Editing 2026 NXL Mid-Atlantic Open

The '''2026 NXL Mid-Atlantic Open''' was a [[National Xball League]] paintball tournament held from '''30 April to 3 May 2026''' at '''Dover Motor Speedway''' in Dover, Delaware. It featured professional and divisional Xball, professional three-player conference competitions, the MLPB Cup, an All-Star game and amateur and classic-format divisions.[1][2]

[[Tampa Bay Damage]] won the professional five-player competition and the separately classified MLPB Cup. [[Royal City Seadogs]] and [[Edmonton Impact]] won the East and West professional three-player competitions respectively.[2][3]

== Venue and programme ==

The tournament was held at Dover Motor Speedway, with the event address listed as 1201 Persimmon Tree Lane, Dover, Delaware.[1]

Thursday's programme included professional three-player Xball, the MLPB Cup, amateur three-player Xball and the NXL All-Star game. Professional five-player, Semi-Pro and Divisions 2–4 Xball were listed for Friday to Sunday, with Division 5 Xball scheduled for Friday and Saturday.[1]

Classic five-player competition was scheduled for Friday, classic seven-player for Saturday and amateur ten-player for Sunday. Additional five-player and three-player divisions competed during the weekend.[1]

== Formats ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Division or format
! Published playing conditions
|-
| Professional five-player Xball
| 15-minute matches; six-point mercy rule
|-
| Semi-Pro and Division 2 Xball
| 15-minute matches; five-point mercy rule
|-
| Divisions 3–4 Xball
| 12-minute matches; four-point mercy rule
|-
| Division 5 Xball
| 10-minute matches; three-point mercy rule
|-
| Professional three-player Xball
| 12-minute matches; five-point mercy rule
|-
| MLPB Cup
| 12-minute three-player Xball
|-
| Amateur three-player Xball
| Six-minute matches; three-point mercy rule
|-
| All-Star game
| 20-minute Xball
|-
| Five-player
| Five-minute games
|-
| Classic seven-player
| Seven-minute games
|-
| Amateur ten-player
| Ten-minute games
|-
| Conventional three-player
| Three-minute games
|}

Source: official event registration.[1]

== Professional five-player competition ==

Twenty teams contested professional Xball. Ten advanced from the preliminary round, with the top two teams from each bracket qualifying alongside two wildcards.[3]

Tampa Bay Damage defeated CK Hurricanes 3–1 in the quarter-finals and Red Legion 4–3 in the semi-finals. Edmonton Impact reached the final through victories over Seattle Uprising, Los Angeles Ironmen and PaintballFIT.[3]

Damage defeated Impact '''7–1''' in the final.[3]

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| [[Tampa Bay Damage]]
|-
| 2
| [[Edmonton Impact]]
|-
| 3
| [[Red Legion]]
|-
| 4
| [[PaintballFIT]]
|}

Source: official final rankings.[2]

=== Professional playoff results ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Round
! Winners
! Score
! Opponents
|-
| Semi-final
| Tampa Bay Damage
| 4–3
| Red Legion
|-
| Semi-final
| Edmonton Impact
| 4–1
| PaintballFIT
|-
| Final
| Tampa Bay Damage
| 7–1
| Edmonton Impact
|}

Source: official scores.[3]

== Professional three-player competition ==

The event held separate East and West professional three-player competitions. Bracket winners advanced to the semi-finals.[3]

{| class="wikitable"
! Conference
! Winners
! Final score
! Runners-up
|-
| East
| Royal City Seadogs
| 7–2
| Orlando Red Legion
|-
| West
| Edmonton Impact
| 3–2
| Los Angeles Ironmen
|}

Source: official playoff brackets.[3]

These conference results were separate from the MLPB Cup division.[1][2]

== MLPB Cup ==

The '''MLPB Cup''' was registered within the Mid-Atlantic Open as a four-team three-player Xball competition with a 12-minute match format.[1]

{| class="wikitable"
! Position
! Team
|-
| 1
| Tampa Bay Damage
|-
| 2
| San Antonio X-Factor
|-
| 3
| Edmonton Impact
|-
| 4
| Royal City Seadogs
|}

Source: official MLPB Cup rankings.[2]

=== Television coverage ===

ESPN's programming announcement included a programme titled '''Pro Paintball 3v3 National Championship''' in its ESPN8: The Ocho schedule for 8 August 2026.[4]

Contemporary paintball coverage identified Dover Motor Speedway as the venue and advertised a championship matchup between Tampa Bay Damage and San Antonio X-Factor.[5]

The August television listing should be distinguished from the tournament's April–May competition dates.[1][4]

== All-Star game ==

The event included an NXL All-Star game on Thursday, 30 April. NXL All-Stars East finished first, ahead of NXL All-Stars West.[1][2]

== Divisional and classic results ==

The following table records the winners of the remaining divisions listed in the official final results.

{| class="wikitable"
! Division
! Winners
|-
| Semi-Pro Xball
| Blast Camp
|-
| Division 2 Xball
| AG Knights
|-
| Division 3 Xball
| Legacy Gorillas
|-
| Division 4 Xball
| New Jersey Filthy 4
|-
| Division 5 Xball
| New Jersey Filthy 5
|-
| Division 3 five-player
| Papeletto
|-
| Division 4 five-player
| INTENT
|-
| Division 5 five-player
| Ragtags
|-
| WNXL five-player
| Sparrows
|-
| Classic Open five-player
| Image
|-
| Classic Open seven-player
| Team Smoke
|-
| Amateur ten-player
| MB55
|-
| Amateur three-player Xball
| Team Smoke
|-
| Amateur three-player
| Shitters
|-
| Intermediate three-player
| ThunderCats
|-
| Novice three-player
| NJ CRASH
|}

Source: official final rankings.[2]

== Women's competition ==

The event's women's competition was the WNXL five-player division. Sparrows finished first, TCP Diamond Machine second and NJ High Rollers third.[2]

Professional WNXL five-player Xball was not listed among the event's registered divisions.[1]

== See also ==

* [[National Xball League]]
* [[Major League Paintball]]
* [[2026 NXL season]]
* [[2026 WNXL season]]
* [[2026 NXL Tampa Bay Open]]
* [[2026 NXL Midwest Open]]

== References ==

# [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/info PBLeagues – 2026 Mid-Atlantic Open: dates, venue, programme, divisions and formats.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/rankings PBLeagues – 2026 Mid-Atlantic Open final rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/scores PBLeagues – 2026 Mid-Atlantic Open scores and playoff brackets.]
# [https://espnpressroom.com/press-release/espn8-the-ocho-returns-for-its-10th-anniversary-august-6-9/ ESPN Press Room – ESPN8: The Ocho returns for its 10th Anniversary August 6–9, 20 July 2026.]
# [https://skullmonkeyspb.com/blog/mlpb-3-man-paintball-espn-2026 Skull Monkeys Paintball – 2026 MLPB Pro 3v3 National Championship on ESPN, 4 August 2026.]

== External links ==

* [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/info Official event information]
* [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/rankings Official final rankings]
* [https://pbleagues.com/event/9319/scores Official match results]

[[Category:Paintball tournaments]]
[[Category:Paintball in the United States]]
[[Category:2026 in paintball]]