HCS Rosters Rebuilt – Teams Moving Into Halo 5

With just a month away from the launch of Halo 5, we know many of the changes that have been made going into the new season. I hope to be able to thoroughly explain every roster move that has happened between the end of the second season of the HCS and now, showing where players started out and how it was that they got to where they are currently.

The following shows the top eight team’s rosters at the end of HCS Season Two. Players that have their name striked out are no longer on the roster and teams that are formatted the same no longer exist at all. Names that are bolded are still playing for the team they are listed beside or have yet to announce their departure. I specifically choose to not include coaches as they already move around quite heavily and there’s currently very little concrete word on who is staying with who.

Season Two HCS Rosters

1st – Evil Geniuses (Lunchbox, Roy, Snipedown, Lethul)

2nd – Counter Logic Gaming ( Ogre 2, Royal 2, Cloud, Snakebite)

3rd – Denial eSports (Chig, Mikwen, aPureGangster, Heinz)

4th – Cloud9 ( Pistola, VictoryX, FearItSelf, Hysteria)

5th – WinterFox ( Randa, Arkanum, Naded, Ryanoob)

6th – OpTic Gaming ( Flamesword, Ace, Assault, Maniac)

7th – Team Liquid ( Ninja, Aries, Shooter, Spartan)

8th – eXcellence Gaming (Coby, eL Town, iTz So Frosty, UnLegit)

For readers that want a quick view of the currently announced rosters you can find a list below as well as a list of current high level free agents. If you’re looking to understand the context and history of these team changes, continue past the summary and free agent list for the full information.

Players that have bolded names are newly announced and were not on their team’s roster previously. Teams that are italicized are completely new and did not field a roster in the previous HCS season.

New HCS Rosters

Evil Geniuses: (Lunchbox, Roy, Snipedown, Lethul)

Counter Logic Gaming: (Ogre 2, Royal 2, Cloud, Snakebite)

Cloud9: (VictoryX, FearItSelf, Hysteria,  Unknown Fourth)

WinterFox: (Arkanum, Ryanoob,  Shooter, Spartan)

OpTic Gaming: (Flamesword, Assault, Maniac,  Unknown Fourth)

Team Liquid: (Ninja,  Ace, Chig, Mikwen)

Isolation eSports: (Nemassist, Gabriel, Munoz, SwiftKill)

Team End Result: (DarkScorpion, Krizen, MaD MaX, Moniz)

Fatal Ambition: (Blaze, Burton, Calm Mentality, Elitest)

Unannounced Org:  (aPureGangster, Heinz, Pistola, Unannounced Fourth)

Currently Orgless Team: (Naded, Str8Sick, Goofy, eL Town)

Team Elevate (Randa, Suspector, UnLegit, iTz So Frosty)

Free Agents

Best Man (Coming Out of Retirement)

Aries (Formerly Team Liquid)

Coby (Formerly eXcellence Gaming)

Prototype (Formerly Active Rush)

No surprise to anyone, both Evil Geniuses and Counter Logic Gaming are currently sticking with their previous rosters. Both teams saw amble success during H2:A, placing first and second respectively in both seasons. Will these two teams be able to maintain their dominance or will they fall apart in the new game?

On the complete other side of the spectrum, Denial eSports no longer exists as a Halo organization. Due to a considerable amount of drama behind the scenes, that you can read about here on eSports Guru, all of the players have decided to part ways and find their places with new organizations.

In similar vein, eXcellence Gaming has completely fallen apart. After losing three of their players in UnLegit, iTz So Frosty and eL Town to new teams, the organization called it quits, leaving Coby as a free agent.

Both Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming lost one of their key players with no announced replacements. C9’s Pistola, a legendary player considered to be one of the all time greats, has opted to join a new super team alongside Heinz and aPG. On the other hand, Ace left his longtime teammates and friends to join the newly assembled Team Liquid roster. Ace’s departure is quite significant, he had been playing with this team since they were known as Status Quo, joining one year after their founding in 2009. It appears he has the thirst to move up in the Halo word, choosing to join a promising new line up.

Speaking of Team Liquid, they’ve almost completely gutted their roster. Keeping only Ninja, the team dropped Aries, Shooter and Spartan. Profiting on the breaking up of Denial, they’ve acquired both Mikwen and Chig and have also picked up the aforementioned Ace. Currently Aries is yet to find a new team to play for.

In a surprising announcement, Randa revealed that he intended to leave the roster he founded, Winterfox, to head a new squad of young players. Both parties have said that it was a mutual departure and that he left on good terms. To fill the hole, WFX moved to bring in the two former TL players Shooter and Spartan. Making space for the other new player, the team moved Naded to the sub position. Not satisfied, he decided to form his own team of himself Str8Sick, Goofy and eL Town, leaving the org.

Team End Result is a name that not everyone is familiar with. Considered to be the best Canadian Halo team, the longtime organization is intending to make a full return for Halo 5. Consisting completely of players from Toronto who have previously been on the roster, it will be interesting to see how they fair in a traditionally American dominated league. The roster currently includes DarkScorpion, MaD Max, Krizen and Moniz.

Another return to the game is Fatal Ambition. After losing their roster in February earlier this year we haven’t heard much from the organization. They’re now back, bringing three fourths of the old Velocity roster as well as Blaze from Team Annex. Their new squad now entails Burton, Blaze, Calm Mentality and Elitest.

The final fully known roster is Isolation eSports. After a history in the Call of Duty competitive scene the organization has decided to make its way into the Halo world. Building their roster out of the scraps that remained in the talent pool, it consists of Munoz, Nemassist, Gabriel and SwiftKill.

Obviously this isn’t every roster move that will occur before the start of another year of the HCS, just the ones that have been unveiled so far. The major announcements that need to be made remain with the revealing of Cloud9 and OpTic’s fourths as well as more information on the god squad of Pistola, aPG and Heinz (who will have a whole article to themselves when the team’s information becomes public).

Hopefully we’ll see another great year of Halo! What do you think of these roster moves? Let us know in the comments below and remember to follow us here at eSports Guru for all your competitive Halo needs.