Photo by John Amodea
The National Xball League took its traveling roadshow to Philly for the league ’ s second Major event , and third overall event of the season . For those not familiar the NXL introduced a new wrinkle in 2021 with two Amateur Open events ( Texas and Sacramento ) and four Major events ( Florida , Philly , Chicago and World Cup ) on the schedule . Edmonton Impact won the Professional Division of the Sunshine State Major , the first pro / am of the season . Cartel Kidz took first place in Division Two , the highest level of play at the opening Amateur Open event in Texas .
Leading up to the Philly event there was much talk about the playing surface in the various online paintball hotspots . Photos that showed the less than ideal playing fields circulated and the league , and specifically its President Tom Cole took a lot of heat — some warranted and a lot of piling on . I ’ m not going to spend a lot of time on this but the bottom line on this , in my opinion is the NXL is the premiere paintball league in the world and players should expect better . League President Tom Cole said as much in his official statement on Tuesday before the event saying in part , “ To say that the current 2021 NXL Mid-Atlantic Major venue conditions are not ideal would be a huge understatement , as this is not the product that I or the NXL wants to put out .” That said , the fields were not “ dangerous ” as many online implied . The fields were flat , dusty and there was little grass but they were completely safe and playable .
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