HCS Pro League: Week 4, Day 2 Recap

Day one of this week ended as expected, with predictable winners, except for the toss-up between E6 and LOL.

How did the second day of matches fair? Spoiler alert: The teams you thought would win did, but not in the way that you think.

Let’s take a look.

Match One: Luminosity vs. Allegiance

Game One: Strongholds – The Rig

Rotations were the name of the game in this one, as LG held five total controls in this match and made their kills count.

With a 1.25 average K/D, Luminosity was able to keep Allegiance down as they tried to bounce back on day two.

Game Final: LG 100 – 65 ALG

Match Score: LG 1 – 0 ALG

Game Two: Slayer – Regret 

Luminosity got a bit of a scare a few minutes into this contest when newly acquired Cory “Str8 Sick” Sloss decided to go on a tear, getting a sick triple kill en route to a killing spree.

This propelled ALG over Luminosity temporarily, before LG shook off a small speed bump and handedly beat Allegiance. 

Visal “eL TowN“ Mohanan led the way with 16 kills and a 2.0 K/D, as he got his way to a killing spree with five magnum kills, two of which counted for a double kill.

Game Final: LG 50 – 39 ALG

Match Score: LG 2 – 0 ALG

Game Three: CTF – Fathom

Allegiance showed some fight during the early part of this one, capturing the first flag of the game after Cody “ContrA” Szczodrowski took out two with the railgun.

LG answered back though around a minute later, and after a few minutes of failed pulls and standoffs, Luminosity was able to pot two in a minute to end the series.

Tonight marked the third straight sweep of Allegiance, who desperately needs to win in order to stay out of the relegation zone.

Game Final: LG 3 – 1 ALG

Match Final: LG 3 – 0 ALG

Match Two: EnVyUs vs. LOL

Game One: Strongholds – Eden

After once again proving that they aren’t just ex-OpTic yesterday, LOL upset nV in the first game of this series.

Led by Bradley “APG” Laws going 20-8-11, along with four captures, LOL was able to wrestle with a team who struggles at Strongholds.

Game Final: LOL 100 – 77 nV

Match Score: LOL 1 – 0 nV

Game Two: Slayer – Plaza

Word of advise: Do not upset nV, especially when the next game mode is Slayer.

Both Eric “Snip3down“ Wrona and Cuyler “Huke” Garland scraped a 3.00 K/D in this one, with Justin “Pistola” Deese getting not one, but two hat-tricks with his sniper (which technically is called a sock trick).

This one was NOT pretty for LOL in the slightest…

Game Final: nV 50 – 29 LOL

Match Score: nV 1 – 1 LOL

Game Three: CTF – Truth

And this one wasn’t pretty for LOL either.

Two flag caps within one minute and 10 seconds started this one, and this one was over around three and a half minutes into the game.

At this point, I had in my notes that LOL was pretty much done…

Game Final: nV 3 – 0 LOL

Match Score: nV 2 – 1 LOL

Game Four: Strongholds – Empire

Oh wait, a Strongholds game.

Luckily for LOL, they got to face nV on their weakest game mode in this desperation game, and while nV stuck with LOL for this one, it was the underdogs who once again took advantage of a bad matchup.

Somehow, some way, this one was going to a game five.

Game Final: LOL 100 –  93 nV

Match Score: LOL 2 – 2 nV

Game Five: Slayer – The Rig

Just to emphasize how much momentum was lost in that game four, LOL was only one kill away from nV towards the three minute mark of this match, when in the last slayer, nV was crushing LOL.

Still, LOL just couldn’t get the job done against nV, as the boys in blue turned around and ended the match with a 7-2 run.

This series did expose nV’s weakness to Strongholds, but they are still the top team in the (online) league.

Game Final: nV 50 – 40 LOL

Match Final: nV 3 – 2 LOL

Match Three: Team Liquid vs. Enigma6

Game One: Strongholds – Empire

Team Liquid had the luxury of taking on two falling stars in the league, helping Tyler “Spartan” Ganza get his revenge tour against anyone who doesn’t like his outspoken nature.

Anyways, Spartan led the way with 18 kills and eight assists in this one, taking down an Enigma6 side who 24 hours ago were upset by LOL.

Game Final: TL 100 – 77 E6

Match Score: TL 1 – 0 E6

Game Two: Slayer – Plaza

Remember when Team Liquid “had a good amount of work to do” in Slayer? I think they were a bit mad when I said that…

At any minute interval in this game, Team Liquid did not trail Enigma6 in the slightest, with Zane “Penguin” Hearon having a double-double of 14 kills and 13 assists.

Game Final: TL 50 – 28 E6

Match Score: TL 2 – 0 E6

Game Three: CTF – Truth

Much like the third game between Team Liquid and EG, these two sides went back and forth, with both teams getting a cap in the third minute.

TL was able to get another cap later in the fifth minute, before E6 answered back in the waning minutes.

Team Liquid got the final pull and cap though, with Spartan and Penguin combining to keep Enigma6 down to sweep the series.

Speaking of Spartan, he had two captures, 24 kills, a killing spree, and ten assists in this game.

#LetThemDrinkBeer

Game Final: TL 3 – 2 E6

Match Final: TL 3 – 0 E6

Match Four: Evil Geniuses vs. OpTic Gaming

Game One: Strongholds – Empire

In a game where Evil Geniuses outslayed OpTic Gaming, there were four total controls against the “Green Wall” that pretty much allowed the Geniuses to run away with this one in under five minutes.

Game Final: EG 100 – 7 OG

Match Score: EG 1 – 0 OG

Game Two: Slayer – Plaza

Justin “Roy” Brown led the Geniuses with a 16-13-8 clip, not allowing OpTic to get back any lead after the initial minutes of the game.

Out of a rare game for OpTic, only Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante went positive on a game that features a lot of double kills, snapshots and interesting moments.

And just like that, EG beat OG on Slayer to go up 2-0 in the series.

Game Final: EG 50 – 40 OG

Match Score: EG 2 – 0 OG

Game Three: CTF – Truth

After a stalemate that lasted over four minutes, OpTic was able to pull two caps within 30 seconds to get up to a 2-0 lead on EG.

The Geniuses answered right back, but OpTic was able to starve off a comeback effort and punch in the final flag by mowing down EG.

Game Final: OG 3 – 1 EG

Match Score: EG 2 – 1 OG

Game Four: Strongholds – Eden

I’ll tell you, these teams love lopsided games of Strongholds.

OpTic gained the upper hand here and kept it, earning four total controls and answering EG’s game one dominance with a crushing blow of their own.

Having ice in his veins, Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom had 23 kills and three deaths in this one, earning a killing spree, a killing frenzy and two triple kills.

Game Final: OG 100 – 15 EG

Match Score: OG 2 – 2 EG

Game Five: Slayer – The Rig

When Frosty and company get rolling, you just can’t stop them.

Getting a 15-5-8 statline and three snapshots, Frosty was able to help power the Green Wall over EG, running away with the score in the final minutes of action.

Rather than handing OpTic Gaming yet another rare loss in the season, Evil Geniuses just got reverse swept by one of the best teams in Halo today.

Game Final: OG 50 – 30 EG

Match Final: OG 3 – 2 EG

And that will do it for week four.

Did any of these matches for the week surprise you at all? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter, and for all your Halo and esports updates, make sure you are following us on Twitter, @GAMURScom.

James Mattone is a journalist for GAMURS and can be contacted by email at jamestmattone@gmail.com or on Twitter –@TheJamesMattone.

Image Credit: Halo Waypoint