Forge Hub vs. Black Water Ops
Here I am, back in action and in my comfort zone once again. I've managed to snag my all time favourite article, and whilst I sadly wasn't able to participate in the night's proceedings, I was brought up speed with some careful study of the footage. So here I stand, ready to critique my fellow Hubbers' play and rest smug in the knowledge that things would have gone much better with me on board.
Our opponents this time around were none other than famed Halo fangroup Black Water Ops. BWO started out as a group on Bungie.net and swiftly gained a sizeable and loyal following, attracting the attention of the developers themselves in a Community Spotlight way back in 2009. They have since moved to their own site and haven't looked back as they've continued to grow and gain a reputation not only as a strong and dedicated community but as formidable Halo opponents in their own right. Be that as it may, we were confident of our chances, for all of about 5 seconds...
[l-col]Forge Hub
Black Theorem
HANDSOM R0B
HomerSPC
NlBBLES
RedNeckSniper93
TransactionZero[/l-col][r-col]Black Water Ops
Cancel Zero
oooh em geee
Saucycide
The NorthWest[/r-col]
Game 1
Slayer Pro on Powerhouse
Forge Hub's opening squad lacked two members who would later join us for the night's festivities, one of them being our resident backpacker and administrator Transactionzero, so HANDSOM R0B and RedNeck filled their shoes for the first game on Powerhouse. This bout of Slayer Pro was to set the tone of the evening as Black Water Ops demonstrated their flawless use of teamwork and coordination with a side order of solid map control, I guess they don't claim to be a strike force for nothing.
Trapped down in Rock Garden, setting the tone for this game and the series
BWO utilised a good degree of smart switching, ducking away as soon as they'd taken a few shots and relying on strong callouts and tight knit teamshots to pick off the chasing or lingering opponent. They switched their setups regularly, maintaining a general focus on swarming around the Office and Dirt Path areas but withdrawing quickly to avoid becoming overrun when Forge Hub managed to get numbers on them. They also sent small pushes, only one or two players, round the Cranes and Hammer House, but their sneaky ways made this strategy highly effective in keeping FH pinned even when they went on the defensive. Powerhouse pushes from either team were rare, and when FH players attempted to utilise this route they were punished, never able to get round the Barrel ledge to put a dent in BWO's iron grip on the Office. This combination of impeccable teamwork and rock solid DMRs put the Black Water Ops team out to an early lead which they maintained throughout, cruising to a comfortable victory and doubling Forge Hub's score to close out game one.
Final Score
Black Water Ops - 50
Forge Hub - 25
http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/gamestats.aspx?guid=5325178379407662718
Game 2
Slayer Pro on MLG Sanctuary
With BWO's knowledge and ability to execute a setup demonstrated in no uncertain terms, game two on Sanctuary wasn't looking good for our squad. This Reach iteration of the Halo 2 classic, forged by MLG's Killa KC, plays in to the hands of a passive, bait and switch style team more heavily than it's former incarnation, something which would prove to work in BWO's favour. Having proven their ability to switch out players to turn a shots down situation in to an easy kill, their similarly effective use of Ring 2 and tendency to fall back in to a passive, Base and Hut heavy setup would soon become apparent.
A less than aggressive opening rush by FH left Camo uncontested for the Black Water Ops players, and whilst we looked to make up for this by apparently seizing Ring 2 control, BWO quickly punished Forge Hub's peak shotting with a solid bout of sniping from their Hut. Their tactic of sending one player in as a sneak attack this time focused on a route under their Carbine, and using this approach they were able to secure our Sniper and keep us pinned with both of these key power weapons. After a couple of spawn cycles Tz managed to grab the second Sniper of the game and immediately put it to good use, landing great shots on the player at Ring 2 and taking out the persistent sneaky player who made the mistake of pushing on him in our Hut. However, this spurt of action was short lived and BWO simply adopted their passive strategy and fell back to their base, biding their time until a quick and decisive 4-man push put us back on perpetual respawn.
Our consistent Camo control yielded little benefit in the long run
Our opponents demonstrated their strength of coordination definitively in this second game, whenever they made a push it was as a unit and they kept a strong focus on their Sniper bridge and our Carbine to punish any pushes that Forge Hub made. Our one saving grace was almost perfect control of the Camo (save for the first one), but this couldn't save us as even temporary invisibility isn't much help when every battle is a 2v1. With an even more decisive victory than in the first game, BWO had already secured the series and left our behinds sporting various shades of red.
Final Score
Black Water Ops - 50
Forge Hub - 21
http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/gamestats.aspx?guid=14167593793419507343
Game 3
Slayer Pro on Hari Kari
A cursory game three took place on the only community map featured in this evening's lineup, a new forged creation going by the name of Hari Kari from our very own Black Theorem. Having the map's creator on your team usually guarantees some degree of advantage, though I'm sure you can gather by now that this wasn't going to be that much of a deciding factor here. BWO's top notch Sniper dominance gave them free run of the upper areas, essential to maintaining control, and whenever their players felt threatened they would merely drop down off the nearest ledge and slink away. As was the case on Powerhouse in game one, any effort at chasing by Forge Hub was severely punished and even on unfamiliar ground BWO's callouts nailed stragglers quickly. Their use of the teleporters in particular was nothing short of sneaky, especially considering their lack of familiarity with Hari Kari's layout.
Forge Hub's own carefully crafted teleporter system...used against them
Forge Hub, in particular TZ and BT, managed to get greater top control later in the game, though it was only ever on one side of the map. BWO countered with their tactic of quickly withdrawing when threatened and then swarming once they had numbers to either push opponents back down or just mop them up. A last minute surge of Rocket control for FH came too late, with Black Theorem caught wielding them down low and his team mates unable to save him, and BWO netted their third and final victory in double quick time. When your slimmest margin of victory is still a steak, you can feel confident that you've made your point, and BWO had certainly done just that.
Final Score
Black Water Ops - 50
Forge Hub - 30
http://www.bungie.net/stats/reach/gamestats.aspx?guid=14640903707910611637
Short of failing to recruit yours truly (oh who am I kidding? We would have needed Shanon and Shad0w to turn this one around), there can be no excuse for the performance chronicled above. Forge Hub's triumphant return to SNF glory is, well, distinctly lacking in both triumph and glory. But fear not, loyal readers, we plan on turning this frown upside down real soon, not least by picking some significantly easier opponents next time around. That said, the BWO folk were real classy guys about the whole affair and we'd like to thank them for coming out and handing our asses to us in a perfect three game run. Bear with us, Hubbers, we'll be back on form in no time. Promise.
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