HEA7
04-03-2011, 07:10 PM
The Halo: Reach Finals have finally reached Dallas, Texas as powerhouse Status Quo 3-0d the underdog, Impact. What was really interesting about this matchup was that these two teams met up in the winner bracket final where Status Quo had to bring it to a game 5 before finally claiming victory over Impact. This was not the case in the championship as Status Quo quickly swept Impact 3-0.
The finals captured the mood of the entire tournament: “old” vs “new”. Impact, a team composed of three freshfaces and league veteran, Neighbor fought against Status Quo in the Winners Bracket Finals and was taken down 3-2. Because of this, Status Quo had a 3-2 lead in the best of 11 series seen in the finals. In my last article, I talked about why Impact is such a dangerous squad, and how they were the undisputed underdog in this tournament. However, Status Quo proved that they are definitely not a team to be messed with in the 2011season as evident by their recent 3-0ing of Impact. Perhaps the key to Status Quo's success was the fact that they maintained the same roster from the previous season.
Status Quo kept the same roster at the end of the 2010 season and hasn't changed it since. Their lineup as of now is Flamesword, Ace, Assault, and Enable. None of these players have ever won a tournament which backs up the idea of “New game, new top players”. Their captain Flamesword, founder of Status Quo and the recipient of the 2010 stride “Best Leader” award, has never been on a team other than Status Quo. Flamesword is able to be a dominant player through his constant callouts and excellent map positioning. Assault won three of the stride awards including “best support player” and “most underrated player”. With the new addition of the grenade launcher, Assault has found the weapon that seems to call out to him as its main purpose is to take out the opponents shield. This quality makes it the ideal support weapon in the game. Fiery redhead, Enable, really showed how strong of a slayer he due to his crushing of Impact. Enable is one of his teams main snipers as he often pulls off flashy and clutch plays when his team needs it most. Rounding off the squad is Ace who, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated players in the league. Ace is so often overlooked, but he has the abiility to single handily clutch the game with a sniper as evident through his overkill extermination on Zealot Bomb.
Halo: Reach does not depend on individual gun skill. Instead, Halo: Reach focuses more on the aspects of teamwork, chemistry, and communication. Status Quo definitely has the advantage in this field due to the amount of time this team has stayed together. Moreover, all the members of the team are friends both in and out of the game. One of the reasons that so many teams aren't at the top of the pro circuit is because they begin to doubt some members of the team. If a member of a team is unable to completely rely on another member, then that team is destined to fail. Status Quo maintains themselves as a completely selfless team and as long as they can remain selfless and maintain a solid practice schedule, they will remain “the team to beat” at Columbus.
Congrats to Michael (Flamesword), Aaron (Ace), Clete (Assault), and Ian (Enable) on your FIRST MLG tournament win! Good luck at Columbus!
-Hea7
The finals captured the mood of the entire tournament: “old” vs “new”. Impact, a team composed of three freshfaces and league veteran, Neighbor fought against Status Quo in the Winners Bracket Finals and was taken down 3-2. Because of this, Status Quo had a 3-2 lead in the best of 11 series seen in the finals. In my last article, I talked about why Impact is such a dangerous squad, and how they were the undisputed underdog in this tournament. However, Status Quo proved that they are definitely not a team to be messed with in the 2011season as evident by their recent 3-0ing of Impact. Perhaps the key to Status Quo's success was the fact that they maintained the same roster from the previous season.
Status Quo kept the same roster at the end of the 2010 season and hasn't changed it since. Their lineup as of now is Flamesword, Ace, Assault, and Enable. None of these players have ever won a tournament which backs up the idea of “New game, new top players”. Their captain Flamesword, founder of Status Quo and the recipient of the 2010 stride “Best Leader” award, has never been on a team other than Status Quo. Flamesword is able to be a dominant player through his constant callouts and excellent map positioning. Assault won three of the stride awards including “best support player” and “most underrated player”. With the new addition of the grenade launcher, Assault has found the weapon that seems to call out to him as its main purpose is to take out the opponents shield. This quality makes it the ideal support weapon in the game. Fiery redhead, Enable, really showed how strong of a slayer he due to his crushing of Impact. Enable is one of his teams main snipers as he often pulls off flashy and clutch plays when his team needs it most. Rounding off the squad is Ace who, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated players in the league. Ace is so often overlooked, but he has the abiility to single handily clutch the game with a sniper as evident through his overkill extermination on Zealot Bomb.
Halo: Reach does not depend on individual gun skill. Instead, Halo: Reach focuses more on the aspects of teamwork, chemistry, and communication. Status Quo definitely has the advantage in this field due to the amount of time this team has stayed together. Moreover, all the members of the team are friends both in and out of the game. One of the reasons that so many teams aren't at the top of the pro circuit is because they begin to doubt some members of the team. If a member of a team is unable to completely rely on another member, then that team is destined to fail. Status Quo maintains themselves as a completely selfless team and as long as they can remain selfless and maintain a solid practice schedule, they will remain “the team to beat” at Columbus.
Congrats to Michael (Flamesword), Aaron (Ace), Clete (Assault), and Ian (Enable) on your FIRST MLG tournament win! Good luck at Columbus!
-Hea7