The Halo Championship Series Summer Finals came to a close this weekend and with it came the crowning of the summer season champions. The weekend began with the four best teams in North America vying for the title while the top two amateur teams challenged the bottom two teams in the Pro League for their spots.
Both Team Liquid and OpTic Gaming were able to defend their spots, leaving only one thing to be decided in the final day of the action: Who would take home the title of the HCS Summer Season Champion?
Cloud9 was the first to be eliminated from the tournament after being sent to the loser's bracket at the hands of Counter Logic Gaming. There they met soon-to-be tournament finalists Enigma 6 and jumped out to an early lead, but were not able to hold onto it. C9 fell at the hands of E6 by a final series score of 4-2.
Team EnVyUs made their way to the winner's bracket finals to take on CLG, and were quickly sent packing. nV was swept 4-0, and sent down to the loser's bracket to fight for their tournament lives. There they met Enigma 6, fresh off of a win against C9. nV and E6 met the day before in the first round of the winner's bracket and nV took the series 4-2. This time around, the series was far closer. Enigma 6 and Team EnVyUs went to a Game 7 with both teams pushing each other's limits. E6 won Game 7 in commanding fashion, however, and Team EnVyUs finished the tournament in third place, the same seed they brought into the tournament.
After defeating nV in the loser's bracket, E6 advanced to the Grand Finals to take on the defending world champions in almost poetic fashion. E6 was the only team to take a series off of CLG throughout the entire season, so it was only fitting that these two teams would meet with everything on the line. E6 won their last meeting 3-1, but did not fare nearly as well this time around. Counter Logic Gaming played in a manner similar to their performance at the Halo World Championships in March, and swept E6 4-0 to become the summer season champions.