In our weekly player’s diary, G2 newcomer Reed “Chicago” Wilen takes us behind the scenes of the RLCS. After week 2 of league play, he and his teammates Rizzo and JKnaps are still undefeated. Even though some matches were really close, Chicago is hopeful that they might go 4-0.
In our second diary entry, Chicago speaks about playing against his former teammates, Dignitas’ struggle in the EU scene and why he won’t take the upcoming match against Ghost lightly.
“We know we can play even better”
“Last week was a lot of fun to play. I promised in my first diary entry that this weekend will show the full potential of our team. Being 3-0 now definitely feels good, but we still feel like we’re not transfering the performance we show in scrims into the RLCS matches. We know that we can play even better. In scrims we feel really good, but the moment we’re in an RLCS match there are some nerves kicking in. I guess that it’s normal. Every single series in RLCS is so important.
Still, we’re now 3-0 and winning against my former teammates Evil Geniuses was fun. Even though I didn’t really notice during the match that these are my former teammates. I just focused on our performance and to get that second win of the day. Speaking of the other match: Our series against Rogue and former G2 player Kronovi was a lot closer – it went all the way into game 5 Overtime. In these situations we’re obviously all nervous. It’s normal, everybody would be nervous in this setting, but having guys like Rizzo and JKnaps as your teammates helps me a lot there. They’re so experienced, and I also believe that their experience outplayed AyyJayy’s and Wonder’s experience. It came down to staying calm, controlling the pace, focusing on the touches and not giving Rogue the ball – all this added up to us scoring the deciding goal. After that match we sat down and discussed about what we need to do to play in RLCS matches the way we play in scrims. It helped, I guess, as our match against Evil Geniuses later that day showed.
3-0 in RLCS after two wins today ?
— G2 Chicago (@Chicago_RL) April 13, 2019
“Obviously we want to be the best”
The Big 3 of NA are back on top now: We, NRG and Cloud9 are all undefeated. Obviously we want to be the best, the Big 1 so to say. So I’m looking forward to play against both of them. NRG and Cloud9 are definitely my favorite teams to play against. These matches are always super fun. Some people say that it’s currently just the Big 2, given that we didn’t look too good in our wins, but I tell you that the Big 2 is not a thing and that this gap between us will cease to exist.
By the way, there is the possibility that after next week the Big 3 are still undefeated. We’re all facing other teams. This would be crazy and make week 4 the most important week of RLCS for me in over a year. We definitely aim for a Top 2 spot in the season. It would be really nice, because we could avoid Regional Playoffs which are always really stressful. If after the upcoming weekend all three teams are still undefeated, it will be so much more entertaining for the viewers, and I kinda hope that it happens.
We may be 0-3 but people seem to forget we’ve already played NRG and C9. We also always get a front-ended schedule so when we take losses the momentum is harder to swing in our favour
— Lethamyr (@Lethamyr_RL) April 13, 2019
“Ghost are definitely a top 4 or top 5 team”
We will of course try to do our part to stay undefeated. This weekend we have to play against Ghost. They’re in last place with an 0-3 record, but we can’t take them lightly. Their only unexpected loss was against Splyce. It’s just that their schedule was really tough. They had to play Cloud9 and NRG, and as I mentioned they look really strong. In terms of skill Ghost are definitely a top 4 or top 5 team in the NA region. So, we don’t take a win there for granted or expect to sweep them. But we definitely know what we need to do in order to go 4-0.
Another topic we need to talk about this week is the EU scene. I used to not watch EU at all, just kept up with the scores. But lately I watched more and more matches and followed the scene more closely. Dignitas are having a rough time. They’re in last place which is surprising. They had a couple of tough matches, especially against FC Barcelona, who are easily a top 4 team, and Vitality who look like the strongest team in Europe right now. Dignitas still have 4 games left, and I’m certain that they’ll make a comeback. It’s just not a season where they go 7-0 and dominate every other team.
Congratulations to @Kaydops of @TeamVitality for winning European Player of the Week!
GG WP ?#RLCS7 pic.twitter.com/SpiWiRm8My
— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) April 14, 2019
“Kaydop has his own effect on every team he joins”
Of course you start to speculate about the reason for their results. I definitely think that it’s more Kaydop leaving than Yukeo not fitting in. Yukeo is a good player, but Kaydop was just the most efficient striker in the game. He was always there when his team needed him to make a play. Yukeo does that a lot times as well, but Kaydop just has his own effect on every team he joins. You can see that in the way Vitality play right now. As for Dignitas, all that chemistry being lost and losing such a good striker really hurt them. It’s hard to start from scratch, but they have to figure out that they can’t continue to play their old Dignitas style which they played with Kaydop, and rather develop a new playstyle with Yukeo to help him on offense.
But that just goes to show that you have to try to improve every single game, and have to take every series seriously, give it your best. It’s so easy to decline as a team and to lose your spot at the top. It’s a constant battle to stay up there.”
