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Rocket League's new champions dish on surviving the losers' bracket gauntlet, dominating Dignitas, and what made the difference in the shocking upset.
The Season 6 Rocket League Championship Series World Championship didn't start nearly as well as it ended for Cloud9. Coming in as the third seed in North America, Cloud9 faced off against Europe's We Dem Girlz, the only unsigned team at the finals – and lost 3-2 in their first match, joining every other NA team in the lower bracket.
It would be a long and unlikely road ahead through the losers' bracket to earn a shot at the title, but they didn't give up. Mariano 'SquishyMuffinz' Arruda sent a message to his team-mates saying, "It's not over yet. Keep your heads in the game. One series at a time – don't think too far ahead or else it'll look intimidating."
The prospect of facing NA champs NRG and other top teams, and then needing to win back-to-back grand finals series – potentially against favourites and back-to-back champs Dignitas – was just too daunting a task to consider. "When you start thinking about that, it seems almost impossible," Squishy added. "So we took it one series at a time."
And that's exactly what they did. Cloud9 beat five teams (including We Dem Girlz) en route to Sunday's grand finals, and then shocked the Rocket League world by dominating Dignitas – twice. Now Cloud9 are the Rocket League champions. After the win, we caught up with Squishy, Jesus 'Gimmick' Parra, and MVP Kyle 'Torment' Storer to talk about their wild finals and what elevated them to a new level of excellence.
Dignitas go down
"Honestly, it's unreal," Torment said, just 30 minutes after the win. "I couldn't believe it when I was up there and I honestly still can't. It felt like I was dreaming – it's pretty clichéd, but it's true. It just didn't feel real."
After beating Tainted Minds 3-0 to begin their losers' bracket run, Cloud9 had a pair of close 3-2 wins against NRG and FlipSid3 Tactics. The margins got a little wider as things went on: they beat Chiefs 3-1, and then took the losers' final rematch 4-2 against We Dem Girlz to earn their spot in the grand finals against Dignitas. It was the Dignitas roster's third-straight RLCS grand finals, and they'd already won the other two.
"We were feeling pretty good coming off the We Dem Girlz series," says Torment. "I thought we were playing well enough to take the win, but we were also thinking: ‘We're just happy to be in the final’. There have only been six NA players in the grand finals before, and only three have won, so we're just going to go out there and play our game – and whatever happens, happens."
What happened was truly shocking to Rocket League fans. Cloud9 have beaten this roster before – at last year's DreamHack Atlanta tournament for the win – but Dignitas had been on another level in the RLCS. They were undefeated for the entire season going into the grand finals, winning every match from league play through the earlier rounds of the World Championship. NRG pushed them to the brink at the last Worlds, when it was Dignitas rising from the lower bracket, but didn't seal the deal.
Cloud9 won the first game in a thrilling overtime, and it was like a match being lit under the team. The next game was a 4-0 sweep. The next after that? 5-0. Dignitas hit back hard with a 4-0 win of their own in game four, but then Cloud9 got right back in the action with a 2-0 victory to finish off the first series and force the bracket reset.
Would the 10-minute break between matches kill their momentum? Nope. After trading the first two games, Cloud9 kept racking up wins one-by-one until they'd shut down Dignitas for good and lifted the RLCS trophy. Dignitas definitely looked out of sorts; they were missing shots, passes, and blocks, and captain Jos 'ViolentPanda' van Meurs was largely silenced across both series. Cloud9 believe that they were the reason for Dig's uncommon collapse.
"They weren't dominating like they normally do, but I think that also could have been a result of how we were playing," Squishy said. "We were playing super-well as a team. We were doing what they normally do."
"I think they were playing good, because they had just beat We Dem Girlz 4-1. Honestly, that just says they were probably the same," adds Gimmick. "We were playing way better than them, and they really got nervous because we were playing good. It fell apart on them."
In championship form
It was Cloud9's first RLCS World Championship grand finals appearance after placing third in Season 4 last autumn and fourth in London in June, but you wouldn't know it by their onstage demeanour. All three players looked calm and confident, and Torment told his team-mates in the moment that it was the most comfortable he's ever felt on the RLCS stage. And Cloud9 spent a lot of time on that stage this weekend, racking up six series before the grand finals.
"I also said, 'I basically live up there. It's my home. I'll set up shop,'" Torment joked. "I think the fact that we were playing Dignitas, who are basically the elite team of Rocket League – they never really lose, and Turbopola's won the last three. It's like: 'If we lose, we lose,' I guess. But we won."
If anything, Cloud9 seemed looser and more comfortable the longer they were onstage. They played a complete game the entire time, putting up brilliant team passes and maintaining a strong defense. Before the season, Squishy said that they wanted to play more like Dignitas, making all three players equal in the rotation – and we saw that in action.
But then Cloud9's trademark solo plays started coming out, and it was a treat. Gimmick pulled off a couple of nutty aerial double-tap goals against the backboard, showing a bit of freestyle finesse all the while, and Squishy had a couple of flip reset shots – including a wild one in the final game (above) that Torment dunked in after the ball bounced on the goal line. They were clearly feeling the moment and having fun with it.
Cloud9's aggressive play also came through in a seemingly constant array of demolitions against Dignitas, continually throwing off their EU rivals. Squishy said he'd try to take out a player in midfield to eliminate a passing option, while Gimmick had more goalie kills to try and clear a path for their own shots. And that ties directly into communication: Cloud9 say they were talking more than ever during that match, keeping everyone in sync as they ruled the pitch.
"Comms was a big thing," Torment revealed. "I think our talks between games, and before and after series, were also really helpful. The last time we did that that well was at DreamHack Atlanta – how we adapted between series and learned how to play against a team while we were playing against them. Mechanically, we were all just the best we've ever really been. We all turned it up today."
And Torment was arguably the best of the bunch, earning the MVP award after putting up a fantastic 1.2 goals per game across the grand finals series, featuring memorable shots and saves alike. His team-mates agree with the choice, and while Squishy and NA league play MVP Gimmick sometimes overshadow him with their flashier plays, Torment took charge when it really mattered the most.
"It feels so good," Torment said of the MVP honour. "In Rocket League, I've never won an MVP or Player of the Week. It's never really happened, so LAN MVP is actually insane. It's great, that's all I can really say."
Achieving the dream
Cloud9 produced an overpowering, Dignitas-like performance on Sunday, and while they took some cues from their rival's playbook leading up to the weekend, the actual win had a lot of what makes Cloud9 such a uniquely explosive and dynamic threat. "I think we beat them in our own way," says Gimmick.
The next challenge is only a couple of weeks away with The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League 2018. While they'd love to win it, Squishy suggests that ELEAGUE isn't quite on the same level in their minds as the RLCS World Championship – which is essentially what he said about the Universal Open right before winning it in August. "I wouldn't be too upset if we lost ELEAGUE – I wouldn't be mad about that. I'm just so happy that we were able to come through today," he admitted.
We got what we wanted – winning RLCS is the dream
And only minutes after their RLCS championship win, Squishy is already thinking about the next one. "If another team wants to take the next ELEAGUE, go for it," he added. "But I want the next RLCS again."
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