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Rocket Surgery: the weekly Rocket League wrap (22/9)

22 Sep 2017
Stuart Gollan

The big Autumn Update for Rocket League may hit next week, but right now the Rocket League Championship Series is gaining speed after a solid warm-up last week. Week two of RLCS play was the week of the comeback, with three reverse sweeps (comebacks from 0-2 down to win 3-2 in a best of five) across North America and Europe, including two by new European favourites Method against heavyweights Gale Force and Flipsid3 Tactics. Method’s hot 4-0 start to league play has surely secured them a spot in the regional playoffs, but their sights will be set much higher than mere qualifying after victories against the three biggest names in Europe.

With the top six in league play making it through to the playoffs, the regular season is as much about who misses out as who makes it, especially now the bottom two sides must defend their place in RLCS against the best teams in the Rivals Series. Allegiance (formerly Emotion) in North America (0-3) and Team Secret (formerly Aeriality) in Europe (0-3) will face tough battles to escape that danger zone, but next week will see every squad having played at least three games and we will have a clearer picture of who is at risk.

In Oceania we saw the finals of the Mock-It Championship Series and the first round of RLCS league play in the Throwdown Season 4 OCE Challenge. Chiefs sent an ominous warning to the rest of Oceania with a dominant performance in Mock-It, beating JAM Gaming twice and Pale Horse in an epic series to claim the title. They backed it up in RLCS with another win over Pale Horse to secure their spot as the top team in the region.

It was also a week of controversy, with North American Rivals Series team Naventic disqualified from league play for fielding an ineligible underage player during the qualifying stages, allegedly playing on the account of another player. All Naventic matches in league play will be recorded as disqualification wins for their opponents, and previous results will be reversed. While nothing can be done to help the squads Naventic beat to progress to league play, including fan favourites Splyce, the players involved have all received extensive bans from competition. You can read the full ruling here. Naventic were undefeated in RLRS play to this point, so that competition will see a real shakeup following the news.

North America – Week 2 RLCS Play

After a chalk first week in NA league play we saw our first upset in week two, Ghost taking down back to back North American champions NRG in their league debut, with Klassux delivering five goals in a performance that saw him named player of the week for NA. FlyQuest also made their league play debut but found less success against Rogue, going down in a reverse sweep after taking games one and two by convincing margins, then dropping the next three by a combined margin of 13-3.

Cloud9 then outlined their championship credentials, resigning the former Emotion to an 0-3 start in their org debut for Allegiance, taking the series 3-1. Cloud9 then took out FlyQuest in a 3-0 sweep, Gimmick scoring 12 goals over the two series. Finally, Rogue went down to NRG, dropping the first game 6-0 before keeping the rest of the series close, going down 3-1.

Cloud9 are well on their way to a top two finish, while NRG have started out 3-1. Renegades, FlyQuest and Allegiance are all yet to win a series and the three way battle to decide which one avoids the relegation zone will be interesting to see over the coming weeks. Renegades get their chance to make a mark on that battle next week with games against both Allegiance and FlyQuest, while Cloud9 v G2 should be a ripping contest and a possible finals preview.

In RLRS we still have four teams with only one game played, but Fibeon have taken early favourite tags, sitting undefeated after two weeks. Naventic’s disqualification will play havoc with the standings, the previously undefeated squad had victories over Ambition and Premature Superhero Cops, the later of whom suddenly swing from “must win every game” to a box seat for the playoffs. Out of Style and Radiance (formerly SettoDestroyX) will have something to say about that, but Kinematics appear to be out of the running already with an 0-3 start.

Europe – Week 2 RLCS Play

The RLCS Season 2 European and World Champions Flipsid3 Tactics made their league play debut against week one stars Method, taking games one and two before surrendering the reverse sweep, punctuated with a game five matchwinner with 17 seconds remaining to keep Method perfect for the season. Excel also made their league debut, dropping their series to Gale Force 3-1, including giving up a 3 goal lead with a minute remaining in game four. Excel made too many mistakes and were punished by the still scratchy pre season favourites.

Team Secret acquired the Aeriality squad mid-week but their org debut would prove tough as they faced Team Envy, who rode Deevo’s six goals to a 3-0 sweep. Method then stepped over the halfway point of their league season against Gale Force and continued their giant slaying ways with an incredible second reverse sweep on the day. Method were outshot two to one in the series, including 13-5 in the decisive final game, but showed unbreakable defensive resolve to move to 4-0 in league play, securing at least a finals position and moving into the box seat for a top two finish in Europe.

The final series of the day was a heavyweight clash between Flipsid3 and Envy, and the defending World Champions continued their rough start to league play, dropping the series to Flipsid3 3-1. Flipsid3 kept Deevo quiet after his standout performance earlier in the day, while Miztik had a big day against his former teammates with six goals.

Envy now face an uphill battle to grab a top two league spot, but they certainly have the talent to make a run. Both Envy and Gale Force have failed to live up to preseason expectations while Method have proven unstoppable, Metsanauris taking player of the week and continuing Method’s monopoly over that award for Europe. Method will enjoy a bye this weekend, while Mockit gets the chance to prove their own credentials with big series against Flipsid3 and Envy. Flipsid3 v Frontline is another game with big potential top two ramifications.

In RLRS play we saw a potential top two clash between The Juicy Kids and The Leftovers taken by Leftovers 3-1, with Inspiration claiming an upset against Endpoint and Exray beating Golden Hawks to join the winners circle.

Oceania – Week 1 RLCS and Mock-It Championship Finals

Get hype for Oceania RLCS league play!

https://www.youtu.be/2jkqGngcpoM

RLCS play kicked off on Sunday, and unlike the European and North American RLCS only the top four make it through to the playoff so every series counts for so much more here. Chiefs got a big early win against Pale Horse (who were using sub Julz in place of budding Twitch star CJCJ) then just edged out Avant Gaming 3-2, with tiebreakers now decided by game winning percentage rather than head-to-head results those two games Avant took could prove important down the line. What will be more important is wins, which Avant got against Scylla, who themselves beat Legacy to establish a pecking order of sorts early on. Torsos of Chiefs took player of the week for his contribution to the Chiefs two series wins.

JAM Gaming got revenge against Conspiracy with a 3-0 sweep that was tighter than the end scoreline suggested, with two games going to overtime and the third decided by an all zeroes tiebreaker, Conspiracy showing a new defensive focus after leaking goals in the Mock-It series. Noizee Isn’t Toxic took Legacy to three overtime games in their league debut but were unlucky to not win any of them, also going down 3-0. They and Conspiracy both showed they will not be easybeats for anybody this season.

Outside of RLCS, Chiefs took down the Mock-It Championship Series finals in impressive fashion, clearing out the upper bracket with wins against JAM and then Pale Horse in what was a must see, seven game series. That epic series drained the energy of Pale Horse, who fell to JAM in the lower finals, and Chiefs took down the title with a 4-2 finals win over their long time JAM rivals.

The week ahead will see the second ESL Season 3 qualifying round and ongoing play in RLCS and Vapour-Nordic. In RLCS we’ll see another top three battle in JAM Gaming v Pale Horse, while Conspiracy has a huge chance to state their league credentials against Noizee Isn’t Toxic and Scylla.

Dates and Times

Throwdown OCE Season 4 (RLCS) – Sunday 24 September, 10:00AM AEST
Vapour-Nordic – Friday 22 September, 7:00PM AEST

Rivals Series (EU and NA) – Saturday 23 September, 4:00AM AEST (EU), 10:00AM AEST (NA)
RLCS North America Week 3 – Sunday 24 September, 5:00AM AEST
RLCS Europe Week 3 – Monday 25 September, 2:00AM AEST

All streams are archived on Twitch and (eventually) Youtube.

Series of the week: Pale Horse v Chiefs, Mock-It winners bracket finals

Biggest games of the week ahead

North America – G2 Esports v Cloud9 – Sunday 24 September, 9:10AM AEST
Europe – Flipsid3 Tactics v Frontline – Monday 25 September, 5:20AM AEST
Oceania – Pale Horse Esports v JAM Gaming, Sunday 24 September approx 10:45AM AEST

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Stuart Gollan

From Amiga to Xbox One, Doom to Destiny, Megazone to Stevivor, I've been gaming through it all and have the (mental) scars to prove it. I love local multiplayer, collecting ridiculous Dreamcast peripherals, and Rocket League.