The NXL Windy City Major has come to a close and a hyper aggressive layout gave fans some of the most exciting games of the season. With the championship title on the line across all divisions, the results of the event would be critical in establishing championship roots heading into the World Cup in November. The professional division has seen a surge in parity this year, as each event has seen a revolving door of playoff teams. However it has been the Red Legion in control, but a semi-finals exit at the Windy City Major has opened the door for XFactor to potentially steal the season title away after a second place finish.
It was Tampa Bay Damage who would stand alone when the final horn sounded with a resounding 5-2 victory to win the pro division over San Antonio. It is their first trip of the year into the winners circle and slides them up the season rankings list to make some noise at World Cup.
Prelims on the Pro Field:
On a layout that promised to be aggressive, prelim Group A of the pro division saw Red Legion continue their undefeated prelims streak with a 4-0 record with only the Ironmen providing them a serious challenge in a 6-5 win. The Ironmen and Hurricanes both posted 2-2 records in a bit of an underperformance for both franchises, with the Ironmen securing a Sunday playoff spot over the Hurricanes because of their 3-1 head to head win over New Orleans. NYX and Revo finished at 1-3 with Baltimore breaking their Sunday streak for the first time this season.
In Group B, Tampa Bay Damage was the leader sitting at 4-0 behind aggressive play from Chad Busiere and Keith Brown to earn their playoff spot. After posting a surprise 5-6 loss to Blast Camp, Heat was able to scrape into Sunday on a 2-2 record. Seattle Uprising played a very controlled style of paintball to go 2-2 and squeeze into their first Sunday since World Cup 2022. Mark Meiterman was one of the most consistent players of the entire pro prelims, and alongside Alec Holland, was a huge piece of Seattle. Blast Camp missed the cut at 2-2, and an 0-4 finish for the Bears is a big setback for the team after finishing middle of the pack the first three events.
Group C had a very dominant Edmonton Impact at the top with a perfect record and a major prelim win over XFactor to secure their Sunday spot. San Antonio was the other team to earn a Sunday berth at 3-1 overall. Aftermath, Notorious, and Diesel all missed the cut, with Diesel posting yet another 0-4 record. The high-cost, superstar roster is in scary territory with a very real chance to be relegated with another poor finish at World Cup. They will need both Notorious and Xtreme to finish below them at World Cup to avoid losing their pro status.
In Bracket D, Chicago Aftershock continued their ascent through their 2024 reestablishment as a top program. Their 3-1 record was good enough to finish at the top of the bracket and move onto Sunday. PBFit and Infamous also both moved on at 2-2 records, and Colt Luckau was seriously impressive shooting off the break for PBFit throughout prelims. In the biggest surprise of the prelims, San Diego Dynasty once again played poorly and missed their second Sunday this season. This will firmly push Dynasty out of the season title race after winning the last four straight season championships.
The Sunday Playoffs
In the wildcard round of the Sunday playoffs, PBFit would down their prelim partner Los Angeles Infamous 2-1 in a very controlled and tight game to kick off the playoffs. On the other side of the wildcard, event cinderella, Seattle Uprising, would overcome the Ironmen 3-1 in a match where they showed just how balanced they can be. Fit would move on to play Red Legion, while Uprising would draw Damage in their quarter-finals match.
The quarter-finals would produce some of the highest scoring games of the weekend in the pro division. PBFit would meet a wall in Red Legion, getting picked apart by the ultra aggressive red wave attack; 8-2 was the final score and Red Legion looked primed to win yet another event. XFactor would take on Aftershock in the other side of a high scoring quarters affair; but a 7-3 beatdown of the surging Aftershock program would place XFactor with the second of four semifinals spots.
Houston Heat, after looking less than electric throughout the event, wouldn’t find much breathing room against Impact, as Edmonton suffocated the Heat attack in a 4-1 win. In the tightest match of the quarters, Uprising would press Damage to the brink and were nearly able to cap off an incredible event run through their highly methodical and controlled style, however Keith Brown was too overwhelming for Seattle and helped Damage take a 3-2 win to move on.
The highest scoring match of the entire weekend featured Red Legion vs. XFactor in the semi-finals in a frantic offensive onslaught from both programs. When the dust settled, 14 points had been played and XFactor stood tall behind a 9-5 victory over two-time season winner Red Legion. It was truly the first time all weekend in which Red Legion didn’t look in control and they simply had no answer for Tim Stelz and Axel Gaudin attacking in front of the stout backline of San Antonio.
Damage was able to barely hang on against Impact in one of the best back-and-forth matches of the weekend. Damage pushed out to a 4-2 lead but a late surge from Impact in the last 90 seconds nearly was enough to tie the game. It took elite play from Raney Stanczak to secure the 5-4 win for Damage to move on to the finals.
The Finals:
Throughout heat and grinding matches over the weekend, the two teams left standing were Tampa Bay Damage and San Antonio XFactor. With Red Legion out of the event, both teams stood to gain critical points in an attempt to catch up in the season points race, with XFactor standing to benefit the most.
The first point opened up with a kill off the break for each squad, but it was Axel Gaudin moving down the snake for San Antonio and applying constant pressure that closed the point out for XFactor to go up 1-0. Keith Brown would come out pressing the second point for Tampa Bay and respond to Axel with some offense of his own; Tampa took their spots and picked apart XFactor to tie the score 1-1.
Point three would see the pace begin to slow down; both losing a body off the break, Damage and XFactor both dug into defensive positions looking for any mistake they could find. After losing Raney Stanczak from the back line, Bryan Smith held off the snake side attack from Gaudin and Ninios to close out the point and put Damage up by 2-1.
With six minutes left heading into point four, both teams would again trade bodies off the break but Damage quickly won multiple gunfights from the backline and closed the point in just thirty seconds to take a two point lead. XFactor was calm as ever in the pits with team owner Alex Martinez asking his squad “it's been 5 years, how bad do you want this?”
San Antonio would respond with major pressure from Gaudin in the snake and Tim Stezl on the dorito side. Both teams made all their spots alive, but XFactor had Damage trapped in the back pocket of the field. Bodies began to drop for Damage but Keith Brown won two back-to-back gun fights against Ninios and Gaudin in the snake to equalize the field and give Damage another point to go up 4-1 with just 90 seconds remaining.
With Head Coach Joey Blute screaming audibles from the sideline just before the start of point six, Damage would shoot two bodies off the break and clear the field to score yet another point, 5-1. Celebrations already started in the Damage pits before the final point started with Jacob Edwards telling his teammate Keith Brown “you played out of your mind this event”. Praise that was matched by the MLPB, as they would award Brown the Pro Finals MVP and Overall MVP of the event.
The win brings Damage back up the board of the season title race, and the second place for XFactor moves them into second overall on the season.
Divisional Highlights
Semi Pro:
New Jersey Leverage has held stout control on the semi-pro divisional race to earn a pro spot the entire season, however New York Wrecking Crew was able to inch closer after posting their second event win of the season. They took on RC Seadogs in the finals for the Windy City Major and their controlled style of aggression was too much for the Seadogs, a traditionally sit-and-shoot team, to handle. Ian Rolfsen was key for New York throughout a finals match in which they had total control from the first horn.
Wrecking Crew and the Seadogs now sit less than 30 points behind Leverage going into World Cup; they will both need an early exit from Leverage plus an event win in order to claim the season title and the pro spot that comes with it.
Division 2:
Malicious came into the Windy City Major never finishing in the top five this season, but after posting a 6-1 record throughout the event they capped off by a 5-0 mercy rule victory in the finals. The first place finish shoots them up the ranks with a chance to steal the season title at Cup. Superb break shooting from the Malicious back line and constant pressure from 2023 Duel Champion Tommy Greenleaf in the snake didn’t give Omaha Jamz any room to operate as Greenleaf was critical in the mercy rule finals win.
BR Factory still leads the season title race heading into World Cup for D2, never finishing outside of the top three this season, and their consistency will be a major hurdle for season title hopefuls like Malicious, Wolfpack, and TPP Crew to overcome.
Division 3:
Dynamic’s season has been one of feast or famine through four events this season; they have played inconsistent throughout the year behind two finishes in the top three, and two finishes outside of the top fourteen. Inconsistency can be a major inhibitor to a season title race, but with only the top three events going towards the season points race in division 3, they should be in prime position to take the crown if they can have a strong finish at World Cup.
The finals saw Dynamic face off against Altitude Sickness, which would decide not only the event winner, but who would move into the second place spot for the season title race in an attempt to unseat the Texas Titans. Matching a theme set throughout finals day, Dynamic was able to control the game on their way to a 3-0 victory and the first place trophy.
Season Race To Conclude at World Cup
Win World Cup; the three words going through every single competitive NXL player's mind as they fly home with the biggest paintball event in history just 40 days away. A proverbial paintball mecca in Orlando, Florida with thousands of players planning to attend from all over the World. The professional division is the most competitive it has been in years with multiple teams all vying for the Champions Cup season title and a World Championship to go with it.
Eight months of practice, four events, and a year of grinding all comes down to this final event to decide the season. With the World Cup being worth double the amount of points, it is unquestionably going to be the most critical crown of the season for teams looking to capture a season title.
Catch the entire Windy City Major replay at MajorLeaguePaintball.com and follow the NXL social media for all the updates heading into World Cup. Start planning now to play or watch World Cup on November 6th-10th to see the conclusion of the 2024 season.
Major Storylines Heading into World Cup:
-Dynasty eliminated from Season Title contention for first time in four seasons
-Red Legion Surging
-Wrecking Crew making late run to win pro spot over Leverage in Semi Pro
-NYX and Diesel on the verge of relegation from Pro.