OpTic FormaL Beats OpTic For Sentinels At Halo Kickoff Major
Having put his professional Call of Duty days behind him, Matthew "FormaL" Piper has opted to stay on at OpTic Gaming as a content creator, finding solace in the home and family that he competed with for over five years. However, with an eye on returning to his Halo esports roots, the Green Wall stalwart may not be the most popular figure in the H3czquarters this morning, after he dumped his parent organisation out of the Halo Kickoff Major.
After expressing his desire to compete in Halo since the impressive launch of Infinite, FormaL was not one of the players signed to the OpTic Gaming roster, and has since been trying out with the likes of FaZe Clan and Spacestation Gaming, before agreeing terms with Sentinels to play as a stand-in for Mathew "Royal2" Fiorante.
Sentinels Beat OpTic Gaming In HCS Kickoff Major
Whilst still contracted to OpTic Gaming as a content creator, FormaL was given the green light from the Envy/OpTic management group to compete under the Sentinels banner for the first-ever Halo Infinite LAN event. Coming into the Sentinels roster as Royal2 was banned by 343 Industries for playing on the wrong servers during the qualifying stages, FormaL was paired with former Call of Duty player Bradley "Frosty" Bergstrom, and the pair would prove to be a wrecking ball for the Green Wall.
Having both cruised through their groups, OpTic and Sentinels faced off in the Winners Round 2, where OpTic would take the spoils with a convincing 3-0 takedown, but only to set up a date with them out for revenge later down the line.
Sentinels worked through the lower bracket to play OpTic in the Quarterfinals, and it was FormaL and Frosty who turned up to dump them from the competition. Against his own organisation on Map 5, FormaL dropped a massive 21-9 kill-to-death ratio, with those 12 kill differences being the deciding factor in a 50-39 win in Slayer on Streets.
The win saw OpTic be eliminated from the competition in 5-8th place, a disappointing finish for them considering they had won two of the opening online events.
For Sentinels, their run wouldn't go too much further though, as they bowed out in the semi-finals to the hands of FaZe, rejuvenated by the arrival of FPS legend Eric "Snip3down" Wrona.
It's unclear as to whether FormaL will sign fully with Sentinels, with Royal2 coming back into the picture, although it does appear a place in OpTic's starting four is still off the table.