Support NeoGAF

[jem0208]

What is it?
The HWC finals are where the 12 best Halo 5 teams in the world gather to compete for a share of a $1'000'000 prize pool and the chance to become a Halo World Champion.


When is it?
The tournament begins with group play this Friday, 24th of March, at 10am PT (5pm GMT). It will run throughout the weekend culminating in the Grand Finals on Sunday evening.


Where is it?
The action will take place at ESL Campus in Burbank, CA. However, you can watch the main stream live at twitch.tv/Halo, beam.pro/Halo, facebook.com/Halo, or esl.twitter.com. There will also be a side stream at twitch.tv/ESL_Halo and facebook.com/ESLHalo.


Format
Group Stage

• Round-robin group stage featuring four groups each consisting of three teams
• The top two teams with the best record in each group begin in Winners Round 1 of the Double Elimination Bracket
• The one team with the worst record in each group begin in Loser’s Round 1 of the Double Elimination Bracket
• Best of 5 matches

Bracket Stage

• 12-team double elimination bracket
• 8 teams starting in Winners Bracket
• 4 teams starting in Losers Bracket
• Best of 7 matches

Bracket:
http://pro.eslgaming.com/halo/worldchampionship/standings/


Teams

Schedule
Results from Friday available here: http://pro.eslgaming.com/halo/worldchampionship/schedule/#?matchday=1

Saturday - Main stream:

• 10:00 PT - WB Semis: Str8 vs Liquid
• 11:45 PT - LB Round 1: Supremacy vs EnVyUs
• 13:30 PT - LB Round 1: London Conspiracy vs Crowd Pleasers
• 15:15 PT - LB Round 2: x vs y
• 17:00 PT - LB Quarterfinals: x vs y
• 16:45 PT - WB Finals: x vs y

Saturday - Bravo stream:

• 10:00 PT - WB Semis: Optic vs Luminosity
• 11:45 PT - LB Round 1: Immunity vs FAB
• 13:30 PT - LB Round 1: SoaR vs Splyce
• 15:15 PT - LB Round 2: x vs y
• 17:00 PT - LB Quarterfinals: x vs y

Links
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/esports
Finals preview. - Includes extra info such as team composition, full schedule and prize pool distribution.
Trailer.
@Halo
@HCS
@ESLHalo

 

[blue_phazon]

This should be fun. Don't think viewership will reach 100k like last year but it's gon be hype

 

[Unfriendly TimeTraveler]

Now time to hope the final won't be a straight blow out.
Haven't been watching much of halo pro leauge but when I do it's always hype.

 

[BeforeU]

Looking forward to it

 

[Theorry]

High competitive Halo is always great to watch. Tuning in.

 

[Trup1aya]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drfu13nCUxU

New hype vid

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Been watching some of the past qualifiers and it's been hype, will certainly tune in, love me some high competitive halo play.

 

[BizzyBum]

I feel this will be much better than last year's Worlds.

Optic (old CLG) are still the favorite but many other teams have caught up to them so they are not the unbeatable force they were at the start of Halo 5.

Both Envyus and Liquid have a strong chance to win it all.

 

[belushy]

Can't wait! Go Str8

edit: Only suggestion for the OP would be team rosters listed, Jem. Looks great!

 

[SCHUEY F1]

HYPE, will be cheering for my hometown hero Royal2, but generally i just want close exciting matches.

 

[CrimsonGun]

These tournaments are always one sided because the North American teams are head and shoulders better than the other International teams.

IDK how they choose who qualifies and who doesn't.

 

[Somnia]

These tournaments are always one sided because the North American teams are head and shoulders better than the other International teams.

IDK how they choose who qualifies and who doesn't.

It's that way with a lot of games, but sometimes flipped to be in Korea's favor or China's, etc.

Just how it is with the competitive scene.

 

[Zasa]

Would love to see Optic lose here, rooting for Pistola all the way.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Watched a few of the qualifiers and they have a pretty good thing going on with it right now. Looking forward to tuning into it this weekend then.

 

[jizzlobber]

Go liquid... So over OG winning all the time.

 

[jem0208]

Can't wait! Go Str8

edit: Only suggestion for the OP would be team rosters listed, Jem. Looks great!

I started doing that but the post got really, really long so I decided against it.

These tournaments are always one sided because the North American teams are head and shoulders better than the other International teams.

IDK how they choose who qualifies and who doesn't.

Each region had separate qualifiers consisting of a string of online tournaments and LANs.

In NA the top 6 teams of the Las Vegas Qualifers LAN got to worlds and then a 7th team was determined by the winner of the online last chance qualifier.

The EU was similar however only the top 3 teams make it worlds.

In LATAM and ANZ only the top team makes it.

 

[Papasmurf531]

I haven't watched much this season, but I am excited for this!!

Also the free reqs are nice, almost done with them!!!

Fuck Cratos, but go Naded!

 

[Madness]

These tournaments are always one sided because the North American teams are head and shoulders better than the other International teams.

IDK how they choose who qualifies and who doesn't.

They cut down a lot of the NA teams this time as well so you'll see fewer of the well known pros play. I agree. People like to hype up the 'World' aspect of the tournament. But it is just a word. The reality is, aside from maybe 1 UK team, no one else will even really challenge. Last HWC, aside from Epsilon featuring Jimbo and the Buk twins, every other non-NA team was slaughtered. Let's see how it is this weekend though. As a HCS fan, I am more excited to continue playing Mass Effect than watching HWC for some reason...

 

[jem0208]

They cut down a lot of the NA teams this time as well so you'll see fewer of the well known pros play. I agree. People like to hype up the 'World' aspect of the tournament. But it is just a word. The reality is, aside from maybe 1 UK team, no one else will even really challenge. Last HWC, aside from Epsilon featuring Jimbo and the Buk twins, every other non-NA team was slaughtered. Let's see how it is this weekend though. As a HCS fan, I am more excited to continue playing Mass Effect than watching HWC for some reason...

You say that but Immunity are looking pretty damn good. They beat Splyce 7-6 in scims last night and took 3 games off of EnVy the other day. I could see them making it out of pools above Splyce.

 

[jizzlobber]

We all know non NA teams aren't as strong, but you need other regions representing to support competitive halo in those parts of the world... In Australia and New Zealand you wouldn't have a scene without this imo, nobody else is running tournaments afaik.

 

[jizzlobber]

You say that but Immunity are looking pretty damn good. They beat Splyce 7-6 in scims last night and took 3 games off of EnVy the other day. I could see them making it out of pools above Splyce.

Wow, that's pretty interesting.
And FAB is the number 1 EU team yeah, those guys are in a favourable pool, they could make it through.

 

[jem0208]

Cool ESPN article about Victory X:

http://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/18978409/halo-victory-x-had-everything-last-seven-years

Apparently this is his 61st major event. That's insane.

Wow, that's pretty interesting.
And FAB is the number 1 EU team yeah?

Yup, they're the favourite out of the international teams. I think if they match up against the right team in the brackets they could make it higher than top 8 though. I could see them beating Splyce or Luminosity.

 

[belushy]

I could see Fab, Immunity, and Supremacy beating some NA teams. Immunity has been looking good in scrims.

 

[psyfi]

Rad, I'll watch some of this even though I don't play anymore. Halo 5 is goat.

 

[FATstronaut]

I am excited

 

[Jaraghan]

Wait did Naded not make it to Worlds? He is on team Panda, no?

Edit: nevermind. They changed from Panda to Crowd Pleasers. Lets go Naded!!

 

[jem0208]

Wait did Naded not make it to Worlds? He is on team Panda, no?

Panda is now called Crowd Pleasers.

No one is entirely sure why but Panda and the team split.

 

[op_ivy]

Already informed the wife to vacate the house, it's a halo weekend.


Hoping for LG to show up, but they haven't scrimmed like at all recently. Expecting top 8.

 

[Madness]

Panda is now called Crowd Pleasers.

No one is entirely sure why but Panda and the team split.

 

[blue_phazon]

Cuck Fratos?

 

[jem0208]

Splyce have been putting in the work today, 3 full scrims:

http://www.halodatahive.com

Managed to beat Crowd Pleasers 9-4 as well...

Already informed the wife to vacate the house, it's a halo weekend.


Hoping for LG to show up, but they haven't scrimmed like at all recently. Expecting top 8.

Ninja had an H1Z1 tourney over the weekend, not sure why they haven't scrimmed since. Not a good sign imo. I'm rooting for LG to do well.

Cratos is a weird dude...

 

[op_ivy]

Splyce have been putting in the work today, 3 full scrims:

http://www.halodatahive.com

Managed to beat Crowd Pleasers 9-4 as well...


Ninja had an H1Z1 tourney over the weekend, not sure why they haven't scrimmed since. Not a good sign imo. I'm rooting for LG to do well.

Cratos is a weird dude...

Yeah, saw that. But I've seen him on twitch a few times this week streaming h1z1 and as you said, no luminosity streams. They had a rough start as a team and only somewhat recently really started to click. Hope that progress isn't erased after this break of sorts.

 

[depward]

Can't wait to watch!

 

[thoseAREmySHOES]

Right during March Madness, phooey. I know they already added the HCS Req pack, but will there be any REQs available just for the actual tourney weekend?

 

[BizzyBum]

Right during March Madness, phooey. I know they already added the HCS Req pack, but will there be any REQs available just for the actual tourney weekend?

They give out codes for free gold packs during the streams at random times. If you can't watch the streams keep checking the Halo 5 OT as people post the codes but they usually expire within 5 minutes so you need to be quick.

 

[op_ivy]

Friday match schedule to add to the OP.
https://twitter.com/ESLHalo/status/844726962790658048/photo/1

I more day folks!

 

[tiredheadcrab]

Yeah I think OG has this. But I am rooting for Envyous. Snipedown was a bit slacking last few games with the sniper rifle. Pistola was amazing.

Also if you can watch this on Beam.pro. Quality is better and fewer people watching makes for a better chat.

 

[jem0208]

Friday match schedule to add to the OP.
https://twitter.com/ESLHalo/status/844726962790658048/photo/1

I more day folks!

Already up there

Actually looking at my edit time I added it 4 minutes after they tweeted it... at 2am...

I should probably spend less time on this stuff.

 

[op_ivy]

Already up there

Well bless you jem, you are too good.

 

[jem0208]

Updated OP with Saturday and Sunday schedules.

Looks like they're trying their hardest to avoid a Championship monday situation again this time.

 

[Danis Saur]

Awesome, Halo is fun to watch competitively.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

The last time I watched a tournament Ogre2 and Walshy played

edit: google informed me things haven't changed much

 

[jem0208]

The last time I watched a tournament Ogre2 and Walshy played

edit: google informed me things haven't changed much

Sadly 2gre didn't manage to qualify for this Worlds.

And Walshy is now casting.

 

[belushy]

Hoping Status Quo can win, but Instinct has been going off. I also can't see Warriors or Triggers Down beating Believe The Hype in their pool.

 

[Jaraghan]

As much as I wanted Naded to win, I also want Optic to win their 2nd worlds. Such a juggernaut team.

 

[jem0208]

https://twitter.com/Halo?ref_src=tw...teams-seeds-and-discussion%E2%80%8F/page-1261

Really cool video about nV.

I hope they play this type of thing in dead time between matches.

 

[belushy]

Pretty cool picture with scrim stats for Optic Gaming from Halo Data Hive

(seriously check out this site, PERFECT execution of the waypoint API system)

On twitter, he mentioned he might do them for other teams as well.

 

[IHaveIce]

Optic all the way baby

 

[belushy]

Wonder if there will be future announcements at some point this weekend. We know about Dreamhack obviously, but not if the pro league format will change (still hoping for 10 teams) or anything for the am scene.

 

[brawly]

Tsquared is playing again? Guess commentating wasn't enough for good old Tom.

Might give this a watch. Loved watching Halo 2/Halo 3 MLG and I still recognize some faces.