Despite the cancellation of the RLCS Season 9 World Championships next month due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the current season of professional Rocket League is still at full boost. In fact, the league play portion of the season is headed towards its finale, and almost everything is still up in the air dribble. Here’s what it all comes down to.
Four teams battle for top 2 in RLCS North America
The top of the NA RLCS is insanely close, with the following scores:
- Spacestation Gaming: 6-1, +11
- Susquehanna Soniqs: 6-2, +9
- NRG Esports: 6-2, +6
- G2 Esports: 5-2, +8
This weekend, these teams will battle directly for a top 2 spot (and, therefore, a guaranteed top 4 finish in the region). That also means an extra stack of cash, as an additional $100,000 was added due to the cancellation of Worlds.
G2 and SSG will both play twice this weekend, with G2 playing against both the Soniqs and Spacestation for those top spots. SSG’s other opponent is eUnited (2-6). NRG looks to have the easiest final week with just a single match against Ghost Gaming (4-4). Should they take that series, they can sit back, watch how the other teams take points off each other, and hope for the best.
It’ll come down to who plays well this weekend to secure a top 2 spot, which usually would’ve meant direct qualification for RLCS Worlds. Now it’ll just secure some extra money in their pockets. But even a top 6 finish will still give teams a shot in the play-offs. They’ll just have a longer path to the goal line.
The fact that @Fireburner came out of retirement to sub on Cloud 9 to secure a reverse sweep against near undefeated SQ by means of an overtime Doomsee Dish making it impossible for Flight to make playoffs makes me so disgustingly happy
— stumpy 🙂 (@StumpyGoblin) March 14, 2020
Who will directly relegate to the NA RLRS?
Finishing in tenth place means you’re out of the RLCS. That’s it. No promotion/relegation tournament, no second chances. You’re out. For NA, this will be just between two teams – and best of all, they play each other this weekend.
Rogue (2-6) and Flight (1-7) are sitting at ninth and tenth in the table, and the loser of this match-up will be guaranteed to finish in last place. It’s also the first match of the weekend, so we’re sure to start off with a banger.
The European RLCS Top 4
The European top 2 is all but guaranteed. With just a 10% chance for FC Barcelona (5-2) to clinch a top 2 spot, we can mostly assume that Renault Vitality (7-1) and Dignitas (7-1) will stay on top, and with good reason. These teams are looking the most solid in the world right now, and it’s a shame we won’t get to see them compete in a live environment this season.
aaaaay 2-0 on the day baby, and 7-1 in league play already :DD letsgoooooo
— ViolentPanda (@ViolentPandaRL) March 15, 2020
The question is what will happen to place three and four, which will be between the following four teams:
- FC Barcelona (5-2), +5
- Veloce Esports (5-3), +5
- Team Reciprocity (5-3), +5
- Mousesports (4-3), +4
Both Barça and Mouz will play two matches this Sunday, one of which is against each other. Like NA, it’ll come down to the wire to decide who grabs those coveted top RLCS spots. And while the top 2 is out of reach for almost everybody, a top 4 finish is vastly superior to top 6.
Tough times for the bottom 3
Unfortunately for AS Monaco (0-8), it’s unlikely they’ll avoid the tenth place. Things would need to go extremely hard in their favor, and even then, ninth place is the highest they can go. They will have to fight hard to keep their spot for RLCS Season 10, whether it’s this weekend or in the promotion/relegation tournament. It’s not looking good for them.
I have a feeling @ASMonacoEsports will make it back. This team has had some hard struggles, but there are moments this season they've shown it can "click".
I hope they stick it out and come back strong. Plenty of players have proven that it's never too late to improve #RLCS9
— Joey Ahrens (@JorbyPls) March 15, 2020
But TSM (1-7) and Endpoint (2-6) are also in dire straits. With just a 25% chance for Endpoint to finish in seventh (and therefore safe) place, we can almost assume that the bottom of the EU RLCS9 has been set in stone. Then again, this is Rocket League, and anything could happen. To see all the possible scenarios and to play around with the odds, check out this handy tool.
Catch the North American action this Saturday on Twitch and YouTube at 12:00 p.m. PT / 3:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CET. Meanwhile, the European action will kick off on those same channels at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CET. Keep in mind that daylight savings time has not gone into effect yet in Europe, hence the difference in time.
Published: Mar 18, 2020 10:54 am