Two tournaments in a row for the Green Wall. The two teams are starting to form a rivarly after having mutliple competitive best-of-fives.
Competitive Halo is back and better than ever! OpTic Gaming has quickly become the top dogs on Halo Infinite after winning their second HCS Open Qualifier. The GreenWall took down Cloud9, a team that on paper is the best team in the world but has not lived up to expectations.
OpTic Gaming had already defeated Cloud9 previously in the HCS 2021-22 North America Open Series 1. A rivalry is quickly brewing between two of esports biggest organizations and it will be exciting to see these two squads square off at the first HCS LAN. Here is what went down between OpTic and Cloud9.
OpTic puts on a Capture The Flag clinic in game one
OpTic Gaming was riding an incredible wave of momentum heading into this best-of-five against Cloud9. The Open #1 champions bested their upcoming opponents 2-0 earlier in the day and were poised to do it again. OpTic Gaming came out swinging on Bazaar for map one, taking a quick 2-0 lead before an unfortunate technical error saw the map reset.
Despite OPT being up 2-0, the reset allowed Cloud9 to gain early control and regain some points. While it was a valiant effort OpTic's earlier dominance was enough to separate the sides and move up 1-0 in this series.
OpTic one win away from back-to-back HCS titles
OpTic Gaming showed they can play both from ahead and from behind and put themselves just one win away from securing their second HCS title. Normally when Cloud9 gets ahead, it is over for the enemy team, at their peak, they are the best team in the world and there is no shame in losing to them. This time, however, it was OpTic who was able to fight back on Aquarius and win the map 50-42.
Cloud9 refuses to fall on Oddball
With Cloud9 staring down the barrel of another grand-finals defeat, the North American squad showed their class and fought back to take the series to a fourth game. Cloud9 was relentless on Recharge, a map they have historically done well on. Every time it looked like OpTic was gaining any momentum, Cloud9 stopped it in its tracks.
What was keeping OpTic alive on this map was Lucid. Lucid had an incredible series and performed miraculously as he tried to pull his team through for a 3-0 sweep. OpTic even had a large lead on the third and final round of Oddball but the determination of Cloud9 dragged out the series just a little longer.
OpTic holds out on Stronghold to win HCS Open #2
In what could have easily been a five-game series, OpTic Gaming held out against a resilient Cloud9 to lift their second HCS tournament in a row. OpTic has already shown on multiple occasions throughout Halo Infinite that they are an adaptable squad as far as in-game pressure goes. Even in this series, they have snatched victories from the jaw of defeat, and their victory on the final map should prove to the rest of the HCS they are here to stay.
The one thing any team can do when going up against another giant is allowing them the room to breathe. OpTic got ahead but it looked like Cloud9 was always ready to spring back into life and take this series to a game five. This happened throughout the course of game four.
C9 had chances to extend a favorable lead before throwing it away. Vice-versa, OpTic Gaming looked to be feeling the pressure of a late Cloud9 comeback. It wasn't to be for C9 in this instance as OPT took the series.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Halo news and updates.