2021 NXL Sunshine State Major
The 2021 NXL Sunshine State Major was a paintball tournament held from 30 April to 2 May 2021 at Brown Ranch in Kissimmee, Florida, United States. It was the first major event and first professional tournament of the National Xball League (NXL) United States season. Edmonton Impact won the professional competition, defeating Los Angeles Infamous 2–1 in the final.[1][2]
Dates and venue
[edit]The official event dates were 30 April–2 May 2021. The venue was Brown Ranch, 5000 Oren Brown Road, Kissimmee, Florida.[1]
The tournament followed the 2021 NXL Lone Star Amateur Open, which had offered divisional competition in Texas in March.[1]
Competition formats
[edit]The programme comprised professional and semi-professional X-Ball, Division 2–5 X-Ball, Division 3–5 five-player competition, open and amateur 10-player competition, mechanical five-player competition, and open, amateur and novice three-player competition.[1]
| Competition | Published format |
|---|---|
| Professional X-Ball | 15-minute matches; six-point mercy rule |
| Semi-professional and Division 2 X-Ball | 15-minute matches; five-point mercy rule |
| Division 3 and Division 4 X-Ball | 12-minute matches; four-point mercy rule |
| Division 5 X-Ball | 10-minute matches; three-point mercy rule |
| Division 3–5 five-player | Five-minute games |
| Open and amateur 10-player | 10-minute games |
| Mechanical five-player | Five-minute games; 5.5 balls-per-second classification |
| Three-player | Three-minute games |
Source: official event information.[1]
Professional competition
[edit]Seattle Thunder, Edmonton Impact, Tampa Bay Damage and Los Angeles Infamous completed the preliminary round undefeated.[2]
In the wildcard round, San Antonio X-Factor defeated San Diego Dynasty 5–4, reversing the outcome of their meeting in the 2020 NXL World Cup final. Impact then eliminated X-Factor 5–4 in the quarter-finals. The other quarter-final winners were Moscow Red Legion, Tampa Bay Damage and Los Angeles Infamous.[2]
Impact defeated Damage 3–1 in the semi-finals, while Infamous beat Moscow Red Legion 4–3.[2]
The final remained tied at 1–1 until Matt Jackson helped Impact take the lead with 59 seconds remaining. Impact retained its advantage to win 2–1, securing its thirteenth NXL professional event title since 2015. Alex Goldman received the MyFanwagon most valuable player Golden Barrel award.[2]
Results
[edit]The table lists the winner and runner-up in every competition recorded in the official final standings. Washington Winstons were the sole listed team in Open 10v10.[3]
| Competition | First | Second |
|---|---|---|
| Professional X-Ball | Edmonton Impact | Los Angeles Infamous |
| Semi-professional X-Ball | Hurricanes | Carolina Crisis |
| Division 2 X-Ball | TNB | KC Missouri Allstars |
| Division 3 X-Ball | Philadelphia A's | ac Kansas City |
| Division 4 X-Ball | Coalition | SLT |
| Division 5 X-Ball | Tropic Thunder | L.A. Wildcards |
| Open 10v10 | Washington Winstons | — |
| Amateur 10v10 | New York Wrecking Crew | Salm's Super Snipers |
| Mechanical five-player | Blastcamp Revolution 4 | Desert Edge |
| Division 3 five-player | Blackout | Orlando Storm |
| Division 4 five-player | Mia Outkast | WHILS PAINTBALL |
| Division 5 five-player | Venomous bloodline D5 | BLIZZARD |
| Open three-player | XPX | Wiseguys |
| Amateur three-player | Destiny | SeaBears |
| Novice three-player | NQPR 2 | Orlando Kryptonite Pink |
Tampa Bay Damage finished third in the professional standings, followed by Moscow Red Legion in fourth. The semi-professional winner, registered as Hurricanes, was listed separately from New Orleans Hurricanes, which finished fourth in that competition.[3]
See also
[edit]- National Xball League
- 2021 NXL Lone Star Amateur Open
- 2021 NXL Mid-Atlantic Major
- Paintball in the United States