Continuing from yesterday’s interviews we’re finishing up the lower side of the bracket with Kings of Urban versus Supersonic Avengers. The entire team of KoU got in on the action but I also wanted to get an outside perspective as well, so first up we’re going to hear from Remkoe, formerly of Spectral. Jacob, Moses and Fireburner will be second and finishing it off is ELMP of SA.


CjLink - Spectrals last week in the Pro League jumped you guys from last place to 6th, destroying Noble’s playoff chances. Playoffs notwithstanding, you’ve been playing a lot of tournaments recently and winning. We dem boyz/girlz has been placing in the top 4 and outright winning tournaments. Alongside you have been ⅔ of Supersonic Avengers, our topic for the interview. Their last match in the Pro League had them facing off against myXMG, which they lost 3-2 in close games. Did you get a chance to catch that game after yours on Sunday? Do you have any insight on what went wrong for SA?

remkoe - I did watch the series. About an hour before their match started Maestro came back from an 8-day vacation. The team seemed kinda rusty, not playing their usual playstyle, so I’m sure that had a lot to do with it. Well played from myXMG’s part though, I still thought SA was going to be taking that series.

CjLink - Overall the EU region seems to show a much deeper talent pool than NA. Many people are favoring all 4 EU teams in the matchups. Do you think the top EU players and teams are on a different level than NA?

remkoe - Yep, I do. I also see all four EU teams going to the semi-final. Having played against both the top EU and NA teams I think that if both parties are on point, the EU teams will have the upper hand here.

 

CjLink - Supersonic’s first matchup against an NA team in the playoffs will be Kings of Urban. KoU are the #1 seed coming in, but to say they’re the clear favorite would be unfair. How do you think the matchup will play out? Who do you think will the be key members on each team and how will the influence the outcome of the series?

remkoe - I have played against Kings together with Maestro and gReazy twice in a Mock-It tournament so far, and we’ve only dropped one game to them out of 8 games we played (can’t remember exact number as we played them twice in a double elimination tournament). Since I wouldn’t call myself the star player for we dem boyz/girlz, I do see SA taking this win. Kings is a very strong team though and in my opinion the best NA team, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are more used to the SA playstyle now and show some more resistance in the playoffs.

 

CjLink - If the Avengers make it through the first series they’ll find themselves matched up against either Flipsid3 or Untethered. SA has been the only team to take a series off F3 in the Pro League. Putting yourself in SA’s shoes, would you rather face Untethered, whom you’ve played very rarely, or Flipsid3? What are your chances against either team?

remkoe - Untethered for sure. Flipsid3 is still a very scary team especially when there’s a lot of money/pride on the line in a big tournament like this. Sure they lost to SA in a league match, but if they play each other in the playoffs it’s gonna be a very close and intense match. Both teams are my favourites of winning it all.

 

CjLink - On the other side of the bracket C&J will be taking on Failure to Launch and iBP will be facing myXMG. What are your predictions for these games? What deciding factor will push those teams to victory?

remkoe - Since C&J can’t play with their new lineup in the RPL playoffs, I think FTL has a decent chance of taking some games here but highly doubt they will knock out C&J first round. iBP vs myXMG is gonna be very close I think. myXMG is a team that works incredibly well together and I have a feeling iBP is going to underestimate them. I don’t think they’ve ever played each other with full lineups so it could go either way really, but still think myXMG will pull through.

 

CjLink - ELMP, Maestro and gReazy have all had their own outstanding weeks and games throughout the Pro League. Maestro and gReazy hold the 8th and 9th spots for assists per game, ELMP and Maestro are 7th and 5th for shots per game and ELMP and Maestro are 7th and 10th for goals per game. Which of the 3 players do you think needs to show up biggest in the playoffs, be it to carry the team or to match their teammate’s play?

remkoe - There’s gonna be people disagreeing with me here, but I have to say it’s gotta be gReazy. When gReazy has a good day and he’s motivated to win he can be the key player for any lineup he plays in. If he’s on point that day he’s gonna be playing incredibly fast on every ball with accurate hits, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s going to be the case.

 

CjLink - With all the money on the line and the pride of winning Season 1, who is your overall favorite for the tournament?

remkoe - Supersonic Avengers ;)

 

CjLink - I’m very curious how things are going to shape up for yourself, as well as all other players when the RLCPL is over. Do you have any plans to change teams, know of any roster swap news that you can share or any insight on SA themselves? If you could take 2 players from any of the teams to form your own team, who would form that team?

remkoe - Yes, I have had my plans set ever since I left Spectral. It was going to be a secret until after the playoffs but nearly everyone involved in the competitive scene has found out about it so I don’t think it’s a problem to give you something “official” about it here. It’s obvious to most, but I will indeed be teaming up with some of the members from SA. More information after the playoffs.

 

CjLink - Thank you very much for your time in answering these questions! Looking forward to seeing you in future leagues/tournaments!

 

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CjLink - Jacob, KoU has had a little time off from RLCPL, but I’ve noticed you’ve been playing in both Gfinity and Mockit. Plenty of practice, and some good showings. Your losses in both came at the hands of EU teams, combinations of teams that will be competing this coming Sunday. Was the practice beneficial or does it expose a weakness to EU playstyle?

Jacob - We have decided to participate in both Gfinity and Mockit due to a lack of practice as a team recently and playing against EU teams has come as a bonus. In Gfinity we were knocked out by myXMG who were using Miztik as a sub. In Mockit we were eliminated by Supersonic Avengers + remkoe. We have not been able to beat Supersonic Avengers + remkoe in the two series we have come up against them, but being able to see their fast paced team play has given us ideas of how to take down Supersonic Avengers this Sunday in the playoffs.

 

CjLink - Fireburner, Kings of Urban has secured the #1 seed form NA going into the playoffs. The 4-1 victory for Untethered over iBP secured your top spot. Having already known the top 4 from EU, would you have prefered to face myXMG or Supersonic Avengers first? How will iBP fare against myXMG?

Fireburner - If I’m being honest I think we would have preferred ending up with the 2nd seed in NA instead. We ended up getting placed in the bottom half of the bracket which includes a first round matchup against SA who could easily be considered as #2 EU and then a matchup against winner of F3/Untethered. To answer your question though I think we would have preferred to play against myXMG, not because I think they are a weaker team but because we are much more aware of their playstyle and have played them plenty of times before in scrims. To lead on from that, I believe that myXMG will be able to beat iBP in a bo7 series because I think that iBP may underestimate XMG and be overwhelmed by how good they actually are and their unique playstyle. The only thing I worry about XMG is how they will handle the matches on NA servers since they tend to get bad ping on them.

 

CjLink - Your turn, Moses. Although they lost their last series 3-2 to myXMG, Supersonic Avengers still look to be a huge obstacle in your path to the finals. Do you see yourselves taking the series? What’s the key to victory going to be?

Moses - I think as long as we keep practicing this week and keep to our normal play we can beat them. SA have a really fast play style that has given us trouble when we play them with remkoe. The biggest thing we need to do is control the pace by keeping our rotations in, if we do that we will win for sure.

 

CjLink - Back to Fire. Your team leads NA in total goals scored at 98 and is second place overall behind Flipsid3 by 3 goals. You lead the team with 39, Jacob and Moses having scored 29 and 27, respectively. What is it that allows you to continue scoring so many goals each week? Are the setups from your teammates excellent, do they play around you in an attacking role or are you just that good?

Fireburner - I think it’s due to my positioning when we are on the attack since most of the time I try to set myself in a goal scoring scenario but of course I wouldn’t be able to do this without both my teammates. Jacob and Moses both play a selfless playstyle so both of them always try to set the others up for a goal.  Nobody on the team really cares about who ends up scoring the goals as long as we end up with the win. We are generally a high scoring team but as you pointed out all 3 of us have almost an equal share of the goals scored.

 

CjLink - Jacob, any plans to release another dance video? I’ve been working on my moves but can’t get down like you can…

Jacob - After my previous performance of Circle performed by Lil Ronny MothaF I have decided to further my career in dancing. My current thought is to move into music videos for rappers such as DMX, Drake, and Snoop Dogg. I feel that my current portfolio of a single performance on Twitch.tv will be more than enough to secure a spot as a main dancer for one of these performers. Luckily for you, I will be offering private lessons as well and will teach you how to dance to songs like Where the Hood at, Gin and Juice; and everyone’s favorite, Hotline Bling.

 

CjLink - Okay, serious again. Fireburner, EU barely edged out NA in the All Star Game on Sunday, yourself participating. There’s been talk that EU can sweep quarters and we would have a semis without any NA teams. Do you believe there’s a skill disparity between the two regions?

Fireburner - I think there is a possibility of that happening but at the same time there could be more NA teams in the semi-finals than expected. It just depends on who is on form that day. I don’t really believe that there is a skill gap between the top teams in NA and the top teams in EU but I do think there is, unfortunately, a skill disparity between the two regions as whole. For instance, aside from the top 3 teams in NA I don’t see any other team taking a bo5/bo7 series off of a top 6/7 EU team at the moment.

 

CjLink - Moses. Your biggest NA competition, iBUYPOWER Cosmic, will be taking on myXMG as the number 2 seed for the region. ⅔ of XMG were your downfall in Gfinity recently. How do you see iBP’s chances? What will be the deciding factor in the series?

Moses - IBP has a chance I would say but I think it comes down to how XMG are playing that day. All three members love getting little touches all over the place and if they aren’t playing well it throws off their rotations. With XMG even at 75% though, I think it would be a sure win for the European boys.

 

CjLink - Alright Jacob, you get the FTL v C&J matchup. The ultimate underdogs from NA against the #1 seeded powerhouse. Keep in mind that the lineup will be Paschy, Killer and Sikii. I have this as my upset of the week with Failure to Launch taking a win, but Killerno7’s recent play with the team makes me doubt my choice. What do you think the outcome will be? Who will be the key player for each team that can turn the tides in their team’s favor?

Jacob - FTL is the clear underdog in the series but I think they can pull off the upset. Even though C&J has pulled an insane amount of wins in the EU side of proleague, the recent performance of FTL is not something to look over. I think the outcome will be close but C&J will be able to come up on top. Paschy will be the key member of C&J as well as Genocop for FTL.

 

CjLink - Everybody together now, but one at a time please. I feel that the big topic of the week will be somewhat inapplicable to you. Teams are changing, dramatically. Gambit is “LFT”, Apollo 11 is split, Mock has already announced their new lineup. Will you be adding a sub to your roster, or are there any plans for starting roster changes? What team, with the current free agents, do you think would be the strongest?

Fireburner - We don’t have any plans on adding any subs to our roster even with all the new free agents nor do we plan on changing the starting roster anytime soon. We believe that this lineup has really good chemistry in game and we are all really good friends with each other outside of it which is a great and rare combo to have in a team. With the current free agents available in NA maybe a team consisted of Gambit, Amoney and Huskih would be a strong combination but if I’m honest I don’t see any mix of 3 free agents contending for top 3 in NA as things stand.

Jacob - Our team has become close friends and we don’t see a need, at this time, to pick up a sub or to change our starting line up. As for the free agents, I don’t feel like many combination of free agents could compete with the top teams in NA. I feel that a team consisting of Gambit, Flow, and Engima_Please, if he’s still playing this game, I haven’t seen him around, could be well rounded enough to compete, but only if they could gel well as a team.

Moses - No plans for us yet, but when it comes time and Jacob leaves us to pursue his twerking passion we will be looking for a new third. As for the current shuffle I don’t see any combination braking top 3 for a little bit. If I was going to make a team with the available free agents I would have Huskih, Gambit, Klassux.

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CjLink - Thanks for taking time to talk us ELMP. Your team, Supersonic Avengers, finished the season as the 4th seed for EU. After an impressive 3-2 victory over F3 you suffered a 2-3 loss to Noble (with Snaski playing for Maestro). Week 7 matched you up against myXMG, another 2-3 loss. The team had been looking very strong but started to suffer some minor setbacks there at the end. Do you have an explanation for the small decline?

ELMP - Our team has suffered some handicaps due to Maestro’s vacation and my computer performance issues. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. MyXMG improved a lot so they managed to beat us. Also, the lack of pressure might have led to our loss since we had already qualified for the playoffs. These teams haven’t qualified for Pro League for no reason. So, sometimes you just have to live with a loss and try to improve for the next matchup.

 

CjLink - That #4 seed pits you against NA’s #1, Kings of Urban. They have shown to be the most consistent team from NA, and recently have been competing against the EU teams in other tournaments, though not to the same success they’ve seen against NA. Do you think they will be a significant challenge for your team or just the first stone in the path to the finals? Any key matchups you see between your players and theirs?

ELMP- We’ve already played KoU and their players on various teams. Therefore we know what to expects. I guess we have a good chance to beat them but you should never underestimate a #1 team. They will give us a hard fight. Nevertheless I am confident that we can take the win. We have also gather some experience on NA servers due to Mock-It League, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Based on our fast playstyle and our offensive strength I can say that we might have an advantage due to the defensive playstyle of the NA players. But bear in mind that KoU is the offence power of NA and their counter abilities will give us the already mentioned “hard fight”. I don’t see any specific key matchups and I guess it will all come down to the different playstyles in general.

 

CjLink - The All Star Game on Sunday showed that the top voted players from each team were almost exactly even, though the slight favor was EU’s. EU is touted as having a much deeper talent pool than NA, but there is debate about the top players. Do you believe there’s better high level talent in EU or does it get too close to tell at the very top? In general, is EU better than NA at Rocket League?

ELMP - First of all I don’t think that the Allstar match tells us which region got the better players. NA surely has some really talented players but I would like to point out that even in American tournaments we mostly see European teams fighting for the big prize. Overall I would say that there are less high quality teams in America than in Europe. Still some of the best teams and players from America can compete on the same level with Europeans, however the number of teams who are able to do so is significantly lower

 

CjLink - If you do manage to win the quarterfinals, you’ll be facing the better of Untethered or Flipsid3. Which of these two teams do you think will make it through and what are your chances against them? Does your team hold any advantage in the matchup?

ELMP - I guess F3 will make it due to their great teamplay and passing efficiency. Thanks to our win against F3, I can say we have a chance to beat them even though they are one of the most dangerous teams out there. Our advantage could be, once again, our fast pace while our lack of defence could cause us the loss if we don’t watch out for the combined power of F3. We concede many open goals overall and F3 loves to score those. In the case of a win for Untethered I can’t give any preliminary considerations because we haven’t played them yet.

 

CjLink - The top side of the bracket will see C&J face FTL and iBP up against myXMG. Can you share  some predictions for these matchups with us?

ELMP - Quick predictions: C&J and iBP will move up in the bracket. I’d like to mention that iBP and myXMG will be a great match and myXMG is also able to take that win. I am a bit in favor of iBP for our American viewers though.

 

CjLink - How are we supposed to pronounce your name? I personally prefer to just call you Lamp, but there has been quite a bit of discussion on the topic.

E.L.M.P - It is written in caps “ELMP” so you say it like “E-L-M-P”. The name is based on initials. Back in the days of SARPBC all my friends called me “Lamp” and I also like that name. So you may pronounce my name however you like to.

 

CjLink - There are some highly anticipated team matchups this weekend, pretty much all of them honestly. I’m curious about the best players on the teams though. Who do you believe are the strongest players in the tournament?

ELMP - I don’t like the question about the best player in Rocket League or the Pro League because there is no way to find the best one by means of statistics or simple observing. It’s impossible to see in detail what the player is capable of or what he adds to the teamplay. All players play on a very high level and the differences are minimal. On top of that, various playstyles make it hard to determine a few players who might shine out. That’s why I won’t make any predictions about players. Besides that, I am sick of the question, “Who is better? Kronovi or Kuxir?”

 

CjLink - Thanks again for answering all of these questions. One thing that has been heavily discussed around the league is team changes. Does SA have any roster changes in the works that you can share? If you could pick any 2 teammates to play with you, which would they be and why?

ELMP - The topic “Roster changes” is very controversial in our team. Of course I can’t talk about the future of SA because I have no clue what every single player has planned. All I can say is that you might not see SA as the current lineup. We are still all friends but we had some conflicts of opinions in terms of behaviour in eSports, especially after a loss. On top of that I won’t name my dream team because that isn’t possible at the moment. I could imagine teaming with many players but for now I will have to be patient.

 

CjLink - Luckily for both of us, we got to do this after the HUGE announcement from Psyonix. I know you know, but for everyone out of the know, Psyonix has announced a partnership with Twitch and they will be bringing us the Rocket League Championship Series. Two months of qualifiers, with two $10,000 prize pools, leading into a $55,000 LAN event for the top 8 teams. Talk to me about your reaction to this epic event.

ELMP - Finally we know what Psyonix has planned for the eSports of Rocket League. That is a huge step for a serious and entertaining new way to experience our favorite game. RLC, ESL, MLG and many others laid the foundations for the general interest in RL eSports and now Psyonix and Twitch are taking it to the next level. I hope we will see many great matchups, great casting and of course fun for all participants. I can’t wait to take part in this big event even though I am a bit worried about SA’s future in particular. I already know that we might not participate as the current lineup, so we will see what the future holds for us. In addition I hope to see many new teams and players who can compete on the top level for a better competition.

 

 

That wraps up this matchup and I’ll be bringing you a new one tomorrow!

-CjLink