For the Mid-Atlantic, the surprise performance without a doubt came from the Royal City Seadogs. In the semis, they knocked Damage out of the competition with a staggering 5-2 win, and then followed that up to take silver over Legion with a statement 7-2 win. Though both Damage and Legion earned enough points to hold on to their spots in the season rankings, the Seadogs definitely had their number in Dover. Watch these guys in the 3v3 to come.
Amateur 3v3- D3
Inviting chaos. Quick turnaround and the ease of entry make this division accessible to just about anyone. While this makes for a great point of entry for people new in the sport, it also creates potential for the outcome we saw at Dover, where three local kids threw together a squad they called“ The Shitters”, took home a gold medal, and ended up tied for third place on the season leaderboard with their counterparts cut from the same in Tampa- Asian Assassins. First place in this division overall is currently held by the team that placed second at Tampa and fifth at Mid-Atlantic- Ellen Degenerates.
Intermediate 3v3- D4
A team more than a decade in the making came back from a four-year reprieve to bully the field in the Intermediate 3v3. Ralph Keating resurrected the ThunderCats, a team he has had in his back pocket since 2014, and was joined by Justin Durrette and Joey Roe for their appearance at the Mid- Atlantic Open. After only three Eastern Paintball League appearances to prepare themselves, the ThunderCats took the division by storm and took home a gold medal.
The finals in this division were a showdown of Virginia kids. The aforementioned ThunderCats hailing from Chesapeake Sports Park, second place went to Moisture Missiles out of Cousin’ s Skyline in Strasburg, and the third place Virginia Irregulars representing Fox Brothers Paintball in Virginia Beach. That said, it is relevant to note that a team of old-school ballers is not only sticking around to train a new generation, but they are still proving they can ball. This is evidence of a healthy, wellestablished Virginia scene that may be fertile ground for the development of the next great generation of ballers.
Novice 3v3 D-5
Coming up behind the established Virginia club was the group in the Novice division that was dominated by the tri-state. NJ Crash took first place, representing the Central New Jersey scene out of Long Live Paintball. Both the second and fourth place teams, Disciples Blackout and Top Chef Killers were birthed out of Paintball Asylum. And the bronze went home with Tropa 3 out of the Quickshot system in South Jersey.
Look for these two worlds to collide in time.
5-Man
Turnout for the 5-man competition was where it was at in Dover, with 41 teams entering into the competition over three divisions. And an interesting insight carried over from the results of the World Cup, 5-man remained the division for success of the international teams. Perhaps this speaks to the focus shift of players once they reach the top of the 5-man competition level- Division 3- but whatever the reason, it was the Brazilians, Papeletto, who dominated the highest level for the race-to’ s and took home the gold.
Following behind them was NMI, the Miami squad that runs under the flag of Madagascar- keeping with the international theme in their own way- who took home the silver. And the West Coast of Florida was represented by Takeover, with the support of the Blanco sisters Gerkary and her youngest sister the 14 year-old Anderlin, who would top the local High Rollers for a bronze.
The High Rollers also made a good showing in D4 5-Man, but ultimately took a hard, early morning loss to the Intent on Sunday. Intent would go on to take home the gold medal with Carolina Warriors out of Twisted Paintball in Darlington, South Carolina taking home a silver.
The young Ragtags out of Central Pennsylvania stunned the field and took home gold in D5.
Classic
The mechanical division was played in a race-to format and drew teams who traditionally competed in ICPL. In both the 5-Man and the 7-Man divisions, Team Smoke, Image, and Docs Raiders survived to the finals playoff.
In the 7-man, they were joined by Spread Eagle Tavern who surprised everyone with a third place finish. Smoke would top Image in that matchup to take the top of the podium.
In the 5-man, it was Image who walked away with the gold..
PbM