Rocket League, a 3v3 soccer match played with cars, is a game developed by Psyonix with one of the most proficient professional gaming leagues.

The most eventful and chaotic offseason has finished and it is time to see how the new teams and organizations performed on the pitch. In the first regionals of the season, North America, Asia-Pacific and Middle-East North Africa crowned their first winners. 

For Asia-Pacific, the highly touted newly formed trio of Oceanic transfer “Kamii”, European transfer “Virtuoso” and “ReaLize” won easily. They only lost a single game all weekend, as well as sweeping the playoffs.

In the MENA region, it was expected that the Falcons roster of “Ahmad”, “trk511” and “oKhaliD” were supposed to take the win as they had done all season. They struggled in the Swiss stage, going to round five and a win-or-go-home match to qualify for the playoffs. Once the playoffs started they looked stronger, but lost in the grand finals 2-4 to the roster of “Kiileerrz,” “Rw9.” and “Nadr.” 

However, the most anticipated region was North America. With some of the deepest competition that the region has ever seen, many teams fell short of expectations, but others exponentially exceeded them.

There were many notable off-season moves that happened over the past several months. “Retals” was publicly kicked off of Spacestation Gaming during Worlds, and vowed to do better this season. He duoed with “AYYJAYY,” who had also been kicked, as he was replaced on FaZe by “Mist.” 

The duo was picked up by Optic Gaming, and their new third is “Majicbear.” In the final off-season tournament, they placed well and looked to continue their momentum into the RLCS season. 

To replace “Retals,” SSG picked up “LJ,” who many described as just a slightly more mechanical carbon copy of the former player. But, the drama of SSG pales in comparison to the international talent coming to NA.

The best South American team of Furia, who finished top eight in the world the previous season, packing their bags and moving regions for better competition. European “CRR” joined the also previous South American team of Complexity. Finally, Gen.G joined Rocket league as they signed the roster of two European standouts in “Noly” and “ApparentlyJack” and then finished the team with the pick-up of bubble NA player “Chronic.” 

The trio is playing out of Canada and is representing one of the largest gaming organizations in the world. 

Getting into the action was the top-16 invitational qualifier, a qualifier in which multiple teams were snubbed of an invitation. Notably, the No. 17 seeded Shopify Rebellion roster was disappointed in their lack of an invite. 

The top eight teams automatically qualified for the regional, and those teams were SSG, Version 1, G2, Complexity, Optic, FaZe, Rouge and Dignitas. 

The best match of the first day was the revenge game for “Retals” as SSG and Optic faced off in round three. SSG ended any dreams of a win for Optic, winning 3-0 in a sweep.

Some notable teams that fell short were the international transfers Furia and Gen.G as well as the most beloved team in NRG. There was no need to panic yet for these teams, as they were headed to the closed qualifier in their second opportunity to punch their ticket to the regional. 

In the closed qualifier, the snubbed Shopify Rebellion went 3-0 to qualify and prove they are legit. The other teams to qualify were NRG, Furia, Gen.G, Pittsburgh Knights, Luminosity, Team AXLE and Sol. 

After this, the Fall Open for North America was officially set. On day one, the Swiss stage to qualify for the playoffs commenced. 

G2 and SSG went 3-0 to qualify, Gen.G, FaZe, and Shopify went 3-1, and V1, Furia, and Optic went 3-2. 

Optic’s run was the most nerve-racking, as they went down 0-2 on triple match points in the fifth round against Complexity. They fought back and completed the reverse sweep, winning game five 2-1 in overtime. 

With the playoffs set, Optic were given a chance to get revenge as they took on SSG, Furia faced G2, FaZe and Shopify went head-to-head and finally V1 was set to face Gen.G.

SSG once again took down their former teammate, winning 4-1. Shopify proved everyone wrong by making the playoffs, but their run ended at the hands of FaZe by a 4-2 series score. G2 took down Furia 4-2 and Gen.G beat V1 handily 4-1. 

In the semi-finals, FaZe took down the reigning best team in NA by a score of 4-1 and the two-third European powerhouse Gen.G beat SSG 4-1. 

The North American grand finals was set as FaZe clan took on the international transfers in Gen.G. FaZe looked like the best team in the world, winning the first regional with a clean 4-1 win over Gen.G.

“Firstkiller” solidified his argument as the top NA player and one of the best players in the world, “Mist” looked like the perfect pick-up for the team as he more than held his own and “Sypical” continued to be one of the most consistent players in all of the game. 

For many teams, it was not the result that was anticipated, but it was only the first regional of the long season. With how deep the region is this season, it will be ultra-competitive for the five spots available for each Major.