The Halo Championship Series (HCS) London has officially begun! Teams from around the world are competing at the Gfinity Arena, in the biggest Halo tournament in European history! The world’s best pro teams and fan favorite players from North America, LATAM, Oceania & Europe will be fighting for the Championship trophy from September 14-16. Day One kicked off with several action-packed matches which saw previous champions like Splyce and TOX cementing their spot at the top of the competition, and NA teams dominating. Let’s recap what went down at the main stage during the main competition! Match 1: Splyce vs Berserker Esports
Group A kicked off the show and featured reigning Halo World Champions Splyce going against Latin American team Berserker Esports. Not very well known in the European scene, Berserker made history in NOLA with LATAM’s first ever Top 8 placement, and their improvement from event to event has been remarkable. Unfortunately for them, their first game was with four-time champions Splyce, who were hungry to add a European title to their already impressive resume. Splyce displayed their skills early on in the first match and showed everyone why they are the tournament favorites, beating Berserker and closing the series at 3-0. Match 2: TOX vs Excelerate
Group B was opened by the two-time world champs, TOX facing off against the ever dangerous Excelerate. With player like D3mon D and bubu dubu on their roster, Excelerate had high chances of pulling an upset, as they are also a team which is getting better and better. But it’s worth remembering TOX never placed outside of the top 2 during Halo 5’s lifespan. They currently also have the longest standing Halo roster of all time. Excelerate was able to put up a fight in game one, but TOX managed to consolidate their lead and pull the second 3-0 sweep of the night. Match 3: Lucid vs Renegades
Probably the best game of Day One, Europe’s finest Lucid Gaming took on NA’s Renegades, which features top pros Mikwen, aPG, Penguin, and Neptune. With the majority of the crowd of the Gfinity Arena on their side, Lucid took the early lead on game one, capturing their enemies flags more often. However, Renegades managed to pull off a miracle in the end and close the match in their favor, 1-0. Game Two saw an even more competitive Lucid tie the series and make it 1-1. In Game Three, Lucid’s star player Tufoxy got an insane No Scope Sniper kill. Renegades answered with a Triple Kill by Mikwen and, frustrating the crowd, winning 2-1. This could not have been done without the help of the young assassin from team Renegades, Neptune, who displayed incredible skill and was the king of kills and assists. After putting up a good fight, Lucid was eventually defeated when NA’s Renegades won Game Four and closed the series at 3-1. Match 4: Reciprocity vs Trifecta
The final, and most eagerly awaited, game of the day was the grudge match between HCS New Orleans rivals Reciprocity and Trifecta. Reciprocity came ready for a revenge, after Trifecta managed to pull out the win during the American event, and they showed up right from the start. Game One did not last long, as Snip3down went on a sniper spree and closed it early for his team. Reciprocity’s domination continued during the other 2 games and they closed the series 3-0. It will be no surprise if this legendary roster ends up in the finals. As for Trifecta, unfortunately the great Musa couldn’t save the day again, but this is still not the end of the road for them! HCS London continues September,15th!
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