Recap of Rocket League at Dreamhack Montreal 2019 and News!

The Beginning

History was made at Dreamhack Montreal in Rocket League because for the first time ever two North American teams made it to the finals. And secondly, The Peeps won the tournament against 'the best team in the world' aka G2. It was truly an epic moment to be a part of and requires an explanation as to why. So let's talk about in-depth about Rocket League.

Don't Sleep on The Peeps

In 2018, The Peeps started to make waves in Rocket League. At the time, the team consisted of Pirates, Arsenal, Gyro, and Gray as a substitute in the Rival Series Season 6. They were fighting for a spot in the RLCS but came shy of qualifying. Ending in 3rd place, the team took a cozy $7k and set out to be better players.

Two months after their run in the Rival Series, the team went on to the Renegade Cup where they won second place. In the Renegade Cup, The Peeps battled against a team that had a player who is currently on their roster. The player Mist used to be on the roster for a team called Big Whips who had taken third place in that tournament. Anyways, it seemed like The Peeps had figured things out.

A month after the Renegade Cup, The Peeps competed in the Renegade Cup NA: Battle for Valhalla. Once more they made second place in the tournament, solidifying the fact that this team was not going anywhere.

Two weeks after that event, The Peeps took first place in Rival Esports: All-Platform North American tournament. Except for this time, their roster had altered to have PrimeThunder, Arsenal, and Gyro. Pirates had signed on with Plot Twist alongside Taroco and Mectos for this one.

Unfortunately, they fell into third place during the next tournament which was the Renegade Cup NA: Finals with the original roster (where Pirates was originally). Sway eSports had taken them out in the losers finals even though they had blown past all the other teams, looking like they could win.

The Peeps entered Beyond Entertainment: Astronauts in March (2v2), April, and May where they took first place. Though, the only dent in their record occurred in May with Rival Series Season 7 where they took second place. The number one team was the Birds and the Beez who had Mist on their roster. Coincidently, the third-place team was Plot Twist that had Pirates once again. It meant that because Pirates was running with Plot Twist, The Peeps then consisted of Arsenal, Gyro, and Retals. And we'll talk about Mist again.

It's clear that the Peeps really wanted to be part of the RLCS. They worked hard to get to this far and so by the time Dreamhack Montreal happened, the team was itching for a big win. And this time, they would get it.

Players on The Peeps

I'm fortunate enough to have seen all of this live. The Peeps made history by winning in the DreamHack Pro Circuit against G2.

Unlike before, The Peeps altered their roster to consist of Gyro, Retals, and Mist. Remember why I mentioned Mist being on teams that had excellent performances in relation to The Peeps? Well, he managed to land himself a spot on the roster. Anyways, the main reason I wanted to talk about Mist is that leading up to Dreamhack Pro Circuit he had been part of teams that were consistently in the top 3. More correctly, he was part of the Birds and Beez who made first place in the Rival Series back in May.

In March, Retals joined The Peeps roster but he had an impressive track record before that. Back in August of 2018, Retals participated in a couple of 1v1 tournaments where he took first place. Incidentally, in the Beyond Entertainment: Astronaut 1v1 Cup 1, he beat Pirates (you know, the player that used to be part of The Peeps). In 1v1 Cup 2, he beat out Gyro (who was already on the Peeps roster), AmongStar, and Buddy. From that point forward, Retals had won a tournament with The D00ds, a team that many people in the Rocket League community watched closely. By the time it reached February 2019, Retals had signed on with the Peeps where they won first place in most of the tournaments.

Finally, there is Gyro (aka ExplosiveGyro). If anything can be said for this player, it's that he is devoted to his team. Ever since he joined The Peeps back in July 2018, he hasn't looked back. The young man has been on a team that has consistently finished in the top three of every tournament. According to the Liquipedia page, he has never dropped a tournament, making him one of the most consistent players in Rocket League (in my opinion).

Now that we've covered The Peeps in detail, let's talk a little about G2.

G2

First, I definitely want to call out the fact that they claimed to be the best in the world. In walk The Peeps with no jerseys, no crazy bling, and they brought G2 to the very limits of their playing ability.

Both JKnaps and Rizzo have always placed in the top four with teams they've been on. Although, I do have to say that one of the best things about Rocket League was seeing Papa and StephKnaps cheering their son on like he was the best player in the world. (In fact, the parents of all the players in attendance were quite passionate about the game and about their children. Honestly, I smiled so hard. Rocket League is truly something.)

On the roster, the only player who has had less success in tournaments up until Dreamhack Pro Circuit 2019 was Chicago. He was once part of Applesauce, Dignitas, and a team I refuse to mention because some of us in the Rocket League community still remember what the team owner did. (I'd refer you to an article about that, but it no longer exists. I'm also not going to throw shade because this is a hype article darn it!) ANYWAYS, the teams he was on before were great teams but they never had the success that he likely wanted. As such, the history of Chicago's tournament run varies with a couple in 5-6 or 7-8th place wins. He's made 2nd place in a couple different major tournaments, which does help show that he is a worthy competitor.

Just by looking at the past successes of G2 as well as the individual player successes, it might have been a little bold to claim 'best in the world', but that's just me. The team has made it into RLCS a few times and I'm not knocking the team for that. G2 did bring the heat to The Peeps throughout the final series of Dreamhack Pro Circuit, and that is nothing to sneeze at.

The Final Stand

The finals went all the way to game seven games where most of the games were determined by one goal. This is huge because when facing a titan team like G2, the series doesn't often go to game seven. When we look at the individual games, most of them aren't won with a one goal difference either. Anyways, the crushing blow occurred in the final game when The Peeps dominated G2 with a final score of 4-0. Yes, you read that right, G2 didn't even get a goal! It stands to reason that The Peeps brought their A game this tournament.

Now, the other reason why this finals match was such a big deal was that G2 never dropped to the losers bracket whereas The Peeps had to fight their way to the top. The tournament was ridiculous for so many reasons. In fact, I will quote the casters who said, "What do they put in the water here in Montreal?" The answer isn't water, it's likely Monster *cackles*

Massive News for Rocket League

If the finals weren't enough to sate your palettes, a mere couple of days after Dreamhack Pro Circuit finished, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) stated that they would be bringing Rocket League and Street Fighter V towards an Olympic esport division. To do this, they've teamed up with Intel to bring an esports competition in advance of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Each esport is said to have a grand prize of $250k USD.

This is fantastic news for many reasons like:

1. The IOC realized how much they can potentially benefit from esports after they did a trial run of Starcraft II in South Korea 2018
2. There will be online qualifiers for those who want to compete for their national team
3. Japan has always been rooted in gaming, so it makes sense that an introduction of esports in the Olympics would begin there
4. The Olympics will help esports grow even more and bridge the gap between the traditional Olympic audience and the younger viewers

Honestly, I've been waiting for this to happen ever since I wrote an article about it in March 2018.

Final Thoughts

Anyways, The Peeps made history and Rocket League will be featured leading up to the Olympics in 2020. I'm over the moon. Just saying.



Article by Susan N.

Read More

Jaggy's Corner! - Saturday February 17

This week in Jaggy's corner I want to talk about something huge. For the first time ever, the Olympics made tentative space for esports, which was played before the main events. Eighteen professional Starcraft II players had to qualify to be part of the Olympics, where they would have a shot at $150,000 - a figure much higher than gold medalists in a variety of different disciplines.

The decision to include esports in the Olympics was challenged by many, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Some people understand how esports fit into the international stage while others don't see it that way. It's just video games so how can that be considered a legitimate sport? I mean, players train several hours per day perfecting their craft. They have to eat right and follow a regimented schedule. They sacrifice their social lives to analyze and improve upon builds, strategies, and concepts. Players travel the world to attend events where they compete for money. But no, to some people, esports don't sound as difficult as the struggles of a professional hockey player for example. This industry couldn't possibly have millions of viewers every single day on platforms like Twitch, Mixer, or YouTube. Perhaps the populous could consider the following statement which I've quoted from Yahoo! sports.

At a time when virtually every other sport and entertainment option is losing viewership and market share, esports are expanding at astronomical rates. A Newzoo report pegged esports' reach at the end of 2017 at 385 million people, with projections of 589 million fans by 2020. Intel's Extreme Masters series has grown year over year; a two-week 2017 festival in Poland drew 170,000 fans and an online audience of 45 million.

Source: Olympic medals for video gamers? It could happen, sooner than you think

Clearly esports don't have the same competitive demands like "normal sports" do, but I digress...

Over the course of the week, people from all over the world have taken an interest in PyeongChang, whether it be for figure skating, cross country skiing, speed skating, snowboarding, hockey, etc... And during this time, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) put on the Starcraft II Olympics featuring the following professional players:  

• Kim "sOs" Yoo Jim
• Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn
• Isaac "PandaBearMe" Fox
• Ilyes "Stephano" Satouri
• Le "Time" Peinan
• Juan Carlos "SpeCial" Tena Lopez
• Sung Wook "Zest" Joo
• Diego "Kelazhur" Schwimmer
• Gabriel "HeRoMarinE" Segat
• Aleksandr "Bly" Svusuyk
• Sean "Probe" Kempen
• Mikolaj "Elazer" Ogonowski
• Joona "Serral" Sotala
• Pablo "Cham" Blanco
• Varun "Demi" Immanuel
• Adrian "DnS" Bouet
• Sebastian "eGGz" Lattore
• Huang "Nice" Yushang

Ultimately, competition was stiff as these players are at the top of their games, although only a certain number of players were able to qualify from each different region. The eighteen players would vy for spots based on their region. Two were chosen from North America, four from Europe (one for each area like North, South, West, etc..), two from South America, one from Africa, one from China, one from Asia West, one from Asia East, one from Australia & Oceania, and two from South Korea.

The full details of the qualifying requirements leading up to the Olympics can be found on ESL's site:

Spoilered Results

If somehow you missed the games or the news about esports in the Olympics, the winner of Sc2 PyeongChang is none other than Toronto player Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn, which makes me quite happy. She has proven herself to be the best professional player in the Sc2 scene, and now she is world famous. Talk about being a class of her own...

Because of her win, Canada earned yet another gold from the Olympics.

🥇🇨🇦 Your #IEM #PyeongChang2018 Champion: @onfireScarlett! 🇨🇦🥇 pic.twitter.com/HcwI0EttEB

— Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) February 7, 2018

If you want to watch any of the matches, YouTube has a playlist containing many of them. Here they are:

Final Thoughts

Despite the IOC not completely recognizing esports as a legitimate sport - a fact that can be debated on either side - it did not anger me as much as an articles careless and offensive statement did. In it, the writer commented about Sasha "actually being female". I don't know if that person was trying to make a quip about the fact that Sasha is legitimately female in the eyes of the law, or if it was the fact that a female could play at such a high level. Either way, I have some choice words for that writer and none of them are good. Accept the fact that society has evolved to be inclusive or step off. We get enough of that crap on Twitch and we don't need lowball shots like that in news media on an international scale.

(On a slight side step to that, if that writer had met Sasha in person and spoken to her for any length of time, they'd know that she is actually a really kind person undeserving of the potshot you threw into your article. Yes, I'm calling you out. Deal with it.)

Regardless, it's been an exciting Olympic filled week and I don't think it's fair that the IOC blatantly disregards esports as valid sports. So, I'm curious to know what you guys think about the idea. Should esports have their own version of the Olympics or should they be allowed in the with the other sports?

You can find me on Twitter @Jagtress so hit me up with your thoughts.

Until next time!

Article by Susan N.


All images belong to their respective owners.

Read More