Three new teams earned the right to play in the Rocket League Championship Series during the Promotion Playoffs this weekend. The Peeps, Birds and the Beez and Complexity Gaming have elevated from the Rival Series to the game’s most competitive tier.
The Bricks were the only RLCS squad that defended their spot. Evil Geniuses, Splyce and mousesports lost their RLCS spot and will drop to the Rival Series in Season 8.
Both Teams Earn Promotion in NA
The Peeps and Birds and the Beez earned promotion after heated competition in NA on Saturday. Slater “Retals” Thomas landed the Promotion Playoffs MVP award for his performance.
Retals was excellent for The Peeps in their 4-1 win against Evil Geniuses. He scored with ease and led his team to three overtime wins in the series. The Peeps jumped out to a 3-0 lead after winning games two and three in OT. EG battled back and won game three, but The Peeps were too much to handle and won game five 1-0.
Birds and the Beez narrowly beat Splyce 4-3 in a tightly contested series. Splyce scored 14 goals in the first four games and jumped out to a 3-1 lead. BnB reeled their defense back in, and it swung the series. In the last three games of the series BnB allowed just four goals and advanced to the Winners’ Finals.
Splyce kept their RLCS hopes alive with a 4-2 win over Evil Geniuses in the loser’s bracket. Splyce played EG with a focus on defense and didn’t allow their opponents to score more than one goal in any game in the series. PLAYER scored the winning goal after 45 seconds of overtime in what ended up being the decisive game five. Splyce shut out the squad in game six and took the series. EG will play Season 8 in the Rival Series after five seasons with different orgs in the game’s top league.
The Peeps claimed their RLCS Spot with a 4-2 victory over Birds and the Beez in the Winners’ Finals. Once again, BnB’s defense started slow, but this time they couldn’t recover as they did against Splyce. The Peeps jumped out to a 3-0 series lead. BnB were able to slow The Peeps down and won games four and five, but could not complete the reverse sweep and fell in game six, 6-0. Goals came in bunches for The Peeps, who scored 19 goals in their four wins and just two in their losses. They moved up to the RLCS after two seasons in the second division.
Birds and the Beez finished off Splyce in a rematch for the last RLCS spot. They continued their form from their previous series with Splyce and won 4-2. BnB again started off slow and lost the first two games but came roaring back with four straight wins after their defense settled in. Splyce were held scoreless in games three and four and couldn’t find a rhythm on offense in the conclusion of their brief RLCS appearance. Birds and the Beez advanced to the RLCS after one season in the second division. Splyce return to the RLRS where they played two seasons before one season in the RLCS.
Complexity Return to RLCS in Place of Former Teammate
Complexity Gaming climbed the latter to the RLCS after stepping down to the RLRS last season. The Bricks maintained their position after beating mousesports and Veloce Esports in the loser’s bracket respectively. Joonas “Mognus” Salo and Marius “gReazymeister” Ranheim regained promotion after being relegated with Mouz player Linus “al0t” Mollergren in Season 6. Hrant “Flakes” Yakoub was named MVP after Sunday’s performance.
Flakes played well in Complexity’s 4-1 win over The Bricks in the first round. The Bricks won game one but seemingly forgot how to play defense over the next four. Complexity poured goals in and advanced to the Winners’ Finals. Passing was a key to the team’s success in League Play and it was essential once again. Mognus distributed the ball with precision and The Bricks never found a good rhythm in the series.
Veloce Esports outgunned mousesports 4-2 in the other first round match up. Mouz jumped out to a 2-0 series lead, but couldn’t find consistency on offense in their losses. Veloce were able to generate waves of offensive pressure that produced goals but also kept their opponents pinned in their own half. Mouz fought hard in game six and were able to pull within a goal with 14 seconds to play, but couldn’t pull off the victory and fell to the losers’ bracket.
Just like in NA the two RLCS teams faced each other in Losers’ Round 1. The Bricks emerged victorious 4-2. Mouz fell in the first three games partly because they gave up three goals in each of them. They escaped with a win in game four and scored quickly in OT to claim game five, but were never quite able to match the speed of The Bricks. After two seasons in the RLCS mousesports return to the Rival Series where they earned promotion in Season 5. Despite a near-herculean effort, Mouz player al0t is the first RLCS player to be relegated in consecutive seasons.
Complexity Gaming made quick work of Veloce Esports with a 4-0 sweep. Veloce beat Complexity 3-1 in League Play, but Complexity was on a different level on Sunday. Complexity scored 16 goals in the first
three games and then shut out Veloce in game four. Complexity returned to the RLCS after one relegated season. Mognus held Complexity’s roster spot for four previous RLCS seasons with different orgs and teammates.
The Bricks stood their RLCS turf with a 4-3 win against Veloce Esports. The series went back and forth but the experience of Francesco “Kuxir97” Cinquemani and David “Miztik” Lawrie won out in the end. The Bricks’ defense struggled in the regular season, but the squad were able to bog down the midfield against the RLCS hopefuls. Veloce had some good opportunities to score, but they came few and far between because The Bricks defended transitional play well. The Bricks maintain their spot, while Veloce will play Season 8 in the RLRS where they’ve been since Season 5.
Full brackets and tournament statistics are available on Liquipedia.
Featured image courtesy of Psyonix.
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