TOURNAMENT
3.
Edmonton Impact – With the best
roster they’ve ever had, the Canadian powerhouse Edmonton Impact has been working
harder than ever in the pro ranks, fighting
every point of every match and simply refusing to finish lower than fourth all season. That
said, they’ve been stymied at every event in
2013 by the stellar play of the rest of the top
contenders in the PSP Champions bracket,
as they were forced to watch Dynasty, Heat
and Damage get past them for victories. Fact
of the matter is, Impact’s roster is one of the
most impressive and experienced in the game
and should everyone on it decide to show up
and have a tournament at the same time, they
could be practically impossible to stop and
the only way to beat them might be to slash
their van tires in the hotel parking lot. As they
haven’t tasted gold all season, Impact should
be hungrier than ever heading into the World
Cup, their last chance for gold and glory in
2013. With players like Tom Montressor, Ryan
Moorhead, Justin “J-Rab” Rabackoff, Dave
LLX3.COM
Bains, Greg Siewers and Josh Ouimet and an
arsenal of reliable, durable Eclipse Geo3 and
LV-1 markers, Impact might decide to peak for
the final event of 2013 and stun the teams that
have already taken home gold this season.
4.
Houston Heat – after a breakout
season in 2012 that saw them play incredible paintball and win three events, including
last year’s World Cup, Houston Heat has
staggered a bit in 2013 with two fifth-place
finishes at the beginning of the season, a
fourth place out west and just a single win in
Chicago. Stacked with talent like Konstantin
Federov, Nick Slowiak, the recently-relocated
Jacob Edwards, Chad George, Ronnie Dizon and Mikhail Knyazev, Heat can show up
in any match and embarrass any opponent
standing at the other end of the field. After a
remarkable 2012 season, surely one win in
2013 just isn’t enough so it’s very likely they’ll
be heading into the World Cup Luxes blazing,
ready to leave every last ounce of themselves
scattered across the battlefield.
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