HCS Anaheim: Teams, Format, Prize pool and more

With the conclusion of the HCS Pro Series, competitive Halo now makes its way to Anaheim for the next LAN event. HCS Raleigh champions Cloud9 will be looking to add another trophy to what has already been an impressive year for the organization. Here is Esports.gg's ultimate fan guide to HCS Anaheim.

Since this is a regional event, the number of participants will be smaller than what fans saw at HCS Raleigh. HCS Anaheim will field sixteen teams, featuring the top eight seeded teams from Raleigh, along with the eight sides that qualified through the open bracket qualifier.

Now that we know who the sixteen teams are, let's move on to the format. The sixteen teams will be separated into four different pools of four. The pool stage will be a single round-robin with each series being a best-of-five. The first-place team will automatically qualify for the second round of the upper bracket. The second and third-placed teams will qualify for the upper bracket first round. And finally, the fourth-place team will start their bracket stage in the lower bracket.

The sixteen teams will compete in a double-elimination bracket. Every series will be a best-of-five apart from the grand-finals which will be a best-of-seven.

Teams at HCS Anaheim will be competing for a share of the $125,000 prize pool. Here is how the prize pool will be distributed amongst the teams.

The favorite going into HCS Raleigh is Cloud9. The North American side has been in monstrous form over the past couple of months. The Halo side has not lost a series since before HCS Raleigh and has won every HCS pro series tournament.

Fans will be able to watch the event on the official HCS YouTube channel. The tournament begins on Friday, February 11.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for the latest Halo news and updates.