Revisiting Rostermania
Europe’s top teams made big splashes, and North America’s depth improved in one of the busiest trade windows to date. G2 Esports proved that North America’s strategy of funneling talent to the top worked, as they won the Winter Major in Los Angeles. Now, Europe has followed suit in an effort to retake the international crown, as they have a home Major coming up at the Copper Box Arena in London. Most of North America’s depth teams added or reshuffled talent in an effort to break through to World Championship spots, and it all adds up to create an exciting Spring Split over the next few months.
North America
Ghost Gaming: +hockser, -Roll Dizz
After contending for a Fall Major spot but falling just short in the final event of the split, the Ghost Gaming roster of Nathan “Shock” Frommelt, Hunter “Lionblaze” Woitas, and Raul “Roll Dizz” Diaz was primed to contend. However, beginning with a last place finish in the X Games Open, the Winter Split brought only bad result after bad result for Ghost Gaming. They went on to go 0-3 in the Rocket League 351, winning only a single game. They failed to even qualify for the Mobil1 Mountain Classic, and a change was due.
With Roll Dizz’s retirement, the team brought on Colby “hockser” James from XSET. hockser is an experienced player, who has been in the pro scene since Season 7. That season, he led his team Birds to a perfect 7-0 record in the RLRS, then qualifying for RLCS Season 8. They qualified for the World Championships that season, before hockser won Savior of the Season and Promotion Tournament MVP in Season 9. The move has already shown promise, as Ghost Gaming will be back in the RLCS for the upcoming Verizon 5G Ultra Cup after dominating the closed qualifiers. They’ll hope that hockser’s experience from seasons past can bring them to the elite tier of the North American RLCS.
Team Envy: +Allushin, -Turbopulsa
Replacing the four-time world champion is never an easy decision, but that’s the route Team Envy is taking. Their former coach, Braxton “Allushin” Lagarec, is moving to the active roster alongside Andres “dreaz” Jordan and Nick “mist” Costello, as Pierre “Turbopulsa” Silfver moves to the substitute position. Turbopulsa brought Team Envy a level of success they had never found before, as they won several events throughout RLCS X after adding him to the roster. However, they suffered through a disappointing Winter Split which saw them miss out the Winter Major after the acquisition of dreaz. This inspired the team to make another roster move, sending Turbopulsa to the bench.
Allushin has been a highly successful player before, even being dubbed “LANlushin” by the community after his stellar performance with FaZe Clan in the Fall Major. However, when FaZe Clan decided to make a roster move, Allushin had to move on, finding a role as the coach of Team Envy. They’ll be hoping there’s no rust, as Allushin will be looked to as a leader while the team tries to once again attain the success of the Fall Split and the previous season.
Pittsburgh Knights: +Cheese, +JRuss
The Pittsburgh Knights used to be a staple of the North American RLCS, having entered in 2019 when they picked up The Peeps. However, they’ve struggled to maintain that in the RLCS 2021-22 season, as they have only qualified for one event (the Fall Classic), and currently are sitting on zero points in the standings after changing their roster outside of the allotted trade windows. Now, they’ve added Jacob “jruss” Clarkson and Carlos “Cheese” Aguado, forming a brand new starting roster alongside Gianluca “sosa” Petroza.
jruss had been playing on Manzana during the Winter Split, following a 10-month retirement period, but failed to qualify for the RLCS, and it will have been over a year between RLCS appearances for him when Pittsburgh Knights make it back. Cheese made his RLCS debut this season with Integrity Esports in the North American Open, before returning with Gentlemen in the Rocket League 351. Now playing under the banner of a professional organization alongside two long-time veterans, he’ll hope to assert himself as one of North America’s premier talents. While the Pittsburgh Knights won’t be participating in the Verizon 5G Ultra Cup, this new roster certainly has the talent to return the Knights to their former glory.
Torrent: +Zineel, -Jordan
After a successful run in RLCS X (while they were known as Alpine Esports), Torrent came into the RLCS 2021-22 season with high expectations and a new roster of Christopher “majicbear” Acevedo, Sukhpartik “kinseh” Kahlon, and Daniel “jordan” Bholla. However, they’ve labored to a disappointing 13th in the standings thus far, even missing out on two events. Hoping to rekindle the roster, they’ve let jordan go, and signed Kadin “Zineel” Zineel.
Zineel’s only prior RLCS experience came in the X Games Open with RBG Esports, in which the team beat XSET for their only win of the event. However, Zineel has been a key player in the bubble scene for years, and is widely expected to improve the roster. With jordan leaving for Shopify Rebellion, Zineel will be asked to step up and lead the new roster. Though Torrent missed out the Verizon 5G Ultra Cup by going 1-3 in the closed qualifier, their losses all came to teams that qualified for the main event, and they showed promise by keeping their matchups close. Going forward, the roster should be able to make a return to winning ways in the RLCS.
XSET: +rapid, -hockser
Though XSET currently sit 10th in the North American standings and have qualified for every event, they’re also making a roster move. hockser was Ghost Gaming’s primary target during this trade window, and his departure lead to Jalen “rapid” Parker filling the empty roster spot. rapid joins Jacob “JPow” Powell and Oliver “percy” Ortiz to form the starting roster, as XSET hopes to continue their winning ways and break through into the top seven in North America and the potential World Championship spot that comes with it.
rapid has found success previously with Shopify Rebellion, finishing ninth in the Winter Split standings. He also had several top eight finishes with his former roster in RLCS X, even reaching the Grand Finals on one occasion. He knows what it takes to win at this level, and XSET will be hoping he can elevate the roster into a true contender. However, the move is not paying any early dividends, as XSET labored to a 1-3 finish in the closed qualifier for the Verizon 5G Ultra Cup, missing out on an RLCS event for the first time this season.
Though the teams at the top of leaderboard are retaining their rosters, North America’s depth has gotten stronger than it has ever been before through these moves. There are only five spots available at the Spring Major, and a similar number available for the World Championship, so the competition will be fierce as these depth teams challenge the very best for spots in London and Dallas.
Europe
Team BDS: +Seikoo, -MaRc_By_8.
In the most high-profile move of the trade window, Fall Major champions Team BDS have added breakout superstar Enzo “Seikoo” Grondein, moving Marc “MaRc_By_8.” Domingo to the bench. Seikoo joins Alex “Extra” Paoli and Evan “M0nkey M00n” Rogez, potentially forming the best roster in Europe. Team BDS has dominated the RLCS since the Split format began in RLCS X, winning more events than any other team and winning four out of the five Majors, including the first international LAN in two years (the Fall Major in Stockholm, Sweden).
They currently sit atop the European standings, and have only finished worse than fourth twice this season. However, both of those poor results came in the last two events, and Team BDS’ high standards meant they needed a change. Surprisingly, as he was the Fall Major MVP, it was mostly MaRc_By_8. who had struggled most during these two events. Team BDS was unable to reach an agreement with any other team for the services of MaRc_By_8., so he moves to the bench as French superstar Seikoo joins the roster.
Seikoo has been one of the stories of this RLCS season, as he’s led Endpoint CeX to two regional wins and both Majors this season. He’s been among the scoring leaders in every event he’s participated in this season, and quickly joined the conversation for Europe’s best player. Team BDS has built a scary squad with this acquisition, and will be hoping to return to their winning ways, starting with the Dacia Spring Cup on May 6th.
Team Vitality: +Radosin, -Fairy Peak!
Before Team BDS took over Europe, it was Team Vitality who were dominating the RLCS. They were world champions in Season 7, before finishing runners-up to NRG Esports in Season 8. They finished second in Europe in Season 9 before winning the Spring Series, and won the RLCS X European Championships, a tournament meant to replace the World Championships on a regional basis. Since acquiring Yanis “Alpha54” Champenois, Team Vitality has been among the best in the world.
However, after a poor run of form in the RLCS 2021-22 season, including suffering the first-ever perfect sweep at an RLCS LAN and multiple 0-3 events, they’ve moved long-time star Victor “Fairy Peak!” Locquet to the bench and acquired Andrea “Radosin” Radovanović. Radosin joins Alpha54 and Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant to form Team Vitality’s new starting roster, one they hope can return them to the top of the RLCS. Fairy Peak! was an original member of the Team Vitality roster, and his tenure with them is among the longest any player has with an organization in RLCS history.
Radosin has found previous success with William’s Resolve, finishing as high as top six with the roster in the current season. Now, he’ll be counted upon to take Team Vitality even higher, and back to the Spring Major in London after missing out on Los Angeles. The roster competed together for the first time in the recent Dacia Spring Electric Tournament, finishing second overall and stringing together some impressive results against RLCS caliber-squads such as Karmine Corp and SMPR Esports.
Team Endpoint: +archie, -Seikoo
Losing a superstar of Seikoo’s caliber would be a blow to any organization, but Archie “archie” Pickthall is one of the few players in Europe who could claim to be on the same level. A renowned superstar, archie led SMPR Esports to a top four finish in the Fall Major, and they currently sit sixth in the European standings despite a poor Winter Split. Due to their poor performance lately and the void left on Endpoint by Seikoo, archie is joining the team on loan. He teams with Lucas “RelatingWave” and Otto “Metsanauris” Kaipiainen to bolster Europe’s current fourth place team, and the only roster besides Team Queso to win multiple European events this season.
Team Endpoint hopes that surrounding the young archie with two long-time RLCS veterans will foster an environment of success, and there won’t be any dropoff from losing Seikoo. They look as though they’ll be able to continue contending, both in Europe and internationally, thanks to their new English star.
Karmine Corp: +noly, -Stake
Karmine Corp began the season as a roster with high expectations, but they’ve struggled to meet those expectations thus far. Finishing no higher than fourth in any event, they haven’t reached either Major, finishing seventh in the European rankings in both the Fall and Winter splits. They currently sit ninth in the overall standings, but are still in striking distance of a potential berth in the World Championship Wildcard, depending both on their results and Europe’s results at the Spring Major. In an effort to make that happen, they decided to move on from Marc “Stake” Bosch, and signed Joseph “noly” Kidd from Guild Esports.
noly joins a talented roster with Maëllo “Aztral” Ernst and Amine “itachi” Benayachi, two mainstays of the RLCS over the past few seasons. Stake will move on to join William’s Resolve in place of Radosin, after initially being pegged for a substitute role with Karmine Corp. noly has experienced the success that Karmine Corp is after, having won a regional event in RLCS X and finishing fifth in the European Championships with Guild Esports. The roster made its debut in the Dacia Spring Electric Tournament, finishing fourth against tough competition.
William’s Resolve: +Stake, -Radosin
William’s Resolve currently sit 12th in the European standings, but have peaked as high as sixth in the Apollo Open. However, after Team Vitality signed Radosin from their roster, they needed a third to join Thiméo “saizen” Corcuff and Pierre “pryyme” Binet. They managed to fill that slot with Stake from Karmine Corp, rounding out the roster. Though they currently sit several places back of where they need to be to contend for the World Championship, Team Queso showed in the Winter Split that a team can quickly rocket up the standings of the RLCS. With the extra points available in the Spring Split compared to the previous two splits, and all of the roster movement in Europe, William’s Resolve can jump back into contention if they gel quickly.
All of these moves mean that only three of Europe’s top eight teams head into the Spring Split with the same trio that finished the Winter Split, as Winter Major qualifiers Team Queso, Dignitas, and Evil Geniuses are all sticking together. The race for spots in the Spring Major in London and the World Championship in Dallas is on, so don’t forget to follow Shift to stay up to date with all of the action in North America and Europe.
