Understanding the RLCS

What is the Rocket League Championship Series

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. They’re a mix of an online season and offline finals event featuring teams from all over the world. Each season sees over $1.1 million handed out in prize money.

So far, four regions take part in the RLCS. The two stronger regions, Europe and North America, are operated by Psyonix directly. The remaining two, Oceania and South America, are operated by local tournament organizers. While Europe and North America have been ever-present since the RLCS started, Oceania was added in 2017 for season four, and South America joined at the start of 2019 for season seven.

The Europe and North America RLCS formats

Each organiser has their own tournament format. With Europe and North America both being organised by Psyonix, their formats are identical. Both regions see their leagues made up of eight teams, who play each other in a single round-robin over five match days. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams move into a Page Playoff-style format, where the top four finishing teams qualify for the World Championships.

Traditionally, the Page Playoff sees the top two placed teams and the third and fourth placed teams face off in individual matches. The winner of the upper bracket match heads straight to the Grand Final. The losing team instead heads to an intermediate game where they face off against the winner of the lower bracket match. The winner of the intermediate game becomes the one heading to the Final.

In the RLCS version of the playoffs, the upper bracket teams are replaced by the third and fourth placing teams, and the lower bracket teams with the fifth and six placing teams. The playoff continues as normal for the lower bracket section, with the top four acting as a normal single-elimination bracket.

The bottom two teams in the RLCS take part in a relegation playoff against the top two teams from the second division, Rocket League Rival Series, to determine who will play in the following season. This works in a simple double elimination format, with the top two teams qualifying to the RLCS for the next season, and bottom two being relegated to the RLRS.

South America and Oceania RLCS formats

The remaining two RLCS regions have the same regular season format as Europe and North America, this being an eight team single Round Robin. While South America sticks to the five match day format, Oceania sees competition take place over seven match days.

The South America Grand Series playoffs sees a single elimination bracket feed into the lower portion of a double elimination bracket. The third to sixth place teams face off in this single elimination bracket, before the winning team reaches the main double elimination bracket in the lower bracket match.

The top two placing teams during the regular season face off in the upper bracket match, with the winning team heading to the regional final as well as qualifying for the World Championships, while the losing team goes to the lower match. The winner of the lower match then heads to the final and secures World Championships qualification.

Oceania's LPL Pro League meanwhile, host their playoffs at a LAN studio, with the format being a simple four team single elimination bracket where the top two teams qualify for the World Championships.

At the end of the season, both regions will require the six teams that didn’t secure World Championship places to re-qualify for the following season.

Rocket League World Championships

The World Championships sees 12 teams take part: four each from Europe and North America, and two each from Oceania and South America. While the upcoming season’s format is yet to be announced, it will most likely follow a similar format to last season.

Last season saw the 12 teams split into four groups of three teams, competing in a single Round Robin. The top two teams from each group qualified to the playoffs, held in a single elimination format. Every game from the start of the group stage to the Quarter-Final was a best-of-five, with the Semi-Final and Final in a best-of-seven.

Who are the current RLCS champions?

The last RLCS World Finals was season seven, and held in Newark, New Jersey. The current reigning champions are Team Vitality, whose roster is as follows:

Vitality lifted the title after beating G2 4-1 in the Final. This was a revenge match, as the only game Vitality lost in the series was against the North Americans in the Group Stage. Vitality also beat Australians Ground Zero Gaming, and North Americans NRG and Cloud9 on their way to the title.

How to bet on the Rocket League Championship Series

Betting on esports is easy, however beginners to may want to review a guide to navigate the many markets we offer. We’ve prepared a handy guide to those interested in betting on the RLCS, and other esports events.

If you’ve read the above and want to learn more about Rocket League itself, then check out our guide about the game itself and the options available to you.

If this introduction to the RLCS has got you interested in betting on Rocket League then take a look at our upcoming odds.