The fall season of the Halo Championship Series (HCS) kicks off later today. Featuring the eight best teams in North America and a total of seven match days prior to DreamHack Denver, the only open event for this season, these pro players will have their work cut out for them.
The matches will be broadcast on Halo’s Mixer and Twitch pages. Below is a list of predictions for this week’s pro league matches. We based these off of team changes, prior performances, chemistry, and raw talent.
Wednesday Aug. 23
Starting at 4:30pm PT (7:30pm ET).
Splyce vs. Ronin
Splyce
Jesse “bubu dubu” Moeller
Ryan “Shooter” Sondhi
Jonathan “Renegade” Willette
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro
Ronin
Cory “Str8 SicK” Sloss
Ayden “Suspector” Hill
Visal “eL ToWn” Mohanan
Sabur “Sabinater” Hakimi
With Ronin’s recent recruitment of Sabinator in place of Tyler “Spartan” Ganza, their future is uncertain. The 16-year-old prodigy possesses a great level of talent, but it isn’t certain yet if Sabinator will be able to capitalize on his true potential and help Ronin become the top-tier team they believe they can be. Splyce on the other hand is an established contender that recently won DreamHack Atlanta on July 23. Due to their recent win at DreamHack and growing chemistry, Splyce will win this one.
Naventic vs. Evil Geniuses
Naventic
Ryan “RyaNoob” Geddes
Troy “DasTroyed” Dusman
Cody “ContrA” Szczodrowski
Kyle “Nemassist” Kubina
Evil Geniuses
Jason “Lunchbox” Brown
Justin “Roy” Brown
Michael “Falcated” Garcia
Josbe “Tapping Buttons” Valadez
This series is definitely going to be one of the tighter matches to watch. EG has a bit more chemistry and experience due to the veterans Roy and Lunchbox holding down their lineup. Naventic has the ability to defeat EG through their raw talent, if activated. We believe that Naventic will show up to perform and narrowly defeat EG. This victory, however, will only come if each player on Naventic shows up. There can’t be any underperforming in this match.
OpTic Gaming vs. Luminosity
OpTic Gaming
Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte
Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante
Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom
Tony “Lethul” Campbell, Jr.
Luminosity
Tommy “Saiyan” Wilson
Bradley “aPG” Laws
Joey “TriPPPeY” Taylor
Tim “Rayne” Tinkler
With the addition of Rayne to LG in replacement of Ninja, the roster will not change much in performance compared to last season. Maintaining the same performance, LG will not be able to go past a high-contending team such as OpTic, they are too talented and seasoned a lineup. OG may not have a commanding victory, but they are certain to win.
Team EnVyUs vs. Team Liquid
Team EnVyUs
Austin “Mikwen” McCleary
Justin “iGotUrPistola” Deese
Eric “Snip3down” Wrona
Cuyler “Huke” Garland
Team Liquid
Zane “SubZero” Hearon
Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher
Kevin “Eco” Smith
Tyler “Spartan” Ganza
Team EnVyUs and Team Liquid are unarguably two of the top four teams in the world right now, making this one of the most entertaining matches to watch on Wednesday. With complications on Liquid’s roster due to Ace being released and the recent pickup of Spartan, it will take some time for Liquid to get back to their primal state. This should allow for EnVy to slip past them in this match.
Thursday Aug. 24
Starting at 4:30pm PT (7:30pm ET).
Team EnVyUs vs. Naventic
Team EnVyUs
Austin “Mikwen” McCleary
Justin “iGotUrPistola” Deese
Eric “Snip3down” Wrona
Cuyler “Huke” Garland
Naventic
Ryan “RyaNoob” Geddes
Troy “DasTroyed” Dusman
Cody “ContrA” Szczodrowski
Kyle “Nemassist” Kubina
Despite Naventic’s rapid growth as a team, to say that they have what it takes to defeat EnVy, who have maintained their roster for over ten months, is a bit far-fetched. EnVy carries much more slaying talent, and their chemistry is unarguably superior to Naventic’s. Due to these two factors, EnVy takes this match.
OpTic Gaming vs. Splyce
OpTic Gaming
Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte
Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante
Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom
Tony “Lethul” Campbell, Jr.
Splyce
Jesse “bubu dubu” Moeller
Ryan “Shooter” Sondhi
Jonathan “Renegade” Willette
Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro
Defeating OpTic in the grand finals at DreamHack Atlanta on July 23, Splyce is confident in their ability to reign victorious in this online match against OpTic. OG, however, believes that their talent and superior chemistry is still capable of defeating the new kings of Halo. Both teams have been doing very well in online scrims and both look prepared to face each other on Thursday. OpTic, however, will narrowly come out on top in this match, due to their experience and chemistry.
Team Liquid vs. Ronin
Team Liquid
Zane “SubZero” Hearon
Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher
Kevin “Eco” Smith
Tyler “Spartan” Ganza
Ronin
Cory “Str8 SicK” Sloss
Ayden “Suspector” Hill
Visal “eL ToWn” Mohanan
Sabur “Sabinater” Hakimi
Both teams face the same problem, they both replaced two very significant players and need time to recover from the changes. Although Liquid may have an easier time adjusting to Spartan, as he was formerly on the team, Ronin may find more success with Sabinater in the future. For the time being, however, Liquid has the advantage due to Spartan being much more experienced than Sabinater.
Luminosity vs. Evil Geniuses
Luminosity
Tommy “Saiyan” Wilson
Bradley “aPG” Laws
Joey “TriPPPeY” Taylor
Tim “Rayne” Tinkler
Evil Geniuses
Jason “Lunchbox” Brown
Justin “Roy” Brown
Michael “Falcated” Garcia
Josbe “Tapping Buttons” Valadez
Both teams will most likely be on similar competitive levels, although EG carries a bit of a chemistry advantage due to having the same team as last season it won’t be enough to put them significantly past LG. Both teams are very capable of winning this match, but due to the added chemistry, EG will narrowly escape with the win.
The first match kicks off at 4:30pm PT (7:30PM ET) today. These matches will all be broadcast on Halo’s Mixer and Twitch pages.
