RLCS X: Winter Split (Week 3) Standout Players Of The Week
The race to the first Winter Grand Series is approaching its climax, with Ellevens Esports and Chromax both vying for that top spot on 880 and 851 points respectively, and the first North American regional was always going to be a rough one after both NRG Esports and Spacestation Gaming fell to the lower bracket on the first night. I don’t think anyone expected the mess that followed, though...
Let’s look at the players who profited most from the two events in the Americas in the last week.
5. Jason “firstkiller” Corral - Rogue
Last weekend was the first time in Rogue’s three-and-a-half-year-long history in Rocket League that they have looked like tier-one material, and that was in no small part down to the man in the subheading, who took an impressively high 3.5 shots per game (fifth overall across the competition). Note throughout this article that the NA regional was in fact very low scoring - of the players who competed in week 2, firstkiller was the fifth-highest scorer with just 0.86 goals per game. Here’s just a sample from his collection of goals:
4. Gabriel “caard” Vieira Cardoso - Ellevens Esports
An embarrassing defeat against Dracon Esports was probably not part of the Ellevens’ plans heading into Phase 1 Prime Series 2, but they did end up falling to the lower bracket and receiving a disadvantageous first-round matchup in day two. It took a match loss against The Three Sins for Ellevens to finally get into their groove, but once they did, there was nothing stopping them. Caard’s four shots per game (the highest of any player who reached day two) kept his opposition locked in their half for extended periods of time, and when Ellevens Esports secured a rematch against The Three Sins, they made sure to end it swiftly.
3. Justin “jstn” Morales - NRG Esports
My week one standout player of the week has seemingly held his form. While Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon and Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda took turns in collapsing under the pressure, jstn made sure that NRG stayed afloat and secured a spot in the grand final against Team Envy. In that series, jstn equalled his teammates combined goal totals while also averaging more shots and saves per game than both GarrettG and Squishy.
- Read More - RLCS X Team Of The Week: Team Envy
2. Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver - Team Envy
In the end, though, Team Envy did crush the hopes and dreams of NRG fans, and in case you missed it, here’s the fantastic fake kickoff play that bailed out Team Envy with just a few seconds left in game seven:
Turbopolsa led his team in terms of shots and goals per game (3.4 and 0.9) by a sizable margin throughout the event, and even though Atomic was the star player for Team Envy in that grand final, someone had to get them there. In Envy’s other seven-game match against Ghost Gaming, Turbo topped the scoreboard in games one through five, securing six goals and five assists along the way.
1. Guilherme “Droppz” Siqueira - Chromax
My standout player for this week, and my first from a non-major region is Chromax’s Droppz. The team in red and white were not frontrunners heading into the event, but what is two-thirds of the old INTZ roster proved that they still have the talent needed to top South America. In the closely fought grand final between Chromax and Ellevens Droppz stole the show with his laser-like accuracy, scoring 1.2 goals per game (one and a half times as many as both his teammates combined). Congratulations Droppz!
SAM’s second Midweek Mayhem of the split takes place tonight, featuring both Chromax and Ellevens Esports, and the second iteration of The Grid NA takes place tonight as well. If you want to see your favourite European teams take to the pitch, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for Regional Event 2, but in the meantime, stay tuned for more news, interviews and features here at GGRecon!
Image via ZeeboDesigns