Teams to Watch This Weekend
Team 1 – Carbon
Team
Carbon is one of the most historic, and has one of the deepest histories in
competitive gaming. Team Carbon began its history in the MLG 2006 season, when
Carbon and Final Boss battled it out all season as the two top Halo 2 teams in
the world. Final Boss dominated the circuit throughout the 2006 season as
others teams such as Str8 Rippin, Storm Ventures, Xit Woundz, and eX also
fought to try and dethrone the best team in the world. Carbon would struggle as
they tried to take down Final Boss, until the team made their infamous team
change. After MLG Chicago, Carbon dropped StrongSide and picked up Ghostayame,
a young talent known for his aggressive style to playing the game. This change
would prove to be just what Carbon needed, as the team would defeat Final Boss
in the last 3 events of the season including the National Championship in Las
Vegas. Team Carbon shocked the world in 2006, and continued their rivalry with
Final Boss right into 2007, but Final Boss had added former Carbon member
StrongSide, and would dominate the 07 season.
Carbon
fell apart in the 2008 season, as team changes would be a common theme
throughout the year. 2009 saw Carbon place well at many events, but the team
did not have anywhere as much success compared to past years. The team fell
apart going into future seasons and the name Carbon was the victim of many low
placings, and overall play nowhere close to what Carbon had once been known for in the
past. However, 2012 saw an entirely new Carbon lineup consisting of Snipedown,
Ryanoob, Assault, and Blaze with coach Ghostayame going into MLG Columbus 2012.
The team practiced a lot going into the tournament, but only placed 7-8th
in what was overall an amazing and crazy event at the end of March. Carbon is
going into this weekend the same way they went in Columbus, with the same
lineup and a lot of practice Carbon will be a force to be reckoned with this
weekend, and could take the entire tournament.
Team 2 – Status Quo
Status Quo made its first big splash onto the MLG pro
scene going into 2009. The team consisted of league veteran StrongSide, Ace,
Flamesword, and Totz. The team was known for playing very well at the off-season
LANs and had a lot of fans and supporters going into the season. The team
placed in and around the Top 8 all season and went into 2010 with a new lineup
and really made their presence known with consistent 4th places
finishes almost the entire season and 2nd place at the National
Championship in Dallas. SQ went into 2011 with the same lineup and won their
first event at the season opener at Dallas. The rest of the season was up and
down for the team, with a lot of back and forth placing’s and team changes
where they kept ending up with the same lineup and a disappointing 7th
place finishes at the National Championship in Providence.
Status Quo looked to be going into MLG Columbus 2012 with
a lineup consisting of Flamesword, Enable, Ace, and Ace’s older brother
Elamite, a league veteran and national champion. Status Quo shocked the MLG
scene as they dropped the Elam brothers for Snake Bite and Royal 2, a young duo
from team Warriors with only about 2 weeks before the event. The move was very
questionable, and was taken on as very critical by a lot of fans that saw the
sudden change, and it’s timing, as “shady.” Amidst all the controversy, Status
Quo fought through the tournament to play Instinct in a best of 11 finals after
losing the Winners Bracket Finals in a close 3-2 series. The finals went down
to game 11, where Status Quo edged out Instinct in an intense Team Slayer on
Countdown to win the event. The team enters the weekend with Flamesword,
Enable, Snake Bite, and Roy filling in for Royal 2. This could be a great
weekend for Status Quo, but also a sad weekend for Halo fans. Roy has said that
this event could be his last as he considers retirement, and wanted to play
with Status Quo for the event to possibly finish his career with a win. Will
this be Roy’s final event in his gaming career? Will he take home a victory to
end the weekend? Only time will tell. Whatever happens, we all wish Roy the
best in what could be his final event as a professional gamer.
Team 3 – The Avengers
The Avengers is one of the more interesting pro teams
headed into the weekend. The team has a mixture of veteran and newer pros. The
team consists of Clutch, APG, Lethul, and Formal. Clutch, the 2009 National
Champion and runner up at the 2011 Nationals in Providence, is a player and
team leader who can never be counted out, as he always seems to prove the
naysayers wrong. APG is another league veteran, who won his first event at MLG
Raleigh of last year with Infamous and has been a well-known pro player since
the 2009 season. Lethul made his name in 2010, winning the first ever Halo
Reach combine at MLG DC and then winning the MLG Dallas Halo Reach exhibition.
HE was a young player going into the 2011 season, but proved he can hang with
the best in the league as he won MLG Raleigh with team Infamous, and two 2nd
place finishes at Dallas and Orlando. Formal burst onto the scene at Dallas
2011 with team Soul and steadily improved throughout the season. Formal became
well known as one of the best slayers consistently throughout the season,
especially having possibly the best sniper in the league. The team has a lot of
potential going into this weekend, so only time will tell if they can stay up
there with the like of Status Quo and Carbon.
Fans and players a like are hoping for a great event this
weekend. Bonafide Boarding and Arena Gaming have been working hard to make this
a great event. Anyone attending as well as watching from home will see sponsors
like Astro and even NOS, amongst others sponsoring the event. The guys at
Bonafide Boarding and Arena Gaming are looking to make this almost
like a small MLG event, will all 8 player POVs throughout the weekend and even
a mainstage for the bigger matches throughout the weekend. The current state of
competitive Halo is not what it has been in past years, but what we as Halo
fans have to look forward to this weekend is something great. These 3 teams are only a few out of many teams going, so anyone could win the event as upsets and surprises are always guaranteed in competitive gaming. Get out there and
thank the guys at Bonafide and Arena Gaming for all their hard work on twitter,
@BonafideBoards and @ArenaGaming_ . The weekend is shaping up to be fantastic
with some great teams and great event features. Be sure to check out the stream
all weekend long starting tomorrow with commentary by u4ix, a Halo Council personality and one half of the infamous Unfrankable duo and pro player Best Man, another Halo Council personality and long standing pro player. You can watch all weekend long on the Union of Reach
website http://www.unionofreach.com/live/channel/view/arena-gaming-42
Be sure to sign up so you can interact through the chat and be part of the
action all weekend long! Follow @TheHaloCouncil on twitter also for update throughout the weekend on the tournament in additon to the Bonafide Boards and Arena Gaming twitter! Good luck to all players and teams attending, and lets
have a great weekend of competitive Halo!
