We can’t wait for RLCS Season 5 to kick off and we’re sure you feel the same. But we’re not only curious to see how the strongest of the strong compete against each other in Season 5, but also what kind of bubble teams will make it into this year’s Rocket League Rival Series (RLRS). In the upcoming weeks the RLRS Open Qualifiers will take place with the first one kicking things off this weekend.

Thousands of teams from NA and EU want to get into the RLRS and signed up for the qualifiers. You can check the full team list over at Smash.gg. Community veteran CloudFuel already filtered the list over at Reddit to provide a rough overview what kind of teams are noteworthy. We at Rocketeers.gg wanted to participate and explain which 6 teams everybody should keep an eye on during the Open Qualifiers.

Moi Men

You’ve never heard of them? Don’t worry. We haven’t either. But the team features one of the most significant Rocket League YouTube personalities: JHZER. With almost half a million followers he’s one of the most prominent figures of the scene. For the upcoming RLRS Open Qualifiers he teamed up with Krazack, VeriXon and Pulse MK – and we actually hope that this team makes it into the RLRS for one simple reason: The fame of a well-known YouTuber would attract more viewers to the RLRS and therefore all teams would get more exposure. The Rocket League esports scene can only profit from high-profile members of the community advertising the esports aspect of the game.

However: We doubt that the Moi Men actually have a shot at reaching the RLRS. Previously JHZER teamed up with The Juicy Kids. Together they played Dreamhack Leipzig and according to many who watched these guys play it became obvious that JHZER might be a great Rocket League player in general (especially when it comes to freestyling), but also someone who likes to rather go for highlight reel maneuvers than effective plays. It has yet to be seen if he can compete on the highest level.

Dilettantes

He’s been teasing the community for a while with a return to the competitive scene, now it’s official: M1k3Rules is back! One of the most charismatic but sometimes also controversial figures of the Rocket League scene just put together a new team of players to compete for a spot in the RLRS. His team mates aren’t very well-known players but Tahz, Zapphire2K and Kefla might surprise everybody.

It will probably come down to: Is M1k3Rules, the former Flipside Tactics player, anywhere near his old form? Because if so this team might have a shot. However: Even if they make it to the RLRS it doesn’t seem like the Dilettantes are going to be a long-term thing. In the clip above M1k3Rules mentions that “the team I’ll be playing RLRS with isn’t necessarily my team going forward, I’m just getting back into the swing. I may have something else.”

Method

It came quite as a shock when earlier this month al0t, Metsanauris and Mognus announced that they and Method would part ways. Previously the triple threat had placed second in the RLCS Finals. Rumour is that they are getting picked up by another org, which has yet to be confirmed.

After a ground breaking year for Method, we offer a fond farewell to our current Rocket League team @al0t97 @Metsanauris @Mognus_RL. From everyone at our organization, it’s been a pleasure having you in the family. It’s not the end for #MethodRL – stay tuned tomorrow! ⚽? pic.twitter.com/yvY43t88By — Method (@Methodgg) 9. Februar 2018

Method quickly signed three new players: Shakahron, Rix Ronday and Borito B. Together they have a couple of Gfinity Elite Series wins under their belt and are most certainly experienced players. We’re excited to see what the fans of Method can expect from this squad in the upcoming weeks. It will be tough to top last year’s spectacular performance, but it’s good to see that Method got right back in there.

Splyce

The reason why Splyce are on this list is actually quite simple: The new roster especially with the addition of DudeWithTheNose looks really strong and the squad already delivered a solid performance at Dreamhack Leipzig. Sure, it wasn’t all that successful if you just look at the scoreboard (Splyce came in 13th-16th after losing to Method and Flipside), but the potential for a RLRS spot is definitely there.

This is dizzying. Fantastic patter of passes here from @KarmahTV @DudeWithNose_RL and @jwismontRL that left the defense irrelevant. What an amazing attack. (via @NexusGamingRL) pic.twitter.com/smKeSMebjY — The Rocket Dailies (@Rocket_Dailies) 12. Februar 2018

Spacestation Gaming

Speaking about strong rosters: What do you get if you put two former Hollywood Hammers players together with an experienced G2 veteran? Yep, one hell of a roster. Please meet Espeon and Lemonpuppy (former Hollywood Hammers) and witness the return of Over Zero who used to play for G2. The team will play the RLRS Open Qualifiers under the banner of Spacestation Gaming and we’re excited to see how the trio will perform.

When Over Zero left G2 in January 2017 it seemed like he would turn his back on competitive Rocket League altogether, mentioning that playing in front of thousands of people and having to perform on such a high level would be to much pressure for him to handle. Apparently he’s changed his mind – and we’re glad to see him in action once more.

Cant even describe how unbelievably hype I am to be working with @SpacestationGG this season, big things to come guys be ready ? https://t.co/6mkYotlP5k — Over Zero (@OverZeroRL) 15. Februar 2018

The D00ds

Last but not least: You have to keep an eye on The D00ds. This team basically came out of nowhere, managed to win the NA qualifier for Dreamhack Leipzig and went on to secure place 9-12 at the major event itself. In their run they beat teams such as Rogue, eQuinox, Allegiance, Secret, Expert and The Juicy Kids. You have to be crazy not to have the team of Ralph, AxB and Joro on your radar.

d00ds still undefeated at dreamhack xD — Araussi (@Araussi_RL) 26. Januar 2018

Please note: We know that there are a lot more teams that we should definitely watch closely. This is just a small selection out of all the amazing players that will compete for a spot in the RLRS. Other favourites of us are Zebra Nose (EU), Copenhagen Flames (EU), Genesis (NA) and Lights Out (NA). Feel free to head over to our Discord server and tell us who you would’ve picked.