On Sept. 16, the first-ever Rocket League Invitational by WePlay Esports starts. For four days, 16 teams from EMEA and North America will battle in their respective regions for a $100,000 prize pool, split evenly between the two.
Here’s how to catch the action.
How to watch the WePlay Esports Rocket League Invitational
The WePlay Esports Rocket League Invitational starts with EMEA on Thursday, Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. ET / 5 p.m. CEST. The North American matches will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET with SpaceStation Gaming versus Shopify Rebellion. You can catch both regions on the official WePlay Esports Twitch and YouTube channels. Every day, the stream begins 30 minutes prior to that at 10:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 p.m CEST. The tournament will employ a double-elimination format, where all matches will be best-of-7. Each match is planned to take up one hour including analysis. The Grand final will be a best-of-set, requiring the winning team to take two best-of-7 matches to claim the victory.
It all kicks off today! We'll start the day 30 minutes before the first game with a kick off show! ⚽️🚀
Who do you think will win their games today?
📺https://t.co/62Gak2X0id
📺https://t.co/vvp6ng8huT pic.twitter.com/mtqlFv2H1w— WePlay Studios (@WePlay_Studios) September 16, 2021
Who’s playing?
WePlay Esports went with a simple approach for this Rocket League Invitational: The top 8 of RLCS X. However, with the disbanding of Europe’s Solary, they instead invited the Middle East’s best team: Sandrock Gaming.
This decision caused some raised eyebrows in the community, as some believed other European teams were more deserving. However, with the Middle East soon competing in their own region in the RLCS, it will be a good warm-up against the best in the world. In that same vein, some fans voiced their desire to see the South American True Neutral, who recently moved to Mexico to compete in NA RLCS, over lower-tier teams such as Susquehanna Soniqs.
For Europe, the teams are as follows:
- Team BDS
- Team Vitality
- SMPR Esports
- Vodafone Giants
- Guild Esports
- Karmine Corp
- Dignitas
- Sandrock Gaming
As for North America, the contenders are:
- NRG
- Team Envy
- SpaceStation Gaming
- Rogue
- G2 Esports
- FaZe Clan (who will play with a sub)
- Shopify Rebellion
- Susquehanna Soniqs.
The week begins with Team BDS versus Sandrock Gaming. Initially, Team BDS was set to play Vodafone Giants in the first round. However, after community feedback, organizers adjusted the seeding and almost all of the first match-ups across both regions shifted.
The brackets can be found below.
