Evil Geniuses Qualify for NA HCS Pro League

April 25, 2016 ESportsSource

There are now two confirmed teams in the HCS Pro League.  After a dominant performance at PAX East in Boston over the weekend, Evil Geniuses earned their spot in the upcoming North American Halo Championship Series Pro League.  Counter Logic Gaming has already secured their spot thanks to winning the 2016 Halo World Championships.  Second place squad Team Allegiance was originally offered a spot as well, but the team disbanded after worlds, sending all four members to four different teams to compete with each other for the Pro League spot that would have been theirs had they chosen to stay together.

This past weekend’s PAX East Invitational featured the four teams that formed around the displaced Team Allegiance members: Evil Geniuses, Enigma6, OpTic Gaming, and Team EnVyUs.

It was the debut tournament for Enigma6, who only recently joined the Halo scene after fielding amateur teams in competitive Call of Duty over the past year.  Ex-Team Allegiance player Cratos linked up with Shooter, Bubu Dubu and Huke to form a good looking squad on paper- but they struggled to play together and were the first team eliminated from the tournament.

OpTic Gaming came into the tournament with a lot of hype, re-working the team to include old OpTic stalwart Ace, ex-Team Allegiance and HWC MVP Naded, along with the duo of Maniac and Flamesword.  OpTic started off hot- trouncing a dazed E6 3-1 in their opening match, but in the winner’s bracket finals against Evil Genuises, they were swept in the series and sent down to the loser’s bracket to face Team EnVyUs.  The first game was a quick 3-0 loss for OpTic, but Game 2 (Truth Sayer) was a tighter affair, with Naded getting 15 kills in the 47-50 loss.  OpTic never really got anything going after that loss, despite a tight CTF game, and OpTic were bounced from the tournament.

Team EnVyUs then went on to meet Evil Geniuses in the Grand Finals.  nV took game 1’s Capture the Flag with a swift 3-0, but EG brushed off the loss to take Game 2’s Plaza Slayer 50-33.  nV hit right back with a 100-43 win on Eden Strongholds to take a 2-1 series lead.  EG turned up the heat on nV, winning two games on Fathom CTF and Regret Slayer, while finishing with a dominating 100-15 win on Rig Strongholds to win the tournament and qualify for the Halo Championship Series Pro League’s Summer 2016 Season.

What’s Next?

There are still chances for teams to qualify for the league- but it’s going to get tougher.  The online Summer Qualifier will determine the top 8 teams that will be invited to ESL Studios to compete for the four Halo Pro League spots.