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Can Oceania Compete Against Rocket League's Best?
Packing talent but lacking refinement, a new region enters the RLCS fray.
Over the course of two Rocket League Championship Series seasons, we've seen a fierce rivalry develop between North America and Europe's top squads. iBUYPOWER Cosmic (now G2 Esports) took the first trophy for North America, while FlipSid3 Tactics surged to victory last season as Europe's squads dominated amidst a weaker NA showing.
Who will take the crown in season three, which is currently partway through League Play? It could be neither region, actually.
The third RLCS season introduces Oceania to the fray, which for the league's purposes includes Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines and several other islands. Two finalists from a regional tournament will face off against the four best squads each from the NA and Europe in the live world championship event this June.
Oceania's competitive scene is much smaller than the others and also isolated, thanks to ping and lag issues that keep its players disadvantaged on US and European servers. However, the community has no shortage of passion for the game — and its top teams hope to make an impact on the world stage. But can these lesser known squads really compete at the highest level right away?
Oceanic origins
Like the wider Rocket League community before Psyonix's esports ambitions took hold, Oceania's competitive Rocket League scene has been fueled largely by devoted fans. Community run tournaments helped establish interest and build up a following, and leaders have built resources like the Rocket League Oceania website, which provides weekly team power rankings and organizes and promotes competitions.
"As a small scene, for a long time all tournaments were built off the back of community members putting together tournaments, volunteering their time, and donating money," explains David "yumi_cheeseman" Lane, an OCE caster, analyst, coach and power rankings overseer. "We all love the game and play it constantly, and [given the size of] prize pools and viewership here, we have to treat it that way. You can't make a living, so people work, go to school and then come home and scrim, play, organize or cast Rocket League tournaments in the evening."
Regional ESL and the recently-ended HYPE online tournaments have helped keep teams fresh, but the biggest local draw to date has been the recent Throwdown Rocket League Challenge. Following three weeks of online play and then playoffs, the four best teams were summoned to Sydney for the live finals in February, where Alpha Sydney narrowly defeated JAM Gaming 4-3 to take the largest share of the $9,000 prize pool.
The RLCS has a whole new region of challengers
© Psyonix
Throwdown's season two OCE Championship begins this Sunday, April 2 — but now it's an officially sanctioned Rocket League Championship Series event, and the two teams left standing at the end will be invited to the RLCS World Championship.
According to Robin Allemand, the RLCS program manager at Twitch, Throwdown's broadcast quality and the level of play alike impressed them, and convinced them to partner up to bring Oceania into the RLCS. And it made sense as a next step to not only bring OCE's top talent into the RLCS, but also help build up the competitive community.
"The Oceania competitive Rocket League scene has grown to the point where sanctioning a regional event will support the local scene, and encourage more players to invest their time in Rocket League," he affirms. And while the two teams that make it into the RLCS live finals is half of the four each that NA and EU will send, Allemand notes that they'll evaluate the results and interest, and consider any potential changes down the line.
Regional leaders
For the players and community members who worked so hard to put Rocket League's Oceania scene on the map, the addition to this season's RLCS is sweet validation.
"RLCS has always been a dream for us — something that we've hoped to be in every season," admits Lane, who serves as a community coordinator for Throwdown. "The announcement trailer released and we saw 'New Challengers: Oceania,' and everyone went nuts. In no other eSport is Oceania the No. 3 region."
"Having Oceania be a part of the RLCS is an unbelievable milestone for our region," says Ben "B-bearz" Christie, the head admin of Rocket League for ESL Australia. "Having the support of not only Psyonix, but also the NA and EU communities, professional players, and countless others since before anyone even knew that OCE would be included in the RLCS — [it's] a tremendous feeling, and we're incredibly grateful for it.
And as Allemand suggests, it's a huge opportunity for Oceania's top players to prove themselves on a much larger stage. Not only will the top two teams have a chance to compete live in the LAN setting, but the online battles leading up to the Oceania Championship are also sure to get a lot more attention now that RLCS participation is on the line.
Can Alpha Sydney repeat and make the RLCS?
© Alpha Sydney
Alpha Sydney has led Rocket League Oceania's community power rankings for some time now, and following their Throwdown LAN win, the squad — comprised of Drippay, Torsos and Jake — hasn't lost a competitive tournament in more than a month. Lane says that Torsos "can be the best player in the region" when he's on his game, plus the 16-year-old is famed for playing high-level Rocket League with a keyboard and mouse (a rare feat).
According to Drippay, Alpha Sydney is primed to continue its winning ways and be that OCE leader ready for the world's attention. "Everyone in OCE has been waiting for an opportunity to prove ourselves on the international stage," he affirms. "As the number one team, we feel as if we will be the ones to take our region to the next level and not disappoint."
Nipping at Alpha Sydney's heels are Throwdown runner-up JAM Gaming (MontyConnor, Bango, Express), as well as Sand Castle (Dumbo, Lukorice, SnarfSnarf), who had played under the Athletico banner until just this week. Meanwhile, JAM Gaming's roster had played for Athletico until early February. With the Throwdown/RLCS open qualifiers beginning this weekend, we're seeing rosters and organizations shuffle in search of success.
Even if all of those pairings haven't been settled for a long time, there's still plenty of talent to be found. Lane says that JAM's Express is "considered the best mechanical player in the region," and calls him "the best finisher/striker in OCE," as well as a formidable defensive player. Meanwhile, Sand Castle's Dumbo "is one of the most internationally renowned OCE players," according to Lane, and has schooled some worldwide talent despite struggling with 220 ping during those matches.
How they compare
Oceania's top players and squads have clear talent, but is it on the same level as the North American and European pros that have played through two Championship Series seasons? Most of the people I spoke with, both inside and outside of the scene, tried to temper expectations a bit.
As I watched the Throwdown finals from last month, Alpha Sydney and JAM Gaming seemed evenly matched, and it was a rousing and entertaining seven-game showdown. But the shots and passes often lacked precision and the team rotations weren't on-point; there were open-goal scores that you'd never expect to see from a battle between top NA or EU teams. It just didn't seem as refined as what we're seeing in RLCS League Play right now.
"Mechanically, OCE has a lot of talent. The individual skill is good. OCE rotation game seems to be weak on the other hand. Despite having some really talented players, the flow of play lacks a certain direction," says Adam "Lawler" Thornton, an RLCS analyst and caster who has casted Oceania games in the past. He praises European teams' decision making and how they "pass with intent" and are aggressive coming out of rotations. Thornton says NA teams like G2 and NRG are starting to adopt that approach, but "can't say I've seen the same control out of OCE."
Oceania's best will battle it out for RLCS spots
© Throwdown
Everyone I spoke with agreed that Oceania's seclusion from the rest of the competitive scene has kept its squads below the ever-growing talent ceiling of Rocket League's top pros. It's not possible for them to properly compete online against the more experienced, top-tier NA and Euro players when lag constantly throws them off. Watching those teams on streams is one thing, but it's entirely different than being challenged by them and having to creatively raise your game as a result. Paired with a smaller local scene with fewer events and less competition, Oceania is playing from behind.
"Zero ping, toe to toe, I think OCE has a rough climb to the top of Mt. Kronovi," says Thornton, referring to the G2 Esports captain. "Being able to play against the top teams consistently gives a competitive edge. It establishes good habits, and the ability to firsthand see where your flaws are as a team. Before the OCE squad Abyss broke up, they played in western tournaments, despite fighting with 240 ping. It's a step in the right direction, but it wasn't ideal."
Lane suggests that Oceania players' strong work ethics, including near-daily scrims and replay analysis, will help bridge the experience gap—and thinks that any serious chunk of practice time within the NA or EU regions would help further their skills significantly. However, he also believes that there's plenty to gain from the RLCS experience even if an OCE team doesn't ultimately win out this season.
"For now, the goal of the teams going should be to do the best they can, and represent OCE both on the stage and also publicly," he affirms. "We may not win this season, but it is our first, and the experience that the teams will gain will bring us back stronger and ready to take down RLCS Season 4."
Bring on the LAN
Still, anything is possible when it comes to the LAN setting. We have seen stunning upsets and underdog victories throughout the RLCS, and that is with teams and players that have typically played each other time and time again. Oceania's teams have the potential advantage of not only being underdogs, but also relative unknowns: scrappy, talented squads that may not necessarily play exactly like the familiar North American and European powerhouses.
Thornton believes that the laidback mentality he's seen from many OCE players could also provide an advantage for the teams that make it to the world championship.
"I'm curious to see how they handle the stressful environment and if it will throw off other teams. The current regions and teams have history. They know each other's play from personal experience. Coming in as an unknown factor could change up some things," Thornton adds. "On the other hand, NA and EU are quite confident that they will crush OCE. They aren't intimidated in the least bit, and I can't completely blame them."
Will these be Oceania's two RLCS teams?
© Throwdown
Despite the smaller player and viewership pools, Oceania's top teams will have had a few different LAN opportunities by the time the World Championship comes around. It may not be on the same scale as the RLCS, but being able to soak in that experience of playing on a stage with unfamiliar hardware and surroundings, not to mention a live crowd, can be invaluable. After all, FlipSid3 Tactics admitted that they struggled at the S1 LAN, and credited their team boot camp — LAN practice, essentially — as making a difference ahead of winning season two.
"Getting 'in the zone' in a new environment can be particularly difficult. Having LAN experience helps with combating that, and will undoubtedly be our region's greatest advantage in competing against NA and EU," affirms ESL Australia's Christie. "Many of our top teams and players have played in multiple LAN finals already, and with another two LANs to be held in our region before the world championship, adjusting to a new environment will naturally come much easier to us than others."
For his part, Drippay says that Alpha Sydney is confident that they can disrupt the NA and EU stalwarts, and shine when the spotlight is on them … or at least make a bit of a scene.
"We think OCE has a good chance of upsetting the other two regions. NA and EU have had a chance to play each other before, but they don't know what to expect from OCE," he says. "We feel as though we have an advantage with that, as we will be coming out with nothing to lose and hopefully surprise — plus cause chaos amongst — the other regions."
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