The resurgence of Halo as an esport continues this year as the second season of the Halo Championship Series came to a close Sunday. But through two season of HCS play, there’s only been one champion.
Evil Geniuses defended their Season 1 title at the ESL Arena in Burbank, California this weekend, winning four straight series to take the championship and earning half of the $150,000 prize pool .
The team, led by Halo superstar brothers Justin “Roy” Brown and Jason “Lunchbox” Brown, entered the event as heavy favorites thanks to sweeping the HCS season 2 tourney circuit. They continued their rampage this weekend.
Their final challenger was Counter Logic Gaming, the team that dented them in the finals of HCS Indianapolis on June 28. But Evil Geniuses swept that series 3-0. Their biggest challenge actually came in the upper bracket finals against Denial, who forced EG to survived a five-game series. That brought back memories of the finals of Iron Games Atlanta in April, where Denial actually overcame Evil Geniuses in one best-of-five before falling in a second.
But Evil Geniuses survived all challengers. Tony “Lethul” Campbell, Eric “Snip3down” Wrona, and the Brown brothers are now on their way to securing one of the most dominant years in Halo history. The only tournament they’ve lost so far was UGC St. Louis in January. Since then, Evil Geniuses has swept five major events, including the two HCS championships.
That puts the team on the path to equalling the feat of legendary squads like Final Boss and Team 3D, who absolutely dominated the scene in 2005 and 2007. That team was also headlined by a pair of brothers, Dan “OGRE1” Ryan and Tom “OGRE2” Ryan. When Evil Geniuses’ Brown brothers broke onto the Halo scene in 2007, the Ryans were winning championships left and right. Then, in 2011, the Browns owned Halo: Reach with OGRE2 as a teammate on Instinct.
But the tables have turned, and now they’re beating up on their former teammate. As a member of Counter Logic Gaming, OGRE2 has lost the last two finals to the Browns, and now must deal with a team perhaps just as dominant as his legendary squads emerging in the scene.
With a series that features an 11-year history, that’s bound to happen sometime. And Evil Geniuses will likely never build a legacy as memorable as that of Final Boss, who did it during the glory days of Halo competition. Evil Geniuses is writing their own legacy, and it’s one of excellence.
Whether that continues in the as-of-yet unannounced third season of the HCS remains to be seen, but considering how they’ve played so far this year, it’s certainly their league to lose.
VODs of the event are available on the Halo Twitch channel.
