Kick off!
The Universal Open Season 2 live finals kicked off today with four teams from North America and four from Europe. Competing for a $100K prize pool, it’s the biggest 2v2 tournament in the professional Rocket League scene. Let’s look at day one of three, where the first upper round was played, followed by the first lower round.
Want to know a little more about the contenders first? Then take a look at our qualifiers recap!
Tournament structure:
- Double elimination
- Best of five for all series except the Grand Final, which is best of seven
- No bracket reset for the Grand Final, but the upper bracket team will have a game win advantage
Upper Bracket
Game 1: Cloud9 vs. Double Trouble
Cloud 9 took the series without too much effort. While underdogs and newcomers Double Trouble had a strong start, C9 quickly adjusted to DT’s play style and gained the momentum for the rest of the series. They showed off exactly why they are the favourites with potentially the goal of the tournament already scored.
https://clips.twitch.tv/FastSavoryFloofPartyTime
Double Trouble, in turn, showed good effort in defence and kept C9 from running away with monster scores. While C9 ended up sweeping their opponents, Double Trouble kept the scores relatively low in every game.
Final score: 3-0
Game 2: G2 vs. CompLexity
Game two of the day was a clash of titans. G2 put up a solid performance against one of the strongest and longest-standing duos in the world. The series could have gone either way, but G2 showed no mercy and played almost flawlessly.
CompLexity managed to do something back in game three but ultimately couldn’t keep up with the powerhouse that is G2 and were tossed into the losers bracket after a 3-1 loss.
Final score: 3-1
Game 3: Girls vs Ghost Gaming
Girls, consisting of two male players, showed why they are one of the clear favourites to win the tournament. Apart from game three where they played a bit more chaotically with double commits and communication errors, Scrub Killa and gReazy had no trouble with Ghost Gaming. They scored several spectacular goals and showed their incredible individual skill with flashy plays.
Scrub Killa has entered the scene as one of the best players already, while gReazy seems to be back at the highest level after two quiet seasons.
Final score: 3-1
Game 3: Team Secret vs. Selfless
The final upper bracket game of the day also ended up being the most balanced. Both teams fought hard for each individual win and ultimately the series in game five. A tense overtime preceded game five, however, which was ended in spectacular fashion with a backboard double-touch goal by Freakkii for Team Secret.
The wins went back and forth, but ultimately it was Team Secret who scored a final-second winning goal to knock Selfless into the lower bracket.
Final score: 3-2
Lower bracket
Game 1: Double Trouble vs. CompLexity
Double Trouble once again struggled against a proven team. After going down 2-0, they needed to reverse sweep CompLexity. While they took game three and brought game four to overtime, they fell to a long-range shot to get knocked out of the tournament.
CompLexity moves on to day two of the Universal Open, but their life is still on the line. One series loss and they will be out as well. Their next opponents will be the loser of the series between Girls and Team Secret.
Final score: 1-3
Game 2: Ghost Gaming vs Selfless
The final series of the day was the second lower-bracket game between Ghost Gaming and Selfless. While on paper these teams should have put up a balanced fight, Selfless struggled with Ghost Gaming all series long. Despite keeping scores fairly balanced, Selfless failed to close out their games. Mistakes were punished relentlessly by Ghost and it led to a 3-0 sweep, knocking Selfless out of the tournament on the first day.
Ghost Gaming will play the loser of the series between Cloud9 and G2.
Final score: 3-0
Universal Open continues tomorrow at 9:00 AM PDT, 12:00 PM EDT, 5:00 PM BST, and 6:00 PM CEST on Twitch and YouTube. You don’t want to miss it!
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