Regina’s Mathew Fiorante and his older brother, Chris Fiorante, have bigger bank accounts after winning a video game tournament in London. Their team, TOX Gaming, won $60,000 USD.
“Like all my other winnings, just straight to the bank,” said Mat, when asked what he would do with the money.
“That’s pretty much what I do, I don’t really like spending money. Usually nothing to buy.”
Halo is the game they played. It’s a science-fiction, team-based shooting game that pits four players against four players. Teammates co-ordinate verbally about enemy locations and split-second decisions.
Mat’s career winnings of $576,712.50 USD prove he’s an Esports star; he goes by the nickname “Royal 2.” His teammates are Tony “LethuL” Campbell from Michigan, Bradley “Frosty” Bergstrom from California and Paul “SnakeBite” Duarte from New Jersey. Mat’s older brother, Chris, alias “Royal 1,” coaches the four-man team.
The tournament took place Sept. 16 in The Gfinity Esports Arena which seats 600 people in Fulham, South West London, and regularly holds Esports events.
“It was amazing,” said Mat. “I’ve never been to London, the crowd, the Europeans were awesome.”
TOX is a two-time Halo World Champion team; the team has been together since 2016 and its members value everyone on the roster.
“We’ve placed either first or second every event, so there’s really no need to make a change,” said Mat. “We all love each other outside the game.”
TOX met its arch-rival Splyce in the London final. Splyce beat TOX in last year’s Halo World Championship.
“We had to figure out a new way to play the game,” said Mat, “Splyce has been playing completely different, really fast-paced. So we had to change our play style.”
TOX lost the opener 4-0, but won the deciding series 4-0.
“We kind of just sat there and were like, we have nothing to lose really,” said Mat. “Everything just clicked in the second series,”
In Halo, players have a shield that can be weakened by gunfire leaving them “one-shot” from being eliminated. Shields recharge if no gunfire is received for a few seconds. The game types are: Slayer, first to 50 kills; Capture the Flag; Strongholds, a territory-controlling game; and Oddball, keep-away. All four modes are played in the finals.
One game in the final series ended 50-49 for TOX.
“I remember fighting four different people and they were all one-shot and I couldn’t kill them,” said Mat, “It was actually pretty stressful but I’ve seen more stressful situations.”
