After an exciting weekend of Rocket League the field is all set for the upcoming season. 8 new teams managed to fight their way into the RLRS, 4 for the EU region, 4 for the NA region.

In case you missed the action over the weekend and have no idea what teams qualified, we want to give you an overview. Here are the 8 new teams that will play in the RLRS.

NA Region

In North America there wasn’t too much of an upset – even though it looked like something strange might happen, when Splyce, the team that was believed to have the best chance, was send to the Lower Bracket early. From there they fought back and defeated every team they faced quite convincingly and thus earning a RLRS spot. The NA region in detail:

Manhattan

People who are deeply interested in the NA region had this bubble team on their radar. But if you follow the NA scene only casually then there’s a good chance that you might’ve never heard of Manhattan. This is about to change: Malakiss, Tmon and Ayjacks went through the Play-In undefeated and are a force to be reckoned with.

Manhattan is the first professional team for all three players, which is why many didn’t expect these guys to perform as well as they did. After their qualification Malakiss tweeted that the currently unsigned roster is now actively looking for an org. With such an impressive entrance into the pro-scene it shouldn’t take too long until someone picks these guys up.

Now that we have qualified for RLRS, Manhattan is looking to take on an org. Feel free to DM me. — Malakiss (@malookiss) 11. März 2018

The D00ds

They were everybody’s favourite going in and they managed to secure their spot in the RLRS without dropping a single match: The D00ds have been the hottest team of the NA scene ever since they qualified for Dreamhack Leipzig out of nowhere and making an impressive run through the LAN tournament. Jorolelin, Ralph014 and AxB now will try to continue their success story within the RLRS and we can’t wait to see what these guys are capable of.

Not the cleanest one but we take them as they come!

Super proud of my boys @Ralph_080 and @AxB_RL , and huuuuuuuge shoutouts to @CS3_rl for being our super sub and doing the first 4 rounds against some really good teams! — Joro (@JorolelinRL) 10. März 2018

Splyce

The #1 seed was expected to march through the Play-Ins. But with high expectations comes high pressure and at first it seemed as if that pressure got to the team led by Rocket League veteran Karma. She and her team mates JWismont and DudeWithTheNose were dropped to the Lower Bracket after they lost to Incognito, but pulled together and powered through.

What followed was an impressive win streak in which especially Karma, undoubtedly the MVP of the NA Play-Ins, really came through for her team. They defeated Shake and Bake (3:0), Spacestation Gaming (3:1) and in the end Lights Out! (3:1) to secure their well-deserved spot in the RLRS.

WELL FUCKING DESERVED. Player of the week goes to @KarmahTV — Nose Dude / Trevor (@DudeWithNose_RL) 11. März 2018

Given that Karma has – excuse our language – worked her ass off in the past years to get to where she’s now, one can’t help but feel happy for her and this roster of incredibly talented players. Hard work pays off, the current Splyce roster is living proof of that and if they play like the played the Play-Ins they might have a shot at a spot in the RLCS.

The persistence and professionalism that @KarmahTV has displayed since the very 1st season of the RLCS FINALLY pays off! For all of you players hoping to eventually make it into the RLCS/RLRS, I hope you’ve been taking notes. pic.twitter.com/XHCPOiCdXT — CloudFuel (@CloudFuel) 11. März 2018

Incognito

Rocket League always guarantees for a couple of juicy storylines. In February JWismont left Incognito to join Splyce only to face his former team in the Play-Ins. JWismont’s former team mates must have felt a decent amount of satisfaction after sending Splyce to the Lower Bracket.

After their win against Splyce they were defeated by Manhattan but quickly recovered and secured a 3:1 victory against the Peeps which qualified the team of Tuster, Gorocksgo and Nickymac for the RLRS. Their performance was all the more impressive considering that the roster had not played any tournaments in this constellation prior to the Play-Ins.

Honorable mention: Nickymac, who used to be the substitute player for Incognito until JWismont left, really showed his potential and made it clear that the decision to move him to a starter position was justified.

Pretty cool my IRL friend @gorocksgoRL told me to try rocket league during season 2 and now we are teaming together in rlrs — Nickymac18 (@NickymacRl) 11. März 2018

EU Teams

The Play-Ins for the European region also offered a few surprises. As with the NA region the #1 seed (Method) qualified for the RLRS but not without dropping to the Lower Bracket in the course of the tournament. A bigger surprise was the rise of Zebra Nose, a team most casual followers of the EU Rocket League scene had never heard of, but who went in most of their games 3:0 and even send Method to the Lower Bracket. Another amazing story is the flawless qualification of Triple Trouble. The EU region in detail:

Triple Trouble

In the past weeks we covered the story of this team quite extensively. Tadpole, Ronaky and Andom were supposed to play Gfinity, but were left without a spot after a couple of unfortunate incidents. Maybe it was all the stored-up anger or maybe the Triple Trouble team just is that good, but they went undefeated through the Play-Ins and were the first team to qualify for the EU RLRS. Now they’re looking for a new org and we can’t help but feel glad that things seemed to have worked out for the three dedicated players.

Now is probably a good time to mention that @TripleTroubleRL are looking at talking to organisations again now that’s we’ve made RLRS, if anyone out there is interested, please feel free to contact us. RT’s hugely appreciated ? — Euan ‘Tadpole’ Ingram ??????? (@TadpoleRL) 12. März 2018

Placebo

Not many would’ve suggested that Placebo would be one of the teams to qualify, but the team of Mccluvin (exceL player), Godsmilla and Al Dente played incredibly well. They did not drop a single match and will be one of the teams to watch during the upcoming season.

I have to say, i’m super proud of @GodsmillaRL & @Al_Dente5 . Couldn’t ask for 2 better teammates to play with. — Mccluvin (@MccluvinRL) 11. März 2018

Zebra Nose

Okay, so who the heck is Zebra Nose? They came in as the 8th seed, so they were expected to perform well, but I don’t think anybody thought that they would actually qualify. But Zensuz (former exceL player), Mout (EnvyUs Academy player) and Neqzo (sub for Envy) proved everybody wrong who doubted their enormous experience. Most matches they played ended in a clean 3:0 victory, they even went 3:1 against #1 seeded Method and sent them to the Lower Bracket, which was one of the biggest upsets of the whole Play-Ins. We can’t wait to see if the three players will continue to surprise us in the RLRS. We have a feeling they just might.

Well played Zebra Nose. Looking forward to playing you guys in the Rival Series. @Zensuz123 @Alex_Moutmout @NeqzoRL — Mccluvin (@MccluvinRL) 11. März 2018

Method

Finally we have to talk about Method, a name that comes with high expectations, because of the great performance of their last Rocket League roster. With three new players (Shakahron, Rix Ronday and Borito B) on board everybody was curious to see if Method would recover from losing their three star players.

They came into the Play-Ins as the #1 seed and quickly showed why. The only team that stopped them from running through the tournament undefeated were the aforementioned Zebra Nose who sent Method to the Lower Bracket where they went on to secure win after win against other high-seeded teams such as Taxi Bill. It’s safe to say that Method are back on track. Their first attempt to reclaim Rocket League glory was successful.

I can’t believe through how much we have gone as a team today. We have been 2-0 down in the series 3-1 down in the game in the upperbracket, completely give away a different series afterwards, then proceed to reverse sweep another team. I love my teammates ❤ — Rix_Ronday (@Rix_Ronday) 11. März 2018

Notable teams that didn’t make it

The number of high-quality teams that tried their best in the Play-Ins was just insane. In February we already covered this topic in an article. Of course with such a high number of fantastic teams there are a lot of really good teams that didn’t make it. A couple of noteworthy mentions:

Dilettantes: The new team of Rocket League veteran M1k3rules already dropped in their first round to the Lower Bracket, where they went on to defeat a couple of teams but then lost 3:1 against Boosted. We’re curious to see if that will mean the end of Mike’s attempt to get back into the pro scene or if he will give it another shot.

Team WLF: They were the #2 seed in the EU region and for a long time everything went according to plan, but after dropping to the Lower Bracket against Pregnant Boyz it was Method who eliminated the team from Italy.

Taxi Bill: Didris, Friis and Waffle performed very well, but fell to the “sheer pressure” as they stated after their elimination on Twitter. The team that has an Envy Academy background was so close to qualifying, but in their final match they were defeated 3:1 by Method. Afterwards Didris wrote that he’ll quit Rocket League for good, but later deleted that Tweet and promised that he will try again next season.

Thank you for the support yesterday everyone, can not tell you how much it means to have such a loving community, after a long talk with my girlfriend yesterday I have decided to keep trying and not stop playing, I’ll keep grinding and you will be seeing me in season 6 again — Didris (@DidrisRL) 12. März 2018

Genesis: The #2 seed of the NA region didn’t qualify either. Genesis and their team captain Pluto, who has been around the competitive Rocket League scene since the very beginning, fell to the Lower Bracket after losing against Lights Out, the #7 of the NA region. Maybe it was the pressure, maybe it was the fatigue after a long day of Rocket League, but in the Lower Bracket they were eliminated by the Peeps, a bubble team from the NA region. We just hope that Pluto doesn’t actually consider retiring…

prolly should just retire, consistently playing like garbo during crucial series every single season — PlutoniumFalcon (@PlutoRL) 10. März 2018

Spacestation Gaming: The story would’ve been too good: 0verZer0, former IBP and G2 player, celebrates his return to the Rocket League pro scene with a qualification for the RLRS. But it wasn’t meant to be. Spacestation Gaming defeated many teams but after an unexpected 3:0 loss against Sol Esports they dropped to the Lower Bracket where they were eliminated by Splyce.

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Of course there are many more great and also tragic stories about this year’s RLRS Play-Ins. Head over to our Discord server if you want to discuss the Play-Ins with people who love Rocket League just as much as you.