RLCS/RLRS week two recap: Europe

Season four of the Rocket League Championship Series and Rocket League Rival Series are heading into week three. After week two, here are the standings, upsets and what to look out for moving forward.

If you missed it, take a look at the week two recap for North America.

Standings

As with NA, EU has some clear leaders in both the RLCS and RLRS after only two weeks. Those leaders in the RLRS, to no surprise, are The Leftovers and The Juicy Kids.

Upsets

The Leftovers’ relegation to the RLRS, after losing to Team Secret (then Aeriality) in the loser’s bracket of the Play-Ins, was unexpected. The Leftovers’ founder, Nicolai “Snaski” Vistessen Andersen, promptly tweeted about showing everyone they don’t belong in the RLRS. Since then, they’ve shown why.

The real surprises after week two, heading into week three, come from the RLCS.

Method

This Method roster has been playing together since season three of the RLCS, playing then for Resonant Esports. The squad consists of Linus “al0t” Möllergren, Otto “Metsanauris” Kaipiainen and Joonas “Mognus” Salo.

As Resonant, they came in sixth during League Play of RLCS season three and missed out on the World Championships after losing to Flipsid3 Tactics in the first round of playoffs. Despite missing LANs, the trio stuck together and moved from Resonant to Method.

As seen in throughout the history of the RLCS, trios and duos who stick together for multiple seasons often do better than many teams that formed for the season. Method is not only proving that so far this season, they’re showing that trios sticking together might be stronger than threes team with a long-time duo.

Method was hard at work during the off season, consistently competing in season one of Gfinity’s Elite Series and the European Gfinity Weekly Cups, and it has shown. They were easily accepted as a top six team coming into League Play but are quickly showing everyone that they have the potential to be much more than that.

Frontline

The other surprising team in EU right now is Frontline. While Frontline had a bye week in week two, they still sit at number two in the standings after week one.

Frontline consists of Dan “Bluey” Bluett, Thibault “Chausette45” Grzesiak and Victor “Ferra” Francal.

Ferra, a former member of The Leftovers during season three, knocked his old squad into the loser’s bracket during Play-Ins, securing their spot in the RLCS this season. After their performance during Play-Ins, many expected them to do well. So far they’re doing great.

In week one, Frontline took down two top-tier teams, Mockit eSports and Gale Force eSports. While Mockit lost their auto-qualification bid from season three, due to losing two-thirds of their starting line-up, they still managed to find their way into the RLCS. The real shock here, though, is the victory over Gale Force eSports.

Gale Force eSports was on fire this off season, despite seemingly having a second-place curse until NBC Universal Open. The star-studded Gale Force squad consists of Courant “Kaydop” Alexandre, Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver and Jos “ViolentPanda” van Meurs. They were considered the favorites to win EU regionals, and perhaps worlds, at the beginning of league play.

Coming off their bye week, Frontline is looking to continue their undefeated streak and match Method’s 4-0 standing. They are set to play Team Secret and Flipsid3 Tactics in week three. Frontline and Method face off in week four.

Moving into week 3

In NA, the two teams with only one series played so far, G2 Esports and Ghost Gaming, find themselves undefeated. That’s not the case in EU. Both Mockit eSports and exceL are 0-1 so far for the season. While they aren’t looking to continue an undefeated season, as with G2 and Ghost, they are looking to turn their seasons around.

Mockit

Mockit consists of Victor “Fairy Peak” Locquet, Sandro “FreaKii” Holzwarth and Philip “paschy90” Paschmeyer.

Mockit has been an ever-present force since the beginning of RLCS, despite constantly changing rosters during off seasons. While they are looking to turn their season around in week three, it certainly won’t be easy. Mockit is scheduled to play Flipsid3 Tactics and EnVyUs, both considered powerhouses of EU. Flipsid3 Tactics were the world champions of season two and EnVyUs, then Northern Gaming, the world champions of season three. The other major powerhouse being Gale Force eSports.

However, as the first two weeks have shown, anything can happen in EU Rocket League. Gale Force, Flipsid3 Tactics and EnVyUs were expected to be top three, in varying orders depending who you ask, coming into season four. However, they currently sit at three, four and five, respectively.

exceL

The exceL squad is my personal EU team to keep an eye on this season. Consisting of Niels “Nielskoek” Kok, Kasper “Pwndx” Nielsen and Hampus “Zensuz” Öberg, these players aren’t strangers to the RLCS.

ExceL has a somewhat easier turnaround week coming than Mockit. Although they are playing EnVyUs in their first match of the day, their second match is against Team Secret.

I expect the match against EnVyUs to be much closer than that of the one against Team Secret. Not to put Team Secret down, but it was a shock they made it into the RLCS this season, and they have yet to prove they belong, sitting at 0-3.

No matter what happens, EU has already flipped expectations on their heads. There’s no reason to assume they won’t do it again as the season moves forward.

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