What We’ve Learnt From The Rest Of The Community Tournaments
Taking place over the last month and a half, several community tournament organizers have been holding Psyonix-backed events as part of the developer’s Community Takeover. With twelve different tournaments reaching their conclusions and awarding over $200,000 in prize money, it’s been an incredible six weeks that has served as a tribute to what the Rocket League esports community can accomplish.
LATAM Championship - Brazil falls at last
Rocket Street’s LATAM Championship started during the first half of the community tournaments, with Infinite Shots taking home the much smaller North portion of the event. However, South America’s largest-ever non-RLCS event was what many were looking forward to. Following an exciting Swiss bracket (giving a glimpse into what RLCS Season X’s regional events will look like), six teams took to the field in the playoffs.
Despite being, on paper, the top two teams by far, Avidity Esports and Ellevens Esports struggled immensely. Avidity didn’t win a single game as eRa Eternity swept them out of the playoffs, while Ellevens (having barely made it into the playoffs at all thanks to technical issues earlier in the tournament) were taken down by True Neutral in the lower bracket final. It was True Neutral who would end up taking the grand final, getting revenge on a Team Renewed side who had knocked them down to the lower bracket one day prior. TN’s victory was incredibly important because it’s the first time in over four years of tournaments where a team not consisting entirely of Brazillian players has won a South American event. It seems like, at long last, SAM is no longer just a one-nation region.
The Kickoff - no upsets to be seen here
If the LATAM Championship was an upset madhouse, then APL Esports’ The Kickoff was, well, not that. In the Middle East, Sandrock Gaming lost just one game throughout the entire tournament as they cruised to the title with a 4-1 victory over 5Head in the grand final. At times it wasn’t easy, with Forest Hunters, The Kings eSports and the aforementioned 5Head all giving SRG a run for their money at various points, but Sandrock fans were never in doubt as Ahmad’s side strolled past the competition and took home $9,000. Asia was up next, with iXA coming into their group confident of a win. Whilst ReaLize’s side did take home the title, it certainly wasn’t as straightforward as their Saudi Arabian counterparts’ run. iXA were given a run for their money by 1NE, HANAGUMI (twice) and Oryx as they lost 8 games on their way to picking up their own $9,000 grand prize. Whilst Asia and ME haven’t been included in the upcoming Championship Series season, this surely isn’t the last we see of these two emerging regions.
Summer Shuffle - who needs Turbo?
When the Community Takeover was first announced, many were excited by Beyond the Summit’s inclusion in the list of TOs. The Summer Shuffle was one of the most hotly anticipated of the events, and BTS certainly delivered. Despite the online format, they were still able to give us a memorable event with the fun of the first Rocket League Summit last summer still perfectly intact.
The main event saw an unlikely run by former RLRS side Omelette, who reached the grand final after wins over several top teams thanks to their fast-paced demo-heavy playstyle. With that being said, one team certainly had their number all tournament long - NRG Esports. Squishy seems to have been a perfect replacement for the departing Turbopolsa as NRG took the tournament by losing just three games, with an 11-1 record against the runners-up throughout three matchups. Although they lost in the grand final, Omelette certainly impressed with their playstyle being reminiscent of The Peeps’ legendary DreamHack Montreal run. With stand-in LionBlaze now confirmed as a starter alongside Luke and Freshness, they’ve got all the momentum they could possibly need heading into the new RLCS season.
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Summer Grand Prix - the reign of the French
Well, no surprises here, right? Rocket Baguette’s event ended up with three of the top four teams being composed entirely of French-speaking players, with Renault Vitality winning the event by the tiniest of margins. Earlier on in the bracket, things had fallen apart for the newly-signed Team Liquid as the ex-mousesports roster crumbled against Oxygen and Team BDS after a strong group stage performance. Once we reached the playoffs, it looked like Vitality’s tournament to lose as they began to pick up steam with wins over both Singularity and Oxygen. OXG then defeated a surprisingly strong FC Barcelona to secure a rematch in the grand final. When they pushed the series into a bracket reset, it looked like theirs to lose before Vitality won two of the craziest overtimes Rocket League has seen for a while and took the tournament. The final game’s overtime saw a ridiculous sequence of events where:
- Two Vitality players bumped each other, giving Ferra an open net on the clear
- Ferra barely missed the open net before missing the post read (with AztraL diving in behind him)
- Ferra and AztraL double commit to try and stop Vitality’s clear, giving Fairy Peak an open net
- Fairy Peak scores, giving Vitality the championship
It was a fitting end to an incredible tournament, where Rocket Baguette pushed the boundaries of what a community TO could pull off.
With just the CCA Summer Series left to finish, the Community Takeover is drawing to its conclusion. It’s been a historic few weeks for Rocket League esports and all eyes are now turned towards the commencement of RLCS Season X. You can find coverage of the new season on GGRecon.
Images via Psyonix
