The Rocket League Championship Series concluded online play with Regional Championships in North America, South America and Europe. Six teams punched their tickets to the postseason LAN in New Jersey along with four that had qualified at the end of league play last week.
Cloud9, Rogue, Triple Trouble, PSG Esports, Lowkey Esports and INTZ eSports all qualified this weekend from their respective regions. They join NA’s NRG Esports and G2 Esports as well as EU’s Renault Vitality and FC Barcelona.
Only two spots remain open for the World Championship and the Oceania Regional Championship will take place this Sunday to determine the region’s representatives. The RLCS Season 7 World Championship will take place on June 21-23 in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The field is almost set for the first ever 12 team World Championship.
Rogue Earn Unexpected LAN Bid, NRG Cap Off Undefeated Season With Regional Championship
Cloud9 began Saturday’s play with an emphatic 4-0 sweep of Spacestation Gaming. The defending champions haven’t missed LAN since qualifying for the RLCS in Season 4 and were heavy favorites to qualify before Saturday’s play. Each game was close. The first two went into overtime and C9 won the last two by one goal each. Cloud9 secured their trip to Newark and Spacestation fell to the lower bracket to await the winner of Ghost Gaming versus Rogue.
Rogue beat Ghost Gaming in that series 4-2. Four of the six games went to overtime, including the last three games of the series. Ghost won the first game of the series, but Rogue responded emphatically by winning the next three games in a row. Ghost won game five after a 7:56 overtime, but couldn’t keep pace with Rogue who won game six. Each game in the series was a nail-biter, and the combined score of the series favored Rogue by just two goals. This was the only series from NA’s Regional Championship that didn’t end in a 4-0 sweep.
The new page playoff system made qualification more difficult for lower seeds, but that didn’t slow down Rogue who swept Spacestation Gaming to earn a trip to LAN. Spacestation had to win one series to qualify, but went 0-8 in their two series on the day. Rogue finished the season 2-5 and ended up as the sixth seed, but performed beyond their record to earn their first playoff appearance with their roster. Rogue (formerly known as FlyQuest) were promoted from the Rival Series in Season 5 and are the first former RLRS team from NA to earn a bid to LAN.
Cloud9 then swept G2 in a rematch of the last series of league play. G2 won in five in week five, but couldn’t keep pace with the rejuvenated C9 squad. Cloud9 scored 13 goals in four games, and made quick work of their Big Three rivals. Both teams already had their spot in New Jersey, but this result did slightly affect seeding for the event.
NRG made quick work of Rogue in the other semifinal, grabbing a 4-0 sweep. Rogue only scored one goal in the series because of NRG’s impressive defense. NA MVP Justin “JSTN” Morales and his teammates patrolled the net with near perfection and advanced to their third straight NA Grand Final.
NRG claimed their second straight Regional Championship with a 4-0 sweep of Cloud9. Game three of the series had an 11:12 overtime, the longest in Rocket League Championship Series history. NRG claimed $38,531 for their championship as well as the top seed from NA for LAN. They finished the season 9-0 and only dropped six games throughout. They’ll be favorites looking ahead to the World Championship.
Vitality Claim EU Crown, Top Four Seeds Qualify for LAN
Triple Trouble pulled off the only European upset of Sunday’s Regional Championship with a 4-1 win over PSG Esports. Triple Trouble are the third former RLRS team to qualify for LAN and the second to do so in their first RLCS season. PSG won the first game 5-1, but Triple Trouble responded with four straight wins including the game five win in overtime.
Dignitas beat Team SoloMid 4-2 in the first game of the lower bracket. The series was high scoring for both teams, but the consistent play of Dignitas was enough to send them through to the next round. TSM finished third at last season’s World Championship, but couldn’t earn a spot in this season’s LAN.
PSG then eliminated the runner-up at last season’s World Championship with a 4-1 win over Dignitas. All four of the top seeds from EU league play advanced to LAN. PSG’s offense was incredible in the series as they outscored Dignitas 9-4. The French club is also the only European team that played at Season 6’s World Championship in Las Vegas that will also play at this season’s finals in Newark.
FC Barcelona won 4-1 against Triple Trouble in the semi-final. Triple Trouble seemed deflated after their historic win earlier in the day. European MVP Yanis “Alpha54” Champenois played well in the series and helped his squad advance to their first Grand Finals.
Vitality outlasted PSG Esports in a competitive, seven game semifinal. The 4-3 victory sent Vitality to the Grand Finals, the fifth consecutive appearance for Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant. PSG fought hard throughout. The teams traded games until Vitality muscled out a 1-0 victory in game seven.
Kaydop claimed his fifth straight EU title with a 4-2 win against FC Barcelona. The French star has won every EU championship since the Regional Championship started in Season 3. Vitality won the first three games of the series, but Barcelona extended the series with wins in games four and five. They couldn’t extend it any further however as Vitality secured the championship with a 2-1 overtime win in game six.
Lowkey and INTZ First South American RLCS Participants
Lowkey Esports beat INTZ eSports in the first ever South American Regional Championship 4-1. The two teams are the first from South America to earn a spot in the World Championship. Lowkey beat INTZ and Erodium in the Winner’s Bracket to earn their spot, but INTZ’s route was not as simple.
After INTZ lost to Lowkey they dropped to the Loser’s Bracket. They beat Orchid 4-2 then advanced to play preseason favorite Lotus. They beat Lotus 4-1 and advanced to the Loser’s Finals to face the number one seed Erodium with a spot to New Jersey on the line. Erodium beat INTZ during league play, but INTZ had the upper hand on Saturday and won 4-2.
Psyonix included South America in the RLCS for the first time in Season 7, and Lowkey and INTZ are the first South American teams to participate in RLCS international play.
Oceania’s Regional Championship will be held Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on twitch.tv/gfinityau.
The RLCS Season 7 World Championship will be held June 21-23 in Newark, New Jersey. Full group information and standings are available on Liquipedia.
Featured image courtesy of Psyonix
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other TGH writers along with Connor!
“From Our Haus to Yours”