It happened a week later than expected, but the first weekend of Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Season 9 league play just went down for North America and Europe.
We got our first look at new teams promoted from the Rival Series, as well as a glimpse of how some of the offseason’s major roster moves—and non-moves, for that matter—panned out across 10 matches.
Didn’t catch all of the action or just need a refresher? Here are the weekend’s top shots and biggest moments.
Sea-Bass goes off
OVER. EVERYONE. ?@Sea_BassRL is about it. #RLCS9
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Flight didn’t win their first match of the season, but it wasn’t the 3-0 sweep that the Pittsburgh Knights’ Slater “retals” Thomas projected. In fact, Flight pushed it to a fifth game on the back of explosive play from Sebastian “Sea-Bass” Becerra, including this full-pitch air dribble that we haven’t seen a lot of since the early seasons of the RLCS. Flight, indeed!
GarrettG’s amazing redirect
You CANNOT stop @GarrettG ?
What are you waiting for? Tune in to #RLCS9 now!
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What’s that saying about Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon? Oh right: He scores when he wants. That was true again this weekend when he fielded this wall bounce pass from Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver and then twisted his Octane perfectly, putting a soft tire on the ball to loft it over the head of all three Susquehanna Soniqs players.
eUnited sweeps Cloud9
STAND UNITED!@eUnited sweeps @Cloud9 to open their season with a win. #RLCS9
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Will Cloud9 bounce back this season? Maybe, but their Week 1 matchup against eUnited wasn’t a great sign of things to come. Cloud9 just couldn’t seem to get their offense going, and while they were able to bring eUnited into a game-three overtime, it didn’t end well for them. Hey, it’s one week in a lengthier season than ever… but still, not a very convincing start for Cloud9. (Good for eUnited, though!)
JKnaps closes it out
.@JKnaps WITH THE FINISHER!
What a series from @G2esports. #RLCS9
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G2 got off to a great start in their own bounce-back campaign, taking a 3-0 sweet against the retooled Rogue. Game 3 went to overtime on the back of a zero-second goal from G2’s Reed “Chicago” Wilen, and then Jacob “JKnaps” Knapman sealed the deal with this very JKnaps-esque double-tap. Nice.
Ferra, unassisted
NASTY ?@Ferra_RL does it all himself as @TeamReciprocity rolls to a dominant Game 1 win. #RLCS9
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Team Reciprocity’s captain did it all himself in this slick shot, as Victor “Ferra” Francal took the ball along the curved wall and then air-rolled it right into the goal. Team Singularity put up a solid effort in their first RLCS series, but the reigning EU champions took the 3-1 series win.
The Scarab soars
SCARAB IN THE RLCS MAKING PLAYS!@FCBeSports takes Game 1. Don’t miss any more action, tune in below ?
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Did you expect to see the Scarab knock in shots this weekend? No? Well, thanks to FC Barcelona’s newest addition Hrant “Flakes” Yakoub, we got exactly that. Truly stunning. This series against Veloce Esports went down to the wire, but Flakes and co. pulled out the 3-2 win in the end.
The pool shot save
A POOL SHOT SAVE?! ?@VeloceEsports gets creative to hold the lead. #RLCS9
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One more from that clearly entertaining series: Veloce managed a rather unusual save here, with Jack “FlamE” Pearton bumping FCB’s David “Deevo” Morrow in front of a shot from his own teammate, completing the pool shot save. Hey, whatever works—it helped extend the series, too.
Metsa does it all
ARE. YOU. SERIOUS. ?@Metsanauris buries a sick shot to tie the game up. #RLCS9
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TSM put up a good fight against Dignitas in another five-game series on Sunday, and while we don’t know yet whether the renewed pairing of Otto “Metsanauris” Kaiplainen and Joonas “Mognus” Salo will yield stronger results this season, at least Metsa got in a sick solo shot. Check out this triple tap: up to the ceiling, off the backboard, and into the goal. Brilliant.
See all about it
EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT! ?️@Extra_RL hits the flip reset AND the dunk. Whew. #RLCS9
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The retooled Mousesports had a strong showing against AS Monaco Esports, but Monaco’s lone RLCS rookie Alex “Extra” Paoli put up a fantastic offensive display in the series. The highlight was this spectacular shot: a flip reset to dunk over Kyle “Scrub Killa” Robertson.