OpTic Gaming moved to the top of the Halo charts this weekend by winning the $1 million HCS World Championship. It was a monumental moment for the organization, and came just weeks after the team won big at the Orlando HCS Major. This has been a relatively close season between the likes of OpTic, Sentinels and Cloud9, but the team in green managed to snatch the ultimate prize in Halo eSports.
After an outstanding season, the talented OpTic team secured the top spot in the HCS World Championship in near flawless fashion. The team only dropped one map in total in both the group and championship stages until they faced Cloud9. In a tense Grand Final that featured a classic best-of-seven bracket reset, OpTic went down 1 – 4 in the first round, before rebounding with incredible form that secured a 4 – 0 result in the second round.
When the dust settled at the Seattle Convention Center, OpTic Gaming secured themselves $400,000. It was a fantastic result for OpTic, but the runners-up didn’t fare too badly. In second place, Cloud9 secured a $220,000 prize, and in third, Native Gaming Red took home $110,000. It was a tough season overall, and for many, Cloud9 seemed to be the favorite, especially when it came to Halo esports betting.
By the end of the HCS World Championship, OpTic Gaming had posted a mind-blowing record, refusing to lose a point during the entire event. Only in the Grand Final, against Cloud9, did OpTic concede maps, and even then, a reverse sweep secured victory. For the OpTic team, consisting of Lucid, TriPPPeY, FormaL and aPG, success seemed almost written in stone as the final stages approached.
This is OpTic Gaming’s second major victory this year, as a few weeks ago the team took the top prize at the HCS Orlando Major. For the players themselves, some important milestones were reached. For example, Matthew “FormaL” Piper is now officially a member of a very exclusive club, being world champion in two different esports titles: Halo and Call of Duty.
What’s next for Halo Esports?
It’s been an interesting year for Halo Esports. For a while, the scene was going through some difficulties, especially when several lower tier organizations left the HCS. There was also the difficulty of the overall popularity of Halo Infinite. By the end of the season, none of these issues proved to be too much of a lasting concern, as the World Championship event went off quite positively with a high number of spectators.
As we move into the year 2023, we will see the Kickoff Major take place in Charlotte, North Carolina in February. Before that, there are two tournaments hosted by the organizations themselves, the first being the OpTic Halo Invitational, which will begin on December 9. Then, in January, Spacestation will host an event, the Spartan Showdown.
