NXL Pro Power Rankings: Event #1 Las Vegas

San Diego Dynasty is a team not to be trifled with, they have been at the top of the sport for 15 years and seem to be just as strong now as they were nearly 15 years ago. Dynasty’s core players are old, but the have some tremendous young players in Kyle Spicka, Alex Rodriguez and Tyler Harmon. Coming hot off their emotional and spectacular NXL World Cup win, with or without Oliver Lang (which he will be) we are placing Dynasty at the top of the NXL Pro Rankings list.

Over the past two season’s Edmonton Impact have been the most consistent of all the professional paintball teams, they have been on the podium 11 times out of the last 15 tournaments they have played in the US. That stat alone is amazing and could place them in the 1st spot. Losing Chad Busier and their poor showing at the NXL World Cup we feel places them in the 2nd spot.

As always Houston Heat are at the top of the list, in regards to the top teams in professional paintball. Houston Heat overall had a great 2014 season, they podiumed at 3 of the events they played in the US. They did however, have an ugly Virginia Beach Open where they lost to Dynasty and ac: Dallas in the prelims. Heat also lost Tim Montressor, Thomas Taylor, and Alexander Berdnikov in the off-season. Taylor and Montrssor didn’t play that much and should not affect the teams overall performance in 2016. The Loss of Berdnikov is huge, he was one of the teams best players and his departure will be felt.

San Antonio X-Factor had by all measures a good season last year, they came in 3rd overall and took two 2nd place finishes. They were placed lower than Heat for two reasons, the loss of Scott Kemp and Carl Markowski. Both Kemp and Markowski, while not major contributors to the team’s success (perhaps Kemp more so than Markowski) they will both be missed. With the loss of Kemp X-Factor picked up dorito player Kevin Coulm. Last year Coulm played with Russian Legion in the states and is still with the TonTons in Europe. I’m an X-Factor fan, I want to place them higher, but I don’t think they beat the teams above them the majority of the time.

Has 187 made it to the upper echelon of pro paintball teams? We would like to think so, and there 2015 season may be all the evidence we need. 187 have been playing more like a team, they don’t have any major stand out stars, they are just an all round solid paintball team. They beat all the teams below them last year, they just have struggled to play well and beat the elite teams.

ac: Dallas, we love ac. They are the underdog and who doesn’t love the underdog? They are the newcomers and they are making their presence felt. After a not so hot start to 2015 ac finished out the year very strong with two 4th places finishes. Last year ac: Dallas beat, 187 cRew, Infamous, Ironmen, Heat and Aftershock all teams that until they played we thought would beat ac.

Tampa Bay Damage had a funny 2015 season. After playing for nearly 10 years together, the team looked to have been calling it quits. Most of the guys were going to quit and be done with paintball, but then all of the sudden the team was back. 2015 was one of the worst years that Tampa Bay Damage has had since they went Pro back in 2007. On the bright side Damage did get back Chad Busiere which should help the team mightly. 

Yeah placing Infamous in 8th might be crazy, they did  win the first event in 2015. At times, Infamous can be better than any team in the league, but other times they shoot themselves in the foot, with sloppy play and penalties. At World Cup last year Infamous had to win their last match against ac Dallas to move on to Sunday and they lost 1-7, to a less experienced ac Dallas team. Infamous also lost their best player Alex Goldman and a very solid Drew Templeton and Bobby Aviles, while picking up an old Thomas Taylor and a green Phil Shredder. I will be surprised if Infamous can make it out of there current 8th spot this year.

I feel like Aftershock have been on the rise for the last two years and have yet to take that final step to jump to the top of the pack. At the NXL Virginia beach open the team went 0-4, but lost all four matches by only one point! That is just some bad luck. Aftershock did however add some new pieces that could help further push them to the top. Carl Markowski and Drew Templeton have come back to the team. Markowski can help bolster the snake side attack while Templeton can bring some much-needed experience and maturity to the young team.

A lot like Aftershock, the Ironman have been on the rise the past few years but have failed to take the next step that take them to the top. The team has been playing much better in that later part of the year, staying alive and attacking much more fluidly. The team has remained much the same, except for the additions of Scott Kemp and Bobby Aviles. Look for second-year player Jerry Caro to get a lot more points this year and show off his skills.

Uprising are the new kids on the block, while new in the pro bracket they are not new to our ears. Last year uprising had one of the best seasons we have seen in a long time. Last year the team played four division 1 tournaments (NXL and PSP) and won three and took a second. What’s maybe more impressive, in the 28 matches they played the only lost two. Uprising are the real deal, they should be fun to watch this year.

Russian Legion are the most mysterious of all the professional teams in the NXL. They don’t really do social media, they aren’t flashy, they just do their job. We may have ranked them low, but on paper the Russians have one the best rosters in the NXL. Berdnikov, Colombo, Gaudin, Golev, and Prikhidni make a very solid starting five.

Seattle Thunder is a team filled with paintball legends, Corey Field, Mikey Lew, and Mapp Chim when on the Naughty Dogs were dominate (except when the played Dynasty). That was then and this is now, and Thunder have not had a good showing in the PSP or NXL since their first professionally tournament back in 2012. We just can’t see the team moving up in the ranks with their current roster, they are old and slow.

The TMG Outlaws are one of the newer teams in the pro division, and watching their matches it shows. The team constantly lose in even body situations and when they are even up on bodies. They play an aggressive quick style game that may suit them against some of the other lesser teams but against the best shooters in the league it never does. The loss of Phil Shredder to Infamous will be huge blow to the team, as last year he was easily the team’s best player.

We want Boom to be good, really we do, but they just aren’t. They won 4 matches last year, twice against TopGun, one against Revo and an upset against Impact. They have lost some players and picked up some in the offseason, so who knows maybe they could surprise everyone and clean sweep the season! probably not though.

Baltimore Revo were one of the teams that made the jump from D1 to the Pros that we thought could pose some threat to other teams. That has yet to pan out as the team has yet to finish higher than 7th (Challengers Division excluded) in the last two years. Revo have a ton of heart and practice as much as they can. They are scrappy and always seem to put up a decent fight, look for Revo to do better this season. As they are now they are still ranked 16th (that’s not good).