RLCS 22-23 European Spring Spit Recap
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Spring Open
The trade window really shook Europe up, players jumped teams left and right, leaving many unable to represent one at all. The Spring Open was our first chance to see these revamped rosters show off, and what a showing we were given.
Day 1
We were treated to a few scares and one crazy upset in round one, Team Vitality and G1 were taken to game five by their respective opponents, but both managed to clinch out wins and avoid potential disaster. A team that were unable to dodge the mishap was Oxygen Esports, they were knocked into lowers early by the newly formed Hogan Mode, a UK based team with very little expectation coming into the event, even after sweeping the qualifier.
Upper Round 2 went as expected with Karmine Corp, Team Vitality, Team Liquid and Moist Esports all making it out of the grueling first day after playing just two series’. Everyone else had to fight for the final four spots of day two through the lower bracket, a far more punishing path. One loss and you’re out. Hogan Mode and suhhh regained quickly from their upper bracket losses, winning both their games in dominant fashion. The other two spots proved to be a much harder fight to secure. The four teams in contention were all in the upper echelon of European Rocket League, any one of them could be competing at the Spring Major in just a few months time. Instead two of them would be dropping out early in the first event of the split. G1 and Oxygen Esports were the unfortunate souls who had to suffer the heart wrenching defeat so early in the event and split. Both teams attended the Winter Major and both made roster changes during the trade window, but still both fell. Team BDS and PSG Tundra advanced, both looking to prove to the rest of the region that they deserved those major spots over their peers.
Day 2
Day two began with two dominant performances from Team BDS and Hogan Mode, sending both into the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals with a spring in their step. The big matchups were found in the upper bracket where Team Vitality handed their French countrymen Karmine Corp their most crippling loss in a regional, ever! If that was crazy then no one was prepared for Team Liquid to reverse sweep Moist Esports, even after they lost three consecutive overtimes to be taken to match point. The battle for Championship Sunday was set, with Karmine Corp and Hogan Mode entering the arena first. This matchup was expected to be incredibly one sided, in favor of the reigning Winter Major champions, as Hogan Mode had defied all odds by getting here at all. Despite the score line being 4-1 to Karmine Corp, it felt closer than many expected. Team BDS and Moist Esports were up next, the two behemoths of the European region from last season had fallen from grace, now one of them would be back in the top four. The reverse sweep disaster in the upper bracket had clearly shook Moist Esports as they were taken down in just five games. With this win Team BDS move on to their first Championship Sunday all season, proving that their bold roster move was no mistake.
Day 3
The competition had been cut down to the best of the best, a group of teams that would soon come to be known as Europe’s big four. First up was Team Vitality versus Team Liquid, the battle of rookies. One novice rose above the rest and proved to the world that he truly belonged in the RLCS, Team Vitality’s Alexis ‘zen’ Bernier. With his help the Frenchmen took the Upper Final 4-2 and moved to tournament point. Team Liquid would now have to turn up in the lower bracket, but before they could get their shot they would have to wait for the French derby of Team BDS versus Karmine Corp to run its course. This was where Team BDS dropped Europe’s top dogs out of the tournament, the first time they’d missed a Grand Final in a regional all season. This game really showed that Europe had levelled up this split. Karmine Corp, arguably the best team Europe had ever produced, had taken two losses to two teams that had tweaked their rosters during the trade window, clearly for the better.
Team Liquid disposed of Team BDS in the Lower Final, dismantling them in a sweep. They wanted their rematch versus zen and Team Vitality, and they certainly got it. Games went back and forth, overtimes were fought to the brink and wondergoals were traded. This brilliance from both sides took us to game seven. Team Vitality shone in the final match, taking it by one goal and claiming their first trophy since RLCS X. This win also meant zen had won his debut event in the RLCS, an unbelievable achievement that had only been done by a short list of names. The first event of the split had wrapped up, meaning we had two more to go. Would Team Vitality stay at the top or is the win a result of a honeymoon phase for the team? The Spring Cup would bring these answers.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Spring Cup
The world weren’t quite ready to call Team Vitality Europe’s new best team, Karmine Corp still held that crown. This event was the new contender’s chance to steal that wreath away. A win here would solidify the title, but these two weren’t the only teams in contention, Team Liquid and Team BDS were nipping at the heels of the French superteams. Before we would be able to crown a champion we would have to make it through the first two days of competiton, Day 1 kicked things off.
Day 1
We were treated to one upset in round one, Guild Esports took down the ever unimpressive G1. Guild Esports took this momentum into the next series where they pulled off a game five win over Oxygen Esports. Oxygen Esports were competing with G1 for the worst roster move of the trade window award, and Guild Esports really wanted it to be a close competition. The other round two matchups were fairly interesting, with Moist Esports getting revenge on Team Liquid and Team Vitality proving their dominance over Team BDS. The lower bracket gave us some solid matches, G1 were forced to reverse sweep Monaco Esports to stay in the tournament, Luna Galaxy, the newly acquired Monkeys roster, gave us another last place finish, adding another team to the list of awful roster move contenders. Suhhh and FUFAXDOP took wins in round one just to get destroyed by Team BDS and Oxygen Esports in the very next stage. G1 were not quite as lucky as their counterparts, their opponent were the Winter Major semifinalists Team Liquid, not quite the same as a bubble team. As expected, G1 fell and Team Liquid moved on in the tournament. PSG Tundra were the last team to join the top eight, taking their game with ease after a stomping from Karmine Corp in the upper bracket.
Day 2
Team Liquid fell early on day two, Team BDS proved to be to much for them. Such an early game between two of the big four was unfortunate, but Team BDS’ poor season so far had caused their seeding for the event to be low, causing this chaos to unfold far too quickly. Oxygen Esports took care of PSG Tundra in similar fashion, now showing signs of a potential regain. Before we could see if these results would continue, the upper bracket semi finals had to be played out, starting off with a rather unexpected matchup. Guild Esports were dropped into lowers before they new what was happening, Karmine Corp were playing to claim their throne back and no one was going to stop them. Except maybe the thieves themselves, Team Vitality. Moist Esports had the same fate as Guild Esports, scoring just two goals in four games and losing their first life in the event.
Guild Esports played it surprisingly close against Team BDS, taking two games in the series before they were knocked out. Though if we’re talking about close series’, the next was the definition. Moist Esports versus Oxygen Esports was one for the ages. The teams had only played once in the past and Moist Esports had swept the series, this was where Oxygen Esports wanted things to change. Overtimes defined this series. Four were played, the best undoubtably being the last. Game seven overtime went on for over two extra minutes, ending with an unbelievable double tap from Moist Esports’ Joe ‘Joyo’ Young. This win all but locked in the five major teams, a miracle would have to be performed in regional three for anyone else to even have a shot at it.
Day 3
A grudge match to kick the day off was what everyone needed, unfortunately the Upper Final didn’t prove to be such a close series. Team Vitality annihilated Karmine Corp, denying them their revenge and once again sending them to the lower bracket. Team BDS versus Moist Esports was the polar opposite of the French thrashing we’d just witnessed. Moist Esports were taken to their second game seven overtime of the tournament, however this time they weren’t quite so lucky. A goal forty seconds past regulation from Team BDS knocked Moist Esports out in fourth and launched Team BDS to their second Lower Final of the split. This one went similarly to the last, this time it was just a new challenger. The embarrassment in the Upper Bracket seemed to have just made Karmine Corp angry, Team BDS stood no chance. A sweep was handed to them and Karmine Corp locked themselves in for a battle with their new rivals.
This time they came to play, proving that Team Vitality were in fact beatable by taking the first series 4-1. Now the real final began, the winner would be titled European champions. Unfortunately for Karmine Corp, their dominant win over Team Vitality seemed to have had no affect on them, they only seemed to have come back stronger. 4-2 was the score line and Team Vitality were the winners. This was their second regional win in a row and they were shaping up to look like world beaters. The only way to truly crown them would be another regional win, the Spring Invitational would be their final task.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Spring Invitational
Europe’s finale happened here, the last showing for the region’s lower tiers. And some of those low level teams certainly shone. The madness began almost immediately.
Day 1
Reverse sweeps were certainly not unheard of in the RLCS, but finding them so early in an event was a rarer occurrence. Guild Esports continued their run of form by coming back from two games down against PSG Tundra, a heartbreaker for the German’s looking to qualify for the major and World Championship. This was not the only upset the first round of the event treated us to, Luna Galaxy took their first win all split over Oxygen Esports, a result even more unexpected than the last. Apart from Karmine Corp giving the world a scare by going to game five with Solary the rest of Upper Round 1 went as expected.
Upper Round 2 was almost identical, the teams who were supposed to win did so and Karmine Corp took us to a second game five with another team of a significantly lower skill level. The first round of lowers was uneventful but round two gave us a few bangers. Moist Esports looked down and out against PSG Tundra, before managing to pull out a reverse sweep and knock the Germans out in the same fashion as Guild Esports had just an hour earlier. At the same time Oxygen Esports were taken out by a G1 that seemed to finally be finding their feet. Monaco Esports and Hogan Mode won their own respective series’ to book themselves spots in the top eight.
Day 2
Hogan Mode started the day with a fairly comfortable win over Monaco Esports, with Moist Esports following up with their own victory of G1. The Upper Bracket was where things really began, Team Liquid and Team Vitality went head to head, neither team giving the other an inch. Eventually the Frenchmen took down Team Liquid in seven games, certainly not without fighting for. The second Upper Semifinal was just as close, Team BDS took the win in another game seven, sending Karmine Corp into to the lowers to face off against Moist Esports. The next series was supposed to be an easy win for Team Liquid, Hogan Mode had been unable to make it through the qualifier for the second regional and had barely made it here, riding off their points from regional one to make it in as the sixteenth seed. Unfortunately for Team Liquid, things did not go as planned. Hogan Mode pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season to move on to Championship Sunday and send Team Liquid out of the tournament. Even though this was an unbelievable achievement for Hogan Mode, the best was yet to come. Day 2 finished up with Karmine Corp making quick work of Moist Esports, moving to the Lower Semifinal with a 4-1 win.
Day 3
Many storylines had formed throughout the Spring Split and entire season for Europe, every single one of them ended right here. One of these storylines would reach its pivotal moment depending on the outcome of the next series. A win in the Upper Final would send Team Vitality into the Grand Final and leave them with one last series to play before being crowned the Spring Split’s three time champions. The only thing standing in their way was Team BDS. Team Vitality made it look easy. A 4-1 win left Team BDS stunned, being slapped into the lower bracket in such fashion was unheard of for a team of such a caliber.
Their opponent would be decided by the winner of the Lower Semifinal. Once again the odds were stacked against Hogan Mode, a win over Team Liquid still wasn’t enough to convince the world that they could take down an opponent such as Karmine Corp, they were here to prove the world wrong. Karmine Corp were destroyed. Kicked to the curb and made to look like nobodies. This win turned heads, a lot of them. Some heads turned belonged to Moist Esports, if Hogan Mode won the event they would be placed into a tiebreaker versus Moist Esports for who claimed the final major spot. A win over Karmine Corp was certainly the right way of starting that journey.
Any wonderous storyline forming in anyone’s heads were immediately crushed by Team BDS, they wanted their rematch and no Cinderella story was going to stop them getting it. Hogan Mode were stopped in their tracks and the third 4-1 of the day was completed by the rallying Frenchmen. Unfortunately, they were not the only Frenchmen hunting for wins and Team Vitality showed them exactly how it was done, completing the fourth 4-1 of the day and made the three regional dream a reality. Team Vitality were now undeniably Europe’s greatest and were ready to show it at the Spring Major against international competition. The question is, will the rest of Europe show up to the same level or will Team Vitality continue to dominate one and all? The Spring Major will answer all the questions the world can give.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Written by @typo_yk
