RLCS X Featured Teams: The first Stormtroopers to hit their mark?

“The goal is always to win. 1st place or nothing.” — ApparentlyJack

We often talk about the pop culture icons of Stormtroopers and them being synonymous with missing everything. However, the Rocket League team going by the same name is anything but that.

Featuring a roster of Dead-Monster (ITA), ApparentlyJack (ENG) and Polar (ENG) this team has been tearing up the off-season with an impressive set of results to boast about. Multiple NiceCactus victories and a 6th/7th place finish in the Fusion Main event (hosted by Johnnyboi_i) gave this team a reputation heading into RLCS X as strong challengers to the established teams.

In this past week’s RLCS X regional event for the Fall Split, they not only qualified for Stage One of the main event, but they also qualified for Stage Two after securing a 3–2 record during the initial Swiss-system bracket. A tough series against European powerhouse Oxygen Esports ended 3–1 in favour of Stormtroopers, sending them through to Stage Two where the road will only become more difficult. We caught up with the roster to ask them a few questions about the off-season, their goals for the season, and how they feel about the new format.

How did you guys end up together as the Stormtroopers, and what are your past experiences in Rocket League?

ApparentlyJack: Dead and Polar were trying out together and Dead convinced Polar to give me a chance. We scrimmaged a lot of very good teams together and we did well. I got my first taste of competitive Rocket League in January when I played at a LAN in France with Aenia and Joreuz. Shortly after, in February, I bought a PC and I began improving very quickly. I got my first team in Stormtroopers and placed 9th-12th in Spring Series qualifiers which I was very proud of. The first big achievement I had was when we made the Fusion tournament where people began to know more about me. I also placed 3–4th in Salt Mine 2 and continued to do well in 3s tournaments such as the Eurocup and RLCS X which is going on now.

Polar: My 3s career has been full of ups and downs for the last 3 years. The most notable point of the start of my career was in July 2017 where I teamed up with AztraL and SAKSEN and we won ESL and received the ESL Monthly Champion tag. We continued to compete until we fell short in the play-ins and split up. After we split, I then teamed up with Daswa and Paradinu under Team Singularity and got top 17 in play-ins. After we decided to part ways, Team WLF approached me. We played in the Renegade Cup and managed to make the finals and were a definite team to watch until we unfortunately split just before the RLRS play-ins was starting. Since then, I spent a long time with Rafro98 where we always fell a bit short of making it into RLRS. Only recently did I decide that I wanted to try my other options which brings me to the current Stormtroopers roster.

Dead-Monster: I did some tryouts with Jack and Polar separately around 5 months ago, I felt really good with both of them so we arranged a scrimmage together and played well. We then decided to stick together after some good results in tournaments. I started playing competitive around the end of 2018 with my first team Notorious Legion composed of Barist and Alex837, both Italian players. We didn’t do well in RLRS qualifiers but we won Car-Machia an Italian LAN and participated at Dreamhack Leipzig. After that, I made a new team with Espumita and Finex (still under Notorious Legion) in which we participated in Dreamhack Valencia and right after that we dropped Finex and picked up Kash. It didn’t go so well in the RLRS qualifiers so, we decided to part ways. My 1s career started when Saltmine got announced, I grinded the game mode so much to learn it as quickly as possible since I knew that I was gonna play against some really good 1s players and Iwon the second qualifier of the event and ended upin 5th-6th place, pretty good result for how long I’ve played the game mode for.

ApparentlyJack competing at a LAN.

Who are you looking forward to face and the least you are looking forward to face in RLCS X after making it to Stage 2 of the regional?

ApparentlyJack: I would love to play Team BDS, we lost to them in both Spring Series and the Eurocup in Game 5s and want revenge and hopefully get a win against them one day — it’s always a good series between us. We are confident we can beat anyone if we play at our best so, we don’t really have a team we are least looking forward to playing against. However if we had to pick, it would be Renault Vitality because they are probably the best team in the world right now.

Polar: I am definitely looking forward to hopefully facing Team BDS as we have played them twice in tournaments now and fell one game short and we’ve always had a good series against each other. I would say Renault Vitality as I acknowledge how skilled this team is looking at the moment and I’m not sure many teams want to face them at the moment

Dead-Monster: I am looking forward to play against Team BDS since every series we got against them we lost in a Game 5, they are one of the best teams in Europe and I want revenge. I don’t have any particular team that I wanna face the least. I think every team is a good learning experience and it doesn’t matter which team I’m against, I’m gonna give my best anyways.

Dead-Monster (middle) after winning a LAN with Notorious Legion.

What are your strengths and weaknesses in game, both as a team and as individuals?

ApparentlyJack: Our biggest strengths are probably our overall speed as a team and ability to make good solo plays when needed, however I also think we can be patient when needed. I’d say our biggest weakness is our experience at this level compared to some of the names we are coming up against.

Polar: Our team’s strength is, without a doubt, our speed and exceptional ground play. It’s no secret that’s an area I lack compared to Dead and Jack, but I have been learning and it’s becoming a lot more fluid in movement thanks to them. Our biggest weakness in my opinion is our lack of experience against these types of teams which gives them an edge over us.

Dead-Monster: In my opinion, our team’s strength is our speed and solo plays. Bumps and demos are an important part of our gameplay as well and our motivation to make it is exceptional. Our weakness is probably the lack of experience against RLCS teams which gives them an edge over us.

What are your goals or aim for this split and RLCS X in general?

ApparentlyJack: The goal is always to win. 1st place or nothing.

How do you feel about this new Circuit style format, being a team not originally in past RLEsports formats like the RLCS/RLRS?

Stormtroopers: We love the new RLCS X format. It gives an amazing chance for the bubble scene and new upcoming players to show their potential. Some pros would become complacent when they get near the top with the old RLCS format, and I think that the bubble scene has had a bigger drive and desire to be at the top than some of the pro scene. This new format really gives us all a chance and rewards consistency instead of one day pop-offs.

Polar (left) after winning a EPICLAN with Buzzkill.

Between, RLCS, The Grid, and The Field, there is a lot of Rocket League going on to participate in. How do you plan to manage all these events? Is there any fear of burnout sometime down the line?

ApparentlyJack: I’m an extremely competitive person, I want to be the best at everything I do. I’ve only had a small taste of competitive Rocket League and I can’t get enough of it. I will have no issue competing in all of these tournaments, the more the better! Managing these events could be difficult at first since it’s all new to us however, experience in doing it will make it easier over time, I think we will handle it just fine.

Polar: I enjoy playing competitively no matter what and the only time I fear I will burn out are the times where I do not give myself a sufficient break from playing which has become a lot more apparent to me now. I know how to organise my time with the game and know when I need to take some time to rest and not ruin my momentum in learning. I’m extremely excited to compete in everything possible and I have no shadow of a doubt that I will not want to play due to their being too much to participate in.

Dead-Monster: I enjoy playing competitive with my team so much that it doesn’t matter how many hours I play, I will never get burnt out.

Any shout outs you guys want to give?

ApparentlyJack: I want to shout out Boyan and the rest of the staff at Rocket Baguette. The work they’ve done for the European bubble scene for many years is unmatched, nobody does it better than them. From the minute I met Boyan, I could truly see his passion for what he does and excitement to be involved, he’s extremely hard working, just like the rest of the Rocket Baguette team. I wouldn’t be competing if they didn’t hold their Rising Stars tournament. I would also like to shoutout Johnnyboi for the recent tournaments, they’ve been amazing and you know he will do a good job with whatever he does, whether that’s casting or handling the tournaments.

Polar: I want to shout out DannyBoy, he has been an amazing friend and even life coach and continues to support me in whatever I do, I will always wish the best for him. I would also like to shout out Kash, Rafro, Clean, and Noah, all four of these people have been my closest friends and inspirations within the last 2 years and have motivated me to keep doing what I love. I’ve learnt an incredible amount from them and I’ve always had their continued support night and day, I will always wish the absolute best for them.

Dead-Monster: I want to shout out Notorious Legion for the support that they gave me for a while and to all the best friends that I met through this journey like Barist, Alex837, and Sorius.

Thanks to Polar, Jack, and Dead-Monster for taking time out of their day to do this interview.

Author(s):
Achilles — @achilles_xf
Dion — @dionginge