RLCS EU Power Rankings - Week 1

After last weekend’s matches, we’re back for another edition of the European power rankings. Ahead of League Play’s second round of games, here’s the second-ever GGRecon EU Power Rankings.

The GGRecon Power Rankings Committee:

• Ben “notblondemonkey” Hurst - /r/RocketLeagueEsports mod and writer for GGRecon, The Players’ Lobby, GinxTV and others
• John_aka_Alwayz - /r/RocketLeagueEsports mod and writer for GGRecon and Octane
• Sly - RLCS Statistician and lead writer for Octane
• Jake - Head of Operations for GGRecon & Rocket League fan.

#10 - Team Singularity (+0) - Godsmilla / ThO. / noly

Despite managing to take a game off of reigning EU champions Reciprocity, to say Singularity looked like strong contenders to take that series is ambitious, to say the least. Although they showed signs of promise thanks to some fast-paced demolition plays throughout the series, it felt like many of their touches just weren’t going anywhere. In particular, almost all of noly’s clears seemed to end up going straight to a Reciprocity player, resuming the pressure without buying his teammates any time to pick up some boost. The Danish organisation have a lot of work to do if they want to escape the bottom spot, let alone the relegation zone, come to the end of the season

#8= - Endpoint (+1) - Virtuoso / RelatingWave / Nachitow

Throughout their series against Vitality, Endpoint looked like they almost had what it took to take down last season’s runner-ups. Like Singularity, they had some promising plays thanks to the demolition-heavy playstyle that helped them secure promotion last season, but overall the British side felt just a little more consistent for the duration of the series, with Virtuoso impressing with some quality plays. With an easier series this Sunday against FC Barcelona, Endpoint fans have every reason to be confident that their side can take down the Catalonians despite their victory against Veloce.

#8= - TSM (+0) - remkoe / Metsanauris / Mognus

TSM headed into their series against Dignitas last week with everything to prove after many criticised their decision to bring on Mognus. However, they showed that they were capable of going toe-to-toe with Europe’s best in a tight five-game series. While they certainly started off slow, some fantastic passing plays and a couple of huge plays from Metsanauris have TSM fans hope that they could pull through and secure the Week 1 upset. Nevertheless, it was not to be as they were denied in the final game. Next up is Veloce, a team that, should they play how they did in the middle of last weekend’s series, TSM should be able to beat relatively convincingly

#7 - Veloce Esports (-2) - FlamE / Freakii. / Kassio

They were on the verge of greatness, but unfortunately, Veloce was unable to secure the reverse sweep against FC Barcelona as they fell in game five. Although they managed to take two games, many of the quarter-finalist’s goals were simply punishing FCB mistakes, with Freakii and co. struggling to create many clear-cut opportunities going forwards. Veloce will be hoping to get back on track against TSM this weekend, where another defeat would put their top-six hopes in jeopardy early on in the season.
 

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#6 - AS Monaco (+0) - Tigreee / EyeIgnite / Extra

Handed a tough first series against a hot new mousesports roster, AS Monaco showed that they’re here to stay with a strong performance against one of Europe’s best. Extra drew comparisons to Alpha’s debut season with a brilliant performance capped off by an incredible flip reset in the second game, completely dismantling mousesports’ new star Scrub. If they can play the way they did, expect Monaco to be challenging for a LAN spot in seven weeks’ time and another hotly-contested series against Dignitas on Sunday.

#5 - FC Barcelona (+2) - Deevo / Ronaky / Flakes

They actually went and did it. After an abysmal game five record last season, FC Barcelona have finally managed to close out a series after going the distance against Veloce Esports. Although they struggled at times in the series, especially once Veloce found some momentum, all three Barca players were excellent at punishing Veloce’s mistakes, with Deevo and Ronaky putting in nine goals between them. This weekend is another vital series for the Catalonian side, with a victory against Endpoint crucial to their hopes for reaching the higher spots in the league at the end of the season.

#4 - mousesports (+0) - kuxir97 / Speed / Scrub Killa

Despite being ranked the lowest of last season’s LAN teams, mousesports could easily have been ranked higher up, since none of these teams have played each other since last year. Having said that, with an important win against hotshots AS Monaco under their belts, mousesports can breathe easy after an intense series. Although they let three games go into overtime, mouz looked strong with new addition Scrub and they should be able to continue their form straight to the World Championship. However, a tough series this weekend against Reciprocity will see mousesports struggle to recreate last Sunday’s result unless they’re at the top of their game.

#2= - Reciprocity (+1) - Ferra / Chausette45 / fruity

The first of this week’s runner-ups, the Reciprocity squad were dealt a kinda hand by Psyonix as they faced off against a lacklustre Singularity side in their first series of the season. Simply put, they dominated the matchup, winning convincingly despite dropping the one game. Even though they were playing against the weakest side in the league, they showed signs of brilliance throughout and have proven to be more than capable of taking down mousesports this weekend.

#2= - Dignitas (+0) - ViolentPanda / Yukeo / AztraL

Unchanged from last week in second place is a Dignitas side who saw off a surprisingly strong TSM trio last weekend. A classic game five performance from ViolentPanda helped to finish off a tight series in which Dignitas looked strong for the most part. DIG fans have lots to look forward to in their next series against AS Monaco, a matchup that they are poised to win if they can reproduce their form from Week 1.

#1 - Vitality (+0) - Fairy Peak / Kaydop / Alpha

Well, well, well. Another week, another number one spot for Vitality. Although it seemed like Endpoint may have taken the series on another day, the Frenchmen performed admirably to defeat their British counterparts, preventing the fifth game with some strong performances all around. Despite a shaky debut from Alpha, who finished the series without a goal and an average score per game of nearly 200 lower than his teammates, Kaydop and Fairy Peak were more than ready to step up when things began to look dire. With what should be a routine series against Singularity coming up on Sunday, Vitality fans have a lot to be excited about.

 

Here’s how the committee came to these rankings:

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Images via ZeeboDesigns.