The Regional Championship of the Rocket League Championship Series concludes the online action for Season 7 this weekend. North America, Europe and South America will hold playoffs to determine the qualifying teams for the postseason LAN in New Jersey.
Two positions are available in each region. NA and EU play will be broadcast on twitch.tv/rocketleague, and SAM play will be available on www.twitch.tv/rocketstreetlive.
The Regional Championship has adopted a format different than in previous years. The new Page Playoff format pits the third and fourth seeds in the first match. The winner qualifies for the World Championship, and advances to face the second seed in the semi-final of the Regional Championship.
The loser falls to play the winner of a fifth versus sixth seed matchup. The winner of that series advances to the World Championship and faces the first seed in the semi-final of the Regional Championship.
Cloud9 take on Spacestation Gaming in NA’s third versus fourth seed match. Saturday’s series is a rematch of the Week 4 series between the two teams when Spacestation upset Cloud9 3-1. The winner of this series will qualify for Worlds and face G2 Esports in the semi-finals. Cloud9 have qualified for every World Championship since making the RLCS in Season 4. They’ve never finished lower than third in regional play. With a win, Spacestation would be the first promoted Rival Series team from NA to qualify for the World Championship.
Courtesy of Psyonix
Ghost Gaming battle Rogue in the fifth versus sixth seed matchup. Earlier this season Ghost dominated Rogue in the Week 4 contest grabbing a 3-0 sweep. Ghost allowed just two goals in that series, and their defense will be key once again. Rogue star Cameron “Kronovi” Bills hasn’t missed a postseason LAN since Season 3, and his team will need consecutive upsets to keep his streak alive. The victor advances to face the loser of Cloud9 vs. Spacestation.
Then the loser of the first series will face the winner of the second with a World Championship bid on the line. The winner of this series advances to face NRG Esports in the semi-final, but more importantly, can book their trip to New Jersey. None of Spacestation, Rogue and Ghost have been to Worlds since Ghost qualified in Season 4.
G2 will then face the winner of Cloud9 and SSG in the semi-final. NRG await the winner of the second lower series match. The Grand Finals will conclude Saturday’s action, pitting NA’s best with $38,000 on the line.
PSG Esports begin Sunday’s action in the third vs. fourth match up against Triple Trouble. Triple Trouble completed a reverse sweep of PSG in Week 3. PSG qualified for LAN last season and will look to repeat after an impressive Season 7. The French club averaged 2.1 goals per game this season, good for second best in EU. Triple Trouble led EU in shots per game, so this series should feature plenty of offense. The winner will qualify for LAN and face FC Barcelona in the semi-final.
The fifth versus sixth series features preseason EU favorites Dignitas and Team SoloMid. Both these teams have been at the last two postseason LANs and both won important offseason LANs (TSM won ELEAGUE, Dignitas won DreamHack Leipzig). The loser of this series will end their LAN streak while the winner will advance to face the loser of PSG vs. Triple Trouble. EU’s two worst offenses face off in this series, so goals may be at a premium. Dignitas took down TSM 3-1 in Week 5.
The winner of Dignitas/TSM will face the loser of PSG/TT in the third series of the day. The winner claims the last available European spot in the World Championship. Three of the four teams in question were at LAN last season, but only one is guaranteed to return. EU could sport three new World Championship competitors in New Jersey, which would be the largest turnaround in a region since Season 3. The winner will advance to face Renault Vitality.
The semi-final will feature Barecelona vs. PSG/Triple Trouble and Renault Vitality vs. the winner of the second lower bracket match. The Grand Finals will conclude Sunday’s action and on-line play for both regions.
The South American playoffs will use the tried and true double-elimination format of RLCS seasons past. Erodium and Lowkey Esports earned byes to the semi-final after finishing top-two in league play. Lotus take on Orchid in the first series of the day and INTZ eSports battle Team CryptiK in the second. Two spots are up for grabs in South America’s inaugural season in the RLCS.
Erodium, Lowkey, INTZ and Lotus all took series off each other during league play. Erodium are the favorite to snag a bid, but all four teams have a chance to book their trip to New Jersey. The action will begin on www.twitch.tv/rocketstreetlive starting Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST.
The Oceanic region wraps up league play with some high profile matches. ICON Esports face fellow top four team 1Ne eSports in the first series of the day. Renegades then face ICON and Justice Esports in consecutive matches that will have heavy influence over the seeding in the OCE finals. Out of Order need good results against Justice and EmproX and a win from ICON over 1Ne to reach the finals, as only four teams qualify for OCE’s regional qualifier.
Featured image courtesy of Psyonix.
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