Coming into the Tampa Bay Open, the expectations were extremely high for Impact. Especially having been placed in a bracket alongside Aftershock, a team that reentered the pro division just last season, Seattle Uprising who although hardened by tough competition last season has yet to win a title, the novice team in Leverage, and a rebuilding Infamous squad. Some analysts predicted that Friday would be an easy day for Impact. But it was not.
Impact won two matches by only a onepoint margin, one going into overtime. If nothing else, the prelims proved just how much parody there is in this division. In the semifinals, Impact did take a critical victory over ac: Diesel. But their roll would be thwarted in the end, and they did not make finals, leaving some to question if they will face the same challenge that ac: Diesel’ s assembled super-squad faced
in finding rhythm and the chemistry needed to win in the pro division.
Perhaps the team most affected by the Impact moves was the one that has come to expect it: San Diego Dynasty. It has become almost cyclical for this organization, as Dynasty nurtures the growth of players only to see their fruit plucked by other teams for large pay days. Amidst yet another rebuild, Dynasty did show some discomfort as they broke in their new lineup. They played a lot of tempo paintball, clearly looking to find their groove. With a new roster and a new coach in Mike Bianca, they no doubt found their pace by the weekends’ end. Veterans played scrappy, exemplified by the consecutive rundowns by Blake Yarbor in the match against Houston Heat. After that match, it appeared that Dynasty was running on all cylinders once again.
Photo By John McGloughlin
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