The Pro Division
Coming into the 2024 NXL European season everyone who is anyone would have picked the Toulouse TonTons to be the favorite at every event of the season — and to easily win the season rankings title . The TonTons are Europe ’ s longest running Pro squad easily , and all they seem to do is win just about every event they enter , including two of last year ’ s three events and the season rankings title . But things in paintball can be surprising at times .
In fact , Scalp , another French team and winners of the 2023 Semipro division , were elevated to Pro status this year and shockingly won the first two events of the 2024 season . Not only did they breeze past fellow countrymen the TonTons , they jumped ahead of Paris Camp Carnage , another historic paintball team from France . So here we are in Dreux for the third and final event of the season . Could Scalp be the first team in history to win every event of the season in the Pro NXL Europe division ? It ’ s almost unthinkable …
The Games
The Pro Xball division got off to a fast and somewhat surprising start on Friday with Ronholt Dynamite dismantling Shock 8-3 . But although Shock was coached by Todd Martinez and Todd Adamson , this wasn ’ t “ Aftershock ,” but more like “ Shock Lite .” And with that the Pro division was off and running …
As always , twenty teams from all over
Europe entered the Pro division of this event , with ten teams advancing out of the preliminary rounds and into a playoffs of sorts . In the preliminary rounds Scalp , PPArena Pilsen and Ronholt Dynamite each won their four games . ALA Warsaw , Breakout Spa , Toulouse TonTons , Joy Division and Lucky 15s Staffordshire each won three of their preliminary round games .
The Pro ocho rounds saw Lucky 15s Staffordshire knock off Gladiatori Unicusano 6-3 and Breakout Spa send home FiveStar .
The Pro quarterfinals is where it really gets tough . By this time , the field is narrowed down from twenty teams to the top eight remaining . In a really tough draw , Scalp faced Breakout Spa in the quarterfinals … the best new Pro team versus one of the best longtime European franchises . The game lived up to its billing with Scalp keeping their streak alive in a a 3-2 win . I probably should mention at this time that Scalp ’ s very strong roster got a nice upgrade as they took on Alexander Berdnikov , one of the best players in the world and member of the Legion ( formerly the Russian Red Legion ).
The Toulouse TonTons faced another historic program in Joy Division in the quarterfinals . The TonTons made quick work of Joy Division , winning an 8-5 game . In the other two quarterfinal games it was Ronholt Dynamite handling ALA Warsaw 7 to 3 and Lucky 15s Staffordshire over PPArena Pilsen 8 to 3 . www . paintball . media 037