RLCS 22-23 Winter Split Transfer Window Recap
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
The RLCS 22-23 Winter Split Trade Window was a crazy one, nobody can deny that. Massive teams made massive moves, leaving players across the world rushing to find a new home. So which party made the right moves and which players suddenly found themselves in a tough position with no time to change their fate? This article will tell you all about it.
North America
North America had far less moves than its rival, Europe, but that certainly doesn’t make the moves that went through any worse. Lets begin the section with North America’s highlight of the offseason, the new superteam in town.
Version1
Version1 had a poor Winter Split, multiple 9-12th finishes at the hands of low tier teams left many wondering if this was a direct result of their Fall Split trade window drama with the attempted pickup of Finlay ‘rise.’ Ferguson for Robert ‘comm’ Kyser. This move fell through leaving Version1 stuck with a player they didn’t really want and comm stuck with teammates he knew were prepared to drop him. These poor results left Version1 with their eyes on a new prize, Daniel ‘Daniel’ Piecenski, Spacestation Gaming’s superstar prodigy. Many fans were extremely exited for this move as Daniel was such a talent in the North American scene. All except fans of veteran Kyle ‘torment’ Storer who announced his retirement after being dropped from the starting roster. Results started hot for the new team; they took first place in the North American qualifiers for the Gamers8 LAN event which will be played out this summer. However this brilliance did not continue into the first regionals of the Spring Split. Version1 won their opening match with ease, from their things went South. Two sweeps at the hands of South America’s finest and a little Spanish blood sent Version1 out with yet another 9-12th finish, despite their incredible pickup. Will the team be able to turn it around before the next event or will yet another major be played out without them?
Spacestation Gaming
The loss of Daniel was a big hit for Spacestation Gaming, a new player had to be found and with little talent not already on a top roster there weren’t many options for the organization. Their solution was Colby ‘hockser’ James. Hockser had been an integral part of the Ghost Gaming roster throughout the season so far, while not being considered a top player he could certainly perform at a high level. We saw this level in the North America Spring Open where Spacestation Gaming achieved an unexpected fourth place finish, with wins over top teams like FaZe Clan and FURIA Esports. This result turned many heads as this team had little expectation after losing a player of Daniel’s caliber. The major is very much in reach for this new Spacestation Gaming team, especially after this strong start to the split.
KOI
This move is a slightly different one. Rather than KOI signing a new player, they made the decision to replace Christopher ‘aqua’ Campbell and Eli ‘night.’ Price with the Pittsburgh Knights core of Gianluca ‘sosa’ Petrozza and Carlos ‘CHEESE.’ Aguado. Despite dropping two of their players they do not lose all their season points as they now take Pittsburgh Knights’ points instead. The two new signings are now competing alongside Jirair ‘Gyro.’ Papazian, a strong talent in North America who has had much success in the RLCS, even winning a LAN event back in 2019. This team showed lots of promise coming into the Spring Split, especially after their finals appearance in the Gamers8 qualifiers, beating top teams like Complexity Gaming, G2 Esports and OpTic Gaming. However, these results did not translate into the first Spring regional where they were knocked out in the first round. The question everyone’s asking is will KOI be able to turn it around before its simply to late?
Summary
Though lacking in moves, North America certainly had some good ones. The highlight undeniably being Version1’s massive pickup of Daniel, this move could make the team a World Championship winning roster, or could cause the crumble of a North American giant. Spacestation Gaming and KOI had pickups that were definitely overshadowed by Version1’s bold seize of North America’s finest talent, but that is not to say these revamped rosters don’t have the potential to shine and even make an appearance at the Spring Major.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Europe
If you were disappointed with North America’s moves then Europe should be the place for you. Almost all the top teams made switches, leaving many high tier players without a spot on a starting roster for the Spring Split. But which rosters actually succeeded in making an upgrade and who will we see bow out of the big leagues?
Team Vitality
The French organization ended the last split with a bang. A top eight finish at the Winter Major surpassed most peoples expectations. But it was not enough to stop an inevitable change happening. Alexis ‘zen’ Bernier had been waiting in the wings of Team Vitality since the start of the season, he was not able to play until now due to being banned for playing in an RLCS event underage. Now he’s back and ready to make waves in Europe. So far Team Vitality have shown immense success with their new superstar, winning both pre-split events they’ve played in. The only question asked is whether the French superteam will be able to translate these results into an RLCS event or will they fold like the other teams who had come before them?
Oxygen Esports
Oxygen Esports took a big hit this trade window, losing their star player Finlay ‘rise.’ Ferguson. Now they were in a predicament where they had to find a player of high skill to keep their spot as one of Europe’s big three. The player they settled on was Quadrant’s Dylan ‘eekso’ Pickering, not considered one of Europe’s highest level talents but certainly a player who could slot into Oxygen Esports’ dangerous playstyle. While losing rise was worrying for the team there’s no doubt that they can still compete for events and show that they deserve their spot in the upper echelon of the region.
Moist Esports
A bold decision was made by Moist Esports in the Winter Split trade window, Maëllo ‘AztraL’ Ernst was kicked from the starting roster. While arguably being Moist Esports’ star player, inconsistency plagued the Belgian veteran in the European regionals and questions around his mentality left many fans unsurprised when this rumour was announced. Their replacement came in the form of Kurtis ‘Kash’ Cannon, Quadrant’s star player and certainly considered one of Europe’s players to look out for. This move could be exactly what Moist Esports need to get back to their former glory and show the world that they are still the dynasty they were once seen as.
G1
Despite being known as Europe’s resident full Spanish roster, G1 have decided to break the narrative by dropping Marc ‘MaRc_By_8.’ Domingo Ruiz. No one could deny that MaRc_By_8 was the team’s weak link and had not reached his full potential while competing with G1. After trying out multiple players they eventually settled on Ole ‘oaly.’ van Doorn. The Dutch player had had some great showings under the Oxygen Esports banner in the Fall Split, with a highlight performance at the Fall Major. He was kicked in brutal fashion with just hours left of the last trade window and left teamless for the entirety of the Winter Split. Now he was back and ready to compete at the highest level once again, hopefully he can put in some strong performances for G1 and potentially get some revenge on his old team.
Team BDS
This move was the one that probably raised the most questions in the trade window, Team BDS had had an extremely poor performance over the 22-23 season so far. The reigning world champions fell off in a big way and were looking to get back to their championship winning level. A roster change was inbound for the French team and when a player like rise is rumoured to be open for tryouts, you don’t waste your time. When this move was cast into the public eye, many were in states of shock. The main question was why rise would move from his comfortable spot near the top of the European standings, to a team barely scraping top eights. The answer could only be belief in this team of players that the world new could all be the best in the world on their day. Another question asked was why the Englishman was leaving Oxygen Esports after just one split of play with them. While being a questionable move for a player of rise’s skill, his fans can only hope it was the right choice for him and that he can elevate Team BDS back to their position as the best team in world.
Monkeys
Formally under the Soniqs name, the Monkeys were dropped from their organization following the end of the Winter Split. Many people questioned this decision from the American organization, this roster was showing promise going into the Spring split with their rumored pickup of Tundra Esports’ David ‘Rezears’ Wünsch. Rezears was one of Europe’s most hyped up talents coming into the 22-23 season. While his results on Tundra Esports started well, they began to falter and fell into chaos in the Winter Split, ending events in dead last multiple times. These poor performances from the team left them orgless and resulted in the players splitting up. Now Rezears was back and on a team with some huge potential, they showed this in the Gamers8 European qualifiers where they placed second, falling at the final hurdle to Team Vitality. They went 3-0 in series during the Spring Open Closed Qualifier and will compete in the main event for a spot at the Spring Major. Can this new Monkeys squad improve their results or will they stay stuck dead center of the European jungle, consistent solid results but certainly not at the top of the region.
Summary
Europe certainly had many spicy moves, while North America had one that outshone the others, this region is far harder to highlight a single change. You can expect all of these teams to compete for major spots, making the top of Europe even scarier than it already was last split. Team Vitality, Oxygen Esports, Moist Esports, G1, Team BDS and Monkeys all made powerful decisions coming into the Spring Split, this chaos left an array of players that will not be competing for the rest of the season. Talents like Maëllo ‘AztraL’ Ernst, Thiméo ‘saizen’ Corcuff, Marc ‘MaRc_By_8.’ Domingo Ruiz, Lucas ‘RelatingWave’ Rose and Alexandre ‘Extra’ Paoli are all sat on the bench, waiting for the chance to get back to the top of the competition. It makes you wonder what kind of state we will see Europe in by the time the next trade window roles around and these players will be looking for teams.
Image courtesy of Psyonix.
Overview
As a whole, the roster changes this trade window were on another level. You just have to look at the long list of teamless players to understand just how dangerous some these rosters could be. We were given a taste of the chaos this split could bring in the North American Spring Open, a true display of the disarray we could see in just a few weeks. Now all eyes turn to Europe, if North America could give us such a show with the little moves they made then the other ‘major region’ is sure to have some unbelievable results and us as fans can only hope that it lives up to the hype.
Written by @typo_yk
