Epsilon eSports made European Halo history at the Halo World Championship 2016 by becoming the first ever EU Halo team to break into the Top 8 at a North American event, defeating Cloud9 in the group stages.

Ever since this upset, the EU scene as a whole began grinding, hoping to improve now that top EU players have broken into the NA scene. Epsilon have finally ended the stereotype that the EU scene simply can’t hang with the NA crowd.

With the great success this roster had at the Finals, many people predicted that they would continue to play together and improve over the next few months heading into the EU HCS Pro League and the next Halo World Championship. However, in a surprising turn of events, Epsilon recently announced that they will be making some roster changes. Team Infused, another EU powerhouse squad, are also making some changes to their team.

The two new rosters are as follows:

X-Men

Jimbo

Snipedrone

Chalkie

TuFoxy

The Dinosaurs

BUK 20

BUK 57

Riotz

Ramirez

With these changes, one team stands out. The combination of Jimbo and TuFoxy teaming up brings Europe in line with the raw slaying power and abilities of some of the top NA teams. Mix in deadly snipers and strong map presence players like Chalkie and Snipedrone and this is what some would say is the strongest EU roster we have seen in years. It wasn't just the four-man Epsilon roster that decided to switch things up either. The European Halo scene also welcomes back former Epsilon coach and EU Pro Player Dan "Flamez" Young as he joins the Movement roster to try his hand at the Pro League.

We caught up with Will "BUK 57" Buck for a quick word, and he gave us this statement: "It is quite sad not to be teaming with Jimbo anymore as he was a great player and teammate, however our new line-up consists of veteran players who were all at the Halo World Championship Finals as well. We have got a lot of work to do before we compete for the #1 spot in Europe, however I'm certain we will be fighting for gold in the next few weeks and leading up to the European Pro League finals."

This leaves the question. What is happening to Epsilon’s invite to the EU HCS Pro League? As of now, their invite has become invalid. For the invite to stand after a team change, the rules state that three of the original members must remain on the team going into Summer Season, and as you can see, that is not the case.

This means that the three spots allowing teams into the Last Chance Qualifier will now become four, and the other two places will be made up from this weekend’s Invite Qualifier. Read on to learn which teams have been invited to the Summer Qualifier:

X-Men

TuFoxy

Jimbo

Snipedrone

Chalkie

The Dinosaurs

BUK 20

BUK 57

Ramirez

Riotz

Online Warriors

Snakey

Mose

Kimbo

Respectful

Pulse Gaming

Solar

CXLII

SLG

KrystalX

Vitality

Hborg

Puni

Talic

FragXR

Movement

Lunny

Flamez

Vexzeus

Qristola

Deception

Doodle

Batchford

Warlord

Phlux

PENTA Sports

Septic

Anima

Meentlaan

Alpha

Two of these teams will advance to the Grand Finals from a double-elimination bracket and become the first EU Halo Pro League teams. The remaining six will drop into the Last Chance Qualifier and take up seeds 1-6 according to their performance. Sign ups for the Open Qualifiers will begin this week and each qualifier, as well as the Last Chance Qualifier, will start at 19:00 BST.

For more information about the Halo Championship Series: Pro League, follow ESL Halo on Facebook, and @ESLHalo and @HCS on Twitter!

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