After announcing that South America would be part of RLCS Season 7 last month, Psyonix now revealed the Grand Series, SAM’s opportunity for a spot at the World Championship. The South American league will be hosted by Rocket Street in collaboration with Psyonix and will have a prize pool of $30,500. Of course, those who make it to the world championships will have another few hundred thousand to fight for.
We're proud to introduce the Grand Series, South America's path to the World Championship!
Want to find out how to qualify and what the schedule looks like?
Get all the info here 📰: https://t.co/3GBZyNZRJA pic.twitter.com/ixdYmFMDdb
— Rocket League Esports (@RLEsports) February 21, 2019
The Grand Series: SAM’s own league play
With the Grand Series, South America will have their own league play comprised of eight teams. Throughout March, Rocket Street will host the Grand Series open qualifiers, which will then lead into a weekly league play system starting on April 7 and lasting until May 5. This format follows the European and North American league play system with a minor change. The top six teams play in the regional championship, but instead of the top four, only the top two go to the world championships. This means that reaching the grand final of the regional championships is also their ticket to the world championships.
RLCS becoming more global
It’s fantastic to see South America getting recognized. While they’ll have a lot to prove before they can be considered in the same list as teams from EU, NA, and OCE, it’s great that they finally have that chance. The fans have asked for SAM’s inclusion for a long time and they will finally get to see their own region taking on the world’s giants.
Last month, we saw a South American team step up for the first time at WSOE4. Unfortunately, many players from South America could not attend due to visa issues, so a team of three individual professional players was thrown together to compete. Going up against the best teams in the world, this, of course, did not end well. Hopefully, this acts as a wake-up call to those planning to compete in the Grand Series. The RLCS world championship is expected to be held in June, so they have a few months to get their visas in order.
It’s exciting to see Rocket League growing in scope. Where it used to be between just North America and Europe, we’re now looking at a nearly global event. Once Asia is added somewhere down the line, the World Championship will finally be a worldwide competition.
