The eighth season of the Rocket League Championship Series is approaching. Twelve teams from all over the world are set to face off in Madrid’s Palacio Vistalegre to compete for a $529,500 prize pool.
To see our odds for the upcoming RLCS X season, see our Rocket League predictions here.
The RLCS is the main tournament circuit in Rocket League esports. Hosted by the developer Psyonix, it takes place twice a year, with tournaments lasting around three months at a time. Four regions, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania, took part in the eighth season with $1.1 million in prize money handed out through all tournaments.
The World Championship offers the bulk of the prize money in a single event. The twelve teams are split into two six team groups, seeded based on the region they’re from and their league finish. The breakdown of the teams sees Europe and North America each send four teams, with South America and Oceania sending two teams each to the Madrid event.
The odds below represent the opening matches for the RLCS Season 8 World Championship. For a complete list of odds for RLCS Season 8 World Championship, head over to our Rocket League section.
The first group sees top seed handed to NRG, who became the North American champions for the third time in a row. The team, who won the penultimate pre-season tournament RL Summit, qualified to the World Championships having finished first in league play, losing only one series in the process. NRG are the only team from North America to see all three of their players place in the top ten of Octane.gg ratings, led by Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon with a 1.15 rating.
NRG also has two of Rocket League’s most well-known stars. On one end is the hope of North America, Justin “jstn” Morales. Widely regarded as the region’s strongest talent, he was responsible for the “This is Rocket League” moment back in season five that kept NRG in with a shout of winning the title, before being beaten by Dignitas in the final match. His other teammate was his opponent on that day, three-time world champion Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver. Rather fittingly, Turbopolsa was the goal scorer in that match.
Group A’s second seed are the reigning World Champions, and the only top four teams from season seven to return, Team Vitality. After lifting last season’s trophy, the team failed to have much more of an impact with their strongest result being a top four finish at DreamHack Montreal.
Their online season was similar, with the majority French lineup finishing third in the regular season before snatching second place in the playoffs. Once again, they’ll be relying on Alexandre "Kaydop" Courant to be the team’s main outlet, having held a 1.08 rating with 3.32 shots per game.
With these two teams, Group A is an extremely tough group for anyone to contest. The inclusion of Veloce, Europe’s surprise package after being gifted a promotion spot at the start of the season and finished top two in regular season league play, adds to the melting point.
Their veteran player, Sandro “FreaKii” Holzwarth, returns to his first World Championship since season five. FreaKii comes into the World Championship as, statistically, Europe’s strongest attending player having hit a 1.16 rating alongside being the region’s leading shot stopper with 2.58 saves per game.
The remainder of the group aren’t much to write home about. North America’s eUnited are one to keep an eye on, with them having sneaked past both Rogue and Ghost in the lower bracket to take a Worlds Championship place.
Oceania’s top seed Renegades are also in the group alongside South America’s runners-up Lowkey, however both regions are yet to be as developed as Europe and North America, so a similar showing where all four teams from those two regions finish last is to be expected.
Europe champions Reciprocity act as Group B’s top seed. The majority French lineup boast one of Europe’s best all-rounders in Thibault "Chausette45" Grzesiak, who has a 0.83 goals per game and 2.21 saves per game, with both stats being the second highest in Europe. Reciprocity also had a relatively successful off season, winning DreamHack Valencia and finishing second at the Rocket League Summit.
Alongside Chausette45, Reciprocity also hold Victor "Ferra" Francal and Emil "fruity" Moselund in their roster. While not as flashy as some of the other players in Madrid, they have both been fundamental in their team’s online success. Their most notable result this season came right at the end in the Europe final, where they demolished Vitality 4-0 as every player contributed through shots, saves, assists or positional play that forced their French rivals away from boost.
The second seed from North America is next in the group, popular team Pittsburgh Knights. The team had a blistering debut season having achieved promotion from the RLRS at the end of last season. Fronted by youngster Slater "retals" Thomas, who holds a 1.11 rating with 0.76 goals per game, the team lifted the DreamHack Montreal title with a unique, physical style of play. They did this with a team full of players that had yet to take part in an RLCS season.
While they have an outside chance of lifting the RLCS World Championship title in Madrid this weekend, realistically it will be either NRG or Reciprocity. However, the Knights are still rather unknown, and have a demolition-centric playstyle that a number of teams are yet to understand what the best method to counter it is just yet.
Dignitas are the final European team in the competition, and despite being the fourth seed in their group they retain a strong chance of causing damage. The team are led by four-time finalist and two-time RLCS World Championship winner Jos "ViolentPanda" van Meurs. With Maurice "Yukeo" Weihs and Maello "Aztral" Ernst, ViolentPanda has reversed Dignitas’ form and seen them from missing out on a World Championship place last season to returning challengers in Madrid. Despite no longer being the Dignitas of 2016, this new lineup retains enough flair and team strength to potentially upset the apple cart.
The remainder of the group are three teams that, once again, are unlikely to do much once the event starts. North Americans Spacestation finished in the top two of the online league, by nature of a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh Knights, before being knocked out in the regional playoff bracket by the same team 4-2. One reprieve for Spacestation, however, is that in Caden "Sypical" Pellegrin they have North America’s highest rated player, at 1.20 according to Octane.gg.
The RLCS Season 8 World Championship begins on December 13, and will conclude on December 15. All of the action can be caught on the official Twitch channel.
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