RLCS Spring Major 22-23 Recap
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
The RLCS 22-23 Spring Major was an event to be remembered, arguably one of the greatest tournaments to date. This event was simply a level above, in story, skill and entertainment as a whole. To truly understand this, we have to look a little closer.
Day 1
Double elimination was a format that no team wanted to deal with, but the choice was not theirs. One loss and you were dropped into the Lower Bracket, a loss there meant you were out of the event all together. The plan for most teams; don’t lose. A few succeeded in this, many didn’t.
Round 1 did not bring many upsets, but that is certainly not to say that there were no entertaining games. The day began with a matchup between two ‘minor region’ teams; KRÜ Esports from SAM and Rule One from MENA. The new Middle Eastern kings took their first LAN win over the South America’s finest, three games to one, it was not unexpected but certainly a spectacle. Complexity Gaming versus Team Liquid was a closer affair. Defence versus offence was on show in this series, and defence came out on top. Complexity Gaming took it in game five and dropped Team Liquid to the Lower Bracket. The only other games of note were Ground Zero Gaming being reverse swept by Karmine Corp, Elevate taking a game of Europe’s best in Team Vitality, and Team BDS disposing of Gen.G Mobil1 Racing. All the other games went as predicted.
Before the day could by declared over, the Upper Round 2 games had to be played. This was were Europe pulled away from the rest of the competition. Team BDS, Karmine Corp and Moist Esports all annihilating their respective opponents, while Team Vitality was taken to game five overtime before finally knocking Complexity Gaming to the Lower Bracket. These victories meant that all four of the remaining Upper Bracket spots belonged to European teams, a never before seen occurrence at an RLCS LAN. With the final series wrapping up, the day was over and we would have to wait for Day 2 to watch the Lower Bracket unfold.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Day 2
This was North America’s chance for redemption, all five of their teams were in the Lower Bracket, all now with one life left. If a comeback was to start, it would have to be now. Things started well, but didn’t last. The day started with Team Liquid, Europe’s single team in lowers, sweeping APAC’s Elevate out of the tournament. Gen.G Mobil1 Racing did similar to KRÜ Esports and PWR qualified for the World Championship by knocking out their Australian countrymen at Ground Zero Gaming. The OCE derby was not the only international battle we witnessed, FURIA Esports, who had moved from SAM to NA at the start of the season were knocked out of the event by their fellow Brazilians at Ninjas in Pyjamas. This result was a huge upset and a huge hit to North America’s chances at gaining the region more spots at the World Championship in Germany.
North America’s woes didn’t end there, OpTic Gaming fell in five to the rallying Team Liquid, and there was some friendly fire as Gen.G Mobil1 Racing moved through Spacestation Gaming. Rule One achieved the second reverse sweep of the tournament against PWR, knocking OCE’s last team out of the major. Complexity Gaming ended Ninjas in Pyjamas’ run to end the day. The results of Day 2 had left NA in shambles, just two teams remained and both faced tough opponents to start Day 3.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Day 3
Wins were now essential for North America’s pride, no teams from the region appearing in the final four would be a shocking turnout and hurt the entire region’s hopes of being at the top of the world. There was one spanner in NA’s cogs, Rule One. If MENA’s finest made Championship Sunday, a third team from the Middle East would attend the World Championship over North America’s sixth best in Version1. Things did not start well for the West. A zero second goal in game one could not keep Complexity Gaming in the series, Rule One felled NA’s best hope and took themselves just one series away from the top four. Luckily for all America’s fans, Gen.G were able to knock Team Liquid out of the event in game five and move to top six as the region’s only hope.
Finally, after a days wait we were back to the Upper Bracket, Team BDS and Team Vitality were up first. Normally Team Vitality would be the favourites in this matchup, however they had only scraped past Elevate and Complexity Gaming on Day 1. This factor led many to place their bets on the usual underdogs in Team BDS, these bold takes would prove to be more accurate than many would assume. Team BDS destroyed their French brothers. 4-1 was the score line and Team Vitality never looked like they stood a chance. They would play against Gen.G in lowers to end the day. First we were gifted the second EU vs EU matchup of the day; Karmine Corp versus Moist Esports. This game had been played many times throughout the season, overall Karmine Corp had had the upper hand, this time was no different. The French juggernaut followed in Team BDS’ footsteps and beat Moist Esports in five. The Upper Final was now set, though the Lower Final was yet to have any appearances, to do that we would have to pay close attention to the result of Day 2’s last to matches.
Moist Esports were clearly shook up from their run in with Karmine Corp. Rule One simply looked like the stronger team. Moist Esports were able to claw two games back but Rule One’s diversity proved to be too much Europe’s fifth seed, they fell in game six. This victory from Rule One propelled them to the tournament’s top four and sent MENA’s third seed, Twisted Minds, to the World Championship. This also meant Version1 would not be going to Germany and North America would only be sending five teams, unbelievable. Despite the wonders of the top eight being hard to take in, the day was not done. Team Vitality prepared to take on NA’s last hope, Gen.G Mobil1 Racing. It turned out not to be the way North America had hoped to end the event. The loss to Team BDS seemed to have angered the bees, they disposed of Gen.G. It took just four games to completely annihilate them, truly brutal. This sweep wrapped up the day, and what a series of events we had witnessed. High expectations were set for Championship Sunday.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Day 4
The expectations were met, no one could deny it. And there was of course no better way to kick it off than a game seven to decide who we would see in the Grand Final. Team BDS went 3-1 up on Karmine Corp, one game would book them into the Grand Final. But Karmine weren’t done. They fought back with back to back wins in games five and six, Champions Field was set. Unfortunately for Karmine Corp fans, their comeback ended here. Team BDS shut them out I’m game seven, sending them to the Grand Final and Karmine Corp to play the winner of the Lower Semifinal for a rematch. This Lower Semifinal match between Rule One and Team Vitality would go down as the closest sweep in RLCS LAN history. Game one; overtime to Team Vitality. Game two; overtime to Team Vitality. Game three; longest overtime in LAN history to, you guessed it, Team Vitality. Despite arguably looking like the better team, Rule One could not find a win, heart breaking. Understandably, losing three consecutive overtimes of such length is incredibly mentally taxing, this showed in the final game where Rule One never really stood a chance. An honourable performance form the Middle East’s LAN rookies. It was an unfortunate ending, but top four at your first international event is nothing to be disappointed in. Rule One will certainly be recognised as a force to be reckoned with at the World Championship in Germany.
Team Vitality’s job was far from over though, they would have to win three consecutive series’ to take the Spring Major trophy. The Lower Bracket Final stood between them and the Grand Final, and Karmine Corp were not going to allow an easy victory. The two French giants went head to head, neither would let the other take an inch, all the way to game seven. Karmine Corp took a two goal lead early on Champions Field, and with time ticking away it looked like Team Vitality’s run might just end here. They had other ideas though. Two answering goals late in regulation took us to the first game seven overtime of the event. It was however, not one for the ages. A questionable kickoff sends the ball deep into the Karmine Corp half, the ball hangs high above the goal and Team Vitality do not miss their chance. A shot from the ceiling sends the ball careening into Karmine Corp’s net. The Team Vitality wonder run through the Lower Bracket is almost over, just one more win will reset the bracket and send them into one final deciding series versus Team BDS.
These two had played earlier in the event, Team BDS had shown Team Vitality no mercy that time. Now the tables had turned. Team Vitality looked like a new team, they uppercut Team BDS square in the face, knocking them down from the Upper Bracket in six games. It was now even playing field, or it should have been. Team Vitality made it look unfair. In just five games they successfully took the Grand Final and the Spring Major, an unreal result. The team had now won all four RLCS events they had competed in during the Spring Split, since picking up rookie Alexis ‘zen’ Bernier they had not lost. The French superteam had now solidified themselves as a dynasty and the hottest team going into the RLCS 22-23 World Championship.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Written by @typo_yk
