Minor Regions in the Winter Major: An Overview

Rocket League Region: Oceana

OCE has long followed in the footsteps of NA with a few select and long-running super teams. However, as NA RLCS has slowly evolved into the chaotic power struggle that EU is known and loved for, so too has Oceania. Renegades, made up of Kamii, CJCJ (the man himself), and Fever, and Ground Zero with Torsos, Amphis, and Express have long sported a rivalry for that top spot. Regional 1 of the 2021-2022 RLCS season quickly dispelled any rumors of continued gatekeeping; as for the first time in a long time, we saw two teams reach the finals that weren’t Ground Zero or Renegades; they were Dire Wolves and Forkidden (Don’t recognize that second name? Don’t feel bad, that means you might have a life, but I don’t. The Pioneers picked up this roster upon a disappointing exit from North American RLCS.) Of course this development is healthy for Rocket League, proven depth in the OCE region further confirms the improved meta shift we are seeing throughout all regions, and encourages competitions/increases viewership.

Some important questions had to be answered…

We had a little 1-on-1 interview session with #KCPRL, this is how it went: pic.twitter.com/nPS82mX3LM

— Pioneers (@PioneersGG) March 18, 2022

Regional 2 substantiated this evolution as Pioneers and Renegades met in the final. By now you might be asking what studs make up this newly dominant roster, and that would be Scrub, Superlachie, and Bananahead. This squad has now made two regional finals in a row, while Ground Zero hasn’t even seen a championship match. You wouldn’t be alone in thinking there are still two commanding teams, and the Pioneers have simply replaced Ground Zero… but you would be mistaken as Gound Zero roared back to take home the trophy in Regional 3.

Unfortunately, Ground Zero’s poor results early on the season were too much and they were denied seating on the plane to LA in place for the newly signed Pioneers (Rip Torsos). Renegades are heading to the major with 1031 points, and Pioneers are following with 980 points. While much speculation remains regarding the Pioneers potential success in a Major LAN environment, the Fall Major gave us a few hints into how Renegades may perform. The Oceanic roster recorded a round 1 win against EU’s Endpoint, a round 2 loss to FaZe, a round 3 loss to Ground Zero, a round 4 win against Furia, and a round 5 loss against Semper, they did not make it to the playoff bracket. But, with a win against Furia, who beat G2, and an early victory against Endpoint, this team I not to be underestimated. Along those lines, neither is Pioneers.

REGIONAL CHAMPS WOOOOO can’t believe the best team in OCE isn’t going ??

— Torsos (@TorsosRL) February 20, 2022

Rocket League Region: South America

Similar to OCE, and at this point all of RLCS, South America has displayed a level of depth unforeseen in previous seasons. Regional 1 was a great example as the historical powerhouse Furia were eliminated in the Lower Bracket Round 2 while teams Noble and KRU competed for the top spot. Furia, with new addition and mechanical mastermind yanxnz, were upset in the group stage by Chromax, and thus battled Noble early in the bracket.

Regional 2 ended any talk of Furia being washed as they took home the gold against Noble. While Furia’s roster may be obvious to typical RLCS fans, that is CaioTG1, caard, and yanxnz, Noble is less recognizable (for now) as their roster includes Sad, nxghtt, and math – a veteran squad if there ever was one. Unfortunately (or fortunately, Noble as an organization had many internal squabbles and inconsistencies), Noble left the RLCS scene mid Fall season and the rogue squad were picked up quickly by an old RLCS org, Team Secret, whom previously recorded one of the worst RLCS seasons of all time, going 0 and 7 in season 4.

Regional 3 threw a wrench into the works, so to speak, as Furia took home a regional victory against a team previously absent from the regional finals, eRa Eternity. eRa had shown consistently good results throughout the two previous regionals, and thus with Furia, eRa, and Secret all reaching the Upper/Lower Bracket Final in regional 3, every game had something on the line. If you’ve never seen SAM RLCS, that meant even more aggressiveness, and even less defending. SAM teams are so confident in their challenges, so quick to get to the ball, they often use a playstyle that I believe is the future meta for the RLCS (just look at Complexity!). Despite eRa making a final, it wasn’t enough; Team Secret and Furia Esports are heading to the Winter Major with 991 and 982 points respectively.

If you’re a fan of eRa Eternity you’re likely punching a wall as the team recorded two 3^rd place finishes and a 2^nd place finish and yet did not secure enough points to head to the major. Team Secret’s introduction to LAN leaves a lot of questions up in the air, but for Furia, we do have some idea about their likelihood for success in the Winter Major based on Fall Major results. They recorded a nail-biting loss to Semper in Round 1, and a 3-2 victory over G2 in Round 2. Round 3 resulted in a loss against an amazing looking SRG, and round 4 they were defeated by Renegades. Thus, Furia was not a member of the playoff bracket, but they secured a huge victory for their region and showed calmness under pressure. Like OCE, South America is developing into an increasingly threatening region.

Rocket League Region: Middle East | North Africa

I mean, if you’re talking Middle East you’re talking Sandrock gaming; the team has reigned supreme over the Middle East and North Africa region for countless seasons… but, there are chinks in Sandrock’s armor. Regional 1 of the 2021-2022 season went as you’d expect, with a Sandrock victory. Notable competitors include Falcons Esports, Ultimates, and SCYTES, the last of whom challenged Sandrock in the first regional final. And thus a small rivalry was born, as SCYTES, made up of ix, EviL, and Fahad77, proceeded to back up their fighting spirit by upsetting Sandrock Gaming in the Upper Semi-finals of Regional 2. You might think, oh, that’s cool the underdog won… SCYTES were lower than an underdog, as was every other team in contention. This is like number 2 seed Kentucky’s recent loss in March Madness to 15^nth seed Saint Peters, except even more insane – I lost a lot more money on one of these things though.

The fairytale story wasn’t meant to be unfortunately as SCYTES met Sandrock again in the finals and were swiftly defeated. Like an arrogant player talking back to their coach, Sandrock commandingly demonstrated their mastery over the idealist pupils with a 4-0 4-0 bracket reset sweep. The squad of Ahmad, oKhaliD, trk511 and sometimes Senzo took Regional 3 to complete the 3-peat. Ultimates were their opponents and took a respectable two games off Sandrock.

While the depth of other regions continues to grow, so too does MENA’s, just maybe a bit lackadaisically. The fault does not lie with their fellow teams like the Ultimates, Falcons, or SCYTES, but with Sandrock Gaming, who’ve long demonstrated that their skills are on par with that of EU and NA. With Senzo in place of oKhaliD, they started Round 1 of the Fall Major with a 3-0 sweep of G2, a win over Furia in Round 3, a win over Ground Zero in Round 4, and took 2 games off of a hot NRG in the Quarterfinals. And since then, their chemistry with new addition trk511 has grown exponentially. This team is exhilarating to watch, and they are sure to make the flashy plays that get fans out of their seats come LAN time.

Update*

Winter Major Team Update pic.twitter.com/ylZuwwRr30

— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) March 22, 2022

Rocket League Region: Asia-Pacific North

For a region little talked about, Asia-Pacific North has had quite the drama preceding the Winter Major. The teams to watch out for in this region include DeToNator, Nimmt55, and Tokyo Verdy. The latter of which we saw perform at the Fall Major. However, Nimmt55 were actually the team that took home the gold in Winter Regional 1, beating Tokyo Verdy in two sets: 4-3 & 4-1. DeToNator were close behind, losing to Nimmt55 in the Lower Bracket Final.

Regional 2 was similarly a heated battle. Except this time DeToNator replaced Nimmet55 as the Lower Bracket Final Champs and proceeded to the final against Tokyo Verdy. They were swiftly defeated as Verdy racked up a 4-0 scoreline to put them back on top. Notice that these 3 teams continually meet in the deep bracket, this pattern remains for regional 3. Tokyo Verdy took the top spot, with Nimmt55 losing the hard-fought battle in two sets. Again we see DeToNator right behind, their Upper and Lower Bracket final loss sealed their fate just out of Winter Major contention… or did it (spoilers it didn’t). Now quick qualifications walkthrough. Asia-Pacific North and Asia-Pacific South only get one team in the Major, the 1^st and 2^nd place teams from both regions are sent to a qualifier to determine who will head to the Winter Major. Nimmt55, with a 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place finish, were on track to head to the qualifier with Tokyo Verdy, but for an unknown reason (there’s probably a reason, I heard it was work-related issues, I’m just way too lazy to look it up… also this article is getting a bit long isn’t it?) were unable to make accommodations for travel to the major and thus forfeited their spot at the qualifier.  

Rocket League Region: Asia-Pacific South

Asia-Pacific South’s RLCS scene looks eerily familiar to North’s. 3 Rats are the team to watch, as they wore the crown for all 3 Winter regionals. Teams UHUH and Dark Rift were always close behind, exchanging spots with each other in the finals against 3 Rats (who were recently picked up by Gaimin Gladiators… so that’s awesome). Therefore, the newly minted Gaimin Gladiators took the top spot heading to the qualifier with 1053 points, and UH HUH struggled behind with 820 points.

Now if you thought the drama was over, you’d be sorely mistaken. We head to double-elimination qualifier and immediately DeToNator loses to Gaimin in the Upper Bracket Semi-Final. They drop down and follow up their loss with a win against UHUH to head to the Lower bracket Final. Here they meet Gaimin again, but this time, they upset the newly signed team 3-2 and head to the Grand Final… against their APAC North counterparts Tokyo Verdy. At this point, DeToNator are likely shaking in their boots. Since only one team from the qualifier is sent to the major, DeToNator, who weren’t even supposed to make it to the qualifier, had a chance to go to LA. But, they had to win a major upset against their APAC North rivals… and that they did. DeToNator in the grand final upset Tokyo Verdy in a wild game 7 series (seriously go watch this match) to make the major despite the odds . While they aren’t likely to make a huge splash at the major, APAC is simply behind in mechanics and speed compared to most other regions, this fairytale story already has a happy ending, it would be cool to see them take a few games off a nervous NA great though wouldn’t it.