<h2>Cloud9 wins title</h2><figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640107541403-hcs-kickoff-major-image-scaled.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Logo for the Raleigh North Carolina HCS Kickoff Major.</figcaption></figure>This past weekend was the return to competitive Halo on the big state as the Halo Championship Series kicked off with Halo Infinite.&nbsp;The tournament saw Cloud9 taking home the championship in domination fashion as they defeated eUnited 4-1 in their seven-game series to become the first Halo Infinite champions.&nbsp;<figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108121957-FHBSdCNXwAwvzbs.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Cloud9 celebrates tournament victory.</figcaption></figure>The American team dominated throughout the tournament, losing only on six maps, and never dropped a series throughout. They went an impressive 3-0 in pool play defeating Spacestation, XSET, and Acend before moving onto the upper rounds.After blowing by Team WaR and Quadrant, C9 met with another famous American team, OpTic Gaming, in the upper bracket semi-finals.&nbsp;







OpTic had made it to the upper bracket semi-finals without a loss. Defeating Sentinels and the upper round two before squaring off with gaming revivals FaZe clan, winning 3-1.&nbsp;While only the upper bracket semi-finals, this series would be the most challenging for C9. In a 5 round series, C9 was able to take a 2-0 lead. The first match was complete domination, with C9 with a 250-49 stronghold victory. Round 2, though it was closer, C9 escaped with a 50-47 slayer victory.&nbsp;Game three is when things got interesting. After going up 2-0 in the series and looking towards the next round, OpTic snuck back in. Something OpTic has done well all tournament, dominate objective game modes. Picked up a win 2-1 in capture the flag, before another 2-1 win in oddball.&nbsp;Tied 2-2 with a chance to move onto the winner finals, the Raleigh crowd in North Carolina were on their feet in the most exciting series of the weekend. After a close back and forth start, C9 would pull away with a 50-37 slayer victory to move onto the upper bracket finals to face off against eUnited.&nbsp;







C9 would win the upper bracket final 3-1 and again see eUnited in the grand final.With the loss in the upper bracket final, eUnited dropped to the lower rounds to take on Faze Clan with grand final championship aspirations on the line. In a series that was taken to five matches, eUnited would win 3-2 for their rematch with C9.&nbsp;Unfortunately for eUnited, their rematch was lopsided as C9 dominated 4-1 to capture the first-ever Halo Infinite championship.&nbsp;<figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108163928-FHBU_03XIAI8m42.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Full total prize pool at HCS Raleigh.</figcaption></figure>





The next HCS major tournament will be held April 29-May 1 in Kansas City, Missouri.&nbsp;The tournament was also a huge success for the fans in attendance, with many opportunities to interact with the Halo community.<figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108253782-FG3YeDaXEAA4STM.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Fan interacting with FaZe themed spartan.</figcaption></figure>

Full results are below:<figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108011092-FHBVAgGXsAAfpan.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Winners bracket and grand finals results (via HCS on Twitter).</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108017838-FHBVA65XsAYvm6l.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>Elimination bracket (vis HCS Twitter).</figcaption></figure>

Round one
<ul><li>Sentinels def. The Boys (SEN 250-43 Strongholds on Live Fire, SEN 50-20 Slayer on Aquarius, SEN 4-1 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>Built By Gamers def. Oxygen (Oxygen 250-221 Strongholds on Live Fire, BBG 50-26 Slayer on Aquarius, Oxygen 3-2 CTF on Bazaar, BBG 2-0 Oddball on Streets, BBG 50-37 Slayer on Recharge)</li><li>Chiefs def. BLVKHVND (Chiefs 250-195 Strongholds on Live Fire, Chiefs 50-23 Slayer on Aquarius, Chiefs 4-2 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>Mock-It def. Bing Chilling (Mock-It 250-246 Strongholds on Live Fire, Mock-It 50-36 Slayer on Aquarius, Bing Chilling 3-2 CTF on Bazaar, Mock-It 2-1 Oddball on Streets)</li><li>Acend def. Status Quo (Acend 250-57 Strongholds on Live Fire, Acend 50-40 Slayer on Aquarius, Acend 2-1 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>XSET def. The Guard (Guard 250-170 Strongholds on Live Fire, XSET 50-30 Slayer on Aquarius, Guard 2-1 CTF on Bazaar, XSET 2-0 Oddball on Streets, XSET 50-40 Slayer on Recharge)</li><li>Na’Vi def. FootFungas792 (Na’Vi 250-23 Strongholds on Live Fire, Na’Vi 50-22 Slayer on Aquarius, Na’Vi 5-0 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>Team WaR def. Divine Mind (WaR 250-128 Strongholds on Live Fire, WaR 50-49 Slayer on Aquarius, WaR 3-0 CTF on Bazaar)</li></ul><figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108298087-FG3YTeTXEA4pMTI.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>The scene as the opening of the tournament.</figcaption></figure>

Upper bracket round two

<ul><li>OpTic def. Sentinels (OpTic 2-0 CTF on Aquarius, OpTic 50-36 Slayer on Streets, OpTic 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>Pioneers def. BBG (Pioneers 5-0 CTF on Aquarius, Pioneers 50-38 Slayer on Streets, Pioneers 2-1 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>Acend def. G2 (Acend 2-1 CTF on Aquarius, Acend 50-39 Slayer on Streets, Acend 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>Quadrant def. The Chiefs (Quadrant 5-0 CTF on Aquarius, Quadrant 50-45 Slayer on Streets, Quadrant 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>eUnited def. Mock-It (eUnited 3-1 CTF on Aquarius, eUnited 50-33 Slayer on Streets, eUnited 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>Cloud9 def. Team WaR (C9 5-1 CTF on Aquarius, C9 50-39 Slayer on Streets, C9 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>FaZe clan def. XSET (FaZe 2-1 CTF on Aquarius, FaZe 50-35 Slayer on Streets, FaZe 2-1 Oddball on Live Fire)</li><li>Spacestation Gaming def. Na’Vi (Na’Vi 4-3 CTF on Aquarius, SSG 50-49 Slayer on Streets, SSG 2-0 Oddball on Live Fire, SSG 250-84 Strongholds on Recharge)</li></ul><figure><img src="https://efuse.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/learning-articles/1640108326394-FG_cWT0WUAUF8ES.jpg" data-image=""><figcaption>The first Halo Infinite LAN event.</figcaption></figure>

﻿Upper bracket quarterfinals
<ul><li>Pioneers def. Acend (Pioneers 2-1 Oddball on Recharge, Pioneers 50-42 Slayer on Live Fire, Pioneers 250-141 Strongholds on Streets)</li><li>Cloud9 def. Quadrant (C9 2-1 Oddball on Recharge, C9 50-49 Slayer on Live Fire, Quadrant 250-245 Strongholds on Streets, C9 3-0 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>OpTic def. FaZe Clan (OpTic 2-0 Oddball on Recharge, OpTic 50-45 Slayer on Live Fire, FaZe 250-248 Strongholds on Streets, OpTic 1-0 CTF on Bazaar)</li><li>eUnited def. Spacestation Gaming (eU 2-1 Oddball on Recharge, eU 37-35 Slayer on Live Fire, eU 250-169 Strongholds on Streets)</li></ul>


Upper bracket semi-finals

<ul><li>Cloud9 def. OpTic (C9 250-49 Strongholds on Streets, C9 50-47 Slayer on Bazaar, OpTic 2-1 CTF on Aquarius, OpTic 2-1 Oddball on Live Fire, C9 50-37 Slayer on Recharge)</li><li>eUnited def. Pioneers (Pioneers 250-100 Strongholds on Streets, eUnited 50-35 Slayer on Bazaar, eUnited 4-3 CTF on Aquarius, eUnited 2-1 Oddball on Live Fire)</li></ul>


Upper bracket finals
<ul><li>Cloud9 def. eUnited (C9 2-1 CTF on Bazaar, eUnited 50-48 Slayer on Live Fire, C9 2-0 Oddball on Streets, C9 250-237 Strongholds on Recharge)</li></ul>


Grand Final

<ul><li>Cloud9 def. eUnited (C9 2-0 Oddball on Streets, C9 46-45 Slayer on Recharge, C9 250-147 Strongholds on Live Fire, eUnited 2-1 CTF on Aquarius, C9 50-37 Slayer on Bazaar)</li></ul>

Cloud9 holds up trophy following championship win

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