After a chaotic final split, our 16 major teams that will be heading to Boston in July have been finalized. The qualified teams have changed drastically in every region since the last major, with new teams from every region finding form at the end of the season now that it matters most.
Source: Rocket League Esports
In a dramatic third decisive regional in North America we saw the likes of G2, Version1 and FaZe miss out on a major spot. It will sadly be the first time that we will not be seeing G2 and FaZe at LAN since the start of the open circuit era.
The European qualification journey however was a lot less interesting. From the start it was clear that there was a large gap between the top and middle teams in Europe, and the top 5 stayed consistent throughout every regional in the split.
Let’s take a look at our Power Rankings to see who we expect to go far in this event.
RLCS 22-23 Spring Major Power Rankings
- Team Vitality
- Karmine Corp
- Team BDS
- Furia Esports
- Team Liquid
- Spacestation Gaming
- Gen.G Mobil1 Racing
- Complexity Gaming
- OpTic Gaming
- Moist Esports
- KRÜ Esports
- Rule One
- PWR
- Ground Zero Gaming
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Elevate
RLCS 22-23 Spring Major Favorites
There is a very clear favourite for the Spring Major, and that is of course the team that completed the regional grand slam for the first time in EU/NA history. Team Vitality have looked unbeatable in Europe, only dropping one series to Karmine Corp in the entire split. Picking up zen has easily been the best roster move of the season, and a victory in Boston would put him in the discussion for the greatest RLCS rookie of all time.
The fact that Spacestation Gaming are NA’s #1 seed despite being unable to win an event and only having one grand final appearance shows how widely spread out the points have been in NA this split, due to the top teams’ inconsistency. This inconsistency leads me to believe that we will yet again see European dominance in Boston.
Furia’s impressive victory in the Spring Invitational has for the first time this season proved that they are still able to challenge the best teams in the world. I see them as NA’s best hope for the major, which is ironic with them all being from Brazil. And even though they are NA’s strongest team, their chances of winning the event still look very slim.
In fact the only team that I can see having a chance against Team Vitality would be Karmine Corp. As previously mentioned, the Winter Major Champions were the only team that were able to take down Vitality in a series this split, despite losing the other three.
We know how hungry Vatira is to win, and the fact that his title of best player in the world is under threat will only make him more determined to take down Vitality in Boston.
Dark Horses and “Ones to Watch” in Boston
One exciting team that will be making their RLCS LAN debuts in Boston will be Rule One. After being so painfully close in the first two splits they have finally toppled the Falcons and have earned their chance to play on the main stage. With the Falcon’s gradual decline in form since their RLCS 21-22 Spring Major Grand Final appearance, it will be exciting to see how a different Middle Eastern team stacks up against international competition.
About a year ago in London we saw the miraculous lower bracket run of Moist Esports to win the Spring Major, and even though Joyo is now with 2 completely different teammates there is still a sense of magic that surrounds the Moist Esports name at LAN. Moist has been overshadowed by the french powerhouses all split online, but I think on LAN this team will find their true form and cause some heavy upsets.
Finally, a team that I am excited to watch playing on LAN is OpTic Gaming. The OpTic roster had to pull off an unbelievable reverse sweep against FaZe to qualify for Boston, and have been getting stronger all season, and are finally starting to reach their peak. We have seen multiple times how well Retals’ teams perform on LAN, and with the support of the Green Wall behind them I think they are destined to perform well at this event.