MyNPL Round 4 - Melacca

Feva Division did not register to play Round 4 of the MyNPL League, which was held in the historic city Melacca. Luckily for me, The Infidelz (gotta love that name!) had a player spot available, so I had the opportunity to guest for them yet again.

It was great that Division 4 games only started in the afternoon, so I could actually travel down to Melacca on the Saturday morning itself. I was suppose to wake up at 7am, but in the excitement, was awake by 6am. Checked twitter, and found that @joshlim of Yakuza needed a ride. After some attempts at getting his number, I drove across town (pre ISA/FRU clampdown) to Tropicana area to pick him up, and then only got onto the North-South highway by 8am-ish.

The drive down was shorter than I anticipated, with some really heavy patches of rain. This was not good news, but fortunately the paintball field was not deluged when we arrived at about 10am. Had breakfast at the "Old Town Coffee" in Dataran Pahlawan. Ironic.

Waited around for teammates to arrived, and Shiham, Infidelz captain for the day joined us. Ideham couldn't make it for the first day, Saturday, because he had family duties to attend to. Got my tag, and we waited for the rest to arrive. Prem, Faiz and Wan turned up, and we had the opportunity to check out the other D2 and D3 teams playing on the three Fields.

Had lunch, which was some badly cooked maggie mee below the field facing the school/church. Don't go there. Although the limau ais was nice: they put in an asam boi in it.

The players paddock was luxurious in relative terms. Long tables, instead of the crummy square ones, ample chairs, but most importantly, an airy high ceilinged structure which housed over 40 teams very comfortably. The toilets were close by and although they didn't have tissue paper (always bring your own), it was clean. It is an excellent venue. Pity about the traffic though.

Field 2: For all the games, we started from the left working towards the right.

We setup our stuff, filled pods, and warmed up. For Field 2, my default position was to take the Mini-snake within the Carwashes (mid-top of this image). I had Prem to back me up. Shiham was in control at the center and ready to fill in whichever positions, while Faiz and Wan played the huge wavy snakeside.

Our first game was against the red Tshirted team called "Kerex Hunter." It was interesting, with Shiham managing to do a snakeside taperun to take the flag for the win.

The second game, also on Field 2 was against "Jerung" and it featured Faiz taking out three from the hard to handle snake. I was in the little dorito/"chip" and managed to take out the BabySpike right across the field. Then made my way to the carwash, suppressed the back corner and dove into the mini snake. However the carwash on the other end was not oriented properly, leaving less cover than it should, and the corner guy shot my shoulder. But Infidelz pulled it off and brought their flag back.

The third game was against DPMM 1, which was a bunch of newbies, who put up a brave fight. They were a bunch of 3 girls and 2 boys, and very young. I did the same as in the previous game, parking myself in the chip, taking out the opposite corner (backright), then I dove into the mini snake. By the time I reached the other end of the minisnake, my teammates already cleaned up shop. All of us survived.

Field 3: Again we were "fortunate" to start from left to right. The stalls behind us were blasting "Speedy Gonzales" on the PA system making it difficult to relay info.

Then we had two games on Field 3, where the default plan was to have Faiz at the 50Spike, myself at the mid carwash, and Prem, Shiham and Wan at the back.

For the fourth game, we were up against "Jari Jari Mentega" which is such a brilliant name, the BM version of "Butterfingers" (or more accurately it would be "Margerine Fingers", but who cares). It started well, I tried desperately to hit the back right guy who was battling with Wan who was already in the snake. All five of us were still in play.

I then heard the call, "Only one left! Go!" So Faiz who was infront, obeyed immediately and marched forward, and I tagged along. He was facing right so I flipped to the left. Shiham was running on the right of the carwash. Just when I noticed Faiz getting shot out, I switched hands to face right but it was too late and I was shot out too. I first thought it was because I was in Shiham's line of fire but the shots came from someone who was hiding in their carwash. Shiham got him out, but Shiham too was marked by the player on the right back.

Prem who was moving up on the left was taken out by another player in the centre back. So there were actually 3 players just before we made our move. Fortunately Wan was still in the snake, and he meticulously took out the remaining two back players, and hung the flag in time. That was a really close call.

The fifth game was against "Rookie Raiders". They held their ground well. Playing from the home side (on the plan, right to left), I was in the carwash battling with their backleft. I was joined by Shiham who had moved up from his command at center back. He told me to go into the snake, and because there was a convenient break in the snake, I slid in and composed myself at the center dorito. The back left dude was pelting the dorito, and I just timed it to snap shoot him out. I feel my left shooting is far better nowadays than before. With the left tape down, I shimmied further down the snake. I exchanged a few pellets with the center back, but unfortunately did not recoil in time as he shot my hopper.

There were two from both teams remaining when the marshalls called "Time out". So it was a draw, but a very interesting fight.

We didn't have a sixth game, because Team "Legio-X Frentensis" was a no-show, so we got a walk over.

Tally after the prelims. Infidelz at 5th Place, tho' the spread was thin.

So at the end of the first day, we had 489 points and were ranked 5th of a field of 30, which wasn't too bad at all! This means we proceed to Day 2 for the knockout stage, starting with the Sweet16. Being fifth, we would play the fifth last team which was Team "JS".

Later that day, Ideham turned up, checked into Baba Hotel and walked down Jonkers Street:

A lady crooning down Jonkers Street. Must be part of the "Moral Uplifting" programmes. For her, not us.

Shiham was parked in Dataran Pahlawan, so we walked all the way there to meetup for dinner. It was getting late, and we were hungry, so we chose an easy option of Burger King. crums.

The next day, the competition started at 8am. D4 players were assigned Field 3 again. Because Wan could not attend Day2, we changed our breakouts accordingly.

The first game against JS for the best of 3, I was suppose to fill the snake while Faiz the 50Spike. Unfortunately I got laned: as I dove on the ground, sliding, a pellet exploded on my hopper splattering paint on my mask. How embarrassing, getting laned by mech markers. So as I watched helplessly from the deadbox, I could see teammate after teammate dwindle down, to a 2 vs 2 fight. Shiham took out their Right Back and they got a penalty for playing on, so their other teammate got pulled. So somehow Infidelz pulled it off again, and we got the flag.

The second game against JS, I was in the carwash and suppressing the doritos. Felt a graze on my right finger, looked at it, but there was no burst. But the marshalls pointed at me and called me out, only to see Faiz and Prem in the deadbox already.

Shiham and Ideham were still in play, up against 4 JS guys. Shiham slid out to the doritos side, while Eddy was in the snakes. Eddy burst out, running down the snake tape, and bunkered JS's captain Buyo at Snake50, then slid into the Snake1 knuckle. He got a bounce off his hand, and the marshall cleared him. He then took out the man in the carwash, and moved up the end of the snake.

Eddy put pressure on a guy across the field on Dorito1, who wrapped around, hiding from the pellets. Shiham saw him and was just about to take him out when the marshalls called the JS guy out, because in his haste he stepped out of bounds. Shiham then moved up and did some gymnastics and managed to get mini-dorito guy out. They both got the flag, and helped us through to the Quarter finals (top 8).

Next, we were up against Team Karma, a Singaporean based team, who had great results whenever they played in previous MyNPL rounds. Fortunately the official photographer The Resident Evil Chef Foo was on the field to take pictures of this game (more here).

The first game we started at Home, breaking out with Eddy and I in the carwash.


Faiz made it to the 50Spike, but had problems with his marker. Eddy did a brave run down the snake, but was shot out, and while I was suppressing the dorito side, a Karma dude ran down the snake side and took me out.
At the same time, Shiham ran up, got the Dorito guy,
and captured their flag while their man also got our flag. It was a 1-on-1 situation but unfortunately Shiham got shot out first.

So we lost for the first time in the tournament.

In game 2, there was some confusion in the breakout, which meant that Faiz did not make it to the 50Spike. When he tried to go down, he was shot out. Eddy was taken out by a wicked bounce off another bunker while he was safely behind the carwash. I was covering the doritos as usual, and exchanged fire with D1 for quite a while. Fortunately I managed to mark him out, but almost immediately, their back left filled in the same dorito. So while I was raining pellets on him, a player from their spike slid into the mini coke right in front of me. I called for Prem, which I then realized was already taken out.

By the time I tried to suppress the mini-coke guy, the player from Dorito-1 moved into D2 which had a better angle than before and took me out. All that was left for the remaining 4 of them was to do was to clean up Shiham who was in the back corner.

We lost only for the second time in the tournament, and it was devastating. So we got knocked out of the tournament, not progressing further than the Quarter Finals. It was a pity. A small consolation was that Team Karma progressed from the Semifinals beating the Jackals to be in the Finals against Team "Shoot in Rage" (SiR).

Not over yet...

Karma however lost to Shoot in Rage in the finals. Yin Yang who was extremely strong in the prelims played Jackals for the 3rd/4th placing, and we managed to see them draw after three games. However the 1-on-1 decider was extremely anti-climactic as the Jackal player got laned on the breakout by the Yin Yang player at the start.

We had lunch at a tiny peranakan restaurant called "Banya" which was very close by, thanks to the recommendation by localboy @cerventus. The Assam Fish and Chendol was good, the rest OK only:

Overall, it was a great outing, managed to reach the Quarterfinals, but like in every tournament, it would have been better to proceed further. The disadvantage of having a relatively easy prelims is that we dont get a feel of the quality of opponents in the future rounds, and whether our tactics would stand up against good opponents.

But we live and learn, and again it was great to play alongside Team Infidelz.

The official results were:

Division 4: (32 teams)
1st = SHOOT IN RAGE
2nd = KARMA
3rd = YING YANG
4th = JACKALS

yk

Some other links:

Uncle Zee of Yakuza.
Eu Veng "Evo" Ooi of Yakuza
Resident Evil Chef Foo with his Malacca Gallery Day 1 and Day 2

Tasik Idaman Paintball Tournament 2009 with Team Infidelz

I had the opportunity to guest for Team Infidelz last weekend (4-5 July 2009), for this amateur tournament in Bangi.

Directions via the North-South Highway:

View Taman Tasik Idaman, Bangi in a larger map

Left home at 6:20am, arrived at 7am at Tasik Idaman. Nobody was there, it was like a typical kampung. Booked a table for Infidelz, and the organisers, Skirmish, just started up filling up the bunkers. Fortunately they decided to replace the piped bunkers with proper air bunkers, however the snakes were still made out of three pipes stacked on each other. This is higher than usual, so it is really difficult for the snake player to peek out because the knuckles are only 6 inches taller. So its difficult like Melawati's KKlub.

Team Infidelz Belasah - actually it should have been Team InFevadelz Belasah, as Infidelz imported two players but the organisers didn't register it right, was scheduled to play the first game. It was against Team LCCT ASTAKA 1. They wiped us out. Sani who was back left who was covering me got hit by his mirror quite early on, and I was hit from the enemy's back right. This meant that Infidelz was exposed on the left tape. So eventually an ASTAKA guy ran down the tape and took out the rest. Eddie and Shiham tried to avoid them, but it was too late. LCCT ASTAKA 1 was a great team, and got at least 4 games where they had 100 perfect scores.

The next game Infidelz played against was Nate Jokes. I was infront, and managed to take out a guy at the center carwash because his foot was slightly exposed. I then moved up, and managed to take a guy out as he tried to move into the left snake, then I heard Eddie calling out that there was one in center back. So as I moved up along the left, Faiz flanked on the right and we managed to hit him simultaneously - only to find out that it was a little kid, no more than 10 years old! Poor fella. So we won with a perfect score.

The third game was against Team Pain-Nuts. They had really nice custom TShirts, and looked like recball vets. It was a close game only to be won with Shiham's fantastic run up the right tape to take out most of the remaining players.

The fourth game was against Team Platinum Elite, which was decked out in their full Sly Black/Green striped uniforms. While I was up infront, I thought I shot out the carwash guy, but didnt realise the ref cleared him, so when I wrapped around the otherside, he got me back. It was a tough fight, Shiham again ran up the right tape, battled close quarters with the back right guy, who swivelled around the bunker and managed to mark Shiham out. Eddie managed to grab their flag, and rushed back, but the PE dude ran back to our base and pinned Eddie down. Eddie did not reload and was running on an empty hopper but time ran out almost immediately, so although we got the flag grab, we didnt get the flag hang. Only 42 points.

The fifth game was against Team MP Sepang, which we expected to win, but due to our overconfidence perhaps, we lost the match.

The sixth game was against the Kampung Boyz and we managed to pull off another perfect game. We changed positions abit, and I played back left while Faiz and Sani played up front.

Thus ended the first day - there were quite a few teams playing and it was a really long drawn out process. We had to wait almost 2 hours between each game under the tents, which on that day was really hot. There was a gentle breeze, but it was very tiring. Having the first day last from 9am all the way to 6pm is really taxing.

We were placed in the 12th position and needed to win our remaining 2 games to be in the top 8.

Arrived early on Sunday as well, and we went up against Team Haruman Abadi which was at that time placed 3rd. So quite a strong team. For the second time, I continued playing back left while we had Shiham and Faiz up front. Straight off the break, my gun didnt fire. A few twists of the gas tank got it working again, but I lost about 30 seconds.

The team was still intact, so I started suppressing the snake. There was a person in my mirror, and one in snake 1. Suppressed them until Eddie/Shiham moved all the way up and managed to take out most of the enemy. He also got my mirror out, and at that point, I ran up the tape with my marker pointed at the snake 1 dude. As I approached him, Eddie moved inside the snake, and was in position behind him. Shots were fired, and I heard the Ref shout "Out". The snake player still didnt realise that I was there, and I wasnt going to shoot him because he must be out, as Eddie was still in play. Then the snake guy turns and shoots my leg, and I asked the Ref what was happening? They checked the guy, and he wasnt marked. Why did they say that he was out then?

Lesson Learnt: Shoot Shoot Shoot.

Then Shiham got their flag and ran straight back home and touched our base. "Time" was called, and Eddie and Shiham raised their arms while the Refs checked them. Mr Snake then shoots at Eddie! Not sure what happens next, but the game was declard a dirty hang because Shiham had some paint on his shins which he thinks he got while kneeling. Faiz was also called out earlier in the 50s because he was hit on his inner thigh, but it was clearly a bounce with no paint marks on his pants.

So that game was really frustrating with us clearly winning, but got the wrong end of the referee decisions. Of course we appealed, but we got really weak excuses like "The ref didnt call the snake guy out: it was some spectators" and "Ref clearly saw the break" etc) but what to do right, just live with it and play on.

The Eighth game was against the Fantastic 5. During breakout, I was running and gunning to the back left, unfortunately during the jostling, my marker chopped up a pellet badly. I tried to recover it, but it was quite messy, and told Eddie. I filled for him at the center back, while he moved forward. Fortunately the team managed to win this game.

So it was a terrible wait and see, for it solely depended on the outcome of The Bandits game, who were the only team we could mathematically overtake. Even though they drew the game due to their dead teammate (Mr Fingers) talking, they still had a few points more than us. So we were placed #9, and out of the knockout quarterfinals.

Boo hoo.

So we went home at 12pm. Total cost for the tournament was about RM180 per person, which was not too bad.

The final results for the tourney is:

1st - TEAM LCCT ASTAKA 1
2nd - TEAM HARUMAN ABADI
3rd - TEAM PRADAS
4th - TEAM LCCT ASTAKA 2

It was a pleasure playing for the Infidelz, and they run a really tight ship. Everyone is easy going yet disciplined. Faiz's ability to stay alive way up in the 50's center and in the tube snakes is extraordinary. Shiham's tape runs on the rights turned the game around multiple times. Eddie's field awareness is quite amazing, giving orders and making the right moves all of the time.

It certainly was an honour playing with them, and there was alot to learn.

yk