After Europe’s unprecedented success in Halo’s Kansas City Major at the end of April, this weekend’s Orlando Major was a cruel awakening. Despite a promising day one for the four European teams in pool play, only the NAVI roster managed to break into the top-12 of the championship bracket on day two.
With a top-12 placing required to qualify for pool play at the World Championship next month, this leaves Valencia champions Acend and second-seeded EU squad JLINGZ esports at the mercy of a play-in bracket for a shot at one of the remaining four spots in the pools. Quadrant, who came second at Valencia and matched Acend’s top-eight finish at HCS Kansas City, missed out on qualifying for Seattle entirely in a shocking result.
Both Acend and Quadrant fell in the lower bracket at the hands of Team WaR, a new North American lineup comprised of players previously tied to teams such as Fnatic and Gamer’s First. Despite Quadrant’s matchup proving to be a closer one, losing in a 3-2 fashion compared to Acend’s 3-1 defeat, the French squad faced them earlier in the lower bracket, which gave that resulting loss a far more devastating impact on their tournament placing.
When JLINGZ was similarly swept and knocked out by TSS esports, finishing with the same top-16 placement as Acend, Europe’s hopes were left in the hands of NAVI. The roster was an unlikely heroine for the region at Orlando, notorious for their lackluster top-24 performance at Kansas City next to Acend and Quadrant’s top-eight placings at the same event.
A dominant 3-0 sweep of LATAM champions Spacestation Gaming at the end of Saturday was all they needed, clinching a crucial spot in the top-12 and pool play at Worlds. While a 3-2 loss to Oxygen Esports in the series following put a premature end to their run, NAVI had their heads held high, knowing they had already secured the golden ticket.
NAVI rookie Mighty, who the squad picked up in June to replace Respectful, was especially happy with such a result. “Managed to secure top 12 playing in my first big NA HCS event,” he said on Twitter after the fact. “Could have gotten further but we secured a spot for Worlds. Much love to everyone.”
Team captain Jimbo echoed the sentiment, both pleased with the progress that the lineup has made but knowing there was an opportunity for more. “We’ve learnt so much over the last two/three weeks as a team and I am proud. Win as a team, lose as a team.”
Europe’s usual stars on Acend left the venue in a very different mood. “Extremely disappointed is an understatement for how I feel about this whole thing,” Sica lamented after their loss to Team WaR. “We let EU down by playing like this. We will practice harder than ever for Worlds, I promise that.” When Acend finished top-eight at eUnited’s Grunt Classic invitational last week, narrowly missing out on a deeper run in a 3-2 loss to Cloud9, it’s easy to see why this result is loaded with heartbreak.
The Halo World Championship may still offer an opportunity for redemption, with Acend and JLINGZ still favorites to make it out of the play-in bracket and into the last of the 16 pool play spots. However, what was predicted to be an easy task ahead of Orlando in locking down automatic Worlds qualification ending in failure like this is a foreboding sign.
