After their impressive performance at the World Championship, Team Dignitas came into the Northern Arena Rocket League Invitational 2 (NARLI 2) with a lot of confidence – and they did it again! Team Dignitas went through the tournament undefeated and won NARLI 2.
Among the teams they beat on their journey through the tournament were G2, Flipsid3 Tactics and NRG (twice). The Grand Finals were a revisit of the Grand Finals at the World Championship in London a couple of weeks earlier. Again it was Team Dignitas versus NRG in a battle for the trophy and the major part of the $50,000 prize pool, and again it was Dignitas who came out of that duel victorious. Dignitas dominated most of the Grand Finals and were able to close out the series with a 4-1 victory against GarrettG, Fireburner and JSTN.
We win narli2 after a 4-1 win against @NRGgg GG’s to them. We go back to back finals against each other and it’s always good games against them so I expect more finals with these boys. ?
— Pierre Silfver (@Turbopolsa) July 15, 2018
Dignitas were already the favorites going into the tournament, and they proved again why they’re considered the best Rocket League team in the world right now. In our preview interview with caster and analyst Adam “Lawler” Thornton he already pointed out that it’s “Dignitas versus the world at this point” – and Dignitas won. They take home $15,000 in prize money, and the question remains: Who will be able to stop Turbopolsa, Kaydop and ViolentPanda in RLCS Season 6?
Ggs to @TeamDignitas! Best team in the history of Rocket League no doubt. We place second ??
— GarrettG (@GarrettG) July 15, 2018
Flipsid3 surprisingly strong, G2 still struggling
Apart from the friendly rivalry between Dignitas and NRG, NARLI 2 saw G2 still struggling. Kronovi, JKnaps and Rizzo don’t seem to have completely recovered from their disappointing performance at the World Championship. Earlier this week, Kronovi talked about their struggles on his stream, but assured that his team would be ready in time for NARLI 2.
Unfortunately for G2, they were sent down to the Lower Bracket by Team Dignitas after their first match. G2 went on to defeat exceL Esports 3-0, but weren’t able to beat Cloud9 in Losers’ Round 2. In a series that went all the way to game 5, it was Cloud9 who had the upper hand in the end. It should be noted that Kronovi apparently had to face some technical difficulties during the deciding game.
Such a close series. We really should’ve closed that out. Very well played from cloud 9.
Leading with that because my PC froze in the middle of game 5 and I had to tab out twice to fix an audio issue mid game so I’m pretty salty ?
Still massive props to C9 they did great.
— G2 Kronovi (@KronoviRL) July 15, 2018
Flipsid3 Tactics on the other hand performed surprisingly well and managed to send FlyQuest as well as Cloud9 down to the Lower Bracket. The only two teams that were able to stop the strong looking team of miztik, Kuxir and Yukeo were the two Grand Finalists, NRG and Dignitas. Here’s a look at the full bracket.
Main picture: Turbopolsa, ViolentPanda and Kaydop with the NARLI 2 trophy / Credit: Marissa Roberto, Northern Arena