88 teams descended onto Orlando to compete in the first MLG ran Halo event in years. Through February 16th to the 18th, teams battled for the grand prize of $20,000 and 25,000 pro points. The majority of the competing teams had to fight through the open bracket, while twelve teams had already qualified for pool play with Eight from North America, two from Europe, two from Australia/New Zealand and one from Latin America. Two of the North American pool play teams would meet in the grand final of the event, as Splyce looked to knock off the powerhouse of OpTic Gaming.
Strong team play and a clutch triple kill from Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro gave Splyce the 3-1 Capture the Flag victory on Truth. This would give Splyce a 1-0 lead in the match. Splyce would not step off of the gas in the next map and defeated OpTic 50-42 in Slayer on The Rig. OpTic would stop Splyce from taking a larger lead with a 100-76 victory on Empire Strongholds to cut the lead to 2-1. Splyce would rebound with a 3-1 Capture the Flag win on Coliseum to take a commanding 3-1 match lead. OpTic would now be forced to win three straight maps to force a second best of seven. A 50-41 Slayer victory would get Optic within 3-2 of Splyce. A 100-77 Strongholds win on Plaza would secure the 4-2 match victory for Splce and give them the Orlando Open championship.
The next event for the Halo World Championship season will be MLG Columbus, where Splyce will look to win their second straight major LAN event of the young season.
Interested in more first person shooter content? Check out who was crowned champions of the Rainbow Six Siege Invitational today.