Since the beginning of competitive Rocket League more than 16 million dollars have been awarded in prize money. Here are the top 10 organizations with the most earnings in Rocket League history.

The 10th spot in the list belongs to Flipside Tactics. One of the most important teams in the beginning of RLCS. Their most important achievements consist of a 2nd place in RLCS season 3 Europe playoffs, a 2nd place in RLCS season 1 World Championship, a first place in dreamhack summer 2017, first place in WSOE 4 in 2019, and finally, World Champions in season 2 of RLCS. Their total earnings are $290,580.

9th place goes to Team Envy. Despite having a roster in seasons 4 and 5, they left the scene after some very disappointing results. However, they came back in season X but now with a roster in North America instead of Europe and quickly became a top team. Amongst their achievements there is a participation in season 5 World Championship, twice 2nd place in regionals during RLCS X, and 4 times regional champions during that same season. Their total earnings are $373,150.

In the 8th position we find Rogue. This organization entered competitive Rocket League back in season 3 but were always at the bottom of the table. But during RLCS X they started to climb positions until they were part of the top teams in North America. Their most important results consist of a top 4 finish in RLCS season 7 World Championship, a 2nd place in the Winter Major of RLCS X and 2 regional titles during that same season. Their total earnings add up to $412,450.

The team that occupies the 7th place is also the newest to the scene in this list, Team BDS. After only 1 season of RLRS and 1 season of RLCS, BDS finds themselves really high in the rankings. This is due to their incredibly successful RLCS X season. Their most important achievements consist of a 2nd place in the RLCS X championship, 5 regional titles and 3 major titles. All of this in the same season. This has earned them the total amount of $461,000.

6th spot on the list belongs to Space Station Gaming. Since picking a new roster in 2019, SSG has always been a top team in North American Rocket League. Their most important results consist of a top 4 finish in RLCS season 8 World Championship, a 2nd place in RLCS season 9 North American playoffs, 2nd place in RLCS X championship, 2 regional titles and 1 major title during RLCS X. In total they have earned $523,660.

The first team of the top 5 is Cloud 9. Despite leaving the scene a year ago, their excellent results throughout their history have been enough for them to maintain this spot even after RLCS X. Amongst their accomplishments we find a 3rd place in RLCS season 4 World Championship, a 2nd place in ELEAGUE 2018 and also in RLCS season 7 North American playoffs. And also 1st place in Northern Arena Rocket League Invitational, winners of Rocket League Universal Open and RLCS season 4 North American playoffs. Finally, they were RLCS season 6 World Champions. In total they earned $602,000.

4th spot on the list belongs to Dignitas. Entering the scene by picking up the defending world champions, Dignitas is one of the most successful organizations in Rocket League history. Some of their best results are top 4 finishes in ELEAGUE 2018 and RLCS season 8 World Championship, a 2nd place in RLCS season 6 World Championship, a first place in RLCS season 6 and 9 European playoffs, and RLCS season 5 World Champions. Their earnings rise up to $666,000.

The bronze medal goes to G2 esports. Although this team hasn't win as much as others in this list, they have always been a top team and this is the reason behind their high earnings. G2s’ most important accomplishments have been a 2nd place in Dreamhack Montreal 2019, reaching the world finals in season 7 of RLCS, winning North American playoffs in RLCS seasons 5 and 9, winning the Spring Series in 2020 and their only LAN victory at ELEAGUE 2017. In total, G2 has earned $742,650.

Second place on the list is occupied by Team Vitality. The French organization entered competitive Rocket League in season 5 and since then their results have led them to being the second highest earning organization. They have been 2nd place in RLCS season 8 and 9 European playoffs and also 2nd place in the season 8 World Championship. They were 1st place in RLCS season 7 European playoffs, RLCS X regional winners and also won the Championship that same season. On top of that, they were the RLCS season 7 World Champions. The total amount of prize money collected by Vitality is $994,430.

And finally, the king of the list is no other than NRG. Since entering the scene back in season 2 they have been one of the titans of national and international Rocket League. Amongst their best results we can find a 2nd place in RLCS season 5 World Championship, 1st places in RLCS season 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 of the North American playoffs, an RLCS X regional title, 2 times RLCS X major champions, 1st place of the RLCS X championship and RLCS season 8 World Champions. As we can see, this team is an expert when it comes to winning Rocket League tournaments and that is why they are the only team to have surpassed the million dollars earned barrier by having earned the insane amount of $1,211,200.

And with this we finalize the top 10 highest earning teams in Rocket League history.

 

Last regional of this split is over and for the first time, we had a bracket reset. I will go through all of the matches that were disputed

 

Endpoint VS Oxygen

Oxygen completely destroyed endpoint. From the very first minute, they were applying pressure and forcing endpoint to make great saves. First game went to overtime because of a mistake by Chaussette but Oxygen recovered and ended up winning. Next 2 games were more of the same, Oxygen completely suffocated Endpoint and left them in tough situation with little to no boost. And to complete the sweep, they won game 4 with a score of 5-3 goals and guaranteed a top 4 finish for themselves, the best one during the whole RLCS X season. On the other hand, Endpoint let go a 1 in a million opportunity to get more points for the rankings with 4 of the top 6 teams out of the tournament. Aztral was insane and couldn’t stop scoring and making impossible plays while all of 3 endpoint players were looking out of rhythm and having really bad rotations.

 

The Woo VS Dignitas

The Cinderella story came to an end. Dignitas completely dominated The Woo through 4 of the 5 games. Even when The Woo was able to put consistent pressure, Dignitas defense was just too strong and prevented them to even come close to scoring. Their passing plays were on point and they showed why they are the best team in 1v1 situations. All of 3 players had insane goals coming from a 1v1 and even from 1v2. The Woo were able to take a game in which they looked like the better team and winning it 3-0, but it was not enough to forced more than a game 5. They had an impressive run and they got themselves in major positions. As for Dignitas, they demonstrated that they are the better team and advanced to the lower bracket semi-finals with an overall result of 4-1 and a total score line of 13-6 goals.

 

Team BDS VS Vodafone Giant

I am speechless. This series was just amazing. Every single game was really close and was a nail bitter. BDS won the first game which was maybe the least close of all of them by 3-1 and looked very dominating. But the Giants answered immediately and won game 2 with an incredible ceiling pinch from Zamué. Game 3 went to overtime and after many chances for both teams, it was Monkey Moon with a double tap the one who won the game and BDS was up 2-1. And next 3 games, it was time for Itachi. He completely starved BDS and forced them to play a defensive style and this lead them to scoring double taps and air dribbles since the players of the French team had little to no boost to protect their backboard or force a 50v50. Stake passes were just something else and Zamué accuracy secured them the win. Giants defeat BDS and send them to the lower bracket while securing themselves a top 2 finish, first one since regional 2 of the Fall Split, were they got swept against BDS.

 

Oxygen VS Dignitas

If there is something that defines this series is back and forth. First 2 games were dominated by Dignitas and they wiped Oxygen out of the map. But the next 3 games, Aztral started to pop off, and this, combined with some crucial mistakes by Dignitas, lead Oxygen to win 3 consecutive games and put themselves on match point. But now it was the time to shine for ApparentlyJack, and his insane defense and mechanics lead Dignitas to a 3-1 win and forced a game 7.

Game 7 was just something else. Dignitas scored early in the game and aimed to maintain that lead while Oxygen was pushing forward with everything they had. And while doing that and with under 40 seconds left, they get scored on and found themselves losing 2-0. But an insane play from Aztral and then what looked like a whiff from Aztral and the shot from Chaussette ended up tying the game and sending it to overtime. This OT was really intense, with many missed opportunities for both teams, but in an insane shot, Joreuz scored and sent Dignitas to the lower bracket finals. For oxygen, this was a very good result and they will look up to continue improving during the major and the spring split.

 

Dignitas VS BDS

What to say about this series? BDS completely dominated Dignitas and swept them out of the tournament. Dignitas passing plays were not connecting and their solo plays were just not enough against the brick wall that is BDS defense. As for BDS, they did just enough to win every game and advance to face the Giants in the grand finals.

For Dignitas this was a huge regional. They are now in the conversation for a world championship spot had their best ranking finish during this whole season. If they can continue like this, they are a serious candidate for the winter mayor and the spring split regionals.

 

BDS VS Vodafone Giants

This was one of the most intense series of all of rocket league history. Neither team was dominating. This series was very different from the first one they played. The one earlier was really clean and the only way to score was by making an insane play. But this one had many mistakes from both teams and even with those mistakes, the other team couldn’t score. And for the first time during the whole RLCS season in Europe, we were seeing a bracket reset. BDS won game 7 in overtime and forced the Giants to play another series if they wanted to win. Giants won the first game with a very solid game and it looked like this series was going to be the same as the one of Envy VS SSG in NA. But BDS came to play and won the next 2 games. Giants won game 4 and it looked like we were going to see another game 7. But then BDS won the next 2 games and crowned themselves as the winners of this regional. 13 games were played and only in 1 of them the score line difference was more than 1 goal, and in 8 of those 13 games the game went to overtime. This shows how incredibly close this matchup was.

I honestly can’t believe that the Giants didn’t win this regional. They were looking phenomenal and after beating BDS in the upper bracket I thought it was game over. But rocket league is such an unpredictable esport and it gave me that surprise.

 

This regional was the most unpredictable we have seen up to today. From the start seeing teams like Top Blokes and Guild dropping out so early in the tournament and seeing a team like The Woo’s playing in day 4 is something that absolutely no one saw coming. Some teams have to figure out what is wrong in their game and soon because the major is coming and you will want to be in form for it.

 

Championship Sunday is just a few hours away and I thought I should make some predictions based on what we saw yesterday and what we have seen the last couple regionals. As you all may know, rocket league is an extremely hard esport to predict and the last prediction I made was very off, so my predictions could be right or incredibly wrong. Anyways, this is how I think day 4 of this regional will go.

 

Oxygen VS Endpoint

This match will depend on how good or bad Aztral and Virtuoso play. During the last couple regionals, we have seen that Oxygen can only beat top teams when Aztral is popping off and being the mechanical god in the match. Meanwhile, Virtuoso is known for his aggressive playstyle and being the king of demolitions. So if Virtuoso can prevent Aztral from feeling comfortable and takes away his space, Endpoint have a huge chance of winning the series. If not, it will all come down on how good is their defense. Oxygen doesn’t have a solid defense while Endpoint can be very good in defensive positions. So my final prediction is that Endpoint will win 4-2 games.

 

Woo VS Dignitas

I think everyone is surprised that Woo has made it this far. They defeated 3 good teams in Redemption, Guild and Team Liquid. On the other hand, Dignitas hasn’t look great but their gameplay was just enough to reach a top 6 finish. They key to this match is going to be how good or bad Dignitas passing plays are. We all know that Joreuz and ApparentlyJack and even Panda can pop off at any given time, but if their main playstyle that is the passing plays are not working, I can see this series going all the way and they could maybe even lose. But if they can connect those passes, they win easily. Anyways, my final prediction is a 4-1 victory for Dignitas.

 

Vodafone Giants VS BDS

It is incredibly difficult to predict a match between this 2 teams because they are both so good at Rocket League. Both of this teams play what known as Spanish Rocket League, which makes the prediction even harder because their playstyles are very similar. But if there is something that can win this is definitely Monkey Moon. We have seen him not carrying but giving an impulse to this team in the exact moment in multiple occasions. And for the Giants is Itachi, if he can be the striker for this team, they have a good chance of winning. I see this series going to 7 games, but my faith is in Itachi so Giants will win 4-3 games.

 

Endpoint VS Dignitas

This matchup is really important because both of them are looking for that 6^th spot that will send them to the World Championship. Endpoint is currently in the 7^th position while Dignitas is 2 lower at the 9^th spot. So that is some extra motivation for both teams. Since Endpoint is so good at cutting passing plays, this matchup may be decided by solo plays and 1v1 situations. And with Joreuz and ApparentlyJack, Dignitas has a clear advantage in that spot. So my prediction is that Dignitas will win 4-2 games.

 

Dignitas VS BDS

Based on what we saw yesterday, I should say that BDS has no chance on losing, but I believe that Dignitas can win this series. They have already warmed up with 2 intense series and will carry a winning momentum while BDS carries a losing momentum. But again, Dignitas can win as easily as they can lose. If they maintain a clean rotation during the whole series like they did during game 1 of their matchup in the upper bracket, and can add to that some more offensive presence, they win the series. My prediction is Dignitas wins in 7 games.

 

Vodafone Giants VS Dignitas

I will be really straight forward in here. I don’t see a situation where Dignitas can beat not just in 1, but in 2 best of 7s a team like the Giants. Their defense is just really solid; their offense is also very solid. Unless there is a flaw in their game plan, which I don’t think there will be, the Giants will win regional 3 of the Winter Split by defeating Dignitas 4-1 games.

 

Well, these are my thoughts on how the regional is going to end. In a couple hours we will see if I was close or if I was extremely wrong.

 

 

 

 

Day 3 of regional number 3 of the Winter Split was incredible. This regional is continuing to be the less predictable as only 2 of the 6 teams that will currently be representing Europe in a world championship are still competing to win. Which means there are many points for teams to collect and try to take some of those spots and classify for the RLCS X world championship. There were many great games today with many surprises.

 

Upper Bracket

Team Liquid VS Woo

A matchup that almost everyone thought Team Liquid will take easily ended up being a huge upset from Woo. They won the first 2 games with a total score of 4-0. But when Team Liquid won the next game 4-0, many of us thought that the reverse sweep was incoming. Game 4 was really close and went to overtime after a goal by Ronaky in the final seconds. But Woo didn’t care about it and won in just the first seconds of overtime and sent Team Liquid to the lower bracket and had guaranteed themselves a huge top 6 finish in this regional.

 

Vodafone Giants VS Renault Vitality

This matchup is always close and this wasn’t the exception. Vitality won the first game in overtime in a very good game from both teams. Next 2 games were also really close but ended up going to the Giants. And after this, the Spanish team had all the momentum and won game 4 with a solid 2-0 result and sent Vitality to the lower bracket really early in the tournament. As for Giants, they continue to demonstrate why they are considered a top 3 team and even top 2 just under BDS.

 

Team BDS VS Dignitas

This was the matchup everyone was looking forward to seeing. Dignitas had recently being dominating and getting perfect sweeps and they were looking to do it with BDS. As for the French team, they were coming from some bad results during last regional and during the offseason, so people were doubting them. First game was what everyone expected, 2 solid teams that were insane on defense and didn’t let the other team score. The game was scoreless after the first 5 minutes which meant they went to overtime. And after many opportunities for both teams, Monkey Moon scored and BDS took the first game. But the rest of the series was nowhere as close as we expected. BDS completely dominated Dignitas during game 2 and won 5-1 and then won game 3 with a 3-1 score line and completed the sweep. BDS showed why they are the best team in Europe and sent Dignitas to the lower bracket.

 

Team Queso VS Oxygen Esports

The frontrunners of last regional were up against a team that is famous for their inconsistency. And what looked like a secured win, ended up being a reverse sweep. Team Queso won the first 2 games by playing a really good offense and preventing Oxygen from getting out of their side of the field. But during game 3 that game plan fell off. Oxygen started to find ways to attack Team Queso and this lead them to scoring more and preventing Queso from playing the way they like to. They continued to do this during the next 2 games and ended up winning 3-2 games. Team Queso was sent to the lower bracket and for the first time during RLCS X, Oxygen will play on Championship Sunday.

 

Woo VS Vodafone Giants

This matchup looked more than a first round than an upper bracket semifinal. Woo was looking for a miracle when they faced the Giants, and that miracle didn’t come. Giants completely dominated all 4 games. Even though the results were not blowouts, their game was just a top tier compared to how the Woo’s were playing. They swept Woo and advanced to the upper bracket finals.

 

BDS VS Oxygen Esports

The winner secures a top 3 and the loser dropped to the lower bracket. Neither of this teams wanted to be that second case so they brought everything. Oxygen won the first game and then BDS went on to win the next 4. BDS ended up winning 4-1 but this result doesn’t show how the series was played. Every single game was just a 1 goal game in which BDS insanely strong defense was enough to stop Oxygen from tying near the end of each game. And BDS secured a top 3 finish which meant that they have been at least top 4 in every single RLCS X regional and major that has been played.

This is how the upper bracket ended up looking.

 

Lower Bracket

 

Renault Vitality VS Triple Trouble

Upset alert. After a dominating game 1 from Vitality where it seemed they will sweep Triple Trouble, everything started to fall apart for them and Triple Trouble started to grow. They won game 2 by an insane score line of 6-1 goals. 6 goals against one of the best defensive teams in the whole world is something you don’t see every day. Next 2 games were close and went all the way to overtime, and surprisingly, Vitality was not the clutch team. They lost both ot’s and dropped out of the tournament and for the second consecutive regional they fail to reach day 4. And Triple Trouble advanced to losers round 4, their best result during the whole RLCS season.

 

Team Liquid VS Endpoint

I have never seen such a bad defense from a top team. Team Liquid was playing as if they wanted to lose. They were over committing when they shouldn’t, couldn’t defend their backboard and their passes were just off. All Team Endpoint had to do during the first 2 games was to wait for a Team Liquid mistake and then score. And game 3 was a complete blowout. Endpoint scored 8 goals to complete the sweep. They advanced to losers round 4 while Team Liquid was sent home with an embarrassing performance.

 

Team Queso VS Denied

Denied entered this stage of the tournament by beating Top Blokes, the team that prevented Queso from winning a regional. They were looking forward to eliminate the top 2 teams of last regional. Meanwhile Queso was looking forward to continue their run. First game was very close. Many options for both teams but they failed to scored them which meant the game will be decided by golden goal, and Team Queso was the one to score and went up 1-0 in the series. But next 2 games were very different. Denied started to apply the pressure and started to score their opportunities. They won the next 2 games 3-1 and 4-1 and were now 1 game away from securing a top 8 finish. And during game 4, they scored early in the game and then their defense lead them to the win. And just like that, they took out the 2 finalist teams of last regional.

 

Dignitas VS TrainHard Esports

This series was amazing to watch. Dignitas had just dropped from the lower bracket and TrainHard still hadn’t played. Dignitas won the first game 3-2 but TrainHard won the next 2 by 1 goal and was 1 win away from eliminating them. Game 4 looked like that elimination game and with under a minute left, Dignitas was trailing by 2 goals. But clutch plays by all of its 3 players and some mistakes by TrainHard allowed them to tie the game and ended up scoring with less than 10 seconds remaining which secured them the win. Game 5 was also very intense but Dignitas carried all the momentum and won it 1-0 and advanced to the next round.

 

Triple Trouble VS Endpoint

Both teams were coming from great wins and had a lot of momentum, but only one of them could advance. Triple Trouble won the first game with a convincing 3-0 result, and with how they had been playing many started to believe they could actually sweep Endpoint. But it was nothing near that. Metsanauris and Virtuoso put the team in their backs and started to make the comeback. Metsa had a lot of incredible goals and saves while Virtuoso was a 50v50 god, winning all of them. Endpoint ended up winning 3-1 and securing a top 6 finish.

 

Dignitas VS Denied

One of the most entertaining series of the day. Both teams were looking to advance to championship Sunday. Denied won the first game with an impressive score of 4-2 goals but then Dignitas answered by winning the second game 4-2 goals. And the next 2 games are what made this series so entertaining. First 4 minutes passed and no team had scored, but then Dignitas opened the score line with just under a minute left. Denied answered immediately and tied the game at 1. Dignitas ended up winning in overtime and putting themselves in match point. Game 4 looked like it was a win for Denied, they were up 3-0 in just 2 minutes played. But the team lead by Violent Panda fought back and forced overtime. And after 3 intense minutes of ot, Dignitas scored and secured a spot during day 4.

This is how the lower bracket ended up looking.

 

And this was the end of an amazing day of RLCS. Lots of surprises, fun games, incredible goals and saves. Now, in less than 24 hours, we will see who wins this regional.

 

 

 

 

Last regional of the year and NA really saved the best for the last moment. These past 4 days were very exciting for the viewers, especially that championship Sunday. I will give my views on all of the games of day 4 and then as always give my top 3 winner and loser teams and my overall thoughts.

 

Day 4

First series was Rogue vs The Peeps which ended 4-2. At moments it looked like this series was a 3 v 1, Rogue vs AyyJayy, who was the reason The Peeps were able to pick up 2 games and avoid a humiliating sweep. As for Rogue, this new team is really showing what they are capable of. They don’t have that problem of communication that they clearly had during the fall split and their playstyle just completely destroyed The Peeps. So Rogue definitely deserved the win here.

 

Next series was Space Station Gaming vs G2. This series didn’t have a dominating team, but SSG won it 4-2 games. First game was as close as it gets, and G2 lost it by, as always, giving away free goals and then find themselves unable to comeback from behind. Next 2 games were dominated by G2. Even though the score line wasn’t great, G2 had a perfect defense and their striking was on point. But the next 2 games their defense started to fall apart and this combined with not hitting their shots made them lose. And last game was all SSG, who had no mercy and won 5-0.

  

Now it was time for the upper bracket finals. Envy vs NRG, the rematch of last regional. And long story short, it was very disappointing.  Even though all games were 1 goal games, Envy swept NRG and sent them to the lower bracket. NRG just lacked that clutch moment during this series and had no spice towards the end of the games. And for Envy, they demonstrated that what happened last regional wasn’t an accident.

We go back to the lower bracket with SSG vs Rogue. SSG ended up sweeping them. But the result of this series doesn’t reflect how it was played. Rogue could have easily taken games 1 and 4 but they also lacked those clutch moments that SSG definitely had, and ended up losing them. But for SSG, they continued their lower bracket run and were looking like themselves again. They had great defense and were solid on offense, which was more than enough to win against Rogue.

 

Next we had a matchup we saw a lot during the fall split. NRG vs SSG. Coming into this series everyone expected a close matchup, but it was far from that. Space Station completely dominated NRG and won the series 4-1 games. NRG couldn’t adapt to the extremely physical game that SSG was playing and this cost them the series. As for SSG, they made the complete lower bracket run and was in the grand finals.

 

Finally, our grand finals were Team Envy vs Space Station Gaming. And it was one of the most exciting series in my opinion of all RLCS history. Only 1 of the first 7 games was decided by more than 1 goal and every single player was performing incredible. Then, for the first time in the Winter Split regional of both NA and EU, a bracket reset happened when SSG won game 7. But after that it was all for Mist and Team Envy as they dominated the second round winning all 4 games and outscoring SSG 12-4 goals. With this, Envy won their third consecutive regional that also includes Regional 3 of the Fall Split.

 

Top 3 Winners

Team Envy

They won their third straight Regional and they look better than ever. Mist is in the conversation for being a top 3 player in NA and this team’s chemistry is at an all-time high. Almost no double commits and clean rotations demonstrate that. So no doubt about it, in this moment, they are the best team in NA and arguably the best in the world.

 

The Peeps

After last regional I said that they couldn’t have another tournament in which they don’t show up. And they showed up in this one. Even though they are not at their best, they still did better and tied with KCP for that 6^th spot in the ranking, and let’s remember that only the top 6 teams get to go to Worlds. So for The Peeps a top 6 finish in this regional is an absolute win.

 

Space Station Gaming

They lost their first series against Alpine and then almost got taken out by Version 1 and Ghost Gaming in series that were decided in a game 5 during overtime. But from there on it was absolute dominance. They swept KCP, looked great against G2, completely dominated both Rogue and NRG and finally forced a bracket reset against Envy. So for a team that had a very low start and a really bad regional 1, this regional was a complete win.

 

Honorable mention: Sippin’ Ice Cubes.

 

Top 3 Losers

G2

Another regional and G2 still hasn’t win a best of 7. This team when they are all at their best can be easily the best in NA, and they showed it last season, but this one they are still struggling to perform on championship Sunday. So until they can be at least a top 4, they will be on my loser’s team list.

 

Pittsburgh Knights

Last regional they surprised everyone by reaching a top 4 finish and beating teams like G2 and SSG, but this one it was a complete failure. They lost against Sippin’ Ice Cubes in losers round 2. And for a team that is competing for that last place to go to Worlds, they can’t afford going out so early in this tournaments. So they better pick up their game because The Peeps, KCP and Alpine that are the teams competing for that spot, all gain more points than them.

Version 1

If this team had any hopes in trying to make worlds, after this regional they are over. They found themselves in the 16^th spot, just enough to make the major in case it’s just NA. But they were very unlucky with their matchups. Got reverse swept by G2 and then lost to SSG in lowers. They didn’t play bad, but you don’t advance in this tournaments, especially against this 2 top 5 teams by just not playing bad.

 

Honorable mention: eUnited.

 

Overall Thoughts

This regional was just amazing. Getting to see that SSG lower bracket run and then force a bracket reset was insane. Forky’s team winning 2 best of 5 was amazing. And finally, Team Envy demonstrating that they are the best team in NA, and maybe of the World, but that conversation is for another day.

Regional 2 of EUs Winter Split is over and we just had the best Regional up to today. As always, I will give my 3 winner teams from this regional, then my 3 loser teams, then my Grand Finals thoughts and finally my overall thoughts.

 

Top 3 Winners

Top Blokes

They defeat BDS, the team they could never beat, and then go all the way to win everything. I don´t have to expand on why this team is my winner of the day.

Team Queso

This is the team that no one saw coming. They had an amazing run in which they defeated arguably 3 of the top 4 teams in Europe and came close to defeating all 4. They swept Renault Vitality and dropped them to lowers. Then they lose in 6 against Top Blokes and this is where they start their lower bracket run. They beat Redemption in 6 games, then they sweep Vodafone Giants and then they eliminate BDS in 6 games to advance to the grand finals. During last split, this team best result was a top 4 in the first regional. Now, adding VKSailen and being in an organization, they reach the finals in a very impressive run. This is why I consider them a winner team during this regional.

Redemption

I wasn’t really sure which team to fit in here but if a team deserves it is this one. They force Galaxy Racer to reverse sweep them and then they had an impressive lower bracket run. They took down Solary in 5 games, Guild in 4 games and Dignitas in also 5 games. Guild and Dignitas are both top 10 teams in EU so for Redemption to beat both of them is something to be proud of. Unfortunately for them, their run came to an end when they faced Team Queso and lost 4-2 games.

 

Honorable Mentions

Some teams that really performed great were Team Liquid and Galaxy Racer.

 

Top 3 Losers

Renault Vitality

For me, this is the team that lost more during this split. During the Fall Split and last regional, the only thing stepping between Vitality and winning was BDS, but this regional, it wasn’t like that. This team during the 3 days they played were always in defense and depended on the other teams mistakes or an insane play by Alpha. And this time, it wasn’t BDS who ended their run. They dropped to lowers in a 3-0 series against Team Queso, then swept Team Liquid in a series were they again depended on Liquids mistakes and Alpha solo plays and finally, they got swept by Galaxy Racer. So unless this team can start performing on offense better, they will get taken down by some of these newer teams that have a very solid offense and defense.

BDS

Even though most won’t consider a top 3 finish as a losing team, BDS has made it normal for them to win everything they play. And entering this regional they had only dropped 2 series in all of RLCS X. So for them to drop 2 series in the same regional is something almost no one saw coming.

Fadeaway

Fadeaway's split continues to be dissapointing. They got out on just their third series which meant they were last in the ranking, but this team could have easily gone further. Their series against BDS was a really intense one and they could have win it. In fact, the only reason that game 5 went to OT is because Fadeaway scored an own goal towards the end of the game. Then against Team Liquid they also went to game 5 and lost by 1 goal. So in the end, this team just got unlucky with facing really hard teams very early in the tournament.

 

Grand Finals

We saw the best Grand Finals we have seen in Europe during this RLCS X. Almost all games were 1 or 2 goal games, multiple overtimes and overall just some great gameplay. I think that the reason why Team Queso ended up losing was because they went all in on offense so it was either they scored or they got scored on. And Top Blokes defense was very strong, so sometimes TQ will end up giving away some goals. But TB was a very solid team through all 7 games and they deserved this win, so congrats to them.

 

Overall thoughts

For me, this was the best Regional we’ve had this far in Europe because it was unpredictable. Last regionals it was always 4 days of playing just to see who will BDS beat in the finals, so seeing some new teams reach that Grand Finals was great for the spectator that just watches it for fun and doesn’t root for any team. So I really hope to see more regionals like this one, that are very hard to predict.

 

Day 4 of the regional is over and we just had the most exciting day of RLCS in a very long time. These last 2 days had everything, upsets, comebacks and a whole lot of surprises. In this article I will talk about the teams that surprised us the most both positive or negative and the amazing grand finals that NA gave us.

 

Top 3 Winners

My first winner from this regional is Ghost Gaming. This team failed to perform during the fall split and everyone doubted if they will be able to hang out with the top teams in NA, and they really proved many of us wrong. After beating 72pc, they had to face the almighty NRG, and they managed to beat them by playing out of their minds and winning in game 5. Next round they faced Alpine, a team that had consistently been in the top 8 of NA, and they passed over them with a convincing 3-1 victory. Next series was against Envy, the team that ended up taking it all, and they lost in game 7 during an almost 4 minutes OT. Lastly, NRG ended up sweeping them in a series in which JSTN completely dominated.

Before the split started, most people thought that this team could be maybe a top 12 team in NA, so having a top 6 finish while beating NRG once and taking Envy to game 7 is something this team should be proud of. It was a fantastic performance from Lionblaze, Freshness and the new added Mectos.

 

My second winner is Rogue. Replacing Kronovi was a movement that many saw coming and it left us with a question, how will this young and inexperienced team perform under high pressure moments? And I have to say, they performed great. Last split they found themselves unable to qualify for playoffs twice, and in the other 2 they didn’t pass the first round. In this first Winter regional they already managed to get a top 3 finish while beating a team like G2 that they have always struggled to beat. 

Taroco is the perfect player to combine with First and Turo since they both like to go for many solo plays and leave 2 players behind, and has shown to be comfortable with this playstyle.

 

And finally, if there is a real winner in this regional is undoubtedly the Pittsburgh Knights. They took down KCP, Alpine, Space Station and finally G2. These are all teams that are in the top 8 in NA and SSG was considered before the regional to be maybe the best team in the world. Last regional their best position was a top 8, in this one they finished in the top 4. They also proved that they can perform under pressure by beating SSG in a game 5 and G2 in game 7 where they made almost impossible saves during the last seconds of the game. Sosa has been a great acquisition for this team and they have quickly developed the chemistry between them. So for me, they are the real winners of this last 2 weeks.

 

Honorable mentions are Version 1, that defeated 2 top 5 teams in SSG and KCP, and also the Soniqs that played a great series against The Peeps and beat them in 4 games.

 

Top 3 losers

The first loser team from this regional is The Peeps. A team that during last split had 2 top 4 finishes and then 2 top 8 finishes, losing 2 of the 3 series they played is something really disappointing. And the only series they won was against iz im dreaming, and even there they showed difficulties to win, beating them in 2 games by a differential of just 1 goal. Also, since Rogue had a great regional, they are now in the 7 place overall just trailing by 20 points to The Peeps. And let’s remember that only the top 6 get to go to worlds, so The Peeps can’t afford having another bad regional like this one.

 

The second loser team is G2. As I said in my previous articles, this team is its own enemy, and they demonstrated that during Sunday. During their whole series against PK, we saw a G2 that was connecting their passing plays but their shooting was terrible, hitting the post in multiple occasions and overall just missing shots they should hit to win this type of games. And as always, their high-pressure game style made them give away some free goals to the Knights. And if a team that is struggling to score is giving away free goals then they just don’t have a chance in winning. Also, PK had some almost impossible saves in vey clutch moments that in the end made them win against G2. I consider them to lose in this split simply because they are a top 4 team and everything outside of that is a failure.

 

And lastly, the real loser of this split is undoubtedly Space Station Gaming. They entered this regional as the best team in the world or a top 2 fighting with BDS, and they really disappointed. They started by losing against Version 1 during a game 5. Then they defeat 72pc 3-0 to advance to the next round. During their series against XSET, all of the games went to OT. This is a team that SSG should beat easily so having 4 overtimes was an indicator that something was wrong, and it really was. They got revere swept by PK and in those last 3 games they went scoreless. They are still in the third position of the qualifier with a comfortable lead, but they have to step it up so they can avoid a do or die situation entering the Spring Split, because there are teams that are rising and all of the teams that want to go to world will have to perform every time they are playing.

 

Finally let’s talk about the grand finals. We just was the best grand finals series during this RLCS X. Both teams played great and this series had everything. Comebacks, multiples OTs, and amazing goals. Both teams just seemed to be playing perfect. But in the end, only one team could win and this time it was Envy. They had a perfect tournament, not dropping a single series and demonstrating they are one of the best teams in the world. On the other side, NRG had an incredible lower bracket run. After a rough day 3 in which they could manage to win a series with more than a 1 goal differential, they came into championship Sunday and absolutely dominated. They swept Ghost Gaming, the team that dropped them to lowers and almost do a perfect sweep against PK. Then they faced Rogue, a team that played a fantastic regional up to that point, and they went over them winning the series in 6 games. Finally, their run ended in a game 7 against Envy.

 

These are my thoughts from this regional, it was the most entertaining one to watch until today and I hope we have more days like Sunday.

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