The North American Last Chance Qualifier came to a close and now the best Halo teams in the world are decided. After fighting through the qualifiers, 12 teams will head to the Halo World Championship 2017 Finals from March 24-26 in Burbank, California for the chance to battle for a share of the $1,000,000 prize pool and World Championship title.
Here is the final lineup of teams headed to the World Championship at the ESL Campus in Burbank, California:
NORTH AMERICA
OpTic Gaming
Heading into the Halo World Championship, OpTic are looking to reclaim their title as not only the best team in North America but the best team in the world and become back to back World Champions. OpTic plowed through the competition throughout the qualifiers leading up to this point. In the Las Vegas Qualifiers, OpTic secured not only one, but two victories against Liquid (4-2, 4-1 respectively). Heading into Finals, OpTic will need to maintain their momentum as both Liquid seek to avenge their previous losses and NV look to do once again what they did at the Fall Season Finals!
Team Liquid
After injecting themselves into the conversation as a serious contender against OpTic, the new Liquid roster displayed an aggressive performance at the qualifiers in St. Louis and Las Vegas. In St. Louis, Liquid lost to OpTic in the winners semi-finals and responded by charging through the losers bracket and securing wins against Evil Geniuses, Str8 Rippin, and EnVyUs to face OpTic again in the grand finals. Though OpTic took the win in St. Louis and again in Las Vegas, Liquid showed huge improvement in Las Vegas and proved that they are dangerous competition for OpTic at Finals.
Team EnVyUs
After earning their Fall 2016 Finals Title, the much anticipated EnVyUs roster had a rough start at St. Louis Qualifiers that continued into their performance in Las Vegas, despite strong performances during the online qualifiers. After ending up in the losers bracket in Las Vegas, EnVyUs managed to pull out a strong run that ended with an unfortunate loss against Liquid in the losers finals match. EnVyUs have shown that the roster has the skill and ability to win titles, but they will need to be at their best in order to redeem themselves at Worlds after back-to-back third place finishes in the past two tournaments. Despite their position heading into Worlds, the top two teams should expect a fight from a very well prepared and extremely hungry EnVyUs.
TMMT Crowd Pleasers
Many underestimated TMMT ability to finish in the top 6, but the team responded to these doubts with a solid performance that earned them fourth place in Las Vegas and a spot at Worlds. After an uninspired performance at the St. Louis Qualifier, the team saw a revitalization of its roster with the addition of young player, Danoxide. The roster performed well during the quarter finals match, securing a 4-2 win against St8 Rippin but ultimately losing in the semifinals match against EnVyUs, 4-1. TMMT needs to make a few adjustments heading into Worlds, but the team has shown that they should not be counted out just yet and the community’s doubt and teams ambition has only fueled this roster further.
Str8 Rippin
In St. Louis, Str8 surprised even themselves after coming back from a 0-2 deficit against Inconceivable to finish 3-2 before falling to Liquid in the losers semifinals. Once again at Las vegas Str8 wanted to do things the hard way by pushing a series all the way and qualified for worlds in an amazing Game 7 against Luminosity. Eventually the team was knocked out of the fourth round of the loser bracket by TMMT. Str8 will need to regroup and make the necessary improvements heading into Finals if they want to come back from their loss against Pnda and advance far in the competition at Burbank!
Luminosity Gaming
Despite placing in the top 6, the team at first did not look to be playing as well as they needed in order to be a high ranking contender at Worlds after a top 8 finish at St Louis. During the vegas qualifiers not only did Luminosity qualify but they took out Splyce and pushed NV all the way to a game 7 along the way just showing why Luminosity is one of the best teams in the world and should not be underestimated.
Splyce
The young roster was very close to qualifying for Worlds before Luminosity eliminated them with a 4-1 loss in Las Vegas. Splyce managed to come back and become the final North American team to head to Finals after winning the Last Chance Qualifier. Splyce took out CryptiK in a second BO7 of the LCQ to earn their spot at the Halo World Championship.
EUROPE
Fab Games eSports
FabE were a favorite to qualify for Worlds entering into the London Qualifier and did not disappoint when they won the grand final and a spot at the Halo World Championship. FabE came out strong at the London Qualifier, but was forced into a Game 5 by Team Infused. Ultimately they took the grand prize with a 4-1 victory against Supremacy. Despite being in a good place entering into Worlds, FabE will need to be prepared to stay on top of Supremacy as well as the top American teams.
Supremacy
Supremacy’s qualification for Worlds marks the first time a French team will participate in Worlds. Many anticipated how the addition of Solar would affect the Sy roster during the qualifier. Despite dropping to the losers bracket extremely early in London, Sy responded with five straight wins to meet FabE at the grand finals. Despite taking a 4-1 loss to FabE, Sy beat out many favored U.K. teams to qualify for Finals.
London Conspiracy
After acquiring the Team Vibe roster, London Conspiracy returned to Halo esports with the goal of qualifying for Worlds. LC took two 3-0 losses in a row at the London Qualifier and ultimately fell from the bracket at the hands of Supremacy. They came back and managed to secure their place at Worlds after sweeping the European LCQ with three straight 3-0 wins before winning the grand final 4-1 against Best Routers EU.
AUSTRALIA
Team Immunity
After securing a strong hold over the competition in the qualifiers, Immunity had a flawless victory in the Australia/New Zealand Qualifier. iM completely shut out every team in each of their matches, ultimately winning the qualifier against Gryffindor with a 4-0 win. iM have made it clear that they are taking no prisoners heading into Worlds. If they can maintain this level of intensity and strategy, especially against the North American and European teams, there’s no telling how the bracket will progress.
LATIN AMERICA
Shock The World
Shock the World dominated throughout at the Mexico City Qualifiers, taking two back-to-back 3-0 wins before beating out Aztek Gaming to enter the winners final against Synergy Gaming. Shock the World won both the winners final and the grand final against Synergy Gaming, ending the qualifier with a final score of 4-2. After asserting Mexico’s place as the top Latin American nation in Halo, they will try to continue their streak into Finals with the 11 other best Halo teams in the world.