FaZe Clan suffer shock early exit at Halo World Championship 2025 with terrible 9th-12th place finish

FaZe Clan have suffered a shock early exit from the Halo World Championship 2025, after being eliminated in 9th-12th place at the hands of TSM. This exit condemns FaZe Clan’s Halo Infinite run to end in a whimper, although they arrived in Seattle with high hopes.

Pre-event, FaZe Clan had been among the top dogs at the Halo World Championship 2025, so this placement could have a massive ripple effect throughout the rest of the event. Here’s the lowdown on how FaZe flopped early in Seattle.

Tough draw condemns FaZe Clan to 9th-12th place exit

FaZe Clan’s disasterclass run at the Halo World Championship began yesterday, in the final game of Pool Play. A loss to Cloud9 meant they were unable to round out their group in 3:0 fashion, instead progressing 2:1. By itself, it’s not a disaster, but this did mean their run in today’s Winner’s Bracket began vs. Shopify Rebellion, the team that looks head and shoulders above the rest right now. So, ultimately, it came as little surprise when Shopify Rebellion beat FaZe Clan 3:2 out of the gate, putting them on the back foot immediately.

A resilient Lower Bracket run would be needed to make it to Championship Sunday, and TSM were first up. Despite being up against worse competition on paper, FaZe Clan actually performed worse in their Lower Bracket debut, falling 3:1 at the first hurdle. Their chance at snatching Halo immortality was over before it ever began, their names instead cemented in the 9th-12th bracket alongside the likes of Akave Esports, Mindfreak, and Unreal Nightmare. For FaZe Clan, Halo Infinite has concluded with a whimper.

None of the four FaZe Clan players can look to point fingers, either. Versus TSM, none of Lucid, Penguin, Trippy, or SnakeBite covered themselves in glory, all failing to find impact, while Taulek took over the server on the other side. It was just so… deserved. And with no competitive Halo in sight, there’s no redemption for these players to chase, at least for the moment.

What does this mean for the Halo World Championship 2025?

Just a few weeks ago, FaZe Clan were finalists of the HCS Charlotte Major 2025, even beating OpTic Gaming along the way. Their collapse at the Halo World Championship essentially blows the competition wide open, and could allow an unlikely underdog to sneak into the Final. A reminder that Spacestation Gaming have also been eliminated at the hands of Luminon Gaming, so the top four is going to look a little wacky to say the least.

Once all is said and done, I still expect Shopify Rebellion vs. OpTic Gaming to be the Grand Final of the Halo World Championship 2025. But FaZe Clan’s early demise should offer more than a glimmer of hope that a true dark horse run is possible. We have these two teams, who are forces of nature in the Halo scene, leading from the front right now. Still, how cool would it be to see Halo Infinite go out with a bang, and an underdog to take home the grand prize right at the last?