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esports
How the Community Is Powering RLCS Competition
Community organizations helped build this scene, and now they'll host the RLCS qualifiers.
Along with the introduction of the Rival Series division, which expands the number of teams fighting it out each week in high-level car soccer, this Rocket League Championship Series season comes with another noteworthy tweak: multiple open qualifying events for North America and Europe, all run by independent organizations within the competitive community.
It's a big change. In previous seasons, the open qualifiers were handled by the RLCS, and there was one extensive event to filter through all of the teams and ultimately sort out the League Play squads. Now, there will be four different events spread across multiple weeks, and teams can enter any two of them to try and secure their spot in the season ahead. And each open qualifier will have its own flavor thanks to the work of these volunteer-run organizations.
All four organizations are well-oiled machines, running regular tournaments or maintaining a busy league of players, and they collectively form the backbone of Rocket League's competitive community. With RLCS qualifiers kicking off this weekend, here's what to expect from each organization's broadcast, a look at what kinds of tournaments and events they usually run and perspective on why these groups are so important to the game's competitive success.
Sharing the success
Last season's qualifiers brought a high-profile flameout. As mentioned in our recent feature on Cloud9's new team, Team Iris — an NA squad formed by season one champion Brandon "Lachinio" Lachin — came in as a top-seeded, seemingly surefire lock for League Play, and ended up being kicked to the curb because of a bad series.
According to Blake "CloudFuel" Tull, esports program lead at Twitch, it's not the sole reason that the RLCS opted for additional qualifying events, but it helped convince them to expand the system. They wanted to give players more opportunities to compete, plus it dovetailed well with a desire to give the community more of a spotlight. After all, community efforts helped turn Rocket League into a burgeoning competitive force, which CloudFuel knows all too well as the original founder of Rocket League Central.
"We have these community groups that run tournaments on their own, week in and week out. And they've proven themselves to be great ambassadors for the community," he affirms. "They show the right kind of integrity and leadership and things that we look for from the RLCS standpoint."
The RLCS is expanding for season four
© Psyonix
When we spoke with Psyonix's eSports Head Josh Watson back in June, he noted that community members were already volunteering their time and skills to help execute past RLCS open qualifiers. "One of the things that's really important to us is that we allow those community groups to share in the success of the RLCS," Watson said. "It's their hard work that allows for a lot of this to happen, so we thought it beneficial to those organizations who are lending their time and efforts and talents to be able to be a part of it on an official basis."
As last season ended, Twitch asked top community Rocket League organizations for proposals on how they would run a qualifier, and ultimately chose the four groups with the strongest visions and track records alike: Pro Rivalry League, Nexus Gaming, Minor League Doubles and Shift Pro League. Twitch is still managing operations, of course, ensuring that each organization maintains the RLCS tournament structure, and CloudFuel has trained their picks for moderators.
But from there, they've been given a lot of freedom to present and broadcast their events however they'd like. It's a big opportunity for these organizations to show off their skills to a potentially much larger audience, and maybe bring some of those fans (and players) back for future tournaments — which can only grow the competitive ecosystem even further.
"I don't want it to be that everybody does the same thing. I definitely want the integrity of the tournament to remain the same across the board," CloudFuel explained. "But from a production standpoint, I kind of want to let their sails fly a little bit. Let's see what you can do."
Pro Rivalry League
What can Pro Rivalry League do? If the organization's recent efforts are any indication, then we're likely to get an impressive show this weekend. The RLCS picked them to lead off the NA and EU qualifiers starting tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 12, as they're one of the longest-running organizations handling weekly tournaments, and they're known for their slick production values and ability to handle large, visible events. "They have consistently put themselves out there as one of the best from a production standpoint," CloudFuel said.
Just recently, PRL ran a Rival Week promotion that brought together 10 of the world's best teams for head-to-head show matches in epic best-of-three-series battles. We saw the likes of NRG vs G2 Esports from North America, and Team EnVyUs vs Gale Force Esports from EU — it was appointment streaming for Rocket League fans. And it also marked the debut of PRL's impressive new broadcasting package, with a modern visual overhaul complete with dazzling transitions and eye-catching graphics. It's suitably pro-level stuff from the Pro Rivalry League.
PRL was formed early in 2016 to try and "fill the void of tournaments" that properly showcased Rocket League's dynamic action, said Murty "Scheist" Shah, founder and manager. "It's an incredibly colorful and exciting game, and we felt that existing tournament providers weren't tapping into that." And the recent rebranding only amplifies their philosophy toward presenting the competition.
Rival Week was an exciting promotion, plus PRL recently held a LAN tournament in conjunction with San Diego State University. However, PRL's weekly tournaments are its real bread and butter. PRL runs both 2v2 and 3v3 tournaments, with the latter attracting top teams like G2 and The Muffin Men (now Cloud9) in the past. Pro-level squads use weekly tournaments as an opportunity to tune up before LANs and major showdowns, or to test out new lineups, while bubble and lower-level players get a chance to prove themselves against stronger competition — and maybe earn a little cash. All the while, the streams provide a steady flow of live Rocket League action to watch every single week.
"Getting chosen to run the first open qualifier of RLCS season four was a 'pinch me, I'm dreaming' sort of moment for all of us," said Scheist, who added that it helped validate all of their hard work. "Trusting the community organizations with the scene's premier event shows just how much both Psyonix and Twitch truly care for the fans of Rocket League."
He says that PRL's team of 60-plus people is working to ensure that the first open qualifier runs smoothly, looks fantastic and pulls in as many viewers as possible. "We want to start off this event with a bang, and are doing everything we can to make sure its a success," he affirmed. "We're known for setting the bar high when it comes to community-run tournaments, and are planning on setting it even higher this upcoming weekend."
And beyond that, viewers can expect even bigger things from Pro Rivalry League: more tournaments, larger prize pools, additional live events and even more polish along the way.
Nexus Gaming
Pro Rivalry League certainly isn't the only community-run organization putting on tournaments every single week: Nexus Gaming is right there with them, and they've proven themselves in a shorter span of time since forming in October. Early members broke off from the Mock-It League organization and immediately put their experience to use getting Nexus up and running, and it has been a community mainstay since.
"They've done a really good job of being really consistent," said CloudFuel, who praises their breadth of competition across 3v3, 2v2 and 1v1 action, as well as their unique approach of using Discord to handle tournaments via some interesting automation tweaks. "They're another group that we think really resonates well with the community, and have the same characteristics that we're looking for."
Right now, Nexus is strongly focused on $150 3v3 tournaments to give teams ample opportunity to practice for the RLCS, and that means streams have seen appearances from possible contenders like Renegades (ex-Selfless), Fibeon, and Hollywood Hammers. In recent months, Nexus has also run a pair of large invitational events with teams like G2, NRG and Rogue, and Lucas "kerrytaz" Travilla says to expect more of those alongside the weeklies.
As for their RLCS open qualifier on Aug. 19-20, kerrytaz promises "top-level production, our best casters representing us and some awesome carball." And he believes that letting these groups run the qualifiers is "super important for the scene as a whole. It shows us that Pysonix, the RLCS and Twitch trust us wholeheartedly to produce and run their most important event."
Minor League Doubles
Minor League Doubles is sort of the odd organization out in this bunch: They don't run open weekly tournaments, and they don't even handle 3v3 play. Instead, MLD is a persistent league for 2v2 teams, and it takes cues from physical sports leagues in that it has fixed teams/franchises, seasons, free agency and even their form of a "salary cap" based on each player's ranked skill rating.
That might make them an odd pick to run a large 3v3 qualifier event for the RLCS, but as CloudFuel sees it, MLD's organizational stability, impressive production values and commitment to a friendly competitive environment makes them a perfect partner. And as the captain of MLD's Puffins team, he's more than familiar with their approach.
"They're an off-the-beaten-path organization. They have fantastic production, but they focus on a very small niche, which is something that is absolutely needed in the scene right now," CloudFuel suggested. "They're very much about no toxicity — everyone supports each other, and good sportsmanship."
Now in their fifth season with 24 active teams, Minor League Doubles is used to running and maintaining a large, complex organization — and doing it with style. They'll host the lone midweek qualifiers, on Aug. 22-23, and owner/founder John Wayman says they're prepared to deliver an impressive experience.
"We have one of the best production teams in all of Rocket League," Wayman asserted. "You can expect our presentation to be professional, organized, entertaining and one of the best you will see during the qualifiers. From our casters to our graphics team, we take our production very seriously and I am confident that we will knock this out of the park, just like we do every single week of the season."
Shift Pro League
Shift Pro League will handle the final weekend qualifier on Aug. 26-27, and surprisingly, they've been out of the game for a few months — they went on hiatus back in April after about a year of existence. But when the call came out for organizations to put on RLCS qualifiers, CloudFuel says that members from an array of other groups, like Nexus Gaming, Rocket League Central and Mythical Esports, all banded together to bring SPL back to life.
"It's kind of a redemption opportunity," said CloudFuel, who stresses that he's comfortable having them run a qualifier based on who's involved and the work he's seen from them since. "These are all-stars within the community that pulled together to create the new and improved Shift Pro League."
Being given that opportunity "meant everything" to SPL, explained co-director Jacob "Badgey" McAllister, who said that their rapidly rebuilt team hustled hard for two weeks to assemble their pitch and resuscitate the dormant organization. It was clearly an emotional experience for Badgey and his fellow collaborators. "It showed us that we were able to stand strong in what had to have been one of the hardest moments any organization in this space has yet to face," he said. "It really gave us hope for what we could do in the future, as individuals and as a group, and it made us one hell of a team."
Shift Pro League has done some creative one-off events, like a "FeelsOldMan" tournament for players 25 and older, and the RLCS qualifier should be a big kickoff for them as they work to resume paid tournaments and highlight community endeavors with their streams. As for the qualifier itself, CloudFuel says that Shift has been working with a professional 3D modeler to boost their presentational package. "They are doing some stuff that is like PRL-and-beyond level," he suggested. "It's actually extremely impressive."
"If you thought PRL had good production, then you're going to be a little shocked at what we have in store," adds Badgey. "Past that, we have the single best casting crew to rock either region, and we hold the key to the final 32 spots for the play-in. Trust us when we say we know what crunch time looks like, and that we're gonna bring as much hype as any RLCS event deserves."
Community is key
In picking these organizations to host the RLCS open qualifiers, Twitch and Psyonix have held them up as the brightest examples of community's ability to support and expand the competitive scene — but they're not the only teams doing that, of course.
There are other groups putting on regular online tournaments, like Mythical Esports, Boost Legacy and Rewind Gaming, as well as those that put on streaming events — such as Bad Panda and The League of Rockets, who teamed up to host the great World Cup late last month, and GoldRushGG, who flew out several of the world's top players for a streaming event in May. Additionally, there are teams putting on local community LAN events, including TexasRL and Chicago's Mad City.
Each community organization serves a different purpose and appeal to varying audiences, but they collectively form the foundation of Rocket League's competitive scene. The RLCS spotlights the top tier of competition, and likewise, NBC's Universal Open 2v2 event looks like it may mostly have known pro players competing when the finals air later this month. Companies like Gfinity and ESL cater to more of a mid-tier player pool, CloudFuel said, but the community orgs open up a path for people to start working their way up from the bottom.
It's a long road to hoisting the RLCS trophy
© Psyonix
"Without these organizations that are running weeklies and these one-off, kind of goofy tournaments to get people interested, and get people playing on a regular basis, we don't have anything at the top. It doesn't exist," CloudFuel said. "So for me, they're everything."
"Community organizations are the backbone of the Rocket League competitive scene. Rocket League needs us just as much as we need them," Minor League Doubles' Wayman asserted. "There would be no stars of tomorrow if community organizations didn't exist, and as long as there are places for players to play, learn and continue to love this game, there will always be a place for Rocket League in esports."
The Rocket League Championship Series open qualifiers begin this weekend with Pro Rivalry League, which you can watch on their Twitch channel. Once all of the qualifying events conclude later this month, the top 128 teams will battle it out in a play-in tournament Sept. 2-3, to decide which squads will make it into the Championship Series or Rival Series. League Play for both begins the following weekend.
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