Image credit Rachel Olsen-Cooper

Championship Sunday didn’t disappoint by any means. Day 3 of the HCS Arlington Major started out with a elimination semi-final match between FaZe Clan and Shopify Rebellion. Rebellion held their own the whole match against the defending World Championships, but it came down to just a final few kills in the final Slayer match for FaZe Clan to pull out the win.

Match 2 between OpTic Gaming and Spacestation Gaming in the winner’s final saw a rare event during Slayer on map 2. The match was a ping pong set of leads, and with the game tied 49 all, Spacestation’s Lqgend (pronounced ‘legend’) and OpTic Gamin’s Lucid punched each other at the same time, causing the other’s death, and the game ending in a tie. The map had to be completely reset, with the game just as close, ending 50-48 off a grenade from OpTic Gaming’s deadzone.

In the end, Spacestation defeated OpTic Gaming 3-2, sending OpTic to the elimination finals against FaZe Clan.

Faze/OpTic matches are always exciting to watch, mainly due to the fan bases of both teams. The fans are passionate about the organizations, but with the Arlington Major being in OpTic’s backyard, they found the strength through the fans to not only win, but fully sweep the defending champions 3-0.

Grand Finals saw OpTic and Spacestation’s second match up of the day, and like their first meeting, it did not disappoint. The first 5 maps were evenly matched, with the wins able to go in either direction. But when it came to map 6, with Spacestation down 3-2 and just one loss away from a bracket reset, Spacestation held OpTic to a corner in Stronghold, winning the map by an astonishing 250-3.

It was pretty clear that OpTic, who at that point was in their 3rd game in a row for the day without much of a break between the matches, was becoming fatigued, and the routing they took from Spacestation in map 6 was the nail in the coffin. Game 7 Slayer went to Spacestation, despite OpTic’s best attempt to keep the match close, ending 50-43.

This win was a historical moment in Halo, as Lqgend became the first ever European player to win a Grand Final in Halo esports.

Spacestation Gaming’s Lqgend addresses the crowd after winning the HCS Arlington Major. Photo credit Rachel Olsen-Cooper

Halo players will have a few weeks off before the next open qualifiers begins on April 21st. The next Major in the series takes place in London, UK, May 11-12. All information about the upcoming events can be found at halowaypoint.com.

All photos from the weekend can be found in the PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO section.

Photo credit Rachel Olsen-Cooper