Another GFinity is in the books, and I’m here to bring you the Coles Notes version of what went down. Let’s break it down:

The Flying Dutchmen borrow Vogan and go on a tear

The Flying Dutchmen have been at the periphery of the EU scene for some time. In prior months they did not play consistently, but in recent weeks they’ve been somewhat active. This week they brought on Vogan (formerly of Noble Esports) and waltzed their way into Semi Finals.

Along the way, TFD surprised us all by not only beating KA-POW, but by sweeping them, 3-0 in a best of 5 in the Round of 32! Unfortunately this series was not streamed, but the result is shocking, and very likely to have Power Ranking repercussions.

In the Semi-finals the Dutchmen faced We Dem Boyz/Girlz, and managed to take one game (1-3) from them. Throughout the streamed series Vogan was on a tear at both sides of the pitch, making key saves and assisting on what seemed like the majority of TFD’s goals.

With these good results in the bank, I wonder what the future holds for the Dutchmen, who (with this week’s pickup of Vogan) seem to be only a piece or two short of becoming a regular in the EU Power Rankings discussion. Another unanswered question: Where does Vogan go from here? We are getting perilously close to the RLCS, and a player of his calibre would be a valuable pickup for cusp teams.

Who are DopeFish?

** Update: After the tournament, DopeFish were revealed to be Crown & Jewels. After speaking with their manager, it seems that none of my theories were correct. The reason I was given was that the team wanted an opportunity to focus completely only on the games they were playing and not get distracted by how winning or losing may affect their standing. It was an opportunity for a fresh start for them. **

Coming in this week tied for 3rd at GFinity are a little squad called Dopefish_lives.

I’m sure you’re asking “who the heck is that?” because that’s what I’m doing. Judging from the quality of play they had in the streamed games, it’s hard to imagine that this is just some squad coming in off the street. Many are speculating that they are a pre-existing squad, using alt accounts for reasons unknown to ensure their anonymity.

The Fish had a strong tournament, defeating Hard-on Colliders (3-2) before being stopped in the semi-finals (1-3) by Mock-It EU.

The question I’m left with is why would a team decide to be all mysterious and use a pseudonym? I have a couple of theories:

1. They are a super-SEKRET team that doesn’t want to go public yet because they have former relationships, or are possibly tied to sponsors that wouldn’t allow them to officially join a new team. If I were a team that was fully composed, but couldn’t be public about the team configuration I can understand the desire to go incognito now; it’s important to get involved in as much high-level competitive practice before the RLCS kicks off. This skirts ethical boundaries, though, and could hurt relationships with the community should the truth ever get out.

2. They are composed of member(s) who have have a poor reputation in the community, and want to prove that they have reformed before being exposed publicly. I doubt this very much, but I’m including it just to be complete. I mean, this is a really bad idea. Sneaking back in sideways like this would just reinforce to me that the reputation that was earned is deserved.

3. They are a pre-existing team that is just taking the piss out of all the roster shenanigans that have been going on lately. If this is the case I think it’s pretty funny, but I don’t think we should be going down this road either. As we attempt to get legitimacy as an esport, when contending with some of the other heavy-hitters out there, we need to present the best brand possible so that we encourage viewership from new audiences and build the game to a point where we have players and coaches making an honest living off the game. Playing with the audience’s trust serves the opposite purpose. I don’t want to be a killjoy, I enjoy a good joke as much as the next guy, but as the game matures it’s going to be more important than ever to build a strong core of personalities and teams in a scene that is approachable to all.

4. This is legitimately a brand-new team, and I’m just wrong about the whole thing. I think there is a strong chance that teams we’ve never heard of do well in the RLCS, given the double-eliminate, best of 3 format. Of the eight teams that make it to the second round, I have to think that at least one team will have crawled out of the woodwork and staked a claim to one of the spots. While there is something… fishy… about this team, option 4 remains a possibility.

Time may or may not tell if any of my theories are correct, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were herring the truth about Dopefish_lives fairly soon.

We Dem Girlz/Boyz vs. Mockit EU settle who’s better

Last week the Power Rankings Committee was split almost down the middle about who the #1 team in EU was. Three members said We Dem Girlz/Boyz, while two said Mockit EU. This week at GFinity we were very lucky to have a final, best of seven series between those very team.

Guess how it went?

Well, if you check the already deleted bracket (Why GFinity, why?!) you’d see that WDG went on to beat MEU 4 games to 1. That certainly tells part of the story, but let’s dig into this further:

Game 1 in the series ended as a 6-2 statement game for We Dem Girlz, who managed to get out to a 5-nil lead by about halfway through the game. What stood out to me was the difference in quality of clears. Where WDG was clearing balls into space, MEU was getting themselves into a lot of trouble with their clearance placement. While I’d like to chalk this up to a lack of understanding between Paschy, Scrub Killa and miztik, there are just so many times when Mock-It surrendered possession needlessly. WDG, on the other hand, moved the ball with purpose and converted on many of their chances.

It was the first game that really set the tone for the entire series, and while MEU were able to shut out We Dem Girlz in the second game, they were outshot 9 to 6 (which I believe accurately captures the flow of play in this game). In further games WDG got back to their clinical way, and made good winning three in a row.

I’ve mentioned in the past that shooting percentage is the #1 predictor of success, and this series is no exception. We Dem Girlz outscored Mock-It 13 to 6 on aggregate, and outshot them 50 to 35 (making the two teams’ shooting percentages 26.0% and 17.1% respectively).

Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is the first time since MEU signed miztik that miztik has dressed for the squad. Unfortunately his debut did not go well, with him not scoring any of Mock-It’s goals, nor recording any of the team’s assists. He ended with 5 saves and only 5 shots over the 5 games. I’ve said earlier that I believe that miztik is the kind of player who can very easily slip into any roster because he’s a very versatile player, but it seems like he’s going to need some time to adapt to his team’s habits. I believe that these two teams, with the addition of FlipSid3 will remain in a 3-way battle for the top of the EU charts for months to come. Having this much competition at the very top is great for the future of Rocket League esports!