By Official HCS -
After a scintillating end to the HCS Pro League Fall 2016 Season, the wait for the Halo World Championship 2017 has seemed nigh unbearable. However, after a holiday offseason break that was anything but uneventful, that wait is over and the action is ready to commence in St. Louis for the opening round of the Halo World Championship 2017 Qualifiers.
Punctuating an exciting lineup of top Halo teams and players from around the world are arguably the odds-on favorites to win it all: OpTic Gaming and Team EnVyUs. OpTic wields the defending World Championship squad of Snakebite, Royal 2, Frosty and Lethul, but nV are defending a title of their own, as reigning NA HCS Pro League champions Snipedown, Pistola, Huke and Mikwen took down that very same OpTic quartet in the NA Fall 2016 Finals. Sweetening the taste of this growing rivalry is the fact that amazingly, both of these rosters enter the HaloWC unchanged from the previous season. And whether they will admit it or not, both nV and OpTic represent the bar that all other teams are competing to reach – and hopefully surpass.
The road to the Halo World Championship begins here – hope you’re ready.
TOP STORIES
Clear vision – While OpTic Gaming remains in a prime position to qualify for HaloWC 2017, it would mean even more to defeat Team EnVyUs along the way, and prove that they’re just as dangerous as they were a year ago.
Feeling green – While Team EnVyUs standouts Mikwen and Pistola might still be basking in the glow of an HCS Pro League season title, the Halo World Championship still represents a big bit of unfinished business for the duo. Both Mikwen and Pistola failed to qualify for HaloWC 2016, and are determined to not suffer the same unceremonious exit this time around.
Mad science – Evil Geniuses has a new roster and new energy about them as they enter the St. Louis qualifier as EG drops both Ninja and Stellur to pick up Contra and Predevonator to join Roy and Lunchbox. Fans who #bleedblue might no doubt feel like it was an eternity ago when their heroes were capturing X-Games Gold, and will be hoping that these new roster changes will translate into a return to glory at the HaloWC.
ROSTERS
With the dust barely settled on the Halo esports offseason, let’s take a look at the freshly-minted rosters of many of the most important teams to watch next weekend.
HCS PRO LEAGUE TEAMS
Luminosity
- eL ToWn
- Victory X
- Ninja
- Trippey
Evil Geniuses
- Roy
- Lunchbox
- Contra
- PreDevoNator
Team Liquid
- Rayne
- Penguin
- Eco
- Stellur
Team EnVyUs
- Mikwen
- Pistola
- Snip3down
- Huke
Str8 Rippin
- Ace
- aPG
- Heinz
- Renegade
OpTic Gaming
- Snakebite
- Royal
- Lethul
- Frosty
Enigma6
- Cratos
- Nemassist
- Naded
- Str8 Sick
OPEN BRACKET TEAMS
Team Allegiance
- Commonly
- Danoxide
- Spartan
- Suspector
SetToDestroyX
- Burton
- Calm Mentality
- Blaze
- TiZoXiC
cE.Fs Starboys
- Domey
- Bain
- Dynamics
- Ryno
INFUEGO
- Qsurf
- Nexivm
- I thorium I
- DoCtErPiLgRiM
EVENT INFO
Venue
Gateway Convention Center
1 Gateway Dr
Collinsville, IL 62234
How to Watch
Catch all the action on Jan. 20-22 from the HaloWC 2017 St. Louis Qualifier at Twitch.tv/Halo.
Format
- Open Bracket:
- Double Elimination
- Best of 5 matches
- Top 8 teams advance to the Championship Bracket
- Championship Bracket:
- 8 teams from Open Bracket + 8 Pro Teams from Pro League
- Double Elimination
- Best of 5 matches until Grand Finals – Grand Finals is Best of 7
Prize Pool
- Overall: $50,000
- 1st - $20,000
- 2nd - $10,000
- 3rd - $6,000
- 4th - $4,000
- 5th - $3,000
- 6th - $3,000
- 7th - $2,000
- 8th - $2,000
ON-AIR TALENT
As always, for all updates on the Halo Championship Series and Halo esports, follow @HCS on Twitter, and keep it locked to Halo.gg on the web.
