Rocket League Observer

By Stax GEXCON This weekend, Rocket League took the stage once again on the east coast of the United States as GEXCon hosted a 3v3 tournament with a $2,500 USD prize pool . The tournament was played over two days at the Dulles Convention Center in Virginia, and the "Cleveland" team of Bork , A_Savvy_Seal , and RawGreg emerged victorious over " AlphaShot eSports " represented by Discreet , Fearless , and Ghost Gaming's Memory . If Cleveland's roster looks familiar, Bork and Savvy have been together since April 27, 2017 (795 days) under the names HYPE Gaming, Sol Esports , and more recently Triple Commit . Notable Results: "Stromboli" (Nick, Carbon, Andy) def. "Stockton University" (Dark, Geno, Large) 2-1 in the Winners Quarterfinal, then won the rematch 2-0 in the Losers Semifinal. AlphaShot eSports defeated Stromboli 3-1 in the Losers Final. Cleveland defeated Stromboli 3-0 in the Winners Semifinal. Cleveland defe...

By Stax With the conclusion of my third season of Rival Series, and this month marking four years since I first played the sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars, the thought occurred to me that I should reflect on what Rocket League has taught me. Surprisingly after all this time, hitting the ball is not one of those lessons. While I thought about this on my drive home tonight, I realized this would be more complicated than I originally imagined. And so I've sat down, started typing without any real plan or structure, and decided to let the words fall as they may. My first thought was about what makes Rocket League special. What makes this game so fun to play, no matter how good you are or aspire to be? Unlike a lot of games out there, Rocket League is simple enough to cater to a casual audience that just wants to play a fun and unique game, while also catering to more skilled players who aspire to place themselves among the best in the world. The skill ceil...

By Stax Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks once said "it's a beautiful day for a ballgame... Let's play two!" In week four of the North American Rival Series , all six teams in action will do exactly that. Birds and the Beez are back on the schedule after having a bye last week, they face The D00ds and Upper90 Esports . Those opponents sport a combined record of 2-7. The Peeps and RBG Esports face doubleheaders that include a matchup against each other. Outside of the head-to-head showdown RBG will take on Pittsburgh Embers , while The Peeps play The D00ds. The Pittsburgh Embers will have Friday off before battling Upper90 and RBG on Saturday's Rival Esports stream . BIRDS AND THE BEEZ (4-0) vs. THE D00DS (1-3) Last week must have felt like a nightmare with no end for The D00ds. Coming into the week at 1-1 (4-4), The D00ds were looking to climb the standings and establish themselves as a contender for the Promotion Tournament . But after scoring only fo...

By Stax For the past two weeks, ZeNoMoon has seen no action at all in the European Rival Series . The play-in qualifier currently sits at 0-2, with losses to Veloce Esports and Method . This weekend ZeNoMoon faces The Rightovers in the first match of the day, followed by a doubleheader on the Rival Esports stream featuring ARG and Vikings . Going into the penultimate weekend of league play, there are only two certainties: Veloce has secured no worse than second place, which guarantees a spot in the Promotion Tournament . Veloce will play next month for a shot at returning to the Rocket League Championship Series . The other thing we know is that Method is mathematically eliminated from top 4 contention, meaning the team will not be able to reserve its spot for next season. This is because five teams already have two wins on the season, and two of them (Vikings, compLexity ) play each other in the final week. Method has the week off, sitting at 1-5. THE RIGHTOVERS (1-3) vs. ZEN...

By Stax With front-running Birds and the Beez idle this week, the spotlight will shine on the five teams who have only won a single series thus far. Among them, a pair of teams at 1-2 that many thought would be in the hunt for first or second, and a place in the Promotion Tournament at the end of the season. Afterthought and The Peeps will finish Friday's Rival Series action in a match that will likely resign the loser to setting its sights on the top four for a free pass into next season. Afterthought (1-2) vs. The Peeps (1-2) While Afterthought had to use a sub for the first game of its series last Saturday against Plot Twist, that one game went their way. It was the final two games of the series, where Plot Twist outscored Afterthought by a total score of 8-1, that proved to be the real problem. While Afterthought has an even 7-7 record in games this season, three of those losses have come by 3 goals or more - the other coming against Birds and the Beez on opening day. Tha...

By Stax At the halfway point of the third week of Rival Series , half of the drama in Europe could be resolved. Veloce Esports faced a front-loaded schedule facing other top teams such as compLexity and Vikings , and has run the table so far with a 5-0 record in the first two weeks. A sixth win against play-in qualifiers ARG (2-1) would guarantee no worse than a 6-1 record. With Vikings (1-1) and compLexity (2-1) still to face each other at the end of the season it would guarantee no worse than a second place finish, and spot in the Promotion Tournament and a shot at returning to the Rocket League Championship Series . Veloce Esports (5-0) vs. ARG (2-1) Veloce's match against ARG is its only match this weekend, and is up second on the schedule. It follows a grueling second week where Veloce had to face both Vikings and compLexity, then play on the Rival Esports stream later on that same day against Method . In all, Veloce played 14 games of Rocket League and 6:05 worth of o...

By Stax Many of the teams that remain undefeated in the four competitive regions of the Rocket League Championship Series are no surprise to anyone. You have North America's "big three" of NRG, G2, and Cloud9; Chiefs Esports Club is yet to drop a game in two matches in Oceania; and Erodium isn't surprising anybody with its 4-0 record. RLCS EUROPE Renault Vitality on the other hand has shocked the world not just by winning, but by dominating the competition. Vitality entered the third week of RLCS play riding a 7-game winning streak. Yes, 7 games . After clinching a 3-1 win on opening day against PSG Esports, Vitality recorded jaw-dropping sweeps of FC Barcelona and Dignitas. Even more impressive, Vitality shut out Barcelona in all three games of the series and outscored its opponents 18-2 on the day. Vitality continued that run on Sunday despite stiff opposition from The Bricks and Team SoloMid. After a 2-minute overtime in game one, The Bricks slipped up. Vit...