacularly played past finals, both against Impact. Leading into this event only four teams of the sixteen professional teams competing had ever won an NXL event: Houston Heat, San Diego Dynasty, Los Angeles Infamous, and Edmonton Impact.

However, throughout the past handful of events there has been some discussions concerning the increase in competition between the higher tiered Pro teams and the rest of the pack. Until now fans and spectators of the sport seemed to remain optimistic yet also realistic about the apparent large gap in competition forming within its professional ranks. Perhaps a change in venue was the mark in the road that the NXL staffs used to signify the bridging of this gap.

The Atlantic City layout also stood to bring this rift back together amongst competition. Offering a fast paced dorito side, a highly technical snake with lots of different routes and variables highlighting intelligent and aggressive play, and a highly explosive center that could cut off either sides and close games.

The event began on Friday and Saturday and the event was running smoothly. Teams began to play bright and early with explosive games and brilliant play. San Antonio Xfactor was the only team to make it out of the prelims with a 4-0 record, but there were two other teams who were showing up on the radar early on in the tournament. Tampa Bay Damage and Moscow Red Legion.

Both teams have legendary and dominant team histories. However, right around the time when the NXL took over as the major paintball league in 2015, both organizations were undergoing a rebuilding period and were just recently beginning to make strong Sunday appearances. Fans were skeptical yet hopeful that either team would have a finals appearance this season. Moscow Red Legion was coming off a strong victory in the European Millennium Series while Tampa Bay Damage’s newer players were becoming the contributors the team needed in order to be successful. Come Saturday evening both teams had finished with 3-1 records and were headed into Sunday appearing to be firing on all cylinders.

Of course other historic top teams (Heat, Impact, Infamous) were also in attendance to the Sunday Club; and it would take the perfect mixture of skills and luck for either of the two new young hopefuls to have a finals appearance.

To win a professional paintball tournament everything needs to go your way. Not just within your own team’s infrastructure: players, coaches, paint, equipment, and the like. But also scheduling and refereeing play a big part as to who makes it onto the final stage and who does not. Often times powerhouse teams are pitted up against each other first thing on Sunday. And due to it being single elimination, fans are often able to view finals like competitive games as soon as the buzzers ring come Sunday morning and seeing tournament changing calls being made.

In order for both hopeful teams to make it into the finals they would each have to find the perfect balance of brilliant play and luck. And it happened. And the league loved it.

Tampa Bay Damage and Moscow Red Legion both had defeated their opponents and the odds, played incredibly well and made it into the finals to face each other. For the first time in NXL history none of the “Big Four” teams appeared in the Finals. The match started off with Red Legion taking an early lead and then attempting to dictate the pace of the game in order to maintain control and run down the clock in order to clinch their victory. But Damage, particularly its younger players, would not go down easily. In an attempt to take back the game Damage displayed aggressive snake play coupled with heavy gunning down the Dorito side while attempting to take back control of the center. But the damage had been done; the team’s strong choreographed attacks were not enough to switch the momentum against such a disciplined Russian roster.

The Finals match ended with Moscow Red Legion taking the victory 5-3. However, for the fans of paintball the victory does not solely lie with Legion. Atlantic City stood as a testament to the narrowing of the world’s highest competitive level of paintball. No longer can a spectator show up to an event and only debate which two of the big four teams will face each other in the finals. The leagues now much more evenly competitive and now fans and players must respect every team for the last two events of the 2017 season. The season title is now even more up for grabs than it ever has before and many teams share the possibility to take it. This is truly a league-defining season for paintball and it is exciting to be a part of it all.

Thanks and see you inside the net!

Nico Hyde

Number Zero | Houston Heat 

Learning to Generalize

Anytime you fully submerge yourself into anything; truly and deeply committing yourself into any sort of discipline, one of the end goals is to take the tools gathered from it and be able to generalize them. Applying these tools to any and all things that you may face afterwards. I believe that this is fundamental to saying that you are knowledgeable about the original subject.

For me, the main disciplines that have taught me this have been mathematics and paintball.

Mathematics originally taught me to think about disciplines in this way. Although I do not use Topology or Complex Analysis on a daily basis, the ability to think logically and to organize and explain my thoughts in a clear and concise manner come directly from my time studying mathematics in University.

As for paintball, the most powerful lesson I have learned has been to be open and accepting to all people I meet. Understanding that utilizing the differences between people is what can lead to greatness.

In 2012 I played with a pickup team called Maple Leaf Chiefs at the NPPL Huntington Beach event. Prior to flying to California I knew only two people that would be making up our team of 8 players. Little did I know that these people would become family to me, and the bond we formed would echo throughout the rest of my life in many ways.

This is a common story for most paintball players. To go out and explore the world and those around us, stepping onto the field with strangers and leaving as brothers. To discover that in order to succeed, you need to find what is the best way for all members of your team to flourish; and in return you will as well.

Although at Huntington Beach we did not win, I now understand the significance of this experience, and I have now been able to apply this to other moments of my life. Allow me to generalize to you for a moment: in life you will face situations that require conglomeration. But lets focus on paintball for now. As I would like to touch on how even though I did not realize it in 2012, it served as a major catalyst to my paintball career.

When -VcK- fell apart at the end of 2014 I had no idea if I would be able to play paintball with another team. I felt so unsure if I ever would be able to find a team in the PSP at the level that I wished to play. So I decided to take a leap, and try to play in Europe. If I was near my end of competing, I wanted to knock playing abroad off of my paintball bucket list.

So I pulled up two Internet windows, one with the list of Millennium teams, and Facebook on the other. I literally went down the list on the Millennium’s webpage and messaged every team’s page asking if I could play with them. David Veltman was the only one that replied. He had never heard of me, and I had never heard of him. However Amsterdam Heat had recently lost a few players and since they were making the bump to CPL the team needed an extra body. So I took the plunge.

I was so nervous flying to Amsterdam alone that first time. But at least I knew what I had to do. I would try to replicate what I had done in Huntington Beach. It was more than just playing well. It was to create a sense of belonging. To prove to myself and my new teammates that I was there to join the Amsterdam Heat family. To ride into Valhalla with my newly formed Dutch brothers in arms, laying out everything I had on the field while also bearing my soul to them. I believed that if I could do this, much like I had with Maple Leaf Chiefs, they would do the same for me.

I was fortunate enough to play six events with them during those two years. Two events in CPL, and the entire SPL season in 2016. Although we got regulated down to SPL in 2015, in 2016 we finished in the top three. We only lost to two teams the entire 2016 season: Russian Legion and one close match to Ramstein Instinct. Something I am very proud of. We grew so much together as a team, as friends, and as players. For the first time I found a team that allowed me to step into a leadership position. They listened to me, and in return I listened to them. For me as a player and a human being it was enlightening in so many different and valuable ways.

Coming back to the moral of this story, looking back on it now, where I am at is all because of that one NPPL event in 2012. Meeting new people, bridging the gaps between each other, adapting, and finding my best through discovering the best in those around me.

Now I must apply these lessons again in order to be successful. This time with Houston Heat and Vienna United. I am joining two teams with structures already built into them. I am, once again, the new guy who needs to find his niche. Just like starting anything new in life. So I find myself looking back to that first time in 2012 and more recently to my time with Amsterdam Heat. Taking these lessons and generalizing them to a new venture. Of course it will take time for me to fall into my place, but thankfully my past has given me the tools to enter this new chapter of my life.

Thanks, and lets keep growing together.

Nico Hyde

Number Zero | Houston Heat | Vienna United

A Fairytale Ending

The NCPA college tournaments are unlike any other competitive paintball being played anywhere else. The air at these events is filled with comradery and positivity that breeds an atmosphere unrecognizable to other tournament goers. Simply put, there is something more here than your average NXL or local tournament, something that is indescribable and palpable in a way you can only experience by being there.

Despite the atmosphere and the fact that many of the teams just enjoy being there, these are paintball tournaments. Winning is important. Texas A&M was no stranger when it came to winning, securing a second-place nationals finish along with a string of victories starting in 2013. I arrived on campus late in 2015 and since then have competed in eight NCPA tournaments.

Eight tournaments played, eight tournaments won.

The Collegiate National Championship, the World Cup of college paintball, or what players commonly refer to as nationals will be held later this month in Kissimmee, Florida. Texas A&M is getting ready to defend our title while knowing there’s a target on our back. Every team is going to give us their best. Every match is going to be challenging. For myself, the lead up to this event will be beyond the realm of anything I have had to do before as it will be my last college tournament ever. Every tournament won before would be all for naught with a misstep here. Although I am faced with the possibility of the worst, this tournament also brings with it the possibility of leaving behind a legacy. Nine tournaments. Nine wins. Zero losses. Back to back National Champs. A fairy tale ending.

Devon Stuart

Number Thirty Four | Texas A&M

To Win

“It takes a lot to win a tournament.”

Yes, that statement is simple and extremely generic, but let me tell you this, that’s just the face value. In a world full of a swipe up swipe down society, it is ideal to understand the multiple goals required to achieve what most people strive for; a win. A win isn’t something you simply stumble upon; it’s something you’ve earned through pure dedication to your craft. To be completely honest, it’s something that you almost can’t fully understand, until that one Sunday… when you and your brothers are hoisting your fists into the sky as the buzzer sounds… “Game Time Finished.”

As I ponder the Vegas win, I cannot help but flash back to Dallas 2016. This is where the DMG way was forged into our DNA. Now I find myself listening to the clacks of the keyboard with this half-filled white page in front of me; attempting to fully engulf every little moment that is required to win. I’ve realized that would take a book, not a brief overview. However, over these last couple of years, I have understood that I know nothing. I say that because knowing you know nothing, is the first step into knowing there is always more to learn. This is important, because this understanding is part of what has allowed me to become the player I am today.

On or off the field, I will always be the piece the team needs me to be; whether that’s player, captain, or coach. This event, I was all three. This is an opportunity, an opportunity for a whole new perspective and challenge, which I was eager to learn. Throughout any event, the variables are always changing. So in this game of variables, you must do everything in your power to stack them in your favor. With that going forward, I will have to say, DMG learned and improved point by point, which was a key moment to our team win.

As the Las Vegas event kept running along, just as time does, there are limited moments to capitalize on. You can either keep the energy in your favor, let the energy overtake you, or you can redirect the energy to become now in your favor. The ones that understand this concept are the ones already ahead of the opposition. Every team has a chance to win; it’s those who multiply their opportunities that become the successors. Just as every player has a role, every point of every day of every event has a new formula.

Confidence is one thing, but understanding knowledge is another. Sacramento DMG has both. This win has a tremendous amount of weight behind it. For some, it’s their first win, for others it’s the end to a 4 year drought. While for most it’s just another achieved goal to keep in our back pocket, striving for a milestone goal that will reset our goals. However personal our goals are, we all have this in common… this is just the beginning.

Thomas Kim 

Number Nine | Sacramento DMG

NXL Las Vegas Open 2017

Expectations versus reality.

An undertaking we all have to face. Finding that balance between setting goals for yourself and understanding that life doesn’t always go as planned is a constant aspect of life. It doesn’t mean that you should abandon these expectations but understand that there are always positives to take regardless of the outcome. There is just as much to gain from the journey as there is in the final destination.

Houston Heat finished in 5th place in Las Vegas. It was a rough event for the team. With two major losses to Impact and X-factor, the team struggled through each and every match. For us the event was defined by juggling great communication, ability and teamwork with, well, the exact opposite.

Now the team must once again look forward. There is so much more paintball to be played this year. Making another list of goals. The only thing we can do is stay focused and feed these desires by looking inward to the entire organization. What can we, as individuals, do to grow not only ourselves but also those around us? We must not only find our best but also strive to find the best in our teammates and those supporting us in order to be successful.

We will keep believing.

Nico Hyde

Number Zero | Houston Heat