Can Guild Challenge BDS To The Throne?
Team BDS may have been dominating European Rocket League throughout RLCS Season X, but they’re not the only team who is playing to be at the top. Guild Esports stepped up their game for the Winter Major, and it’s been going great ever since. Can they challenge BDS to the throne?
For the longest time during the reign of Team BDS, Team Vitality has been playing second fiddle in Europe. They manage to do well against any other team in EU, but BDS always has the better of them. In 2021, BDS defeated Vitality in seven out of the eight times they met. Perhaps Guild can do what Vitality can’t, and seriously threaten the BDS supremacy.
For Joseph "noly" Kidd, it’s clear: he wants to be known as the best in the game, and he’s prepared to work hard for it. Together with Thomas "ThO." Binkhorst and RLCS veteran David "Deevo" Morrow, noly is eager to take down any European competition - and American competition too, if he gets the chance. On the official Rocket League Twitch channel, noly got asked where he places his team in Europe. He was quick to answer: “I think we’re shared first with BDS.”
“After winning Regional 3 in the Spring Split, after putting in six, seven, eight hours a day, it was definitely a lot of hard work, and burnouts were due to happen. With Guild behind us, providing us with people for our mental health, and nutritionists, and stuff like that, it made things a lot easier. Securing our spot in the championship definitely felt unreal. I’ve always wanted to be known as one of the best, and I think we’ve proved it. I feel like, within Guild, it’s my job to keep the team either calm, or build up energy. When it comes to Grand Finals, they aren’t usually the places where we feel the most pressure. It tends to be in the semi-finals.”
After taking Regional 3, Guild’s spirits were high, and they were more determined to take the Spring Major. Again, they faced off against BDS in the semi-finals. This time, BDS got the better of them, and won the series four games to two.
Meanwhile, noly’s confidence has started new rivalries outside of Europe too. When noly appeared as a guest on the official Rocket League podcast First Touch, he shared his thoughts on how good NA actually is. Even though Guild isn’t currently the best team in EU, he felt like he can take on the top teams from NA. With this trash talk, he’s been compared to Slater "retals" Thomas; they can both come across as cocky, but they’ve got the plays to back it up.
This talk from ‘EU retals’ has led RLCS caster John "Johnnyboi_i" MacDonald to organise a show match between Guild and an American all-star roster with Jason "Firstkiller" Corral, Reed "Chicago" Wilen, and retals. Guild won this battle. Even though it doesn’t take much to win a transatlantic show match against a random roster, noly explained that it still felt good to come out on top.
“It was definitely more rewarding beating First and friends 4-1, compared to Aether in the Grand Finals. In the Regional, I felt like the semi-final against BDS was the actual final. When playing First and friends, it was more of a personal issue between myself and NA.”
In June, we’ll see Guild in action at the European Championships, which replace the cancelled World Championships. This time, Guild and BDS can’t meet in the semi-finals, so if it comes to a clash again, it needs to be fought out in the Grand Finals.
When Guild made it to fourth place in the Winter Major, they were nothing more than a dark horse to watch. Now, they’ve gone from good to great, and they’re ready to pounce any time BDS shows a weakness.
Image via Guild Esports