IGotUrPistola

Biography
Justin Deese was born on November 20, 1992. He is from West Columbia, South Carolina.

Halo 2
Pistola first made a name for himself in Halo 2, entering the competitive scene in the 2007 season. He showed his individual skill by winning the free-for-all competitions at MLG Meadowlands 2007 and MLG Chicago 2007. Pistola's first 4v4 team was Send You Packing, with whom he placed below the top 32 margin at MLG Charlotte 2007. For most of 2007, he played on team ViciouS, with a revolving roster of players such as Kill3n and xeRo. ViciouS failed to make any significant impact in the 4v4 scene, with their highest confirmed placing being 19th at MLG Chicago 2007.

2008: Ambush
Pistola started off the 2008 Halo season as a member of Are You Ready with BLUEFIR3, DrumMeR and MioFF. It looked to be more of the same for Pistola, with a 29th placing at MLG Meadowlands 2008. Following Meadowlands, Pistola left Are You Ready to join Ambush, the team with which he would begin to build his 4v4 name. With the initial roster of Pistola, Eli, Gun Shot and MudVayne, Ambush placed 10th at MLG San Diego 2008, Pistola's highest placing to that point. After replacing Eli and Gun_Shot with Heinz and NeXuS, Pistola and Ambush improved on their placing, finishing 4th at MLG Orlando 2008. MudVayne was then replaced by Cloud to form the Ambush roster which would stick together for the next three events, placing 5th at MLG Toronto 2008, 4th at MLG Dallas 2008 and 7th at the 2008 MLG Las Vegas National Championships. Despite no top 3 placings, Pistola was beginning to be noticed as a major player, and was included in the All Star Classic at the Las Vegas event.

2009: Triggers Down
2009 was when the advent of Pistola would truly begin, as he joined Triggers Down with Heinz, Hysteria and SK to start the season off. They had an immediate impact on the Pro Circuit, winning their first event together at MLG Meadowlands 2009. They placed 2nd at MLG Columbus 2009, losing to Str8 Rippin. Pistola and TD came back strong at MLG Dallas 2009, winning the event, and finally defeated Str8 Rippin at MLG Anaheim 2009 to win that event. Triggers Down went into the 2009 MLG Orlando National Championships with all the momentum in the world, but placed only 5th at the event. A huge source of controversy during the event was a malfunction with Hysteria's Xbox 360 during the WB Semifinals against Classic when Hysteria was about to seal the game in TD's favor. The game was replayed, and TD lost.

2010: Final Boss
Pistola remained on Triggers Down with Neighbor having replaced Heinz to start the 2010 season. They placed 6th at MLG Orlando 2010, and Pistola would leave the team shortly after to join Final Boss with OGRE2, FearitSelf and Victory X. FB would place 2nd at MLG Columbus 2010, losing to Instinct, but would roar back at MLG Raleigh 2010, defeating Instinct in the finals to win the event. At MLG Washington, D.C. 2010, Pistola defeated his former team Triggers Down to win his second event with FB, and at the 2010 MLG Dallas National Championships, Pistola and FB would again take 1st, defeating Status Quo in the finals to close out Halo 3 with its first ever threepeat.

2011-12: The God Squad
Pistola and Final Boss returned at MLG Dallas 2011 for their first Halo: Reach event, where they placed a disappointing 10th. Following this, Pistola and OGRE2 left Final Boss to join forces with Roy and Lunchbox on Instinct, a roster which would be referred to by fans and commentators as "the God Squad". They lived up to their name, winning MLG Columbus 2011 dropping only a single game, and winning MLG Anaheim 2011 without dropping any games at all. At MLG Raleigh 2011, Instinct was defeated in a very close finals matchup by Infamous. Things began to look worse for Instinct when they finished only 6th at MLG Orlando 2011, but they came roaring back at the 2011 MLG Providence National Championships, defeating Warriors in the finals to win the biggest prize of the year.

Pistola remained on Instinct for the final MLG Reach event - the MLG Winter Championship 2012, where they would place 2nd, losing to Status Quo in the finals. The God Squad then attended AGL 2 Columbus and won it.

2012-13: Ambush reborn
Pistola remained with Instinct for one more event - the MLG Fall Championship 2012 Halo 4 exhibition, where they would place in the 9-12th margin. Pistola then attended AGL 3 Chicago as a member of Legendary with Lunchbox (teaming without Roy for the first time), Sargoth and Cobys2Fast, placing 3rd. Following this event, Pistola teamed up with Formal, Snipedown and former teammate Heinz to resurrect the Ambush team name. This roster would prove to be dominant, as they'd go on to win AGL 5 Nashville, AGL 7 Knoxville, UMG Chicago 2013 and (with Enable in place of Snipedown) AGL 9 Atlanta. They took 4th at AGL 8 Knoxville, but Pistola did manage to win the FFA event.

Pistola would then attend the Halo 4 Global Championship FFA event, which had an unprecedented prize pool of $300,000, with $200,000 going to the winner. Pistola made it to the finals against Ace, where he was defeated in the 1v1 matchup. Regardless, Pistola took home $75,000, his largest single winnings at a Halo tournament.

Halo 2: Anniversary
Pistola's first foray into Halo 2: Anniversary was at the PAX Prime Showdown 2014, where Pistola represented eXcellence alongside StrongSide, Snipedown and Ace. They took 1st place at the event. Following this, Pistola joined forces with eSports juggernaut OpTic Gaming. The OpTic roster of Pistola, Snipedown, Ace and Flamesword attended the ESL MCC Launch Invitational as favorites, but managed only a 5-6th placing. Shortly after the Invitational, Pistola parted ways with OpTic and joined Evil Geniuses with Snipedown, Lunchbox and Roy. They placed 2nd at Iron Games Columbus 2014. In a freak accident in the conclusion of the event, Pistola injured his wrist and was forced to sideline himself for an uncertain amount of time. He would end up missing the remainder of HCS Season 1.

Pistola returned to action during the team change frenzy between seasons. Though still under contract with EG, he began running games with Cloud9, who had recently dropped Ninja. After weeks of speculation, Pistola's move to Cloud9 was finally confirmed on April 7, when he was listed on their roster page alongside Hysteria, FearitSelf and Victory X. Pistola's first event with Cloud9, Iron Games Atlanta 2015, saw Cloud9 earn their highest HCS placing yet, with a 3rd place finish. They were defeated by Denial eSports in the Losers' Finals. Pistola had a standout return performance, with one of the highest statlines of the tournament. Pistola and Cloud9 had a less impressive 6th place finish at HCS Indianapolis, but rebounded at the HCS Season 2 Finals to finish off the season with a 4th place finish.

Halo 5: Guardians
On September 1, Cloud9 manager Buckness confirmed in a forum post that Pistola had left the organization. On November 10, Pistola announced that he was joining Team EnVyUs alongside APG, Heinz and Mikwen for the Halo World Championship 2016 NA qualifying run. Over the following months, APG and Heinz left EnVyUs, and were replaced by Arkanum and OGRE2. Team EnVyUs finished top 16 at the NA Regional Finals, failing to qualify for Worlds.

Following Worlds, EnVyUs made roster changes, with the new roster consisting of Pistola, Mikwen, Rayne and eL TowN. The team qualified for Pro League at the Summer Qualifier. EnVy finished 3rd place in the Regular Season, notably having the most maps played out of any team. At the Season Finals, EnVy finished 3rd.

During the off-season, EnVyUs made roster changes, replacing eL TowN with Snip3down and Rayne with Huke. After beating OpTic Gaming (formerly CLG) in a scrim, and later a Pro League match, the roster began to be considered as a threat to OpTic's position of dominance. At HCS Orange County 2016, EnVy finished 2nd, losing to OpTic in the finals with a 2-10 overall map count against them. A few weeks later, EnVyUs attended UGC St. Louis 2016 with OpTic member LethuL filling in for the absent Mikwen. Under the team name Truce, the roster took 1st place at the event. EnVy ended up finishing the season with a 13-1 record, good enough for 1st place. Weeks later, EnVyUs attended HCS Las Vegas 2016, where they finished 1st over five other Pro League teams, not including OpTic Gaming. At the Season Finals, EnVyUs successfully captured the throne as they defeated OpTic in two straight best-of-7s (after losing 4-1 in the Winners Finals) to secure 1st place.

At the first event of HaloWC 2017 season - UGC St. Louis 2017 - EnVyUs came out strong, but were again defeated in the WB Finals by OpTic. This time around, they were denied a Grand Finals rematch after losing to Team Liquid in a 5-game thriller. EnVyUs placed below 2nd for the first time since the inception of the roster. At ME Las Vegas 2017, EnVyUs easily qualified for Worlds with victories over Second Nature and Team CryptiK. They were then defeated 4-1 by Team Liquid, forcing them to make a Losers Bracket run by defeating Luminosity Gaming (4-3) and Pnda Gaming (4-1) to earn a rematch, which they lost 4-2, resulting in a 3rd place finish for EnVyUs. At Worlds, EnVyUs took an early loss to Splyce in Pool Play, resulting in a first round matchup against Team Liquid in the bracket. Liquid defeated them 4-3, sending them to LB Round 1 at the biggest tournament of the year. EnVyUs didn't die easy however, sweeping through Supremacy, TMMT Crowd Pleasers, Luminosity Gaming and Str8 Rippin before taking Liquid out 4-2 in a rematch and earning a spot in the Grand Finals against OpTic Gaming. OpTic made short work of EnVyUs, sweeping them 4-0 and taking their second straight World Championship.

At the first event of the 2017 season, UMG Daytona, EnVyUs won their pool with victories and started the Championship Bracket off with back-to-back sweeps. In the third round, EnVyUs went up against Oxygen Supremacy, a team from the Open Bracket coming off upsets over pro teams. EnVy dropped the first two games of the series but successfully rallied to take a 3-2 victory. In the Winners Finals, they were defeated by OpTic Gaming in their first matchup on the 2017 settings. After a 4-0 sweep over Team Liquid, EnVy moved onto the Grand Final and won two straight game sevens over OpTic to win their first event since the Fall Finals. The EnVyUs roster returned unchanged for the Summer 2017 Pro League season. They finished in an uncharacteristic fourth place with a record of 4-3. At the DreamHack Atlanta Finals, EnVyUs came out hot, sweeping Str8 Rippin and Oxygen Supremacy, but they were swept by OpTic in the third round. After sweeping Evil Geniuses and taking a 3-2 victory over Team Liquid, EnVyUs met OpTic again in the Losers Finals, where they were swept 4-0 and sent home in 3rd.

EnVyUs's performance in the Fall season was much stronger, as they finished in 1st place with a 7-0 record, dropping only four maps all season. At the DreamHack Denver Finals, EnVyUs beat CheckSix Gaming and Team Infused early before a third round loss to Splyce sent them to Losers early. EnVyUs struggled against the 5th seeded Luminosity Gaming but were able to win the series 3-2 and move onto the Losers Semifinals against Team Liquid, who handily swept them 4-0 and sent them home in a disappointing 4th place.

Going into, Pistola parted ways with the rest of the NV roster, forming a new team with bubu dubu and Luminosity Gaming duo TriPPPeY and Saiyan. The new roster initially competed as Ambush before being signed by Team EnVyUs, marking Pistola's return to the organization after a brief absence. EnVyUs made history at MLG Orlando by becoming both the first team to defeat OpTic Gaming before the Winners' Finals, and the first team to sweep OpTic, in their 3-0 victory in the Winners Semifinals. They were defeated by Splyce in the Winners Finals however, and OpTic took advantage of the rematch opportunity in the Elimination Finals, defeating EnVyUs 4-2 and sending them home in third. At MLG Columbus, EnVyUs started off similarly strong, sweeping their pool and qualifying for Halo World Championship 2018, but this time around they lost in the first round of bracket play to Splyce. After narrowly avoiding an upset loss to Str8 Rippin in the first round of losers, EnVyUs swept Renegades before running into Splyce once again. Splyce took a 3-0 victory and sent EnVyUs home in fourth. At Worlds, EnVyUs convincingly won their pool and went on to narrowly defeat Renegades 4-3 in the opening round of bracket play. They were then taken out 4-2 by Splyce, resulting in a losers bracket rematch against Elevate. EnVyUs won the match 4-0 and went on to win their following match against Team Reciprocity 4-3 in a game seven which featured a Reciprocity member's controller disconnecting at a crucial moment in-game. In the losers finals, EnVyUs very nearly defeated TOX Gaming, but ultimately took third place after a 4-3 loss.

Trivia

 * Pistola is often referred to as "the wizard".
 * Pistola is one of only two players with major event wins in 5 separate Halo games (Halo 3, Halo: Reach, Halo 4, Halo 2: Anniversary and Halo 5: Guardians), the other being OGRE2. Pistola has also won FFA events in Halo 2.
 * Pistola is considered by many pros to be one of the hardest players in the game to eliminate due to his keen ability to stay alive.
 * Pistola has won two events on his birthday - November 20.

Interviews

 * WisTV Interview
 * Halo Reach Interview - Pistola
 * Meet Halo: Reach Pro Pistola w/ Dr Pepper
 * The Winsome Twosome: An Interview with Pistola and Roy - majorleaguegaming.com - 12/20/11
 * Timeout With Pistola - majorleaguegaming.com - 03/24/10
 * Chat with IGotUrPistola - espn.go.com - 06/18/09
 * Chat with Major League Gamer IGotUrPistola - espn.go.com - 03/13/09
 * Timeout With Pistola - majorleaguegaming.com - 01/07/09
 * MLG Dallas 2008 - Pistola Interview - youtube.com - 10/04/08

Articles

 * November 15, Pistola and Snipedown leave Optic Halo
 * December 22, Team EG Replace ‘Pistola’ due to broken finger, Plan Donations to help with surgery