Get Ready for the Halo World Championship 2018 Finals on April 13

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Xbox Wire.

After months of incredible competition in Orlando, London, Mexico City, Sydney and Columbus, hundreds of teams have been whittled down to the final 16. From April 13-15, the very best professional Halo players from around the world will compete at the Halo World Championship 2018 Finals, the biggest and most prestigious event in Halo esports!

Taking place at CenturyLink Field Event Center in Seattle, WA, players will compete for their chance at a $1 million prize pool and the title of Halo World Champion. There will also be a $10,000 Free for All tournament with free registration for ticket holders taking place Saturday morning, just before the tournament begins. If you’re interested in attending the HaloWC 2018 Finals in-person, tickets are available now!

The competition kicks off on Friday, April 13, streaming live on Mixer.com/Halo, Twitch.tv/Halo, Twitter and Facebook. For those of you tuning in on Mixer, we’re also excited to announce a special Halo MixPot! Watch the final matches on championship Sunday at mixer.com/halo, and you’ll net the very cool, very funny Voices of War REQ Pack!  Also, back by popular demand is a second stream on Mixer.com/HCS, Twitch.tv/HCS, and MLG.tv/Halo, so all tournament matches will be broadcasted in their entirety with the finest Halo commentators bringing you all of the action.

Onsite, fans will also be able to play Halo 5: Guardians and win prizes in the Microsoft Store and Mixer booths, as well as hang out and watch 343’s own concept art team do live drawings which will be raffled out.

In addition, we will be holding Free Play Days for Halo 5: Guardians from Thursday, April 12 to Monday, April 16, enabling anyone with Xbox Live Gold to get in on the action. For those who haven’t picked up a copy of the game yet, the full Halo 5: Guardians experience will be on sale for 20% off for standard edition and 40% for the Digital Deluxe edition from Tuesday, April 10 to Monday, April 16 for Xbox Live Gold members. Finally, fans can get into the competitive spirit as the HCS REQ Pack returns to the store from Monday, April 9 to Monday, April 16.

For those just tuning in to this year’s tournament, the road to the HaloWC 2018 has been filled with incredible action, memorable moments and new emerging heroes. Kicking off with the Orlando Open, the Sunshine State showdown heralded the return of MLG to Halo esports and featured a slate of top teams from around the world. The fast-rising young stars at Splyce would prove too much for the rest of the competition to handle in Orlando, as they opened up the HaloWC 2018 season with an emphatic victory.

From Orlando, the HaloWC 2018 tour moved into the international portion of the circuit, with stops at London, Sydney, and Mexico City qualifying the top teams from Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and Latin America regions for the big dance in Seattle. Squads like Team Infused (EU), Mindfreak (ANZ), and Psychotic Gaming (LATAM) all made big statements against regional competition, and now hope to do the same on the biggest stage.

The penultimate round was hosted in Columbus, which saw the top squads in North America fill out the last pieces of the Finals puzzle, with the sixteen best Halo teams in the world meeting in Seattle to battle for ultimate glory and a million-dollar prize pool. After victories over the two-time defending world champs in both Orlando and Columbus, will Splyce be able to complete the trifecta in Seattle? Will an international team shock the world with a deep dark horse tournament run? The HaloWC 2018 Finals in Seattle will inevitably answer these questions and more, providing fans of competitive Halo with a show they’ll likely never forget.

For the latest on the HaloWC 2018 and Halo franchise, stay tuned to Xbox Wire and Halo Waypoint.