Belleair and BigFan give you their top headlines for the Spring Major.
This is a long time coming for the Middle East. After seasons spent on the sidelines, the former Sandrock Gaming turned Team Falcons have strongly represented the tip-of-the-spear for MENA talent.
While respected figures around the community have sung the region’s praises for years, a single Major spot has concealed most names from the International stage, but Rule One is poised to change that.
Narrowly missing out on the Winter Major, Rule One brings a tandem of young and dynamic twins in rw9 and Kileerrz to the mix. Flanked by veteran M7sN, these dark-horses will look to overcome a tough first-round matchup against KRÜ esports. Can they push MENA forward, or is this simply a baby step in the right direction?
Time will tell.
Looking across the board, it’s challenging to look past the deep talent Europe is bringing to the Major. If you twist my arm, it seems like Europe is in the driver’s seat to win this event and furthermore, there’s a good chance a Frenchman will raise that trophy.
Besides Team Liquid, every EU roster has at least one French player with the front runners in Vitality being fully French. If the results land as the odds project, France has the chance to cement themselves as the best Rocket League country in the globe and have their countrymen make up a substantial part of the top active players.
Kaydop must be proud!
We’re deep into the season, so almost all the talent we’ll see on the pitch has had at least a cup of coffee at an International LAN. While we do have 6 new faces representing the World (rw9, Kileerrz, Motta, MajicBear, juicy, and that one young French kid whose name I can’t remember) we have some seasoned veterans returning to do battle as well.
Chiefly among them are a pair of former teammates in rise and Vatira. According to Octane.gg, Rise has played a whopping 164 S-Tier LAN games, which leads all participants heading into Boston. Vatira may have played a handful less games at this stage than rise, but having won 66.7% of his matches supplants him firmly atop all competitors at Majors.
The EU vs NA debate is an esports staple. Fans love to have pride in their nationality and hate to see when others are saying someone else is better. Historically, The RLCS battle between North America and Europe has been very back and forth. Pros, Analysts, and Fans have thought the two regions were basically even, but that all changed during the 2023 Spring Split.
Europe finally saw the arrival of Zen, who lived up to the god-like expectations that the entire scene had set for him. BDS made a much needed roster change to bring on mr. clutch himself. Liquid continued to have impressive results, and we can’t forget about the Winter Major Champions - Karmine Corp. EU has looked stacked. Even though Vitality won all 3 of the tournaments this split, the talent level is the highest and most consistent we’ve seen all year.
North America on the other hand has been anything but consistent in this split. Every tournament had 2 completely different teams in the grand finals (the first time in RLCS history). The Fall Major champions - GenG - finished in 5th to qualify for the major and haven’t looked great doing it. Probably the biggest shocker is that the two teams most hyped for the split, Faze Clan and V1, didn’t even qualify for the major. And Spacestation Gaming is the #1 seed, even though most analysts didn’t pick them to make the major at the beginning of the split.
Johnnyboi said that the top 4 teams at the Major will be all european teams and I (yes I, a NA fan) have to agree with him. Consistency is key in rocket league, can you show up when it matters. Not just looking good on Day 1 but for every day of the tournament. I’m afraid that this tournament will be a death blow in the EU vs NA debate….at least until next season :)
If North America does have a shot at the major, all eyes will be on Furia. The team that gained immense hype around them after a stellar performance at Worlds in 2022. And who can forget Yan’s game tying goal vs Moist Esports.
Some players get nervous being at a LAN event, and others rise to the challenge and clutch up on the biggest stages. Furia have proved they can do that, and their newest addition - Lostt - has also had great results - making a big name for himself on The Club.
Furia placed 5-6th in regionals one and two, and ended the spring with their first win since coming over from South America. They’ve shown they have the talent, and clutch at LANs, but the real question is will it be enough to beat Europe’s best?
Zen, Alpha54, Radosin and Coach Ferra are currently an unstoppable force in Rocket League. Vitality made history in this split by becoming the first team to ever win all 3 regionals in a split. On top of that, they also won Gamers Without Borders: Europe, and Herculyse’s New Era Series. Combined they are 5-0 since bringing on Zen. That sentence is absolutely bonkers.
The consistency that we’re seeing from them is out of this world. Nobody has been able to beat them. Seriously, they haven’t dropped a matchup all split long. The only time they ever “lost” a series was in the grand finals, where Karmine beat them 4-1 and forced a bracket reset in the Spring Open.
Will they make history again, by becoming the first team to ever win all 3 regional tournaments AND win the major? They’re heavily favored to do it, but I’ve got a gut feeling about Liquid.