Rocket League Championship Series

The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is a biannual Rocket League video game tournament series produced by Psyonix, the game's developer. It consists of qualification rounds in North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania, and culminates in a playoff bracket with teams from those regions. The qualification rounds are played as an online round-robin tournament and the finals are played live in different cities. The Season 9 championship in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with other online events being held in place of it.

Rocket League Championship Series
GenreRocket League tournament
FrequencyBiannual
Location(s)Varies
Years active2016–present
InauguratedSeason 1, 2016
Most recentSeason 9, 2020
Participants32
Organized byPsyonix
Websitewww.rocketleagueesports.com

History

Psyonix had observed the popularity of Rocket League matches on Twitch and other live streaming platforms by early 2016 and were looking to use the game more in esports.[1] In March 2016, Psyonix announced the first Rocket League Championship Series; the finals took place in August 2016 with a US$55,000 prize pool.[2][3] The second season of the championship series took place in December 2016 with a $125,000 prize pool.[4] A third series began in March 2017, with the $300,000 prize pool finals taking place three months later. In this season, two teams from the oceanic region were also invited to compete.[5]

A second division, the Rocket League Rival Series (RLRS), was added in Season 4. The two teams finishing at the bottom of the RLCS and the two teams finishing at the top of the RLRS for each region play each other in a promotion tournament at the end of the season to determine if teams are promoted or relegated. At the advent of Season 5 in June 2018, Psyonix organised and managed the event alone. Previous to this, they partnered with Twitch. Season 6 started in September 2018 and featured a million dollar prize pool.[6] For Season 7, Psyonix introduced South America as a new region.[7] Season 8 took place in December 2019. The Season 9 championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with winners of the regional championships being considered the champions.[8] In July 2020, Psyonix announced a new format for the tenth season of RLCS, known as RLCS X. This format league play in favor of teams earning points through three regional splits, all culminating in three seasonal majors.[9]

Results
Season Dates Location Champions
1 April – August 2016 Los Angeles iBUYPOWER Cosmic[10]
2 October – December 2016 Amsterdam Flipside Tactics[11]
3 April – June 2017 Los Angeles Northern Gaming[12]
4 September – November 2017 Washington, D.C. Gale Force eSports[13]
5 March – June 2018 London Dignitas[14]
6 September – November 2018 Las Vegas Cloud9[15]
7 April – June 2019 Newark Renault Vitality[16]
8 October – December 2019 Madrid NRG Esports[17]
9 February – April 2020 Dallas Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[18]
10 TBA TBA TBD
gollark: It's okay, but it looks kind of flat somehow.
gollark: Maybe add a liquidy texture inside them and add a kind of metal-looking frame?
gollark: Yeah. They're a bit bland.
gollark: Dnomiad is diamond backward.
gollark: Dnomaid.

References
  1. Hussain, Tamoor (February 15, 2016). "Rocket League Dev Explains New Esports Drive". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  2. Makuch, Eddie (March 2, 2016). "Rocket League Pro League Announced, Offers $75,000 in Prizes". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  3. Lemmon, Kyle. "Introducing the Rocket League Championship Series". Rocket League. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  4. Faletti, Ian. "FlipSid3 Tactics conquer RLCS Season 2 grand finals". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
  5. Minotti, Mike (February 7, 2017). "Rocket League Championship Series season 3 will have a $300,000 prize pool". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  6. "Introducing RLCS Season 6". rocketleagueesports.com. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  7. Nowakowski, Ian (January 29, 2019). "Introducing RLCS Season 7". Rocket League. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  8. Ocal, Arda. "RLCS championship canceled due to coronavirus outbreak". ESPN. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  9. Jones, Alistair. "Rocket League Overhauls Its Entire Esports Structure". Kotaku. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  10. Faletti, Ian. "A chat with Season 1 champions iBUYPOWER Cosmic". ESPN. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  11. Faletti, Ian. "FlipSid3 Tactics conquer RLCS Season 2 grand finals". ESPN. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  12. Hayward, Andrew. "Northern Gaming on Their RLCS Win and What's Next". Red Bull. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  13. Parker, Max. "Gale Force's RLCS win marks new era in Rocket League supremacy". post-gazette.com. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  14. Mejia, Ozzie. "Team Dignitas Wins Rocket League Season 5 Championship After Wild Final Flurry". Shacknews. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  15. Mejia, Ozzie. "Cloud9 shocks Team Dignitas to win Rocket League Season 6 Championship". Shacknews. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  16. Mejia, Ozzie. "Renault Vitality wins Rocket League Season 7 Championship". Shacknews. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  17. Mejia, Ozzie. "NRG Esports wins Rocket League Season 8 Championship". Shacknews. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  18. "Rocket League developer boosts prize pool after canceling event". Reuters. Field Level Media. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
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