NRG has claimed the North American title for RLCS Season 6. After a considerably weaker season than the previous one, NRG had ended up in fourth place in League Play. Enough for the playoffs, but not enough for straight qualification for the World Championship in Las Vegas next month. They’d have to fight through fifth place finishers FlyQuest for a LAN spot first, and fight they did.
Tournament structure
- Single elimination
- Best-of-7
- Semi-final = World Championship LAN spot
Round of 6
The first series of the day was between Evil Geniuses and Ghost Gaming, the third and sixth place finishers respectively. EG had already proven they were a team to be reckoned with, and Ghost was reminded of that once more. Ghost wasn’t powerless, though. Wins went back and forth, but ultimately it was EG who secured their LAN spot with a 4-2 victory. G2 would await them in the semi-final. Ghost, after an underwhelming season, will have to go back to the drawing board. They will be back in Season 7 of RLCS League Play.
The second series was one many fans were waiting for. Was NRG picking up the slack, or would FlyQuest’s dream turn to reality? FQ had shown they could perform, and after the final weeks of League Play, some even predicted them to take the LAN spot over NRG. But they couldn’t have been more wrong. FlyQuest stood no chance. NRG looked like their old selves again, with a dominating performance and individual master classes. More importantly, however, NRG performed like a team again. They took FlyQuest down in an easy 4-0 sweep to claim the final ticket to Las Vegas.
Semi-finals
Then came the semi-finals between G2 and Evil Geniuses. While EG had already sent a warning sign not to underestimate them, G2 immediately reminded them that they were the defending champions. EG managed to challenge them for a spot in the Grand Final by winning two games in the best-of-7, but G2 held firm and finished off the series 4-2. EG would have to make do with a third or fourth place finish.
Then it was back to NRG, this time against Cloud9, considered to be the best North American team this season. But NRG showed they wanted to be in that conversation too. Straight off the bat, NRG won the first three games, forcing Cloud9 into a reverse-sweep situation. While Cloud9 won the next two games, they simply couldn’t keep up with NRG’s pace. Yet another series ended in 4-2 and sent Cloud9, for the second season in a row, to the third-place match against Evil Geniuses. The Grand Final, then, was to be between NRG and defending champions G2, a rematch from last season.
Third place match
To change things up just slightly, the third-place match wasn’t a 4-2 result. Cloud9 had no trouble with EG and took them out in a 4-0 sweep with a several-goal difference in every match. While EG deserves to be at the World Championships in a few weeks, Cloud9 showed them that they still have a ways to go to be considered a favorite.
Cloud9 ends season six as the third seed for North America, the same result as last season. They will play Europe’s second seed (TBD) in Las Vegas in the quarterfinals.
Evil Geniuses will play Oceania’s Tainted Minds (consisting of CJCJ, Express, and Shadey) one round earlier in the World Championship.
Grand Final
Guess what? 4-2 again. It seemed to be a trend in the regional finals this season. Both teams looked strong in the regionals and wins went back and forth at first. From 0-1 to 1-1 to 1-2. Then NRG started to dominate again. They pulled it back to 2-2 and continued to win the following two series convincingly, conceding just two goals while scoring 12.
G2, last season’s North American champions, had to turn over the championship and head to Las Vegas as the second seed. They will play Europe’s third seed (TBD) in the quarterfinals of the World Championship.
NRG, claiming their third RLCS NA championship, go to Las Vegas as the first seed and will be playing in the quarterfinals against the winner of the matchup between Oceania’s Chiefs Esports (Torsos, Drippay, and Kamii) and Europe’s fourth seed (TBD).
RLCS Season 6 World Championship bracket
