2013 NPPL season

The 2013 NPPL season was a four-event United States paintball tournament season sanctioned by the National Professional Paintball League (NPPL). The completed national series comprised tournaments in Huntington Beach, Chesapeake City, Dundee and Las Vegas. Following the opening event, the NPPL licensed operation of its remaining national tournaments to Paintball Promotions Inc., also known as PB Promotions.[1][2]

Fort Wayne Outlaws won the professional season championship with 69 points, ahead of New England Avalanche and Camp Pendleton Raiders. TCP Machine finished first in the semi-professional standings.[3]

Organisation and calendar changes

The January calendar announcement proposed four major events in Huntington Beach, Tampa Bay, Denver and Las Vegas, supplemented by regional events whose points would contribute towards the series standings.[4]

On 17 April, the NPPL announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Paintball Promotions Inc. The NPPL would concentrate on sanctioning competition, while the new promoter would operate its national tournaments.[2]

The revised schedule replaced the proposed Tampa Bay event with the Northeast Open at Outdoor Xtreme Chesapeake City (OXCC), Maryland. The August tournament moved from Denver to Paintball Explosion in Illinois and was promoted as the Windy City Open.[2][5]

Las Vegas retained its October dates, but the final event took place at Vegas Xtreme Paintball rather than the Las Vegas Convention Center named in January. The Riviera Hotel and Casino served as the host hotel.[4][6]

Completed national calendar

Round	Dates	Event	Venue	State
1	12–14 April 2013	Huntington Beach Open / Surf City USA Open	Huntington Beach Pier Plaza, Huntington Beach	California
2	7–9 June 2013	Northeast Open	Outdoor Xtreme Chesapeake City, Chesapeake City	Maryland
3	9–11 August 2013	Chicago Open / Windy City Open	Paintball Explosion, Dundee	Illinois
4	4–6 October 2013	Las Vegas World Championships	Vegas Xtreme Paintball, Las Vegas	Nevada

The dates and venues follow the opening-event announcement, revised league schedule and final official event listings.[1][2][5][6]

Competition

Professional field

The professional division changed substantially before the season. Contemporary reporting identified the departure of established NPPL competitors including Sacramento XSV, Tampa Bay Damage, Edmonton Impact and Los Angeles Infamous. The revised professional field included teams moving up from lower divisions, including 2012 Division 1 champions Camp Pendleton Raiders.[7]

Participation also changed during the season. The final official standings record Huntington Beach and Northeast Open points for San Antonio X-Factor and San Diego Dynasty, but no points for either team at Windy City or Las Vegas.[3]

Formats

Official event information described Professional and Semi-Pro competition as seven-player S7 race format. Divisions 2, 3 and 4 used traditional seven-player competition. Additional categories included Division 4 five-player competition and three-player Young Guns.[3][5]

The Windy City event advertised its five-player Division 4 and Young Guns competitions for Saturday and Sunday only, with Young Guns restricted to players aged 10–15.[5]

Event results

The following winners are identified from each event's points allocations in the NPPL's archived final rankings. Event columns are distinct from the cumulative season standings.[3]

Professional and semi-professional

Event	Professional winner	Professional runner-up	Semi-professional winner
Huntington Beach	San Antonio X-Factor	Vancouver Vendetta	Impact Echo
Northeast Open	Camp Pendleton Raiders	New England Avalanche	TCP Machine
Windy City Open	Fort Wayne Outlaws	New England Avalanche	TCP Machine
Las Vegas	Fort Wayne Outlaws	Camp Pendleton Raiders	TradeMyGun Effect

Fort Wayne Outlaws won the final two professional events. New England Avalanche finished second at both the Northeast and Windy City tournaments.[3]

Traditional seven-player divisions

Event	Division 2 winner	Division 3 winner	Division 4 winner
Huntington Beach	Hawaiian Heat	Miami Devious	Animal Team Factory
Northeast Open	Orange County Flashpoint	Capital Edge DMG White	West Coast Sharks 4
Windy City Open	TradeMyGun Outlaws	Capital Edge DMG White	Chicago Damage Inc. Black
Las Vegas	Hawaiian Heat	Capital Edge DMG White	West Coast Sharks 4

Capital Edge DMG White won three consecutive Division 3 events. In Division 2, only two teams received Northeast Open points and two received Windy City points; three teams received Las Vegas points.[3]

Five-player and Young Guns

Event	Division 4 five-player winner	Young Guns winner
Huntington Beach	P4 Posse 2	Prodigy
Northeast Open	No event points recorded	No event points recorded
Windy City Open	Colorado All-Stars	Chicago Voltage
Las Vegas	Destiny Army	No event points recorded

The absence of event points in these categories does not establish an event result. The final rankings contain Young Guns points from Huntington Beach and Windy City only.[3]

Season standings

Professional

Fort Wayne Outlaws finished five points ahead of New England Avalanche. Camp Pendleton Raiders placed third, one point behind Avalanche.[3]

Position	Team	Huntington Beach	Northeast	Windy City	Las Vegas	Total points
1	Fort Wayne Outlaws	15	12	21	21	69
2	New England Avalanche	11	19	19	15	64
3	Camp Pendleton Raiders	10	21	13	19	63
4	Portland Uprising	17	15	17	12	61
5	San Francisco Explicit	7	10	15	17	49

Divisional champions

The following teams finished first in their categories in the published final standings.[3]

Division	Season champion	Published total points
Semi-Pro seven-player S7	TCP Machine	146
Division 2 seven-player	Orange County Flashpoint	168
Division 3 seven-player	Capital Edge DMG White	193
Division 4 seven-player	West Coast Sharks 4	174
Division 4 five-player	Cen Cal Alliance	129

TCP Machine won the semi-professional title through points earned at the first three events. The team subsequently appeared in the professional Las Vegas standings, receiving 13 points there.[3]

The official Young Guns table listed Chicago Voltage first and Prodigy second, both with 50 points. It did not explain a championship tie-break, so the equal totals do not establish a sole season champion.[3]

References