Universal Open Season 2 regional finals recap

After an exhilarating qualification period, we now know all finalists for the biggest 2v2 Rocket League tournament, the Universal Open Season 2. Eight teams fight for a $100K prize pool: four from Europe, and four from North America, each representing one region. There’s US Northeast, US East, US Central, and US West.

The finals are set to be played from August 24th-26th and will be broadcast on YouTube, Twitch and live television.

After two open qualifiers, sixteen teams fought their way into the closed qualifiers. Only the top four were to play in the regional finals, and only the winner of that regional final qualifies for the live final later this month.

A quick recap per region.

US East

While the team expected to take first place did indeed come out on top in US East, there is reason to be excited for some of the players representing the region.

G2 Esports (Jknaps and NRG’s GarrettG) won both the closed qualifiers and the regional finals, but not without problems. They faced Splyce (Jwismont and Karma) in the first round and went all the way to game five before they moved onto the winners’ final.

Here, however, they met Sathstroh, a team consisting of Satthew and Astroh. The relatively unknown players showed that they were not to be underestimated and are names to look out for in the upcoming seasons. They took down G2 (again in game five), and sent them to the losers’ final. G2 would now need a bracket reset to reach the grand final, against that same Sathstroh team.

In the losers’ final, they went down 0-2 in the series against another team of lesser-known players: Rapid and the thirteen-year-old Firstkiller. G2 pulled it back, however, and managed a reverse sweep to face Sathstroh in the grand final once more.

Something must have happened during that reverse sweep, because G2 had no problem with Satthew and Astroh this time around, defeating them soundly with a 3-0 sweep and forcing a bracket reset. They took the second series 3-1 and qualified for the live finals.

Winner: G2 Esports (Jknaps/GarrettG)

US Northeast

There were several excellent teams in this region, but there were no surprises at the top. Established names from RLCS and RLRS made their way to the regional finals, with two absolute monsters taking first place in the closed qualifiers: Torment (Cloud9) and Fireburner (NRG). At the regionals, however, they were taken out by FlyQuest (PrimeThunder and Wonder) rather quickly. This cleared a path for Ghost Gaming (Lethamyr/Memory) who met Flyquest in the winner’s final and the grand final, beating them 3-1 in a best-of-5 both times.

While many expected Torment and Fireburner to make it to the live finals, it doesn’t come at a great surprise that Ghost made it instead. Lethamyr has repeatedly proven he is an exceptionally good player, and having picked up Memory for RLCS next season, it shows he is a good judge of which players synergise well with him.

Winner: Ghost Gaming (Lethamyr/Memory)

US Central

No upset here. The clear-cut favourite made it. Though the regional finals did have some unexpected teams fighting for representation of the region, Cloud9 (SquishyMuffinz/Gimmick) is head and shoulders above the rest.

The only team expected to challenge them was Evil Geniuses (CorruptedG and Klassux), who lost to the two fairly unknown players Bork and Savvyseal twice. While even Cloud9 needed game five to defeat the latter in the winners’ final, they swept them 3-0 in the grand finals and cruised their way to the live finals. Cloud9 is one of the favourites to win the entire tournament, and for good reason.

Winner: Cloud9 (SquishyMuffinz/Gimmick)

US West

West was the most stacked region in North America with three teams from RLCS and one team recently relegated to RLRS. Don’t let that fool you, though. Momentum (Dappur/Mijo) are still exceptional players, and Mijo even found himself a spot on G2 as a sub next season.

There were no clear favourites here, so every match-up could have gone either way. In the end, maybe just slightly surprisingly, Dappur and Mijo took first place after taking down Sizzleurcob (Rogue’s Sizz and Jacob), Evil Geniuses (Chicago/Klassux), and Evil Geniuses again in the grand final.

The biggest surprise, perhaps, was G2’s (Kronovi/Rizzo) quick exit after losing in game five to Evil Geniuses in the first round and getting swept by Sizzleurcob in the losers’. With Dappur and Mijo we have yet another dangerous and aggressive duo at the live finals.

Winner: Momentum (Dappur/Mijo)

Europe

Where North America was split up across regions, Europe was all bundled together. This led to an incredibly deep qualifier with sixteen teams in just one double elimination tournament. But it wasn’t just RLCS players in the tournament. A lot of underdogs managed to fight their way in and, surprisingly, put the established players’ skills to the test.

The first big team to fall was Renault Vitality (Paschy90/Fairy Peak!), who were considered to be one of the favourites. Next was Dignitas (last year’s winners and RLCS world champions ViolentPanda and Kaydop), and thirdly Dignicats (Dignitas’s Turbopolsa and ex-Envy’s Remkoe).

While many strong contenders were still in it, the biggest competitors were already thinned out. The finals, then, ended up as a mix of underdogs and favourites.

The first final

The first team to qualify for the live finals was NoNames (Freakkii/Killerno7). The two Germans had already sent Dignitas to the lowers and defeated Class on Grass (underdogs Kassio and Ronaky) in game five overtime in the final, earning a ticket to the live finals.

The second final

The second final was arguably the best 2v2 series ever played: CompLexity (Mognus/Metsanauris) versus Girls (gReazy/Scrub Killa). This series was the pinnacle of Rocket League between four top players from RLCS. No words can describe the absolute madness these players conjured up on the pitch. It went all the way to game five overtime, where Girls took the win and qualified for Vegas. It’ll be Scrub Killa’s first major LAN as a player, and he’s a strong contender to take the entire tournament.

The third final

The third team was guaranteed to be an underdog, as it was Class on Grass versus Method (Rix Ronday/Borito B). The two Dutchmen played in RLRS last season but ended at a disappointing seventh place. Not especially no-names, but not established among the top players either.

This series ended up at yet another game five, where Method got outclassed 3-1 in the final game. Class on Grass made their way to the live finals over the likes of Vitality and PSG, showing the world just how deep Europe’s talent runs. Unfortunately, the following day, Kassio announced that he wouldn’t be able to make LAN due passport issues. Instead, Ronaky was allowed to bring Tadpole, his teammate from Triple Trouble, as a substitute. They also, fittingly, changed the team name to Double Trouble for the occasion.

The fourth final

The fourth match was one where we wish both teams could make it: CompLexity versus Fnatic (Snaski/Maestro). Another RLCS final. And, you guessed it, another game five overtime. This series gave the match between CoL and Girls a run for its money for the title of the best 2v2 game ever played. The level was absurdly high and it was honestly a shame that one team wouldn’t make it.
In the end, Metsanauris scored the winner for CompLexity by forcing an own goal during a struggle towards Fnatic’s net, sending the two Finns to Las Vegas, and the Danes home.

Qualified:

Europe

• NoNames (likely to be renamed Team Secret) (Freakkii/Killerno7)
• Girls (gReazy/Scrub Killa)
• Double Trouble (Tadpole/Ronaky)
• CompLexity (Mognus/Metsanauris)

North America

• G2 Esports (Jknaps/GarrettG)
• Ghost Gaming (Lethamyr/Memory)
• Cloud9 (Squishy/Gimmick)
• Momentum (Dappur/Mijo)

You do not want to miss the finals on August 24-26.