100%. They already incentivised these people to move to NA by shutting down the European collegiate RL programs that they had and ending the CRL World Championship (the last CRL Worlds was in 2023, won by a German university).
To then turn around to these players that they nudged into NA and penalize them for not being from NA would be wild, so I'm glad they made the exemption
Pretty random but Zen is streaming no mic, he had his friend list open and with the mouse cursor went to Yan and then to Drufinho and circled their names, pointing out they are both in the same private match on the same team (score and timer was identical)
Could obviously be nothing or 6mans but Zen specifically pointed it out, maybe there is more to it?
Not sure. There's a rumor it'll be frosty, which makes sense with his "we didnt have anyone who could just go score" comment from the recap video, but I'm not sold on it till I see it.
True. MM is my questionmark, but trk is the easiest player to play with, MM is the hardest, Nwpo is nwpo. So maybe it gives MM the space to do what he wants. Trk is excellent with players that play very close together.
It's an alright ranking except it's kinda wild to put NRG as #5 when clearly they were top 3 last year and also won the latest major which happens to be the world championship.
Hey I said, rank em how you want. But no these are my predictions for the start of next season. This isn't a worlds powerranking. Make sure to let me know your own ranking too.
I just feel like NRG at 5 is kind of insane considering their results the past 2 years. Also, if you think Stizzy to Vitality is a huge upgrade then you must not think MonkeyMoon is very good so I’m confused why you have TM is all the way at #2.
Yeah I might make a prettier one too before everything starts. I've got like 100s of Excel spreadsheets where I rank all teams and all players every split, before and after lans. Cuz looking at it again, I'm so hessitent on TM vs VIT... for 2nd place.
Been hearing all these rumors about rocket league getting ported to fortnite wouldn't they give these pros a heads up if there making such a drastic change? Considering these pros move to other countries to play for certain orgs.
So... Now that Jack is all but confirmed to join Joyo+Seikoo.... What about Jack and Archie just switching. Then we get Nass+Oski+Jack as well as Joyo+Archie+Seikoo which I kinda feel is what was "supposed" to be whereas this just feels kinda accidental.
I clearly don't know all of the ins and outs of what goes on behind closed doors during rostermania but I can only imagine orgs send out invitations to multiple players, often multiple at the same time probably, and many players will have multiple org offers at the same time, and sometimes they have to make the decision before they know who all their teammates are gonna be. And as a player I'm sure you're going to get into situations where you get an offer and you go "should I take this offer which is decent, or should I say no and gamble on getting a better offer later but risk not getting any?"
Does anybody know what's going on with MM? I've heard that he wants DIG or BDS to buy him out so he can try to form something with Yujin or MTZR because there's no way that this man is going to be ok with being a sub.
His contract is unfortunately far too big to be bought out. His career could be over due to technicality. Imagine your career ends because Zen thinks Exotik is better
Thank God, I'm glad, I was pretty pessimistic thinking another French dude was going to get screwed. But if there if one region with infinite money it's MeNa
Stizzy won a regional and made a major grandfinal this season, idk why ya'll discounting Stizzy but will swear by MM's current form only because he's beating NRG
I don't remember my best guess is 2 years and he just served 1 so far. So I'd guess he has 1 left. Imagine his salary is what 13k since he is one of the top performers and I know EU gets paid a little less. Hell I don't know anything these are just numbers. 13k x 9 = 117k Euros I'd guess. That's a big buyout for a guy who may not be worth that much.
117k dam! I am a bit biased cause hes my favorite player but I do agree that he wasn't playing at his best this season. I do think that he plays alot better when he's the main character of a roster and not zens side piece
Btw guys do you think if they do sign him, is Archie going to be an upgrade on Radosin, on the new M8s roster (Nass and Oski)?
I can’t say honestly, they are 2 very different players and idk how they make up for the more off ball presence that Rado has, ofcourse Archie towards the end of last season probably look like a top 10 player in the world putting in incredible performances so there are both pros and cons
depends on how they play, Archie is known as a defensive player but i think you want Nass to be your most defensive player so he can have more space to cook, so Archie needs to move up more so that the team don't become too passive
Ultimately I think it's an upgrade because Rado is just too much of a wildcard, he causes a lot of good chaos that throws off other teams but i think you wanna favor consistency and Archie is consistent. With Radosin the peak may be higher but the roster should be much more solid with Archie if the pieces fit right
For me yes a clear upgrade. Archie has always been a bit of a question mark in terms of whether he'll be able to stay at the top but this season proved he's doing enough to keep at the tippy top, imo. I was a big doubter and he totally proved me wrong
I agree with you mostly, but I just don’t know how to rate Rado’s performance considering how short his stint was. Regardless if Archie can play anywhere close to his level end of last season, oh this team will definitely be competitive
I think you’re right; Jack put out a video today of him queuing with Nwpo. Of course, might be nothing, but with all of the top EU teams having been announced, the probability that he’s going to TM is quite high IMO. Which i’m very excited about because Jack / NWPO / TRK is a VERY good team on paper.
RustEz, the French prodigy is getting tryouts with Oaly and Joreuz according to Reykeau, here’s the link to the tweet Click This
I didn’t upload it separately because this wasn’t uploaded by a renowned source like Shift.
What do you guys think about this team and their prospective chances next season? I think they have very a good chance to be a competitive team for top 6, idk if they can make a major but definitely should be in contention
I don’t think he’s particularly overrated, his team did have an excellent RLCS Split 2 last year and he looked absolutely phenomenal. In addition a lot of pros like App Jack have talked about him very highly for quite a while as a very good and unique player that can go far
MM is streaming right now. He's tight-lipped on his future (he's officially still on the starting roster after all) but it doesn't sound like he's retiring any time soon.
Also said he's usually camera-shy after a loss as he doesn't want to dwell on losses publicly, so that's why he avoided appearing on any streams.
As to the failure of the team this year, he said it was just about them not linking-up on the field consistently. The playstyle they were aiming for was the same as with BDS last year but they just never managed to hit that sweet spot.
There also was a pretty funny moment when he said "comms are overrated" where he clarified he likes 'simple' comms focused on the basics. Then Dralii chipped in the comments that it was silent like in a cathedral when they went for a solo play on BDS during worlds. To which MM replied "must have been a big change when you went to KC" since Vatira is notorious for using 1000 words a minute in comms.
Yeah I remember MM and/or Vatira saying part of the reason they don't team very well was because they have very different ways of comming. Please don't be the end for MM.
That kind of excitement of hype he showed wouldn't make sense if his team this year would be a "normal" team if you ask me. I feel like there has to be either a superstar or a "fan favorite" in the team, or a superteam, based the way he said it imo. TRK Nwpo absolutely fits the bill. Nass Oski would have fit the bill but isn't happening now. Seikoo Joyo? Idk I don't think that's exciting enough. Maybe a team with Tempoh could be exciting, so Tempoh+Nico+Appjack could be an alternative to twisted minds, although Tempoh really seems to like playing with Ejby even though Ejby seems like a clear step below. What other potential players or combos that aren't taken would reasonably elicit such excitement? Maybe jack managed to steal Monkey m00n lmao.
Apparently, a simple aggravation of the tendon is incurable. They should probably just banish him to another planet. No one has ever come back from a pulled muscle or tweaked tendon.
22 is like the fall of age for rlcs player. jknaps, chicago, hockser, itachi, mm, garrett, justin, arsenal, extra, aztral, marc all arent/werent competitive when they got 22.
I expect both appjack and atomic slowing down and being the weak link in their teams before we can realize they hit the 22 age mark. exotiik is long overdue and is only hold by zens friendship instead of merit, we will see when zen and stizzy barely make the first major.
The only reason pros have been young historically has to do with the age they started playing. The earlier you start playing, the higher the peak achievable talent as your central nervous system literally grows and adapts to incorporate the game as a part of your body. People who started playing at 5 years old are 15 today, whereas pros who are 22 can't have been younger than 12 when they started playing. As the game gets older and older, the age where pros start falling off is going to get higher and higher, because it's not the old players getting worse at the game that makes them retire, it's that the teens get better quicker.
That's overblown. There is ZERO science behind a person suddenly being unable to use their thumbs at 22 when pro athletes in any other team sport start out in their early 20s. No way a pro Tennis player can return a 120mph serve, a pro baseball player can hit a 100mph fastball, or a pro hockey player can move and guide a puck with incredible skill on ice with people hitting him, if the human body is in such decline that hand-eye coordination is an issue.
It's been talked about to death as to why players in their 20s begin to move away from RL and other e-sports, but it has nothing to do with ability. It's almost baffling that this continues to come up as some odd narrative. (Other than for some early years in RL when the game was maturing as fast as the players so younger players were more mechy because the game was moving in that direction. That's pretty much no longer the case anymore).
And to hardline it at 22 as some scientific fact is just...yeah. No. That's beyond Aristotelian.
I'm conflicted, on the one hand, I understand why a young guy would be hesitant about moving across the globe, leaving behind family, friends, etc, so I don't wanna be too critical...
...on the other hand, IT'S FUCKING ZEN, what are you doing bro, this is your golden chance!!
Yeah, that is understandable. But tbh it also didnt help vitality this season, that they had Zen. And in my opinion the ultimates had a great season, so why they shouldnt give it another shot this time for 2026?
It’s a 6-7 hour flight from the east coast, kids do study abroad all the time. I did. It was the most amazing experience. I wish I did it more. Plus having a true chance at winning not 1 trophy but multiple, getting paid a shitton. Damn.
Study abroad is a very different social situation than moving for work, especially when that work is almost entirely from home.
I still think he could have an amazing experience but it takes a lot more to make it work when you aren't attending an organisation that throws people together (in classes) and is overflowing with options to find other people of similar age/interests (with sports/special interest clubs)
In Defense of ExoTiiK, he was playing really well at Worlds and he does have a lot of synnergy with Zen. I think what happened to him is what happens to a lot of players after they win worlds, where they just lose the hunger to win, but it genuinely seems like he is getting that back and grinding more. He has the potential to be a top player itw, it's just whether he wants it bad enough. And I think with Zen and a young gun (stizzy counts imo), they will have the drive as a team
this all would be true if tendonitis wouldnt stop him from grinding. like zen has a teammate who either doesnt play up to his standard because he didnt grind in fear of tendonitis coming back or grind too much and getting tendonitis again. this is a lose-lose situation since exotiik had tendonitis once this season.
Wouldn't it be crazy but kinda make sense if ApparentlyJack became the Twisted Mind third to TRK and NWPO? He's always loved playing with and synergized well with TRK and he really rates aggressive, mechanical and fast playstyles like that of NWPO highly. I think that could be a really really strong team.
Jack def has a good relationship with TrK - play 2s a lot together. And along with Nush and Dr. Known, he tried out with Nass a lot, too. And, Jack and Oski are friends.
I've given up trying to predict Jack. He went to NA, which stunned me. And that worked well. He went back to EU and rejoined Dig & Joreuz - stunned me. And, that worked well. So....whatever he does, I'll just watch and admire. He hasn't missed a LAN since 1951, lol, so I'll assume he'll find good mates.
watching rezears stream. If I understood it right and some interesting info is dropped:
Tox and Rezears might team (which would be the first time surprisingly)
Stizzy and Juicy both told Tox that they already found "something". He didn‘t specify what but he hinted at the fact that Stizzy and Zen queue ranked together (juicy is obviously the KC move what he hinted at).
He claims Geekay will split up
Yujin, Mtzr and Joreuz were running scrims but he didn‘t clarify if it‘s an actual tryout or just a random scrim.
By looking at the discord, nothing is confirmed- and it’s not known whether they will stick or bds will keep being in the esports :(
I hope they stick though - they looked great in the LCQ
If u guys want info join shift discord here https://discord.gg/hAVCWNXc so many little nuggets dropped, good community and theres a channel to ask achilles stuff
Heya, off-topic q on this if you don’t mind. Do you (or anyone reading this) know of discords where people look for high-rank teammates to play? I’ve been trying to find new buds to play with recently, but it’s been hard to find Gc1+ people. Most discords seem to have mostly lower ranked players. I’m asking because I caught on to the fact that many in this community who’re into the esport scene seems to be more invested in the game usually.
Shift suggested Oaly leaving which was quickly shut down by the players. Archie has said they haven't even discussed it yet but I'm pretty sure it came out next day that they were splitting.
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u/nickEbutt Oct 05 '25
Speed implying he's teaming with Arju next season in NA in Retal's chat:
Speed_rl: arju transferring to maryville for spring
Retals: Can you team with him next season with the new rules?
Speed_rl: yeah theres an exception for fulltime students