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To get this out there early, this is an opinion piece, naturally with the world pandemic at the moment we won’t be seeing any inter-continental competition unless “Johnnyboi_i” can get teams to agree to play a show match on shuffled servers. There is also the Spring Series coming which could also be a big redemption for teams so keep that in mind. like So sit back, relax and just wait to get your jimmies rustled, because you disagree with me and must tell me so down in the replies below.

Ranking System

Straight up this isn’t going to be scientific; we’re not going entirely off of stats. My purpose as an analyst is to take the numbers as well as look at intricacies such as on-field unity, apply a bit of prediction, a hint of opinion (meta-wise) and you have a solid basis which I have discussed with other analysts.

10. Ellevens

SAM’s finest repped on the world stage (Image courtesy Ellevens) – https://twitter.com/ellevensesports/status/1241067717152706568/photo/1

To kick us off we’ll be starting with South America’s finest, the newly picked up “Novus Aevi” now “Ellevens Esports”. All season long this team proved themselves as the best in SAM with only Avidity gaming in the Regional Championship giving them trouble. “Ellevens” have been playing a very creative style of rocket league looking to creating openings wherever they can, going so far as to even utilize team bumps. Pace and aggression is the name of the game for this team, and I would have loved to see them at worlds as I feel this team (as long as they could hold their nerves) would trounce OCE and even give some NA and EU teams a run for their money. The main issue for Ellevens is that the defensive leaves a fair bit to be desired. This is mostly down to the SAM mentality of simply out-scoring your opponent, which might not transpose well on the World’s stage as many a team listed further in this article can handle high aggression and will adjust their defence according.

9. Barcelona

“The best ‘ranked’ team in the world” (courtesy FC Barcelona) – https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1241409291048943622

I can already feel the daggers… At the start of the season, I honestly thought that Barcelona were going to cement themselves as a middle table team. Initially becoming known as the revolving door of Rocket League with players constantly clashing egos and pointing fingers at each other instead of trying to work on themselves as a team. Needless to say, if you’ve listened to the Podcast in the last week, I’ve been somewhat surprised to how this team seems to be changing, no longer are they the best solo standard team in the world, needlessly running 1v2 into their opponents time and time and time again. Still, as of the Regional, they have gained the title of the best “ranked team” in the world, looking to connect on the pitch, but seemingly not in discord, TeamSpeak or whatever voice chat server that takes your fancy. Their play-style indicates very little “effective” communication between the members of this team; however, if they could clean this up they’d be in contention of “Best of the rest EU”.

8. Mousesports

They didn’t get wRECked in these rankings (Image Courtsey Mousesports) – https://twitter.com/mousesports/status/1244303458058088449

Let’s get this out of the way first: Arju needs to be applauded for stepping in at such a turbulent time. Mouz were safe for another season, and all Arju had to do was fill the space left behind by Scrubkilla. Knowing the calibre of player that Arju is I had high hopes for this lad. I would have still expected the win over Endpoint, and a 3-1 loss to Barca, but oh boy did the Italian super-sub deliver. Close wins over Endpoint and Barca, a controlled victory over Reciprocity and a super close game 7 with Dignitas, if this doesn’t prove that he’s ready and fitting in with RLCS, I don’t know what will. Let’s also not forget Speed’s climb back to form as well, and this goes hand in hand with Arju’s inclusion. While Scrub was on the team he was following a similar role to Speed, both of them thinking of themselves more as midfielders who should be setting each other up and some wires got crossed somewhere. When Arju joined Speed took it on himself to step up in attack and unlocked some brain cells which he had considered dead and buried down the back of the garden. Speed by name and nature; he was showing signs of his Dreamhack and WSOE performances that propelled him onto the RLCS stage, and this came all off the back of low pressure on the team and a new man with a clear goal. Despite this, Mouz only ranked 8th for me. The reason is taking into consideration the performances from this team and the single substantial series that shows their real worth being that against Dignitas. This is a team that I believe with the potential they have, will jump up a few places provided they perform during the Spring Series in early May.

7. Ex-Ghost Gaming

The new Halloween design which is now oddly fitting (Image Courtsey Ghost Gaming) – https://twitter.com/GhostGaming/status/1189968943898738688

This position through most of the season I thought I would be giving to Susquehanna Soniqs but A. I don’t want to be typing that name out a fair few times and will no doubt make a typo and B. they weren’t consistent enough for me this season. Ghost took down all the strongest teams in NA RLCS during League play and then even corrected some of their wrongs taking down both Cloud 9 and the Soniqs in the NA Regionals before they were taken down in a closer than on paper game 5 by SSG. The thing that has impressed me the most is their consistency. They’ve always been the best of the rest NA but with most teams just having a nightmare this season, their consistency is what holds them in good stead. If it weren’t for power rankings, I would probably never talk about this side as there are a pile of other teams that are more exciting to watch.

Mist is a factor to this team that can’t be forgotten about as well. This kid is magical on the pitch, and that magic is something that the Knights wish they still had these days before they rode off on their horses into the sunset of obscurity this season. Pair that with the duo of Atomic and Allusion, you’ve got all the foundations put in place to make a great team and I expect more from them in the future.

6. Veloce

They proved us all wrong (Image Courtesy of Psyonix) – https://www.flickr.com/photos/rlesports/49351882233/in/album-72157712579018648/

A placement which would have hurt me a season ago, considering that this team just scraped into worlds circumstantially by the skin of their teeth but then; like a particular Irish commentator that retires every few months, they just don’t go away. This got me to thinking “Is there something about this team?” and by Joe there is. Like Ghost Gaming, it’s all about consistency which when it comes to the life span of a team, is one of the most critical factors. The key to this team, and it’s surprising to say, is FreaKii. Usually, he’s one of the least mechanically gifted players in the RLCS, but as soon as he sees the ball, he’s like a kid on Christmas morning. If we were to rank him like a Fifa card, his “Ball chasing” and “Annoyance” stats would be 99 which his two teammates make full use of. Being able to make gold out of the situations he creates while laying down pressure so that by the time FreaKii rotates on back into the attack, the defence is so dishevelled that he can score. While this is a massive over-generalization, the team floats in a perfect balance of chaos, which many sides find hard to shut down and does require Veloce to be on their game to keep up, as pound for pound their communication is the best in EU. You can see this as when they’re not up to par, their gameplay starts to fall apart, and the gaps in their rotations are large enough for Flakes to drive his Merc though.

5. Space Station Gaming

SSG proud of their team after league play (Courtesy SpaceStation Gaming) – https://twitter.com/SpacestationGG/status/1241489042182516736

SSG take the prize for the team that impressed me the most at Season 8 worlds, and heading into this season were the NA team that I made sure to keep an eye on. Their exciting demo-heavy playstyle is fun to watch and a different take on the regular build-up of aggression. American teams have traditionally had a weaker defence than their European rivals, and for them, this playstyle works well as for the 93.7% of the year, they only have to bother with teams from their region (based on the possible 23 days of international play in 2019 of which SSG only played internationally for 6 days making their actual percentage 98.36%)

For me, Arsenal is always easily overlooked and personally top 5 in NA, AxB fighting for a place in the top 10. So a real star-studded roster that have pushed their way into the big boys club and look to be going places. For me, this team looks like they can still push further and their hunger for a trophy will help that as it will not be easy, as the only teams above them are “Grade A, Prime Wagyu Beef”.

4. NRG Esports

Redemption to their season (Image Courtesy NRG) – https://twitter.com/NRGgg/status/1243966069041053701

Oh boy, now we’re getting controversial. NRG came into the season hot as the winners of “BTS” and season 8, so naturally, there were high expectations on this team, as finally, it seemed like all the pieces were finally in place to begin another dynasty. However, with great power comes… great complacency. NRG were so good and untouchable that it seems this season didn’t matter to them. The lads weren’t talking effectively to each other and team play was not at the level as it previously was. Maybe it’s just that the NRG boys didn’t feel like they had to put 100% into it unless things were really on the line, and you could feel that more so when Regionals rolled around, but given the vast improvements to the teams around them like Space Station and G2, they just weren’t in the right mind-sets to turn it back up. Speaking of G2…

3. G2 Esports

G2 Season 7 Lan Courtesy of Psyonix – https://www.flickr.com/photos/rlesports/48827774108/in/album-72157711153066813/

Well well well, who would have guessed that the team that won the NA regionals would be the best in NA? (And 3rd on the list since EU bias AMIRITE) G2 showed a fantastic turnaround and demonstrated what you can do when natural talent stops working. When the younger, quicker, kids are starting to take over, you build the most team-centric play style imaginable. This is something that didn’t start clicking with Cloud 9 until the mid-point of the season after they were shown the way by a G2 Jersey wearing knuckles on VrChat. For me, G2 might have just opened the “Pandora’s box” of Rocket League, and I’m not talking about overpriced jewellery. I’m talking about a playstyle which is so fundamentally built on each player’s natural flow that two seasons from now they’ll have to adjust entirely with a new player in the mix or fall to the side.

Let’s look to the good first: these lads are in perfect unison. They’re calling what their opponents are doing while naturally knowing where each other are. They’re so used to each other’s rotations that they know roughly how much boost they’re on. Then they can make a pass into the centre or chance a hit towards the back/sideboard and play pressure play. Where they have me worried is that they mechanically fall behind their closest rivals, they’ve currently unlocked the next level of Rocket League, and when everyone else catches up, which teams are trying to, it’ll feel as if it’ll be back to square one. I hope they have something in store for then. The most significant showing of this for me was game 3 of the NA Regional Finals when G2 had finally figured out SSG and from then on it was game over, they knew what SSG was planning to do at every moment and read them to a tee. NA if they follow suit will be super dangerous next season.

2. Vitality

Vitality have some banging twitter graphics apparently (Image Courtsey Vitality) – https://twitter.com/TeamVitality/status/1244366890321018880

Boy was this hard to pick between these two remaining teams, but like with Veloce, it has to come down to consistency and Vitality since Christmas has not been that. “But Bacon” I hear you saying, “they finished 1st in league play and 2nd in Regionals”. Well, my shallow friend, you’d be right on the stats but not how they got there. All season long Vitality’s play style has been chopping and changing worse than me trying to pick my favourite Bowie song, so it was hard for a lot of the teams to try and get a read on them.

The one team to shatter this in league play was Singularity and their bullish playstyle. This problem stems mostly from the introduction of Alpha and how short the off-season was for them to get acquainted. Sure enough, when push comes to shove in week 6, Dignitas were a great challenge for them with the following two weeks solidifying them with an idea of how to play. When we got to Regionals Vitality played in the same style as what won them the series against Dignitas. Fairy Peak remains as the broad focus for obtaining goals; Kaydop is the playmaker and real mover of the ball with Alpha being the most prominent support player of all time. However, if that’s not working for them Alpha can become a bit more aggressive falling in line with Kaydop and Fairy Peak becomes the main focus of the defence. What these two strategies have in common is that Vitality knows that all their plays come from defence. As such, they like to play with a very shallow, in their half, third man which, in the current meta, is understandable.

1. Dignitas

Dignitas celebrating on Twitter (Image Courtsey Dignitas) – https://twitter.com/dignitas/status/1244383348312530944

Some may call this as an obvious pick as they just got crowned as the top team in EU, but realistically their strength has come from a season of refining what they learned last season. Season 8 was a growth season after picking up the new rookie Aztral. There were definite plans for this lad, and Violent Panda knew that this kid would be the one to get him into the three-time club alongside his old teammates. The problem in season 8 was to get the team on the same level; Yukeo seemed to drop off a little bit feeling less comfortable then he did in the past, but when there’s pressure, Yukeo shines. Beyond the Summit was the first sign of this as their sleepy day 1 & 2s were washed away on day three by some of the best games I had seen the team play at the time, with it being Aztral’s first major LAN none the less. Season 8 Regionals they beat that with a lower bracket run which saw them drop to the then top team in EU Reciprocity in game 7 after everyone had already counted them out thinking that they couldn’t even dream of beating Mouz or Vitality. Season 8 Worlds though was when this team came together, a comfortable run which was stopped by Vitality in the Semi’s in what I will happily call the best match in Rocket League history.

In 2020, there were talks that the recently departed Scrubkilla was up for grabs and that it came down to Panda to decide who would be a better choice for the future of the team: the young Scottish superstar or the Austrian lad who looks like a super Saiyan? He chose Yukeo and decided to build on what they learned and refined themselves. The only problem to me that still worries this team is that Yukeo needs that pressure of a LAN environment or some extra stakes to push him to be the best, and that shone in the Season 9 Regionals. Yukeo was so good that Panda felt comfortable stepping back from attack and could focus whole heartily on being a feeder to Aztral; Panda has 2 jobs in this insane formation, defend and whenever he gets the ball, give it to Aztral as quick as possible. Yukeo runs solo in line to the other two filling in anywhere he is needed, and Aztral just brings the thunder, if you see him with the ball you better lay some bricks in net because you need a solid wall in the way.

Final Thoughts

To conclude the first edition of my Top 10 World Rankings, I think we need to talk about OCE. Their exclusion from this list was not out of jest but rather the symptoms showing in a scene that has no reason to push itself. Whilst last year there was the push from OCE Orgs to include their teams in the Dreamhack Open Circuit, it only further proved that they’re at an EU RLRS level and borderline NA RLCS/RLRS level. I’ll put this down to the drop in support from both Gfinity and ESL, but those two companies were not seeing the return they needed from the scene, and of course, Psyonix not supporting their product well enough in the region didn’t help. SAM is witnessing a growth akin to OCE back in season 4/5, and I genuinely think they could maybe make a Chiefs-esc run next season. What they have going for them though is geography and it being not only cheaper to support the teams but also cheaper to get them to NA tournaments.