This month features a lot of notable esports events and the RLCS Season 8 Finals is one of them. Get ready for three days of high-octane, soccer-infused, racing madness. The world’s greatest Rocket League teams will all battle their way through the group stage with hopes of taking home the biggest share of the prize pool.

This year’s RLCS features the crème de la crème of Rocket League esports, with maybe one or two teams that underperformed in the regular season and lost their ticket to the finals. But this piece isn’t about the underperformers.

Our RLCS Season 8 Finals Preview covers the biggest biannual event in the world of Rocket League esports. We will talk about major aspects of the event itself, such as the prize pool info, team overviews, event format and schedule.

If you consider yourself a proper Rocket League esports fans, sit back, relax and soak in as much info as you can. In other words, buckle up RL cowboys, because this is going to be a bumpy ride!

RLCS Season 8 Finals Preview | Interesting Facts

• The event kicks off on Friday, December 13th and lasts until Sunday, December 15th. That’s the usual length of Rocket League Championship Series Finals and has been the standard ever since the third season.
• The ninth RLCS season is confirmed. The start date has not been officially announced just yet, but judging by the previous iteration of this biannual event, we can expect to see it sometime in June 2020.
• There’s $529,500 on the line, $200,000 of which goes to the winning team. The same prize pool was present for the seventh season with all previous iteration featuring much lower sums. That goes to show you the growth of the Rocket League esports scene. The full prize pool distribution is available right down below.
• With the recent Epic Games acquisition, people started talking about the eventual RLCS switch to a closed-off franchise system. Community opinions are divisive, but I, for one, wouldn’t mind having both NA and EU being franchised if it’s going to boost the success of RL esports, that is.

Prize Pool Distribution

As promised, here’s a closer look at the prize pool distribution:

Place	Prize
1st	$200,000
2nd	$120,000
3rd – 4th	$40,000
5th – 6th	$24,750
7th – 8th	$16,000
9th – 12th	$12,000

The Rocket League esports scene is continuing its massive development. To put things into perspective, RLCS Season 5 had just $250,000 in prize money, making this year’s prize pool more than 100% bigger.

Tournament Format

Next up on our RLCS Season 8 Finals Preview bucket list is the event format. As usual, the event kicks off with the group stage, featuring twelve teams split into two groups. Two best-placed NA and EU teams (four in total) start from the second winners’ round, with all other participants having to battle from the first round.

The group stage is played in a double-elimination bracket with all matches scheduled for best of five contests. The three best teams from each group advance to the playoffs. Group winners advance straight to the semifinals, while second and third-placed teams start from the quarterfinals.

The playoffs are Sunday, December 15th. This time around, we’re looking at a single-elimination bracket. At this point in the event, the stakes are even higher, so it’s not surprising to see all playoffs matches set for best of five contests.

RLCS Season 8 Finals Preview | Team Overviews

Moving on with our RLCS Season 8 Preview, let’s focus our attention on the most notable participants. As stated earlier, the Finals feature 12 participating teams, four of which (two best EU and NA regular season sides) start their journey from the second group stage round, the so-called Winners’ Semifinals.

While these four teams are the favorites in the eyes of many, there might be a few surprises that create upsets at the very beginning. That said, let’s check out the six prominent sides that have the best chance at reaching the playoffs!

NRG

Let’s start with NRG, arguably the best Rocket League team at the moment. They were superb in the regular season, losing only a single match against Rogue and portraying great form throughout the competition.

In addition to RLCS regular-season success, NRG also established itself as a force to be reckoned with on Rocket League Summit 1, winning the event after defeating Frontline in the grand finals. DreamHack Pro Circuit Valencia in July was also a massively successful event for NRG, despite the fact they lost to PSG in the grand finals.

In my opinion, the key factors for NRG’s success in the second half of 2019 are the two newest arrivals, Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver who joined the team in late July, and Emiliano “Sizz” Benny who joined the team as coach in the middle of the regular season.

Sizz brought forth a fresh approach after being benched on Rogue for quite a while, and it ought to show in the Finals. As for turbopolsa, he’s a consistent performer ever since he joined the rosterthere’s no doubt we’ll see more of his specialties in Madrid.

All in all, NRG is looking like the most dominant team coming into this event. They are in great form. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go all the way in Madrid. They have the firepower needed to tackle even the strongest of teams, that’s for sure!

Reciprocity

Even though they defeated the best European team, Renault Vitality, in the final match of the regular season, Reciprocity failed to finish on the top spot. However, that doesn’t mean a thing anymore. Fruity and the two French musketeers are in the second round, waiting for the winner of Spacestation vs. Canberra Havoc.

Even though their DreamHack Pro Circuit Montreal performance wasn’t up to their usual standards, I expect them to bounce back up and contest for one of six playoffs tickets in Madrid. This roster has been made for victories. I’m sure they’ll kickstart their era sooner or later. It’s just a matter of time.

Pittsburgh Knights

Let’s talk a bit about The Peeps. Or should I say Pittsburgh Knights? Yep, roughly two months ago, Pittsburgh Knights acquired one of the hottest NA teams out there, roughly a month after their incredible DreamHack Pro Circuit Montreal 2019 triumph.

By looking at their roster, consisting of ExplosiveGyro, retals and mist (with Moopy as the coach), there’s no lack of experience here. True, these fellas aren’t that well-versed when it comes to playing against top-tier teams, but they’ve been nothing but brilliant in asserting their dominance in Montreal.

If they can showcase more of the same in Madrid, which is going to be their first real RL journey, I wouldn’t count them out of the semifinals. They have that extra layer of swagger to their gameplay, which could quickly get them one of the six playoff tickets.

Vitality

As most of you know already, Renault Vitality is the current Rocket League Championship Series champion. A quick reminder – they won the seventh season after beating G2 Esports in a thrilling grand final best of seven contest.

Coming into RLCS Season 8 Finals, Vitality will once again fancy their chance of going all the way. It won’t be an easy task, though. Fairy Peak, Scrub Killa and Kaydop are all in great forms, but they weren’t as dominant during the regular season like they were last time out.

Losses against Dignitas and Reciprocity, especially the latter (massive 4:0 defeat), must’ve left some marks on Kaydop and the fellas. Still, knowing their experience and thirst for trophies, I doubt that’ll faze them and plague their performance in Madrid. They’re awaiting the winner of eUnited vs. Renegades, and realistically speaking, both teams could cause problems for the European side — especially Renegades, who are enjoying their stellar track record in the recent month or so.

Spacestation

Spacestation Gaming has been a solid performer in RLCS Season 8. They were second after the end of the regular season but failed to reach the playoffs’ grand finals after losing to Pittsburgh Knights in the semifinals. Still, they’re an adamant team to play against with the likes of AxB, Sypical and Arsenal leading the charge.

Chrome has been called up for the coaching spot in October, and he’s bound to make his tactical presence known in Madrid. If they can overcome Canberra Havoc in the opening round, they’ll go up against Team Reciprocity, and that could be anyone’s match as far as I’m concerned.

The Three Sins

Valt keeps playing the good old game of hot and cold with The Three Sins. He’s rejoined the team two times after reforming it together with math and matix in August. At the moment, TTS’ roster features the three of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another change before the next Friday.

Jokes aside, The Three Sins are in spectacular form, having won nine out of the last ten matches. True, most of their opponents weren’t top-tier teams, but wins are wins, and they can easily snowball. And that’s exactly the sort of scenario TTS need if they want to reach the playoffs and potentially make a proper name for themselves in Madrid.

Rocket League Championship Series Season 8 Finals | Schedule (CET)

The last section of our RLCS Season 8 Preview is sort of like a viewers’ guide for the upcoming Rocket League event.

Unfortunately, the exact start times of the first group stage matches haven’t been announced yet. Still, if you’d like to watch the live RLCS Season 8 Finals action, you can do so via Rocket League Twitch channel.

As for the schedule, here are all four-group stage matches that start on Friday, December 13th:

• Veloce vs. Lowkeye
• United vs. Renegades
• Spacestation vs. Canberra
• Dignitas vs. The Three Sins

The winners of the first match go up against NRG in the Winners’ Semifinals. The winners of the second match go up against Vitality, third against Reciprocity, and fourth against Pittsburgh Knights.

From the looks of things, we’re going to witness a lot of excellent matches right off the bat!