UK players took the top spots at the Halo Championship Series (HCS) European Regional finals at DreamHack Valencia on the weekend.
Acend beat Quadrant 4-3 in the grand final to win Halo Infinite’s first major regional LAN in Europe, boasting a $100,000 prize pool overall.
Acend features UK players Snipedrone and Respectful, as well as French players Lqgend and Sica, as well as UK head of esports Krimson, while Quadrant’s all-French Halo roster consists of Nurix, Shad, SLG and TchiK.
“This win means absolutely everything. We are the best in Europe, and we wanted to prove we’re the best, not only online, but at LAN.”
Sica, Acend
Quadrant is an organisation founded by British Formula 1 driver and streamer Lando Norris that started life as a streaming content creation team, before moving into esports when Quadrant signed their Halo roster late last year.
Sica said after the win: “This win means absolutely everything. We wanted to prove ourselves once and for all at LAN and show what we’re able to do. That’s why we’re the best, not only online, but at LAN, and basically we did it in a good manner.
“I think everyone enjoyed the series because it was very close, probably one of the best best-of-sevens of all time. I was not expecting a close final but it helps for the viewership and everything! And it was our game to lose.
“I think we are the best in Europe. You need confidence all the time, if you lose a map, go next. I am just so happy.”
Acend took the $36,000 top prize and 15,000 HCS points, while Quadrant took $22,000 and 9,000 points. Navi went home with $11,200 and 6,600 points and JLingz received $6,240 and 5,400 points.
The tournament also featured a ton of UK, French and other talent in general.
Navi, who finished third, have UK players Jimbo and TuFoxy on their team, while fourth placed Jlingz Esports, the organisation launched by footballer Jesse Lingard, have UK players Quadios and Septiq.
UK org Vexed Gaming also finished seventh to eighth, and they have an all-UK roster of Squashy, Looney, WarLord and Lumizur.
On the broadcast desk, UK talent included host Praagy, casters Onset, Gaskin and Lethal, as well as Irish caster Sherzy2 and US talent Bravo and Clutch.
You can see more UK talent and teams on the HCS Valencia 2022 Liquipedia page.
Halo Infinite launched its esports push in late 2021.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
