Halo Community Tournament
After the distinct ego boost that was our excursion against your fine selves, the powers that be thought it was probably time to dip our toes back in to the water of getting thoroughly embarrassed by our neighbouring Halo communities for your collective entertainment/shame. To this end, my ol' buddy squidhands let us know about a fantastic opportunity for community fame in the form of a tournament hosted by some NeoGAF members, featuring a star studded host of names from The GAF themselves to 343i/the Halo Waypoint forums, Halo Charts and HBO. With a single elimination bracket set up, six man teams and a best of three series format, and gametype choices restricted to standard matchmaking variants, this tournament looked to be pretty much a known quantity. We sure as hell weren't gonna pass up a shot like that, not when there were prizes involved, and especially not with our proven track record out in the big wide world....
So, about that. I should probably be honest at this stage: we lost our first round match. However, considering it was three games, and that's the regular length of an SNF, we pretty much did ourselves a favour by losing. So if you think about it, we actually lost on purpose.
Said first round was against Destructoid, a site who describe themselves thusly: "that gaming news site with the robot mascot and crazy community." If you're still a little clueless and would like a more in depth look at exactly what they're about, then check out this fine emboldened text. As for the battle itself, well Read on, Macduff.
[l-col]Forge Hub
Black Theorem
HomerSPC
iGotUrPegasi
Rorak Kuroda
SargreantSarcasm
Vincent Torre[/l-col][r-col]Destructoid
BadStar
CyS WarZombie
Hector Garfria
Phil Collins117
Thugn Rob
Qalamari
Us3d ta b3
xOatmealNinjaxX[/r-col]
Game 1
Slayer Pro on Asylum
Fly, little one!
The choice of map for the first game was decided by a coin toss, which the Destructoid crew won, opting for some Slayer Pro on Asylum. As somewhat of an MLG nut, and this gametype being possibly the closest you can come to an MLG setup within the bounds of regular MM, I was more than happy with this choice, but also aware that their choice of this gametype likely meant they had some srs bsns planned. I wasn't wrong (am I ever?), and the opening bout of action quickly showed that neither team was just going to walk out in to enemy fire with their heads conveniently displayed for an opportunistic sniper to remove. Trading blows, and the lead, both teams did their best to keep numbers and deaths down whilst still keeping the enemy pushed and not giving in key positions such as Carbine and Sniper bridges. At around the 15-20 kill mark we grabbed the lead and looked to be pulling away with it, but (as was to become a common theme for the night) Destructoid refused to let panic break their resolve, instead just taking advantage of our new found aggression to pick off some easy kills around their rocks, hut and court, pulling even and then turning our lead around on us. Before we knew what had happened, they were a mere five kills away from a first game victory and we were straggling behind around the 40 mark. Try as we might to snag quick kills and switch to avoid precious deaths, we just couldn't keep it together long enough to prevent them sprinting to the finish and going one up in the series.
Final Score
Forge Hub - 45
Destructoid - 50
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameStats.aspx?gameid=625597235&player=iGotUrPegasi
Game 2
Team DMRs on Arena Zealot
See that guy in the middle? That's Rorak "AL is overpowered" Kuroda...;)
Having lost the last game, the choice for the next map and gametype combination was left up to us. Based on how they punished our slower playstyle with a more solid setup of their own, we opted for something much faster and hectic to try and overpower them with sheer force and aggression, a healthy dose of Zealot. This looked to be a good call as we claimed victory in the opening rush to top gold, and continued to just swarm them for the rest of the game. Utilising two-on-one situations to the fullest and trying to take advantage of any split spawns suffered by our opponents, we managed to mix a run-n-gun approach with a strong sense of on-the-fly team work to keep them pushed throughout. Whilst they too managed to keep things close just as we had last match, the tide of the game went in our favour for the most part and we kept a small but safe lead for the majority of the game before closing it out.
Final Score
Forge Hub - 50
Destructoid - 44
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameStats.aspx?gameid=625611606&player=iGotUrPegasi
Game 3
Slayer Pro on Powerhouse
Matt redeems himself with a characteristic display of epic GL skills
With Destructoid now coming fresh off a loss and up to choose the next map, they chose to close out the night with a final game of Slayer on Powerhouse. With a map that that really can go either way, sometimes demonstrating a highly aggressive playstyle which focuses on moving around and keeping enemy spawns pushed, and at others slowing down to a snail's pace as teams hold up in the Office and Powerhouse areas, we really weren't sure what to expect from this third game. However, we managed to get Snipe, Rockets and GL in a setup at back Office, but through lack of communication and coordination we gave it up, tempted away by some precision baits from the Destructoid crew. They punished us pretty heavily for this mistake, keeping us on the backfoot position wise for a good while. After getting our heads together and struggling back, we eventually managed to grab the lead around the half way point, but only for a short while, and as the game progressed past the 30 kill mark there were near constant lead changes. As the match, and the series, neared its end, it was tense to say the least but we were confident we could pull it off. However, their superior resolve enabled them to pull away just enough after grabbing the lead once more to close out the series 2-1 in their favour.
Final Score
Forge Hub - 46
Destructoid - 50
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/GameStats.aspx?gameid=625626443&player=iGotUrPegasi
We went in to this evening very optimistic. That's not to say we thought we would win the whole tournament, but we kind of assumed that we'd be able to squeeze more than one round out of the proceedings. Unluckily for us, it looks like at least one community went in more determined to progress than us, and with a frankly superior sense of coordination when it really counted. Every game was close, but at the end of the day close just wasn't good enough and we were edged out by a grand total of 9 kills across the whole series. Whilst it was a little gutting to go out so early in the tournament, we also had great fun since the games were so close, and got to meet a bunch of cool guys from Destructoid in the process. Props to all of you on the red team, you sure showed us a good night. Next time we'll pay for dinner, and I have a feeling it'll be steak.
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