Halo Infinite: OpTic Gaming & Cloud9 Go The Distance, OpTic Wins Thrilling Bracket Reset

Time Stamp: November 22, 2021 2:43 AM

OpTic Gaming and Cloud9 deliver a spectacular finish to the first official HCS online tournament.

The Halo Championship Series (HCS) opened its Halo Infinite season with an outstanding display of competition. A total of 406 teams committed themselves to the first North American online tournament of the year. A handful of those belong to some of the world’s most reputable esports organizations.

FaZe Clan, Sentinels, OpTic Gaming and Cloud9, were just a few of the many teams looking to start Halo Infinite at the top of the food chain. What transpired over two days of competition could not have been written better. The top teams lasted until the end, and the Grand Finals came down to a bracket reset marathon between OpTic and C9.

Let’s see how the first seeding tournament played out as the journey to HCS Raleigh continues.

Cloud9 and OpTic’s Path to the Finals

Cloud9 looked untouchable for most of the HCS Open Series tournament. They went undefeated through much of the weekend, defeated OpTic in the upper bracket and reached the Grand Finals without resistance. After losing to C9, OpTic Gaming dispatched Spacestation Gaming, G2 Esports, eUnited and Sentinels in the elimination bracket en route to a revenge match against Cloud9 in the finals.

OpTic Gaming had a challenging task in front of them. They first had to win three of five matches against Cloud9 in a series to force a bracket reset.

Grand Finals

Cloud9 started strong, securing a narrow 3-2 victory on CTF on Aquarius. OpTic rallied back in games two and three. The boys in green won Team Slayer on Bazaar 50-45 and Oddball on Recharge 2-1. Cloud9 answered with a commanding 250-49 win on Streets Strongholds. Game five came down to Team Slayer on Live Fire, and it was anyone’s game.

OpTic held their own up to the very end. Lucid was arguably the team’s MVP. He finished game five with a K/D of 17-11 while Trippy earned the game-deciding kill. It was close, but OpTic completed the bracket reset with a 50-49 victory. Cloud9’s backs were against the wall as momentum shifted in OpTic’s favor.

Grand Finals Reset

The two teams reversed roles in a sense to begin the Grand Finals Reset best-of-five. OpTic took game one with a convincing score of 250-149 on Recharge Strongholds. Cloud9 rallied back despite losing some steam, winning Team Slayer on Streets 50-45 and CTF on Aquarius 2-0. OpTic faced elimination heading into match five—Oddball on Live Fire.

Pistola, aPG, Lucid and Trippy gutted out a close 2-1 Oddball win, which meant OpTic and Cloud9 were heading for a decisive game five. OpTic came out guns blazing, establishing a massive 30-11 advantage. The lead eventually improved to 45-19 before OpTic shut the door, ending Cloud9’s run with a 50-21 win on Bazaar Team Slayer. These two squads delivered on the hype with an absolute marathon to the finish, but OpTic Gaming thrived under pressure.

Here are the completed Grand Finals scores:

  • Game One – CTF on Aquarius: C9 over OpTic 3-2
  • Game Two – Slayer on Bazaar: OpTic over C9 50-45
  • Game Three – Oddball on Recharge: OpTic over C9 2-1
  • Game Four – Strongholds on Streets: C9 over OpTic 250-49
  • Game Five – Slayer on Last Fire: OpTic over C9 50-49

Reset

  • Game One – Strongholds on Recharge: OpTic over C9 250-149
  • Game Two – Slayer on Streets: C9 over OpTic 50-45
  • Game Three – CTF on Aquarius: C9 over OpTic 2-0
  • Game Four – Oddball on Live Fire: OpTic over C9 2-1
  • Game Five – Slayer on Bazaar: OpTic over C9 50-21

Final Points

  • 1st: OpTic Gaming (aPG, Pistola, Trippy & Lucid) 3,000 HCS 4v4 Points
  • 2nd: Cloud9 (SStelluR, Renegade, Pznguin & Eco) 1,800 HCS 4v4 Points
  • 3rd: Sentinels (LethuL, SnakeBite, Royal2 & Frosty) 1,320 HCS 4v4 Points
  • 4th: Pioneers GG (SuperCC, Druk, SoulSnipe & Taulek) 1,080 HCS 4v4 Points
  • 5th-6th: eUnited/Infernal 960 HCS 4v4 Points

The road to HCS Raleigh continues next weekend with another Open Series. We’ll have to see what changes between now and then. You can bet that with all eyes on Halo Infinite, teams have more incentive than ever to correct their mistakes.

Feature Image: HCS

Source: https://estnn.com/halo-infinite-optic-gaming-cloud9-go-the-distance-optic-wins-thrilling-bracket-reset/

Time Stamp:

More from ESTNN