RLCS X: Winter Split (Week 1): Round-The-World Recap
With South America yet to begin their Winter Split (the first Prime Series event gets started on November 21), all non-European and North American eyes were on Oceania's first Regional which finished on Sunday night.
As the Rocket League calendar returns to its jam-packed schedule for the next couple of months, here's everything that went on down under.
🔴REGISTRATIONS TO SAM CIRCUIT SPLIT 2 ARE OPEN!
— Rocket Street 🚀🏟 (@RocketStreet) November 13, 2020
🎉We know you've missed the action, so the next step in the road to RLCSX is here! The competition starts on Saturday 21st at 5pm BRT, and a few changes had been made since Split 1. Read it below!
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Ground Zero take the throne
When Mindfreak stunned the region to take home Oceania's Fall Major, the region's seemingly-dominant top three was left with some serious questions to answer. Roster changes happened fast, with Torsos and Julz swapping to Ground Zero and Cringe Society respectively. Renegades and, unsurprisingly, Mindfreak stuck together for the second split of the revamped season, but the two sides who made changes were the ones to benefit. Mindfreak were bested by the former Gaming Gamers side (now under Dire Wolves) and, although they reached the playoffs without losing a single series. Renegades lost their rematch against Ground Zero as Torsos got one back over his former team. On the other side of the bracket, Cringe Society secured a tie with Julz' ex-teammates with an incredibly clean run, losing just one series across the entire regional before the grand final.
The stage was set, and both sides were ready to put on a performance, but after a brief overtime in the first game, Ground Zero started to run away with it. Season 9 League Play MVP Amphis put in a heroic performance as the team in green took home their second Regional of the season. Not only that, but the win was also enough to take them to the top of the Oceanic rankings, with Mindfreak slipping down to fourth place as a result of their quarterfinal exit.
Renegades continue their non-RLCS dominance
It's a well-known fact that Renegades are the kings of the community events. Having taken home RLOceania's Grand Slam over the summer, they've continued their dominance outside of the Season X circuit in the RLO Masters. In fact, aside from forfeit losses, they're yet to lose a series in the competition (or David "Yumi_cheeseman" Lane's The League) since October 22. This time around, they took down Cringe Society in the grand final with a confident 4-2 victory. As they extend their lead at the top of the RLO Masters leaderboard, the question remains. When will they transfer their dominance to the biggest stage?
That's it for this week in the RLCS' smaller regions. Next time around, we'll have South America joining in on the action as their top sides look to make a splash and move towards those elusive World Championship spots.
As always, stay tuned to GGRecon for more RLCS X content.
Image via WSOE
