With the recent news of Adam “Killa” Sloss leaving FoD.Impact to join his former teammate Christopher “Parasite” Duarte, this left only “MiRx” at Impact. With the announcement last night of MiRx joining Curse, this has now rendered Impact no more.
In just over six months, Impact has gone from the only team in this Black Ops 2 season to achieve the ‘4-peat’, to dissolving entirely. This article will take you through their story – from their highest moment, at the Call of Duty Championships, right down to the infamous UMG Atlanta video, which ultimately led to them being dropped from the Epsilon eSports.
Throughout the Black Ops 2 season, the squad have appeared under different organizations including; Fariko Gaming, Icons, FoD and as previously mentioned, Epsilon eSports.
#MLG Dallas – The first of four championships
Rolling into Dallas in March 2013, the top eight placing teams off the back of this event, would gain the opportunity to compete at the Call of Duty World Championships. Under the ‘Fariko’ brand, Fariko.Impact were the number one seed heading into the event. With the roster of Killa, Karma, MiRx, and Parasite, they planned to make a statement and prove exactly why they earner this seed.
They brushed aside EnvyUs, Storm and vVv Gaming each in a clean sweep, respectfully. Further progressing through to the Winner’s Bracket Final without dropping a map.
Despite losing a map against UNiTE.NA, they managed to beat them with a series score of 3-1, and move onto the Grand Finals. Nonetheless, UNiTE.NA would be back after easily dispatching vVv Gaming in a clean sweep in the Loser’s Bracket Final. This would therefore setup a continuation series, with Fariko.Impact only needing to win three more maps to bag themselves the MLG Championship. On the flip side of the coin, the UNiTE squad had to win five. The Fariko lineup would have no problem finishing it off; winning the grand final 6-2 and taking the title of ‘National Champions’.
#EGL 9 – Winning on enemy territory
Just two days after winning MLG Dallas, Impact announced that they would be taking the trip over the pond to Blackpool, England, to compete at EGL9. When asked about why they were attending the event Parasite stated, “they wanted to get as much money and exposure as possible”. With this event taking place just before the World Championships, it would give the National Champions as much LAN experience as possible just before the $1,000,000 event.
Taking on some of the best teams from Europe, Impact wanted to prove to the European teams why they were the MLG National Champions and demonstrate their difference in class. Taking on Epsilon, Cloud and others alike, they managed to see off ShAnE and co. (Cloud) in the Grand Final to make it two consecutive championships. Parasite had now won both i46 and EGL, giving him an impressive resume of victories at events in Europe.
#Call of Duty World Championships – the pinnacle for Impact
Fariko.Impact were drawn in Group 1 of the Group Stages against Phoenix, Pain Gaming and Immunity. After winning each of those matches 2-0, and completely sweeping their group with a record of 3-0, Impact earned themselves the number one seed from their group, perfectly prepared for the double-elimination bracket.
Taking on an Epsilon team, which had just scraped past Vintage on the previous day, the Fariko boys relished in this opportunity, as they managed to progress past Epsilon with a series score of 3-1.
Moving onto their second round matchup, Impact was matched-up against OpTic Gaming. With the knowledge of the last time these teams met, OpTic managed to beat Fariko.Impact at UMG, the team wanted to avenge this defeat… And so they did. Beating the green wall of OpTic 3-1 and moving onto the next round of the Winner’s Bracket.
With the momentum from beating MerK and co. on their side, Impact stepped-up to take on CompLexity. The winners of this series would guarantee themselves a top-three finish. The current EGL & MLG National Champions thrived in this under the pressure, as they managed to pick-up the win against coL, only dropping one map. They would now take on Team EnvyUs in the Winner’s Bracket Final.
The Winner’s Bracket Final would be a match, which would bring Fariko.Impact down a peg or two. Splitting four maps apiece, it would be Search and Destroy that determined which team would move into the Grand Final. The scores would be tied at five rounds each, but it would be EnvyUs who would prevail in the sudden death overtime. This handed Impact their first loss in over two tournaments, and as a result they would drop down to the Loser’s Bracket Final.
This game would be a rematch of the previous Winner’s Bracket matchup, which would really showcase the dominance of Fariko.Impact’s Hardpoint game. Impact took both game one and two; however, OpTic would fight back and take the Capture the Flag. Further to Impact’s prior tournament momentum, they finished-off OpTic in the fourth map and progressed into the Grand Finale for a rematch against EnvyUs.
In this $400,000 matchup, Fariko.Impact would already be down 3-2 in this continuation (best of eleven) series against EnvyUs. It would be a slugfest, and both teams would go back and forth all the way down to five maps apiece. With the final map being Search and Destroy on Meltdown to decide the championship, and the scores at 4 -4, the suspense around the venue was intense. In typical Impact-style, they managed to finish it off, taking the last two rounds, to bag themselves the title of Call of Duty National and World Champions, and bag themselves three event wins in a month. This, no doubt, was the pinnacle of Impact’s short run at the top.
#UMG Elgato 10k – the ‘4-peat’ realized
Impact went into UMG St. Louis riding their momentum from the past three events. After easing into the event with a clean 2-0 victory against UnReal, the squad hit a bit of a bump when they faced Fusion. After taking the first map, they faulted in a close Search and Destroy to take them into a third map. However, Impact closed it out with a convincing win on the Capture the Flag. The team then wrapped up Saturday with an easy 2-0 victory over Swift to move onto Sunday in true ‘World Champion’ fashion.
On Sunday, Impact never stepped back… Making short work of Rise Up, further moving onto face Xecution in the Winner’s Bracket Semi-Finals. Xecution posed no threat for the defending World Champions, as Impact moved onto face Mullet Nation in the Winner’s Bracket Finals. Mullet Nation had just took-down Team EnVyUs and they were able to take a Search and Destroy off Impact, but Impact’s overall chemistry as a team allowed them to breeze past Mullet Nation into the Grand Finals.
The Grand Finals would issue Team EnvyUs an opportunity to avenge their defeat in the World Championship Finals against Parasite and co. The blue army, led by Rambo, would jump-out ahead, before being clawed back by Impact. It would then go to 3-3 after Impact took the Search and Destroy, followed by nV taking the Capture the Flag. The final map on (Hardpoint) Yemen, would decide which team would take home the $7,500. A dominant show from the World Champions secured the win and their fourth successive win as a team.
This brought Impact’s total prize money to $439,500 across the four LAN events that they had won… Not bad for a month’s pay check.
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Make sure to stay tuned to [@eSportsNation](http://www.twitter.com/esportsnation) for part two of ‘The Rise & Fall of Impact’, as well as keeping up-to-date with all of the Call of Duty eSports news.
