If it seems like the Discombobulators came out of nowhere to top last season’s European Rival Series league play standings, that’s… pretty much true. As captain Lucas “RelatingWave” Rose tells Rocketeers, the trio—including Nelson “Virtuoso” Lasko and Nacho “Nachitow” Gimenez—didn’t have a whole lot of competitive experience before last season’s Rival Series campaign.
No matter. They went 7-2 in league play and made it through the Rival Series playoffs to clinch a spot in the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS). Newly signed to Endpoint, an organization with past history in the game, they’re gearing up for this weekend’s debut matchup against last season’s runner-up, Renault Sport Team Vitality.
Ahead of their RLCS Season 9 start, Rocketeers caught up with Endpoint’s RelatingWave and coach Aron “Eclipse” Jones to find out what makes them tick on the pitch, why they chose Endpoint, and their expectations for the season ahead.
Rocketeers: Can you tell us a bit about your professional background and how this team came together?
RelatingWave: As a team, we didn’t have a lot of experience behind our belts. Nachitow had won ESL Masters and had been to a few LANs, Virtuoso had won the Sogeti LAN and has also played at a few events, and myself, I haven’t played at an event before. Me and Virt have been playing for over a year now, and the season before we made RLRS, we got close to qualifying but lost in the lower semifinals. The new season came along and us three came together as a pickup team after a couple of scrims. Our tournament results weren’t incredible, but we made many semifinals and finals.
.@RelatingWave‘s mechanics are on point!
He hits the shot and @DiscombobRL are out of the gate hot. #RIVALS
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
?: https://t.co/N2Hvlr1h7A
?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/AM0tMPK0UH— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) October 11, 2019
What was your experience like playing in the Rival Series and having such a strong season?
RelatingWave: Playing in the Rival Series was a dream come true to all three of us. Our main target was originally to survive in RLRS, never to make playoffs or even at the top of the table. Coming first in league play was a sensation to everyone and having the chance to make RLCS was very much an ecstatic feeling.
What’s the team dynamic like on the pitch, and how do you all contribute to that success?
Eclipse: The team’s dynamic is fairly unique, with it being very akin to the likes of Pittsburgh Knights in North America. However, we aren’t quite as hyper-aggressive as them. We tend to go more for bumps and demos than most, but even with this play style we are still quite comfortable on defense.
In terms of how everyone contributes to this, we see Wave as our rock-solid player, being able to do everything but mainly being our last line of defense. And then Nach and Virt place themselves to act more aggressively and be both our playmakers and strikers at any given times, switching fluidly between them. I think it’s that non-reliance on a specific player that has contributed to our success thus far.
Relive the moment our @RLEsports guys qualified for #RLCS! Sorry they got a little excited **** ?
?? @RelatingWave
?? @virtuosoRL
?? @NachitowRL
?? @LoREclipseWho’s waiting for the new season to kick off on the 2nd Feb?#NeverStop #Discombobulators pic.twitter.com/hVWaMMlNRO
— Endpoint (@TeamEndpoint) January 20, 2020
What did it feel like to clinch your spot into RLCS Season 9?
RelatingWave: We all went crazy. Nach went running downstairs to scream to his parents so he was going mental, Virt was screaming down the mic, and my heart was racing and I was breathing very heavily. In short, we all were going crazy.
Eclipse: I mainly have to agree with what Wave as stated about this. However, the thing that got me was even amidst the celebration, we all seemed to be in disbelief. And it was even more heart-wrenching for me because of the 10-second delay on the stream. I didn’t actually know what had happened when they all kicked off, but I just went mental with them as you could hear in the video of our comms.
What made Endpoint the best choice for your organization?
RelatingWave: Endpoint are very caring. They were trying to sign us for a couple of months before we did actually sign, and they were very willing to meet our demands. We had a couple of offers from a few organizations who were bigger and smaller, however to us and Eclipse, they were the most interested in signing us. We felt like they would support us however they could.
Eclipse: There were a couple of reasons we chose Endpoint over some of the other orgs that contacted us. One of the main reasons was the fact that they had previously been in the Rocket League scene and had dealt with some of the inconsistencies that come along with it. Alongside this, they are a smaller org with big ambitions, and that’s exactly how we feel as a team.
Super excited to announce our entry into @RLEsports #RLCS following our acquisition of the @DiscombobRL lineup!
?? @RelatingWave
?? @virtuosoRL
?? @NachitowRLCoach:
?? @LoREclipse pic.twitter.com/dGQ20X3ZmY— Endpoint (@TeamEndpoint) January 15, 2020
How confident do you feel going into the season, and what are your goals?
RelatingWave: Our primary goal, just like in RLRS, is to survive. We don’t have much more, to be honest, and after that we will take it game by game and see where we end up. Playing in the RLCS is a dream in and of itself, and being able to maintain our position in the league would be incredible for all of us. Anything additional to surviving would be a huge bonus to us. We feel very confident going into the next season as we don’t have much to lose being an all-rookie team and never expecting to play in the RLCS so quickly. If we do good, we do good. If not, then it isn’t the end of the world to us.
What do you think can give your team the edge over veteran RLCS squads?
RelatingWave: Our play style is what I’d think will give us the edge. We play the aggressive playstyle which seems to be uncommon in Europe. The ability to close down the ball fast is rare in Europe and being able to counterattack almost in an instant proves great for us.
To many people, we most certainly were not supposed to be in the RLCS, and having proved those expectations wrong, we think we can most certainly do it again this season. All we can do is give it our all, and we are probably the team with the least pressure because of the backing from our org. We don’t have much to lose.
