Savage! came into the RLRS with high anticipation: a new team formed by former RLCS stars who are bent on fighting their way back into the upper house of Rocket League. Deevo, Bluey and Alpha fulfilled all expectations and went 6-1 in the RLRS, securing their spot for the Promotional Playoff. We spoke with Deevo about success, team chemistry and their toughest opponents.

Congratulations on your impressive RLRS performance. You went 6-1 and finished on 1st place. Were you anticipating such a strong performance by your new team in their first RLRS season or are you a bit surprised as well about how smoothly it went for you guys?

Yes, this season was successful. We only had difficulties against Red Reserve as it was a very close match, we should’ve won it and to be honest it was a wakeup call for us to focus. As a whole, the season was quite smooth, we all showed up massively individually.

“I underestimated Red Reserve”

The match against Red Reserve was your only loss. They finished RLRS on 2nd place. Tell me a bit about this match: It was a 2-3, so definitely a close one, but what gave Red Reserve the upper hand in the end?

For me, I underestimated them and as a team I think we had low hours in the game as well. After that performance we recognized that we couldn’t just work off our gut instincts alone, we had to show up at every single match with the hours and experience to play the Rocket League that we know we’re capable of. I also feel that ever since that match we really took our game to the level that we expect of ourselves, I believe we’ve only just scratched the surface of our potential skill ceiling.

We’re not done. — Daniel “Bluey” Bluett (@BlueyRL) October 5, 2018

“RLRS teams are a lot harder to predict”

It’s your first season in the RLRS. How different was it for you to compete in this league in contrast to the RLCS?

I feel like the RLRS teams are a lot harder to predict. The playstyles vary much more and you don’t know which players are going to pop off until you get in game, whilst with RLCS teams you know that all 3 players are going to be playing with pace at the same speed and with the same sort of accuracy. It’s easier to read a playstyle from an RLCS team as they’re a lot more formatted. Both leagues are tough to play in for their own reasons.

Apart from the match against Red Reserve, what was the toughest match of the season so far?

Excel! Jessie (Savage’s substitute player – ed.) really pulled out for us, Alpha’s internet spiked randomly for about an hour after our match versus Secret and Jessie wasn’t even warm. Despite this we managed to pull back and take the series 3-2. Jessie’s playstyle is completely different to Alpha’s so it was critical that both Jessie got warm and for me and Bluey to adapt quickly mid series.

Despite the fact that @Alpha54RL‘s client was consistently showing 150 ping ms, we had to ask the mighty @JessiePinkmaann super sub to step in. With no warm up as a 3s team, went into it and still… won…. what a day! GG @exceL tough one! #RLRS @RLEsports pic.twitter.com/Mdza1aVTtO — SAVAGE! (@SavageRLRS) October 5, 2018

“Alpha’s biggest strength is his confidence”

With Bluey and Alpha you have two fantastic teammates. Tell me a bit about their strengths and why this line-up works so well together.

First of all, Bluey is just extremely consistent. He makes barely any mistakes even in an entire series. Bluey has good peripheral vision, is able to backup any mistakes me and Alpha make. Alpha’s biggest strength is his confidence, when I’m in comms with him he never really sounds nervous or shaky, he’s just extremely confident to win. Alpha’s shooting and mechanics make him great for highlight plays.

You guys are still called Savage!. It’s hard to believe that there’s no org out there that might be interested in picking you guys up. How is the hunt for an org going?

We’ve had a lot of interest which is really nice as a team recently formed. We’re not interested in hunting for an organisation, but more having an organisation that comes to us and wants to take us to that next level, we’ve had conversations but Roken (Savage’s manager – ed.) is in charge of managing those.

“I’m gutted that two of these four mega teams have to be dropped”

Next up is the Promotion Playoff, and obviously you guys want to get into the RLCS. You’ll have to face compLexity in the first round. You probably know these guys quite well from your time in RLCS. How do you prepare for the challenge at hand?

Play the game we know. I don’t want to give any tactics away and honestly I’m gutted that two of these four mega teams have to be dropped, but our fans can be sure that whatever happens we’ll play our very best.

There’s the chance of a rematch against Red Reserve. Are you confident that you’d be able to beat them this time?

I don’t focus on what could and might happen, I focus on winning and that’s all that I care about. I’m not going to second guess playing Red Reserve as there is a 5 week gap between promotion playoff plus Fnatic have the time to train via the GFinity Elite Series, so I’ll just play my game for now.