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Edmonton Impact got off to a rocky
start in 2014 after losing a few players, but quickly got their feet back
under them with a victory across the
pond. They came back to the USA and
shot their way to a hard-fought silver
medal at the Mid-Atlantic Open. The
Ironmen and X-Factor had frustrating
MAO events and though they weren’t
forced to play to avoid relegation,
middle of the pack certainly wasn’t
satisfying for two of the best teams
in paintball and it’s safe to say they’ll
come out swinging in Chicago and beyond. Tampa Bay Damage played well
at the MAO, coming out of the prelims
looking good before Dynasty got ahold
of them in the semifinals. Perhaps
most impressive showing at the MAO
was Chicago Aftershock. This young,
hungry team with a history etched into
the cornerstone of professional paintball finally realized they’d worked hard
enough and long enough that they’re
allowed to be good, and played that
way in Maryland, making the statement that they’re for real; able to
handle anyone in the Champion’s division.
After a shocking relegation to the
Challengers bracket in Dallas, Houston
Heat made the MAO their redemption
event and beat on their opponents
with a Luxe-shaped club on their way
to a gold trophy, punching their card
May 2014
right back to the Champions division.
They’ll be joined in Chicago Champions
division play by the MacDev-shooting Moscow Red Legion, who look to
be returning to form. Trenton Topgun
Union, Seattle Thunder, Texas Storm,
VcK and Boom all look like they could
be the next teams to rattle the Champions cage in the Challengers division,
while Chattanooga CEP and XSV just
aren’t firing on all cylinders in 2014.
It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns
over on the divisional fields at the
2014 MAO either. Prior to the event,
the PSP announced they would offer
a new format to divisional teams for
the MAO, RaceTo Maxx, which would
allow more teams to participate in the
event. Unfortunately, in practice the
new format ground up teams, referees
and scorekeepers alike by causing pits
to be standing-room-only with multiple teams playing at the same time
on each field with little time between
points, causing many teams to lose
pods, miss starts and, in some cases,
even play the wrong opponents.
Though it had its issues, the 2014
PSP MAO concluded with obstacles
overcome, lessons learned, the prizes
awarded, the games played at a dedicated paintball park and another piece
of hardware in Dynasty’s already overflowing trophy case. The PSP will head