It’s time to support an international health directive with a bit of high flying, rocket-powered car soccer. RocketLeagueXL, or RLXL, is putting on The Open to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders. Psyonix is an official sponsor of the event.
RLXL
RLXL is a Rocket League supergroup of sorts. With nearly 30 different community organizations involved in The Open, RLXL hosts Rocket League tournaments with a charitable benefit in mind. The group has put on other benefit events in the past as well.
Extra Life is an organization benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Extra Life participants sign up for a 24-hour gaming marathon, on a day of their choosing, and ask for donations to the cause. RLXL raised over $10,000 during their Extra Life tournament. In another benefit tournament, RLXL raised over $3,500 in an effort to help a Rocket League caster and community member, Stephen “Shalthis” Perry, return home to his family. This has just been the beginning.
With The Open, RLXL seeks to continue their charitable impact, perhaps with their biggest event to date. Twenty-seven community organizations from five different regions banded together to make the RLXL Open possible.
The Open
The Open will consist of five separate regional tournaments. Each regional tournament pits teams and players against each other in their own unique, mostly nonstandard formats.
The tournament modes set the stage for the charity event. Since nonstandard game styles take away some of the competitive edge, it reminds players and audience members to keep it lighthearted. It is not meant to be a serious showdown such as the Rocket League Championship Series or other tournaments with large prize pools. The main purpose is to raise money for Doctors Without Borders and give the community some unpredictable and unusual Rocket League in the process.
Regional Formats
Here are the tournament styles for each region:
- European players will come head to head in a one versus one recharge showdown. Instead of picking up boost pads, players’ boost will slowly auto-recharge.
- South American players will compete in a standard two versus two match.
- North American players are set to play three versus three no goal reset. In no goal reset, instead of being reset for a kickoff after a goal is scored, the ball is set back to the middle of the pitch and gameplay continues. The clock doesn’t stop and players kickoff from wherever they already are on the field.
- Asian players are going up against each other in a two versus two Dropshot tournament. Dropshot is the latest
Dropshot. Image courtesy of rocketleague.com official mode added by Psyonix, in which tiles on the floor become the goal. Played with an electrified ball, the intensity increases through three stages the longer the ball is kept in the air. When the ball touches the ground, tiles light up to show they are primed. Primed tiles are knocked out of the floor, to create gates, once they are hit a second time. Players aim to get the ball into these gates to score.
- Oceanic players have perhaps the most intense, and certainly the most interesting, matches ahead of them. The OCE tournament combines two of Psyonix’s official game modes, Dropshot and Rumble, into a three versus three clash. Take Dropshot, mentioned above, and add in Rumble power-ups. For those who don’t know, Rumble grants every player one of 11 power-ups 10 seconds after kickoff. The game mode resets the timer to 10 seconds after a player uses his or her power-up, counting down until the next one.
When, Where and Who
The RLXL Open will take place on Aug. 4 and 5 at varying, convenient times for each region. A majority of the matches will take place Aug. 4. However, there is some overflow into Aug. 5 because of time zones.
Here is the schedule, listed in EDT:
- Europe: 12-4 p.m.
- South America: 4-8 p.m.
- North America: 8 p.m. – 12 a.m.
- Asia: 12-2 a.m.
- Oceania: 2-6 a.m.
Although the tournament spills over into Aug. 5, matches won’t overlap with NBC’s Rocket League Universal Open. Rocket League fans can watch and donate to The Open on RLXL’s Twitch channel.
The tournament is open to PC and PlayStation 4 players. Registration for each region ends 15 minutes prior to the region’s respective start time.
Remember to tune in Aug. 4 and 5 to the RLXL Open. Help support a great cause with some great Rocket League.
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