So this weekend just gone was the first round of the premier UK tournament: The CPPS. Last year myself and the guys from Reading Entity played in the Elite division among the best teams in the UK. In the off season we planned to play the Millennium series in Europe and so felt we may not be able to afford to put our 5 best in to perform in the Elite division. We figured we would put a team into div 1 made up of our less committed players and some of our international players. As it turns out when we made the choice to play the CPS, we figured we were able to afford to put a competent team in. Unfortunately we had missed the window as the division had now been filled. This meant we had to fight our way through Division 1 and win an event to earn promotion into the Elite division.
Fight we did.
Saturday
We brought some paint from The Cribb with us to go training on-site at the CPPS on the Saturday, we arrived and kitted up and to be honest we came out pretty flat. The training fields were a bit of a free-for-all for teams to jump on and shoot at whoever ended up on the other side of the field. We had some scrappy points with random teams and we weren't performing too well as a team to start with - winning very close games due to individual skill. However towards the end of the day something clicked and we seemed to have everything down. We even won a point against Nexus and also the Firm (the two teams playing in the finals of the Elite division on Sunday). Of course winning a point in training on a field void of refs with training paint isn't a true measure of the better team or how you will perform in the tournament, but we were confident we would do well. We brought on new blood Adam Budd who has been training with the team for the past 12 months at Cribbs. He wasn't sure of himself to begin with but when the team clicked around midday he seemed to follow suit and was playing well on the teabag side.
I tried a few different positions on the Saturday and ended up being most comfortable either playing as the 1 (front player) on the teabag side or the 3 in back center. Our game plans mainly involved doubling up the back center as our laning was looking pretty good and I ended up shooting the snake side lane as I was most comfortable with that one compared to the tighter teabag-side lanes.
That evening we went out for a carvery, being the athletes that we are. We stayed at the Hilton Park travel lodge (Don't be misled by the word Hilton!) and had a bit of a meeting in one of the rooms where we just confirmed our game plan and any alternative switch ups we may need to have in our arsenal before cleaning the guns ready for the day ahead.
Sunday
Game 1: Chimera
The mighty Rich Harris and the rest of the Chimera guys were pitting next to us. We got warmed up and had to keep a sense of humor about us whilst Rich heckled us (playfully) from next door, we were the 6th game on but we were there ready to play at 9am. When the game eventually came round, we went out and played a good game, we lost bodies and some of the games were a little chaotic (as I kind of expected) but we still netted a 4-0 win.
In one point I thought I saw an opening to make a superstar move, so I took it. Me and Andy were both in Back Centre, I was on the snake side taking no heat and he was taking a gun from the teabag corner and the house (tall temple) bunkers, I could see their paint in the air (as it was fluorescent yellow) and thought I could run from the BC through the M and past house and shoot everyone. As it turned out, by the time I got to house (it was a long run!) their coaches had called it and the teabag corner switched up on me after I got my first G. Even so we were bodies up and won the point and the game.
We told each other we needed to slow down our games as although rushing around trying to shoot everyone was working just now, we need to be more methodical if we want to win the day. After a long wait we got to..
Game 2: Snatch
Snatch are my old team, I played with them in 2012, I would call every member of the team a friend of mine. This may be the reason behind me consistently playing REALLY bad, I mean "Luke, what the fuck man I'm going to have to sit you the next few points" bad, against them in 2013 whenever we matched up.
Fortunately though this wasn't the case, although this game was very weird. After 10 seconds there seemed to be a cluster of buzzers going off around the same time. In the first point I had a false start, fortunately recognized it before shooting and tagged my barrel back before starting off the point again. Unfortunately for Snatch they had a couple guys pulled on the false start and the rest shot / penaltied very shortly after, making it a very quick point.
We didn't take that for granted though, we knew Snatch could roll their guns and they did beat us and have a very close loss against us in 2013. The next point, Andy false started behind me as I ran out to the teabags, I got shot trying to force a move too quickly without realising the snake side temple was shooting that lane, however Stafford came across from the Back Centre to the Teabag Corner to do some damage control and we managed to pull it back after a slow point. We were shooting good lanes off the break and moving up the field very quickly afterwards.
We eventually won the game 4-0.
Game 3: NPF Raiders
We watched Snatch, who we just 4-0'd, beat NPF Raiders 4-0 earlier on in the day. Of course logically that would mean we should trounce them, however paintball doesn't work like that. Team A can smash Team B who smash Team C who smash Team A - like rock paper scissors!
We had some close games against these guys, a bit of chaos in one point where we shot the whole teabag side off the break and Andy went to run through the middle to clean up. He got shot whilst making the move and got a penalty called on him whilst I made real estate off the back of his move getting up the teabags and shooting the last couple players very swiftly - before the ref managed to get to me to call the 1 for 1. It was a sloppy point but the rest of the game, we looked good. A nice 4-0 to add to the collection.
After this point we huddled round whilst the rest of the prelims were being played - it was about 3pm at this time. Andy told the team something along the lines of "We have done well to get this far without losing a point, I mean statistically in 3 games of Race-4 we should have lost a point by now by accident or by sloppiness. These next two games are going to be harder, but we came here to win and that's what we will do. If we lose a point, keep your head on, it doesn't necessarily mean we're being outplayed, it's just the odds."
At this point we watched some games on the mound, including the finals Nexus v Firm where Nexus won but it was close at points! The first point lasted half the match time as it boiled down to a 1v1 between Wozza (Warren Pitterson) and James Granville. Wozza was low on paint towards the end and so was trying to bait Granville out into a gunfight but Granville, with the paint advantage, eventually closed it out. After that the game went to Nexus.
The sun was starting to set, the division 1 field we were playing on was playing the seeding games for 5th-12th but for some reason instead of alternating the field (playing 2 games at the same time, switching game every time a point was played) they were running just a standard 2 minute (or more it felt like) turnaround with 1 game on at a time. In between the games there were long gaps and we were losing light.
We checked the scoreboard and we knew we were the 1st seed of our division with the best point difference (of course) and so would play the 4th seed who would be the team that had the most points who ranked second in their group.
Eventually, around 5:50pm, we played our semi final match
Semi Finals (game 4): Lucky 15's Mustangs:
If I'm honest I don't know how or where it started, this time last year we trained with Lucky 15's first team the day before the first CPPS and seemed to get on amicably. But it feels as though there's been a bit of a grudge between our two teams for a while. Without looking back I know we have beaten their first team at CPPS (close games if I recall!) but they also beat us down 4-0 at Campaign last year when we had a pull-together squad.
On Saturday when we were scrimming we came up against 15's once or twice. Adam, our new guy who hasn't even played at the CPPS before, walked off the field with a hell of a lot of paint all up his back. I understand giving a few extra shots to make people lose their heads or lose precious time in the pits, but whilst training? I didn't really get that.
When it comes to grudges or putting some extra shots on someone leaving the field, I've personally adopted the philosophy since the end of last year that I'm cool with any player or team as long as they're cool with me.
We walked onto the field and chose the far end towards the sun. There was a hoo-hah for a while as one of their guys was having a debate with a ref, who eventually walked over and said we had to toss a coin to choose the starting end. They won the toss so we had to switch sides. As we were walking to the opposite side of the field I said to the guys "Now they've made a big deal about the starting end, let's embarrass them by winning these next two points."
They gave us a good game, we lost bodies in most points, but we won 4-0.
During the last point after we had cleaned them all out apart from Back Centre I was all the way up the teabags. He was shooting the other way and so I could just make out his pack, I kept shooting it until he was called out, at which point he walked backwards and my paint that was already in the air hit his back. One of the guys from 15's shouted from outside the field "STOP OVERSHOOTING OUR PLAYERS!".
I doubt they'd read this but if they do: I am sorry if your player took some extra shots after he got hit from my guys on the snake side - I have no grudge against any of your players, on the first or the second team. If there are any hard feelings, I'm sorry, we play an adversarial game, but I respect anyone I play against and don't want to make enemies with anyone.
At this point of the day people had left or were leaving. A lot of people were coming up to me before and after this game asking how we got on. I worship the paintball gods and as a result try not to upset them with any bad karma or cockiness. I always remember punching the air with my fist as I ran to score a 3rd point against London Defiance in a row in 2013. We went on to lose the game after they equalized with 2 seconds of playing time left and beat us in an overtime point! Therefore when everyone asked how we got on, regardless of our flawless (in terms of points) performance I said "We're doing okay, we won our games.".
We moved over to the Elite field to play our finals game.We were losing light as time went on. London Samurai & Volatile were seeded 2nd & 3rd after the prelims and were having their semi final game. It looked like a close game - I believe it ended up being 4-2 to Samurai.
Finals game: London Samurai
We stepped out onto the field, all other games had finished, this was the last one of the day. It had already gone 18:30 and the light was fading, however it was playable, as we waited for Samurai to prepare as they had just finished their game moments earlier.
The first point played out pretty well for us, we got a G on the break and won a convincing point. There was a bit of confusion as we had to switch ends every point.
We went out for the second point and I remember I got shot very soon after getting into my primary. All day I was used to Parkey coaching us by simply calling the G's, the O's and the other team's positions. This time Clarkey was also on the mound talking me through the game. He was pushing me quite aggressively up the field telling me to make the next move and in the first instance I made a bump to the 3rd teabag and took a clip on the shoulder from the Teabag corner. In all fairness I was happy in teabag 2 shooting crossfield at the shadows I could just about make out behind their bunkers, unfortunately I was losing sight of the paint shortly after it left my barrel so I couldn't tell where it was dropping! When I made the move I shouldn't have been clipped from the corner really due to the layout, so I put it down to a sloppy bump on my part - regardless of whether or not I would have made the move without Clarkey's call. They won that second point and so it became 1-1.
The next point we played I moved up and shot at the bunkers where I thought I could see people, I must have got a couple crossfield shots from the teabags, I saw someone make a move into the snake and they were crawling relatively slowly in the open, I shot towards him but couldn't tell if my paint was going over him or dropping first. I heard teabag 2 and teabag corner and then Clarkey shout "go get him" so I ran down the highway and shot them both who were looking down the teabag wire. I hit the teabag corner and he came back infield to shoot me back. In my opinion that should have been a 1 for 1 as he only turned on the inside to shoot at me when he felt my shots hit him. I guess the referee's either didn't see it or weren't in the mood to cause a fuss. We won the point after wasting as much time as we could to make it 2-1.
I took another shot on the same bump, this time was because someone in Back Center or Orange was posted waiting for that move and after I heard the call to go I trusted I was okay to move. I felt a hit on my shoulder, looked towards the ref who didn't seem to register it, I looked down towards my shoulder and pointed at it at which point he called me out. I took an early walk and when in the pits I checked it out and no-one could see any paint - just a logo. Our guys knew they had to run the time down and so kept the cross going, they started moving down the field and eventually we lost the point. Watching the game I could just see hopper lights flashing in peoples goggles it was that dark. The game was 2-2 and there was only 6 seconds left of regulation time.
So we headed out for an overtime point. Shayne said walking to the start gate "guys I'm struggling with these goggles." I took an early walk, again, not able to read the paint or see the crossfield guys to check off the lanes I made a bump between teabags and got shot. I watched this final point unfold with Tom in the teabag corner, Andy in Teabag 2, Liam in God (the small m on the way into the snake) and Shayne in the snake corner. I could see that Shayne's mask was steamed up and so he was just shooting towards their snake tape and hoping for the best. Liam was trying to find a way into the snake but evidently was struggling to check off the lanes to make the bump. I saw a guy launch from their teabag 3 towards Andy. I knew the field very well at this point and I knew that the teabag corner could see any runs down the tape from teabag 3, Tom was watching that lane the entire time, there's no way the guy couldn't have been shot. Andy was also at that point in time looking teabag side. The way I saw it they must have run into two guns to get to Andy's bunker and mug him out, the ref walked over and Andy clearly tried to argue a case but both players were called out. I'm not saying the player played on - all I'm saying is he ran into two guys looking at him and ran a fair distance before shooting Andy. I couldn't tell if he was hit or not, and that was the frustrating thing as the refs would have had a hard time telling too, perhaps explaining the neutral call being made to just remove the two players.
They sent another guy down the field who mugged out Liam & Shayne, Tom (teabag corner) had crossed up with Liam (snake insert) at this point, Tom was shooting at him the whole way - if he was able to see his paint in the air he may have hit him, if he did hit him the refs wouldn't have been able to tell and neither would he. Shayne may of had a chance to pick him up if he was able to see, masks steaming up plague us all now and then but you can usually work through it, but steaming in the dark? Not a chance. He ran through and shot both Shayne and Liam before another guy came down the teabag tape to trade out with Tom. Leaving one of their players left to hit the buzzer and win the point.
We came 2nd, losing to Samurai 2-3.
It sucked. Everyone was angry as we felt we would have won the game in the daylight. Whether or not we would have, we don't know. But fair play to Samurai, they won the game on the day. They played a better game of night paintball than us by pushing the moves whereas we were crossing up the field.
The part that annoys us is that whether or not Samurai would have beaten us in the daytime, we don't know. Both teams were playing in the dark, but I couldn't help but feel that good field awareness and good lanes are big factors in winning a game, both of which were key factors in our success during the day and both of which were impeded by the darkness. One of their guys even said whilst shaking hands with us "I'm sure it would have been a different game in the daylight". We still feel that regardless of the results of this finals game, we deserve to be in that Elite division, especially after winning 17 unanswered points in a row.
Unfortunately it seems we're going to have to wait until at least Round 3 to play in the division we know belong in. I know that the teams we beat 4-0 aren't going to want to see us again next round, just as much as we don't want to spend any more of our time and money winning easy games. But it is what it is and we will have to come to terms with that.
The car journey home was a hard one. We like to break down what happened at a tournament to take something away, however this time we didn't really know what to take away. All my guys who played, played well and I'm proud of what we showed we can accomplish.
The CPPS is the premier UK tournament for a reason, Ainsley and the team put on a great show and put a lot of hard work in. We're blessed to have such a good grounds in the UK, it's the one domestic tournament that everyone uses as a benchmark because all the teams worth their salt play it. My criticism this time is solely with time keeping. The Div1 field was taking it's sweet ass time in between games, with long pauses in between sets. I also don't feel that the seeding matches for 5th to 12th should have been played 1 game at a time instead of in 2-game sets. I also don't see why they played these seeding games before the finals matches when daylight was an issue, I understand it was planned so that the finals are exhibited on the Elite field at the end of the day, but when the finals match is such a pivotal promotion game it should take priority when it comes to the daylight. After speaking to Ainsley he confirmed there was a mix up resulting in some of the ref teams having a longer lunch break than planned which pushed most of the fields back, he also confirmed it's not something that will be a problem in future rounds.
Next round will be our chance to get back to where we should be!
I played every point this weekend and shot 2 cases on Saturday and 3 cases during the tournament so that brings me to: 46,500
Great to see a calm and collected replay of the finals game and understand just how truly chaotic it was.
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