mVENewsletter Week #1: RLCS Season X - Fall: regional event 1 championship sunday recap

          Hi there! My name is maachV, and I am an aspiring journalist with a big passion for esports and traditional sports. This is my first attempt at a blog of any sort, but I'm hoping to get a consistent weekly schedule of posting about and covering different esports' results throughout the week. This week I am starting with what I could catch on the weekend, RLCS X NA Championship Sunday! Hopefully, next week I can do a similar write up for the EU games. All of my in-game stats were collected on octane.gg, and the bracket screenshot at the end is sourced from Liquipedia (https://liquipedia.net/rocketleague/Rocket_League_Championship_Series/Season_X/Fall/North_America/1). If you have any feedback or helpful commentary, you can always find me at my email: maachvgg@gmail.com, and I hope you guys enjoy it!

Game 1: Alpine esports(0) vs. NRG esports(3)

     Alpine seemed to come out of the gates a little slow. Game 1 ended 5-0 favoring NRG with jstn picking up a hat-trick and Squishy and Garrett picking up a combined four assists. Alpine had nine shots but could not score as there were a combined eight saves by NRG. Game 2 saw Alpine look a little more confident, but they still couldn't match the chemistry and tempo of NRG as it ended 4-1. Another hat-trick, this time from Garrett and the lone Alpine goal coming from MaJicBear, gave NRG a very comfortable and familiar 2-0 series lead looking for the clean sweep. In-game 3 Alpine started on a healthy foot with MaJicBear finding a nice air-dribble for an opening goal, but NRG took advantage of the young RLCS team's little mistakes. The game ends 3-2, sending Alpine home and NRG on through to the semi-finals. NRG had a strong all-around game with just a couple of miscommunications. Alpine finished strong, and if they can make the right adjustments for the next major, we might see them make a surprise appearance in the top 4. It will not surprise me if they try to shake their roster if things continue not to work. As for who to change-up, MaJicBear had every goal in the series, and Percy was solid on the backline leading the team in saves every game. Their team chemistry with Jordan seems like its building, so if changes were to happen, I would hope the org at least gives this team more attempts to fit into a comfortable role.

MVP: jstn

Game 2: Team Envy(3) vs. PK(2)

    This series was much closer than Alpine vs. NRG even though going into the game, you probably could have predicted another 3-0 sweep for Team Envy. Envy found the back of the net roughly 6 seconds into the game, and that set the tone that this game 1, if not the whole series, might be a little chaotic. While most goals in the game seem to come from demo plays, which is nothing new for the PK org, it just seemed like Envy was winning the individual battles, the 1v1s, and the team battles. Game 1 ends 5-1 in favor of Team Envy with mist picking up the hat-trick and Turbopolsa and Atomic each grabbing goal. ZPS is the lone scorer for PK as they outshot Envy 8-7, but Envy just got better quality shots. Thirty seconds into game two and mist already has another double-tap goal for Team Envy. One minute later and ZPS answers back for PK off the assist from kinseh to tie it at 1. They manage to stay tied for another 3:25 to take game 2 to overtime. Atomic is able to pick up the OT goal 15 seconds into extra time, off an excellent assist from the four-time champ Turbopolsa and Team Envy has a 2-0 series lead. PK opens the scoring in game three, and it looks like the series is slowing down or even just becoming less chaotic, which seems like it favors PK more than Team Envy. PK seems like they are entirely in control of this game as it ends in a 4-0 win for PK, no sweep this series. Radoko, with two impressive goals as ZPS, also netted two goals, as well as two assists, helps make the series 2-1 and keeping Envy from advancing for now. Game 4 sees Envy try to pick the pace back up, but PK is just able to shut them down for the 3-2 win. Mist scored both goals for Team Envy and was able to get 12 shots by himself, which was double PK's six-team shots, but that still wasn't enough as Envy was also only able to get 1 save the whole game. Going into game 5, we've got a tied series 2-2 with PK looking to complete the reverse sweep, and with Team Envy looking to get into the semis as many people had predicted. Game 5 sees Team Envy bring the chaos once more, and they're able to turn the momentum into a 4-0 game win. PK could not do much outside of play defense in the final game as they had a combined six saves to just four shots. That brings the series to a close with Team Envy moving onto the semi-finals against NRG. PK had a much better showing than many people predicted, and we can only hope they continue to improve, as they have only had the org backing since early august, and are still getting a footing in the RLCS.

MVP: mist

Game 3: the Peeps(3) vs. G2(2)

    Game 1 of the Peeps vs. G2 sees Rizzo move aside from his defensive role to score a hat-trick for G2. The Peeps looked best when playing the aggressive/demo playstyle, but they couldn't get it done as G2 wins 3-2 in OT. The game-winning goal comes from Rizzo at +1:35. Game 2 sees Chicago strike early for G2, 9 seconds into the game, but that would be the only goal of the match as the Peeps show off some tremendous defensive skill but end up losing 1-0. The Peeps combined for eight saves, while G2 only had two saves both from Chicago. G2 goes up 2-0 in the series and looks to finish the Peeps off in a three-game sweep. The Peeps are finally able to score first in game three as Ayyjayy capitalizes off a beautiful pass from Gyro, but JKnaps responds with a goal of his own just 4 seconds after. After less than a minute of play, JKnaps gets himself a hat-trick, but the Peeps get the last laugh as they continue to play the aggressive style and win the game 5-4 to keep the hopes alive. Both teams showed a lot of team chemistry in this game as 8/9 goals had assists, and some of them were beautiful passes. Game 4 also ends with a 5-4 victory for the Peeps, but this time in overtime. The scoring was a-kin to game 3, where most goals happened at the beginning and the end of the game, but it was much more of a back and forth affair. G2 got a 2-goal lead within a minute and a half before the Peeps had four unanswered goals. G2 was able to score 2 in the final minute to send it to OT, but Gyro secured the victory for the Peeps at +2:08. The Peeps once again net the game's first goal at the 3:35 mark with the goal coming off a lovely flick from Allushin in their half of the field. Surprisingly with the last two games, this one ends 1-0 for the Peeps as they complete the reverse sweep of G2 and move on to the semi-finals to face the winner of Spacestation vs. Soniqs. Both teams showed out, but the Peeps just seemed to have their number when it counted. We will see if the Peeps can make their mark as a real top 4 team in the semis, or if they just make the next round easier for someone.

MVP: Gyro

Game 4: Spacestation Gaming(3) vs. Soniqs(0)

    Since the addition of retals a month ago, SSG has just looked so dominant in NA. Game 1 of this series, though, made it look much closer than anybody had predicted. Soniqs opened up the scoring after 3 minutes of back and forth chances thwarted by the excellent defense. Sypical answered JRuss's goal with just 4 seconds left to send the game to a 1-1 overtime. Arsenal secured victory for SSG at +1:47 and gave Spacestation the 1-0 series lead. Both teams looked pretty evenly matched in game one, but game 2 showed that maybe SSG was looking for their groove in game 1. Arsenal nets the first of a four-goal onslaught from SSG as they take game 2 in a much more convincing 4-0 fashion. Soniqs could not catch a break with their clears as they only had a combined two shots the whole game. Game 3 sees SSG able to take out the brooms and convert the 3-0 sweep with a 2-1 OT victory. This entire series was one that was much closer than how it looks on paper because Soniqs were able to take SSG to 2 overtimes they just were unable to finish games off. The addition of JRuss to the Soniqs has seemed like a good one so far, so I hope to see more improvements as they can continue to build chemistry. Arsenal was able to pick up the overtime goal again this time, at just +0:37, and the whole team looked absolutely on form.

MVP: Arsenal

Game 5: NRG esports(4) vs. Team Envy(0)

    Fan voting before this game had 75% in favor of an NRG victory, which surprised me because I would have thought it would have been closer between these two teams. NRG seemed to prove me wrong as jstn scored 20 seconds into the game, and NRG didn't look back. Game 1 goes 4-0 for NRG as jstn gets all four goals, and the team as a whole just looked like they were able to put out more quality shots than Team Envy. Shots and saves between the two teams had a slight advantage to NRG, but it mostly came down to just converting on open chances. Game 2 had almost an opposite storyline as the score was close the whole game, ending 1-0 with the lone goal coming with a minute and a half left from Squishy. While the score may have been more relative, the whole game was dominated by NRG, who had 18 shots to Envy's 2. NRG was only stopped by the defensive skills of Envy, with 13 saves to NRG's 2. Game 3 started with another quick goal for jstn and NRG, but this time, Envy responded about 2 minutes later to put the game 1-1. This game would not end in overtime, as Squishy netted the game-winning goal with 47 seconds left to put NRG at a 3-0 series lead, with the team eyeing a sweep of their former teammate in Turbopolsa. Game 4 was a nail bitter with it ending 1-0 in favor of the NRG sweep. The game's lone goal came from GarrettG at just +0:13 in OT off a mistouch by Turbopolsa. NRG just looked absolutely on form, and Team Envy's offense when mist doesn't show up doesn't look the same. Hopefully, they can learn from their mistakes and improve for the next opportunity.

MVP: jstn

Game 6: Spacestation Gaming(4) vs. the Peeps(3)

    Spacestation beat the Peeps in week 1 of the grid 3-2, now the Peeps get a shot at a best-of-7 rematch to move onto the grand finals. Both teams look pretty good in game 1, with goals coming off the occasional mistake and both teams being good enough to capitalize on those mistakes. Round 1 ends 2-1 in overtime for SSG, with the Peeps and SSG goals coming from Gyro and Sypical. The overtime goal comes at +0:07 and is thanks to a soft drop pass from Arsenal to surprise the Peeps. Both teams looked out of touch to start game two, which caused some weirdness for the first half of the game. Until the Peeps scored off a goalie demo with 2:20 left, no one looked in control. From that point, the Peeps mostly took control with their game-winning goal coming from Allushin with 1:25 left to play as the Peeps win game 2 with a score of 3-2. Spacestation was able to turn it on towards the end, but the Peeps were able to close the door in goal. Both the first two games have seemed close as both teams can feed off a clean game and a chaotic game. Game 3, at least stat-wise, was all Peeps. The real gameplay was much closer than the 4-0 loss they gave SSG, but it all again came down to mistakes, and the Peeps seemed flawless. Little errors like leaving net for boost too early or missing a clearing touch cost SSG and I think they can get away with that stuff against worse teams, but the Peeps truly are showing to be deserving of the support a big org can bring. SSG net the first two goals in game 3 in less than a minute, and it looks to give them some momentum. SSG is showing some relentless defense, but AyyJayy squeaks one in at the 3:15 mark. That would turn out to be the last goal as SSG takes the win 2-1 to tie the series up 2-2. Game 5 saw another defensive masterclass as the Peeps outshoot SSG 10-6, but Arsenal was able to lift SSG to a win with a last-second goal. Spacestation gets a 3-2 lead and holds match point over the Peeps. To contrast game 5, game 6 starts with a Sypical goal 15 seconds in and an Arsenal goal 40 seconds later. Gyro responds with a beautiful full-field solo play, and then again with 50 seconds left, he ties the game at two as this game heads to overtime. The overtime hero is Allushin for the Peeps as he pushes the series to Champions field for a crucial game 7. The overtime goal comes at +1:19, and the whole overtime looked like SSG was going to be able to cap off the series, but alas, they get five more minutes to try again. Game 7 could have been the grand finals, and I wouldn't have been able to tell you the difference. It was an absolute nail-biter. It was a 0-0 deadlock until Retals could score the lone goal of the game with 13 seconds left to play as Spacestation can move on to face NRG in the grand finals.

MVP: Sypical

Game 7: Spacestation Gaming(4) vs. NRG esports(1)

    Two of the most stacked rosters in the RLCS right now face-off in the grand finals. The live chat has a 78% NRG victory, which is very surprising again as Spacestation has proven to be a top 4 team no matter the day where NRG to me seems fantastic but can have days where not everything clicks. Game 1 sees the two teams looking relatively evenly matched, but SSG this time are able to take advantage of the little mistakes from NRG. One goal comes from an excellent clear leaving Squishy stuck in the offensive zone, and the second goal comes from a missed shot attempt from NRG turned around by Retals for a rolling shot before any member of NRG can get back. SSG was able to turn away all 6 NRG shots for the 2-0 game one win.  Game 3 had a very close start again, but NRG was finally able to net some goals and clean up some of their defensive and positioning mistakes as they take game 2 with a score of 3-0. The shots and saves were reasonably even for each team, but NRG could see more quality possessions, which led to higher quality shots. Personally, if jstn or Squishy can get a high-quality shot, I wouldn't bet on them missing. Game 3 saw a beautiful pass from retals to Arsenal to break a half a game of silence from both teams, and there's an admin pause shortly after. Once the game resumed, though, it would be another small score affair as one goal was all Spacestation would need to win the game. In between games, jstn switches to the dominus and ends up using the flat car to score the first goal of game 4 with 3:14 left to play. SSG would respond, and there would be one more back and forth before a 2-2 overtime starts. SSG is able to win it with the game-winning goal coming at +0:13 off an awkward bounce from the face-off, giving them a 3-1 series lead and looking to put NRG away in due time. Game 5 starts with an NRG goal nearly 2 minutes in to try to give themselves some breathing room, but just under a minute later, Arsenal responds for SSG to tie the game up. Nobody can get a game-winner in regulation, so they head to overtime yet again. It then takes SSG just 14 seconds to net the game, and series-winning goal as Spacestation Gaming are your Fall NA regional event champions. The goal comes off a beautiful demo play, and it shows the true dominance and playstyle of SSG.

MVP: Arsenal

RECAP

The addition of retals to SSG has proven to be very fruitful, at least in the short term. I'm hoping their team success can continue in the grid and the future regional events as they may be the new NA kings to dethrone. On the other spectrum of things, I think teams, like Soniqs and PK, had some great showings, but hopefully can now see the mistakes they will need to adjust if they expect to be top 4 teams. The Peeps had a fantastic tournament, only helping to skyrocket their market value for when orgs come knocking. If they can put up another undisputed top 4 performance like they did this past weekend, I hope they can get some reliable support from a big name.

Well, that wraps up this week's mVEN. Come back next week for EU regional event 2 recap and possibly more! Don't forget to follow me on twitter @maachV and have a wonderful day.