Codename: COVERT Storylines To Keep An Eye On
Dazerin’s $9,000 tournament is set to play host to an exciting week of matches.
The first of June and July’s Psyonix-backed community tournaments, Dazerin’ Codename: COVERT get underway on Monday with the first day of its qualifiers. The sixteen-team event is the first time we’ve been able to see the North American rosters in action since the Spring Series concluded over a month ago and there’s a lot to look forward to.
Can anyone stop G2 Esports?
Heading into 2020, G2 Esports’ form was, to put it bluntly, horrendous. Despite being able to hold onto their RLCS spots, their 2-5 League Play season was the worst showing we’d ever seen from a side that had reached the grand final of the previous season’s World Championship. However, once their Season 9 campaign got underway things just got better and better for Chicago and co. as they went 6-3 before edging their way past NRG Esports to secure a regional championship final against Spacestation Gaming. Searching for their first regional title in almost two years, they absolutely decimated AxB’s side, conceding just two goals as they swept their way to the title.
And they didn’t stop there.
Click to enlargeHaving taken the final two qualifiers for the ASTRONAUTS Star Circuit Season 1 Finals, G2 continued their strong form into Beyond’s flagship event, taking the whole tournament after denying Vanguard’s lower-bracket run. The Spring Series followed and, surprise surprise, the Spanish organisation won themselves another title. With ESPN fans glued into the wonders of indoor, G2 demolished NRG as they swept their way to a fifth tournament victory in a row. Aside from the first half of their ASTRONAUTS tie against the now-Envy roster, it’s been 76 days since G2’s last 3v3 defeat at the hands of Spacestation Gaming. So the question remains, can anyone stop them? Although they are the current world champions, NRG’s form has been dismal this year as they fell short of G2’s success. Rizzo and his teammates appear to have found Spacestation’s number, taking home their last three matchups. It’s going to take something huge to prevent G2 from making it six in a row.
How will Envy fare with Retals?
Legendary esports organisation Envy came out of nowhere when they announced their return to Rocket League two years after releasing their previous European roster. Although the trio was fresh from its first top-four regional finish since 2017, a disappointing 5-6th placement in the Spring Series led to retals joining the team in place of Allushin as a stand-in. After showing some promise in the 3v3 portion of Johnnyboi_i’s event, Atomic and mist have chosen to stick with the Pittsburgh Knights star for Codename: COVERT.
Click to enlargeIt’s clear how this move could work well. Not only do retals and mist have a history together after their incredible DreamHack Montreal and Season 8 World Championship runs, but retals and Atomic’s combined offensive prowess could prove to be one of North America’s deadliest duos. This could be the move that finally pushes this lineup into the upper echelons of the NA RLCS.
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Can the Soniqs rescue their form?
The Susquehanna Soniqs came racing out of the blocks when they soared to a 5-1 record six weeks into League Play. However, since then their form has taken a turn for the worse. Since their 3-1 victory over Flight, they’ve lost half of their 24 subsequent matchups including a disastrous 0-8 showing in the North American Regional Championship.
Although a roster move seems unlikely given Satthew and Shock’s previous experiences, the Soniqs need to rediscover the magic that kicked off their RLCS season quickly. Of those 12 tournament defeats, 4 were against sides outside of the RLCS and those matchups will start to become all-the-more frequent unless they’re able to arrest their quick descent down the North American rankings. Who knows, we may even see hard carry Spoodah make his way onto the starting roster.
With matches kicking off on Monday, it’s sure to be an exciting week of Rocket League action. You can catch all of the matches over on Dazerin’s Twitch channel and you’ll find more coverage of the event on GGRecon.
Image via DreamHack