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Why Does North America Struggle at the RLCS Finals?
After a third straight Euro victory, we chat with analysts about NA's performance and how they can turn things around.
Season four's Rocket League Championship Series World Championship ended much like the two seasons before it: with an all-European grand finals, and of course, a new European winner when all was said and done.
North America took the very first RLCS championship in summer 2016 with a blistering win by iBUYPOWER Cosmic over FlipSid3 Tactics, but the seasons since have failed to produce another NA grand finalist, let alone a champion. Only one NA team fell within the Top 4 in the two previous seasons, but at least this time around, we had two: Cloud9 in 3rd and G2 Esports right behind. Also, NA teams won two of the four major LANs during the summer offseason.
But if the wider competitive skill gap between North America and Europe is closing, we still haven't seen it at the highest level: the RLCS World Championship. After this season's finals, we spoke with RLCS casters and analysts James "Jamesbot" Villar and Caleb "WavePunk" Simmons to break down the four NA teams' performances, why the region's best haven't been able to close at the finals, and when and how the tide might finally turn.
Two near the top
North American champions Cloud9 came into the World Championship as the regional favorite and a real contender for the throne — and while they didn't ultimately win it all, they did end up on top amongst NA teams.
In the lower finals, Cloud9 came out hard against Method, winning the first two games of the best-of-seven series, but then Method flipped the match on its head and next four games to secure their spot in the grand finals. Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda had a masterful solo shot (below) and took the offensive lead for his team — dramatically so, too, scoring nine of Cloud9's 11 goals across the six games. But Jesus "Gimmick" Parra, the team's usual scoring force, was kept to just two goals, while Kyle "Torment" Storer scored none while amplifying his usual defensive focus. The team's usual winning balance seemed off in that pivotal series.
"Squishy definitely was putting in a lot of shots, but it wasn't the same Cloud9 that we have seen dominate with all of the infield passing that they do, and the speed. Method matched all of that, and didn't give up," explained Jamesbot. He pointed out that Cloud9 scored the first goal in all six games, and that typically, the team that scores first has a huge advantage when it comes to a likely win. But Method still took the series 4-2. "[Cloud9] just couldn't close, and to me, that just shows that nerves are definitely a factor in that," he added.
Squishy seemed to have a response ready on Twitter the night of the loss, tweeting, "Nerves aren't even remotely an issue in terms of LANs for us at this point," and suggesting they "simply underperformed at the end of that series." And in Cloud9's defense, they've won big LAN tournaments since summer, including DreamHack Atlanta in July and the Northern Arena Invitational just last month.
WavePunk echoed Jamesbot's comment about infield passing, and surmised that Europe's Method were simply one step ahead of Cloud9 in that series. "Season four has been characterized by the infield pass and by who has been able to execute it the best," he said. "I really think that in that situation, it was Method's ability to pull off the bleeding-edge strat better than Cloud9 that gave them the victory."
G2 were big favorites of the North American crowd
© Psyonix
Meanwhile, G2 Esports were the only North American team to really outperform expectations. While their sizable fan base might have envisioned a winning run, especially with captain and season one champion Cameron "Kronovi" Bills finally returning to Worlds, their poor regionals performance and up-and-down pattern of success didn't make them a safe bet. But they put up an exciting run, with their ultimate 4th-place finish coming at the hands of Cloud9 in a tense 3-2 series loss.
While regular season MVP Jacob "JKnaps" Knapman led G2 in scoring, "It was definitely a team effort. Kronovi and [Dillon "Rizzo" Rizzo] had their moments. Everybody had their moments," suggested Jamesbot. "There's just something about how calm Kronovi is when he comes out and plays on this big stage. When we talk about Cloud9 and Method — in my opinion, nerves were the factor in that. Although G2 may not have that same raw talent, they do have mastery over their nerves unlike most other North American players and teams that I've seen."
G2 beat Cloud9 during the regular season, but they lost the battle at the World Championship, and lost again to Cloud9 at this past weekend's CyberPowerPC Extreme Gaming Series NA Invitational, where the teams finished 1st-2nd. That seems to be where things stand in North America right now, with Cloud9 typically coming out on top with G2 slotting just behind them. We'll have to wait and see whether G2 can parlay this upward momentum into further consistency next season.
Ghost and NRG
Ghost Gaming's roster came together in late summer, and while all three players — Jason "Klassux" Klass, Treyven "Lethamyr" Robitaille, and captain Chris "Zanejackey" Jacobs — were RLCS veterans, it wasn't immediately clear how they'd perform as a unit. After a 5-2 regular season and 2nd-place finish in the regional championship, Ghost's 5th-6th place finish (including a 3-0 loss to Gale Force) at the World Championship wasn't quite as impressive. But the casters were still pleased by their growth and future outlook.
"We always talked about Ghost as the wild card coming into this tournament. I have been impressed with the maturity that Klassux showed at this tournament," explained Jamesbot. "I think he has grown a lot as a player, even emotionally, because everyone would harp on the fact that he crumbled in season two, horrendously. And he came out and had a fantastic performance in this tournament. Lethamyr has also shown that, just on the raw talent side of things, that he's one of the best in North America. He's so, so good, and had those two massive overtime goals."
WavePunk added that Ghost silenced a lot of doubts between the regional championship and Worlds, and suggested that they've proven that they are more than the sum of these individually talented parts. "Because their play style is so physical, and so erratic and chaotic, it can look like this team isn't working together," he said. "But the chaos really did work for them time and time again."
That leaves NRG in last: not only in North America, but overall, tying with Oceania's Pale Horse Esports with a 9th-10th place finish. NRG are three-time regional champions and last season's 3rd-place finalist at Worlds, plus they won the X Games Invitational over the summer. But they saw a slight decline this season with a 4-3 regular season record, before finishing 3rd at regionals. That slight bounce-back didn't carry over into the World Championship, however.
NRG went from 3rd place in season three to last place this time around
© Psyonix
NRG first lost 3-2 in a defensive stalemate against Method, the weekend's eventual runner-up, and then fell 3-2 again in a shocker against the Chiefs. The Oceanic club delivered one of the biggest upsets in RLCS history, leaving NRG stunned and out of the tournament. And their stats line is rough across the 10 games they played, including an 11% shooting percentage for Jacob "Jacob" McDowell and 13% for Garrett "GarrettG" Gordon, arguably last season's difference-maker for the team. GarrettG was also the only player in the tournament without a single assist.
"Watching NRG play… it just wasn't NRG. They were not working together at all. Jacob specifically, I remember, was double-committing a lot with his teammates. They just couldn't get any passes going," said Jamesbot. "That series versus Chiefs — they were playing like they were afraid to lose. They were not playing to win."
Before last season, NRG had earned the reputation of a team that ruled in online play, but couldn't get the job done at LAN. However, finishing 3rd last season seemed to ease the criticism, and the X Games victory showed a team getting comfortable with the live setting. But WavePunk pointed out that this team struggles once they're knocked out of the upper bracket. "They've had one win in the lower bracket across four seasons," he said. "They do not do well when that pressure of 'If we lose this game, we're done' is there, and you could just tell that it affected their play."
Given their challenges this season as the level of competition has only soared, Jamesbot wondered if they will return with the same core trio — GarrettG, Jacob, and captain Jayson "Fireburner" Nunez — intact for season five. "I really don't know what that roster's going to do, because I know for them, winning the region is great," he said, "but falling apart at Worlds just hurts every season and makes them hungrier."
The European edge
Europe's advantage has persisted since the early days of competitive Rocket League. iBUYPOWER Cosmic took the first RLCS win with an overwhelming offensive showing — especially from Kronovi, who had a spectacular 59% shooting percentage, notching 24 goals in 41 shots. It was a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime performance, but flashy offensive prowess hasn't helped NA teams make the finals since as the pro game has matured over the seasons.
Over time, European teams have shown themselves to be masters of precise defensive rotations, with a consistent focus on smart team play. We've seen that with season two champions FlipSid3 Tactics, and again last season with Northern Gaming, whose sharp rotations and focus on starving their opponents for boost helped them seal the deal. This time around, it was Gale Force Esports who came out as champions, with their impressive passing and staunch defense ultimately securing them the win with an efficient run through the upper bracket.
Gale Force are the third-straight RLCS winner to hail from Europe
© Psyonix
Back in season two, North America had a rough run at the World Championship, with their best team (Take 3) finishing 4th overall. It triggered a huge roster shuffle for the region, plus FlipSid3 Tactics captain Mark "Markydooda" Exton slammed most of the NA players for their showy, disorganized, and strongly individual play, plus an inability to give and take criticism amongst players. Surprisingly, many of the top players agreed with the assessment.
"While Marky's comments may have been fairly critical, it's pretty hard to argue against his points," said Blake "CloudFuel" Tull, Twitch's Esports Program Lead for Rocket League, back in February. "I think NA's best chance to compete against EU is going to come down to teams that are comprised of players who have strong game awareness, are extremely versatile, can handle playing at fast speeds, and most importantly, thrive under pressure."
Let's call it a work in progress. After that early-year roster shuffle, we've seen squads sticking together through struggles, including Cloud9 and G2, and coming out all the better for it (Method did much the same in Europe). Cloud9 has done the best job of matching European squads in precision play, especially when it comes to passing and rotations, and they've won multiple live tournaments as a result. At their best, G2 can be just as sharp, but they haven't yet shown the consistency of Cloud9, let alone European teams.
It's that consistency that seems to define Europe's edge most of all. When they're playing to their potential, the top few North American teams and top European teams seem evenly matched. European squads can also have up-and-down swings: as we saw this season, both FlipSid3 Tactics and EnVyUs (formerly Northern Gaming) had rough regular season runs and missed out on LAN. But when they're on the biggest stage in international play, at the RLCS World Championship, Europe's best teams don't wither like North American ones have in recent seasons.
A different mentality
If North American teams are bridging the skill gap and improving their team tactics, then where else can they help make up the difference? Beyond getting more and more international experience as live events increase in number and frequency, part of it may just be the continual process of having even better talent move up to the top teams.
"We see those really talented players start to filter up towards the top, and these massive rosters start being built, as we saw with Gale Force," explained Jamesbot. "I think with North America, it just took a little bit longer for these guys to get together, and it just took some really talented young players to coming into the scene — like Gimmick, who had an explosive season this time around."
Some of North America's top rosters stayed largely intact over much of 2017, but they might be looking to make adjustments before season five rolls around. However, with RLCS teams holding onto their spots from season to season now, they'll need to keep 2/3 of their starting roster intact — and the odd player out might not be very keen on losing a coveted RLCS spot. Perhaps top organizations will attempt to woo young rising stars away from currently-unsigned RLCS or Rival Series teams like Out of Style or Applesauce (ex-Fibeon), or rosters will try to swap players to find better synergy on both ends.
Ghost's Klassux erupts onstage after scoring a key goal against Cloud9
© Psyonix
Otherwise, both WavePunk and Jamesbot pointed to mentality as a dividing factor. We've seen more emotion and personality from NA teams onstage, both this season and in the past, while European teams don't often seem as visibly swayed by the action. That's not a hard-and-firm rule, and there are exceptions on both sides. But the casters believe that NA teams are generally more susceptible to being caught up in their emotions, and having that affect their play on the big stage.
"[European teams] have a very professional approach to the game. I think all of the players take it very seriously. If you talk to the European players, you can definitely see that," said Jamesbot, who added that EU teams are "always scrimming, always competing, always trying to get better." WavePunk chimed in then, noting, "There's a lot more emotions on the North American rosters. You'll see them being more engaged and hungrier to get the wins, but that hunger actually impedes them from finding their victory."
Cloud9 show little excitement onstage, but they're NA's best team
© Psyonix
Gale Force is the prime example of a team that looks calm and collected onstage, as we saw last weekend during their championship run. And Cloud9 is the rare NA team that have seemingly molded themselves after EU squads: they're quiet and largely emotionless onstage. It might drive some fans crazy to see little personality from them in the moment, but they've done wonders onstage with that approach.
"We talk about NA being a more emotional scene, and to some degree, that makes them more lovable. People love that about the scene: you look at a team like Rogue from season three who maybe didn't perform that well, but they made so many fans by being this emotionally raw team," suggested WavePunk. "At the same time, I think it's that down-to-earth, robotic mentality that gives the Europeans the edge. You see it in teams like Cloud9, who we were calling the robots the entire event, and they went all the way to 3rd and were the best team in North America. Maybe embracing a bit more of that no-monkey-business, down-to-earth, do-what-needs-to-be-done style could really help North America."
What's next?
And still, North American teams seem to be making strides, even if it hasn't shown in the RLCS World Championship results just yet. They've won three of the five non-RLCS international LAN events since the start of summer, and Cloud9 seems like the team that is currently best suited to come out on top in the region: they've beaten both Gale Force and PSG in LAN events, and besides, this was the squad's first RLCS finals.
"I think if you look at season four compared to other seasons, we've been closing the gap every season," WavePunk affirmed. "The difference between the first-place team and the fifth-place team could just be the day at this point."
Jamesbot isn't convinced that NA is ready to take the mantle away from Europe, let alone be considered an equal region in the Rocket League pro scene. "Europe is going to continue to dominate. They will continue to be at that top level, but North America is going to be able to compete," he said, suggesting that NRG's struggles make it even more unclear who even are the top handful of teams in the region right now.
Still, as the competitive scene expands and more international tournaments emerge — such as ELEAGUE in early December — NA's best should have a lot of opportunities to try and prove their worth… or showcase their continued struggles against the EU's best. Added Jamesbot, "I think 2018 is going to be very, very telling on: Can North America really step up to the highest level and compete with Europe?"
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