OpTic Gaming Are The Halo World Champions

OpTic Gaming won the Halo World Championship 2022 on Sunday, October 23, in a closely contested series against Cloud9. With that title, OpTic cemented itself as one of the most successful esports organizations across multiple FPS titles.

The $1 million Halo Infinite World Championship 2022 is now in the rearview mirror as OpTic Gaming clawed its way back to the top of the Halo’s food chain with a phenomenal comeback against Cloud9 at Seattle Convention Center.

Although OpTic’s success is hardly surprising, Cloud9 gave the Green Wall a run for their money on the big stage, coming extremely close to securing a dominant victory and a title for themselves.

Following OpTic’s success at Orlando Major, the North American esports organization traveled to Seattle as one of the main favorites to win the Halo World Championship trophy, and they didn’t disappoint.

By sweeping Gamers First, Sentinels, and Native Gaming Red, OpTic completed a perfect upper-bracket run straight to the grand finals, where they met with Cloud9, whose road to the big stage looked entirely different.

Featuring Kevin “Eco” Smith, Zane “Penguin” Hearon, Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher, and Adam “Bound” Gray, Cloud9 enjoyed a solid start to the season-culminating tournament. They topped group B with a perfect 3-0 record and a +7 map difference. However, they hit a wall early into their playoff run.

Despite their strong showing in the group stage, Cloud9 slipped in the first round of the knockout stage, where they lost against native Gaming Red (0-3), who pushed them into the lower bracket. But Cloud9’s story was far from over.

In what can be described as one of the most impressive lower-bracket runs, Cloud9 fought their way through five rounds straight to the finals. They eliminated the likes of Acend, eUnited, Sentinels, FaZe Clan, and Native Gaming Red, against who they got their revenge on Saturday with a clean 3-0 sweep.

With the wind in their sails, Cloud9 looked prime to take down OpTic Gaming and claim the championship trophy for themselves. And from the start, it seemed like they could do it.

Cloud9 produced an explosive start to the best-of-seven series and took a 4-1 series lead that reset the bracket. Former FaZe Clan player, Bound, looked like he is on a mission, sitting in the spotlight for his exceptional individual plays, which kept Cloud9 in the world title contention.

Yet, despite Cloud9’s strong start to the series, they couldn’t close out the deal and struggled to replicate their showings after the bracket reset, which turned the flow of the game upside down.

Not giving up yet, OpTic Gaming found momentum on the sixth map, beating Cloud9 on Oddball-Recharge (2-1), and from there, looked unstoppable. Despite C9’s best efforts to regain control of the series, OpTic weren’t giving up their firm grasp of the game.

OpTic completed the comeback with 50-30 on Slayer-Catalyst, 250-173 on Strongholds-Live Fire, and 3-2 on King of the Hill-Streets, to close out the deal with 1-4, 4-0.

By winning Halo World Championship 2022, OpTic Gaming claimed the organization’s second World Championship title and the first since Halo World Championship 2017. It also marks the organization’s first S-Tier tournament title since OpTic won HCS Pro League 2017 Fall Global Finals.

Crowned as the new Halo world champions, Bradley “aPG” Laws, Tommy “Lucid” Wilson, Joey “TriPPPeY” Taylor, and Matthew “FormaL” Piper now join an exclusive list of Halo players who won the coveted trophy. Interestingly, before last month’s Orlando Major, Lucid and Trioppy hadn’t lifted a major LAN Halo trophy.

On the other side, OpTic’s success cemented former Call of Duty pro player, FormaL as one of the best FPS players in the history of esports. Having started his esports career in Halo, the 27-year-old was the first player to win a major event in Halo and CoD and is now the first player to be crowned as world champion across both FPS titles.