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Microsoft has announced a new era of competitive Halo on Monday, August 30, revealing nine partnered teams for the launch of Halo: Infinite later this year. The competitive landscape for the upcoming series’ latest installment will feature some of the biggest esports brands, who have already started building their rosters.
Halo Esports Is Back!
Competitive Halo is set to return in December to coincide with the release of Halo: Infinite. Microsoft announced the plans to form a new esports competitive landscape on Monday, unveiling nine esports organizations committed to participating in Halo esports tournaments.
Although the organizers refrained from revealing too much about what is around the corner, more information should become available as we get close to December. What we do know, however, is the names of the organizations that will take part in the first tournaments.
Cloud9, G2 Esports, Sentinels, Envy, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, Natus Vincere, eUnited, and Stacestation Gaming are all confirmed as partnered organizations. However, only four have already revealed their Halo esports rosters to date.
Esports Organizations Started Forming Their Halo Rosters
As it stands now, Cloud9, Envy, eUnited, and Sentinels are the only four organizations that have announced their Halo rosters. However, if their announcements are any indication, we can be sure that the field won’t lack talent.
Cloud9 have revealed their four-man roster, which comprises some of the biggest Halo stars. The list includes Zane “Penguin” Hearon, Kevin “Eco” Smith, Jonathan “Renegade” Willette, and Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher.
The quintet has previously played together at Turning Point but left the team in July 2020, after the organization disbanded.
Envy came out with one of the most exciting rosters of the tour organizations. While all are known figures in the competitive Halo scene, all the eyes will be on Justin “iGotUrPistola” Deese.
As one of the most successful players in history, iGotUrPistola will return to action with seemingly a lifetime of experience. Throughout his 14-year career, iGotUrPistola has won 19 major events, including two MGL National Championships.
Joining iGotUrPistola are Joey “TriPPPeY” Taylor, Bradley “aPG” Laws, and Lucid.
EUnited’s Halo roster will feature Ryan “RyaNoob” Geddes, Nick “KingNick” Panzella, Tyler “Spartan” Ganza, and Timothy “Rayne” Tinkler. The team will comprise a majority of the former Pride roster, who disbanded in June 2020.
Sentinels are the last organization who has already announced their Halo roster. It will feature Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte, Tony “LethuL” Campbell, Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante, and Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom.
Sentinels have essentially acquired the former TOX Gaming core and now sport one of the most stacked Halo rosters. SnakeBite, LethuL, Royal2, and Frosty form the most successful roster announced to date, having won the World Championship in 2016 while playing under Counter Logic Gaming and in 2017 while playing for OpTic Gaming.
What To Expect?
It’s still unclear how the Halo esports landscape will look like, considering the game has yet to be released. Halo: Infinite is set to release on December 8, with the single-player campaign and multiplayer modes.
It is also unclear whether the newest release of the series will be enough to relaunch the esports scene that has been struggling for the past few years.
In an attempt to relaunch the Halo esports scene, the Halo Championship Series hosted Halo 5 Pro Series in 2020. The competition was held across North America, Latin America, New Zealand, and Australia but failed to get much traction.
The fans and pro players will hope that that Halo: Infinite can relaunch the scene. This makes the sixth installment of the series one of the most anticipated game releases in Halo history, especially since it should have already been released in 2020.
More information about the upcoming Halo esports tournaments and teams’ roster should become available in the coming weeks. It’s unknown when the Halo: Infinite esports scene will kick off, but we can expect the wheels to start spinning after the game releases in December 2021.