Metsanauris’ Ageless Performance, FURIA As A Dark Horse, and more takeaways from the last weekend of RLCS regionals
After a gruelling eight months, the online portion of RLCS 2021-22 has come to a close. We’ve seen teams come out of nowhere to become powerhouses, the decline of former elite players in favour of young stars, and roster moves change the fabric of entire regions. With the two most anticipated RLCS LANs ever approaching, let’s look at what happened over the course of the final two weekends of regionals.
Father Time Is Powerless Against Metsanaris
Team Endpoint’s Metsanauris - Photo Courtesy of Twitter/Metsanauris
RLCS ‘21-’22 was not kind to the greats of the pre-circuit days. As covered in the last installment of Takeaways, the players that defined the second generation of competitive Rocket League- GarrettG, Kaydop, Turbopolsa, and more- have all struggled at one or more points this year, and the generation of players they came up around have mostly retired or simply been ousted from the scene by younger, better players.
Just a year ago, you would’ve counted Metsanauris among the fallen giants of pre-COVID RLCS. The team he played on, Endpoint, had struggled all year after a strong showing in the Fall of RLCS X, and it looked like his involvement in Rocket League would be over soon unless he took a coaching job somewhere. Then, he struck gold in the form of Seikoo, the prodigal son of France. Much of the credit for Endpoint’s success this year, which includes three regional finals and two wins alongside qualifying for both the Fall and Winter Major, was given to Seikoo. It’s fair: he looked like EU’s answer to Firstkiller, a ball-hawk who could 1v3 even the best of teams on any given day.
With Seikoo’s departure to BDS following the Winter Split, most people wrote Endpoint off even with the addition of Archie. Their lower round 2 exit in the first regional didn’t make the perception surrounding the team as “Seikoo and friends” didn’t help. Yet after that poor performance, Endpoint went right back to the top-tier European squad they’ve been all year. Archie has done a fine job filling the massive shoes that Seikoo left, but this iteration of Endpoint also works a little bit better as a team, and last weekend showed it. With an auto-qualification spot at his first Worlds in nearly 4 years on the line, Metsa put on perhaps his best performance since the days of league play. Working in the sniper role as his ageless NA counterpart JKnaps, Metsa and Endpoint confirmed both Worlds and a Spring Major spot with a top 3 finish that ended in two game 7 defeats to the region’s two best teams.
In the best form since Fall, Endpoint enters London as a dark horse to make a deep run. They’ve proven they can beat the best of the best in their 4-2 win against BDS and their old teammate, Seikoo. For them to do that, it’ll take the same type of chemistry that the team showed in the final regional, with an added clutch gene to take those game sevens. Can Metsa hold off Father Time for just a few more months and secure his first RLCS LAN victory after being written off just one season ago? We’ll have to wait for that answer, but what’s certain is that it’ll be exciting as hell to watch unfold.
Furia Looks Poised To Do More Damage In London
FURIA’s Caiotg1 - Photo Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
Should Moist not have made the best lower run in years in Los Angeles, the Cinderella story of the LAN would have been FURIA, who took down two powerhouses in Endpoint and NRG and pushed G2 and then-Queso to the brink. It was the best performance ever by a South American team and served as validity for the best of the region to be considered legitimate threats to anyone in NA, EU, or MENA.
After a dominant split that saw them win two regionals, including what may be the most insane regional finish in history. After a hard-fought, seven-game Upper Final, FURIA thought they had advanced after scoring in a five-minute overtime; however, it was found that The Club’s kv1 had lagged out. The goal was recalled, and The Club ended up winning and knocking FURIA down into the Lower Final. FURIA, clearly motivated by the unprecedented decision, then ran through Team Secret in the Lower Finals before taking a bracket reset against The Club in which all 14 possible games were played.
FURIA has proved they have everything that it takes at this point. They can beat top-ranked teams from NA and EU. They can bounce back from bad luck. They can grind out long, hard-fought series and bracket resets. They have both the synergy and individual talent to hang with anyone. They’re fast and mechanical. They have a bonafide superstar and the best player in their region in yanxnz. All they have to do now is take all the skill and experience they’ve built up and put it together in a run at the London title.
The Split Sweep Remains NA and EU’s Most Challenging Task
Team BDS’ Monkey M00n - Photo Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
After two years and six splits of online regional play, the Split Sweep, in which one team wins all three tournaments, is still untouched by North American or European teams. In that time, we’ve seen multiple rosters look like they have a real chance to complete it, and while G2, Moist, and BDS all came close this year, all three had to settle with two firsts and a second-place finish.
The inability for teams throughout the circuit era to complete this has to beg the question of if it’ll ever be done. Both regions, but especially Europe, are only getting deeper and more competitive. You never know when a team like Solary in Regional 1 will click and knock off a bunch of contenders in a given tournament. In a world where every team in a bracket can capitalize on an off-day by a top roster, we may have already seen the best attempts at a Split Sweep by a team in Rocket League’s primary regions.
For EU’s Favourites, It Was Too Little, Too Late
Evil Geniuses’ Cataclysm - Photo courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
The Spring was a season of subverted expectations for European Rocket League fans. Going into the final weekend of regionals, only two teams (BDS and Moist) that had made a major previously were in a position to represent the region to London. The usual suspects of contenders going into the final weekend were all on the outside looking in. None of Dignitas, Endpoint, Luminosity, and Evil Geniuses controlled their destiny. This made it all the more stranger that for the first time all split, results looked shockingly normal.
At the end of day 1, all the teams everyone assumed would be around were actually around for the first place. All the above teams, plus the four who had qualified for the major already. And while Endpoint put an end to the dreams of EG, DIG, and LG with a win over BDS in the upper semis, it was good to see the faces that had made deep runs through regionals back. It was also a good sign for Dignitas and Evil Geniuses, one of which will certainly be at Worlds and the other whose fate is in the hands of the European teams at the Major to earn more spots. Both teams looked closer to what we’ve expected of them and gives fans hope that they’ll be competitive in Dallas.
Gaimin Gladiators Finally Did It
Eight regional wins, three names, two organizations, and finally, a spot at a Major. It’s been a long road to LAN for Gaimin Gladiators, who consistently dominated their region just to fall short to their APAC North counterparts in Major qualifications. We talked about their Falcons-esque domination in their region, but that had never translated into wins against Tokyo Verdy and Detonator. This time around, the Gladiators defeated Detonator not once, but twice; first in the upper final in a seven-game thriller, and then again in the Grand Final. Admittedly, things weren’t looking great after Gaimin were ran off the field by Detonator 4-1 in the first series, but they refocused and took the second series on Champions Field once again.
Tokyo Verdy will likely be sending flowers to Gaimin in London, as Verdy now qualifies for Worlds with Detonator not making LAN. For Gaimin, this is a valuable chance to scrim against European teams while they prepare, and more importantly, get comfortable in a live setting before they head out to the World Championship Wildcard in August. So far, APAC teams have had a tough time at Majors, taking just one game across six series. In the ever-punishing double-elimination format, Gaimin has their work cut out for them. But they’ll fight, just like they’ve been fighting all year. And who knows? Maybe they’ll shock the world.
The Stage Is Set For The Most Mechanical LAN Ever
Spacestation Gaming’s Daniel - Photo Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns
With the sixteen teams competing in the Copperbox Arena finalized, the most exciting thing fans should be looking at is how damn flashy the field is. The mechanical bar is always being raised in Rocket League, but being able to triple-reset-musty-pyscho-redirect-double tap isn’t what gets you into RLCS LANs; it’s normally about how you use your mechanics to elevate your gamesense and positioning. That’s what makes London so exciting; it features a bunch of elite teams, all of which roster at least one mechanical freak and many of which have an entire lineup of them.
North America has four returning Winter Major teams arriving in London, which include all of FaZe, Atomic, Daniel, and Beastmode. EU’s pair of aquatic organizations, Moist and Liquid, come equipped with six mechanical beasts, who along with Karmine Corp, BDS, and Archie, represent the world’s most skilled group of LAN teams. Even the smaller regions brought their big guns. yanxnz already proved he can style on anyone in the world, Ahmad and trk have long been known as standouts in the mechanical department, and Pioneers represent the most highlight-heavy group of OCE talent ever. With Rocket League at a point where people in the Shift Discord are asking if it’s closer to a tier 3 esport than a tier 1 one (which is false, by the way), the sheer amount of eye-popping plays that should come out of the Spring Major may be exactly what the competitive scene needs to bring in another wave of fans going into Worlds.