The Halo community was surprised at the HCS Global Invitational at DreamHack Dallas. The French team Quadrant defeated OpTic Gaming, the current world champion. The community was surprised because it was the team’s first LAN defeat in 13 months.
Long winning streak
OpTic Gaming had achieved an incredible winning streak; the team had won the last four LAN competitions in a row. Among these four victories is the 2022 World Championship, where the team had not lost a single series.
Although the team had had some setbacks in online competitions, all LAN competitions in the last 13 months had been won. OpTic Gaming had last lost in a LAN tournament at the Kansas City Major in May 2022, more than a year ago.
With OpTic Gaming’s incredible winning streak, the entire community expected to see them win each of their matches in Dallas. During the group stage, the team beat all of Gamers First, JLINGZ Esports; however, against Quadrant, they did not get the desired result.
Of the three OpTic matches, the easiest for them was against JLINGZ; however, with the other two teams, OpTic members suffered.
In the case of the match against Gamers First, this team had the lead and had put the series 2-1. However, OpTic ended up sweeping the match and taking the victory.
In the case of the match against Quadrant, OpTic was not up to the level of the rivals and lost the match 3-0.
WE JUST BEAT THE WORLD CHAMPIONS OF HALO
3-0 🔥FROM THE GROUP OF DEATH TO THE WINNERS BRACKET, EUROPE YOU'RE WELCOME.
📢 LET'S GO QUADRANT 📢 https://t.co/ViHlt8kdmL pic.twitter.com/cGdgkK0ptq
— Quadrant (@Quadrant) June 3, 2023
Quadrant’s French squad
The Quadrant team, owned by Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, comprises a French squad of players. Quadrant has positioned itself as one of the top European teams after adding Kaci “Lqgend” Sabri and Renan “Sica” Grall to its roster in January of this year.
Quadrant’s victory over OpTic is very important; generally, beating a team with such an impressive streak is a great achievement. As a result of that win, Quadrant advances to the quarterfinals, where they will face Native Gaming Red.
Quadrant’s qualification to the quarterfinals marks the best performance by a European team in a Halo World Championship against North American teams.
Team Infused was the team that had so far had the best performance getting a sixth place in the 2017 Fall Finals. So if Quadrant loses in the quarterfinal match, it improves Team Infused’s performance.
OpTic Gaming’s current situation
On the other hand, OpTic Gaming’s current situation is much more complex as they have to face Complexity Gaming. This team has generated many problems for OpTic in online matches.
In the last six weeks, OpTic has been defeated by Complexity in two different online tournaments. So, it may be difficult for OpTic to beat them in this LAN tournament.