Rocket League Championship Series 2025 - Birmingham Major Preview

Image courtesy of Psyonix.

With the Birmingham Major fast approaching, I think it is important for us to have a brief look over the season so far. This will give us a good idea of who we can expect to see making a deep run into the bracket, and who is likely to bottom out early on.

North America

North America’s season so far can only be described as utterly impossible to predict. We really had no idea which teams we would be seeing at the major until quite literally the final series of the entire split had been played. This was all thanks to Gen.G Mobil1 Racing. Going into the final event, The Ultimates, NRG and Complexity Gaming all seemed to be locked in for the major. However, the fourth and final spot was still very much up for grabs. The two main contenders for this spot were Spacestation Gaming and 9Lives, with every other team needing to pull off a miracle to overtake these teams in points. Little did we know, a miracle was exactly what we had on our hands. Gen.G had had middling results so far this split. With an 8th place finish in Open 1 and a 12th place finish in Open 2, there were little expectations going into the final regional. Despite this, they were ready to prove all the doubters wrong. In Open 3, they managed to win the entire tournament, clinching the last major spot and shocking the world. Truly a miracle.

Despite their miracle run to the major, Gen.G are still heavy underdogs and have a lot to prove. Their fellow Americans however? Not so much. NRG and The Ultimates are both star studded squads that are primed to do some serious damage at the major. Complexity Gaming is also a force to be reckoned with if they are in the right form. Overall, North America is certainly bringing a lot to the table this event, but will it be enough to overcome the rest of the competition?

Europe

While North America certainly had a lot of action this split, it does not discredit the sheer insanity that we saw go down in Europe simultaneously. Geekay Esports are the Gen.G of this story. With two 8th place finishes in the first two events of the season, there seemed to be little hope for Geekay’s major chances. However, they stepped up when it mattered most, winning twelve straight games on the final day of Open 3 to take the regional championship and also book their tickets to Birmingham. It is truly unbelievable that we managed to have two inexplicable runs, in two separate regions, at the same time.

While Geekay truly had an amazing moment, they are not the only European representative attending the Birmingham Major. They will be accompanied by Karmine Corp, Team Vitality and Dignitas. While other teams struggled in Europe this split, these three powerhouses had no trouble making quick work of all their competition, and locking in their major spots early. All three of these teams have the capability to win the entire event, but Karmine Corp have the most eyes of them due to their victories in the first two regionals this split. We’ll have to wait and see who ends up coming out on top.

Other Regions

The rest of the world certainly had some insanity of its own. Team Falcons were finally challenged in MENA; Twisted Minds ripped a regional title from their grasp in Open 2, breaking Team Falcons’ streak of regional victories and making the MENA region finally look competitive. Both of these teams should certainly be treated with care this major. Oceania was just as interesting, with Wildcard and Helfie Chiefs being the two lucky teams to make it through the gauntlet. South America had FURIA Esports winning all three events and Team Secret following closely behind. SSA and APAC were similar cases, with FUT Esports and Luminosity Gaming sweeping the opens respectively.

Overview

Overall, the Birmingham Major is primed to be a world class event. There is really no saying who will be crowned champion at the end of it, but we can be sure that the tournament will be spectacular no matter what. I will be doing a Birmingham Major recap after the event has all wrapped up, so be sure to keep and eye out for that and I hope you found my preview helpful.

Written by @typo_yk