The New BDS, Furia's Kryptonite, And Other Takeaways From This Week's RLCS

Before we start this week’s takeaways, we’d like to offer our condolences to ApparentlyJack, who had a good friend pass away this weekend. Jack is one of the RLCS’ brightest stars, but even if he wasn’t, nobody deserves to lose a friend, and nobody as young as Jack’s friend should have their life cut short. We wish the best for Jack, his friend’s family, as well as the rest of his inner circle.

Europe Looks Tougher Than Ever

Evil Geniuses’ Rizex45 — *Photo courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns*

We talked about the improved parity in North America last week, and it almost seems like Europe took it as a challenge. The Dacia Cup saw a predictable final- BDS versus Moist- but almost everything else was chaos. In their very first regional together, Solary looked like a three-man match made in heaven, beating two Winter Major teams and only falling to Moist en route to a top 3 finish. Vitality and Karmine Corp, two teams that had title aspirations preseason before struggling through much of the season, made roster changes that resulted in their best showings since the Fall.

Of the seven teams that Europe has sent to LAN during the ‘21-’22 season, only three made it to the top 6. The most shocking of those eliminations was Evil Geniuses, who made it all the way to the top 8 in LA. EG didn’t record a single series win in the Dacia Spring Cup, a shock to many who thought they looked like a consistent contender in the region. In an esport where multiple regions are dominated by just a few teams, Europe’s biggest draw to viewers is the fact that you never if your favourite team will make a run to the final or be bounced in the first round. Look forward to another two regionals filled with upsets, Cinderella runs, and general confusion.

Tokyo Verdy Gets Their Revenge

When APAC was officially announced as an RLCS region at the beginning of the season, it was assumed that Toyko Verdy, who employed the region’s most notable player in ReaLize, would represent them in each Major. That rang true for the fall, but Verdy failed to reach Los Angeles in the Winter after falling in a bracket reset to upstart roster Detonator. In the upper final of this past APAC North Regional, it seemed like Detonator had once again proved their supremacy, coming back down 3-2 in the upper finals to send Verdy to the losers’ bracket. But just as Detonator flipped the script in the LAN qualifier tournament, Verdy stomped any idea that there was a new top dog in the region in a 4-1, 4-0 grand finals domination. With the Gaimin Gladiators thoroughly dominating APAC South, losing just their first series of the season last weekend, the race for Asia’s other Worlds spot will most likely be determined by whether Verdy or Detonator grabs onto that precious Spring Major spot. Neither are going down without a fight.

Team Liquid Might Be The Future

Team Liquid’s AcroniK - *Photo Courtesy of Team Liquid*

It’s rare to see an org as large and successful as Team Liquid spend as much time toiling in the bubble scene of any esport as long as they have in Rocket League. After failing in RLCS X with a veteran lineup, Liquid hedged all their bets on a team composed of 16-year-old AcroniK alongside now 15-year-olds Oski and Atow, two players who weren’t even old enough to compete in the RLCS when the season began.

The general consensus around the team has always been that they were freakishly young and talented, similar to the Moist Esports roster, but questions were raised after they failed to reach the main event in their first ever regional together last split. All the talk about a waste of time on Liquid’s end should be silent. The team looked incredible in the Dacia Cup, besting Evil Geniuses in round 1 and making it all the way to the top 8. It’s clear that the Liquid roster outside of AcroniK is still feeling out the RLCS, and for them to make it that far off pure skill should put the rest of the region on notice. Don’t be surprised if RLCS ‘22-’23 finds them travelling to more than a few LANs.

FURIA’s Kryptonite Has Emerged

Furia’s yanxnz - *Photo Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns*

Opinions surrounding SAM giants FURIA had never been higher following their performance at the Winter Major, where they secured the highest placing ever for a South American team. After a thorough dismantling of their first two opponents and a 3-0 lead in their Upper Semi-Finals match in last weekend’s regional, it seemed that the momentum they’d created from their LA run had carried over smoothly. Then, disaster. KRU Esports reverse swept FURIA, stopping them in their tracks and sending them into the lower bracket.

That’s just a hiccup, right? Surely no roster besides Team Secret could beat FURIA twice in a regional. Wrong. KRU thwarted FURIA again in the lower finals, this time in a gentlemen’s sweep, before losing to Secret for the second time themselves in the grand final. For a team that looked dominant otherwise, it was shocking to see how KRU posed such a matchup nightmare for them. FURIA had an especially tough time holding drufinho, who posted the highest points average and Octane.gg rating for both teams in both matchups. It’ll be interesting to see how KRU handles FURIA in future regionals, and how the Kings of SAM adjust in order to find a way to get past them.

BDS With Seikoo Looks Unfair

Spacestation Gaming’s Arsenal and Team BDS - *Photo Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns*

When BDS made the decision to drop Marc_By_8 at the end of the Winter Split, there was a significant amount of backlash. Fans were left wondering how one bad split, directly following a Major win and five splits where they were considered, at worst, the world’s third best team, could result in someone losing their roster spot. After the Dacia Cup, however, there should be no doubting it; when you have the chance to add a player like Seikoo to your roster, you do it and figure everything else out later.

BDS now employs two consensus top-5 players, and all three of their members could be the centrepiece to a LAN-qualifying team. They looked completely unstoppable throughout the first three rounds, dropping only three games total. When they finally ran into Moist in the winners’ finals, they did something that hadn’t happened in months; BDS beat them in a game 7.

When Moist beat Solary to get a second chance at BDS in the grand finals, the full-French squad made it clear that they were back in classic form with a clean 4-0 sweep of the world’s hottest roster. The blueprint to beat Endpoint was always to make Seikoo’s teammates beat you, and try to mitigate his offensive output as much as possible. That plan won’t work anymore. Teams will have to find a way to figure out a strategy to stop them, and until then, expect pure dominance from BDS.

Moist Esports Fully Embraces the RLCS

Moist Esports Rocket League - *Photo Courtesy of Moist Esports*

Moist Esports, like 100 Thieves, is part of a new generation of esports organizations in which the names that founded them create massive fanbases before they announce a single roster. The massive cult following that Moist founder cr1tikal holds was a welcome addition to the RLCS when they signed the former Queso roster, and fans were treated to the entirety of the Dacia Cup due to Moist making it all the way to the grand final. Moist’s official watch party on the final day of the event brought in 384,000 unique viewers, not far off of the official broadcasts’ 518,000 viewers. It was entertaining throughout its entirety and has likely opened up thousands of new eyes to the thrill of supporting a Rocket League team.

Cr1tikal is appearing on First Touch this week, something that no org founder has ever done. He’s expressed his love for Rocket League esports in the past, and for a game that has been around for almost a decade, his support will give it a breath of new life just as complaints about viewership have been resurfacing. With Moist in a prime position to make a run at the World Championship, expect them to have one of the biggest fanbases present in the crowd in Dallas.

Bonus: Someone made RLCS On A Hotspot

This isn’t conducive to anything that happened in the regionals, but the Pittsburgh Knights qualified for the next RLCS North American regional not just with a sub, but with a sub whose PC was connected to his phone’s hotspot. Wellace, thank you for what may be the craziest qualifying story we’ll hear all year.