Prepping for the Big Show Pt1

It’s no secret that team Pr1me started the season off with a bang but has since faltered the last two PSP’s (well, in my opinion, Chicago was not our fault… but New Jersey certainly was). The last and most important event of the season is just around the corner and Team Pr1me has every intention of showing up.
Pr1me is no longer in the running for the season championship but that doesn’t matter at this point. We started on a high note and plan to end on one. Besides, no one remembers the series champions… but they remember who won World Cup.

What Could've Been, Shaking Up After a Tough 3-2 Loss in New Jersey

In an effort to continue to put ourselves under strain and challenging ourselves to play a more intellectual game, Pr1me decided to attend a regional 5 man event that was close to home. The GFOA (Georgia Field Owner’s Association – check’em out at www.thegfoa.com) supplied just the venue. Our hope was to put ourselves in do or die situations, which is the case in the 5 man format as each game counts. You don’t have the luxury of correcting mistakes like x-ball. (On a side note, I am convinced now more than ever that the X-ball format truly does show who the better team is but that is for a different discussion.)

The weather was perfect for paintball. Overcast and cool but no rain. By the end of the day, the sun broke through and the temperature rose to a comfortable level in the 80's. Reffing was supplied by Last Call, a well respected 5man team out of Georgia. They have been to our field twice to scrimmage us and have always showed they are standup guys. Great refs too.

The D5 and D4 divisions had 10 and 7 team respectively. However, only 5 teams besides ourselves showed to see what was what. All were familiar faces with the GFOA. They were Augusta Rage, Boys Town, Divinity, Shokwave, and SANDU (Nitro did not show).

Cameron McDonald, run-thru in NJ

We started the day off slow with a loss. We were in x-ball mode and had position and then dropped the ball. We got together and discussed what needed to be changed, made the adjustment and went out and won the next three games decisively. Once we realized we were in the finals, we decided we needed to give the other teams a different look on our last game. We thought we would try something really aggressive and crazy. It worked… sorta. It came down to a 3 on 1 but we were able to hold until the clock ran down. The team did not get the hang much less the pull.


So here we are in the finals about to play the team that beat us in our first match of the day. We had watched them play throughout the day and knew how to beat them. So we did. We then took it to the next team (a great group of stand up, humble guys by the way - quick shout out to Shokwave). Turns out, Divinity had done the same thing to both teams meaning that, whoever won the match between us and the reigning GFOA Open 5 man Champions, would take home the gold for this event. Divinity had a lot of experience going for it with one Pro, a Division 1 player and 3 highly touted Division 3 players. We had put any doubt to rest we were there to win when we played them in the prelims and beat them within about 45 seconds. But that wouldn’t be the case during this match.

A Disappointing 2nd Place, left to right: Cameron McDonald, Evan Manners, Daniel "5 Case" Jones, Mike Bianca, Mikey, Griff

Divinity came out with intent and made it happen. Once again, Pr1me drops the ball at an integral moment. But we took something away from that match. We know what’s what. We plan to put ourselves in the same situation again at Insane Paintball. Then, it’s on…

Pictures Courtesy of VIM Media

ACES LAYOUT