Halo 3 Tourney

Last Saturday, 5 teams gathered at Blind for their shot at claiming the Halo 3 Championship title. After some intense gameplay, screaming and trash talking, Team Legz (Reza, Casey, Greg and Dylan) fell a little short of their dream of getting a Perfection, and instead, was the first team eliminated from round robin play. The bracket was set:  it would be Team Blind (Chris D., Thai, Aaron and Anthony) vs. Team Neo (Mitch, Sunni, James and Brian), with Team FTW a.k.a For The Win (Brian, Erik, Riel and Chris P.) vs. Team Born (Matthew, Jiaren, Joseph and Gus). In bracket one, Team Blind took advantage of the newly formed Team Neo and won straight sets to advance into the semi-finals. In bracket two, Team FTW quickly dispatched Team Born, sending them into contention against Team Neo for the Bronze. A crowd formed to watch the ensuing battle. After the smoke cleared, it was Team Neo that snatched 3rd place leaving Team Born empty handed.

The only thing left to resolve was who was going to go home with Halo Gold? Team Blind won the coin toss and selected their favorite map, Guardian. Here, they executed a perfect team strategy (ahem, camping), and took out #1 seeded player FTW Anti and watched as Team FTW disintegrated. Having loss the first round, Team FTW regathered and chose The Pit as their last stand. Team FTW put up a valiant effort, and at times, pulled ahead, showing glimmers of a gloried past. But, in the end, they couldn’t overcome some of the dead weight and conflicting strategies.

Artists, designers and animators met on the Halo 3 Stadium floor to settle the question of whose game would reign supreme. After hours of thumb acrobatics, one team was left standing to claim the coveted Halo 3 Championship title none other than Team Blind. Music swells, pan lights, smoke and fade to black.

Thanks to Dylan Spears for providing these great photos of the tourney. Someone actually still uses traditional film. Who says celluloid is dead? Check out his Flickr photostream for more photographic work. Featured panoramic image credit: Reza Rasoli.