-Maxs European Masters, Nürburgring, May 18 – 20 2007. At the end of May, THE German paintball event of the year took place at the Nürburgring. The Millennium Series encompasses the largest pan-European paintball league. We play in different divisions.

The arrival....

For example, you can find the elite of the European and even some American professional teams in the CPL (Champions League). Whoever wins this series is considered the European Champion.
Fast `n Deadly played under an assumed name in the M5 division (M5 = classic Millennium 5 man format), which consisted mostly of new and amateur teams. The great thing about this, was that we could measure ourselves against international teams too. Of course most of the teams in this division were from the organizing country, but British, Portuguese and French teams... can always be found.
So, we were able to sniff out where we stand internationally.
On May 17th, we made our way to the Ring, so that we could move into a bungalow in the Center Park and check out the location. Once we got to the Ring, we fanned out in all directions, so that we might snatch up some bargains at the trade show.
Afterwards, we sought out the various fields in order to read the layout and come up with some ideas for a game plan. Unfortunately, the M5 fields were at the end and most remote part of the compound.
On Friday, we watched some of the games that took place on the same fields that we would be playing on, in order to find out whether our startegy was viable. Then we were off to sign up. We had to get our player passes made and hand in our lineup for the weekend, which is when we made a momentus mistake!! More on that later.
Then we had some free time, which each of us used as he saw fit. I, myself, checked out the games of the German SPL teams (Semi Professional League).
Saturday, off to the Ring. All the players were jonesing to get started.
Our lineup consisted of Hirsel, Arsch, Basti, Maddin and Chris. Since a scheduled player unfortunately let us know that he wouldn't be participating 2 days before the event (I wanted him keelhauled, but my suggestion held little appeal!?), Chris had to join us on the field, despite a painful knee injury. Actually Steffen was supposed to take over later, since he couldn't get there earlier. However, due to the aforementioned mistake made during sign up we weren't allowed to put Steffen in nad Chris had to play the whole tournament, despite his injury. Discussing the problem with the people in charge got us nowhere. Steffen couldn't play. Somehow that day really seemed cursed. Nothing was working out. We had to admit defeat unusually often, even though the teams that beat us weren't clearly superior. I guess there are days where the shit just sticks to your heel. Maybe it was nerves (it was the first international event for some), maybe the absence of teamwork and adequate communication (we were playing with a new guy), maybe... oh well, Saturday sucked.
In the evening, we wanted to stop by the Players-Party shortly. There was nothing short about it. In typical Fast `n Deadly manner we sang, danced (sometimes attracting spectators) and drank into the wee hours of the morning, like real Pirates.

Unfortunately, this resulted in all of us being horribly hung over the next morning. Even our shuttle broke down on the way to the Nürburgring and left us standing on the side of the road with all of our gear, clueless as to how we were going to get to our field before game time in half an hour. Thanks to a few dauntless passers-by, we made it on time.
Despite the gross hung over atmosphere, this was our best game of the whole tournament ...Smile
What happened afterward had a lot in common with the events of Saturday. Our performance was moderate at best. We finished in 44th place out of 60 in the M5 division. At least the God of weather was merciful that weekend. It was cold, but at least it was dry. We had much more fun off the field, which mostly had to do with our performance. Even though we tried, we couldn't find anyone to blame for our poor showing but ourselves...
All in all, it was a fun, but expensive, weekend. We realized what we have to work on and will follow through. If we can manage to coordinate more precisely and have 5 healthy players on the field, the results should become more respectable.
We vow to improve and are ashamed of ourselves...

Maddin