After two weeks of play, it seems like the usual suspects in OpTic Gaming and Team EnVyUs have risen to the top of the standings, but it came after an exciting series of matches Thursday night.
Here is a recap of what went down in a day of upsets and close matches:
Match 1: Luminosity Gaming vs. Team EnVyUs
Game 1: CTF – Coliseum
nV may have kicked things off by grabbing power weapons, however, that did not stop Kevin “Eco” Smith from juking out fire to get the first cap of the game.
Both flags were out just three minutes into the contest, and that allowed nV to pull off a double flag cap. Eric “Snip3down” Wrona went through the backdoor to Luminosity Gaming’s base, got a flag return, and fended off LG long enough to make it 2-1 nV.
All it took for nV was a team effort to bring the entire LG side down, and Cuyler “Huke” Garland brought it home with the final cap of the game.
This one was over in under six minutes.
Game Final: nV 3 – 1 LG
Match Score: nV 1 – 0 LG
Game 2: Slayer – Truth
After a solid effort by Justin “iGotUrPistola” Deese in game one, in which he had a K/D over a 2.0, he showed up in Slayer with some ridiculous fuel rod and sword play. He earned six kills with the cannon, had a double kill with the energy sword, and ended game two with a 20-6-8 clip.
It was pretty much a game to lose for the boys in blue, as they did not give up the lead at all, and basically locked up the game after the second fuel rod spawn came along.
And finally, the HCS community found the “God Squad” that they were looking for this season.
Game Final: nV 50 – 37 LG
Match Score: nV 2 – 0 LG
Game 3: Strongholds – Empire
Whenever you face Huke, do whatever you can to get the SAW as far away from him as possible.
Huke earned a killing spree to start the game off, which lead to total control for nV and set up an early lead over Luminosity. He would finish the game with a 21-10-9 stat line, along with three captures.
LG tried to swap bases and take over the pit, but nV was just too good at rotating around the map and wound up getting two more total controls in this one to seal the sweep.
A team that started off the season perfect has now fallen back down to earth at .500, and it came at the hands of a team who most thought was overrated.
Game Final: nV 100 – 47 LG
Match Final: nV 3 – 0 LG
Match 2: Team Liquid vs. Allegiance
Game 1: CTF – Coliseum
With three men down for Team Liquid, it was Zane “Penguin“ Hearon who once again showed off his objective play, running coast-to-coast for the first flag cap of the game.
Allegiance answered back quickly, despite some nifty sniper and scattershot play by Hamza “Commonly“ Abaalli, and brought the score to 2-1 with 7:45 left in regulation.
Commonly would later chuck a game winning flag for ALG off the map, but Devon “PreDevoNatoR” Layton made a solid return of thier own flag, which allowed Michael “Falcated“ Garcia to finish off the game. Falcated ended the game with a game high 22 kills.
And finally, ALG has won a CTF game this season.
Game Final: ALG 3 – 2 TL
Match Score: ALG 1 – 0 TL
Game 2: Slayer – Eden
The scoreline didn’t tell the full story of this game, as TL fought heavily for power weapons throughout the entire match.
However, their efforts weren’t enough to close the deficit, and ALG had a comfortable enough lead to trade kills for the win.
Cody “ContrA” Szczodrowski lead all players with 14 kills, eight of which coming from his play with the pistol.
Game Final: ALG 50 – 36 TL
Match Score: ALG 2 – 0 TL
Game 3: Strongholds – The Rig
There is a first time for everything tonight, because ALG would drop its first Strongholds of the season to Team Liquid in this one.
ALG had the early lead off of a Falcated killing spree and objective play from Penguin, but TL was able to bring it back thanks to Tyler “Spartan“ Ganza getting railgun control and some total control.
This gave TL enough momentum to take away a game from ALG, and bring things to game four.
Game Final: TL 100 – 66 ALG
Match Score: ALG 2 – 1 TL
Game 4: CTF – Truth
Well, ALG still has some work to do on CTF.
In 3:20, TL was able to bull rush ALG, working off of a no shield stealth capture from Penguin, and two captures by Timothy “Rayne“ Tinkler to dominate this one.
This sucked the life out of ALG, which put the series to game five.
Game Final: TL 3 – 0 ALG
Match Score: TL 2 – 2 ALG
Game 5: Slayer – Regret
ALG had this series after the second game, all they had to do was close out Strongholds, but TL came surging back.
The same could be said in this Slayer game, as they led by as much as 34-26 at one point… But TL launched a comeback.
It came down to the final kill at 49-49, when Rayne, holding the Carbine, pulled off a long distance headshot to save a teammate at low health to win the series. He finished the game with 16 kills total.
ALG has now lost its third game five in four matches, and the players looked like they did back in week one: good, but not good enough to close out games.
Game Final: TL 50 – 49 ALG
Match Final: TL 3 – 2 ALG
Match 3: OpTic Gaming vs. Ex-OpTic Gaming (LOL)
Game 1: CTF – Truth
While LOL got off close to the first cap of the game in the first minutes, it had to take an almost complete sweep by Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom to get the first score on the board. OG’s TJ “Lethul” Campbell got the first cap of the game after having a base duel, and that brought up a quick second cap by Matthew “Royal2” Fiorante.
LOL got one back through Bradley “APG” Laws, but Frosty was able to grab the energy sword, rush the flag back to his base, and close out game one for the #GreenWall.
Game Final: OG 3 – 1 LOL
Match Score: OG 1 – 0 LOL
Game 2: Slayer – The Rig
LOL once again got out to a close start, but OG wound up pulling away late in the game by securing both snipers on the map.
Royal2 lead all players with 17 kills, but APG was not too far behind on the other side with 16, looking to carry his team to a bounce-back game. It just wasn’t enough though to beat the best slaying team in the business.
Game Final: OG 50 – 40 LOL
Match Score: OG 2 – 0 LOL
Game 3: Strongholds – Empire
OG got off to a slow start quite a few times in this series, but the team still pulled off a decisive victory over the squad they replaced.
LOL was stingy in terms of taking over the pit, however, OG was able to fend off LOL’s advances to complete the 3-0 sweep.
Well, OG wanted to show its new team off against its old talent., and a complete sweep was definitely the way to do it.
Game Final: OG 100 – 40 LOL
Match Final: OG 3 – 0 LOL
Match 4: Evil Geniuses vs. Enigma6
Game 1: CTF – Fathom
Still in the bathroom when this game started? Welp, you missed EG get a 29 second flag cap after taking down three, with Cameron “Victory X“ Thorlakson bringing it in for the 1-0 lead.
Another almost sweep of E6 brought in the second cap of the game for EG… But E6 answered right back with two flag caps within 26 seconds of each other.
It took a while for both teams to catch their breath after an exciting three minutes of action, but Jesse “bubu dubu” Moeller was able to bring the victory to E6 after juking out a railgun shot to get the final cap of the game.
Game Final: E6 3 – 2 EG
Match Score: E6 1 – 0 EG
Game 2: Slayer – Plaza
E6 was able to capatalize on momentum coming out of game one, starting with a 15-9 lead.
Not ready to back down, EG would respond with a 19-7 run, led by Justin “<a style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: #df2940; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;" href="http://halo.esportswikis.com/wiki/Roy" target="blank”>Roy” Brown getting a double kill with a magnum and another with the battle rifle.
He would only end the game with a 10-9-14 record, beacuse E6 was able to surge right back with the lead. In a two minute span, the team was able to get a 19-3 run off of Braedeon “StelluR” Boettcher’s handiwork with the sniper, getting a killing spree in the process.
E6 was able to pull off another comeback victory, and it seemed like it would be smooth sailing for this group…
Game Final: E6 50 – 38 EG
Match Score: E6 2 – 0 EG
Game 3: Strongholds – Plaza
But then Strongholds happened, where E6 should have had the upper hand if you were to go by team records. EG, however, got off to a hot 48-0 start.
E6 then wrestled back control with authority, bringing things to a 61-48 scoreline. EG answered back with a total control, as well as some solid rotations, and the team finally got a match on the board.
Like Slayer, Strongholds is a game of runs, and EG knew how to ride the wave of momentum to victory.
Game Final: EG 100 – 61 E6
Match Score: E6 2 – 1 EG
Game 4: CTF – Coliseum
E6 was the team to kick off scoring early, as bubu dubu ran the length of the map to grab the first flag of the game. He then pulled off a double kill to try and set up a flag cap for Ayden “Suspector” Hill, and although that was unsuccessful, a follow up attempt brought things to 2-0 three minutes into the game.
EG mounted a fantastic comeback thanks to some power weapon play, and the squad had the game winner in sight, but it wasn’t completed until Tyler “<a style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: #df2940; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;" href="http://halo.esportswikis.com/wiki/Ninja" target="blank”>Ninja“ Blevins pulled off a killing spree with the flag.
The series was now tied and going to the final game.
Game Final: EG 3 – 2 E6
Match Score: EG 2 – 2 E6
Game 5: Slayer – Regret
Ninja kicked things off for EG, starting a 10-4 run to allow his team to get power weapons early.
E6 was down, but not out, as they pulled back the lead late 39-38. Regulation time was coming up, and the game slowed down considerably.
The teams traded kills, and with 22 seconds left, it was 43-42 with EG in the lead. Roy saved a teammate with a battle rifle shot, but Suspector punched his face in while bubu dubu brought things to level.
This set up the final score of the game for Ninja, who hit a game-winning no-scope to finish off the series for EG.
Evil Geniuses completed the second reverse sweep of the night… ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Game Final: EG 45 – 44 E6
Match Score: EG 3 – 2 E6
And that will do it for week two of the Halo Championship Series!
Who do you think pulled off the more impressive reverse sweep? Evil Geniuses or Team Liquid?
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James Mattone is a journalist for GAMURS and can be contacted by email at jamestmattone@gmail.com or on Twitter – @TheJamesMattone.
(Image Credit: Halo Waypoint)
