Enemy Down

i36: Infused take Halo 3 title, beat SK

Giant slayers make sensational run to finals, comeback to beat SK Gaming

Posted by EVEREST. on Apr 14th 2009 22:43

i36 saw MPUK hold its first major Halo 3 tournament which included several of the best teams from across Europe in attendance and some of the most intense competition European Halo 3 has ever seen. Countless upsets, many a series going down to the wire and a brand new top team made i36 one of the most exciting Halo 3 tournaments yet.

With the action underway on Friday, the early rounds saw most games go as expected with the exception of unseeded Signature Gaming taking out the 8th seeded Status Quo in WB Round 2. This match saw the insults and trash talk fly back and forth between the two teams which helped draw in a big crowd. With fuel for the fire, this match-up set the tone for the weekend. The series ended 3-0 to Signature who would move on to play the first seeded LowLandLions on Saturday.

Signature Gaming

With the exception of Status Quo, all of the top 8 seeds met up on Saturday for some of the most intense match-ups of Halo ever seen. First up on the main stage we saw the 5th seed Infused take on the 3rd seed SK Gaming in a big grudge match, SK having lost to Infused at XL6. Infused came flying off the blocks and seamlessly transferred their practice form to tournament play. Combined with an absolute wall of noise from the Infused players, SK really didn't seem to get going and a series most predicted to go down to the wire ended up 3-0 in favour of Infused. SK Gaming, for the second tournament in a row, would have to fight hard in the losers bracket for a good placing. Next up on stage was LLL against Signature. Before this match up most of the players at the venue were predicting a straight 3-0 stomping by LLL, due to the imperious form they had showed at XL6 and the relative unknown players on Signature. The first game was tight, with LLL just edging the game by one flag capture, but most thought LLL would simply step up and close out the series from here on in. However, Signature stepped it up big time, brought their noise levels up and got pumped, with their coach, Pyronox, keeping them motivated and throwing insults at LLL. Signature appeared to catch fire and LLL didn't have the energy to put them out, as Signature took the next three games to knock LLL into the lower bracket.

With two big upsets taking place on the main stage, the remainder of the WB Round 3 matches took place in the much closer and more intense atmosphere of the tournament stations with virtually all the players gathered round to watch the games. Dignitas, the number two seed were taking on the sixth seed Betamaxx Outbreak, and here again most predicated a pretty straight forward match and an easy Dignitas victory. Off to a strong start, Dignitas took the first two rounds in close games and looked in a good position to take the series. However, Betamaxx Outbreak stepped it up with Dking having an incredible last three games of the series, putting up some huge numbers. Outbreak clutched it in the end to win 3-2 and secure their spot in the top 6. The last WB Round 3 match up was The Imperial against the German team, n! Facutly. With the way the last three match-ups had gone, several people were expecting an upset. The Imperial had other ideas and took the first three games by comfortable margins to be the only top 4 seeded team to advance to the WB semi-finals.

In the Lower Bracket, Dignitas played their match on Saturday night against Status Quo for top 8. Status Quo seemed pumped and came out strong on the first map. With the trash talk flying, they took an unexpected 1-0 lead. Raised eyebrows were exchanged by onlookers, but Dignitas managed to step up, winning games two and three by narrow margins and closed out the series in comfortable fashion in game 4 to advance to the top 8. This brought Saturday's tournament play to a close, with a lot of people wondering just what the hell was in the Rustlers at i36.

Sunday morning saw n! Facutly, SK Gaming and LowLandLions all playing for top 8, and despite n! losing their first game against Aggression, they closed out the rest of the series quite comfortably with FroOp playing sensationally, putting up two +20 games in a single series. LLL and SK both advanced creating two match-ups in LB Round 3 that nobody could have predicted; SK playing LLL and Dignitas taking on n! for top 6. LLL started out strong against SK taking the first game by a couple of flag captures. At this point it looked as if former XL champs, SK Gaming, would be going home 7/8 in consecutive tournaments, this time from the hands of the reigning XL champions. The second game in the series was a team slayer match on the Pit which started with SK taking an early 7 kill lead before the venue's power supply failed and the matches were put on hold. When the power came back on LLL stepped up and managed to bring the game within a frag of victory, 49-45. That's when SK managed to pull off one of the most clutch comebacks ever seen in tournament play. In unbelievable fashion, SK managed to grab overshield, rockets and snipe and get 5 unanswered kills to take game 2. The crowd and players went crazy and from then on SK were pumped and had all the momentum. They closed out the next two games with ease to send LLL home with an unprecedented 7/8 placing.

On the other tournament station Dignitas were taking on n! Faculty and the Germans came out swinging, taking the first game of Onslaught CTF quite comfortably. This was followed up by Squall going absolutely berserk for Faculty on Pit Slayer and brought the series to 2-0. It looked as if the number 1 and 2 seeds were going home early. Unsurprisingly, Dignitas showed their mettle and, despite being interrupted by the power outage, took the next three games to win the series 3-2. Adi from Dignitas had one of the games of the tournament on Narrows Flag, putting up 40 kills and only 19 deaths as they finished that one 3-2 in overtime.

Outbreak v Dignitas

In the WB semi-finals, Signature played the on-form Infused and The Imperial played Outbreak. Infused looked unstoppable clocking up a straight forward 3-0 to continue their unbeaten streak in the tournament. The Imperial struggled slightly with Outbreak but always looked the better team winning 3-1 and setting up an Infused vs The Imperial WB Final. In the LB, we would see SK versus Outbreak and Dignitas against Signature. Infused carried on their momentum against TI, raising their noise levels once again to the maximum, and taking the first two games comfortably. TI tried hard to comeback in the third game, Guardian ball, but Infused were just too strong and closed out the 4th game to secure a top 2 finish, a first for any of the players on this team. SK, on fire after their victory over LLL, looked solid against Outbreak in the lower bracket with the entire team stepping up to see the series out 3-0.

At the other station, Dignitas looked almost back to their old selves and everyone thought the Signature bubble was about to burst after Dignitas took the opening game. Once again, against a top team 1-0 down, Signature stepped up, increased the noise level and took the next 3 games in comfortable fashion to advance to a game with SK for top 3. Dignitas would have to settle for a disappointing 5th place. In the SK versus Signature match-up both teams were flying on momentum, but the individual skill and experience of SK proved to be the difference as they took this series 3-0. The Signature story finally came to an end. It was time now for the LB Final, SK versus TI for the right to have another crack at Infused. SK looked on fire against TI as the games went late into Sunday night. The TI guys just didn't seem to have much steam left as SK swept past them to set up a rematch against Infused in the finals on Monday. The final would see the 4th and 5th seeds battling it out for the number one spot and for the honour of taking the Halo crown for i36.

Infused drawing the crowds

The chatter on Monday morning all seemed to revolve around one thing, that this was Infused's tournament. An incredible run over the last three days had seen them drop only a single game, making them all but untouchable. Combine that with the advantage of starting off the best of eleven series three games up, and SK had a mountain to climb. SK came out absolutely buzzing taking the two opening games by the narrowest of margins, 3-2 in CTF and 50-49 in Slayer. From there SK seemed to pull away dominating the next 3 games to go an astonishing 5-3 games up. The team that hadn't lost a game had suddenly just lost five on the bounce and SK just needed one more to take the tournament. However, incredible clutch flag returns on the next games from MVP and Reaction from Infused allowed them to turn it around and start the ball rolling. Taking the next two games under intense pressure, Infused would finish off SK to cap off an incredible final as the score ended 6-5. The entire team stood up and went nuts as this was their first championship and a thoroughly deserved win for all the Infused players. A fantastic end to an amazing tournament, all of the Halo players hoped that this would be the start of a long term combination of i-Series and Halo 3. i36 produced one of the most exciting and unpredictable tournaments to date.

Check out more photos from Everest here.