After the Halo Championship Series suspended Sentinels player Mathew “Royal2” Fiorante on Sunday until Jan. 28, 2022 for network manipulation, former Call of Duty professional Matthew “FormaL” Piper has stepped in to take his place.
Without FormaL, Sentinels would have had to find a replacement for Royal2 just days before the largest offline Halo tournament in years. FormaL previously played professional Halo from April 2011 until December 2014 when he stepped away to pursue Call of Duty. After a disappointing end to the 2021 Call of Duty season, FormaL announced his retirement. With that came new opportunities in the form of Halo Infinite.
Shortly after the HCS announced Royal2 was suspended from playing, FormaL announced on Twitter that he would fill in for Sentinels. His role on the team is a temporary substitute for Raleigh.
On a serious note, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I appreciate the guys on SSG, it was fun to learn the game together, and I wish them the best of luck. I'll be playing with SEN for Raleigh, should be a spicy weekend. I'm still #OpTicForever though.
— OpTic FormaL (@FormaL) December 13, 2021
“On a serious note, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” said FormaL on Twitter. “I appreciate the guys on SSG, it was fun to learn the game together, and I wish them the best of luck. I’ll be playing with SEN for Raleigh, should be a spicy weekend.”
Sentinels lose HCS points
Since Royal2 was found guilty of network manipulation, Sentinels lose most of their HCS points. This will put them in a tough situation going into Raleigh due to a shift in placement. That matched with the team playing with a temporary substitute could spell bad things for their first LAN appearance. Sentinels have lost 3,660 points used for seeding which they mostly gained by placing first at the HCS Kickoff Qualifier. They have also lost their finals qualification during the HCS season in addition to their first-place position in the pool play portion of Raleigh.
