The HCS EU Super, Halo Infinite’s next major tournament, will be kicking off pool play on March 25. We now have details on how exactly those pools stack up, thanks to an announcement via HCS this morning.
Sixteen teams in total have qualified through the Pro or Open Series to be in with a chance at taking home some of the event’s $100,000 prize pool, but they’ll have to contend with long-standing juggernauts in the region to do so.
Pool A is led by Acend, the mixed French-English roster that has been a dominant force since its formation in the early days of Halo Infinite. They didn’t drop a single set throughout January’s HCS Pro Series and that success continued into February’s Open Series. The more inexperienced teams beneath them will have a tough challenge ahead to take maps or potential sets from them for a chance at a better standing. Acend will be aiming to prove their talent after a disappointing early exit at HCS’s Kickoff Major in Raleigh last year, where European rival Natus Vincere managed to achieve a higher placing.
Na’Vi is in Pool B, at greater risk from potential upsets. While the roster is composed of veterans to the Halo scene who made a name for themselves in Halo 5: Guardians, they’ve struggled to find consistent success in Halo Infinite. They rarely fall below top four in the tournaments they attend, but they have occasionally faltered in sets to teams such as Quadrant and The Lads, which has thrown their spot as the number two team in Europe into question. Recent scrim results against Acend, Quadrant, and The Lads have been mixed, but Na’Vi will be hoping to come into the EU Super this weekend with a strong pool play performance for their best chance at a showdown against Acend on Sunday.
French roster Quadrant will be the team to watch in Pool C, having had strong performances throughout Halo Infinite’s competitive season. With a very recent roster change moving Nurix to a coaching role and adding Shad as the fourth player, their second-place result in the recent Open Series tournament was promising for the team’s future. Scrim results in the leadup to the HCS EU Super have also been impressive, with the team only falling to the insurmountable Acend roster.
Pool D is the wildcard on Friday, with most of the teams in with a chance to take the top step in pools. While BLVKHVND come into the weekend with the first seed for their pool, The Lads have had some surprise tournament results that saw them take second and third place in two of the HCS Pro Series weeks. While they lack consistency, the results of Pool D will vary wildly depending on the shape each team is in as the day begins. The recently-acquired Vexed Gaming roster has been defeated in recent scrims against both opponents but have the chance of stealing away a set if the map and gametype combinations play to their strengths in Slayer.
The HCS EU Super action will kick off this Friday, March 25, on the Halo Twitch channel throughout the weekend. Players who missed out on earning the ‘Whose World Is This’ emblem from previous esports events will be able to get it by watching at least an hour of the tournament via Twitch drops.
