With four weeks of buildup and storylines coming to a climax, the final week of regular season play in Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 8 gave us some of the most surprising results we’ve seen after seven seasons.
From the North American shakeup of dominance—which saw Cloud9 and G2 Esports shockingly land in the relegation tournament—to the closest season in the European RLCS to date, this league play has been the most contested and unknown to date. And it’s sure to make the regional championships and World Championship all the more exciting.
Here are some of the craziest goals and moments from this past weekend’s competition in North America and Europe.
AyyJayy’s ceiling shot
.@AyyJayyRL WHAT WAS THIS? ?#RLCS8
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
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?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/DcCbmPVXYl— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 2, 2019
Right off of an upset win over Cloud9, Rogue had their hardest opponent left: NRG, who were on the cusp of another perfect season. In these teams’ final series, Rogue played with incredible speed, accuracy, and individual prowess. One key example was Austin “AyyJayy” Aebi and his incredible ceiling shot to extend their lead in game two, and to ultimately put them on match point. The best part of this goal is that all three members of NRG were in goal trying to save it, but it did not matter as AyyJayy expertly put it past all of them.
Gimmick’s double tap
.@Gimmickrl finds a way to end the season with this masterpiece ?@Cloud9 takes the series 3-2 over @G2esports.#RLCS8
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
?:https://t.co/WUrqNnxGcR
?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/YkSKj2Xakh— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 2, 2019
Over the course of the season in North America, the main narrative was the fall of the “Big 3” with NRG left standing at the top. This led to G2 versus Cloud9, which was supposed to be a clash between top teams. Instead, it was a match between the eventual bottom two teams. Despite this, both teams played incredibly, especially Jesus “Gimmick” Parra who is known for his freestyle-like car control. This led to him being able to beautifully pull off a double tap off of the backboard from what can only be described as an insane angle. This goal in game five led to many more, and eventually for Cloud9 to finish above G2.
The Birds’ zero-second goal
.@hockserRL FINDS A WAY! ZERO SECOND GOAL!#RLCS8
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
?:https://t.co/WUrqNnxGcR
?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/0d0HvJtvBA— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 2, 2019
To stay out of relegation, The Birds had to win two games against Ghost—and they were not willing to give up anything. In game one, The Birds were down one goal as time ended. With each member of the team touching the ball at least once, they kept the ball in the air in the opposing team’s corner, and then slotted in a final shot. Eventually The Birds won three games to one and knocked Cloud9 down to the promotion playoffs.
Fairy Peak’s redirect for playoffs
ICE COLD WITH EVERYTHING ON THE LINE ❄️@FairyyPeak buries the Game 5 overtime winner and @TeamVitality is headed to the Regional Championship!
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
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?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/NrT3KW8Ufi— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 3, 2019
While Europe was extremely close this season, the final week may not seem like it. In the only overtime this week for the region, and in game five, Victor “Fairy Peak” Locquet secured his team a spot in the Regional Championship. Coming off the wall, Fairy Peak got a perfect shot into the top right corner of the goal with Team SoloMid unable to react to save it. This gave Vitality a chance at defending their World Championship title while kicking TSM down to the promotion tournament.
Aztral does it all
.@AztralRL IS UNSTOPPABLE!
The @DIGRocketLeague striker catches fire in Game 3 to help close out the series. #RLCS8
?: https://t.co/PpKjSDWZR1
?: https://t.co/TJBz2OzMK5
?: https://t.co/YaSObt9CJg pic.twitter.com/9dbyVSn2Ec— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 3, 2019
It’s rare that a player will stand out so much in one week, but this week Maello “Aztral” Ernst led Dignitas to secure a playoff spot while styling on the competition. Aztral stood out on his team as an incredible striker who had several solo plays, leading to two series wins and a player of the week award. Above, Aztral gets a perfect backwards redirect over the TSM defense to secure the sweep. Not only was this a good redirect, it was a perfect bar-down shot that was impossible to save.
WHAT?!? ?@AztralRL continues to hit shots and angles we didn’t think were possible. #RLCS8 pic.twitter.com/qLFzzeyOjT
— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) November 3, 2019
In game five against Vitality, Aztral backwards backflip shoots the ball into the goal off the back wall. If this does not make teams back off of him, then there is nothing that will because he arguably had one of the best solo performances ever seen in RLCS.