Sunday ’ s sunny and warm weather was perfect for a day of Hyperball to decide the winners of the Southern Open . Teams of faster players took ground on the break sending players to the spectator-side snake , the fortress on the opposite tape , and up the middle to the large center fifty bunker , while slower teams had to make it on a second bump , or if they became trapped in their primaries , fight it out where they stood . Until the sun climbed higher in the sky for midday and afternoon games , players on the parking lot end of the Hyperball field started with the sun in their eyes and caught glare every time they came out of a bunker to take a peek . It didn ’ t hurt to have decades of pro paintball experience , and hurt even less to have some of the Hyperball era ’ s top players , when the paintballs hit bunkers that went clickety-clack on Sunday . This showed on the scoreboard as Farside , the Master Blasters Black ( Ground Zero ), Shocktech Factory Gunfighters ( Aftershock , Image , All Americans , Ironmen , etc ), the Saberwolves and the Bibb City Bad Boys wound up on top . Some were less than thrilled at the final outcome as stalemate games in the late rounds came down to body counts and tiebreakers to determine the final standings . These rules and their intelligent , rule and scoreboard-savvy play , saw the event win go to Farside , with Ground Zero and Shocktech rounding out the podium . But as much as the competitive nature of the event ’ s longtime competitors was on display , it was playing old school , competitive paintball in the company of people that hadn ’ t joined one-another slinging paint in years and even decades , that was the beating heart of the Southern Open and most of the players at the event are already looking for more ten-man mechanical / capped open class paintball to play . As soon as Lane announces another event , the teams will start signing up , I ’ ll book a hotel room , and hopefully we can drag a few more of paintball ’ s greats out to shoot it up . www . paintball . media
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