Cloud9 wins HCS Kickoff Major Raleigh 2021: Final results, scores, recap & more

Brad Norton
HCS Raleigh winners

The Halo Championship Series is back underway for the Halo Infinite season and it all kicked off at the $350,000 Raleigh Major. While over 200 teams competed, Cloud9 ultimately came away with the win and we’ve got you covered with all the info you need to catch up on the first Major LAN event.


  • Cloud9 close out 4-1 Grand Final win over eUnited.
  • Sentinels, OpTic, & FaZe Clan all bow out among the Top 6.
  • $350K total prize pool ($250K + $100K crowdfunded bonus)

Contents


HCS Raleigh Major: recap

The first Halo Infinite LAN was certainly one to remember. With hundreds of teams descending on Raleigh, a sold-out crowd, and six-figure viewership all weekend, the opening tournament couldn’t have made a bigger splash.

What began with a 200+ team Open Bracket quickly dwindled to a 32 team Championship Bracket. Teams from North America, Europe, and Australia all pushed through the double-elimination bracket to make their mark.

HCS Raleigh event
Three days of action culminated in a 12+ hour Championship Sunday.

For veterans like OpTic, Sentinels, and FaZe Clan, a Top 6 finish is where their runs came to an end. Some extremely close matchups paved the way for a Grand Final showdown between eUnited and Cloud9.

Despite taking one map win on the main stage, eUnited couldn’t quite keep up in the final series. Cloud9 proved too strong on the day as they took out Infinite’s first Major with a 4-1 victory.

HCS Raleigh Major: prize pool & placements

Placement Team Prize Money (USD) HCS Points
1 Cloud9 $140,000 25,000
2 eUnited $84,000 15,000
3 FaZe Clan $39,200 11,000
4 Sentinels $19,600 9,000
5-6 OpTic $9,800 8,000
Pioneers
7-8 Spacestation $5,600 7,000
NAVI
9-12 G2 Esports
$2,800 5,500
Team WaR
Quadrant
Acend
13-16 Status Quo $1,820 4,500
The Guard
Unsigned Talent
Built By Gamers
17-24 Aspire.Astra $1,400 3,000
ExiLe Gaming
Gamers First
Mockit Esports
Oxygen Esports
The Chiefs
WarZ
XSET
25-32 Bing Chilling $840 2,000
BLVKHVND
Divine Mind
Falling Esports
FootFungus792
Solaris
The Boys
VANDYL

HCS Raleigh Major: schedule & format

The HCS Kickoff Major was streamed across four separate channels including the official Halo Twitch account, embedded above. Secondary streams, including the HCS channel, kept on top of every Championship Bracket match throughout the event.

If you prefer, you can also head over to the Halo YouTube channel to catch up on the replays.

The tournament kicked off on Friday, December 17 with the open bracket and group stage matches. This filtered into a double-elimination bracket from December 18-19.

HCS Raleigh Major: schedule & results

Pool Play

Friday, December 17

Note: Final games of the day were delayed until December 18 due to technical issues.

Pool A
Match PT ET GMT
Chiefs 3-0 Bing Chilling 9AM 12PM 5PM
OpTic 3-0 Chiefs 10:15AM 1:15PM 6:15PM
Pioneers 3-0 Bing Chilling 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
OpTic 3-0 Bing Chilling 12:45PM 3:45PM 8:45PM
Pioneers 3-1 Chiefs 2PM 5PM 10PM
OpTic 3-0 Pioneers 3:15PM 6:15PM 11:15PM
Pool B
Match PT ET GMT
NAVI 3-0 Divine Mind 9AM 12PM 5PM
FaZe Clan 3-0 Divine Mind 10:15AM 1:15PM 6:15PM
G2 Esports 3-2 NAVI 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
FaZe Clan 3-1 NAVI 12:45PM 3:45PM 8:45PM
G2 Esports 3-0 Divine Mind 2PM 5PM 10PM
FaZe Clan 0-3 G2 Esports 3:15PM 6:15PM 11:15PM
Pool C
Match PT ET GMT
Oxygen 3-0 The Boys 9AM 12PM 5PM
eUnited 3-0 The Boys 10:15AM 1:15PM 6:15PM
Quadrant 3-0 Oxygen 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
eUnited 3-2 Oxygen 12:45PM 3:45PM 8:45PM
Quadrant 3-0 The Boys 2PM 5PM 10PM
eUnited 3-0 Quadrant 3:15PM 6:15PM 11:15PM
Pool D
Match PT ET GMT
XSET 3-1 Spacestation 9AM 12PM 5PM
Cloud9 3-1 Spacestation 10:15AM 1:15PM 6:15PM
Acend 3-2 XSET 11:30AM 2:30PM 7:30PM
Cloud9 3-0 XSET 12:45PM 3:45PM 8:45PM
Acend 0-3 Spacestation 2PM 5PM 10PM
Cloud9 3-1 Acend 3:15PM 6:15PM 11:15PM

Championship Bracket

Saturday, December 18

Note: Bracket play matches kicked off after final pool play matches concluded

Winner’s Bracket Round 1
Match PT ET GMT
The Boys 0-3 Sentinels 10AM 1PM 6PM
Mockit Esports 3-1 Bing Chilling 10AM 1PM 6PM
Oxygen Esports 2-3 BBG 10AM 1PM 6PM
BLVKHVND 0-3 The Chiefs 10AM 1PM 6PM
Status Quo 0-3 Acend 11:15PM 2:15PM 7:15PM
The Guard 2-3 XSET 11:15PM 2:15PM 7:15PM
Team WaR 3-0 Divine Mind 11:15PM 2:15PM 7:15PM
FootFungus792 0-3 NAVI 11:15PM 2:15PM 7:15PM
Winner’s Bracket Round 2
Match PT ET GMT
OpTic 3-0 Sentinels 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Quadrant 3-0 The Chiefs 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
eUnited 3-0 Mockit Esports 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
G2 Esports 0-3 Acend 12:30PM 3:30PM 8:30PM
Pioneers 3-0 Built By Gamers 1:45PM 4:45PM 9:45PM
FaZe Clan 3-0 XSET 1:45PM 4:45PM 9:45PM
Cloud9 3-0 Team WaR 1:45PM 4:45PM 9:45PM
Spacestation Gaming 3-1 NAVI 1:45PM 4:45PM 9:45PM
Winner’s Bracket Quarter Finals
Match PT ET GMT
OpTic 3-1 FaZe Clan 3PM 6PM 11PM
Cloud9 3-1 Quadrant 3PM 6PM 11PM
Acend 0-3 Pioneers 3PM 6PM 11PM
eUnited 3-0 Spacestation 3PM 6PM 11PM
Elimination Round 1
Match PT ET GMT
The Boys 0-3 WarZ 5PM 8PM 1AM
The Guard 3-1 Falling Esports 5PM 8PM 1AM
Divine Mind 0-3 ExiLe Gaming 5PM 8PM 1AM
BLVKHVND 0-3 Aspyre.Astra 5PM 8PM 1AM
Status Quo 3-2 VANDYL 5PM 8PM 1AM
Oxygen Esports 3-1 Solaris 5PM 8PM 1AM
Bing Chilling 0-3 Unsigned Talent 5PM 8PM 1AM
FootFungus792 0-3 Gamers First 5PM 8PM 1AM
Elimination Round 2
Match PT ET GMT
NAVI 3-0 WarZ 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
Mockit Esports 1-3 The Guard 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
Built By Gamers 3-0 ExiLe Gaming 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
G2 Esports 3-0 Aspyre.Astra 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
The Chiefs 1-3 Status Quo 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
Team WaR 3-0 Oxygen Esports 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
XSET 0-3 Unsigned Talent 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM
Sentinels 3-0 Gamers First 6:30PM 9:30PM 2:30AM

Sunday, December 19

Elimination Round 3
Match PT ET GMT
NAVI 3-2 The Guard 7AM 10AM 3PM
Built By Gamers 0-3 G2 Esports 7AM 10AM 3PM
Status Quo 1-3 Team WaR 7AM 10AM 3PM
Unsigned Talent 0-3 Sentinels 7AM 10AM 3PM
Elimination Round 4
Match PT ET GMT
Quadrant 2-3 NAVI 8:15AM 11:15AM 4:15PM
FaZe Clan 3-2 G2 Esports 8:15AM 11:15AM 4:15PM
Spacestation 3-1 Team WaR 8:15AM 11:15AM 4:15PM
Acend 1-3 Sentinels 8:15AM 11:15AM 4:15PM
Elimination Round 5
Match PT ET GMT
FaZe Clan 3-0 NAVI
9:30AM 12:30PM 5:30PM
Sentinels 3-0 Spacestation 9:30AM 12:20PM 5:30PM
Winner’s Bracket Semis
Match PT ET GMT
OpTic 2-3 Cloud9 9:30AM 12:30PM 5:30PM
Pioneers 1-3 eUnited 9:30AM 12:30PM 5:30PM
Elimination Round 6
Match PT ET GMT
FaZe Clan 3-2 Pioneers 10:45AM 1:45PM 6:45PM
Sentinels 3-2 OpTic 10:45AM 1:45PM 6:45PM
Elimination Semis
Match PT ET GMT
FaZe Clan 3-1 Sentinels 12PM 3PM 8PM
Winner’s Bracket Final
Match PT ET GMT
Cloud9 3-1 eUnited 12PM 3PM 8PM
Elimination Finals
Match PT ET GMT
FaZe Clan 2-3 eUnited 1:15PM 4:15PM 9:15PM
Grand Finals
Match PT ET GMT
Cloud9 4-1 eUnited 2:30PM 5:30PM 10:30PM

HCS Raleigh Major: Pool play placements

HCS Raleigh featured 16 teams split into groups of four, all of which earned their spot through regional qualifiers or HCS points accumulated in the opening weeks of the season.

Below is a full look at every group that competed in the Pool Play stage.

Pool A

Placement Team Record MD
1 OpTic Gaming 3-0 +9
2 Pioneers 2-1 +2
3 The Chiefs 1-2 -2
4 Bing Chilling 0-3 -9

Pool B

Placement Team Record MD
1 G2 Esports 3-0 +7
2 FaZe Clan 2-1 +2
3 Natus Vincere 1-2 0
4 Divine Mind 0-3 -9

Pool C

Placement Team Record MD
1 eUnited 3-0 +7
2 Quadrant 2-1 +3
3 Oxygen Esports 1-2 -1
4 The Boys 0-3 -9

Pool D

Placement Team Record MD
1 Cloud9 3-0 +7
2 Spacestation Gaming 1-1 -1
3 XSET 1-2 -2
4 Acend 1-2 -4

HCS Raleigh Major: teams

With the HCS Raleigh Major featuring an Open Bracket, was saw hundreds of teams all competing for a shot at greatness.

As for the Top 16 seeds directly into the group stage, Sentinels were notable team missing. Following Royal2’s suspension and FormaL’s last-minute roster shuffle, the squad was instead forced to fight through the Open Bracket.

You can find the full list of Top 16 teams below:

Team Region Players
OpTic Gaming North America aPG, Lucid, TriPPPeY, iGotUrPistola
FaZe Clan North America Snip3down, Bound, Falcated, bubu dubu
eUnited North America Spartan, RyaNoob, KingNick, Rayne
G2 Esports North America Sabinater, Gilk3y, Str8 SicK, Artic
Cloud9 North America StelluR, Penguin, Eco, Renegade
Kansas City Pioneers North America Manny, Druk, SoulSnipe, Taulek
Oxygen Esports North America Common, Swish, Name, Haines
XSET North America Cratos, FilthyG, Suspector, Porky J
Spacestation North America Tylenul, Ace, Tusk, Deciting
Acend Europe Snipedrone, Lqgend, Shaady, Sica
Quadrant Europe SLG, Fragxr, NURIX, TchiK
Natus Vincere Europe Kimbo, Jimbo, Respectful, tuf0xy
Bing Chilling Europe Riotz, Ramirez, Phlux, Clonely
The Boys Europe Morguhhh, Sandell, robs1n, Snipaul
Chiefs Esports Club Oceania Barcode, Praties, Pipz, Madsyy
Divine Mind Oceania BZIIRK, FlexRainZ, Rated, Slay