Another organization partnered with 343’s Halo Championship Series has let go of their roster following the conclusion of the 2022 World Championship, and it’s arguably the best roster to be dropped yet.
Cloud9 has parted way with their entire Halo division: Adam “Bound” Gray, Kevin “Eco” Smith, Zane “Penguin” Hearon, Braedon “StelluR” Boettcher, and coach Emanuel “Hoaxer” Lovejoy have all been let go as of today.
The trio of Eco, Penguin, and StelluR, in addition to coach Hoaxer, have been with C9 Halo since October 2020, over a year before Halo Infinite even released. Prior to their release by C9, the group has one of the longest maintained cores of the Infinite era, alongside groups such as Sentinels and OpTic.
Since the first calendar year of Halo Infinite esports began in late 2021, the C9 group has consistently been one of the top performing teams in the world, even before and after the swap with FaZe Clan that saw Bound step in for the departing Jonathan “Renegade” Willette. C9 won both the Kickoff Major in Raleigh and the NA Regionals, and reached the grand finals of the Kansas City Major, the Orlando Major, and the World Championship.
C9 becomes the latest partnered organization to drop their roster, after Fnatic, eUnited, and Spacestation Gaming did so earlier this month. Spacestatiom CEO Shawn “Unit” Pellerin stated that the organization is “not leaving Halo,” and Fnatic ominously posted that they will provide “further updates about our future in the title.” EUnited and C9, who arguably had the best players that have now been dropped on their respective rosters, have not provided any additional details regarding their plans for Halo.
For the 2023 season of HCS, both Complexity and Quadrant have joined the Halo partner program.
