The Rocket League World Championship event is the most important event of the year for the RL fanbase. It’s the pinnacle of each season and everyone, from the players to the fans, are looking forward to it.
Image Credit: Rocket League Esports Twitter
The Wildcard Stage of the tournament ran from August 4th to 7th. The Group Stage begins on August 9, where the 16 remaining teams will battle it out through epic matches.
Eight teams had to go home defeated, but we have no doubts they will come back even stronger next time. The Wildcard Stage was, as the name says, quite wild. Three teams managed to pull out the much needed third victory on the last day, becoming eligible to move deeper into the competition.
Now, all eyes turn to the Group Stage to see who will be able to prevail and ensure their trip into the playoffs on August 14th. We’re expecting a lot of crazy twists and turns, amazing matches, and all around a fun show. In order to fully appreciate what will be going on, let’s take a deeper look into the group stage.
RCLS World Championship Wildcard Stage Results
Seeing as eight teams have already secured their spots in the Group Stage, 16 other teams had to fight for theirs during the Wildcard Stage. Karmine Corp did the best, achieving a perfect 3-0 in matches. They nearly had the ultimate run, but they ended up losing one game, finishing with a remarkable 12-1.
SMPR Esports were the second best team, sharing a perfect 3-0 record in matches. They lost a few more games though, as the final result came to be 12-3. All other teams finished with at least one match lost.
SpaceStation Gaming, OpTic Gaming, and The Club found themselves at the bottom of the qualifying bracket. They all finished with a 3-2 record in matches, capping off the top eight by a relatively thin margin.
Here’s the full list of results from the Wildcard Stage:
- Karmine Corp – 3-0 / 12-1
- SMPR Esports – 3-0 / 12-3
- Version1 – 3-1 / 14-7
- Dignitas – 3-1 / 12-5
- Renegades – 3-1 / 12-7
- The Club – 3-2 / 16-11
- OpTic Gaming – 3-2 / 14-10
- Spacestation Gaming – 3-2 / 15-13
- 01 Esports – 2-3 / 11-12
- Team Secret – 2-3 / 11-12
- Pioneers – 2-3 / 11-13
- Veloce Esports – 1-3 / 5-12
- Orlando Pirates Exdee – 1-3 / 5-13
- Senbei Strikers – 1-3 / 4-13
- Bravado Gaming – 0-3 / 1-12
- Gaimin Gladiators – 0-3 / 1-12
RCLS World Championship Group Stage Format
The format of the Group Stage is double elimination in best-of-7 games, with two groups of eight teams. The top four teams from the Group Stage will advance to the playoffs.
Here are the official links through which you can watch the event unfolding live:
Group A
- Team BDS (Europe)
- SMPR Esports (Europe)
- EndPoint CeX (Europe)
- Moist Esports (Europe)
- SpaceStation Gaming (North America)
- The General NRG (North America)
- version1 (North America)
- Renegades (Oceania)
There are so many good teams here. Scratch that, all of the teams here are great. The almost undeniable favourites in Group A are Team BDS and Moist Esports. Their records speak for themselves, and the way they have been playing recently proves how amazing they are.
That being said, any other team in here is more than capable of usurping them right out of the tournament. They are favourites for a reason, but one bad day is all that separates them from having to pack their bags and head home. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened, and it surely won’t be the last.
NRG is, for instance, another team to keep a careful watch on. They haven’t won a Major tournament in over a year, yet they constantly remain at the top of the North American leaderboard. All that remains is for them to show everyone that they’re more than ready to take it all the way.
Group B
- Dignitas (Europe)
- Karmine Corp (Europe)
- FaZe Clan (North America)
- OpTic Gaming (North America)
- G2 Esports (North America)
- The Club (South America)
- FURIA Esports (South America)
- Team Falcons (Middle East)
Group B will be hotly contested, much like Group A. The favourites here are arguably harder to gauge, but people usually lean towards FaZe Clan and G2 Esports, and for good reasons obviously.
As with Group A, all of the teams are deserving of being here, with no exceptions. Each and every team has already shown us what they can do. Naturally, their games are of the absolute highest levels and have brought them this far into this year’s Rocket League World Championship.
In addition to teams we have mentioned above, Team Falcons is another one deserving of being called a favourite. After all, they are just getting off of a Spring Split Major Grand Finals performance, losing to Moist Esports but proving that they can compete at the pinnacle of the game.
Will we have a rematch in the playoffs? If that is the case, will the Falcons get their revenge, or will Moist repeat their success? We will find out soon enough.
Everyone is thinking about the same things. Will we have a repeat champion? Are we going to see some of the favoured teams take the crown? Or will it be so that the underdogs manage to thwart all expectations and win it all?
It is now up to the teams and players to answer these questions for us. We know one thing for certain, and that is we have an amazing event on our hands and we can’t wait to see it unfold.
