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Tech

It's a Great Time to Start Watching 'Rocket League' eSports

Car-soccer's video game championship is streaming right now.
Image: Psyonix

Cars playing soccer might not have caught on as a video game the first time around, but developer Psyonix's second attempt has become a blockbuster in just over a year. Rocket League has reached more than 20 million players, and the frenzied, three-on-three battles are fueling a rising eSports community.

The world's best players—many of them teenagers, all of them fabulously talented at four-wheeled footie—have converged in Amsterdam for this weekend's Rocket League Championship Series live finals, which are streaming right now and will crown a winner tomorrow. More than 6,000 squads signed up for open qualifying in September, but just four teams each from North America and Europe are battling it out to claim the top trophy and a sizeable cash prize.

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What might surprise you is that this has happened once before: we're already at the end of season two of the RLCS, with the first season unfolding earlier this year. Season one came to a roaring conclusion in Los Angeles in August, with North American team iBUYPOWER Cosmic overcoming late-season stumbles and the loss of a starter to ultimately win it all. And that team, anchored by early star Kronovi, didn't even make the playoffs this time around.

Image: Rocket League Championship Series

A devoted community has surrounded and helped build Rocket League's competitive scene since last year, but for casual observers who haven't been following the action, now is the perfect time to start paying attention. Not only has season two worked out some of the tournament's structural kinks and improved the already-sharp Twitch broadcasts, but the players and teams are also better and there's a lot more at stake: the total season prize pool is $250,000, up from $75,000 in season one.

Rocket League's early eSports success and seemingly significant potential ahead stems in large part from the fact that it's so accessible to watch and follow. It really is just soccer played with nitrous-boosted cars, and you don't need to have played the game to understand what's happening. That's in stark contrast to complex competitive games like Dota 2 or StarCraft II, and even better, the individual games only last about five minutes apiece.

There's no sluggish build-up period in competitive Rocket League: just rapid, relentless, and precise action. Rocket League is plenty fun for us average chumps with wheels on the ground, but top pros have essentially unlocked another game within the game, spending ample time in the air deflecting laser shots and bouncing perfect passes to each other. It's flashy, aspirational stuff that might put the gamepad back in your hands when the stream ends… or completely dash your car-soccer dreams. In any case, it's mesmerizing to watch.

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Image: Rocket League Championship Series

In the same way that you don't really have to understand the intricacies of soccer in order to be awed by a player scoring a goal with a scissor kick, you don't need to be a Rocket League expert to appreciate a seemingly impossible drop-in shot by an upside-down, spinning Batmobile that suddenly appears above the net.

And season two's most promising teams are both returning squads that fell short the first time around. Top-seeded Euro squad FlipSid3 Tactics lost to Cosmic in the S1 Grand Finals, but is back with a refreshed roster and plenty of motivation. Meanwhile, the trio recently acquired by NRG Esports—an organization advised by Shaquille O'Neal (Shaq!)—has the #1 NA seed yet again, after it fizzled out in last season's event under the name Kings of Urban.

Of course, seeding means little once two extremely talented teams get out onto the virtual pitch: in early morning action, we've already seen NRG defeated by #4 Euro team Precision Z in a Game 5 overtime stunner. NRG will have a chance to work back to an ultimate victory through the lower bracket, and we're sure to see more upsets throughout the weekend. Currently, however, the European teams are looking pretty dominant.

Image: Psyonix

In any case, these are the best of the best right now, and they're hungry to seal the deal on Rocket League's largest stage to date. Given the time zone difference with Amsterdam, the stream kicked off bright and early on Twitch at 7am Eastern this morning, and should continue on until about 3pm. Tomorrow's action starts off at 8am, meanwhile, and will showcase the later rounds before the Grand Finals between the top remaining team from each region.

Rocket League is an eSports sensation in the making, and if you haven't already watched the high-flying, top-level competitive action, this weekend should be the best showcase to date.