Editing 2003 Mardi Gras Open

The '''2003 Mardi Gras Open''' was a [[paintball]] event held from 20 to 23 February 2003 at the Alario Center in the New Orleans area of Louisiana, United States. It combined five-player tournament competition with the opening matches of the [[National Xball League]] (NXL).[1]

[[Team Strange|Strange]] won professional five-player, Evil Factory won Amateur, Doc's Raiders won Novice and Texas Archangels won Rookie.[2][3]

== PSP status ==
[[Paintball Sports Promotions]] (PSP) produced the Mardi Gras Open as a standalone event outside its five-event championship series. WARPIG's subsequent historical coverage explicitly distinguishes the Mardi Gras Open from the regular PSP series, while identifying it as the opening venue for the 2003 NXL season.[4]

== Weather and scheduling ==
Rain, lightning and flooding cancelled Friday's play. Crews drained fields using pumps, trenches and culverts, allowing competition to resume on Saturday. Five-player games were shortened to five minutes, and unfinished preliminary games continued into Sunday.[1]

Professional five-player competition was reorganised as a Sunday double round robin without semi-finals or finals. The other divisions completed semi-finals and finals.[1]

== Five-player results ==
=== Professional ===
The professional competition comprised five teams playing eight games each. WARPIG recorded the following final standings.[2]

{| class="wikitable"
! Place !! Team !! Total points
|-
| 1 || [[Team Strange|Strange]] || 584
|-
| 2 || [[Naughty Dogs]] || 484
|-
| 3 || [[Ground Zero]] || 416
|-
| 4 || Redz Factory Team || 308
|-
| 5 || Storm || 228
|}

=== Amateur, Novice and Rookie ===
The following totals are from the final round.[3]

{| class="wikitable"
! Division !! Place !! Team !! Final-round points
|-
| rowspan="4" | Amateur
| 1 || Evil Factory || 212
|-
| 2 || Maxim U || 196
|-
| 3 || [[KAPP Factory]] || 110
|-
| 4 || WGP Orr-Acle || 106
|-
| rowspan="4" | Novice
| 1 || Doc's Raiders || 288
|-
| 2 || Atomix Factory || 184
|-
| 3 || Blackout || 118
|-
| 4 || Cartel || 36
|-
| rowspan="4" | Rookie
| 1 || Texas Archangels || 200
|-
| 2 || Atomix Factory Blue || 200
|-
| 3 || The Corporation || 116
|-
| 4 || Fat City Hangover || 108
|}

Texas Archangels and Atomix Factory Blue finished level on points. Texas Archangels won the title through the head-to-head tie-break, having defeated Atomix Factory Blue 96–8.[1][3]

Doc's Raiders won all three Novice final-round games. Evil Factory won Amateur despite losing its last game to Maxim U.[3]

== Inaugural NXL competition ==
The NXL began play on Thursday, 20 February. At 09:00, Miami Effect defeated Baltimore Trauma 11–9 in the league's first match. Mike Ratko served as commissioner, Bill Cookston as ultimate judge, and PRO referees officiated.[1]

WARPIG published event rosters for all eight franchises:[5]

* Baltimore Trauma
* Chicago Aftershock
* Detroit Thunder
* Los Angeles Ironmen
* Miami Effect
* New York Xtreme
* Oakland Assassins
* Philadelphia Americans

These were regular-season matches contributing to the NXL championship, rather than a separate knockout tournament producing a Mardi Gras champion. Friday's postponed matches were to be rescheduled later in the season. Philadelphia Americans finished the event undefeated.[1]

== One-on-one competition ==
Jonathon Call won the double-elimination one-on-one competition, receiving a US$2,500 Shocktech certificate.[1]

== See also ==
* [[Paintball Sports Promotions]]
* [[National Xball League]]
* [[X-Ball]]
* [[2003 NPPL Huntington Beach Open]]

== References ==
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/mardigras/2003/index.shtml Mardi Gras Open 2003: Contemporary event report]. ''WARPIG'', 20–23 February 2003.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/mardigras/2003/pre.shtml Mardi Gras Open 2003: Professional standings and Preliminary Scoreboard]. ''WARPIG'', February 2003.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/mardigras/2003/finals.shtml Mardi Gras Open 2003: Semi-final and Final Scoreboards]. ''WARPIG'', February 2003.
# [https://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2006/texas/ PSP Texas Open 2006: Historical background on the Mardi Gras Open and its relationship to the PSP series]. ''WARPIG'', February 2006.
# [https://www.warpig.com/paintball/tournament/mardigras/2003/nxl_rosters.shtml NXL Rosters from the Mardi Gras Open]. ''WARPIG'', 20–23 February 2003.

[[Category:Paintball Sports Promotions events]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:Paintball in Louisiana]]
[[Category:2000s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2003 in paintball]]