In part one of this series, I talked about Fariko.Impact’s staggering achievements from March – April, raking in four titles on LAN (MLG Dallas, EGL 9, Call of Duty World Championships & UMG Elgato 10k). It was termed as the ‘4-peat’ and many wondered just who would stop them.
#Fariko.Impact become ‘Team Impact’
Just two days after taking their fourth successive LAN title at UMG Elgato 10K, Impact decided to form their own personal brand. Many speculated it would be a dedicated organization ready to take them in, but they decided to go alone with the backing of IcoNs. When questioned about the decision, Christopher “Parasite” Duarte had this to say:
**”We have left Fariko to pursue our own brand. We are our own team and not affiliated with anyone else, at least in the public eye. We have a special marketing team that will handle the business side of things. That is all that I can say for now; we are excited to say the least.”**
#MLG Anaheim – The first cracks appear
Rolling into MLG Anaheim, the defending National Champions Impact were on course for a potential ‘5-peat’ as they first met the EU Juggernauts Epsilon in the RO16. Impact got put in the 100 point club on Hardpoint, but it would be just a dent for the team as they picked themselves back up and swept Epsilon aside 3 – 2 to move onto the winners bracket quarterfinals against UNiTE.NA. There, they had no problems whatsoever with a very convincing 3 – 0 win against them, pushing Impact into the winners bracket semi-finals.
The winners bracket final saw OpTic match up against Impact, and the momentum from their crushing victory against UNiTE carried them through past OpTic as they breezed by with another 3-0 win. It was expected that Impact would retain the MLG title, and to have the best chance possible, they needed to get past CompLexity in the winners bracket final. CompLexity came out swinging and they traded with Impact until they managed to win the winners bracket final 3 – 0 knocking Impact down to the losers bracket final.
With a 3 – 1 continuation lead over OpTic, Impact just had to win three more rounds to progress into the grand final for a rematch against CompLexity. Impact were able to finish it off against OpTic, bagging themselves a chance to gain revenge against CompLexity in the grand final.
The continuation series lead to CompLexity dethroning the MLG National Champions Impact and also denying them of the ‘5-peat’ it was a very convincing show from the CompLexity squad and many remember MLG Anaheim as the first true hints of the Fall of Impact.
#Gfinity – Redemption?
For Gfinity, Impact were drawn into ‘Group C’ consisting of nV, Curse.EU, Team aAa & TCM Gaming.
Impact’s first test was against the Curse.EU squad, and they managed to see it out with a 3-1 victory over the Curse squad. Impact’s second game saw them go up against the French team ‘aAa’ and again Impact’s experience would show in this match, taking the series against the French team 3-1.
With their wins against Curse.EU & aAa it would now be TCM Gaming who had beaten aAa & nV 3-0 in their group matches taking on Impact. The team from the EU remarkably took the series 3-1 against the four time champions.
Impact’s final group match would be against their rivals, Team EnVyus. It was a big game for nV as they had to win this to stay in the competition. Sadly with a crushing 3 – 0 victory by Impact, nV were knocked out of Gfinity at the Group Stage. With that win this is how Impact’s group finished.
TCM Gaming (4-0)
IcoNs.Impact (3-1)
Team aAa (1-3)
Curse.EU (1-3)
Team EnVyUs (1-3)
Heading into day two at Gfinity, Impact were drawn against Prophecy in an EU vs NA showdown. Prophecy had finished third in their group but it was a massive opportunity for the EU squad to knock the 4-time champions out. Sadly it was not to be for the European team, a cruising 3-1 victory for Impact had seen they sweep aside Prophecy and progress to the final 4 for an Anaheim rematch against CompLexity.
CompLexity and TCM were the only teams to finish out of the Group Stages unbeaten, as it was a massive challenge for the Impact lineup and one that CompLexity took in their stride, with a crushing 3-1 victory against Impact. Complexity then went on to beat TCM in the final and become the inaugural Gfinity Champions.
#Impact join Epsilon, Karma leaves
Just after Gfinity it was announced that Karma would be replacing Stainville at Team EnVyUs. Impact took no time in getting their fourth and picked up Johnathan “John” Perez to replace Karma. On August 6, it was announced that Epsilon eSports would be representing Impact as their organisation, and from then on they would be represented under the Epsilon name. This was massive news on ESN as well as other sites and their first event as a team would be UMG Atlanta.
#The infamous UMG Atlanta
Possibly the most memorable Call of Duty Black Ops 2 LAN event for all of the wrong reasons, Epsilon went into UMG Atlanta first taking on ‘Endure’ in the Round of 64. They were no match for Epsilon and it was an easy 2-0 win for them. Next up was Black Listed who again Epsilon had no problems with, sweeping them aside in a convincing 2-0 victory. In the Round of 16 winners bracket, we would see Team Kaliber (tK) take a major victory over the Epsilon team, knocking them down into the losers bracket.
Down into losers bracket round 4, Epsilon had to respond strong and they did knocking out Instafamous with a 2-0 victory to progress in the losers bracket, their next opponent was EnVyUs.
This particular match against nV turned out to be one of the most infamous matches in Black Ops 2 history. Many phrases were coined from this match, captured in a now-infamous YouTube video. In game, Epsilon took a 3-1 victory over nV to progress on in the bracket to play ‘RNX Storm’ which they beat with a very dominating series score of 3-0.
Next up for Epsilon was the UNiTE.NA team in losers bracket round 7 which again showed Epsilon continuing their surge through the losers bracket, as a 3-1 victory for them would lead them on to playing ‘MRKN’ in the series which would be closest to knocking Epsilon out. The series ended up with Epsilon just scraping by in the final map winning 3-2 against MRKN and going onto the losers bracket semi final to play SoaR.
This series would not be as close as the match against MRKN as Epsilon would bag themselves a place in the losers bracket final with a 3-1 victory, and they would then meet the team that knocked them down to the losers bracket in the first place, Team Kaliber. Revenge would not be sweet for Epsilon as tK would yet again beat Epsilon and knock them completely out of UMG Atlanta. It was a 3rd place finish for Epsilon but repercussions for an earlier match against EnvyUs were about to come.
#Epsilon drop Impact, Parasite leaves, MLG PAX
When a particular Youtube video between EnvyUs and Epsilon made shockwaves across the Internet many people caught wind of it. Due to that video Epsilon released the Impact team from their lineup stating that **”We have obligations, standards that our players must abide to, and no amount of talent can allow those principles to be broken.”**
Right after this Parasite left the squad becoming a free agent, soon to join UNiTE.NA. The next event for Impact would be MLG PAX where they would pick up Blfire from Curse for this particular tournament.
Under the ‘FoD’ (Foundations of Destruction) name Impact went into MLG PAX looking to try and prove a point.
They would end day one reasonably well 3-3 record which was to be expected from Impact. However things went from bad to worse when they entered day two and were unable to get the results they needed. Shockingly they failed to make it out of Group Play and were eliminated from MLG PAX at the very first hurdle.
Shortly after MLG PAX, Killa went to join his former Impact teammate Parasite at UNiTE.NA, and shortly after, MirX joined Curse.
Just like that, Impact was done.
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It’s remarkable to think that in the span of 6 months the ‘4-peat’ champions can disband but it also shows you the competition throughout our scene. Parasite gave ESN an exclusive statement about his journey with Impact:
**“Playing for Impact is something I will never forget. Winning four events in a row is something I will forever be proud of. The nights out with the team after our victories were some of the best nights of my life. And although we bickered at each other in-game, I know that we truly love each other outside of it.**
**Things didn’t work out because the game changed. And our priorities as people changed. We all shared different interests and eventually it fell apart”**
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And that concludes this series. Once again make sure to follow [@eSportsNation](http://www.twitter.com/esportsnation) for all of our features, coverage and eSports news.
