Grammaton Clerics secures MPOC 2012 D2 Championship.

Ask any competitive paintball team what they want at the end of the season and they will answer “Being season champions of the division”. Now we got the title handed on a silver platter by just registering because our nearest competitor and good friends Votolocos did not register for some odd reason. Well of course that is good but being Grammaton Clerics, we felt disappointed a wee bit. We want the title and the challenge that normally comes with it.So as a consolation we played even harder to get gold for the event that again was held at Xtion Paintball Park in Bukit Jalil.

For D2 there were 5 teams in total with us included. With 5 prelims games, the team at the bottom of the table end of Saturday will not make Sunday Semis (no quarters as there are not enough teams). We won 4 games and shared a point with Pandamonium whom we met twice in this round. We were slow and a bit sketchy at first but midway through the prelims we got our groove for our remaining points.

Pandamonium somehow up-ed their game against us and made us dig really deep for the points. In the semi-finals we met the Pandas again and the game was excruciatingly technical and difficult (not to mention the penalties we suffered too). For each point they led, we battled hard to draw it in the next. It came to 2 – 2 and we ran out of regulation time that forced us to play a sixth set in overtime.We did not let go... off the break we held on to the lanes and forced our forwards up as far as they could. Then we just waited for that split second of carelessness by the Pandas and picked their forwards, we waited a bit more for the fills and got them out too. Pinched out their back line with heavy guns and made sure they have no option but to expose out weakest side and their holding game came undone. At 3 – 2, 6 sets and 8 cases later THAT was one semi-final match we will never forget.

Tune Talk Lost Boys had their semis against the seasoned Simpsons. That game was no less thrilling and Simpsons gave them everything they could muster. But Lost Boys just managed to get that extra inch and pull out a win to meet us in the finals. Now at this point we thought why hold back? The semis were very tough no doubt but a silver medal would not look too well next to the MPOC 2012 D2 Champions cup. So yeah, we really want our medals to match on the trophy shelf (we don’t have mantelpieces here in Malaysia) and make it a point that Clerics will give 100% all the time every time.

The finals were long points. Both playing cautiously and maintaining lanes and controlling zones. We get them off the break on a few occasions but the mid game lock-down they deployed proved frustrating for our forwards. Our back had to place accurate shots to tuck their forwards while our snake and dorito inched to get the angles they need. We got the kills and led 2 – 1 with a bit more than a minute left of regulation time. We were exhausted so we made one final push as the seconds passed we were getting careless moving up and crossing shots. With about 40 seconds left we either lost our forwards or were stuck. Lost Boys tried to push snake side as we were empty there and reached the 50s, our backs held the lanes and crossed up to put their pace to a stop. As our friends and crew counted down the seconds Lost Boys could not break our defence and at the horn the game was over. We got the championship trophy and also the gold medal to match.

It has been a long and hard season. We came in as rookies to the division and trained very hard every weekend to improve every aspect of our game. There were no shortcuts or discounts for our success and without the help of family, friends and sponsors (Dye, Alphabunker, Napshot) we would not have made it this far this quick. Coming to the end of the third year as a team we thank everyone who parted advice, words of wisdom and contributed directly or indirectly to the team. Our success is as much as yours as well and we really appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

What’s next? There is WCA and that D2 PALS title we have been eyeing on. Let’s work for that double now shall we? See you in Langkawi World Cup Asia. Do drop by and say hello. We won’t bite. Promise.

Images are courtesy of Dez of ResidentEvilChef.com

MPOC 2012 4th Leg

Coming out fresh from the Malaysian Open and with ample study of the layout, MPOC Leg 4 was set to be a great outing. Again held at Xtion Paintball Park in Bukit Jalil where the facility is the traditional grounds for the league.

Oddly there were not many teams this leg with only 35 teams across 4 divisions. Perhaps the reason being there were many other tournaments the week before and the same week somewhere in the region.

Anyhow TGC had a really fun time. We came into this leg leading the table and if we become champions it would seal the title for us with one leg remaining. That was the goal but still a big part of it was to have fun.

During the prelims We dropped only 4 points in the 6 games we played in the race to 3 format. This made us qualify for Sunday in a revised Round Robin Semi-Final due to the lack of teams. So Sunday we faced in exact order, Demonz Hitt, Simpsons and Votolocos.

The match with Demonz Hitt was indeed tough with the layout in reality being very technical. In fact many teams across divisions played to full game time with draws peppered across the board. With that we drew with Demonz Hitt, won against Simpsons and Votolocos. Top 2 of the round robin secured their place in the finals while the bottom 2 matched-up for 3rd and 4th finals.

Thus we meet again with Votolocos in the finals. However this time we were not so lucky as we dragged the game to a draw in regulation time that forced the deciding point to be played in overtime. Votolocos took the point and we had to settle for 2nd place. Beaten this round but we could still keep our heads up. 2^nd place still maintains us as leaders of the D2 table. That is still a good cause for celebration, albeit a bit subdued. The final leg in September would not be any easier but a win then would be even sweeter. Everyone can be rest assured that there is no way the Clerics are handing the championship on a silver platter with a ribbon on top to any team. They want it? They have to work for it... and work very very hard they must.

Our greatest appreciation to Dye, Energy Paintball, Alphabunker, Napshot, friends, family, fans and foes.

Photo credits goes to Dez of http://www.residentevilchef.com/                              

Champions again. MPOC: Sultan of Kedah Cup

Again MPOC has outdone themselves. Although the change of venue in consideration for the local football league, the alternative was not half bad. The field was excellent, flat, firm and hardly any debris (rocks, sticks and etc.). The weather was the biggest challenge. Not a drop of rain for the entire duration of the competition and the temperature was in the mid 30s. A few players suffered from heatstroke which means the competition was extremely tough on everyone.

We had to change our line-up on at the last minute (more like an hour before our game) due to a tiny mishap but otherwise were were pretty sorted. Prelims had us loosing 2 games out of 9 with a bonus walkover that slotted us mid table for the Q8. There was no Q16 as there were not enough teams for division 3. We made the semis with 2 wins out of 3 games in the Q8. That brought us square to meet Labuan Fighters. It was a great game as both were strong off the break. Still we manged to tip them for the finals against home favourite Votolocos. We were dragged for a 3rd game. They were fast but we countered with strong zoning off the break which secured us a hatrick and strengthening our lead in Div3 MPOC 2011.

This event was the debut for the NT11 for us. With most of us did not have the time to run the markers in and pretty much tune it generally just to last 4 pods everyone was pretty happy. Not a single time did the NT11 gave problems. It was even better when we used RPS Premiums and Evils. By the end of prelims all of us were very impressed and tuned the markers to suit our individual styles. Come Q8 onwards we were grinning from ear to ear behind our i4s making kills.

Our greatest thanks to God for our winning streak for MPOC, Dye Precision for all the gears, RPS for the awesome paint and Energy Paintball for the juice needed and Napshot. To the family, friends and fans we appreciate your support and will continue our efforts to make history.

For the official media report head to The Star Online.

We got new threads!

We received our new goods yesterday, although a partial delivery but it was a joyous day indeed. Thank You  Dye and Napshot for hooking us up to be the best in what we do. We cant wait to trash them haters on the field while looking good at the same time.

We sealed 4th place in WPPL / CPCL leg 1 Open Division (5.2)

The rain throughout Sunday did not dampened our spirits going up against higher classified teams in the local circuit. There were Raz Legion, Demonz Red and Nemesis Legion that would usually prove too much for any team of lower divisions but we just played paintball.

Surprise surprise we stood our ground good enough to secure 4th place in the 5.2 format. Its a bit complicated to explain what it is all about but essentially its some sort of a 7 man format. Albeit the pellets were something to be left desired. Hopefully the organizer could improve on that.

The normal round of thanks goes to Dye for the faultless gear and equipment that pulled through the torrential rain throughout the event. The marshalls for braving the cold rain and swinging pellets to deliver the fair calls.

MPOC 2011 1st leg Division 3 CHAMPIONS!

What better way to start off the 2011 Malaysian Paintball season other than claiming Champions for Division 3 MPOC held in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The venue was excellent, the weather was perfect for the 2 days of tournament paintball. Competition was even better... it was tough but extremely entertaining, fun and competitive.

Looking forward to playing MPOC 2nd leg in the historical state of Malacca. Our greatest thanks to Dye, Napshot, Organizers, Marshalls, family, friends and paintballers whose undying support have contributed to a fantastic start to the 2011 season.

WE GOT PIMPED! THANK YOU DYE and NAPSHOT!

A picture is worth a thousand words they say~ multiply that with our team roster that makes a helluva lot of words that we express our gratitude and thanks to Dye and Napshot. Huge thanks to Simon and Mr. Paul Lam of Napshot for expediting the marriage between Grammaton and Dye. Your confidence is our aspiration.

Adding to that we would also like to announce 2 new additions to the team. Adil and Bonet... welcome to the family!