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Rocket League

RLCS: Fighting for top two

The Game Haus StaffBy Updated:5 Mins Read

This weekend we move into the fifth and final week of North American and European league play for season four of the Rocket League Championship Series and Rocket League Rival Series. As we look ahead, the fight to secure a top two spot is a tight one, especially in North America.

The top six teams in NA and EU RLCS, at the end of league play, qualify for playoffs. Not only that, the top six secure their spot in season five of the RLCS. More importantly, they avoid the stress of facing off in the promotion/relegation tournament to try to remain in the upper division. Most teams are looking to secure a top six spot at this point, but there are a select few still aiming for a higher goal: clinching a top two spot.

As always, before we take a look at what we might see, here’s where the standings are now.

Standings

 

 NA

  1. Cloud9 4-1
  2. Ghost 4-1
  3. G2 Esports 4-1
  4. NRG Esports 4-2
  5. Rogue 3-3
  6. FlyQuest 2-4
  7. Renegades 1-5
  8. Allegiance 0-5

 EU

  1. PSG eSports 6-0
  2. Method 5-1
  3. Gale Force eSports 4-2
  4. exceL 3-2
  5. Mockit eSports 2-3
  6. Team Envy 1-4
  7. Flipsid3 Tactics 1-5
  8. Team Secret 0-5

Top two

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While it’s not an achievable goal for some teams at this point, teams at the top of their leaderboards are still aiming for a top two spot. While top six guarantees your spot in playoffs and season five of the RLCS, top two guarantees a trip to the season four world championships.

PSG eSports currently holds the record for the most wins during league play of the RLCS. If they win their match in week five, against Team Envy, they will be the only team to go undefeated in RLCS league play history. Not only that, PSG eSports is the only team to already clinch a top two league play spot.

Although PSG eSports is guaranteed a shot at the world championships, they’re still looking to secure that number one seed moving into the world championships. So, don’t expect this squad to slow down during playoffs.

EU top two teams

Since we already know that PSG eSports has nailed down their top two spot, let’s take a look at the other contenders for EU top two, beginning, of course, with Method.

Method is the most likely team in EU to snag up the other top two position. Sitting at 5-1, their only loss currently is to PSG eSports.

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Image courtesy of @Methodgg Twitter account

Heading into week four, Method and PSG eSports were both 4-0. Method won their first match of week four against Mockit eSports, putting them at 5-0 before their match against PSG eSports. They set the record for most wins in league play of the RLCS. However, it was short lived, as the very same day PSG beat Method and exceL to go 6-0 and take that record away.

While Method has been on fire all season, there are two other contenders: Gale Force eSports and exceL.

Gale Force sat at number five in the EU standings heading into week four. They took down Flipsid3 Tactics and Mockit eSports, both in five games, bumping them up to number three in the standings. Gale Force eSports is looking to beat Team Envy, as well as for exceL to beat Method and lose to Mockit eSports, in order to clinch a number two spot.

ExceL, on the other hand, is looking to beat Method and Mockit eSports, with Gale Force eSports losing to Team Envy, in order to clinch the number two spot for themselves.

NA top two teams

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Image courtesy of wiki.teamliquid.net

The race for top two in NA is much closer than in EU, particularly because no team has clinched one of those spots yet. Right now, Cloud9, Ghost and G2 Esports sit in the top three, respectively. They all have four wins and one loss. Their positioning in the top three, since they are tied in matches, is determined by game win percentage. Along with these three, NRG sits at number four with four wins and two losses.

There are a number of different scenarios for how the fight for top two will play out in week five. Mostly because Ghost faces off against G2 Esports and Cloud9 faces off against NRG. That being said, don’t be surprised when the top two spots come down to a tie breaker, determined by each teams win percentage.

Predictions

Below are my predictions for who will clinch the remaining three top two spots after league play this weekend.

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Image courtesy of play.esea.net

For EU, I have to give this one to Method. As mentioned above, they’ve been on fire all season. With only one loss to the currently undefeated PSG eSports, they have what it takes to come out on top over exceL this weekend.

NA is a bit trickier. Here’s what I’d like to see happen: Rogue beats Ghost, G2 beats Allegiance, Ghost beats G2, Cloud9 beats Renegades and NRG beats Cloud9. If I’m doing my math right, this scenario puts the current top four teams all at 5-2, leaving top two entirely up to the game-win percentage.

Now, here’s what the realistic side of me predicts for NA top two: Cloud9 and Ghost.

We will have our answers this weekend in the final week of league play for season four of the RLCS.

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