Editing 2023 ICPL season

The '''2023 ICPL season''' was the fifth season of the [[International Classic Paintball League]]. Its United States programme included ten-player and five-player classic paintball tournaments, with an expanded network of officially supported affiliate events. The programme began with the Sunshine Classic in February and concluded with the Windy City Classic in October.[1][3][4]

== Organisation and formats ==

The league expanded its programme through affiliate tournaments in 2023. The Pro DNA Open, held at The Farm Sports in Shelbyville, Tennessee, was described by the ICPL as its first affiliate event. Professional and amateur ten-player teams competed together in a combined playing division.[3][4]

Competition classifications included Professional and Amateur ten-player and Open and Amateur five-player. The divisions offered varied between tournaments. Badlandz 5-man was an Open five-player event, while the Heartland Classic offered Amateur five-player competition.[5–12]

The league's website, archived on 30 September 2023, described capture-the-flag competition across woodland, hyperball, mounds and hybrid fields. Teams received game points for flag pulls, flag hangs, eliminated opponents and surviving players. The published overview permitted mechanical markers and electronic markers capped at 5.5 balls per second, using semi-automatic firing or NXL ramping mode.[2]

The Sunshine Classic opened with 24 professional and 32 amateur ten-player teams. Maple Leaf Chiefs joined the professional franchise field for 2023.[3]

== United States calendar ==

The following United States events appear in the ICPL's 2023 records.[1][5–12]

{| class="wikitable"
! Dates
! Event
! Venue
|-
| 3–5 February 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Sunshine Classic]]
| Tiki's Paintball Park, Seffner, Florida
|-
| 31 March–2 April 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Pro DNA Open]]
| The Farm Sports, Shelbyville, Tennessee
|-
| 19–21 May 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Old Bay Classic]]
| Outdoor Xtreme Chesapeake City, Chesapeake City, Maryland
|-
| 24–25 June 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Golden State Classic]]
| Capital Edge Paintball Park, Sacramento, California
|-
| 16 July 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Badlandz 5-man]]
| The Badlandz, Crete, Illinois
|-
| 11–13 August 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Pittsburgh Open Classic]]
| Urban Assault, McDonald, Pennsylvania
|-
| 2 September 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Heartland Classic 5v5]]
| Crowley Ridge Paintball, Bloomfield, Missouri
|-
| 28 September–1 October 2023
| [[2023 ICPL Windy City Classic]]
| The Badlandz, Crete, Illinois
|}

The Badlandz five-player tournament was registered under the Midwest Mechanical League. Pittsburgh Open Classic maintained its own organiser listing. Results from both tournaments also appeared in the ICPL season-ranking records.[1][9][10]

== Event results ==

The following table identifies the leading team in each PBLeagues classification. At combined tournaments, professional and amateur classification results do not necessarily represent separate playing competitions. A dash indicates that the classification was not contested.[1]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event
! Professional ten-player classification
! Amateur ten-player classification
! Open five-player
! Amateur five-player
|-
| Sunshine Classic
| Chicago Aftershock
| Valhalla FSU
| Rogue Silver
| AAF 2
|-
| Pro DNA Open
| Los Angeles Infamous
| New York Xtreme
| Ground Zero
| —
|-
| Old Bay Classic
| Ground Zero Gold
| gg_Factory Mech Gold
| Ground Zero
| —
|-
| Golden State Classic
| Maple Leaf Chiefs
| Reno Respawn
| —
| —
|-
| Badlandz 5-man
| —
| —
| Social Mutants
| —
|-
| Pittsburgh Open Classic
| Saberwolves
| ThunderHorse
| ac POWERHOUSE
| —
|-
| Heartland Classic 5v5
| —
| —
| —
| AAF 2
|-
| Windy City Classic
| Image
| Valhalla FSU
| Ground Zero
| ac EVILpb.com
|}

=== Sunshine Classic ===

[[Chicago Aftershock]] won professional ten-player ahead of Kapp Factory and [[Los Angeles Infamous]]. Aftershock finished the tournament unbeaten, winning all 11 of its games. Valhalla FSU won Amateur ten-player ahead of Louisville Asylum and Jungle Lizards.[15]

=== Pro DNA Open ===

Infamous won the combined ten-player tournament ahead of the All Americans and Ground Zero Gold. The event brought together 28 professional and amateur teams. Ground Zero won the accompanying five-player competition.[4]

=== Windy City Classic ===

Image won professional ten-player ahead of Annihilators and Adrenaline. Valhalla FSU won Amateur ten-player, followed by AAF and Louisville Asylum.[16]

Ground Zero won Open five-player ahead of Rogue Silver and Florida Annihilators. ac EVILpb.com won Amateur five-player ahead of AAF 3 and AAF 2.[16]

== Season championship records ==

In a subsequent account of Louisville Asylum's 2024 Open five-player championship, equipment sponsor DYE credited the team with winning the previous year's amateur series. The report did not specify whether that earlier championship was in five-player or ten-player competition.[13]

The surviving PBLeagues season page separates results under ''Mechanical'', ''Classic'' and unprefixed division labels. For example, Sunshine's professional results appear in a separate table from Old Bay and Windy City, while Pro DNA and Pittsburgh appear in another professional table. The displayed totals therefore do not provide one consolidated professional championship classification.[1]

Louisville Asylum heads the table labelled ''Classic – Amateur 10v10'' with 279 points, comprising Old Bay and Windy City results. Its Sunshine and Pro DNA results appear separately. That displayed subtotal should not be presented as a complete season championship total.[1]

== Post-season awards ==

The Summit Awards recognising the 2023 season named Image ICPL Team of the Year and Louisville Asylum Classic Amateur Team of the Year. These were awards presented separately from the tournament points standings.[14]

== See also ==

* [[International Classic Paintball League]]
* [[2022 ICPL season]]
* [[2024 ICPL season]]
* [[Major League Paintball]]

== References ==

# [https://pbleagues.com/league/435/seasonRankings/2023 PBLeagues – International Classic Paintball League: 2023 season rankings.]
# [https://web.archive.org/web/20230930052110/https://www.nxlclassicpaintball.com/ International Classic Paintball League – Official website, archived 30 September 2023: formats, marker eligibility and scoring.]
# [https://www.nxlclassicpaintball.com/post/the-competitive-paintball-season-kicks-off-in-florida-at-the-23-icpl-sunshine-classic NXL Classic Paintball – The Competitive Paintball Season Kicks off In Florida at the '23 ICPL Sunshine Classic!, 31 January 2023.]
# [https://www.nxlclassicpaintball.com/post/the-pro-dna-open-event-recap-first-icpl-affiliate-event-finds-success-in-tennessee NXL Classic Paintball – The Pro DNA Open Event Recap, First ICPL Affiliate Event finds success in Tennessee!, 7 April 2023, updated 13 April 2023.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7842/info PBLeagues – 2023 Sunshine Classic: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7961/info PBLeagues – 2023 Pro DNA Open: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7962/info PBLeagues – 2023 Old Bay Classic: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/8089/info PBLeagues – 2023 Golden State Classic: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7925/info PBLeagues – 2023 Badlandz 5-man: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7960/info PBLeagues – 2023 Pittsburgh Open Classic: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/8088/info PBLeagues – 2023 Heartland Classic 5v5: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7843/info PBLeagues – 2023 Windy City Classic: event information.]
# [https://shop.dyepaintball.com/blogs/news/louisville-asylum-icpl-series-champs DYE Paintball – Louisville Asylum ICPL Series Champs; retrospective reference to the team's preceding amateur series title.]
# [https://www.iconicpaintball.com/post/the-summit-awards-2023-winners-and-recap Iconic Paintball – The Summit Awards 2023 Winners and Recap.]
# [https://www.nxlclassicpaintball.com/post/the-2023-major-league-of-paintball-season-is-underway-in-tampa-fl-at-the-icpl-sunshine-classic NXL Classic Paintball – The 2023 Major League of Paintball Season is underway in Tampa, FL at the ICPL Sunshine Classic!, 15 February 2023.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/7843/rankings PBLeagues – 2023 Windy City Classic: official results.]

[[Category:Paintball tournaments]]
[[Category:Paintball in the United States]]
[[Category:2023 in paintball]]