A Short History of Competitive Halo
All Statistics Via: http://halo.esportspedia.com/wiki/Main_Page
When I was in high school I was not the most social teenager, and like most non-social teenagers I went to the internet. More specifically I got into competitive gaming, now referred to as ESports. I was a good (decent) Halo player, and at this time Halo 3 was the biggest thing on the console gaming circuit (no offence to Call of Duty).
During this period of my life I had a lot of free time, and I spent it playing Halo 3. I became probably a top 200 player, maybe top 150. Halo 3 was competitive, and you had to be really good to be considered decent by the games elite. Even at my best I would lose 15–5 to top players in 1v1s. Most non-competitive gamers avoided Halo 3’s online ranked playlists because they were ridiculously challenging. The ranked playlists would have a 1–50 scale, and you would go up or down depending on how many games you won, and as you got higher up towards 50, you would be matched with your “skill level”.
I was able to gain a perfect rating of 50/50 in 5 different playlists in Halo 3, which took years of my life. Yet, despite this, I would get destroyed in the MLG playlist (Major League Gaming). I had a 50/50 dozens of times, but I would lose it often. The best players never lost their 50 in the MLG playlist, and would treat that high level of competition as mere practice. The best players would eventually find each other and form teams. These teams would play 40+ hours a week together and get progressively better. Generally speaking the best teams could play for 5–8 hours in a day and ideally would never drop a game. These best teams would then gather together some money and go to a competitive event:
This is where the story gets interesting. These gamers would make these competitive teams and compete at the events over multiple days for cash prizes. In Halo CE, or Halo 2 the prizes were generally small. The top teams might compete for 20,000$ at the biggest events, except for MLG Las Vegas Championship in 2007, the last major Halo 2 championship, where the prize was 100,000$. During Halo CE and Halo 2 there was no doubt that the gamer Ogre 2 (Tom Ryan), and his twin brother Ogre 1 (Dan Ryan) were the best Halo players on the planet. It wasn’t even close. Ogre 2 is a god in Halo circles, and I mean that literally. There isn’t a single person that has won anywhere close to the amount of tournaments that Ogre 2 won, and it will take years of dominance for anyone currently competing to catch up. He’s like the Michael Jordan of Halo, if Jordan had won another 5 championships. The next closest person who was on Ogre 2’s level was Walshy (David Walsh), the first real superstar of Halo, who is now a commentator for Halo events. Walshy is a consensus Halo Hall-of-Famer, and holds the record for the most tournament wins in a row with 9 (most of those with Orge 1 and 2). He was also the first major player to receive a personal sponsorship from Red Bull. The Ogre twins and Walshy decided to make a super team named Shoot to Kill (StK) with Saiyan, which was incredibly dominant. StK would eventually become Final Boss, which would be Ogre 2’s team for years to come, and would become synonymous with competitive Halo. They didn’t lose a tournament for over a year, while Walshy lost once over a 2 year period. This group of players dominated Halo CE and Halo 2 so hard that it’s essentially impossible to convey their dominance in todays ESports world.
They won the 100,000$ event at MLG 2007 Las Vegas Championship in Halo 2, and that was essentially the end of an era.
They won the first event of Halo 3 (MLG Medowlands), but their dominance was slowly starting to come to an end. It’s incredibly difficult to stay consistent in the ESports world. Becoming the best at a video game, and then having that video game change into something different has a major impact. Especially when that individual makes a career of playing that specific game, and understanding all the mechanics within it. When Halo 3 came out, the landscape of professional Halo changed. The skill gap closed, and before anyone could blink an eye Final Boss was no longer the powerhouse it once was; A dynasty coming to an end. Partially it was Ogre 1’s lack of dedication to the game, partially it was lack of practicing, and partially it was internal team issues.
After winning the first Halo 3 event at Meadowlands 2008, they came in 7th two months later in San Diego, and then 5th a month after that in Orlando. This was not what the team had in mind when switching to Halo 3, especially a team that almost never lost at events. In the end, the Ogre twins decided to drop Walshy, who was the most popular Halo player at the time:
Overall it was a big deal for the Halo competitive community. It was hard for all the players involved to make the decision to break up the greatest team in Halo history, but nonetheless it happened. Now there were new teams starting to take over the main stage, teams like Str8 Rippin’, Instinct (who Walshy joined), Carbon, Classic, Believe the Hype, and Ambush were all there to take on the diminished Final Boss. All of those teams were good through H2, especially Carbon which was Final Boss’s only real rival, but they just couldn’t compete at the same level as FB. The changes did not work out well for Final Boss, and it all came to head in Toronto 2008. Where Walshy, then on Instinct, came through with this quote after beating his former team:
Str8 Rippin’ won that event over that Instinct team (which consisted of Walshy, and top twin duo Roy and Lunchbox) in the finals, and cemented themselves as the best team and newest dynasty, winning multiple events over the 2008–2009 season. Yet, there has not been a team nearly as good as Final Boss in the Halo competitive community since then. The next few Halo 3 seasons were in many ways the true apex of competitive Halo. The scene changed as more and more sponsors jumped on to the most-watched console video game. As Walshy continued his journey to Instinct, and then later Team Carbon, he no longer was the face of Halo, and although he continued to place in the top 3 at many events, he never won another event after being replaced on Final Boss.
Now, there was a new team as the face of professional Halo.
Str8 Rippin’ who was a top team in Halo 2, and who had stolen a couple of events from Final Boss during their reign as the best team in the world, were now the top team in the league.
They had a strong team, especially with Tsquared (Tom Taylor) as the captain of the team, who was one of the most competitive players on the scene. After winning MLG San Diego in 2008 Str8 was ready to take their position as the most popular team in Halo, right at the apex of Halo’s popularity. Yet, after losing to Triggers Down in Orlando 08', which featured a young emerging super star in Snip3down (Eric Wrona), Str8 Rippin’ decided to part ways with Neighbor. This was not the first, or the last time a top team would make a team change. In fact, team changes in professional gaming happens at such a fast pace that rarely is the team name, or organization the most important aspect for fandom. Players drive viewership, while team names, or organizations who sponsor players, are more of a background structure.
This is a big difference compared to conventional sports which are more team-driven either due to the fact that they represent a city/region or country, while in professional gaming these teams are simply interchangeable. Some team names/organizations are synonymous with players, such as Ogre 2 and Final Boss, Tsquared and Str8 Rippin’, and to a lesser extent Maniac with Believe the Hype and Flamesword with Status Quo. At the end of the day, these are generally just kids who argue and disagree like any other kids, so team changes occur quickly, and sometimes brutally, even if that team was competing at a high level. The best example of that was Walshy being dropped by Final Boss. Neighbor being dropped by Str8 Rippin’ after a 1st place ,and second place finish was similar. Sometimes a team change can be a disaster, sometimes it can work out. Either way it happens constantly in professional gaming. Tom Taylor (Tsquared) decision to drop Neighbor for Snip3down, might have been the best decision he ever made.
At the Vegas National Championship in 2008 Snip3down won MVP, and filled in the role as the top slayer on the team, resulting in a 6–3 win in the finals against Walshy’s team Instinct. It would go on to be the highlight of Tsquared’s career as team captain of Str8' Rippin’, during a season which had millions of viewers, and major sponsorships.
Str8' Rippin’ would continue their dominance into the next season, and they would win Columbus 09'. Yet, that would stand as Tsquared last major win, and although the team still had Snip3down, a consensus top player, they never quite managed to return to the top of the Halo 3 world.
Instead, all of the top teams became more competitive, and super-teams such as Final Boss, and Str8 Rippin’ soon found themselves with some serious competition. 2009 was that turning point, Triggers Down, Snip3downs old team, replaced him with the latest phenom on the circuit iGotUrPistola (Justin Deese), who, after leaving a solid Ambush team, joined with Hysteria SK and Heinz, and would win in Meadowlands 09', Dallas 09', and Anaheim 09'. This would stand as one of the best runs in a competitive Halo 3 community, and would earn Pistola the nickname ‘The Wizard’ due to his uncanny ability to stay alive.
After Triggers Down struggled in the National Championships in 09', and had a disappointing finish in Orlando 2010, Pistola left TD, and joined a new Final Boss team featuring a re-invigorated Ogre 2, along with a solid Victory X and FearItSelf. After the first half of 2010 being dominated by an Instinct team consisting of Roy and Lunchbox (who had teamed with Walshy), along with Cloud and Elamite (formerly of Str8 Rippin’), the resurgent Final Boss reclaimed it’s position as the best team in Halo. With an MVP-esque Pistola leading their team as the main-slayer, Final Boss made a push from a middling pro-level team back to the top of the Halo competitive scene, and it was no doubt because of Pistola.
This was a big deal for Ogre 2, because now he had won the final major event in Halo CE, Halo 2, and now Halo 3. There was no doubt that he was the winningest halo player of all time, and had cemented his already impressive legacy with yet another finals championship after placing poorly in 2008, and 2009. Ogre 2 had finally returned to the top of the Halo world, and it would not have been possible without Pistola, who was a consensus MVP.
So, as 2010 came to an end, so did Halo 3. It meant a new game: Halo Reach, which meant new in-game mechanics, and a new emergence of young players. Snip3down struggled to adjust to the new game, Walshy’s career was ending, and Ogre 2 with the rest of Final Boss had it’s worse placing ever with a 10th place finish at the first Halo Reach event. For the first time since 2006, Ogre 2 would find himself on a team other than Final Boss.
This time, Ogre 2, Pistola, and the twins Roy and Lunchbox formed what would be known as the God Squad. Roy was easily one of the most exciting players in Halo 3, and utterly dominated Halo Reach. Now with an enigmatic Pistola, and a leader in Ogre 2; this was the strongest team Halo had seen in years.
They dominated Reach, and even with a ton of new game mechanics that resulted in many top Halo 3 players retiring, Ogre 2 and Instinct (God Squad) would go on to win the Reach Championships in 2011. This would continue Ogre 2’s run of closing Halo games with Championship event victories.
With the end of 2012 bringing in yet another new game to the Halo franchise, Halo 4 had a massive amount of hype surrounding it. The original creators of Halo, Bungie, sold the rights to the game to 343 industries, who wanted to make a game that was more in-line with the original Halo. Halo Reach had taken a departure from the classic Halo style of gameplay, and 343 felt that they had a real chance to make an exciting game. Viewership had somewhat fallen off with Halo Reach, and as much as 343 tried to make a great game - and to rebuild that lost Halo viewership - Halo 4 was most certainly not that game.
With Halo 4 though, came the resurgence of Snip3down.
Snip3down started Halo 4 with future CoD pro FormaL, veteran Halo pro Heinz, and a Pure Gangster. This Ambush team was solid throughout Halo 4, but between issues with the game, poor viewership counts, and a lack of big money events Halo 4 never really was the game people had hoped it would be, and in the end this was the low point of the Halo franchise. Major League Gaming, which had been the mainstay for the Halo events had more popular games on its rotation for it to focus on, and Halo 4 only showed up once at a MLG event. In essence it was lost years for the Halo competitive community.
343 had a clear message from the gaming community: Halo 4 was not good enough, and with the release of the Xbox One, 343 responded with the released the Master Chief Collection. MCC was a collection of all of the previous Halo’s in one set which would be updated for compatibility with the Xbox One. After a disappointing Halo 4, this was a welcome respite for the competitive scene, which also provided 343 with the time and space to develop Halo 5.
The competitive Halo community flocked to Halo 2 Anniversary, and with it returned many of the viewers Halo had lost over the past few years. H2A also meant the introduction of organizations instead of teams, which helped provide stability to professional gamers. These organizations were generally from other games, such as OpTiC Gaming, Evil Geniuses, Counter Logic Gaming, Denial, Enigma 6, EnvyUs, Liquid, Renegades, and others. This was big for H2A, because it also meant larger event prizes. Snip3down continued his dominance into H2A, and built one of the most successful teams in Halo history.
Snip3down was then able to build Evil Geniuses around veterans Roy, Lunchbox, and Pistola, which had incredible promise. At the Iron Games Columbus in 2014 that team finished second behind Counter Logic Gaming, which was captained by none other than Ogre 2.
Iron Gaming Columbus was the first section of the Halo Championship Series which was taking over the Halo title as the organizer of the events. It was a huge victory for Ogre 2, especially after sitting out nearly all of Halo 4 due to low prize pools.
After that final game against CLG, Pistola suffered a freak wrist injury and had to step away from competitive gaming. The fact that these players are contorting their hands constantly around a controller makes it difficult for players as they age to react as quickly as they need to to be able to compete at a high level. Unfortunately it meant that Pistola needed to take a long break for Halo to recover. At the time he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to play again. It was a tough time for the EG squad, who had not only lost their first major tournament as a squad, but lost it to a resurgent Ogre 2. This would be the beginning of a major rivalry between EG and CLG.
It was difficult for EG to decide who they would pick to replace Pistola, and in the end they decided to go with Lethul, who was known as a talented player who emerged on the scene during Halo Reach. He had won the MCC H2A launch event on Believe the Hype, but after a disappointing 5th place finish he left BtH and joined the EG squad. After finishing 3rd in their first event as a new EG squad, Evil Geniuses when on one of the greatest runs in Halo history winning the final 5 major H2A events. This cemented EG as the next dynasty, while CLG consistently finished 2nd. Although it was not nearly as impressive as back in Halo 2, EG’s dominance was akin to that of Final Boss.
It was no doubt an impressive run. Yet, with the end of the MCC, and with 343 ready to release the next Halo installment, Halo 5: Guardians, uncertainty brewed.
Lethul decided to leave Evil Geniuses for Counter Logic Gaming to build a team with Royal 2, Snakebite, and Frosty. Even after winning 5 straight events, and EG primed to continue their dominance into H5, Lethul felt the team had stagnated. Like many teams, sooner or later the internal dynamics can make an appearance. Although it’s impossible to say exactly what it was that made Lethul want to leave, there is no doubt that each person on that EG team had strong personality’s. Coach Towey is an extroverted and boisterous person, Roy and Lunchbox are ultra-competitive with each other, and Snip3down is known to be one of the most competitive players in halo history. This, matched with an overly sarcastic individual like Lethul who is known to rub people the wrong way, and the fact that Roy, Lunchbox, and Snip3down are close, there was no doubt that once the team began to struggle Lethul would be the odd man out.
Halo 5 was pushed as the flagship game for Microsoft and Xbox One. There was an incredible amount of hype for the game, and it resulted with being picked up by the X-Games.
Naturally, Evil Geniuses advanced to the finals, and naturally they went up against Counter Logic Gaming.
Evil Geniuses was able to take that series from the talented CLG squad, and was able to obtain revenge against Lethul, pushing the rivalry between the two teams to new heights.
Even though EG clearly had dominated CLG throughout H2A, and then beat them at X-Games, CLG was determined to reverse the score. With EG focusing on moving houses, the twins starting new careers and jobs, CLG was focusing on moving their game to the next level. EG finished 3rd at regionals, and then a disappointing 5–8th at the Halo World Championships. Even though EG took home 75,000$, it was CLG who took home the 1,000,000$ dollar prize, and bragging rights as the clear-cut best Halo team on the circuit.
Now CLG was on top of the Halo world, and they have not relented since. They’ve utterly dominated competition over the past few months, while EG has drastically fallen off. EG struggled to find practice time, and have failed to find a way to close out close game. With the HCS operating on these seasonal brackets, EG had dropped from Gold Medalists at X-Games to near regulation in the Summer Standings.
There are new teams who have been putting in much more work than EG. CLG lost only one series all season, and are considered to be nearly unbeatable. Enigma 6 has an exciting new phenom in Huke who was too young to compete in Call of Duty, but is considered the most talented player in Halo right now. Team EnvyUs has veterans such as a dedicated Mikwen, and a healthy Pistola. While Renegades has the ever-talented Ninja as their team captain, and picked up Commonly after he was dropped by EG after X-Games. There is no doubt that this current juncture that EG is no longer a top 4 team, which one can be assured is something that keeps EG up at night.
Overall Halo 5 has resulted in a general resurgence in viewership, and with organizations and more sponsorships, Halo has come a long way from the depression of Halo 4. This season in the Halo Championship Series has been exciting. Although Halo is still well behind in the viewership it once had, people around the community are excited for what the future has in store for Halo 5. With huge prize money on the line, more top players from other games are willing to give Halo a try.
The narrative of a possible new dynasty in CLG has everyone excited. As we’ve seen in the history of Halo, it takes dedication, and time to stay at the top level. CLG has that level of dedication, yet it comes down to keeping that dedication at a high enough level. Sooner or later all dynasty’s fall. CLG holds the pen to writing their own part of Halo history, and it’s up to their collective will to decide how far they will go.
Enigma 6 is the clear cut #2 team right now, and even though CLG has been dominant, E6 is closing in. Huke is the most exciting player on the Halo scene:
Despite all of this, the most intriguing storyline might still be Evil Geniuses. They have Snip3down, who was his normal dominant self through the summer bracket, and although Roy and Lunchbox struggled this season, they are still feared throughout the league at LAN events. They currently have Suspector as their 4th, who is a talented new player, and with Coach Towey still in the fold they have a real chance of regaining their top-tier status. Yet, there seems to be some sort of internal issues on EG. They still have not been putting in the practice necessary of being a top team, and that’s partially due to Roy and Lunchbox’s personal commitments outside of the game. Suspector, who was playing much better on his former teams, hasn’t seemed to have found his role on the team yet.
Snip3down is still incredibly dedicated to Halo, and he wants to win no matter what, and as the team captain it will be up to him to decide what direction the team will go. Maybe EG is done, maybe it isn’t. Maybe Snip3down will look at more team changes, maybe he won’t. Either way, it will make for an interesting storyline going into next season. CLG is playing at another level, and the core of EG knows what it will take to be able to compete against CLG at the next major event. It’s never easy when someone teams with their friends, especially when it comes down to dissecting possible problems. Unless EG can fix it’s in-game problems, this team as it’s currently constructed won’t be able to compete at CLG’s level.
Only time will tell.
