South America, Rocket League’s next major region

It’s nearly been a year since the season seven world championship in Newark, which means we’re approaching a year since South American teams graced the highest level of play. The South American branch of the RLCS, The Grand Series operated by Rocket Street has given South American players a platform to show off their talents to the world.

if you’ve neglected to watch the hyper-offensive region in action, you’ve been missing out. Therefore we’re here to give the rundown on some of the top sides currently in SAM and their stories.

Eroded, Sinful, yet Renewed

First up is the side with the biggest rollercoaster ride since the Grand Series’ inception. What is now known as Team Renewed originally started out as Erodium in RLCS season seven, with the roster of Caio, Valt & Math.

They would start league play electric, going undefeated through their first four games and ultimately topping the league with a 6-1 record with Math breaking records and the RL Fantasy scoring system, netting 1.5 goals per game as both his teammates averaged an assist per game.

However in the regional playoffs, a game seven overtime loss to Lowkey in the upper finals, and a 4-2 loss to INTZ right after left Erodium 3rd, and missing out on the world championship in devastating fashion.

Caio would depart immediately, leaving the team to pick up Matix and be seen as only SAM’s 4th best. Now under The Three Sins, their season eight campaign started out disastrous, going 1-3 in their first four matches and being at risk of not even making playoffs.

Amazingly, they would turn it around in huge fashion, winning their next three league play matches to make the playoffs, and win three more series in playoffs to not only make the world championship from the lower bracket, but win the South American Championship, redeeming themselves from the previous season’s failure. Unfortunately, their world championship run gave them the rough draw of Dignitas & Reciprocity but the rollercoaster wasn’t slowing down yet.

Since then, Math departed for RLCS season nine, as The Three Sins now with PJ slipped to 4th in South America, losing to Math’s new side Most Wanted in the regional championship, yet Math would rejoin in favour of Matix now, leaving Math, PJ & Valt to reunite the original pre-RLCS Three Sins under the Team Renewed banner.

They would make an immediate impact, placing second in the Rocket League Spring Series and being within one goal of taking the title. They seemed set to ascend even further, however, Valt has had to depart the roster due to personal issues. Whatever is next for Team Renewed remains to be seen, but you can be sure it won’t be a boring time following them.

The Legend of Lotus

Now under Avidity, Lotus is one of, if not the most iconic team in all of South America. The trio of Haberkamper, ForefoxD & Juan formed the roster in March of 2017, and would dominate the competition in the era before RLCS, most notably winning the Rocket Street SAM Championship LAN in the Summer of 2018.

Unfortunately, by the time RLCS came around, the competition had caught up and Lotus could only manage 4th place in the region. The difficult decision was made to part ways with Juan, ending one of the longest-standing three-man rosters in Rocket League history at over two years old.

Replacing him would be renaN, who had learned he was being kicked from his old team before attending the RLCS world championship. The new Lotus roster would ascend up the ranks quickly, winning the South American qualifier for Dreamhack Montreal and securing a trip to Canada.

At the LAN main event, they would make history, getting the first wins for SAM at international LANs, first by sweeping Afterthought 3-0, and then eliminating RLCS semi-finalists Rogue 3-1 before falling valiantly to Dignitas 3-1, one series from making the top eight playoffs. 

Once again established as one of the top sides domestically, Lotus seemed destined to qualify for the RLCS finals in Madrid. However back to back 4-2 losses to Lowkey Esports & The Three Sins left them on the outside looking in. Regardless, their good form earned the signature of Avidity Esports. Ironically, this past season would be when they finally came top two in South America, the season where the world championship would be cancelled due to COVID-19.

The misfortunate would not end there as Avidity only lost the $55K regional championship in a game seven overtime. Redemption would finally come in the Spring Series, however, as Avidity channelled the spirit of Lotus to have an undefeated run through the bracket, winning the Spring Series in a game seven overtime themselves as they now have their sights set on bigger and better things.

Ellevens Breaking Records

The trio of caard, CaioTG1 & Tander have set the standard for South American Rocket League, both domestically and internationally. Essentially being the top since the inception of the Grand Series, the former Lowkey roster has terrorized SAM, especially since cutting renaN for CaioTG1.

The Great 1 and King Caard have combined for one of the world’s scariest striking duos, combining for an average of 2.3 goals per game over the past two seasons. And don’t let the 3rd man go unnoticed, Captain Tander acts as the Torment to his Squishy & Gimmick, providing a stable backline and happily providing for his superstar teammates. And when Tander gets going on the attack, it might as well be GG.

South American Champions in season seven, runners-up in season eight and champions again, they are the only side to place in the top two all three seasons. Internationally, they’ve claimed arguably the strongest victory of any South American or Oceania side in 2019, brushing aside Veloce Esports 3-1 at the season eight finals in Madrid.

In the most recent season, despite no international finals, they pushed their domestic dominance to new heights, with an undefeated 7-0 league play record, all while going 21-4 in games, tieing the dynastic Dignitas from season six for the best RLCS league play ever. And despite a resurging Avidity, now signed by Ellevens they would complete the perfect season in a game seven overtime in the regional finals to remain the kings of South America.

The slip-up in Spring Series is in the past as recent minor events have had them besting Avidity every other time. Once unleashed, Ellevens Esports will take names internationally.