The Rocket League Championship Series is only a few weeks away. That leaves enough time for weekly team-by-team previews of the world’s best Rocket League teams. This series will act almost as previews for what to expect during Season 7 for each team. Check out the rest of the previews here.
The sixth preview features the last of the recently promoted teams to come into preview spotlight: Bread.
Season 6 Results:Â 6-1, 2nd place in the Rival Series. Lost to ex-Rogue in the first round of promotion playoff then beat Allegiance and Rogue in loser’s bracket to qualify for the RLCS.
Off-season Movement:Â Added Stokelyy as a sub in place of previous sub Ostyn.
Off-season Performance:Â 9-12th DreamHack Leipzig. 1st place DreamHack Leipzig open qualifiers. 4th place WSOE qualifier. 9-12th Renegade Cup Finals.
Team MVP: “Sypical”.
Realistic Team Goal:Â Avoid Relegation.
Background and Team History
Bread was relatively unknown before qualifying for the Rival Series last season. Matthew “Satthew” Ackerman played as a stand in for Splyce at a few events. Alexandre “AxB” Bellemare played in the Season 5 RLRS with The Doods. Sypical was entirely unknown to the casual Rocket League fan.
They sure showed that they can play despite their lack of recognition. The team formed in August of 2018 and made the RLCS three short months later. They’re still an unknown quantity that hasn’t yet reached their ceiling. That makes them an exciting team to watch come Season 7.
The issue with being an unknown quantity is that the hype may outweigh capability. Bread proved what they can do against Rival Series competition last season but will need to show that they can continue their ascension against the region’s best teams.
Sypical and Satthew tied for first in goals per game in the RLRS last season. The two strikers formed an offensive juggernaut that could not be stopped. They recreated what Dignitas had last season: the league’s two best scorers playing on the same team. That’s pretty impressive company.
It’s easy to get caught up in Rival Series statistics, but Bread have looked strong all off-season. They’re probably the NA team with the most upside looking toward Season 7. AxB was excellent in his defensive role and all three players showed impressive chemistry despite their relatively short time playing together.
That’s a decent recipe for success. It’s the recipe that’s made NRG and Cloud9 into perennial LAN qualifiers and could have similar results with this talented group of players.
Bread’s Best Case Scenario
Rocket League is similar to soccer in that having an elite scorer can keep you in any contest. Consistent scorers are hard to come by, so Bread have a unique advantage in having two prolific attackers in Satthew and Sypical.
Scorers that don’t need perfect passes or acres of space are even more valuable. It’s harder to skill against the more organized RLCS teams, so converting on half chances is massive. Never miss an open net, sprinkle a spectacular goal or two in there and you’re going to at least push most series to five games.
Ghost Gaming witnessed that first hand. Despite an over matched roster they tested every single RLCS team because Treyven “Lethamyr” Robitaille found a way to put the ball in the back of the net. Most RLRS teams struggle with that, but Bread shouldn’t struggle too much to knock goals in.
If they can be an above average offense in the RLCS they could qualify for LAN. They are experienced enough to hold their nerve, but new enough to not be intimidated by stronger teams. That’s half the battle.
Their dream scenario revolves around Satthew and Sypical continuing to rise while AxB acts as the team’s rudder. They can play to their strengths and mask their weaknesses enough to squeak into the final position and land in the top four.
Their Season 6 performance didn’t reach their full potential. Satthew and Sypical haven’t reached their peaks yet, and their best case scenario is that they get pretty close to it this season. If they do, they’ll be set to challenge for top three for the next few seasons.
If not, they’ll have to come up through the Rival Series again.
Bread’s Worst Case Scenario
This is the fourth time that this thought appears in these Season 7 previews, but it will be the last time the point is brought up. Staying the RLCS after making the jump from the RLRS is a tough load to carry. It’s especially tough for a team like Bread who are being thrown into the deep end without having faced adversity.
Bread haven’t really lost anything that they were expected to win yet. How will they react to being swept in front a live audience? How will they handle rotations and limit double commits? If things go wrong, how will they respond?
Sypical and Satthew aren’t going to league the league in scoring. In fact, they might not even finish in the top five. If they’re not scoring goals and their defense isn’t good enough to keep them in series, their stint in the RLCS will be short.
Player growth is always tricky because the player needs to taste success consistently to continue to improve. Losing is the undefeated against potential. That’s why players like Mijo and Matt didn’t develop into the stars that many expected them to be. Losing this season would be crushing in the short term, but it could also stunt the potential of a truly exciting team.
Bread’s worst case scenario is that the attacking style doesn’t produce enough goals and they end up back in the Rival Series. The drop inhibits the potential of the team and Bread never makes the impact that they could have.
TL;DR:Â Bread play the right style of Rocket League to compete at the highest level. Their rising stars could lead to LAN qualification. If they can’t score at the same clip as in the Rival Series, Bread may never reach their sky high ceiling.
Featured image courtesy of Bread.
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