Halo Master Chief Collection Launch Invitational Tournament Winner! Grand Finals breakdown.

hcs-banner-45de7bd45eb248baa6defca3510f9775

This PRE-Halo Championship Series Event was played on Saturday and Sunday. There were some pretty stacked teams in this 8-team tournament. Many thought Optic was going to win with players like Ace and Pistola. However, it was Str8 Rippin and BtH (Believe the Hype) that made it to the Grand Finals.

Str8-BtH logos

Str8 Rippin had the edge on BtH. However, BtH fought back hard and forced a second best out of 5 match to determine the winner of the tournament.

The first game went to BtH. It was CTF on Shrine (Sanctuary). BtH scored the first flag cap. Shortly after that Str8 got their first cap. It didn’t take long though for BtH to get their second flag cap. They were able to hold off Str8 until the 15:00 minute mark. At which point the game ended. Pro circuit rules are if a game is tied at 15 minutes the game becomes a sudden death match. If a team is ahead, at that mark, then they automatically win.

A good match to be sure, but it was the next two that proved to show what top line Halo players are made of. It was Slayer on Lockdown (Lockout). The teams started off slow and ended cautiously in a tie at 21 each. Ties do not carry over, so they had to reply that match. Same location, same game type. And what…a TIE again? This almost NEVER happens. This time Str8 Rippin had the clear advantage and went up by several points. However, BtH whittled away at their lead and finished the game in a tie. So on to the third tie breaker that was technically still the second game of the best of 5. Same map and game type. This time BtH got past Str8 Rippin and won to take a commanding 2 games to none.

The next match was King of the Hill on Lockdown (Lockout). Str8 Rippin seemed to know what they were doing and again had a very clear advantage through much of the game. But BtH just wouldn’t go quietly into the night. They fought back. In the final 30 seconds, they roared back to within a few points. A mistake on Str8’s part let BtH get into the Hill for the final few seconds allowing them ton take the lead and win not just that game but the championship. So BtH is the winner!

This was thrilling to watch. Competitive Halo at it’s finest. During the broadcast, Bravo and Goldenboy did a great job of commentating. Rare triple kills had in the finals got a rise from Goldenboy and the in-house crowd. I have to admit that even after the tourney, I will still feeling the rush myself from watching those close games.

I look forward to more Halo Championship Series in the future. In fact, I’m doing my best to have one hosted locally here in Pittsburgh. I’m working with the same LAN center that I hired for HFFL’s 2 LAN parties. So here’s hoping I can help make that happen.

In any event, it was great to watch and make note…the winner received a check for $20,000. That’s not too shabby folks!

Oh and in case you missed it, I was tweeting/RT/replying furiously during this whole Grand Finals. If your’e on twitter, find me at: https://twitter.com/HaloFanForLife

-Sal

This entry was posted in Halo eSports by Sal. Bookmark the permalink.

About Sal

I’ve got tons of experience with Halo gaming and collecting. I feel I have something to offer to the greater Halo fan community. Posts along the way will be about tips and tricks in the games as well as collecting and many more Halo related things. I’ll also repost interesting articles from the official site, Halowaypoint.com, or from fellow Halo fan sites. As I continue this blog, I hope to help gamers who want advice on the games, as well as any collectors with regards to where to find collectibles as well as deals, coupons and so on. You can also follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/HaloFanForLife or Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/halofanforlife11. Welcome to my blog and I hope you’ll come back again and again. -Sal