Taking down established names in Halo esports like Cloud9, Sentinels and G1 on their journey to Sunday, Native White was the standout story from Halo Infinite’s first Major of 2023 in Charlotte.
Converting a start in the open bracket to a battle for the podium at the event in the elimination semi-finals, Native White was finally knocked out by Spacestation Gaming in a heartbreaking 3-0 sweep and went home with a top-four finish. It’s not only an impressive return from retirement for the lineup’s resident veteran Mikwen, but also the highest that international players have ever finished at a Halo Major.
Native White’s roster is a diverse melting pot of superstar players, built from the ashes of the G2 Esports team that disbanded after last year’s World Championship. Gilkey and Australian star Barcode have stuck together, bringing on the talents of Mikwen and LATAM champion Tapping Buttons to complete the team. It was an unexpected squad to see form in late January, but their performance in Charlotte this weekend has proven exactly why it came together.
The team qualified for pool play after a mighty run in the open bracket. With the good fortune to fall into pool 3—one of the less competitive ones at the Major—a sweep against both Luminosity Gaming and Believe The Hype secured their appearance in the championship bracket.
A difficult round one matchup against Spacestation forced them straight into the elimination matches, but a steely resolve and stunning performances from Barcode kept the dream of Sunday alive. Native White followed up a sweep of Proton Gaming with a nail-biting five-game showdown with Sentinels for a top-six spot. Despite suffering from a 46-39 deficit toward the end of the final Slayer game, an impressive set of rotations and the Rocket Launcher in the hands of Barcode turned it into a 50-48 victory and a 3-2 series win to knock Sentinels out of the tournament.
G1 was their next opponent, which was a rematch from pool play the previous day. While Native White fell in that first series in a 2-3 fashion, the team looked stronger coming off the back of their win against Sentinels. With fourth place on the line, Native White put everything together and took down G1 3-1. Not only was this the best performance out of non-North American players in Halo history, but their journey to reach it via the open bracket is an almost unseen phenomenon, with the exception of Sentinels at HCS Raleigh after Royal2’s suspension.
Unfortunately, the team couldn’t carry the momentum into Sunday. Taking on Spacestation once again, Native White was no match for the seasoned veterans on that roster. Brief highlights, such as a clutch Overkill from Gilkey did little to stall the dominance on display from Spacestation, and the series ended with a quick and convincing 0-3 defeat.
Regardless of the disappointing final result, Native White’s players held their heads high in the series conclusion. “INSANELY proud of the boys this weekend,” wrote Mikwen on social media after their defeat. “I gotta dial in a ton of stuff personally, but can’t be too mad about the result.”
“Proud of the boys for the insane top 4 run with 4 weeks of prac[tice] we’ve done this weekend,” Barcode said, elated with how everything had worked out. With his future in Halo uncertain after moving to the USA to compete under G2—only for the organization to pull out of the esport a few months later—he also sang the praises of Native Gaming.
“The off season was incredibly dark, with it looking likely that I would stop competing in general due to visa and actual monetary reasons,” he explained. “But they were the saving grace and gave me this opportunity so thank you guys.”
Only Spacestation, FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming now remain in the tournament, all hoping to be the first team to snag a Major trophy in Halo Infinite’s second competitive season. The action continues live on the official Halo Twitch channel today, with the lion’s share of a $250,000 prize pool on the line.
