It was Europe’s turn in the RLCS Promotion Tournament today. Four teams, two RLCS spots. Two wins would mean the team would be playing in the RLCS for season seven. Two losses would see the team play in the RLRS (Rival Series) next season. It was more exciting Rocket League action.
Tournament structure
- Best-of-7
- Double elimination
Contenders
- Fnatic (RLCS, seventh place)
- CompLexity (RLCS, eighth place)
- Savage! (RLRS, first place)
- Red Reserve (RLRS, second place)
The first team to relegate to the RLRS was CompLexity, consisting of a former world champion and two former grand finalists. Many fans were left scratching their heads when Otto “Metsanauris” Kaipiainen was replaced by Marius “gReazymeister” Ranheim, and with good reason. After already placing last in league play, the veterans didn’t manage to make the team click during the promotion tournament and got relegated into the Rival Series with two straight losses.
wow that hurts
— gReazymeister (@gReazymeister) November 18, 2018
An RLCS debutant…
This then meant that at least one of the promoted teams was going to be a new one. The upper final was between these two RLRS teams. Savage!, consisting of experienced players and even a former world champion in David “Deevo” Morrow, fought newcomers Red Reserve, who had impressed many fans in the recent months. After having been removed from Envy in favor of Metsanauris, Deevo formed a new team with Dan “Bluey” Bluett, who had also been removed from his team, PSG. Together, they picked up newcomer Yanis “Alpha54” Champenois and chose to work their way back up into the RLCS.
Red Reserve, however, wouldn’t just let that happen. With a 4-0 sweep, Aldin “Ronaky” Hodzic, Euan “Tadpole” Ingram, and Jack “Speed” Packwood-Clarke proved their immense potential. It’s always exciting to see new faces at the highest level of Rocket League, though Ronaky and Tadpole already gave us a glimpse at the Universal Open back in August. Now they’re back once more and ready to show the world that they do indeed belong in the RLCS.
I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING
— Tadpole 🏴 (@TadpoleRL) November 18, 2018
…and another
Savage! had another shot in the lower final. Fnatic, having finished in seventh place in the RLCS, awaited them after they were defeated by Red Reserve in the first round. They are a promotion tournament regular, so it was up to Savage! to finally push Fnatic out of RLCS and claim their spot.
And that’s exactly what they did. While Fnatic looked good against CompLexity in the first losers’ round, they couldn’t keep up with Savage!. They took one game off them, but it was Savage! who took the win after a seven-and-a-half-minute overtime to secure their spot in the Championship Series with an incredible ground pinch by Alpha54.
.@Alpha54RL TAKES OT WITH A GROUND PINCH!@BlueyRL and @Deevo return to the RLCS!
Welcome @SavageRLRS to Season 7!
🚀https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/k0aWC4Utfu
— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 18, 2018
The team’s promotion means that, for the first time in RLCS history, all four teams (both NA and EU) that made their way into the RLCS came from the RLRS. It goes to show how competitive these teams are. And with just seven series to play in a season and teams being this close in skill, there really isn’t a lot of room for error. Perhaps, then, it’s time to increase the league size to 10 teams per region?
Back to the RLCS❤️ Couldn't be more proud of my team. We've been putting in so much work to make this happen. Lets go boys @Deevo @Alpha54RL Alpha played so well in the last series, im so proud of this lil guy, he's gunna be even better soon. Also gz to @RedReserve theyre all qts
— Bluey (@BlueyRL) November 18, 2018
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