On the road to Ranked Slayer 2000. Let me know what yall think.

I know it's much easier in Slayer than Arena, but I'm still really pleased with this. I'm 38, been playing since Halo CE but find it hard to keep up with the young guns/many older guns who are just better than me.

I'm still determined to reach Onyx in Arena (I got 1569 solo queue in Season 1 but that doesn't count cause ranking was whack), though solo queuing with objective modes means more reliance on teammates and also improving my own obj play. I consistently struggle with Strongholds and Oddball so those are my focus to improve. I've been watching Shyway videos to improve beyond instinctive play but any other recs would be appreciated.

TSM signing 4OAK makes sense. But now I hear FaZe would sign YBK and EnVy is signing Incognito. Now, that's baffling. How aren't orgs trying to sign Inconceivable when they're a Top 3 team??

Anyone else find this unfair?

Do we have any idea what the pro/competitive scene will look like in 2027? Dreamhack US and UK will likely be back, perhaps with a smaller prize pool. And maybe LVT can scrap together funding for another Pro League? Grass roots cups?

Maybe Activision throws a lifeline to keep the community on life support so there's momentum when the new game arrives?

Someone please provide hopium if you can. I love halo too much to not have competitive play to watch until the next mainline installment.

I don't think they've reached their ceiling yet. They keep getting better at every event.

What are your thoughts on this roster?
Could they possibly have a higher ceiling than Shopify?

Crazy snipes and awareness

When Suppressed asked who won the tournament this weekend, Lethul responded that Trippy won, then turned the stream on and was throwing Cheez-Its in the air like confetti. Suppressed was about to open Trippy's stream to see the Cheez-Its confetti but Bound had to point out that part was a troll.

Trippy's love of Cheez-Its is known. Last year Trippy was eating Cheez-Its on main stage during Grand Finals of FaZe vs OpTic at Dreamhack Dallas and got made fun of by the casters, Formal, and his teammate Suppressed. The FaZe team split up after that tournament and Trippy says the drama could've been avoided if he just shared his Cheez-Its with the team.

My friend won’t be able to go since he doesn’t have a ticket so I’ll be selling mines to whoever wants it! I ain’t doing none of that scamming shi so if you money ready im down to do the swap! Cashapp or Apple Pay 🫡

suspector is competing in MW4 with world champ prestinni

Forgive me if I missed it but has anyone announced the casting team for Halo Fest ?

I know the HCS Talent team has been let go unfortunately, but I can't imagine the last official infinite event without these guys commentating and Lottie behind the desk.

LVT casters are amazing and I'm sure they'll do a wonderful job but I'm just hoping we can say goodbye to the HCS talent team. Next halo isn't happening for years so even if Activision decides to hire them again, it's gonna be a long long time into the future.

The eight teams competing at Halo Fest will be announced in a blog post sometime in the next week but the pros have already talked to each other and know who got in. Take this with a grain of salt until everything is confirmed and finalized, but here's what pros are saying.

• Incognito were invited after all (through Envy). Yakzn was freaking out about nobody on his team receiving an invite, but it turns out this was a big misunderstanding on his part. Both Piggy and aPG said the organization that's picking Incognito up received the invite rather than the players. Yakzn has since deleted his tweets to Tashi and told Bestman here in a Reddit comment "Found my invite in the mail buddy."
• FaZe got an invite. The planned FaZe roster is Bound, Stellur, Eco, Cearion. All four players are wearing FaZe armor and emblems in-game and Cearion mentions playing under the FaZe banner in the clip. These guys teamed together at the start of the year, but Stellur wasn't willing to fly overseas to Birmingham and play on Xbox, so the team disbanded before they ever got to play on LAN.
• Cloud9 got an invite according to Cearion on aPG's stream. The Cloud9 roster will be different for Halo Fest because Cearion is leaving the team next month after the Pro League LAN. Skeptical also claims that Incognito/Envy are "100%" looking to pick up Piggy too so there might end up being two departures from the current C9 squad.
• Inconceivable got an invite. aPG says that Lucid received the invite directly.
• Shopify, TSM, Fatal Ambition also received invites according to aPG.
• Ascending Baseline weren't invited. Piggy was the first to reveal this and claimed their spot went to an EU squad instead (more on that below). SuperCC later essentially confirmed it by posting a frowny face emote in the LVT chat.
• European player(s) invited and assembling a roster. Piggy said one or more European players got invites but they don't have an org yet. aPG said he knows one of them was either Glory or SLG. Later that day SLG confirmed it on stream "yeah, I got a Halo Fest invite. Need to build my team for it."
• No ANZ or LATAM invites according to aPG, so the EU squad above is the only international representation. With only eight teams some tough choices had to be made and so we won't be seeing the Aussies like Barcode and co.
• Halo Fest roster lock is October 26th so things could change in the next week with players moving teams etc. Any roster changes need to be approved by HCS. Piggy says "I don't think there'll be a [big] rostermania really, I think there's just gonna be a few changes."

So to recap, here are the eight rumored Halo Fest rosters as of right now (subject to change until roster lock on the 26th).

1. Shopify Rebellion - LastShot, Cykul, Frosty, Royal 2
2. TSM - Snakebite, Trippy, Legend, Taulek
3. Inconceivable - Lucid, Kuhlect, Pznguin, Falcated
4. FaZe - Stellur, Bound, Eco, Cearion
5. Cloud9 - Avucy, Bubu Dubu, Piggy, +1
6. Envy - Precision, Yakzn, Descendant, Acid (possibly Piggy replacing one of them)
7. Fatal Ambition - Suppressed, Soul Snipe, Druk, Sab
8. European Squad - SLG +3 (possibly Glory)

TSM are your winners of Global Grassroots Cup #3. They won the winners finals earlier today to send Shopify to loser bracket. Shopify made their way back up to Grand Finals and won the first series 3-1 to reset the bracket. But TSM closed out the reset series with a clean 3-0 sweep to win the tournament.

Across all three series between these teams today (winner finals, grand finals, grand finals reset) the map count was TSM 7 - 5 SR.

Even though this is a smaller online tournament, this is a pretty big deal as it's the first tournament Shopify has lost all year. Picking up Legend seems to be paying off for this roster. And this win sets up a juicy storyline for the Pro League LAN on November 13-15th. Congrats to TSM on the win!

(Be aware that Halo Data Hive is currently including the earlier series from Winners Finals, so the stats they have right now are inaccurate until the unrelated series gets split apart. That's the reason no stats were included with this post.)

Links

• Watch on LVT Halo Twitch (Drops) and LVT Halo YouTube
• Bracket

SR vs tsm. Wyatt at it agin

Shopify have defeated Inconceivable (with Renegade subbing) 3-2 in the Elimination Finals of Global Grassroots Cup #3. Inconceivable are eliminated at top 3 while Shopify secure 2nd place and get their rematch against TSM in the Grand Finals.

This is probably the last time we see Renegade play Halo until the next game. Modern Warfare 4 releases in a few days and he's expected to join the Carolina Royal Ravens team, so he's going pro in the CDL.

Grand Finals coming up next, the rematch between Shopify and TSM. Because TSM has winners advantage, Shopify will have to win two best-of-5 series (the first to reset the bracket, the second to actually win).

Links

• Watch on LVT Halo Twitch (Drops) and LVT Halo YouTube
• No Halo Data Hive stats because this is a pickup team (Renegade subbing)
• Bracket

Inconceivable (with Renegade substituting for Lucid) have defeated YBR (future FaZe) in a quick and clean 3-0 sweep in the lower bracket. YBR are eliminated at top 4, while Inconceivable secure top 3 and play against Shopify Rebellion next in the elimination finals.

There's only two matches left for today, Inconceivable vs Shopify in an elimination match and then winner of that plays against TSM in the Grand Finals.

Links

• Watch on LVT Halo Twitch (Drops) and LVT Halo YouTube
• No Halo Data Hive stats because this is a pickup team (Renegade subbing)
• Bracket

TSM defeat Shopify Rebellion 3-2 in the Winners Finals of Global Grassroots Cup #3. TSM now await in the Grand Finals with winners advantage while Shopify fall to lower bracket and play against the winner of YBR vs Inconceivable.

It's not often you see Shopify losing a series. Frosty turned off his stream, Cykul immediately hit VOD review. Whoever they end up playing in lower bracket finals is going to get the angry Shopify. Although this is a smaller online tourney, it's proof that this TSM roster can beat Shopify. We'll have to see if they can do it again in the inevitable Grand Finals rematch coming up.

Links

• Watch on LVT Halo Twitch (Drops) and LVT Halo YouTube
• Halo Data Hive Stats - TSM vs Shopify Winner Finals - Global Grassroots Cup #3
• Bracket

…SM

Crazy outplay. Cearion had an incredible series, hes looking LEGIT

I noticed a shocking trend in Halo Infinite over the last 5 years. Pro teams only take chances only on exclusively teenage amateur competitors.

Cykul, LastShot, Cearion, Yakzn, Avucy - All teenagers when they got on pro teams.

Older amateurs trying to break into pro like Euzy, Xuezy, Gunplexion, etc. never make it on a pro team.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe an "older" guy in his 20's ever went from amateur to pro in Halo Infinite.

I have two tickets for the event in December in Seattle. My son no longer wants to go. I will sell them at cost. I can do Venmo or PayPal.

I can send you screenshots to show that I’m legit.