



All the teams got 8 prelim games. 6 on Saturday and two more Sunday morning. The prelims were a bloodbath with few teams dominating and several upsets. One of the biggest upsets had to be when Fight Club 3's final player took out several unsuspecting All Americans to win a 3 on 1. Games were played on both fields, one at a time, so one set of refs could be used for all the games. Tie games were rare in the prelims but some dedicated teams were able to lock it down and defend against attacking teams. There was no shortage of fun moments, but one of the best parts went to Pat from the Milkman's Kids shooting his own player running back the flag to steal the flag and the glory in the final games of the prelims against the Mech Rangers. Some of the best games were between friends and the Shock vs Gunfighter game on the Zipper field had both teams going at each other as hard as they could. Feelings were hurt, players left bruised and by the end there was a gun sticking barrel down in the mud as the Gunfighters ran the flag back victorious.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



As games started to play out, it was obvious that the Snake and Zippers fields could be won from both sides and locked down temporarily if needed. There was no easy way to victory and no one way to win. It's amazing that with all the progression in paintball markers, loaders and playing styles, these fields have stood the test of time. There's no one special trick to winning them and no foolproof way to fend off a determined attack. This is a testament to Renick's ability to build playable, fun fields that still play well. This is something we shouldn't take for granted in paintball.



Infamous set the tone early and breezed through the prelims without losing a game. They went down early in their game against Farside but came back to win it convincingly. Thomas Taylor was breaking the snake alive and Nate Schroeder was even making it look easy and jumping over the large center roller to take the center 50 wall off the break. They weren't losing many bodies in the close and they overall looked sharp and hard to beat. Infamous would play their 10-man games and then move over to the airball field and practiced the Texas NXL layout.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



Shock lost some early games and risked having a short event, but then rallied to make the cut. Gunfighters dropped to Farside on the Zipper field and Infamous on the Snake field but also easily made it in. Farside came out of the prelims in second place dropping only to Infamous on the Snake field. Infamous, Farside, Gunfighters, Shock, All Americans, Louisville Asylum, The Family, and Milkmen's Kids all advanced to the semifinals.



The low point of the event came in the first game of the semi-finals. Infamous faced off against Shock and clearly dominated them. One of Shock's players tried to save the game by executing a clearly illegal dead man's walk. Infamous immediately retaliated with vigilante justice before the refs could sort it out and Thomas Taylor ran down the Shock player for a good 30 or 40 feet shooting him and then continued to shoot him point blank even though the game was clearly done and the player was clearly not shooting or playing. Another Infamous player then appeared to shoot into the crowd of players, refs and spectators that were running onto the field in response. At least two players for Shock retaliated and were ready to fight, but the refs broke it up after a brief scuffle. Punches were thrown but I didn't see anyone hurt. It was almost a bench-clearing brawl, but players and refs stepped in and it settled down fairly quickly.



After much deliberation between the promoter and the referees on the field, both teams were allowed to continue playing in the tournament. Thomas Taylor was ejected for malicious conduct with his marker, two Shock players were ejected for trying to start a physical altercation, and each team received a negative 100 points. The second Infamous player shooting into the melee was not penalized, I can only assume because the refs were too focused on Thomas Taylor and simply didn't see it.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



Infamous still received their full points from winning the match but it was wiped out by the penalty. However, they were very much still in the tournament because they were allowed to keep all their points from winning the match before the penalty was deducted. Shock started it by not knowing rules and trying to pull an illegal move that would have been controversial at best had it not been expressly outlawed, but Infamous escalated it. Neither team was blameless and both teams should have known better and conducted themselves more professionally.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



No one team ran up the points in the semi-finals. It got harder to close games as teams were more willing to accept a tie rather than risk bodies trying to win and potentially lose. Any team could have a single bad game and still make the cut. Infamous never lost a game, or even their flag, but the penalty combined with a stalemate against The Family sent them home. Gunfighters looked strong but their final game ended in a no-hang. Mike "Turtle" Mrok of Image/Trauma won a one on one to pull and hang the flag, but a hit was found on him and no hang was rewarded. That put them on the bubble of making the final 2.



Farside faced Louisville Asylum for the final game of the semi-finals. Farside was already locked into the finals but a max by Asylum would mean Louisville would join them. Farside could have thrown the match and knocked out the Gunfighters, but instead they held off Asylum long enough to prevent a hang and would advance without Asylum to the finals.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



The field was narrowed from 8 teams to 2 after each semi-final team played 3 games. Only Farside maxed two of their three games to make it into the finals. Gunfighters came in second and the two would face off in a winner take all finals. The finals would be 3 games with cumulative points. This would ensure teams didn't sit like in Atlanta hoping to win on just bodies. Points were rewarded and not taking advantage of a lead and closing a game could come back to haunt you.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing



The first game was all sorts of brutally one-sided. Farside shot their own snake fill player off the break and then the player who went to fill fell and was blasted apart. Farside's lone snake player was shot early leaving the whole side open. Gunfighters player Mike Kerr took advantage and crawled to Farside's side uncontested and peeled off 5 unsuspecting Farside players before being taken out. The game was over in minutes with the Gunfighters taking a max with high bodies.



The second game again went the Gunfighter's way at first. Farside's snake player got shot while tucked in and the sidelines erupted but no penalty was called. Farside continued to lose players at an alarming rate until only 3 remained aginst 7 Gunfighters. Farside was all trapped on one side of the field and the Gunfighters had complete dominance on the far 50-yard line, in the middle and were all the way at Farside's end of the snake. They had the event all but locked up. Farside chewed up a couple Gunfighter players coming through as well as the diamond but were still way down. Farside retreated to the center and managed to shoot out the Snake before the refs went to town on most the remaining Gunfighter players for a massive penalty for communicating from the sidelines. Farside put together that only two players remained after the carnage and methodically bunkered out the center, spread the field and closed out the match forcing a third game.





Photos by Aaron Fraher of Midwest Clothing The deer slayers, Aaron Fraher and John Frank of Midwest Clothing, were on hand as vendors and Aaron was also taking photographs. Dave Mullis of 1st Phorm was also shooting photos.All the teams got 8 prelim games. 6 on Saturday and two more Sunday morning. The prelims were a bloodbath with few teams dominating and several upsets. One of the biggest upsets had to be when Fight Club 3's final player took out several unsuspecting All Americans to win a 3 on 1. Games were played on both fields, one at a time, so one set of refs could be used for all the games. Tie games were rare in the prelims but some dedicated teams were able to lock it down and defend against attacking teams. There was no shortage of fun moments, but one of the best parts went to Pat from the Milkman's Kids shooting his own player running back the flag to steal the flag and the glory in the final games of the prelims against the Mech Rangers. Some of the best games were between friends and the Shock vs Gunfighter game on the Zipper field had both teams going at each other as hard as they could. Feelings were hurt, players left bruised and by the end there was a gun sticking barrel down in the mud as the Gunfighters ran the flag back victorious.As games started to play out, it was obvious that the Snake and Zippers fields could be won from both sides and locked down temporarily if needed. There was no easy way to victory and no one way to win. It's amazing that with all the progression in paintball markers, loaders and playing styles, these fields have stood the test of time. There's no one special trick to winning them and no foolproof way to fend off a determined attack. This is a testament to Renick's ability to build playable, fun fields that still play well. This is something we shouldn't take for granted in paintball.Infamous set the tone early and breezed through the prelims without losing a game. They went down early in their game against Farside but came back to win it convincingly. Thomas Taylor was breaking the snake alive and Nate Schroeder was even making it look easy and jumping over the large center roller to take the center 50 wall off the break. They weren't losing many bodies in the close and they overall looked sharp and hard to beat. Infamous would play their 10-man games and then move over to the airball field and practiced the Texas NXL layout.Shock lost some early games and risked having a short event, but then rallied to make the cut. Gunfighters dropped to Farside on the Zipper field and Infamous on the Snake field but also easily made it in. Farside came out of the prelims in second place dropping only to Infamous on the Snake field. Infamous, Farside, Gunfighters, Shock, All Americans, Louisville Asylum, The Family, and Milkmen's Kids all advanced to the semifinals.The low point of the event came in the first game of the semi-finals. Infamous faced off against Shock and clearly dominated them. One of Shock's players tried to save the game by executing a clearly illegal dead man's walk. Infamous immediately retaliated with vigilante justice before the refs could sort it out and Thomas Taylor ran down the Shock player for a good 30 or 40 feet shooting him and then continued to shoot him point blank even though the game was clearly done and the player was clearly not shooting or playing. Another Infamous player then appeared to shoot into the crowd of players, refs and spectators that were running onto the field in response. At least two players for Shock retaliated and were ready to fight, but the refs broke it up after a brief scuffle. Punches were thrown but I didn't see anyone hurt. It was almost a bench-clearing brawl, but players and refs stepped in and it settled down fairly quickly.After much deliberation between the promoter and the referees on the field, both teams were allowed to continue playing in the tournament. Thomas Taylor was ejected for malicious conduct with his marker, two Shock players were ejected for trying to start a physical altercation, and each team received a negative 100 points. The second Infamous player shooting into the melee was not penalized, I can only assume because the refs were too focused on Thomas Taylor and simply didn't see it.Infamous still received their full points from winning the match but it was wiped out by the penalty. However, they were very much still in the tournament because they were allowed to keep all their points from winning the match before the penalty was deducted. Shock started it by not knowing rules and trying to pull an illegal move that would have been controversial at best had it not been expressly outlawed, but Infamous escalated it. Neither team was blameless and both teams should have known better and conducted themselves more professionally.No one team ran up the points in the semi-finals. It got harder to close games as teams were more willing to accept a tie rather than risk bodies trying to win and potentially lose. Any team could have a single bad game and still make the cut. Infamous never lost a game, or even their flag, but the penalty combined with a stalemate against The Family sent them home. Gunfighters looked strong but their final game ended in a no-hang. Mike "Turtle" Mrok of Image/Trauma won a one on one to pull and hang the flag, but a hit was found on him and no hang was rewarded. That put them on the bubble of making the final 2.Farside faced Louisville Asylum for the final game of the semi-finals. Farside was already locked into the finals but a max by Asylum would mean Louisville would join them. Farside could have thrown the match and knocked out the Gunfighters, but instead they held off Asylum long enough to prevent a hang and would advance without Asylum to the finals.The field was narrowed from 8 teams to 2 after each semi-final team played 3 games. Only Farside maxed two of their three games to make it into the finals. Gunfighters came in second and the two would face off in a winner take all finals. The finals would be 3 games with cumulative points. This would ensure teams didn't sit like in Atlanta hoping to win on just bodies. Points were rewarded and not taking advantage of a lead and closing a game could come back to haunt you.The first game was all sorts of brutally one-sided. Farside shot their own snake fill player off the break and then the player who went to fill fell and was blasted apart. Farside's lone snake player was shot early leaving the whole side open. Gunfighters player Mike Kerr took advantage and crawled to Farside's side uncontested and peeled off 5 unsuspecting Farside players before being taken out. The game was over in minutes with the Gunfighters taking a max with high bodies.The second game again went the Gunfighter's way at first. Farside's snake player got shot while tucked in and the sidelines erupted but no penalty was called. Farside continued to lose players at an alarming rate until only 3 remained aginst 7 Gunfighters. Farside was all trapped on one side of the field and the Gunfighters had complete dominance on the far 50-yard line, in the middle and were all the way at Farside's end of the snake. They had the event all but locked up. Farside chewed up a couple Gunfighter players coming through as well as the diamond but were still way down. Farside retreated to the center and managed to shoot out the Snake before the refs went to town on most the remaining Gunfighter players for a massive penalty for communicating from the sidelines. Farside put together that only two players remained after the carnage and methodically bunkered out the center, spread the field and closed out the match forcing a third game.

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