Saturday Training
This time we booked a slot with Disruption, Tigers 2 & Nexus 2 where we started to work out the field. We realized it was a relatively balanced field however the teabags were a little more dangerous than the snake. Our laning appeared to be pretty bad however we were shooting rock hard paint so it's too be expected that we didn't see much production. I was playing Apple (the mini M on the teabag side) and shooting a lane either at my mirror or cross field at anyone running to the snake / corner / insert bunker.. it was quite a good lane.. before returning back to control the bags whilst Andy or A-man (Adam) worked up the bags. Sometimes however when they were taking heat I was bumping out to the corner and then over taking them to get some progression. Shayne was shooting for any centre runners going to xbox (the Maya temple) whilst backing up Liam in the snake and we learned throughout the day that the Back Center HAD to stay on the teabags to stop them hitting the 50 in seconds.
Saturday's 1v1 tournament
Ainsley came up to us whilst we were in the pits during the day and alerted us to the opening of the 1v1 registration. Me, A-man and Liam from the team signed up for it. I was desperate to redeem myself from getting smashed out of my first round (#lukeoutfirst) in Belgium.
My chance came quicker than I thought as I was to play the very first point. My match was James Granville from London Nexus. Andy started the obligatory Horse Puncher chant, spreading further, the rumor that I once punched a horse to death. This time it was straight up elimination - one shot and you're out of the game entirely. If it was a draw after 2 minutes the player deemed 'most aggressive' by the head ref would be named the winner After a bit of mincing around at the back I moved my way up the bags as Gran was using the bunkers around the start of the snake. I got onto his side of the field and was gunfighting with him relatively defensively - using all heights and sides of the teabag. It felt like a good 30-40 seconds had gone past behind that teabag, I would guess 1:20 had run off the clock and then bam - clipped on the side of my lense. #lukeoutfirst trended worldwide and I shook hands with my opponent and left the field. The other guys ripped into me that I'm shit at 1v1's and should stop wasting my money, I got changed and watched Liam and A-man's attempts. Gran did say if it was any consolation I did hit him with a bouncer - how frustrating! Liam lost to a guy from care bears and A-man lost to a guy from celtic druids, both in their first rounds, which made me feel a lot better about myself. Besides I didn't even bounce the Vision guy so I'm evidently improving - next time I might actually manage to fucking shoot someone.
Saturday evening
We got to the hotel and got showered etc etc and had fun with the refoofies..
.. before going to Nandos for munch.
When we got back we spoke about the game plan and the importance of their positions - what lanes we know we can shoot and what options we had on the break. One thing Shayne and I had discussed on the car journey up was our tendency to panic whenever we lose a point and try to change too many things with the game plan to make up for it. There's a cliché about paintball game plans and it is this: "A poor game plan, well executed, is better than a good game plan, poorly executed." It certainly rings true and with this in mind Shayne brought it up with the rest of the team on Saturday night as something we need to focus on. Sometimes we can lose a game and it's just down to individual error, or someone getting bounced by your lane, or any number of variables, 2 teams can play 2 consecutive points with the same game plan and end up with 2 very different outcomes. Basically we need to keep our composure and only alter small details instead of turning the whole thing up on it's head at the first sign of trouble.
Sunday
We got on-site with plenty of time and warmed up. Our pits were next to Nexus which was good as it was a short walk to the trade village / car park - but I also had a couple opportunities to quietly observe their demeanor in-between points. They would always come in and straight up say who shot them and how, asking each other either why they didn't do their job or what stopped them from doing it. We had started to do the same throughout the day, echoing what we spoke of the previous night. I had also started pushing for tidier pits - Liam has been a big advocate of a tidy pit and I figured we should try and make it a ritual to tidy up after each game in prep for the next.
Game 1: Lucky 15's
I've touched on the grudge between us and 15's before - it feels much healthier between us now but of course we still wanted to put one up on them. I imagine for as long as both teams are competing there will be some rivalry between us, but it's the stories of rivalry that make for the best tales to tell in any competitive sport. Especially one as adversarial as paintball. We came out pretty flat and lost the first point pretty poorly! I was shooting for my mirror and trying to control the bags as I had in training yesterday. The next point we came out and slowed them down after I had shot their teabag player soon into the game, and we won it to tie up 1-1. We switched ends and this time they came at us from the snake side. They were steady in the bags but made it to snake 2 / snake 50 quickly winning two consecutive points to make it 3-1. They had the momentum and we got into the pits and calmly (for a change), called a time-out and made some game plan decisions. Andy was to take A-man's spot in the bags, Harry was shooting a teabag lane from Back Centre and instead of mincing around trying to shoot my mirror I switched up to shoot the cross-field snake lane. Next point we went out - I shot the lane and then ducked into Apple to get more guns on the bag side so we could push it. Me and Andy worked together to push up the bags and after the point Dave shouted that I hit the snake runner with my lane. I was quite chuffed as although I've been pretty good with lanes in training I've never had many confirmed OTB kills in tournaments! We carried on with the same plan to tie it up 3-3 and then in the final point we had just over a minute on the clock. I was in the corner and Andy was up in the bags and I heard Dave shout "20 SECONDS LEFT!!" so I took off down the field causing some chaos - just as everyone else had the same idea, I got eliminated trading with the snake player cross-field and Andy felt a hit from their snake player, hesitating to ask for a check pointing at his head, he hit the buzzer and Liam also followed him up and hit the buzzer not knowing exactly what was going on. It was damn close and the refs had to talk it out but gave us the point in the end.
It could have been anyone's game but we definitely took the momentum back towards the end, everyone's confidence had boosted with the result - it was easy to forget that this was not only A-man's first Elite tournament but also Liam's!
Out of respect for the 15's I must mention that it appeared they were missing a couple of their core players - a post on their facebook confirms that they didn't have two of their snake players "due to holidays and illness". Therefore I look forward to our next match up to see what they can hit us with!
 |
| Peter Bourne - www.fullboreimages.com |
Game 2: DV8
We took the confidence and momentum from our first game straight into the next against DV8. Last time we played these guys back in 2013 they beat us, but we scored a quick 3 points, shooting good lanes on the break and following them up making it 3-0. Backs to the wall however DV8 didn't want to go down, just as we didn't against 15's. They brought back 2 points, winning them very convincingly as well! We called a timeout to take the momentum back off them and took to the field - they then took a time out too before coming out to play the next point with 1:20 on the clock. We aren't typically great at our defensive play so we went out there looking to score another point. We got a G on the break and had 5 alive, we pushed the teabags a little and they tried to push back towards the end however with the body advantage we stayed alive and the time ran out with 5 of us on field and the score 3-2. They did have us worried, however we didn't crumble as we have been known to when things aren't going out way.
Game 3: London Tigers 2
Not really playing this squad before I didn't know what to expect. After learning the field as the day went on and after a long break for us we took to the field and both teams played smart, slow playing it and not giving much away until the end game. The first point we lost was a slow point after we lost Andy off the break. It wound up being a 3v2 with them in Teabag corner and Apple. I was up in the bags halfway up the field and we lost Liam on the snakeside. Harry filled the snake and I was well aware that from where he was he wouldn't be able to stop me from being run down. I let them shoot either side of my bunker and posted whenever I was given an opening. At one point Apple had stopped shooting at me so I tried to snap him out - I thought I had hit him for a moment however he remained in. Turns out I had bounced him in the head! Damn bouncers! I moved up another bag and tried to snap him out again however this time I took one in the face. They closed Harry down and won the 2v1 making it 1-0. Next point we came out and won, another slow game but with a bit more conviction on our side we tied it up 1-1. This next point Tigers 2 pushed the snake pretty hard, Shayne was in Xbox so I just had to trust he would shoot him the moment he did anything, Harry switched off the bags to help Shayne, however this tiny lapse of judgement meant that they attacked the Teabag 50. Whilst Shayne managed to bag their snake player, they made good work of us from the bags and it was only me left in the teabag corner. I shot one of their players moving up the snake side and was trying desperately to make something happen, frantically trying to scrap any kill I could get. I believed I could win the 3v1 but eventually I got shot as you'd expect. This brought it to a 2-1 game and left us with less than a couple minutes on the clock. The game played out and we got a couple G's but again I ended up as the last guy in the corner after crossing up with Harry in Back Centre for a long period of time. I tried to make something happen and mugged their bag player on my side of the field, however it wasn't enough as I got shot cross field. Not enough time had passed for them to score another point however.
Not really playing this squad before I didn't know what to expect. After learning the field as the day went on and after a long break for us we took to the field and both teams played smart, slow playing it and not giving much away until the end game. The first point we lost was a slow point after we lost Andy off the break. It wound up being a 3v2 with them in Teabag corner and Apple. I was up in the bags halfway up the field and we lost Liam on the snakeside. Harry filled the snake and I was well aware that from where he was he wouldn't be able to stop me from being run down. I let them shoot either side of my bunker and posted whenever I was given an opening. At one point Apple had stopped shooting at me so I tried to snap him out - I thought I had hit him for a moment however he remained in. Turns out I had bounced him in the head! Damn bouncers! I moved up another bag and tried to snap him out again however this time I took one in the face. They closed Harry down and won the 2v1 making it 1-0. Next point we came out and won, another slow game but with a bit more conviction on our side we tied it up 1-1. This next point Tigers 2 pushed the snake pretty hard, Shayne was in Xbox so I just had to trust he would shoot him the moment he did anything, Harry switched off the bags to help Shayne, however this tiny lapse of judgement meant that they attacked the Teabag 50. Whilst Shayne managed to bag their snake player, they made good work of us from the bags and it was only me left in the teabag corner. I shot one of their players moving up the snake side and was trying desperately to make something happen, frantically trying to scrap any kill I could get. I believed I could win the 3v1 but eventually I got shot as you'd expect. This brought it to a 2-1 game and left us with less than a couple minutes on the clock. The game played out and we got a couple G's but again I ended up as the last guy in the corner after crossing up with Harry in Back Centre for a long period of time. I tried to make something happen and mugged their bag player on my side of the field, however it wasn't enough as I got shot cross field. Not enough time had passed for them to score another point however.
There were 3 pivotal factors which could have swung a point that I noticed during this game. That bounce during that 2v2 point would have made it a 2v1 in our favor if only it broke. Just after, if my snapshot was on point or a bit quicker and I didn't get shot when I did, Harry could have got some more real estate and we could have pinched them out. In the later point we lost, Harry staying on his teabag lane could have bought us more time to push that snake side by containing their bag player. Fortunately, other than the paint being a little bouncy, these are things we can work on to make the difference next time. I am going to work more on my snap shooting and I'm sure it will be a long time before Harry switches off his job again.
Game 4: Tigers 1
I don't have much to say about this game, I got shot off the break shooting for their delay/ghosters in the first point and they went on to beat us out of 3 consecutive points. Some were closer than others. We did pull back a point though where me and one of the guys closed down their corner. I brought my snapshooting game back to hit him in the bottle to win the point, but they came back to close out 4-1 win in the next point.
At the end of the last point I heard, not just from Andy, but from the spectators that one of them had laced Andy up the side as he left the field with his barrel sock on, those that I spoke to who knew Andy's temperament expected him to kick off - but he kept it together which I'm proud of. I didn't see the incident so I can't comment but if it was how it was described, I'm glad Andy was the bigger man - even if he was tamping in the pits after.
That point we won against Tigers 1 was enough to push us just in front of London Samurai MV (AKA: Paris Camp Carnage - Samurai couldn't make the event due to a wedding so got them to fill in!) and give us 5th place overall! This was our best ever result in the Elite division and so I am pretty stoked about it! The best part is that we know what to work on for next time too. The games were close and the Elite division is cutthroat. Each point matters - if we lost another point then we would have placed 6th again. If we won another point against Tigers 2 we might have managed to qualify for the 3rd/4th playoffs. We have been a hairs breadth from beating Disruption in the past so it's a shame we didn't get a chance to try. But that's the Elite division for you - tight!!
There's a chance I may be playing Campaign with the Firm, in which case I will be making every effort to switch a shift at work so I can train with them on Saturday coming at CPPS - which will also be the day of the Ladies cup where the "Entity Wags" Kayleigh, Gabby and Chloe will be waving our banner!
This weekend however the team shot 14 cases in training and 22 cases during the tournament. As I played every point and shot my fair share of paint I must have gotten through 7 cases, or 14,000 balls. Bringing my total to 121,500! Heading quickly towards that next milestone of 200,000! However only 2 CPPS remain and 2, maybe 3 major tournaments lie ahead.. We shall see!!
No comments:
Post a Comment