This weekend, we witnessed thefinal two teams make it into the HCS Pro League. Sixteen teams went into the LCQ after aseries of other qualifiers and played in group play leadinginto a double elimination bracket. When it was all said and done,only two teams advanced.
Team Liquid :Tyler “Spartan” Ganza,Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher, Kevin“Eco” Smith, and Clete “Assault”LoRusso
OpTic Gaming :Nick “MaNiaC” Kershner, Brett “Naded”Leonard, Aaron “Ace” Elam, and Cory “Str8SicK” Sloss
Team Liquid absolutely dominatedthroughout the LCQ, taking down both OpTic and eLevate along theway to the grand final, both of whom later faced off in the loser’sbracket final to determine who would qualify for the league. TeamLiquid ultimately won the entire LCQ.
The loser’s bracket finalstarted with a dominating performance by OpTic, but eLevateclutched out a few wins to keep themselves alive. The team to comeout on top would be OpTic as they swiftly dominated in the sixthgame.
The rest of the NA Qualified ProLeague teams (Counter Logic Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Team Allegiance,Team EnVyUs, Enigma6, and Renegades) and the EU Pro League teams will be facing off every weekstarting in June. The first set of matches begin June 2 at 5 pm PDTon Twitch.tv/halo,and then again on June 3.
Each team will face each othertwice throughout season play, and the top four teams will advanceto the finals. Fifth and sixth placing teams will have their spotsguaranteed for the Fall season. The seventh and eighth place teamswill need to work their way up through the open circuit all overagain to make it back to Pro League play in the Fall.
Did the team you’ve been following throughout qualification makeit season play? Who are your picks to win on opening week ofleague play? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @GAMURScom.
