North America’s depth, OCE’s three-team race, and more takeaways from the first weekend of the Spring Split
Jason "Firstkiller" Corral — Photo by @ZeeboDesigns
The first weekend of the RLCS Spring Split has concluded, and from afar, it wasn’t very surprising: the best teams in North America, Oceania, and MENA all took care of business (even if it took an entire split and an org change for PWR to return to form). Look closer, though, and there were a number of interesting developments across the world of competitive car soccer. Let’s dive in.
In the Verizon 5G Ultra Cup, NA’s Depth Shines Through
Much has been said about the supposed top-heaviness of North American Rocket League over the years. For the majority of the ‘21-’22 season, the narrative had held strong; going into this regional, only seven teams had seen a Top 4 finish in any regional. You can probably guess the names: NRG, Spacestation, G2, Envy, Complexity, Version1, and FaZe. The Winter Split was perhaps the most lopsided split since the circuit format was brought in, with a 160-point disparity between 6th place and 7th place in NA . In comparison, Europe had a 160-point difference between the 6th and 14th place finishers in the Winter Split.
The Verizon Ultra Cup saw fresh face in the top 4, with the new-look Ghost Gaming sweeping both NRG and Version1 before eventually falling to the two teams that would end up in the Grand Finals. Envy, another team that made a roster change after a disappointing split, also fought back in major-qual contention with a top 6 showing.
Even the teams from NA’s bubble traded haymakers with the region’s powerhouses: Akrew (formerly Vibrance) found themselves just a game away from sweeping V1 before disaster hit and they were reverse swept. Friends, a team of players who had never appeared in RLCS before, went five with G2 in the first round. Neither of these teams had a particularly deep run, but the experience gained playing in high-leverage situations itself makes them even more dangerous going forward.
It doesn’t look like there will be any more free wins, or cakewalks, or weak draws in North America. The Spring comes with the most cutthroat of formats, and every team will have to bring their A-game to gain points toward earning a trip to London. That’s a good thing; A fan-favorite team will probably go home earlier than they hoped like NRG did this time around, but every match being competitive makes the entire event more exciting for fans, and constantly being challenged will only bring the quality of play in North America higher.
Cameron "CJCJ" Johns — Photo courtesy of Epic Games and Psyonix
The Three-Team Race for The Two OCE Worlds Spots Is On
If things play out as they’re going now, the Oceanic region will send two teams to Dallas for the World Championships this summer. With Pioneers, Renegades, and PWR all within an arm’s reach of one another, OCE may end up being the most exciting region to follow this spring. They’ve all proven capable of being worthy of a place at Worlds, competing right alongside the best teams in the world through their respective Major appearances. The tension that came with following their runs through the first regional made for the most exhilarating watch of the whole weekend.
PWR won this round, looking like the version of the team that had a vice-grip on the region throughout RLCS X and the Fall Split when signed under the Ground Zero name. Pioneers suffered the most, losing in the loser’s semi-final and making it increasingly important for the team make the Major in order to gain those precious extra points that one of their competitors would fail to register by finishing outside of the split’s top two. Expect KCP to bounce back, and for a sprint to the finish as the Spring Major approaches.
G2 Esports celebrating their Winter Major win — Photo by @ZeeboDesigns
G2 Looks Like A Dynasty
Fresh off a dominant performance in the Winter Major, G2 began their Spring run just as they left off. After a rocky start against Friends, they thoroughly dismantled every opponent in their path before the Grand Finals, stopping the red-hot Ghost and FaZe teams in their tracks before surviving an all-out assault by Spacestation and putting them away in a bracket reset that, while rocky at times, still featured moments where they looked untouchable.
Now, as winners of three of the last events they competed in, it’s hard to see a future where G2 isn’t the overwhelming favorite to win the final two North American regionals. We haven’t seen a team that looks this far ahead of the competition offensively since, well, G2 in Season 9 and the Spring Series. They seem to operate as part of a hive mind, in sync on every prejump, pass play, and counterattack. It’s the product of three players who all work at a world-class level in different ways- Chicago’s positioning and disruption, JKnaps’ scoring, and Atomic’s playmaking- aligning perfectly, and it’s a joy to watch.
That’s not to say that a world title is locked up; BDS and the Ex-Queso roster, two teams that pushed G2 to the brink in Los Angeles, loom in the distance. Time will tell if G2 can continue this run of absurdly high-level play going forward, but at this point, it seems like they’ve stumbled upon something special, and the rest of the world should be terrified.
Team Falcons roster — Courtesy of Team Falcons
Team Falcons’ Newest Foe Comes In The Form of a Familiar Face
Team Falcons, formerly known as Sandrock Gaming, has seen little to no challengers throughout their regional run in RLCS 2021-22. They hold an 1100 point lead over the 2nd place team, and won all six of MENA’s regional tournaments going into the Spring Split with a World Championship spot already confirmed. And while it was just another day at the office this Sunday for Falcons, winning their seventh straight regional, their Grand Finals this time around saw them face against a former teammate and one of the founding fathers of MENA Rocket League: Senzo.
Senzo played for Falcons under the Sandrock banner as recently as the Fall Major, stepping in for oKhaliD when he was unable to attend due to academic responsibilities. Yet, on Sunday, he was locked in a 2-2 series against the people he’d helped build an entire region’s reputation with. It made for the most thrilling series of MENA RLCS since Falcons suffered their first defeat of the season to SCYTES in the second regional of the Winter Split.
It’s a welcome angle to the action in MENA, a region that is often overlooked by viewers and unfairly reduced to a one-team region. While news that Falcons didn’t win a regional will cause a stir regardless, being dethroned by a former member of the roster only makes it juicier. And with Senzo and teammates Szw. and Twiz looking formidable in their first regional together, they may be in the best position to finally knock off the Middle East’s hegemon.
Tshaka "Arsenal" Lateef Taylor Jr — Photo by @ZeeboDesigns
Arsenal’s Resurgence Makes SSG A World Championship Contender
Leading up to the Winter Major, opinions surrounding Arsenal’s play had reached an all-time low. After being named a top-5 player in SunlessKhan’s annual expert-aggregated player rankings in 2020, he failed to appear on the list in 2021, and some fans were calling for his removal from the SSG roster even as they bounced back from a miserable Fall Split with the arrival of Daniel.
All that changed less than a day into the major, with Arsenal putting on one of the most impressive hard-carries in recent memory in a reverse sweep of Dignitas. While the rest of his tournament wasn’t as explosive as that first series, the momentum that he created pushed Spacestation into coming a game away from the Grand Finals. The environment of LAN clearly reinvigorated him, and it’s carried over into the spring. Sporting the Ford Mustang Mach-E RLE, Arsenal looked like a top-five player throughout the entire Ultra Cup, an unhinged ball of energy that kept opponents either confused or helpless game after game.
Daniel is still the most talented player on SSG, and Retals is their steadiest; but it’s undeniable that Arsenal playing at an all-world level unlocks a completely new gear for the team. You can’t prepare for something you can’t predict, and Arsenal’s unpredictability makes him an invaluable asset. It was the reason why he found himself in the semi-finals of the last World Championship, and why he and Retals won the Fall Major in RLCS X. If he keeps this up, it may be the reason SSG wins the World Championship as well.
NRG Esports — Photo courtesy of Epic Games and Psyonix
Stop Worrying About Viewership and NRG
The hot takes around this weekend’s RLCS mostly consisted of people either declaring NRG dead in the water and demanding a roster change, or expressing worry about the decline in viewership for the North American tournament. Neither of those worries should be taken that seriously. NRG’s Jstn explicitly stated that their struggles were due to experimenting with a new playstyle, no different than G2 did when they flamed out of the first Winter regional. They’ve been dominating since, and there’s no reason to start doubting NRG unless they fail to make the major. Similarly, viewership dropped this time last year for RLCS X, and that was before an entire generation of free-to-play viewers learned the one-of-a-kind experience that is watching LAN Rocket League. Like the NRG situation, until we see a drop in popularity during a major, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t get it wrong; there are ways for both NRG and the regional viewership experience to improve. For now, though, all hands should be off the panic button.