After slogging through rough seasons, four Rocket League Championship Series teams – two each from North America and Europe – entered the promotion/relegation tournament earlier this month to battle for their RLCS lives. And all of them lost.

Heavyweight teams like compLexity Gaming and Fnatic fell in the face of hungry, ultra-motivated Rocket League Rival Series squads that topped their respective regions in the lower-tier league and carried that momentum into the career-making showdown. When the next RLCS season begins in 2019, we'll have four brand new teams fighting to prove that they belong among the game's elite.

Following the promotion tournament, we spoke with all four teams – Splyce, Savage!, Red Reserve, and Bread – to find out what helped elevate them past their now-fallen RLCS rivals, and what it feels like to finally clinch their shot at the big time.

Splyce: The long grind

Splyce have long been on the cusp of greatness. Anchored by captain Jaime ‘Karma’ Bickford, a finalist at last year's Universal Open 2v2 tournament, and by far the most prominent woman competing in Rocket League, the team fell short in the Season 4 play-in but landed in the Rival Series for Season 5. However, while pegged as favourites, Splyce could only muster a meager 2-5 finish last season.

Luckily, they turned it around. Sticking with the same lineup with Trevor ‘DudeWithTheNose’ Hannah and Jake ‘JWismont’ Wismont alongside, Splyce won the NA Rival Series league play at 6-1 and lived up to their considerable potential. According to Karma, it was all about analysing their weaknesses, whether individual or team-based, and working together alongside coach Jimmy ‘Jimmer’ Jordan to push ahead as a cohesive unit.

"I think our biggest change was making JWis work with Nose and myself," she said. "JWis is such a talented player individually but he struggled in a team aspect, while Trevor and I thrived in a team environment – so we all took the parts of our game that worked and learned from each other."

Splyce expected that teams would come into the tournament with an aggressive mentality, so they opted for a defensive approach, playing smart and clean until they could punish overcommitting rivals. That strategy worked: Splyce beat Allegiance 4-1 and then sunk RLCS team Rogue 4-0 to secure their RLCS spot for next season. For Karma especially, it's the culmination of a long grind spent fighting for her chance to compete as a starter at the highest level, punctuated by near-misses. She struggled to sum it up succinctly, given all that led to that shining moment.

"The emotions were so overwhelming. I just started crying with about 10 seconds left when we scored to go up 2-0," she said, thanking her coach and team-mates, the Splyce organisation for sticking by her over the seasons, and her loved ones and supporters. "There just aren't words to express my unending gratitude. I'm so grateful – but the best part is that we're just getting started."

Savage!: RLCS redemption

Savage! undoubtedly has the two most prominent players of these teams: David ‘Deevo’ Morrow is a past RLCS World Champion and Worlds MVP who played with Team Envy the last two seasons, while Daniel ‘Bluey’ Bluett spent his last two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain and helped claim January's DreamHack Leipzig crown. Both team situations had run their course, so the old pals grabbed a young rookie, Yanis ‘Alpha54’ Champenois, and opted to start anew in the Rival Series as Savage!.

Smart move, that: they finished 6-1 in Europe, and while the explosive RLCS veterans expectedly showed off their familiar skills, newcomer Alpha54 continually matched them every step of the way. The promotion tournament wasn't a breeze, however. They outlasted compLexity Gaming in a back-and-forth 4-3 series, but then were swept 4-0 by Red Reserve.

"It's fair to say that they destroyed us. We simply didn't get anything going and kept losing the ball in critical moments. I was absolutely devastated and felt that there was nothing else but that loss in that moment," said Bluey. "I had to shake it off, and then more importantly, shake it off my team-mates. Alpha was the most tilted by the loss, as he hasn't played Red Reserve in a while. We were literally on our knees emotionally."

In a surprising twist, coach Roken brought Red Reserve player Jack ‘Speed’ Packwood-Clarke into their Discord channel to help talk them through their issues ahead of the decisive series against Fnatic. It worked wonders: Savage! overpowered Fnatic with a 4-1 win, with an amazing Alpha54 ground pinch goal (above) capping off a grueling seven-minute overtime. Deevo admits that the day was a struggle, but in beating both RLCS teams to secure the win, they showed their serious ability.

"It feels fantastic," he says of the win. "Playing online is a lot harder for me than playing on LAN. I always do better when I'm around my team-mates as I can feel the positive energy a lot more. When we lost 4-0 to Red Reserve, my heart dropped and it felt very heavy. Promotion is your one shot back into the professional scene, and for me, it meant so much. I took some deep breaths and tried to un-tilt, but it was Alpha that showed us how it was done in that series."

And Bluey, always known for his banter, can't help but send a little nudge towards the team that benched him in the offseason. "I'm pleased to be back with my own team, and I can't wait to play PSG," he said with a smile.

Red Reserve: RLCS-ready

Red Reserve might have finished just behind Savage! in the regular season standings, but they clearly had the better promotion tournament. The European team beat Fnatic 4-2 before the Savage! sweep, securing their RLCS spot without a trip to the losers' bracket. It was a relatively clean run through the tournament empowered by precise, RLCS-level play the entire way through. Red Reserve absolutely looked ready for the upgrade from the Rival Series.

That wasn't the case last season, when captain Aldin ‘Ronaky’ Hodzic and Euan ‘Tadpole’ Ingram played as Triple Trouble with a different third, Antton ‘Andom’ Anttila. Their 4th-place finish at 4-3 was enough to keep the Rival Series slot for another season, but they hadn't yet risen above their station. Swapping in Speed as their new team-mate for this season did the trick; Ronaky says it motivated them and inspired them to fix their issues. We saw the results build gradually throughout the season and culminate in the promotion tournament.

"We all showed up on the day, and our rotation and team chemistry was the best it had ever been," says Ronaky, with the above clip showing off some of that synergy. He admits that his nerves were getting to him in the days leading up to their shot at the RLCS – but on that day, they played brilliantly and showed that Red Reserve will be a force to be reckoned with in Europe next season. He won't lose sight of how big of an opportunity that is.

"Leading up to that game 4 against Savage!, knowing that we were one game away from being in the RLCS and then actually winning it, has to be the best feeling of my entire life. My dream came true. We qualified for RLCS, and in a time where our motivation and will to succeed is stronger than ever," he says. "I will not take this opportunity for granted. I will not take my dream for granted."

Bread: Rising to the occasion

Bread had a rough start to the promotion tournament. They faced off against Rogue, an RLCS team that has gotten spottier and spottier since their Season 3 peak, and fell 4-1. Matthew ‘Satthew’ Ackermann admits that the team wasn't properly warmed up.

"We went into the first series completely unprepared, as everyone could see by how we played. We couldn't find scrims before the games, so we decided to just do training, which almost backfired against us completely," he says. "Losing the first series allowed us to sort of wake up. We had a series under our belt, and we were kinda slapped with the realisation that we have one more chance to succeed in what we've been working towards for the past three months. I'd say it lit a fire in all of us."

Bread and Allegiance swapped wins back and forth across the first four games, but then Bread's Caden ‘Sypical’ Pellegrin changed up his camera settings… and proceeded to score five goals himself in the next game. One more win sealed the deal (with this awesome finisher above), setting up the rematch against Rogue. This time around, Bread went in with momentum while Rogue came in beaten and bruised after being swept by Splyce. Ultimately, Bread took the 4-2 win to claim their RLCS spot.

"The feeling is indescribable," says Satthew. "It hadn't really hit me that we made RLCS until a couple days after the event. We fully believed in our ability to make it, but Rocket League is a game where anyone can make it on the day. As the ball dropped in the final game against Rogue, a mixture of relief and excitement overcame all of us, as well as a sense of disbelief."