Yesterday was the day! The final day of the RLCS Spring Major, Championship Sunday. Not only that, it’s the final day of the regular season! Next up we have the World Championships in Dallas starting on August 4th, believe it or not, everything for Worlds isn’t fully settled yet!
There is ONE spot left on the main event which will be decided based on how Version1 got on yesterday. The question on everyone’s lips was will it be NRG or V1 who claimed that spot? Before that, however, we’ve got to wrap things up in the Spring Major and you’d better strap yourselves in for another long one.
The same as most of day 4, all Championship Sunday games were Best of 7s. However, the Grand Final comes with a twist. See, this is a double-elimination bracket. Meaning you have to lose TWICE before you get sent home. So everybody starts in the Upper Bracket, you lose, you get sent to the Lower Bracket. This means you can still win if you play well enough. So if you make it to the Grand Final from the Upper Bracket, you still have your extra life. The team in the Grand Final from the Lower Bracket then has to win TWO Best of 7’s to take home the gold, so how did the teams get on?
Championship Sunday: Results
Upper Bracket Final
- Version1 3 – 4 Team Falcons
Lower Bracket Semi-Final
- Karmine Corp 1 – 4 Moist Esports
Lower Bracket Final
- Version1 0 – 4 Moist Esports
Grand Final
- Falcons 3 Vs 4 Moist Esports
- Falcons 0 Vs 4 Moist Esports
Championship Sunday: Upper Bracket Final
First up on Championship Sunday, we had the Upper Bracket final, Version1 who absolutely played the villains here at the Copperbox and Team Falcons, the team who everybody has fallen in love with, with a lot of help from JohnnyBoi_i. Falcons started off like a house on fire taking an early 2-0 lead and the crowd were going bananas. Goals from oKhaliD & TRK letting the crowd know they meant business with Ahmad pulling ALL the strings. Game 2 wasn’t quite as straightforward, however.
Falcons took the lead through Ahmad who just seemingly had the freedom to do what he wanted. The defensive juggernaut Torment couldn’t keep up! But Beastmode and Comm had something to say about that, they combined yet again to tie the game up! Into OT we go where a total of 12 seconds passed before TRK buried a chance gifted to him by Ahmad. 2-0 Falcons. V1 took their timeout after game 2 and it definitely worked for them. More goals from Beastmode & Comm saw them take Game 3 & 4 2-1 & 1-0 respectively and they were starting to look more and more lively!
Then the trading began. After the 1-0 win from V1, Falcons won game 5 1-0, then V1 won game 6 1-0 goals from TRK & Torment taking those wins for their respective teams. It was time for the Falcons time out now. How would they bounce back from this and claim a series they looked SURE to win comfortably?
Game 7s are always a tense affair unless you’re Moist who apparently clutch up at every given opportunity. But a couple of SUPER close chances for V1 that really should’ve given them the lead had people thinking it truly was Falcons’ destiny to take home the gold. Another double commit however gifted Beastmode the first goal in game 7. 2 goals in quick succession with Ahmad & TRK combining yet again gave Falcons the lead and that’s all she wrote!
The first time a non-NA/EU team had EVER been in a grand final of a major RLCS LAN!! Incredible scenes. V1 drops to the lower bracket. THAT’S ONLY GAME ONE!
Game 1 goes the way of @FalconsEsport!@version1gg couldn't quite get things going but we know there's more to come from them!#RLCS pic.twitter.com/aRhjtRT819
— FULLSYNC @ LANdon – RLCS (@fullsyncnetwork) July 3, 2022
Championship Sunday: Lower Bracket Semi-Final
The next match-up on Championship Sunday wasKarmine Corp Vs Moist Esports, and it was a huge game, these teams were both fighting it out for European pride and game one couldn’t have been more tight. Aztral got us started with 2 big goals, this man was in PRIME form this tournament and he wanted to show that to the London crowd again yesterday but 2 goals from Joyo brought it back to 2-2. Noly took that personally, it seems as he buried a 0-second winner and WHAT A GOAL it was. Beautiful delayed flip reset.
But then it was all Moist, these games were pretty close but Moist definitely had the upper hand. Joyo showing why he’s probably top 3 players in the world arguably and Vatira is an absolute beast at the back. But this KC team wasn’t going to take it lying down. Unfortunately for KC Moist would go on to take the next 4 games back to back but every single one of them was a one-goal game. 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 1-0 led to a VERY entertaining series for the fans in the arena, but Moist was just too good. KC took their time out before game 5 but it didn’t have the desired effect, unfortunately for them.
I’m going to promise you now though, that this Karmine Corp team with Noly haven’t been together that long and they are ONLY GETTING BETTER. They improve game on game and it’s an absolute joy to see. Watching Aztral and Itachi do their thing while Noly keeps everything together is just beautiful. These are absolutely ones to watch at worlds, mark my words! The blue wall will be back, better than ever in Dallas!
Championship Sunday: Lower Bracket Final
This was a crazy Championship Sunday series. V1 has beaten Moist every time they’ve faced each other on LAN, but there’s a reason for that, a reason we’ll get to later. But something about Moist yesterday was just different… They were like a well-oiled machine, they were so fast, so precise and best of all? They looked like they were having SO MUCH FUN. The crowd was LOVING IT! But, even in our wildest dreams, we never saw Moist SWEEPING V1. The scenes in the Copperbox were out of this world.
V1 had their moments, Torment had some great goals and what could only be described as a BOAT load of saves. Beastmode and Comm were trying to get things going but couldn’t quite hit their mark the same way we’ve seen them hit it most of the tournament. But nothing they did was quite enough! There’s a reason Joyo went on to be the eventual MVP, Vatira went on to be the eventual defensive MVP. These boys were insane yesterday, absolutely cracked.
Everything they touched seemed to turn to gold, crazy fast-paced passing plays, nutty solo plays, using every surface as their best friends. This Moist team is seriously something else. They thrive in pressure situations, they work for the crowd so well, pardon the pun but they play with such a river-like flow, pretty fitting given they’re “moist” you know? It just seemed written in the stars that they would right the wrongs of the LA Winter Major where they came SO CLOSE but fell at the last hurdle due to fatigue and the crowd would help carry them there.
Championship Sunday: Grand Final
This was the big one, the one EVERYBODY wanted to see. Championship Sunday had properly arrived and it was the Saudi phenoms Team Falcons versus the mechanical masterminds of Moist. This was arguably one of the most mechanical matchups we have EVER SEEN in the history of Rocket League. And what a series, uhh series of series it was. So as I previously mentioned, Moist would have to win 2 best of 7s to win, and that they did, in tremendous fashion.
The crowd constantly swung, every good play, every goal, and the fans went nuts for everything. Chants of LETS GO FALCONS, VA-TI-RA, RISE JOYO VATIIIIIRA, LETS GET WET (Uhhh I don’t know about that one guys) and MANY MORE, they were loving it and when Falcons took game one 3 goals to 2, even more chants came out, “OOOOOOOOHHHH AHMED, OOH, AHHH, I WANNA KNOOOOOWWWW, HOW YOU SCORED THAT GOAL!” It was great! But the best part is this starts to put pressure on Moist and we know how they thrive under pressure.
They turned it up, as they had done all day and took THREE BACK TO BACK GAMES, 2-1, 3-2 and 2-1 respectively, against Falcons, the team that had looked destined to win this major, going unbeaten, winning game 7s like it was nothing. But Rise Joyo and Vatira were truly on fire and even though Falcons were staying in these games, they still went down 3-1 in the series.
Falcons fought back though, a 5-goal game in game 5 to bring one back, Ahmad, oKhaliD & TRK just popped off to a new level and at that point, the nerves seemed to sink in. A 5-2 loss with Joyo & Rise picking up consolation goals for their troubles.
Game 6 saw Vatira take the lead with 3 minutes to go, but Falcons kept pushing, Ahmad snatches one back with 1:15 remaining on the clock. To overtime we go! Would it be Champions Field or would we be running it back?! Well, A BEAUTIFUL pinch off the left wall from deep in his own half would seal the comeback for Falcons, absolutely stunning TRK, take a bow. Game 7, Champions Field, here we come. But first, a Moist time out.
Moist takes the lead in 12 seconds! Lovely moves from Vatira, great dribbling utilising a wave dash to keep up with the ball but 12 seconds later TRK responds with a gorgeous delayed flip reset, fantastic solo goal! Minutes later Ahmad off the backboard, Rise. tries his best to get it out but ends up burying it instead! 2-1 Falcons! REDEMPTION! Stunning team goal as Joyo passes to Vatira, and plays it across to Rise. and like a missile he finds top bins! 2-2!!!! SECONDS LATER! Rise. AGAIN! WE’VE GOT A BRACKET RESET LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY!
We're not done yet!@MoistEsports force the bracket reset dealing @FalconsEsport their first loss of the Major!
— FULLSYNC @ LANdon – RLCS (@fullsyncnetwork) July 3, 2022
DON'T GO ANYWHERE YET!!#RLCS pic.twitter.com/kHU60MsciS
Championship Sunday: Grand Final Series 2
There’s not a lot to say about this one surprisingly. Moist quite literally swept one of the best teams in the world after an intense best of 7. Moist won 4-0. You read that right. A SWEEP. In game one, Falcons looked stunned after the bracket reset and the scoreline reflected that. A 3-0 win for Moist and Falcons looked like a deer in the headlights. Game 2 was much better for Falcons, but still nowhere near the form we’d seen from them. They took the lead through oKhaliD who was fantastic at holding things together for Falcons all tournament, but 1 goal from Rise. in regulation and one in OT was enough to take game 2 for Moist. 2-0!
Falcons took their timeout here and they probably just talked about how they felt. It was clear they were disappointed, nervous, and annoyed. They were playing like it, but after an OT loss when it looked like they were going to snatch game 2? I felt for them, I really did. SO CLOSE! But you need to keep your heads up, you need to go next. That’s exactly what Moist did every time the cards seemed like they were against them.
Game 3 was another OT game, but again the score didn’t do it justice. Falcons didn’t really have many chances, they just couldn’t get it going, not only that but they struggled for boost. They were starved. They took the lead early but they fluffed the kick-off and immediately conceded another goal to Rise. 25 seconds into overtime, Joyo flicks it up, bounces off the ceiling and a little dink over to Vatira who returns the ball immediately to Joyo who steadies himself and slots near the post. WOW! Beautiful passing play. 3-0.
Game 4 saw a goal in 18 seconds, a long-range effort from Rise. into an open net, Falcons looking super frustrated at this point, nothing they could do was working and when they did get an effort on goal they were immediately caught out by Rise. 3:30 on the clock and an outrageous solo goal from Joyo as he takes it up, off the ceiling and then gets a double-tap off the floor to dunk it over oKhaliD AND Ahmad.
VEN A TWO-MAN WALL CAN’T STOP HIM! A long-range clearance with a tidy little touch and in all the way from the defence for Vatira saw it go to 3-0! Joyo off the corner and Vatira with the 4th! oKhaliD got a consolation goal for Falcons, but that was all she wrote.
Moist Esports are your Spring Major Champions!
Ahmad was named Offensive MVP!
Vatira was named Defensive MVP!
Joyo was named overall MVP!
At the end of Championship Sunday, we had a chance to talk to the champions after they had got done with their onstage interview and their interview with the talent in the booth. One of the guys in the press room asked Moist about the difference between their losses to V1 and their sweep of V1 and they said, when they played V1 in the past, at this LAN and in LA, they were in a studio, so it was quiet, no fans or anything. When Comm starts getting loud and shouting at you it’s understandable it’s going to affect you.
In the case of their sweep, however, they were on a stage, they couldn’t hear anything he said AND what’s best was they actually started giving it TO COMM and the rest of V1. It was nice to see honestly. I asked the team about this reputation they’ve got as one of the most clutch teams of all time, unphased by pressure situations. Joyo immediately pointed to Rise. and said, “It’s him.” Rise. was saying how they never get nervous, in the first series he wanted a time out to go to the toilet! But it just comes naturally to them, finding chances in the last seconds, Joyo and Vatira creating chances in the last seconds.
Then I had a question for Coach Noah, I said a big part of playing games even at this level is to have fun, how much of a joy is it to work with a team that seems to genuinely enjoy everything about what they do? He said it’s great, they’re great individual players and great as a team, he said he never really has to step in and it’s more of a motivation thing. Not only that but they’re also really good friends which definitely helps.
And that’s that! That’s all we’ve got time for! I really hope you’ve enjoyed our recaps of the daily events at the RLCS Spring Major from the Copperbox Arena in London, and especially today’s roundup of Championship Sunday. I know sometimes I go on and on and there can be a hell of a lot of text, but there’s a hell of a lot of exciting stuff to cover and it needs to be said! I try to keep things as concise as I can but I just get carried away!
I have thoroughly enjoyed every second of this experience, especially the scenes from Championship Sunday, and I sincerely hope I get to do it again, whether that’s as press or as a fan. I would LOVE to be attending worlds but unfortunately, that isn’t a possibility. However, I will be covering all the day’s events and likely live-tweeting on the FullSync Twitter account, as well as my own!
So if you’d like to keep up with that, be sure to drop a follow! Not only that but we’ll be trying our best to cover all things RLCS from here on out! I’ve done bits in the past but I want to do as much as I can now! So expect transfer roundups, event coverage, news and updates!
Thanks for coming along with us on this journey and we’ll see you next time! Take care!
Thanks for checking out our Championship Sunday roundup, you can find more like this and coverage of other esports events on our esports news page.
