OpTic Gaming and Cloud9, two of the best teams at HCS Raleigh go head-to-head with both teams vying to secure a top three seed.
It is a battle between two behemoths as Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming go head-to-head at HCS Raleigh. Both teams have looked incredible thus far, sadly their paths must cross in order to secure a top-three seed at the first Halo event. Who will win?
Cloud9 with a statement victory at HCS Raleigh on Strongholds
If anyone was doubting Cloud9's credibility, consider the questions answered. Cloud9 had a near-flawless opening series on Streets to go 1-0 up in this series. As explained in multiple articles, the way the best teams in the world control the chokepoints means any substantial lead is going to snowball.
This is exactly what we saw out of Cloud9 in this opening series. They played incredibly well around the sandbox weapons and was slaying beautifully. Where C9 built their massive lead was through "triple capping" the strongholds which accounted for double points. This huge victory purely came down to slaying, C9 were able to control every part of the map and OpTic had no answer.
C9 survives late OpTic comeback to go 2-0
Before the tournament, not many would have picked Cloud9 to go up 2-0 in a best-of-five with the top three on the line. On a much closer map, C9 are just one map away from taking on EUnited in the winners final.
While the majority of the kills for OpTic were even going into the halfway point, Renegade was having a monstrous performance with over 12 kills. His kills alone were enough for his side to have a ten kill lead at some stage.
OpTic Gaming, however, had other plans are were not prepared to give up a second map that easily. The Greenwall was able to bring it back to an even game at 47 kills apiece. Sadly though, they were not able to take home the win and Cloud9 moved up 2-0.
OpTic Gaming wins with a controlled CTF display
The problem with facing the best team in the world is, they will always be up for the fight. Being up 2-0 means nothing and in the blink of an eye, OpTic gaming came storming right back at Cloud9 and made this at least a four-game series.
OpTic Gaming would not go down without a fight, controlling the early kills and securing an early capture to go 1-0 up on the map. This was a very professional performance out of OpTic Gaming. They stemmed the bleeding and stopped the insane C9 momentum. OPT was able to win the map 2-1.
OpTic pushes series to game five in insane Oddball match
In one of the craziest Halo matches this season, OpTic Gaming was able to remain undefeated on Livefire and push this series to a game five. The Greenwall was starting to ramp up and it showed, OpTic was able to take care of business on heat one. Equally, Cloud9 would return the favor with a dominant heat two to send this into a decider.
This is when the chaos erupted. The teams were back and forth, trading minutes on the ball and pushing this map down to the wire. With very few minutes remaining on the clock, Cloud9 were seconds away from victory, before a chaotic corridor fight saw C9 kill themselves at 99 points. OpTic was quickly able to secure the ball and thus the map.
Cloud9 holds their nerve and secures series over OpTic at HCS Raleigh
In what was an incredible tense best-of-five, Cloud9 was able to take the map and punch their ticket to the winners final. This map was neck and neck and was fitting of a game five decider. OpTic was the one who would take the lead, Lucid was having an incredible series and his killing power put his side in the lead.
Where Cloud9 was able to come back into things was their utilization of the active camo. C9 were able to pick OpTic apart and force both teams onto a level height playing field. Eco went clutch on this map, securing many kills with the camo as well as the Sword. Eco's performances did not go quietly into the night, former Call of Duty caster and now 100 Thieves co-owner Courage was quick to praise the C9 player.