RLCS S9: EU Power Rankings - Week 0
After a rather barren offseason, the RLCS returns this weekend for its ninth season, with an expanded ten-team format giving us more League Play than ever before. This is the first in a regular series of Power Rankings for both EU and NA, with a new edition set to release every week.
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 - Godsmilla / ThO. / noly
The only team with any results to their name from the EU RLCS, Singularity head into the season as firm underdogs and will be fighting to simply avoid the auto-relegation spot come the end of the season. Their only result happens to be a 3-0 defeat at the hands of bubble side No Horizon in a nicecactus weekly. Although they were playing with their sub in that particular series, a team with two RLCS players should still be able to cruise through a bracket lacking any RLRS, and that defeat is incredibly concerning for the Danish organisation heading into the season.
#9 - Endpoint - Virtuoso / RelatingWave / Nachitow
After their surging debut season in which they took Singularity to make it into the RLCS, the former Discombobulators side - with the backing of British org Endpoint - are another team fighting to retain their Championship Series spot into the latter half of the year. Although their aggressive playstyle was able to push them past their Rival Series competition, the rookie trio will need to be at their best to escape the bottom three when League Play has concluded.
#8 - TSM - remkoe / Metsanauris / Mognus
Despite reuniting the historic Metsanauris-Mognus duo under a new banner, TSM finds itself down in eighth place. The departure of star player Alpha54 to Renault Vitality certainly hasn’t helped things, with the remaining pair from last season coming off of the back of an incredibly weak Season 8 campaign. On the other hand, it’s not all doom and gloom for the American organisation. One of the team’s main issues last season was their over-reliance on their French superstar. With Alpha now out of the picture, if the ELEAGUE champions can find their chemistry again they could find themselves further up the rankings before long, but it’s going to take a strong performance from all three players or they could end up in the Promotion Tournament once again.
#7 - FC Barcelona - Deevo / Ronaky / Flakes
In a move that baffled many, FC Barcelona decided to remove European MVP Bluey and replace him with relegated Complexity star Flakes. Known for his mechanical prowess and for his controversial car choices, Flakes could be the fire that this team needs to return to the World Championship after a disappointing finish to their Season 8 campaign. However, this move is a risky one, not just because of the man Barça has chosen to replace, and Deevo and Ronaky could be ruing their decision in eight weeks’ time.
#6 - AS Monaco - Tigreee / EyeIgnite / Extra
In a storyline remarkably similar to that of Savage! back in Season 6, AS Monaco had an incredible first season - losing just three League Play series’ en route to EyeIgnite and Tigreee’s return to the RLCS after a one-season absence. With Extra being touted by many as this year’s star rookie, AS Monaco aren’t a team to be messed with. Having said that, as with any other promoted side, questions will be asked about Monaco’s ability to compete with the very best, with EyeIgnite’s last series against a non-promoted RLCS team back at DreamHack Dallas last June.
#5 - Veloce Esports - FlamE / Freakii. / Kassio
Click to enlargeThe team that should never have been here have now proven that they, in fact, should have been here all along. After managing to sneak into the top two at the end of League Play, Veloce found themselves playing at the World Championship less than half a year after missing out on an RLCS spot in Season 7’s Promotion Tournament. In Madrid, they were the first team to lose to a South American trio at LAN but beat out both eUnited and Renegades to make it to the top six. This time around, Veloce will most likely struggle to make LAN again, with the four teams above them simply being too strong. Nevertheless, if there’s any team that can pull off the impossible then Veloce is certainly that team.
#4 - mousesports - kuxir97 / Speed / Scrub Killa
They were on the verge of the World Championship. They were this close. But mousesports were so far. Requiring just one win from their last four matches, they couldn’t close out a strong start to the season and missed out on LAN when they lost to Dignitas in the Regional Championship. Although many would have liked to see the roster stick together, the sudden availability of former champion Scrub Killa presented an opportunity too good to pass up on. Surely, with Scrub and kuxir’s LAN experience behind them, this is the season for mouz to secure their spot among Europe’s elite.
#3 - Reciprocity - Ferra / Chausette45 / fruity
Another trio to fall at their final hurdle, Reciprocity capped off an incredible year with a disastrous performance in Madrid, with their only series win coming against the Brazillian rookies The Three Sins. Unlike mousesports, Reciprocity has decided to stick it out, a decision that has done well for French side in the past. With two DreamHack championships under their belt, the Valencia champions will be hoping to truly deliver at the World Championship for the first time after three top-eight finishes in a row. They’re poised to pull it off as well - aside from the two World Championship finishes, Reciprocity consistently challenged the top teams in the world throughout 2019, and they’ll look to do the same again this year.
#2 - Dignitas - ViolentPanda / Yukeo / AztraL
Click to enlargeThe only unanimous decision of the Power Rankings Committee other than Singularity, Dignitas being the second-best team in Europe is a title that the side has earned after a strong end to 2019. After sneaking their way into the final LAN spot with an incredible Regional bracket run, Dignitas continued their strong form at Madrid. They were eventually stopped by Vitality but that semi-final easily could’ve gone the other way, with both sides pulling off some of the best Rocket League we’ve ever seen.
#1 - Renault Vitality - Fairy Peak / Kaydop / Alpha54
Well, talk about a power move. Three-time World Champion Kaydop continued his trend of playing with at least one new teammate every time he hasn’t won LAN, bringing on fellow Frenchman Alpha54 to replace the non-French Scrub Killa. By adding one of Europe’s most explosive talents, Vitality has certainly put themselves in a good position to return to the championship-winning ways and keep Kaydop’s six-season World Championship grand final streak going for yet another six months.
Here’s how the committee came to these rankings:
Click to enlargeImages via Zeebo Designs