The RLCS Open Qualifiers are fast approaching, and the Ambassador crew at Rocket League Central thought we’d regale you with predictions about the opening round of RLCS action, taking place this weekend. I dare say that every Rocket League event that’s ever been held was nothing more than a warm-up for RLCS, so if you’ve never had a chance to tune into a pro Rocket League event before, this is a great place to start!

Games will take place on both Saturday April the 30th (North America) and Sunday, May 1st (Europe) on https://www.twitch.tv/rocketleague. Games will start at 1am CET (8pm EDT) on Saturday, and 6pm CET (1pm EDT) on Sunday. 

Let’s get on to the predictions!

One lesser known NA team will make it to the Group Stage

With over 6,000 teams competing in total and over 3,400 of them in the NA portion of the tournament we could hear of some new or, at least, lesser known names proceeding to the Group stage. The NA roster shuffle prior to RLCS may have left just enough of an opening for an unknown team to present themselves as a true challenger. Newly formed lineups, only having a few weeks to “gel”, may find themselves in a tough spot; simultaneously dealing with the pressure to live up to expectations while being targeted by lesser known competitors vying to break out on such a large stage. Additionally, fatigue due to the nature of the beast that is a full day qualifier means we may be in for some shockers in later rounds.

One team will have a near perfect Open Qualifier showing

I predict one team will go through the Open Qualifier into Group stage dropping 3 games total or less. A perfect run through the qualifier would be unlikely but, we could see an almost flawless performance from a top NA or EU contender. Teams such as: iBP Cosmic, We Dem Girlz, Supersonic Avengers, Kings of Urban, Mock-it (EU) & (NA), Flipsid3 Tactics, Orbit, and Crown and Jewels have all demonstrated their ability to sweep opponents. iBP Cosmic’s loaded lineup of super strikers Kronovi, Lachinio and Gambit have racked up a Rocket Royale and several Mockit tourney wins making them likely candidates for a strong qualifier finish. We Dem Girlz, with their impressive lineup of Maestro, gReazy and remkoe, have a good shot at near perfection after proving themselves worthy with back to back Rocket Royale wins. It’s safe to say, we’re in for some top notch Rocket League matches this weekend.

One of the top 4 European teams will not make it out of the Open Qualifier

I don’t like saying this, because every team in the top four in EU probably ought to make it to the LAN, but I have a deep, deep fear that someone between We Dem Girlz, FlipSid3 Tactics, Mock-It (EU), and Supersonic Avengers will be eliminated in the Open Qualifier. I want them all to progress, but I think it’s a simple matter of variance.

Let’s face it: Open Qualifiers are going to be an exercise in endurance, almost as much as it’s going to be about Rocket League skill. In a double elimination tournament you only get one redo, and when you’re required to play the number of games that we’re expecting in RLCS the margin of error is very, very narrow. If teams so much as blink, they may find that they’ve lost twice against an inferior opponent, and will be cast down into the lower bracket. Once a team hits the lower bracket, anything can happen, and I really do think that a big-name team from EU is not going to make it.

Here’s hoping I’m wrong, though.

Three surprise teams make it to the Group Stage

Following from my prediction above, if certain, well-known teams don’t make it to the Group Stage, that means that some teams we wouldn’t expect are going to be in. My prediction is that exactly 3 out of the 16 teams (in both regions) that make it out of the Open Qualifiers will be surprises.

Of them, I think 2 teams are going to be teams that have hovered in the 16-9 region of the power rankings for some time, who just have a favourable bracket and then over-perform in a single series, getting two wins against a clearly better opponent. That might be all it takes for a team like an Eff0rt, a Team Shazoo, or a Chemistry to make it to Group Stage. In RLC Pro League we had Failure to Launch slip in through an Open Qualifier and ultimately make the playoffs. The same will likely happen for RLCS.

Lastly, I’m predicting that there’s a team out there that no one has heard of, with 2 or 3 players that haven’t been playing competitively who will make it through Open Qualifiers. Maybe they’re SARPBC veterans, or maybe they’re not, but there has to be a team that stuns everyone. This is the team that I will be cheering loudest for.

Qualifier One will burst some serious bubbles

In reality, the Qualifier One results will do nothing except hand a pair of spiked cleats to the giants already stomping all over the scene. Teams like iBP and WeDemGirlz will profit from guaranteed spots in the Qual Two group stages and teams with consistency issues will already be broken from a full day's exhaustion and will fail when presented the extensive collection of memes from the pepe collectors and the choking hazards of a trying to take a full bowl of maKronovi and cheese.

Bubble teams and top seeds with well known tilt issues will not make it through the first tourney day. Their failures will cause some heartbreak, but more importantly may foster in the return of "The Great American Roster Shuffle". As serious players distance themselves from their former teammates for a second shot at glory, the natural selection of competitive play could see well known players from already ranked powerhouses and bubble teams alike forming new alliances to fight their way into the second group stage.

Taking notes from the current iBP grouping, the wheat will violently separate itself from the chaff, and rising from their astoundingly cute, little prepackaged bottles will come a few seriously powerful bubble lineups, some of which will be more than able to duke it out with the big boys as they fight to tear those last seed positions from the established teams that are having trouble standing on their own two feet.

Other than Winnie the "Qualifier 1" Pooh starting another Hundred-Agent Woods wildfire, the exhausting schedule of play may give the chance for well established teams to find their leadership. Teams like iBP may sport Kronovi or Gibbs as their mascot, but in recent time, Gambit has become one of the most dedicated and driven players in the NA scene. Flipsid3 may return once again to their former "untouchable" status if they can work out their issues. WDG may emerge even stronger at the end of the group stages, but regardless of the scores, the competition’s biggest winners will be the spectators as we get to watch each team's story unfold into the first ever RLCS.

#MakronoviAndCheese

A top 3 NA team won’t make it in.

Whether it be due to roster changes, not playing together for long, possibly simple exhaustion after 13 hours, one of the Top 3 NA teams will not make it into the Group Stage.  When you come into an unprecedented 13 hour tournament everything is up in the air. Teams come in thinking they’re prepared but 10 hours in, who will be tired, who will be distracted? After 10 hours Rocket League will become a chore teams will be hating life, and that's when the games will get tough, just as the exhaustion kicks in the good teams known and unknown will be all that remains.

I’m not predicting a shock team to go through, but after 10 hours any top 20 team could beat any other top 20 team and I think that upset i'll hit a big name from NA.

There will be no “Shock” teams that get in.

I don’t think a single unknown team will make it to the Group Stage, Now i’m not going so far to claim that every top 5 team will make it in or just the top 8, but I i will claim that the teams will all be top 20 teams who are known and composed of high ranked players. The odds for me of a team that no one has heard of composed of Blue star players making it to the Group Stages is so insanely low to me that it seems silly to write about. The only chance team’s like this have is the hope of easy matchups until the last 16 where it  might be late enough for both teams to make silly mistakes and play a high scoring wide open game.

Several top teams will miss out

I’ll be controversial here, but hear me out. I predict that at least five of the top 16 teams (NA and EU combined) won’t make it into the group stages of the RLCS. I don’t think this will be entirely down to performances, though. While we’ve seen a few large Rocket League tournaments, this is the first time that the top teams will be exposed to the harsh realities of major events ran by major corporations. With 6000 teams to filter through in just two days, there won’t be leniency in the rules, and I expect we’ll see at least one top team fall foul of the rules in some way. On top of that, with the 14 hour qualification day ahead, some teams just won’t be prepared for it physically or mentally. Personally, I think there’s every chance that several of the top teams will fall for one or the other of those reasons.

Unexpected teams will fill the void

I honestly think we’ll see a few teams emerge unexpectedly. When we ran the open play-ins for the RLC Pro League we saw one such team emerge in Failure To Launch, and that was from a far smaller sample. If we found one up-and-coming team from the 100-200 teams that participated then, it stands to reason that we’ll see a few teams appear that are good enough to make the cut here too. If my first correction is predict some lower teams have to make it through and fill those gaps. Why couldn’t it be teams in the top 20-30 range or below? On some occasions we’ve seen lower-ranked teams have the ability to hold their own against the lower top ten teams given the opportunity, and I think the RLCS qualifiers will afford those teams exactly that opportunity.

Team Rocket will qualify.

Call me mad, but knowing them, if they’re ever going to do well it will be in the biggest tournament Rocket League has seen to date.

Saturday’s Qualifier will be the most viewed Rocket League event in history.

And Sunday’s stream will be even bigger. The current record, to my knowledge, is the RLC Pro League Finals with just over 10,000 concurrent viewers. The official Twitch stream on /RocketLeague will likely double, if not triple these numbers. The in advertising for the RLCS has been off the charts, and will likely be even more with Twitch producing it. Front page of Twitch? Probably. In game advertising? Already there. The participation count? Will add even more to the already enormous number people planning to watch it, once they’ve been knocked out. Considering the limitations of all of the other broadcasts (barring the MLG Pro League back in the day) the production quality for the RLCS official stream will be far and above the rest. This, the larger eSports culture there, and the simple fact that EU is more competitive than NA currently will bring even more people to watch during Sunday’s stream, which is also conveniently timed for viewing in NA.

Groups will be populated entirely by well known teams

There has been lots of talk about the “dark horse” or “unknown” teams that people expect to make it into the group stages of the RLCS but I’m going to tell you why this won’t happen. The simplest reason is that they do not have the experience. Regardless of how good the individual players on a team are mechanically and strategically, they also need to be ready to endure a 13 hour day of competing at the top level. The top teams are only there because they have put in the time to get there. They’ve endured multiple 5-6 hour tournaments and sometimes 2 in one day. Judging from the Fantasy RLCS section on smash.gg there have been 23 teams from NA and 26 teams from EU seeded into the bracket. This means that those teams will not be facing each other until much later in the day, so you won’t see iBP knocking Onslaught into the lower bracket where they have to play Kings of Urban. I fully believe that we will not see a single team that’s not from these groups of seeded teams make it into groups. It very well may not be all teams we know as top 10 teams, but it will be teams that we do know from the pro scene.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I predict people will be mad about something and this will go longer than advertised.