Team EnVyUs was able to correct their early poor form at the Halo World Championship and catch fire Saturday, eliminating Supremacy, TMMT Crowd Pleasers, and Luminosity Gaming.
Their complete turnaround is due to the outstanding play of Cuyler “Huke” Garland and Austin “Mikwen” McCleary. The pair collectively dominated every lobby they entered on Saturday, so much so that they both boosted themselves into the top three in kill/death ratio for the event. Mikwen is slightly ahead in K/D with 1.49 over Huke’s 1.45. Only OpTic Gaming’s Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante has recorded a better ratio this weekend.
Speaking of OpTic, the defending champs are still firing on every cylinder possible. After finishing the first day with a 10-1 map record, the Green Wall continued to play excellent Halo on Saturday. They began their day with a 4-0 win over Luminosity Gaming and finished it by beating arguably their biggest threat in Team Liquid 4-1. That final win clinched their spot in the HWC grand finals, guaranteeing that OpTic will be placing in the top two. Their success can be traced mainly back to Royal2, who is putting on the performance of a lifetime with a 1.63 K/D. His teammates Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte and Tony “LethuL” Campbell Jr. are also both averaging over 14 kills per game.
Despite losing to OpTic, Team Liquid still has looked exceptional this event. Before their OpTic matchup, Liquid swept Str8 Rippin in the upper bracket semifinals. Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher, a former OpTic Gaming member, has been the standout player for the team. Heading into Sunday, StelluR leads his team in K/D, kills per game, and he averages the least amount of deaths per game. In their series against Str8 Rippin however, Zane “Penguin” Hearon really stepped up his contribution. Although he is the only one of Liquid to have a negative K/D, Penguin led the way in the semifinals, especially in the first two games of the series.
The Australians of Team Immunity were swiftly taken out by FAB Games eSports in the first round of the lower bracket while the sole Latin American team was swept by Splyce. Both Immunity and SoaR failed to win a single map at the Halo World Championship this year, finishing the event with a 0-10 record.
TMMT Crowd Pleasers ended London Conspiracy’s event as well, defeating them 4-1.
In round two of the lower bracket, Europe’s last hope was taken out as FAB fell to Splyce 4-1. The Europeans collectively had a poor event with the three teams finishing the event with a combined record of 12-27. FAB was the only team to even win a series as London Conspiracy won a single map while Supremacy won two. In the other round two matchup, EnVyUs swept Crowd Pleasers.
The lower bracket quarterfinals were a little more interesting as Str8 Rippin and Splyce went back and forth in their series, finally settling it in a deciding game 7. In the end, Str8 Rippin won a 50-47 Eden Slayer game where the entire team was on the same page. Nobody on the Str8 Rippin side slacked or performed poorly at all with three of the four players finishing the game with 12 kills each. On the other side, Jesse “bubu dubu” Moeller and Michael “Falcated” Garcia accounted for the large majority of kills but couldn’t get enough to make up for their teammates’ poor game. In the other matchup, EnVyUs stamped out Luminosity, marking LG’s third sweep loss of the tournament.
The stage is set for the final day, where the second-annual Halo World Championship winners will be determined. Team EnVyUs, a team that has exhibited some lows and some highs this tournament will take on underdogs Str8 Rippin in the lower bracket semifinals. The winner of that match will then face Team Liquid, to decide who will join OpTic Gaming in the grand finals.
