Final Boss (professional Halo team)

Final Boss

Founded	2006
Dissolution	2011
Sponsors	CompLexity Gaming Gilbert Arenas
Divisions	Halo 2 Halo 3 Halo: Reach

Final Boss was a professional electronic sports team that competed in Halo competitions sponsored by Major League Gaming (MLG) and other tournaments. Final Boss is regarded as one of the best Halo team of all time because of their numerous tournament victories and national championships in 2004 and 2005. They had an MLG record 8 event winning streak. It was formed for 2005 Pro Circuit as Shoot to Kill. It was disbanded in 2011.

Former team members included Dave "Walshy" Walsh, Tom "OGRE 2" Ryan, Dan "OGRE 1" Ryan, Saiyan, and Justin "Pistola" Deese.^[1] NBA player Gilbert Arenas was once a sponsor of the team.^[2] Final Boss was one of the professional teams that competed on the Boost Mobile Major League Gaming Pro Circuit that aired on USA Network in 2006. In 2006, the team parted ways with its previous sponsor and renamed itself Final Boss. At the end of the 2006 season, Saiyan was dropped from the team in favor of Michael "StrongSide" Cavanaugh.

History

Halo 2

Final Boss was founded as Shoot to Kill (StK) in 2005. StK started off 2005 with a roster composed of twins Dan "Ogre 1" and Tom "Ogre 2" Ryan alongside Dave "Walshy" Walsh and Ryan "Saiyan" Danford. StK came in first at the four events it attended with this roster, before changing its name to Team 3D and winning 5 of 6 events.

In April, 2006 that Team 3D had parted ways with its sponsor and changed its name to Final Boss.^[3] In 2006 they won the first four events eventually winning eight in a row, the longest winning streak in MLG history. They were then beat in the final three tournaments of the year by Carbon.

Before the 2007 season, founding member Saiyan was dropped from the team and was relaced by Michael "StrongSide" Cavanaugh. oing into the season, they won five of the seven tournaments that year. Final Boss finished the 2007 Pro Circit having won 17 out of 23 tournaments.

Halo 3

Final Boss started the MLG Halo 3 era, winning in Meadowlands, but it would turn out to be their only tournament win that year. After finishing 7th in San Diego and 5th in Orlando, Final Boss dropped Walshy and picked up Mason "Neighbor" Cobb. After this move they improved, going on to placed third in both Toronto and Dallas before finishing 4th at the national championships at MLG Vegas 2007.

2009 brought massive changes. Ogre 1 left the team, leaving Ogre 2 as the only remaining member of the original line up. The other team members were Justin "Fearitself" Kats, Joseph "Mackeo" Reinhart, and Cameron "Victory X" Thorlakson. This team would finish 5th in Meadowlands and 3rd in Columbus before Mackeo would be replaced by StrongSide, returning to Final Boss. This lineup finished 5th in Dallas. FearitSelf left the team and they picked up Dmitriy "Soviet" Gulyan, and went on for a 9th place finish in Anaheim. They finished the year with Patrick "Sypher" Hynes in place of Soviet and an 8th place finish at the Orlando National Championships.

To kick 2010 off, FearitSelf would rejoin Ogre 2 and Victory X, now accompanied by Anthony "Totz" Pennacchio, for a 3rd place finish in Orlando. Following this, Totz was replaced with Halo 3 phenom Justin "iGotUrPistola" Deese, formerly of Triggers Down, leading to a 2nd place finish in Columbus. The acquisition of Pistola would be the catalyst for a return to dominance for Final Boss, as the lineup went on to win the final 3 events of the year.

Halo: Reach

Despite keeing the same roster from the championship 2010 Halo 3 season, Final Boss only came in 10th place playing Halo: Reach at Dallas 2011, their lowest Final Boss had placed since its inception.^[4] CompLexity Gaming sponsored the team in 2011. Disappointed as their lack of success, two players departed, Pistola and Ogre 2, the last founding member. In their place came the return of Totz and newcomer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. The new squad finished 5th in Columbus. The team then parted ways with Ninja and brought in Scottie "Cloud" Holste. This lineup finished 8th in Anaheim and again changed with Cloud and Totz, being replaced by Jordan "Amish Acorns" Dotzel and Jacob "Hysteria" Reiser. This team went on to place 10th in Raleigh. When Amish Acorns was swapped with Brian "Legit" Rizzo the team maintained the lineup for two events getting 10th in Orlando and 6th at the Providence National Championships.

References