After a long Christmas break, the North American RLCS players are back in action this weekend as the Winter Split kicks off. Despite a fairly quiet transfer window, the region is looking stronger than ever before and the stakes are high in this event for teams looking to qualify for the Winter Major in San Diego.
$100,000 is up for grabs in the Winter Cup as well as those vital RLCS Major points Cup, so let’s take a look at what we expect to happen.
@ Rocket League
The sixteen teams participating in the Winter Open are as follows:
This is an exciting time for the esport as we get to see two new orgs enter the scene in North America. The former Luminosity Gaming duo of LionBlaze and Kinseh have picked up former XSET player Percy, and the trio signed for American Organisation “M80” over the Christmas break. Both of their former teams had very unsuccessful Fall Splits, and they hope together they can push for a major spot in their new home.
“KOI” is an esports organisation created by Spanish caster “Ibai” and former professional footballer Gerard Piqué. The Spanish giant partnered with Rogue over the Christmas break, and as a result took over their Rocket League roster that consisted of Gyro and Aqua after the departure of Taroco. The duo settled on Eli “night.” Price as their third, in the hopes that they can also have a better performance in Winter.
@ Rocket League
The biggest question mark for this tournament will be how both Version1 and OpTic Gaming will perform after their traumatic transfer window. With Moist Esports’ ex-player “Rise” set to join Version1, Comm was taken off the starting lineup and was heading over to OpTic in place of MaJicBear. However when the deals were almost complete at the end of the window, Rise decided to stay in Europe and join Oxygen Esports instead.
This created a very awkward situation for both Version1 and OpTic, as they were both forced to unbench their Rocket League players and play out this split with their original rosters. You can imagine how the mentality of the team might have been affected by this news, and it is important that the young players can be as professional as possible to prevent this situation from affecting their performance in game.
The most talked about roster move in North America was addition of Gabriel “Lostt” Buzon to the FURIA lineup. After a disappointing first split in their new region, it was decided that CaioTG1 was to be sent back home (where he has since signed for Ninjas in Pyjamas) and he would be replaced by fellow Brazilian “Lostt”. This was an obvious choice for the roster after Lostt’s impressive display at Worlds and the Fall Major under “The Club”. This roster is now stacked with incredible talent, and if they can get the chemistry working quickly then they will be one of the favourites to win this event.
The other favourites for this event have to be the Fall Major Champions, Gen.G. After making 4 out of 4 possible grand finals, I think it’s safe to say this roster wasn’t just in a honeymoon period and we expect them to continue their North American dominance in this split. However with so many other star-studded rosters in this region such as G2, FaZe, Version1, Spacestation and many more, it definitely won’t be easy.
You can catch all of the action live at twitch.tv/rocketleague, and with so many strong teams in contention it is set to be one of the most exciting regional events that we have ever seen.
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