The Case For And Against Every Worlds Contender

Moist Esports’ Rise - *Photo Courtesy of Psyonix*

The 2022 RLCS World Championship is only a couple of weeks away, and is primed to be the most competitive finale in Rocket League history. Gone are the days where there are only a few powerhouses from NA and EU that are seen as serious contenders; nearly all of the auto-qualified teams, along with a few rosters from the Wild Card, can realistically run the table and have their names etched into Champions Field. Let’s take a look at these teams, and weigh the positive and negative cases for their chances at Dickies Arena.

The Wild Card Contenders: Spacestation Gaming, Karmine Corp, & Version1

Spacestation Gaming’s retals - *Photo Courtesy of Psyonix*

The Case For: All of these teams rebounded from slow starts to emerge as part of the RLCS elite in the later stages of the season, and have proven they can keep up with anyone in the world on any given day. Additionally, all three of these teams seem to play better on LAN, with players like Arsenal, Aztral, and Comm using the environment to their advantage like almost no one else. If any one of them catches fire in the Wild Card and carries that momentum into the Main Event, they absolutely have the talent, teamwork, and mental strength to vault them all the way to the title.

The Case Against: There hasn’t been a point in the season where any of these teams were considered the best, or even arguably the best, in the world. They’ve struggled to beat the teams that end up going the distance in previous Majors; take SSG for example, whose only four losses on LAN this season were by the hands of the three teams that have made Major finals. None of these teams have proven to be able to get over the hump, and if they struggle in the Wild Card and end up playing a top team in round 1 of groups, they could be headed for an early exit with the pressure of having to win five straight best-of-sevens with no second chances if they drop to lowers. It’s tough to bet on teams with a ceiling, which may be the case for all three rosters.

FURIA

The Case For: FURIA will be riding off a wave of confidence after taking home the most lucrative 1st place finish ever at Gamers8 in Ridayh, in which they reverse-swept tourney favorite Falcons in the semi-final. Yanxnz has made a serious case for best-in-world status with his performance in the last three LAN events, and even if he isn’t the clear #1, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t think he’s “best player on a title team” calibre at this point in his career. Their chemistry looks the best it ever has, and if they can continue to play 3v3 like they did in Ridayh, nobody will want to face them on the big stage.

The Case Against: While FURIA has technically gotten “over the hump” in ways the previous Wild Card teams haven’t, it was in a different format. They’ve gone out top 6 in back-to-back Majors, and haven’t shown that they can push to the final day and beyond in a pure 3v3 format. On top of that, FURIA will be in the same group as Spring Major winner Moist and runner-up Falcons, meaning that they’ll have to play one of them in the upper bracket qualifier and may be sent to a do-or-die lower bracket match to make the playoffs against another elite team. Simply put, they may have been “bracketed”, and it could spell the end of their Cinderella season on LAN.

Team Falcons

The Case For: The Rocket League community has always known that Falcons were good. But from the moment they took the pitch in London, any doubts surrounding the MENA titans were erased. They blitzed the entire world, rampaging into the grand final in a series of stomps and clutches before finally being halted by Moist. They looked faster and more mechanical than the entire field, and despite their seventh-seeded placement to start the tournament, Falcons are likely one of the favorites to win it all. If they can make the small adjustments that led to them falling just short of the Spring Major title, they could easily end up on top in Texas.

The Case Against: In both the Spring Major and Gamers8, Falcons’ biggest issue didn’t seem to be a playstyle or skill issue; it was their mental toughness. They failed to rebound after dropping the first series 4-3 to Moist in London, and couldn’t even muster up one win in the bracket reset. They went out in a similarly heartbreaking fashion in Ridayh, reverse swept by FURIA. There isn’t an argument about whether Falcons are good enough to win; it’s a matter of if they have the guts to rebound from tough losses and tank the other team’s heaviest punches. They’ve shown that to be their biggest weakness, and will likely be the cause of elimination should they drop out at Worlds.

Endpoint CEX

The Case For: The case for Endpoint to win the World Championship basically starts and ends with all three of their players performing at the highest level they ever have throughout the entirety of the tournament. That goes especially for Archie, who would have to return to best-in-the-world conversations as he did in the Fall Major and throughout RLCS X. Without an otherworldly performance from the team, there’s no realistic chance they make it through this bracket.

The Case Against: Endpoint is the main event team that is least likely to make a deep run, as they’ve struggled in the last three LAN events they’ve played. Their two regional wins came with a different roster and the latest was nearly eight months ago, as they’ve long faded from EU elite status. They haven’t shown that they can keep up with any of the tournament’s top teams, and will likely be heading for an early exit. Simply put, both form and results point to a near-zero chance that Endpoint even makes the playoffs, let alone wins the entire tournament.

Team BDS

The Case For: Besides their abhorrent performance at the Spring Major, BDS has been a consensus top-2 team in Europe and top-3 team in the world since the dawn of the circuit format in 2020. They’ve got three regionals and a major win under their belt in ‘21-’22, and the addition of Seikoo had them looking like the best team in the world through much of the Spring Split. They sport two of the world’s ten best players in Seikoo and Monkey M00n, and another top-25 player in Extra. If they can figure out what exactly caused the disaster at the Copperbox Arena, they should be right back to their previous domination and considered the favorites to win the entire tournament.

The Case Against: Many people have pointed to BDS’ success in the online portion of the Spring Split being a case of Moist taking things less seriously in the first two tournaments of the season, along with their sheer talent overwhelming non-LAN teams early in the bracket. For all we know, this version of BDS can’t handle top rosters, and the chaos that former member Marc_by_8 brought to the pitch was the key to unlocking Extra and Monkey M00n’s best selves. If this is true, BDS will likely see a repeat of the Spring Major and flame out early.

Moist Esports

The Case For: Since exploding onto the radar of every RLCS fan in the Winter Split under the Team Queso banner, Moist Esports has looked like a juggernaut. They’re made up of three incredibly talented players who fit perfectly together, and back-to-back Major finals with a win in London have proven that they’re the clear-cut favorite going into Texas. Moist has the easiest case to make because they simply have to play as well as they did the last time we saw them in order to win again; at their best, no team has proven they can consistently keep up with the mechanics, speed, and teamplay that they bring to the field.

The Case Against: As good as Moist have been on LAN, there’s undoubtedly an element of luck that has allowed them to eke out as many game 7 victories as they have. That’s not a knock against them; you can argue that in every sport, physical or virtual, luck plays a part in winning a championship. But if Daniel approaches the ball differently, Retals soft cheats, or Arsenal decides to stay home instead of going for boost, we may be talking about Spacestation as your Spring Major champions. That’s how close they’ve gotten to elimination in the past. Should Moist continue to let as many series as they do go the distance, there will inevitably be a game that slips through their fingers. Learning how to close a series early (and not drop into lowers at the start of the tournament) will be the key for Moist to finish their magical season at the top.

The General NRG

The Case For: NRG arrives at Worlds with easily the most experienced roster, as their entire roster is made up of former champions. While they haven’t looked right since the Winter Major, they were still an elite team for half of the season, and their inability to reach the Spring Major may have been a blessing in disguise; it gave the team over a month to figure out the issues they were having and perfect whatever playstyle they’re going with (for many fans, that hopefully comes with more demos). NRG still has three of the best players to ever touch the game, and if they can come together and regain, we could see Rocket League’s marquee team repeating after a three-year wait.

The Case Against: It’s ironic given that two of NRG’s players are also seen as major innovators, but The General may be past their prime. The players who once looked up to Garrett, Squishy, and JSTN are now playing alongside them in the pros, and many have surpassed the superstar trio in terms of mechanics. With the Spring and Winter Majors both showing how essential elite mechanical skill has become in the RLCS, only JSTN can claim to still be on the same level as players like TRK511, Yanxnz, or Joyo. Without the skill necessary to compete, the window for another World Championship will be closed.

FaZe Clan

The Case For: Firstkiller. The greatest hard-carry Rocket League has seen since a young JSTN is virtually unbeatable when he’s peaking, capable of 1v3ing the best teams in the world. He’s not alone, though; when human highlight reel Ayyjayy and the forever-dependable Sypical are feeding off one another, FaZe looks unbeatable, a relentless barrage of offense that smothers teams until they’re equally void of boost and morale. This version of FaZe has shown up at random times throughout the year; the Swiss stage of the Fall Major, days 3 and 4 of the Winter Major, Spring Regional 3. If they’re able to bring that version of themselves to every day of Worlds, there isn’t a 3-man combination in the world that can stop them.

The Case Against: The reason that FaZe can be so good, and yet has won so infrequently, is because of their inconsistency. Ayyjayy and Sypical have struggled to fit together, and no team at Worlds goes through peaks and valleys as aggressively as FaZe does. Part of that has to do with the lack of a true IGL-style personality on the team, though Firstkiller has done an admirable job trying to mould himself into that as of late. You can’t predict what FaZe will show up at any given event, the world-beating one or the underwhelming one. In a tournament where only the best of the best will be left standing, that inconsistency will likely be what sends them home.

G2 Esports

*First Touch* analyst and G2 Superfan Tbates - *Photo Courtesy of Psyonix*

The Case For: From the second region of the Winter Split to the Spring Major, G2 looked like the best team in the world. Chicago, JKnaps and Atomic have the best resume of any roster going into the tournament, and a World Championship would catapult them into the ranks of the greatest teams ever assembled. Sure, their London performance left a lot to be desired. They’ve already proven they can bounce back. Letting recency bias get in the way of the most consistently elite roster in all of the ‘21/’22 season would be a mistake. If you’re going to bet on any North American team to hoist the trophy, it has to be the one that’s shown they have the individual skill, chemistry, clutch-factor, and mental to pull it off.

The Case Against: The largest concern that G2 fans should have is that the rest of the world has figured them out. Dropping out of the Spring Major via two reverse sweeps looks fixable at the surface, but it can also mean that teams are adapting to their aggressive playstyle and punishing them as a result. Historically, that’s always been the issue for G2; they send the house too much and end up breaking instead of bending on the defensive end. Should those issues come back to bite them for a second time, they’ll be in the player viewing section earlier than anyone would have predicted a few months ago.

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