They are pulled by unseen forces, and, like living things, are moved by the intense power of real life needs: emotion, money, time, the whims of industry, the ups and downs of the economy.

Just as vast seas and oceans are pushed and pulled by the sun and the moon, a paintball team too is a pliable thing and it’s easy to think that a team’s fate in the sport is decided by elements outside its control, a seemly powerful thing caught in the gravity of greater forces.

So much talk, so many words in our world are devoted to these forces, as they are important and do matter. The sport is so gear dependent and so filled with intricacies that it is easy to get lost in the details.

But let’s not get it twisted; this is still about the on-field battle. Despite all the prep and planning that goes into a pro team, all the behind the scene wrangling, on the field is where fate is decided When the horn blows, the guns start rolling, none of complex details matter, the stage is set and the war is on. It is just a battle, a physical application of will power.

Our season has begun.  We are heading into the second event. The Philly Americans looked solid in the first tournament, beating a strong Ironmen squad, avenging their loss in of the 2008 world cup. A big reason they won that event is because many of there players are developing into consistent weapons, and in particular the combo of Ryan Moorhead and Konstantin Fedorov on the Dorito side is going to be hard to beat now that K-Fed is finally looking like the super star player the Americans hoped to pick up last year. It has taken him a while to find his form, because knowing your roll is such an important part of the game. In the beginning Federov didn’t know his roll and he died allot, lost in his head trying to find it. It also took him a bit to get used to an american system of practice and training, after coming up in the Russian system of training, which is more about drills and stats and less about the overall game. His roll on the Russian Legion, the team that made him a star, wasn’t the same as it is on Philly; on the legion it was more tip of the spear as opposed to the edge of the sword. He is now the supporting layer on the dorito side, playing behind Moorhead, and he was able to fill that roll aggressively and help his team win the event.

On the snake side of the field, the young Chad George is still getting better which, honestly, is scary, and Pat Roberts is also playing solid and aggressive. With these players backed up and accompanied by Tim Montressor, they’re assembling a tough squad to beat, especially when you take into consideration mid-insert Jason Edwards, who has found a home and an on field vibe. He is easily one of the most underrated players in the game and if he keeps up his training regimen and on field performance, he is going to be one of the best. He reminds me a lot of Yosh Rau: monster gunfighter, super consistent, great clutch ability.

The Ironmen could easily win this next event. They need Brandon Short to handle the snake side of the field, and to keep his composure, which was the only suspect element of his game in Phoenix. Everyone who’s been following the game for a while knows B-Short is amazing when he’s on. Nicky Cuba is in the best shape of his life, but need to make the speed work for him when situation merits it, not try to take big bites of the field and die diving into spots. He’s scary when he can implement his athleticism with his clutch ability, which has won tournaments for the Ironmen. Mikko Huttunen is shooting more people of the break than pretty much anyone in the league and needs to keep that gun rolling hard so his team has the continual one body advantage. Billy Wing played some wicked points to keep his team in the final games and heading into 13th season with the Ironmen shows no sign of slowing down on the field. Ollie Lang continues to play ridiculous points, and on a regular basis pulls off moves that make people understand why he is still widely considered the best playing in the world. Mike Paxson and Scotty Kemp have been solid coming out of the pit. They didn’t play as many points as the other 6 players, but they didn’t exactly warm the bench, and they contributed when they did get on the field. The Ironmen have one of the deepest rosters in the league, and it shows when they play.

Dynasty is also poised to win an event very soon. They won two last year, and look as good as they did then, maybe even better because the team solely consists of salty veterans. Davey Williamson and Todd Martinez are playing extremely well. They have two of the most experienced and explosive snake players on the planet in Alex Fraige and Angel Fragoza, and when they are on the team is simply unstoppable, especially since the emergence of the killer inside Justin Swartz, who has been one of the team most productive players. He plays mostly on the dorito side and is very good at capitalizing on the chaos Dynasty creates with their aggression, and can create his own if the need arises. The team picked up Johnny Perchak in the off season and it couldn’t be a better fit, he was on Dynasty for years, winning tournament after tournament, until his brief retirement two years ago.  They also have one of the smartest coaches in the league in Kevin Bredthauer, who know the team well because he help start the team years ago. Also, to make matters worse for their opponents you also have to take into consideration Yosh Rau and Ryan Greenspan. Yosh, like Mikko from the Ironmen, Jason Edwards of Philly, and Mike Carthy of Tampa Damage, is one of the more silent killers on the field. He actually has a loud on field voice for communication, but he doesn’t talk about himself much. He is probably, like Nicky Cuba, one of the most clutch players in the game, and wins lots of close points for Dynasty. Ryan Greenspan is, hands down, one of top five players in the world on his good days. On his really good days he’s the best. After Oliver left the team two and half years ago, his game excelled, and he now can single handily win points.

The Russians struggled on Sunday in Phoenix, the stand out on that team now is Justin Rabackof, who played so well during some points in Phoenix I thought he creating a new style. Some moves looked preprogrammed, and so fluid, like he had already performed the move in his head’s computer, and the simulation work out so he just programmed the autopilot and pushed play. It will be interesting to see he can keep up this level of play, because if he can, he will be one of the top players in the game. The hardest things for him will be to keep his head straight, as he is only 20 year old.

However the rest of the Russian line looked like they were struggling to find their groove towards the later part of the event, and weren’t playing with the necessary fire. It’s going to take a more combined effort to take them onto the podium. They are just too inconstant at this point.

Teams do ride tides, they are swayed by outside forces, but their fates are decided, more often, by the gravity created by what their players do on the field. Winning events take on an energy and power of it’s own. These are the top four teams in the world right now based on the last event, which is how we measure these matters here. But the cool thing about the PSP is that the field is so strong, like having a royal rumble going on with every fighter possessing a devastating over hand right, all the top teams have a puncher’s chance, and that is what makes our sport so exciting. Yeah, there are a million things that can go wrong outside the net, but once you get on the field you weave fate; your gun is the force of gravity. And on a good day, regardless of what happening in the grand scheme, you create the tide the team rides.

Author: Matty Marhsall