2024 NXL Windy City Major
The 2024 NXL Windy City Major was a National Xball League paintball tournament held at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, Illinois, from 13 to 15 September 2024. It was the fourth major of the league's United States season.[1]
Tampa Bay Damage won the professional division, defeating San Antonio X-Factor 5–2 in the final. The event also included divisional X-Ball, women's amateur five-player competition, youth competition, classic formats and three-player divisions.[1][2]
Venue and dates
[edit]The tournament took place at Chicago Gaelic Park, 6119 West 147th Street, Oak Forest, Illinois, from 13 to 15 September 2024.[1]
Competition formats
[edit]The published X-Ball formats were:[1]
- Professional: 15-minute matches with a six-point mercy rule.
- Semi-Professional and Division 2: 15-minute matches with a five-point mercy rule.
- Divisions 3 and 4: 12-minute matches with a four-point mercy rule.
- Division 5: ten-minute matches with a three-point mercy rule.
Other categories comprised Divisions 3–5 five-player competition, youth five-player competition, WNXL Amateur five-player competition, Classic Open five-player and seven-player competition, Amateur ten-player competition, and Amateur, Intermediate and Novice three-player divisions.[1]
Professional competition
[edit]Twenty teams contested the professional division, with ten advancing from the preliminary round. Red Legion, Tampa Bay Damage and Edmonton Impact each finished the preliminaries with four wins.[2]
Damage defeated Seattle Uprising 3–2 in the quarter-finals and Edmonton Impact 5–4 in the semi-finals. X-Factor reached the final by defeating Chicago Aftershock 7–3 and Red Legion 9–5.[2]
In the final, X-Factor scored first before Damage took control and won 5–2. It was Damage's first event victory of the season. Keith Brown received both the professional finals MVP and overall event MVP awards.[2][3]
X-Factor's runner-up finish moved the team into second place in the professional season standings ahead of the 2024 NXL World Cup.[3]
Women's competition
[edit]The event held a WNXL Amateur five-player division with three teams. Sacramento Storm finished first, NJ High Rollers second and Midwest Warmaidens third.[1][4]
There was no professional WNXL X-Ball division at this event. A women's three-player category appeared in the registration programme but recorded no entries and had no published final standings.[1][4]
Results
[edit]The table lists the winner and runner-up in every division with published final placings.[4]
| Division | First | Second |
|---|---|---|
| Professional X-Ball | Tampa Bay Damage | San Antonio X-Factor |
| Semi-Professional X-Ball | New York Wrecking Crew | Royal City Seadogs |
| Division 2 X-Ball | Malicious | Omaha Jamz |
| Division 3 X-Ball | Dynamic | Altitude Sickness |
| Division 4 X-Ball | Tension | The Leftovers |
| Division 5 X-Ball | TPP Factory | Gunnerz |
| WNXL Amateur five-player | Sacramento Storm | NJ High Rollers |
| Division 3 five-player | MIDWEST Bounty | Veteran Militia |
| Division 4 five-player | NMI | Murdagoons.com D4 |
| Division 5 five-player | JakkBoyz | Freelancers United |
| Youth five-player | Hydra Kidz | TCP Micro Machine |
| Classic Open five-player | Aftershock | Struggle |
| Classic Open seven-player | Midwest Betrayal | With Intent |
| Amateur ten-player | Bum Life | Chicago Aftershock |
| Amateur three-player | Lost Dutchman | JACKPOT GOLD |
| Intermediate three-player | Headbangers Reloaded | Midwest Rampage |
| Novice three-player | the noobies | Unknown |
Divisional highlights
[edit]New York Wrecking Crew defeated Royal City Seadogs 6–2 in the Semi-Professional final, securing its second event victory of the season.[2][3]
Malicious won Division 2 with a 5–0 final victory over Omaha Jamz. Dynamic defeated Altitude Sickness 3–0 in the Division 3 final.[3]