NRG Esports vs. G2 Esports and Team SoloMid vs. FC Barcelona headline the Week 2 action of Rocket League Championship Series Season 8. NA teams kick off play on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET and EU play begins at noon ET.
Cloud9, NRG and G2 emerged from Week 1 undefeated. Only one team can remain unscathed after the NRG vs. G2 clash, and Cloud9 face a scrappy Pittsburgh Knights squad.
Veloce Esports sit atop the table in EU at 2-0. Renault Vitality, Team Reciprocity and TSM are all 1-0.
The season will be more than one-third of the way through after this weekend.
NRG and Birds both play twice on Saturday, and they will kick off the weekend’s action. Birds allowed 3.75 GPG against G2 and will have their hands full with reigning MVP Justin “JSTN” Morales and Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon.
They’ll need to cut down on NRG’s open space and throw Garrett of his rhythm to have a chance against the Regional Champions.
Ghost Gaming face Rogue in what may quietly be the most important series of the weekend. Rogue were dominated by Pittsburgh in Week 1, and a loss to Ghost may put them out of contention for the fourth seed in NA.
A win for Ghost would give them the inside track to the fourth seed, especially after they took down Pittsburgh 3-1 in Week 1.
Photo Credit: Stephanie ”Vexanie” Lindgren
Speaking of Pittsburgh, the Knights face Cloud9 in the third match. Cloud9 won 3-2 when these teams met at DreamHack: Dallas. Cloud9 are 5-0 in Week 2 matches since making RLCS in Season 4.
The fourth match of the day pits Spacestation Gaming against Birds. Spacestation are looking to rebound after a 3-1 drubbing by NRG in Week 1. It may be Birds best chance to get a win this season.
Then comes the epic battle between NA powerhouses. NRG take on G2 in a battle that may determine who finishes first in League Play. The teams have battled 29 times in their history. NRG lead the all-time series 18-11.
Whoever emerges will only have Cloud9 left to beat on the path to first in NA.
Across the pond, mousesports and FC Barcelona kick off Sunday’s action. Both teams are coming off heartbreaking Game 5 losses. Each team was also reverse swept in Week 1.
FC Barcelona play four matches over the next two weeks. They struggled offensively in the last three matches against Team Reciprocity and are currently second to last in GPG in EU. They’ll need to figure things out quickly with more than half of their season playing out over the next two weeks.
Team SoloMid meet Team Reciprocity in the battle of orgs that call themselves “team.” TSM scrapped out a win behind the absurd play of Yanis “Alpha54” Champenois against Mouz, and the Season 7 MVP faces a tough Reciprocity squad.
Alpha54 – Courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns on Twitter
It’s a battle of the region’s two most creative players. Alpha54 takes on his countryman Thibault “Chausette45” Grzesiak. There will be a lot of compelling ground play in this one.
Veloce look to remain unbeaten against the reigning World Champions Renault Vitality. Vitality struggled to convert chances into goals against Complexity, and Veloce ran circles around Complexity. This may be the moment Veloce come crashing back to Earth.
Complexity take on Dignitas in the fourth match of the day. Both teams fell to Veloce in Week 1 and are looking for their first win of the season. Maello “AztraL” Ernst is tied for the lead in goals and assists per game in EU.
Then TSM and FC Barcelona bring things to a close in Alpha54’s first RLCS match against his old team. Alpha54’s departure was unexpected, and now fans will have a chance to see if it was warranted.
Featured image courtesy of @ZeeboDesigns on Twitter.
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