The House Divided Wins Spirit Week

The house divided sits atop the hill of KSI.

Recently separated in clan-ops, KSI’s rising power couple, KSI Oni 7 and KSI Sinister 7, have led their divisions to Spirit Week glory.

For Oni, leading Ground Zero to victory in Spirit Week was a continuation of GZ’s Spirit Week dominance. Through three Spirit Weeks, GZ has finished as runners-up and has now secured back-to-back Spirit Week Titles.

Sinister moved to Last Strike just a month ago. He took over a division that was quickly fading away and managed to rejuvenate the 200 members to capture 2nd place in KSI’s annual competition.

“It’s been a lot calmer since the move,” Sinister said. “But Spirit Week changed that.”

“We’ve been having fist fights every night,” Oni added laughing.

Challenging each other in just about every aspect, Oni and Sinister’s playful banter has paid off for their divisions.

“We’ve spent time talking crap to pump the members up,” Sinister said. “After I moved, I would come into GZ’s Division Meetings to talk smack to pump them up.”

Oni would occasionally attend Sinister’s workshops to return the favor.

Did it work? Of course it did. Challenging each other to a battle of spirit has brought the best out of each division, despite the adversity each division has faced over the last year.

Sinister was asked to take over Last Strike in June. He came into a division that was suffering from inactivity and apathy. Sinister, who is known for being a highly motivated and excitable force, quickly went to work to change LS’ direction.

“I think anything is possible,” Sinister said. “Reputation doesn’t matter. What matters is who puts in the effort and these members in Last Strike have put in the effort and they’ve been awesome to work with.”

Ground Zero has been through equally difficult times. Being a primarily Halo division, Halo 4 has been seen as a dying game. Ground Zero has lost nearly 100 members since last Spirit Week. Needing rejuvenation, the beleaguered GZ troops responded to Oni’s calls for spirit and excitement to surprise KSI with a dominating Spirit Week performance.

“Spirit Week is like the Olympics,” Oni said. “Everybody should look forward to it and get motivated. I’ve been frustrated from time to time, but Spirit Week always shows how much a gaming community can mean.”

Last Strike opened up Spirit Week 2014 with the first strike. During the Pep Rally, LS won the Forums Challenge by getting 54 votes. The division, which sits at just 200 members, managed to get 27 percent of its members to show up and vote. The next closest division managed only 11 percent participation.

On Day 2, Last Strike and Ground Zero battled it out on Halo. Last Strike’s KSI KSIxSCOTLAND, KSI APPLEHAMMER and KSIxUMBREON defeated Ground Zero’s KSI MIDSHOT, KSI KARMA and KSI HULK v2 in a tough match to take the Halo title.

Entering Day 3, LS and GZ had risen to the top-2 places in the standings with little resistance from the rest of the community.

GZ managed to secure its first 1st-place finish on Friday when KSIBLAZINGINGER brought home the Karaoke Night title. The victory was enough for GZ to take over the lead.

Ground Zero wasn’t done surprising the community, though. On the final day of competition, GZ managed to roll through the field to win the Call of Duty: Ghosts tournament. KSI RED EYESS 7, KSI 3LAB5, KSI HULK V2 and KSI WALL represented Ground Zero well by defeating Forced Induction in the finals.

When the tallies were done, GZ led the way with a whopping 17 points. LS sat in 2nd with 12 points. Through 4 nights, LS and GZ each won two events. Even more importantly, both divisions were vocal and led the way in stream chat participants and messages sent out.

“I came in expecting to do our best,” Oni said. “We wanted to win, but as long as the division responded the way I hoped, winning didn’t matter. I wanted them to act like a division and come together.”

Sinister was pumped up for the chance for his division to showcase the spirit Last Strike has regained over the last month.

“I knew we were going to kick it,” Sinister said. “My guys have been phenomenal and the way they represented Last Strike was amazing.”

What’s next for these two Spirit Week powers?

“I really think after we won last year, things kicked off,” Oni said. “We have to ask ourselves, ‘What can we do to keep that energy this year?’ It’s a great time for brainstorming and improvement.”

Sinister is equally confident in building off this performance.

“This could be the motivational kick Last Strike needs,” Sinister said. “I’m hoping they see what they can accomplish when they care so much about something and we can build this division up over the next few months.”

Will the competition between Oni and Sinister stop anytime soon? Don’t count on it.

However, if Spirit Week is any indication, the house divided will remain on top of KSI for a long time to come.

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Also, as a result of their divisions’ performances and their continued service to KSI, Oni and Sinister were awarded the “Most Outstanding” award during Sunday night’s closing ceremonies. Only 10 of these awards can be given out per yer. It is arguably the most prestigious award offered by KSI’s AAP.