Catches breath. What a day of Rocket League that was, so I hope you’re ready for a long one! For those of you that were there for day 4 of the RLCS Spring Major, how good was that?! The crowd inside the Copperbox Arena in London were absolutely electric yesterday and we still have Championship Sunday to come!
Now, if you read the roundup from days 2 & 3 of the RLCS Spring Major, you may remember we said we would be interviewing all the teams who made it to Championship Sunday. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out as planned. We got to chat with the V1 and the Karmine Corp boys, but the Falcons players were tired & hungry so they left and by the time Moist Vs SSG finished it was already 11 pm so the Moist management said it was too late.
They tried to reschedule the Moist interview for this morning but their management said not on game day and I respect that.
I know, it’s a bit of a bummer, but I respect that Falcons have travelled a LONG way from Saudi Arabia, they’re also a phenomenal team. Then Moist are still all very young and I’d personally sacrifice those interviews if it means they all get to rest up and come back at their 100% best for Championship Sunday!! However, we’ve still got a LOT to talk about! But first? The results and what it means for today!
RLCS Spring Major Day 4 – First Six Results
RLCS Lower Bracket Round 3
- FURIA 3 – 1 OpTic
- Moist Esports 3 – 2 Team Liquid
RLCS Upper Bracket Semi-Finals
- Karmine Corp 3 – 4 Version1
- Spacestation 3 – 4 Team Falcons
RLCS Lower Bracket Quarter Finals
- Karmine Corp 4 – 3 FURIA
- Spacestation 3 – 4 Moist Esports
RLCS Lower Bracket Round 3
So when I said it was already 11 pm when the SSG/Moist game finished, you see why now, right? Almost EVERY GAME went the distance yesterday. The only exception was FURIA Vs OpTic which was the first game of the day. Things started a little shaky for FURIA at the start of day 4 of the RLCS Spring Major despite how that result might look, they failed to put up a goal in game one, losing 2-0, not the best start for the South Americans. But then, suddenly, LANxnz was set free and the crowd started going wild. They were against the NA teams all day, but the love for FURIA was REAL!
Look, I’ll be honest, there was some incredible RLCS talent on display yesterday, in this game alone you’ve got superstars everywhere. But one man stood atop them all, of course without Caio & Caard none of it is possible, but Yanxnz was absolutely incredible yesterday. OpTic took the lead with Mist in game 2 but that did not matter. One goal from Caard and then the first goal of MANY for Yanxnz brought the game into their control. We have a tied series. But then the unthinkable happened, Yanxnz scored BACK TO BACK hat tricks to win games 3 & 4 to beat a very good OpTic team 3-1 and send them packing. Unbelievable.
Next, we had El Splashico, Moist Esports Vs Team Liquid 2 of the youngest yet most mechanical teams in the RLCS yesterday, both representing Europe, Moist with 2 Englishmen playing in front of a wild London crowd, I think it’s safe to say who the crowd cheered for here. People love Team Liquid and they have a seriously bright future, an incredible team and I’m so happy for Liquid that they FINALLY have a roster that can give them the status in THIS Esport that they’ve held in MANY OTHER Esports.
But yesterday was not that day. The lack of LAN experience for Liquid showed early on. A lot of nervy misplays and double commits that Moist pounced on had them falling to a 3-1 defeat in game 1, but the bounceback was real. Back-to-back OT wins against the team people have dubbed as the MOST CLUTCH team in the RLCS gave them a 2-1 lead in the series. Moist wasn’t having it, Vatira turned it up after a couple of quiet games and started making the plays we’ve come to know from him.
A nervy 1-0 win for Moist took it to Champions Field where Acronik gave Liquid an early lead, scoring inside one minute. Do you believe there’s such a thing as scoring too early? Because I do. I believe that when you go ahead this early in a crucial game, it makes the opponents turn it up WAY more than they would otherwise whereas if you score around the halfway point they start to panic, thinking they’re running out of time. That’s exactly how it went here.
Moist turned it up to 11 and equalised through Rise. only 30 seconds later, but at that point the momentum had already started to swing, pressure increased, and Liquid got a few break-out chances, but nothing concrete. Then with only 53 seconds remaining, a beautiful pass off the left wall from Joyo down into Rise. who was making his way infield from the right wall, buried in the Liquid goal. 2-1. More nervy play, Liquid throwing everything forward. But it wasn’t enough. There is a LOT to come from this Liquid roster, mark my words. But yesterday, was a Moist day in the RLCS .
RLCS Upper Bracket Semi-Final
With the LB 3rd round out the way, we move onto Best of 7s from here on out for the rest of the RLCS Spring Major. First up? The hopes of EU, Karmine Corp, the only European team to make it through in the Upper Bracket. But they faced a HOT Version1 team. A team that thrives off the pressure the crowd brings. Whether that’s with them or against them. This was a very back and forth series and the second game in a sequence of games that ALL went the distance.
Game one was decided by Beastmode, simple. 1-0, EZ Clap. Every time V1 attempted anything the crowd went wild, so many boos and for every good play, KC made the lost it and went NUTS. So as you can imagine, when Itachi scored in OT to win game 2, 2-1, the crowd went crazy! That was short-lived though as KC fell 2-1 in game 3 to what can only be described as a V1 masterclass. Beastmode doing everything imaginable on the offence, Torment being a brick wall at the back (4 SAVES?) and Comm filling in every gap with perfection.
But this was a turning point in the game, something changed. KC suddenly started to piece things together, or did V1 just fall apart? Rotations weren’t as clean, Torment wasn’t quite at the races in defence and they couldn’t get the offence going all of a sudden. Back-to-back losses without scoring a goal saw them fall 3-2 in the series. Only 2 games left. Perfect time for a tactical timeout.
Boy did it pay off. A back and forth game 6 saw the teams trade goals before Torment scored the eventual winner with TWELVE seconds remaining on the clock! Game 7. Surprisingly KC didn’t take their timeout here. Torment gave V1 a very early lead on Champions Field, 34 seconds played. Aztral brought it back to a tie game after a defensive misplay from V1! Beastmode gave V1 the lead again after being gifted an open goal through a demo on Aztral.
With 39 seconds remaining, Itachi brings it back to a tie game. But here’s one of the biggest misplays we’ve seen all tournament. KC has all the ball, putting crazy pressure on V1. As the clock fizzles out instead of letting it drop, resetting and going to OT. Noly keeps the ball alive but gets dusted by Beastmode who scores a long-range open net for the second time this game. A 0:00 winner sees V1 move to the UB-Final today!
I got a chance to speak to the guys from Version1 briefly in a pretty casual group interview setting and since it was apparent that Comm absolutely adores the crowd, regardless if they’re with or against them. I asked them how they dealt with the pressure of a crowd being on their back as a team, whether it spurred them on or had them second-guessing their moves.
I was a little surprised by the answer. The guys said that the crowd being on top of them was MORE of an issue at the Winter Major in LA, obviously, with them being a NA based team they didn’t expect the crowd to be on them so much when they played SSG & FaZe but both of those teams have a huge following in America.
They knew the crowd here would be on them, unlike in LA, but their experience in LA helped them a lot when it came to dealing with a crowd like this. It’s worth noting by the way that for all of Comms smack talk and knowing that the fans would be on them, I saw him around 2 pm, well before the games even started, walking around outside the arena on his own talking to fans. He’s a great guy and I’m happy for him. He also plays the villain exceptionally well!
The second UB-Semi was SSG Vs Falcons. This one got off to one hell of a start. SSG took the lead in game 1 through Retals but Falcons took that personally, scoring 4 without reply to put themselves out in front with a 2-0 series lead. SSG took their tactical time out and then took a 2-0 lead in game 3 and they looked REALLY good for it too. Until some beautifully slow dribbling and a fake from Ahmad got a goal back.
That man has nerves of steel. 20 seconds later, a beautiful pass from oKhaliD sets up Ahmad AGAIN. A stunning pre-flip. After a brief technical pause and onto OT we go… 2 minutes pass by, TRK with some great air-to-ground play, Daniel makes the save but it’s not quite enough. The ball is going in but a HUGE bump on Retals from Ahmad sees it trickle in! 3-0 series lead.
I mean, a lot of people saw Falcons taking this game, but a SWEEP? Had you for a second didn’t I? 3 very tight games saw SSG turn it up, more passing, more demos, cleaner play. They went on to win the next 3 games 2-1, 3-1 and 3-1. What a crazy series! Tactical time out for Falcons then onto Champions Field we go! 1:30 was all it took for oKhaliD after a beautiful setup from TRK, 1-0. A nervy 3:30 for SSG as panic slowly sets in, but Falcons take the win! 4-3!
RLCS Lower Bracket Quarter-Finals
If the rest of yesterday’s RLCS action wasn’t interesting enough, it’s about to get a whole lot more interesting. These next two games are back to elimination, however, now featuring the two teams who dropped down from the upper bracket earlier! So game 1. Karmine Corp Vs FURIA. This is an interesting one for a few reasons. The RLCS LANdon crowd had grown a real liking to FURIA, but also KC have SO MANY fans and many of them travelled to London for this major.
So we had a crowd that, seemingly, was happy for either team to win and either team really could’ve won this one. Two super tight games both finishing 4-3 in favour of KC set things off on the right foot for the EU boys. Yan getting YET ANOTHER hat trick in game 2 though?? My days this man can’t stop scoring. But game 3 went a little different, it was like things just wouldn’t click for FURIA and other than another goal for Yan they fell 3-1 and found themselves sitting 3-0 down in the series.
The KC boys genuinely looked to have found their stride, their game had a great flow to it and the rotations were absolutely on point. But at 3-0 down FURIA took their tactical time out, which proved to be enough to disrupt their rhythm. A 5-1 win in game 4, Yan with another 2, surprisingly not a hat-trick and then ANOTHER 2 goals in game 5 saw them claw their way back to 3-2. Surely, we’re not going to see ANOTHER reverse sweep in this tournament?
KC took their time out, hoping that it would have the same effect on FURIA that theirs had on them. But honestly, it seemingly had the opposite effect? Game 6 saw FURIA swinging for the rafters, 2 goals a piece for all 3 of the FURIA boys saw them win 6-2 to tie the series. To Champions Field we go. FURIA took a 2-0 lead inside 2 minutes and it was starting to look like that was all she wrote. But 2 goals in regulation from Itachi took it to OT before a lovely goal off the backboard for his hat trick put a stop to the reverse sweep!
That's a no then? Yet another incredible series!
— FULLSYNC @ LANdon – RLCS (@fullsyncnetwork) July 2, 2022
GGs @KarmineCorp!@FURIA are eliminated but my days can they hold their heads high!#RLCS https://t.co/y5UvvzkBrJ pic.twitter.com/xWgTdbpViq
When we got a chance to talk to the KC boys, I asked Noly what it meant to him being an Englishman being able to perform in front of a crowd here in London and honestly, he didn’t REALLY answer my question, but what he did say caught me off guard. Noly said he wasn’t happy with how he’d performed so far, he went as far as saying Aztral and Itachi had carried him so far. Personally, I would disagree, I think he’s performed really well. He’s under a LOT of pressure and they’re still a relatively new roster.
I also noticed they kept looking at the screen with the SSG/Moist game on so I asked which of the two teams they feel like their play style matches up against best and both Aztral and Noly said the same thing. They have obviously scrimmed both teams in prep for this LAN, but they’ve played Moist WAY more and both agreed they would prefer to get Moist, and as it turns out? They got what they wanted!
The 6th and final game of the day saw SSG Vs Moist, the 5th game of the day that went the distance and honestly, this game was the most back and forth game yet. Neither team truly looked to be in the driving seat. Only 2 of the 7 games saw clean sheets, and both of those went in favour of SSG. Game 2, where they won 1-0, Game 4 where they won 3-0 and Game 4 was honestly where I thought would be the turning point.
They were trading games and pretty much trading goals for the entire series but when SSG won 3-0 in game 4 I thought they had it locked, I thought they’d figured out what they needed to do to beat this Moist team, but it just wasn’t the case. There’s a reason this Moist team are known as one of the most clutch teams in the RLCS. Game 5 saw SSG take the lead twice through Arsenal & Daniel but each time Moist returned fire. Our first of THREE OVERTIMES was about to happen and Moist love an OT. 2:58 in OT and Rise. rose to the occasion, the man with ICE in his veins.
The game trading continues as Moist takes a 3-2 lead in the series. SSG decided to take their time out and it worked, well, it worked once. MORE trading as Moist score, then SSG, then Moist, then SSG, then m..SSG? Then Moist to take it to OT. Remember how I said Moist love OT’s? Well, not this one! 47 seconds and a HUGE goal from Retals with a massive bump from Daniel! 3-3!
Champions Field it is, it would be rude not to at this point, wouldn’t it? Moist takes the lead through Joyo after a great backboard pass from Vatira. SSG Equalise with 39 seconds on the clock! LANiel put his mark on this match. SSG SCORES AGAIN!! 9 seconds remaining on the clock! A poor 50-50 from Rise. launches the ball towards his own net, Daniel gets a touch but it’s off the crossbar! Arsenal is there however and he CAN’T-MISS. Surely, it’s all over?! 9s remain and SSG are 2-1 up!
But what’s this? Daniel doesn’t make a good connection from kick-off and the ball floats JUST over Retals roof. Vatira is like LIGHTNING, an open goal and we’re going to Overtime!! After 2 minutes of OT, Joyo with a musty-flick off the backboard, Daniel fails to make contact with it and Rise. is there waiting for it! Moist do it again! There’s a reason they’re known as the most clutch team in the RLCS right now, they prove it time and time again!
WOW! What a day! And the RLCS Spring Major is not over yet either! Today is Championship Sunday! We will have a MAXIMUM of 5 games played. Those games will be as follows!
RLCS: Spring Major Championship Sunday Fixtures
RLCS Upper Bracket Final
- Version 1 Vs Falcons
RLCS Lower Bracket Semi-Final
- Karmine Corp Vs Moist
RLCS Lower Bracket Final
- Winner KC/Moist Vs Loser V1/Falcons
RLCS: Spring Major Grand Final
- Winner V1/Falcons Vs Winner LB-Final
Now you may be asking, a maximum of 5 games played? But Stu, you’ve only listed 4 games there? Well, since it’s double elimination you get 2 lives in this tournament, getting knocked down to the lower bracket if you lose, the winner of the UB-Final STILL has their extra life, so for the winner of the LB-Final to take home the gold, they need to win TWO best of 7’s in the grand final.
That’s all I’ve got for you today! Don’t forget to keep your eyes on the FULLSYNC Twitter for pictures and videos LIVE from the Copperbox arena, we did it all day yesterday and we’ll be doing it all day RLCS Championship Sunday! Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at day RLCS Spring Major 4 and I’m massively looking forward to the RLCS Spring Major finals today. I hope to see you there!
For even more coverage of the RLCS: Spring Major, including live commentary from Championship Sunday, head over to our Twitter page, or find the roundups of each game day over on our Esports news page.