In addition to the rebuilding, a seasoned new coach, Mason “Neighbor” Cobb, who is a former champion of the Major League Gaming tournament and a former Built by Gamers coach, was added to the Halo team.

Ever since the latter week of June, the Halo team has been in the process of reconstructing its roster, but with one week left until the HCS Orlando Major, that endeavor has finally come to a successful conclusion.

“After a period of underperformance and inconsistency from the FNATIC Halo division, we decided to enter a period of rebuild. We unfortunately parted ways with our head coach, Strobe, and two players, SuperCC and Rammyy. We wish them the best of luck and hope they find success at their next teams,” a press release from Fnatic read.

FNATIC was unable to break into the top eight of any major online or LAN tournament on multiple occasions. Even when the squad replaced Torez “Envore” Broyles in July with Rammyy, the team’s performance did not improve. A finish in the top 20 at the Online Super the previous month was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

As a result of FNATIC’s failure to qualify for the pool play portion of the Orlando Major, which will begin on September 23, the organization’s recently revamped roster will have to compete in the open bracket in order to have a shot at qualifying for a spot at the World Championship. It is a risk for the team, but this is the only card they have left in their deck.

The official statement by FNATIC stated that the prime aim of the roster changes is to qualify for the Worlds and that the new lineup they have assembled will be among the most formidable that they have ever had.

“Qualifying for Worlds is at the moment our main focus and we have built a roster which we believe will be the most competitive we have ever had under the Black and Orange,” the official statement read.

The organization goes on to note that the new coach, Neighbor, has been instrumental in determining the new course that the team will take, and they have already noticed a significant increase in their scrims, which indicates that the addition of players is not the only element at play here.

“In the head coach role, we wanted someone to come in with a bit of experience who knows how to win and we ended up securing one of the most experienced Halo players of all time. Mason “Neighbor” Cobb, the former MLG San Diego and Orlando Champion, joined us about 3 weeks ago and has been key in the new direction of the team and has already seen marked improvement in our scrims and synergy,” Fnatic��s press release read.

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The European esports organization took to Twitter to reveal that their bid has been rejected. Acend are distraught with the decision, and perhaps more upset at the fact that no reasonable explanation was given for the denial.

“We are sad to announce that our HCS partnership application was rejected. Despite request, we’ve not received any elaboration on the decision, other than we were deep into consideration.

“This is disappointing for the organization, our players, and our fans.”

Regardless of the situation, the organization is committed to supporting their players. In the statement, Acend said:

“We have put all our effort in to supporting our players and the scene to compete internationally and progress Halo beyond a one region esport. Our players have shown they are world class competitors and Europe has shown we can constantly compete internationally. Sadly it seems the region will continue to receive minimal support.”

“We believe in our players and their abilities and will continue to support them. Our goal remains the same: to take on the best teams in the World and put European Halo on the map.”

So far, there are suspicions of Halo favoring the North American teams, and Acend pointed it out. They believe the region needs to receive a lot more support from the organizers.

It is difficult to fault their argument, seeing eight of the nine partnered organizations, eight compete in the NA division. Only Ukrainian Natus Vincere is part of the HCS partnership program.

Some other teams whose applications have been rejected are XSET and Kansas City Pioneers. XSET has since left Halo owing to their application being denied.

Acend player Renan “Sica” Grall has also commented on the news. The French expressed disappointment with not being given the opportunity to advance Halo in the region despite their exploits.

“Being partnered would have been a dream for me. I��ve been thinking about being able to represent Acend with our colors in game and the possibility of seeing all of my friends wearing the skins to show their support would have been something extremely heartwarming. We��re really sad because we felt like we��ve done some big achievements throughout the year and have pushed Europe as much as we could, we thought that we would get partnered in order to promote HCS in Europe and make it grow together but it didn��t go the way we planned it. We��re confused because we, us and Acend, don��t know what we could do better to help the competitive scene, we��ve been making content, bootcamps, best placements in our Region and consistently winning every single European tournament. It��s a big disappointment for us especially because of the lack of communication we��re getting from those who took the decision.”

It is unclear what the criteria are, especially since Acend have had a successful 2022. In 16 tournaments they have featured in this year, they have won all but two. They finished third in the HCS Europe Pro Series 1 Split 2 and recorded an eighth-placed finish in the HCS Kansas City Major.

Acend has clearly dominated the Europe scene this year, with most of their victories coming against NAVI. They are one of four European teams that sealed a spot in the pool play of the HCS Orlando Major.

A top 12 finish in the event, which is scheduled to commence on September 23, will see Acend qualify for the 2022 Halo World Championship. 2017 was the last time the event was held, which will mean that this is their first chance of featuring in the final event of a competitive season.

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