MAO Day 3

Sunday began early for some of us under overcast skies. The low slow-moving gray clouds might have been ominous under other circumstances but were overall a welcome sight as they kept the temperature down and promised, rather than threatened, the possibility of cooling rain. The fulfillment of that promise did drench a D1 match-up on the pro field and teased another match or two with sprinkles but otherwise held off as the final day of the tournament ran its course.

The pro quarters began at 8am with Aftermath meeting Entourage. This was a first for Entourage who had played well if somewhat scattershot paintball throughout the prelims. The characteristics that make Entourage fun to watch and dangerous to play also tend, on occasion, to be self-destructive. In some respects the two teams mirror each other in style, youth, energy and capacity to harm their own cause. Given a little time and a little maturity they will both get better. This time around Aftermath came out on top only to be rewarded with a semifinal against the Red Legion who carried the only perfect record into Sunday.
In the other pro quarter Damage played Impact in a rematch of the Phoenix final. By this stage of the tournament Impact was, more often than not, playing a dorito wire heavy game and Damage, for whatever reason, continued to struggle to get on track. One of the intangible qualities of this year's Impact is a collective unwillingness to get rattled or give up. Point after point they continue to fight. It's similar to the Ironmen mantra of "bloody knuckles" which I take to mean they are ready, willing, able and determined to make every match a brawl if that's what it takes to win. Damage got two majors on the second point and started the next two points down 3 on 5 but it was only two points because they managed to burn off both penalties while only giving up two points. Down 1-3 it felt like a fresh start in the Damage pit but the penalties kept coming. In the end Damage was assessed 4 majors and 2 minors and lost to a confident, consistent Impact team.
In one semifinal Aftermath went all out to challenge the Red Legion and scored some early points. They were bold and unafraid but over the length of a Race 2-7 match they were also no match for the Legion. Beginning on Friday the Legion were playing hard, precise, fast and elegant paintball. The layout suited their talent and they were impeccably prepared and executed their game plans like the Russian Legion machine of old. For anyone who appreciates and understands what xball can be to watch the Legion play the MAO was a thing of beauty.
The other semi, Impact vs. Ironmen, was a battle; no quarter offered, no quarter given. Where the Legion was paintball blitzkrieg Impact versus the Ironmen was trench warfare. Back and forth, move and countermove, a combat of attrition. It was the kind of game the Ironmen had been playing all tournament long. Tight close matches, multiple overtimes. Frequently not pretty paintball but that's not really the point. Despite the tough year to date and all the roster moves the Ironmen that showed up for MAO earned their name and proved they will be a team to be reckoned with come World Cup. The only blemish on their semi loss to Impact was some controversy at the final call of the match which swung the point in favor of Impact. Ask any ten people what happened and odds are you'd get at least half a dozen different answers. The Ironmen protested but it didn't matter, they were out and Impact would face the Legion for a second time. First time around they'd lost 7-1 in the prelims.
We decided to call it an event and pack up when the rain started coming down hard before the pro final. After getting knocked out early it was either hang around the event or hang around the hotel and the team had split on their preference so I'd stayed with the group at the field. Those hours are among the few I have at tournaments to chat with friends and enjoy paintball. Even so I'd rather not but there it is. As we readied to leave Gary Baum of Paintball Photography asked me if I wasn't staying for the final. I told him I already knew the outcome--barring act of God or the officials--and since it's Tuesday you know how it turned out, too.

MAO Day 2

Day 1 was a story half told. By the end of Day 2 the story has been written for the majority of competing teams. The prelims are over and so is their tournament. After Day 1 we were a part of that uncertain limbo, our future in doubt and we had lots of company.
The morning pro bracket had a few surprises. Much to the dismay of the Midwest Aftershock struggled, seemingly unable to find the quality of game that has propelled them to talk of glory renewed this season, and finished out of the running at 1-3. Entourage turned that result around and went through 3-1 as the four seed and a Sunday morning match-up with Aftermath ( 5 seed) whose strong Friday wasn't matched with an equally strong Saturday. Vicious failed to reach Sunday but played like they belonged for the first time this season taking two wins home with them. And the Red Legion took the top seed and a bye into the semi-finals with an unblemished 4-0 run and some dominating play.
After Day 1 our plus/minus put us at the top of the teams that went 1-1. It's not much but sometimes the smallest of margins make the difference between going on and going home. After the first day it looks like Aftermath is on their game and Infamous is uncharacteristically off theirs but yesterday's scores are just that, old news. And doing half the job isn't enough to get you to Sunday and nobody is eliminated the first day. (Hey, paintball has cliches, too!) We needed our first match of the day against Aftermath. All my calculations tell me we can get through with a split--though it's hardly a given--but our odds go up significantly if the win is against Aftermath. Aftermath is a good team with a developing roster, a building organization and a good mix of experience, exuberance and hunger. After splitting the first two points Aftermath gets a major, followed two points later by another. It's an invitation to finish the match before it ever gets started and that's exactly what we do by a score of 7-1. The result leaves questions unanswered but it is a match we needed to win. Those questions will be answered in the last match of the prelims when we face Infamous. All year long, or so it seems, we keep banging into these guys. In 7-man we've had the upper hand but in xball they dealt a second consecutive second place trophy. The numbers going in leave Infamous small hope of going through but of more immediate concern is winning the match at hand. It's hand-to-hand combat from the beginning as we eventually forge a 3-1 lead. Amid penalties and some brawling paintball Infamous brings it back to 5-5. A final 2 point surge leaves us with a hard fought win, a sweep of Saturday and a trip to Sunday morning paintball and a match-up with Impact.
Whatever Saturday paintball demands it's nothing compared to Sunday. All the preceding effort has done is earn us a seat at the table of those who can finish Sunday as MAO pro champion. The real tournament begins tomorrow.

MAO Day 1

Just a short post. It's late 'cus our games were late. We didn't get away from the venue 'til a bit after 6pm. I'd like to tell y'all we were rockin' & rolling and swept through the day's matches. Unfortunately it wouldn't be the truth. (The post title is a link to the day's pro scores.) Today we faced Dynasty & the Ironmen. The truth is we have yet to play the way we practiced this layout. Oh, sure, we talked about getting a strong jump out of the gate. We talked about being on point and focused on the job at hand from the sound of the first horn--but, but we couldn't quite pull it off. In the Dynasty match it was nit and tuck for a while until we got a major. We killed the penalty and won that point. It seemed to give us a boost of confidence and when Dynasty got a penalty we were able to press the advantage and get the win. Facing the Ironmen we got behind early and the Ironmen kept fighting. Even after we came back and got the match into overtime the Ironmen refused to lose. The day's wars left us 1-1. We have 2 more tomorrow and we need them both. (By the numbers we might make Sunday with another split but the goal isn't just to show up.)
In case you were wondering--yeah, it's bloody hot. The field is in excellent condition and the PSP extended our time between points to two minutes in response to the heat. More of the same tomorrow.

Playing the A in MAO

Since teams have not, for the most part, had to deal with the A (or the X) anywhere but in the center of the field I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss aspects of how the A will play for MAO, and why. (The first post on playing the MAO field is here.)
There are three keys to observe; the A is inset so it isn't the widest wireside bunker, it visually obstructs most of the wire in both directions, there are very limited means for defending a forward, upfield teammate.

Key 1--the wireside of the A can be contested from all the other wireside bunkers, SD, MD & corner TCK. The A has an elevation advantage over the SD which is negated, in part, by the proximity of the two positions as it allows the SD player to immediately initiate a counter move. Wireside A versus the MD is a wash and the corner TCK has an advantage that is only slightly negated by the placement of the SD. The basic result is that if wireside A is contested along the wire the midfield position offers no immediate advantage unless you take an opponent by surprise.

Key 2--the size of the A blocks a significant portion of the line of sight for all players playing the wire. In one sense it makes it easier to move up. (Although the practical application of key 3 can neutralise much of that opportunity.) It also necessitated pushing most of the D-wire props wireside otherwise it would have been a blind race to the 50 and surprise! Lastly, the enormous "blindspot" it creates also makes it virtually a must stop which will halt every D-wire attack as long as it is unknown (unclear) (uncommunicated) as to where opponents are on the other side of the A. (And for all its size it is not an easy bunker to play.)

Key 3--denying movement up the D-wire cannot come from the wire itself given the placement of the A. It must come from the inside out. In all likelihood that will mean a Home shooter or the midfield MD (or both) will be in play most of the time for at least the early phases of a point. The effect of this is two-fold; if a team commits its "extra" gun to that role the team ends up with a balanced attack of 2 on each side but the A remains a stop at the fifty and in so doing you limit the strength of your snake side push potential. If the containing shooter (Home or midfield MD) is part of your D-side breakout the team becomes dependent on the D-wire lead to both stay alive and stay aggressive and the transition from defense to offense can be (often will be) quite difficult.

The A itself is a poor offensive position. Each leg act almost like independent bunkers which are half BBB (the discontinued square block) and half dorito with the angle upper that only plays to one side. In between is the v-gap that results in players getting shot in the feet and inside lower legs with regularity (refs need to be on the lookout) all the while leaving the A player unable to see possibly huge chunks of the field without wrapping and risking exposure.

None of this means the D-wire for MAO is good, bad or indifferent. It's simply different. Period. Given the overall design the D-wire should play slow and I do have some concerns with the large shooters lanes at play. Teams with good laners and some discipline should be able to make D-side play pretty miserable for players used to making aggressive, quick moves and force those teams to find different ways to play this layout.

MAO Day 3

You can thank me for the good weather here in Rock Hill. I carried my umbrella with me all day long and as long as I'm prepared it ain't gonna rain. Not that I'm superstitious or anything. (And yes, it came close to raining but took pity on us poor paintballers which kept your webcast immaculate. Again, no need to thank me but donations are gladly accepted.)

Did today's webcast live up to the hype? Damn right it did--and I only saw the Legion / Philly match back at the hotel.

While they didn't make to Sunday it was a treat to see the Trauma kids playing paintball again and even better to see them all together just hanging out. Too often it's easy to forget how transitory this life usually is and too often we take too much of it for granted.

If there were any justice in paintball (or common sense) somebody would make Lu (Lucian Blackburn) Paintball's poster child. I'm just saying.

No photos. That's it. I didn't take any but there are probably millions of them soon to be posted online anyway. It's been a long event all ready and fortunately we ain't done yet. I've still got work to do tonight so I's gonna cut this short. Besides, if you're not watching you don't really care so why should I bother?

Gotta love Sunday. Sunday means winning is within reach. Sunday is what most teams play for. Sunday is when the tournament really starts.

MAO Day 1

If you were hoping for (or foolishly expecting) serious coverage of Day 1 of the event consider yourself disappointed 'cus it ain't happening. Contrary to popular opinion I'm actually kinda busy. It's late, I'm tired. It was a long day. Lots of sun, no rain. Fingers crossed. The forecast for the weekend threatens thunderstorms. We'll see. If you want scores visit the cool kids at Pro PB.

A lot of very competitive games on the semi-pro and pro field today. A lot of back and forth with dramatic shifts of momentum making a lot of the outcomes uncertain until late in many of the matches. If this pattern continues--and it likely will--the decisive games on Saturday should be some awesomely brutal world class paintball so don't miss the action when all ya gotta do is sit back in the comfort of your living room and watch it all on the webcast. (And, no, the PSP didn't give me a dime for that endorsement but they ought to.) I'm pushing the webcast because it's a terrific presentation that is only getting better and every webcast is another opportunity to promote the game. Our game.

I'll have a bit more time tomorrow and I'm thinking of taking some pictures of some of the kewl peeps loitering around the venue. No promises but it could happen. If there's anything you'd like to see post it up in the comments and if it isn't weird or festive (figure it out) I'll consider it.