RLCS Winter Major 21-22 (LA) preview

It’s almost time again. After an intense couple of months for the Winter Split, we’ve eventually settled on our finalists for the Winter Major. But what’s so special about this major in comparison to the last major in Stockholm? The Stockholm major was huge because it was the first LAN in 2 years so everyone was hyped beyond belief, so why is this one even more hype than the last one?

Well, this Winter Major LAN at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles, is the first LAN in 2 years… That has fans! IN-PERSON, REAL-LIFE, FANS!

It has been  2 years since the RLCS Season 8 World Championship Final, the last event we had that had a real-life crowd. Fans going crazy, creating an insane atmosphere. I would LOVE to have been able to get tickets for the Winter Major, and time off work, so I could go and be there in person. But unfortunately, kids to look after and bills to pay so I’ll have to settle for watching the Winter Majors on Twitch!

So now we understand why I’m beyond excited for the upcoming Winter Major, it’s time to look at which teams will be representing each region on LAN, fighting for the glory and the love of the fans, which let’s face it, they’ll be rooting for the NA teams right?

RLCS Winter Major 21-22 teams

North America

Europe

Team Queso	Dignitas	BDS	Endpoint	Evil Geniuses
Joyo Vatirarise. (S) noah (C) Nick	ApparentlyJack Joreuz Scrub Killa	MaRc_By_8. M0nkey M00n Extra (C) Kael	RelatingWave Metsanauris Seikoo (C) Eclipse	Cataclysmivn Rizex45 (S) MK. (C) Mumen

Oceania

Renegades	Pioneers
CJCJ Kamii Fever (S) Shorez (C) LBP	Superlachie Bananahead Scrub

South America

Team Secret	FURIA
Sadness nxghtt math (C) BRUNOVISQUII	CaioTG1 caard yanxnz (C) MateusSTL

Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa

(APAC) DeToNator	(MENA) Sandrock Gaming
OLPix Burn mikan (C) Nunki	Ahmad oKhaliD Trk511 (S) Senzo (C) mits

The Winter Major group stages

Okay so, now we know the teams taking part in the Winter Major, and their order of seeding, the next thing to look at is the group stage. Who is going to be playing who? Once we know this we can take a look at who we think is going to be going through from each group and who is set up with the best chance of taking all the glory in front of the fans.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
DeToNator	Endpoint	Evil Geniuses	Dignitas
FaZe	FURIA	G2	Pioneers
Team Queso	NRG	BDS	Sandrock Gaming
Version 1	Renegades	Team Secret	SSG

Some spicy groups in this Winter Major with some fun and interesting matchups. Personally, I’m looking forward to Group D the most, purely because we get to see Scrub (Pioneers) Vs Scrub Killa (Dignitas), and Retals (SSG) Vs ApparentlyJack (Dignitas).

ALSO Sandrock Gaming were amazing in the first regional pretty comfortably making the top 8. However, this time they have oKhaliD, who couldn’t make it to Sweden unfortunately. So with one of the best 1v1 players back on the roster, getting his first LAN experience, can we expect more from SRG than they achieved last time around?

The obvious group for everybody to look at would be Group B however, with Endpoint, FURIA, NRG and Renegades. Some would consider that the Winter Major’s group of death here and honestly I’d agree. If I had to take a guess I say NRG and Endpoint go through here, purely because the quality of Rocket League in EU and NA is way ahead of the rest of the world.

However, that isn’t necessarily the case. NRG almost didn’t make the last 8 in the first major but still pushed on to the final. Endpoint also JUST scraped through into the last 8 before getting knocked out by FaZe in the quarter-finals.

The last APAC representative (Tokyo Verdy) unfortunately went out 3-0 in the last major, so it will be interesting to see if DeToNator can do any better. They have been given a rough group however with FaZe, Queso and V1. If they even win a game, never mind a series, I’d be surprised. Genuinely.

As for group C, I can’t see anybody other than G2 and BDS getting through. BDS have a crown to protect and G2 will be wanting to push on and actually make the top 8 this time, after losing out to Endpoint in the first major.

Who could go on to win the Winter Major?

As for the overall winners? Honestly, the real winner is the fans, but there are a few teams I’d be looking out for if I was you guys. First, Team BDS. They prove time and time again to be absolute powerhouses in the Rocket League scene, even if you think they’re finished, you can’t ever write them off. This winter split hasn’t exactly gone to plan for them but they’ve still made it to LAN and they’ll fight tooth and nail to defend their title.

Next up is another European team, Dignitas. Such an incredibly talented roster. Joreuz is a mechanical God, ApparentlyJack is just amazing and Scrub Killa ties it all together nicely. I doubted the Scrub Killa pick up when it happened, but my days, I was wrong. Then you have NRG, whenever NRG are competing you really can’t look past them, they’re a phenomenal team with great chemistry. 

HOWEVER, the team I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing the most is Sandrock Gaming. It is going to be so interesting to see how the Saudis will perform with their full strength roster of Ahmad, oKhaliD and Trk511. They made the top 8, somewhat comfortably, beating G2 without oKhaliD in the first major, so I’m expecting AT LEAST top 8 this time too.

Closing thoughts

That’ll do it for this one, I hope you’re all as excited for the Winter Major as I am. Let’s bring another trophy back to Europe eh? But if not I hope SRG take it. Who are you folks rooting for?

Since we’re two-thirds of the way through the season, we might as well ask the question too, who are your favourites for worlds? I think BDS pull it off honestly, but only time will tell, we’ll also have a team from Sub-Saharan Africa to think about for worlds so that could be interesting.

If you enjoy our RLCS coverage, let us know! I personally love watching competitive Rocket League and will gladly do more! Until next time folks, take care!