Ladies, Gentlemen, & Non-Binary friends, it is finally time to wrap up the 2nd HCS season of Halo Infinite. HCS Worlds is this weekend. It’s been the best season yet for Halo Infinite. With SSG finally ending their year-and-a-half drought with a win at HCS SLC, FaZe with a 2-peat, and OpTic reclaiming their throne.
There’s no clear favorite going into this tournament. Expect most series to go to game 5. Everyone’s been asking, “Stunna who’s going to win it all?”. “Mike, what team is going to surprise everyone?”. No worries everyone, I got you. Championship weekend doesn’t officially start until The People’s Champ drops his power rankings. Without further ado, lets get to these rankings.
1. OpTic
OpTic had a slump mid-season but caught fire at the perfect time of the season. Coming off a win at HCS Fort Worth, OpTic is poised to repeat as world champions. They’ve cleaned up their slayer and are looking like the best team in Halo currently. FormaL has the chance to cement himself as the greatest console FPS competitor of all time. If they make it to Winner’s Finals and win that series, they’ll hoist the world championship trophy.
2. FaZe
FaZe was the team to dethrone OpTic this season. Everyone on this roster is a world champion and has the experience it takes to win it all this weekend. On paper, they are the best team in Halo. All the series they’ve lost have been due to their mistakes, not because they were outplayed. Boasting the most firepower in the HCS, when they are hot they’re unstoppable. They’ll need to avoid any early losses in the tournament. I would not be surprised to see them win it all this weekend.
3. SpaceStation Gaming
SpaceStation is the fastest team in the HCS. You can argue Stellur is the best player as well. I can 100% guarantee they’ll make it to Grand Finals, which they’ve done every tournament except one. If they can avoid any early losses in bracket play, they have a good chance at becoming world champions.
4. Sentinels
When you are talking about who the best player in Halo is at the moment, you need to include Spartan in that conversation. Falcated might be the most underrated player in the HCS. LethuL is arguably the best player of all time. And Bubudubu is a walking highlight reel. This team has only been together for a few months. Which makes it tough for them to go up against the top 3 teams who’ve been together for quite some time. If there was a sleeper team to win this all, it’s Sentinels. They’ll need to be firing on all cylinders this weekend.
5. Quadrant
The kings of European Halo have a chance to make history this weekend. Quadrant have had a very successful season and have brought EU Halo to a new standard. They’re still the best Strongholds team in the HCS. If they clean up their oddball we could see them make it to Grand Finals.
6. N8V Red
Native Red is looking to repeat their performance at worlds last year. They surprised everyone by placing 3rd last year. They are all skilled slayers and are one of the strongest KOTH teams. They won’t have Druk this year which is why I have them at number 6. I think they will upset teams this weekend but it’s going to be an uphill battle.
7. Shopify Rebellion
Shopify is a scary team. Cykul is the best young talent in the league. Paired up with the veteran leadership of Ryanoob and Rayne this team’s methodical style could land them in championship Sunday. They’ll need to play their best Halo yet to have a chance though.
8. LVT
LVT have been in the lab and getting better each tournament. Notably upsetting SSG in Pool play at Ft. Worth. Top 4 is the ceiling for these guys if they repeat their most recent performance. King Jay is going to need to play lights out though.
9. Complexity
Complexity is an interesting team. They have some strong firepower especially with Karmea. They are efficient with power weapons but are not consistent in controlling them. They’ll need make sure to control the sandbox this weekend to make it far in the tournament.
10. N8V White
Native white haven’t had the best showings towards the end of the season. Kuhlect is in his 2nd year of competing and gets better every tournament. Mikwen is playing through injury which hinders him a bit. I think this is a great team that could sneak into top 6.
11. Cloud 9
Cloud 9 is a streaky team. They can put up a fight against most teams but just don’t have the firepower to close out series. Rammy is their best player and can perform well against any team. They’ll need him to have a legendary weekend to stand a chance.
12. Navi
Navi tends to struggle against the NA teams. Their one hope for success is their new main slayer Glory. The Irishman came onto the scene this year and has been quite impressive. The rest of Navi will need to step it up if they want any chance at making a Cinderella run.
13. G1
G1 isn’t the powerhouse they used to be. But have a chance go return to greatness this weekend. It’ll be an uphill battle for them but I think Swish can lead them to cause some upsets.
14. Luminosity
They are a solid MX team. They haven’t had much success in previous tournaments. I don’t see them going far this tournament. They’ll most likely get bounced on Friday.
15. Divine Mind
Australia’s finest will be trying to make history this weekend. I’m going to be honest here, they need their opponents to have bad games. If they can catch some teams having an off day, they can make a run. I see them exiting the tournament early unfortunately.
16. Ascending Baseline
They have some skilled online players. Can they translate that to LAN against the world’s best teams? We’ll see this weekend. It would be really cool to see them knock out a few teams.
