Thursday:
I had to get half the day off work so that I could head up to site on time for training at 6:45pm. I picked up my wingman Kelvin from Worle station, we stocked up on supplies and I finally packed my shit.. (there's no such thing as too late to pack) and we got there with just over an hour spare. As I got there I found my teammates from Manchester Firm and they politely informed me that training was actually an hour earlier than I was previously told! Turns out I'm pretty good at getting my shit together and we took to the SPL2 field to train against Low Life Uddevalla (the team that knocked Entity out on Sunday last year at Campaign ironically) alongside a couple Lucky 15's players and the GB team. We rotated about 4 different lines against them and I mostly played the teabag corner and the teabag 1. What I learned in the corner this time round was that it was damn tight when the snake 1 and your mirror was in. It wasn't the best training session as we only got a few points in as a full team and even then we were missing Clarkey and Bishop who were arriving tomorrow, but at least it got us aware of the field. I was also relaying the calls a bit better than I was last weekend at least.
As I'm poor I decided camping would make the most sense to try and keep on top of my outgoings. Me and Kelv set up the tent before going out to get our healthy eat on (chinese takeaway). We were pitched near my pals on Collateral Damage and also the London Tigers 3 team, we socialised and hit the hay pretty early. Sleeping on air beds with slow leaks is a pain in the arse. It's all fun and games until someone slightly moves, then you might as well hit the reset button on your sleep.
Friday:
Our games were late in the day, at around half 1 and half 3. I had time to kill in the morning and I bumped into Ash and Gran from Nexus who asked if I could help out in the pits in their first game of the tournament against Tigers. Yorkie was running a tight ship in the pits, which was lucky as there was a pot shortage after we had potted up loads of the BRITTLE Evil paint which was just smashing up in their guns and we had to run to the truck to get the slightly harder batch. The game ended 5-3 in Tigers' favor and you could tell it hurt the guys on Nexus. The other two teams in their group were Outrage who have been on top form this year and Polar Bears who are a strong team before you even inject Greenspan and Lang into the equation, unfortunately they didn't win any of their games and remain in the relegation zone. Whilst it's refreshing to see a team pushing Nexus off the mantle of being the best team in the UK, it would be a shame to see another UK team knocked out of the CPL.
At 10:30 the registration for the last remaining places of the 1v1 tournament was opening, so I lined up to pick my number. I was shocked to see I was already signed up! But then I found that it was a guy, also called Luke Williams, from Madtoxic. Anyway I paid my £25 - this shit's getting expensive - and I was up against Romain Moreau of team GK Paris, a new team in the CPL. I seem to only draw CPL players in these fucking things! But I suppose that if I want a chance of winning then I gotta beat the best of them and this guy I hadn't really heard of so it wasn't the worst draw I could ask for.
1v1 tournament round 1:
So Me Wozza and Barlow are all signed up from the Firm and it started at 12pm so we got a box potted up and filled our packs. Everyone I was speaking to who hadn't really done it before were saying how nervous they were and how stupid it was that they were nervous. I know exactly why: whatever happens out there, it's on YOU. You can't blame your teammates for not doing their job or the game plan for not working out, this is you out there on the line proving you're better than someone else. Plus there was an audience as it was lunchtime.
So I went to my start gate and got ready, my gun was switched on, the loader was on, I fired a shot into the ground and everything, 10 Seconds. Beep. Beep. Beep. I'm ready I know where I'm placing my lane and I'm just gonna shoot loads of paint and then work from there. BOOOOOP. game on, I bring my gun up hella fast and shoot 1, 2, 3 balls and then nothing.. the gun isn't firing, I duck behind the back centre and hold in the trigger to turn the eyes off, the gun shoots but no paint, "ORANGE" I hear from the sideline. I hit the hopper switch, put my gun up, pull the trigger, bang bang bang, no paint, I duck behind cover again, "TEABAG OOOOONEEE!!!!" hit the side of the hopper 3 times, 'Fucking 1v1 tournaments' I think to myself, I hit the hopper switch back to how it was originally "TEABAG TWOOOOO!!!" I pull the trigger, PAINT! I pull my gun up to shoot 3 balls at teabag 2, I don't even see the guy but I just hear "Ooooooh!" from the sidelines and then "OUUUUUT!" From the ref's next to him.
I was fucking lucky to be honest, there was no skill, (well okay a bit of skill) involved, just luck of the game. I seem to play better with malfunctioning equipment: Read Rome 3rd-4th placement game vs Black Legion
Barlow got through and Wozza was sweating it out as he didn't wanna be the only guy on the Firm not to get through.. but fortunately he did! His 1v1 is one of the few to get webcast, I'm really upset mine wasn't up there as it must have been quite funny to watch.
13:10 Manchester Firm vs Vienna United
As I had attended the previous training sessions I was put on the starting 5 for this game which I was pretty happy about. In the first game I went out to the teabag-side corner however the hopper was doing the same shit it was in the 1v1. I told Karl about it but luckily we had shot some guys on the break and I just survived in the bunker soaking up a gun until we won.
1-0.
Next point I got to the corner, I swapped the hopper in the pits, my mirror was in and shooting down the wire - maybe I didn't have to dive but I was in the habit of it and he seemed to run straight in, so I was tucked in from him and decided to look to see if the snake was in. He was and he shot me. We still won the point.
2-0.
In the 3rd point I ran out and got shot by Apple off the break, the small cake cross-field. They won the point. I told the team after this point I can't run the can if they put someone in Apple.
3-1.
In the next point I broke short to teabag 1, we shot people on the break and it ended up being a 3-2, someone called G4 and I knew there was someone either the door or the snake corner, so I was a bit shocked to get shot out of my bunker by the snake 2! Karl also made a move from teabag 2 (he moved past me from the corner) and got shot by the guy he didn't realise was still in and it became a 2-1 that Barlow didn't pull out from the snake 1.
3-2.
The last point we won quite convincingly to wrap it up 4-2.
15:20 Manchester Firm vs Ipnoz Paris
You know, I can't recall much of this game. Truth be told, after the first game I used my notepad to record what happened, but got distracted and forgot about it for the rest of the tournament! I think I'm going to keep using my pad for notes, not only will it be good for keeping the blog accurate but it's a useful tool for reflection.
What I do know is that I played a couple points in the bags, I specifically remember one point I got to bag 1, came out to shoot my mirror and took a face full of paint where he beat me to it. I'm going to work on getting into my bunker and then up on my feet quicker when I get the opportunity.
I also played a point in the diesel (tall temple in the middle snake side) and between me and Wozza we had shot their snake player off the break and 2 more players trying to get the width back, before cleaning up and scoring the point. However I had an old hit in my hair which I thought I had cleaned up but evidently not well enough. Fortunately we had 4 guys on the field so we still got the point! This was one of the few times I've played a central tower attempting to lock someone out and I did enjoy it to be fair. It feels good to add more strings to the bow to become a more diverse player instead of just a teabag attacker.
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10:50 Manchester Firm vs Dagnir Dae 2
As we had won our two Friday games and the division isn't full, we were pretty much guaranteed a place in the Sunday club. Therefore this game was more about trying stuff out than pushing the win. I sat the first point which the team won. The second point I was sent to the Diesel to lock out the snake side. They made the snake on the break and so I simply stood there and dumped my hopper and 2 pods around the knuckle to contain him, I wasn't going to stop shooting as all it would take is one gap for him to put me in or shoot me out. A ref ran up to me shouting out with the 1-for-1 signal, turns out one of the guys got a 3-for-1 behind me. In the next point I was sent to the teabag corner where I must have either got shot on the break or by the snake 1 very soon into the game, as I had a hit on my pack I wasn't aware of. I was called out and a 1-for-1 was pulled. The penalties at the millenniums are harsh but at least I suppose it's consistent!
I was sat for the rest of the game which is fair enough. Penalties kill teams. Plus I seemed to be dying quite quick in the games whereas Bish plays a slower more controlled game than I do.
1v1 Tournament
Saturday's 1v1 games made it onto the webcast. You can see them here. Times below
Round 2: 6:45
Next up I was against Andreas Persson from Stockholm Ignition. You can watch the game here: At the start of the game I was just shooting over the back centre and he ran through my lane to get to the small M on the teabag side.. I thought I had got the shot on him a couple of times but he started to move up the Bags so I started moving snake side. As I pass the 50 I narrowly dodged a ball as I hit the deck, then I noticed he wasn't shooting anymore so must be making a break for the buzzer, so I bolted for it and only just beat him there! The commentators
1v1 Tournament Round 3: 32:44
My next (and final) game was against Kyle Spicka of Dynasty. We broke out and minced around the back centre shooting back at eachother for a few seconds, I was convinced some of my paint was on point and should have caught him but evidently not as he didn't check for a bounce at any time. I moved out towards the bag side and for some reason I went to the corner with the intention of moving down the bags, however thinking proactively, Spicka took some ground in the center of the field on the snake side and pressured me into the bunker. I couldn't move now whereas Spicka had the real estate. I was just having to try and gunfight with him for as long as possible. I was snapping trying to gain dominance, but as you can see in the video, Kyle was just relentlessly dominant and keeping me in. He was down to his last pod, but I didn't know that, he stopped shooting out of one side so I figured that he had switched hands to come the other side, so I took a bite and ran out to the teabags.. If I had stopped at the first one then maybe I would have had a chance of surviving however I thought I had eluded him so carried on moving - turns out he was just posting his gun on the gap and shot me between bag 1 and 2. I finished in the last 16 so I'm pretty happy with that! Much better than #lukeoutfirst anyway!!
Sunday:
Lucky 15's
Sunday morning and as we had placed first in our bracket, we were to play a wildcard, which just so happened to be Lucky 15's. We were in this same position in Puget, however against Redball Paris. Unfortunately we lost that game and were knocked out of the tournament. Unfortunately that happened again.
I was sat, I guess because I wasn't playing my best paintball yesterday and they had more faith in the 5 core guys - which is fair enough. After a couple back and forth points, Karl said they needed more aggression on the bag side. Being an aggressive bag-side player, compared to Bishop who rolls his gun and is controlling but not necessarily so aggressive, I was hoping they would swap Bishop out for me, however they didn't and so I sat the entire game. In the first point Wozza took a shot to the hand which he received a major penalty (3-for-1) however just as the ref went to pull Karl, the last player alive, he had just shot the last remaining Lucky 15's player, making it a no point. After some back and forths, it was 3-2 to the Firm and there was just under a minute on the clock. With some decisive play the 15's tied it up with just a second or two to spare. They went into the overtime point and the Firm got a G off the break, however soon after threw a couple bodies away, bringing it to a 2v2 with Karl and Barlow left on the teabag side, James Ough in the bags for 15's and another player (sorry, I forget these things) left towards the snake side. Barlow tried to make a move on James, however James had came out just in time to shoot him without being hit himself, making it a 2v1 against Karl which unfortunately he couldn't pull back. It was 4-3 and we were done.
The 15's were very humble in their win and almost apologetic that they had knocked us out. They would go on to get knocked out in the next round unfortunately, placing the highest in the division out of the brit teams (Tigers 2, DV8 & Nexus 2 behind us). The Firm guys were very disappointed in themselves and I couldn't help but feel for them. I felt a lot more like part of the team this tournament compared to the first time in Puget, however I suppose this time I can avoid any pangs of guilt as I didn't have any responsibility for the game the team lost. Would I have made a difference? Who knows? If I was playing as I was on Friday then probably not. But my aggressive teabag play could have paid off if I did it well.
I watched some pro games with Dave for a while who had come up on Saturday with Kayleigh & Parkey who had left on Saturday night. Watching games can be a bit dull sometimes, however gambling £1 on the winner of the game but also betting on each point does make it a bit more interesting!!
Shot count is TBC as I am waiting to hear how much paint we shot.
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