Sentinels winning HCS Kansas City Major sets up the perfect rivalry

Halo
May 3, 2022
Marcus Wong

Sentinels asserts dominance over the rest of the Halo Infinite competitors, particularly Cloud 9. They overthrew the HCS Kickoff Major champions in two encounters, firstly sending Cloud9 into the lower bracket, and eventually defeating them again in the grand finals.

It’s evident that Sentinels are the champions of the Kansas City Major, but they also created a lovely rivalry with C9 for the rest of the season.

Recapping Sentinels’ absolute dominance at HCS Kansas City

For the uninitiated, Sentinels is not a household name in the Halo Infinite competitive scene. It was all eyes on Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante, the leading force behind Sentinels’ massive bandwagon. SEN kicked off their season with a rocky start. Royal2 got suspended for violating the HCS Global rulebook concerning cheating and network abuse. While fans were able to comprehend the poor performance caused by his absence, his return didn’t go flamboyantly at HCS Anaheim either.

Their overwhelming victory in Kansas City is certainly just the tip of the iceberg of what Sentinels are capable of. They pulled off wins left and right ending with a zero-loss streak.

Sentinels wins the HCS Kansas City 2022

Although the European underdog, Quadrant proved to be a challenge for Sentinels, they eventually managed to close out the series. The match didn’t come off as a promising look to fans, who began contemplating whether beating Cloud9 is too high of an order.

Yet, Sentinels do not disappoint when going up against familiar rivals. The highlight of their proficiency against top dogs became more prevalent when they toppled the defending Major champions. Notably, Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom and Royal2’s veteran energy puts Sentinels at ease by giving Cloud 9 a rough time. The one-sided match raised a cause for concern towards Cloud 9, questioning Cloud 9’s poor showing as a defending Champion. However, with Cloud 9’s successful lower bracket run, fans finally accepted that it wasn’t a fluke.

Setting up for HCS Valencia 2022

The upcoming HCS Valencia 2022 (EU Regional Finals) might be less appealing after the EU powerhouses’ poor showing. After Acend, the HCS Europe Super champions flopped at eighth place. Furthermore, the fact that the top four in HCS Kansas City were the same quadruplets of HCS Anaheim goes to show how stale the HCS competition is. The power gap between EU and NA counterparts doesn’t seem to be reducing anytime soon, especially with Sentinels and Cloud9 being pillars in Halo Infinite Esports.

For what it’s worth, every region’s best teams will look forward to the Halo World Championship 2022 on Oct 20. With a long way to go, only the upcoming majors can tell whether we can expect formidable rivals to give powerhouses a run for their money.

For now, we have a new rivalry brewing between Cloud9 and Sentinels, both aiming to dominate the HCS esports scene.