In the cult location Berlin Station, fans cheered for their favorites on site and via livestream at the biggest “Rocket League” tournament in Germany to date. The “Veritas College Cup” was relaxed and fun, but also really exciting. TURN ON was there to follow the action.
“Rocket League has been around since 2015, and developer Psyonix has landed a real hit with the game about cars playing soccer: In the first month, it was downloaded four million times, and now more than 33 million players are playing it. The game is easy to understand, but difficult to master – perfect for e-sports! We were in Berlin for the biggest German “Rocket League” tournament to date, with the biggest prize money yet, on November 18.
Passionate fans at the “Rocket League Veritas College Cup” in Berlin
Already the location fits: The Station Berlin is rustic, there is cool light, loud music, burgers and beer (or soda) – gamer style. You arrive and feel at home. It’s probably the same feeling that soccer fans have when they enter the stadium of their heart’s team. The audience sits here on softly upholstered chairs, but they won’t really settle down on them during the evening: the final rounds of “Rocket League” are too exciting.
At every match, the fans give their all to cheer on the players: they hammer inflated hose claps together euphorically, fever with them, suffer with them. When the ball only hits the post, a loud “Ouhhhhhh” murmurs through the audience. Man, that was close! But there’s not much time to get angry, the fast counterattacks are too dangerous in this car soccer game. The fans come to the event for very different reasons, as they tell us. Some want to learn tricks from the pros, others want to cheer on the Berlin teams, see their favorite caster live, or simply “have a damn awesome evening with the most awesome game ever”.
Because so many teams representing German universities applied, qualifiers were held in advance. The preliminaries could be followed live via the streaming service Twitch. In the end, eight top teams made it to the tournament, including those from Berlin, Trier, Munich and Wuppertal. A total of 16 players wanted to prove in Berlin that they have what it takes to become pro gamers. Prize money worth a total of more than 4,000 euros is at stake.
These teams took part in the “Rocket League Veritas College Cup”:
- SRD
- Tenacity
- chilled 2s
- TMA eSport
- Supersonic Avengers
- teamspirit
- Team Firewall
- Team Rocket Science
The game is played 2 against 2, Best Out of Five. This means that a match lasts a maximum of five rounds. Whoever wins the most rounds advances in the tournament, the loser is eliminated. The games will be professionally moderated by well-known casters like FisHC0p, Mori09, Baithoven or Wolverous. In between there will be support from RLCS pros like Paschy90 or Freakii.
“Rocket League: Ballacrobats at the helm
Before each match, the teams are professionally introduced with a video clip and talk about their passion for “Rocket League” and their playing strengths as a team before taking the stage to applause and haze from the smoke machine. Then they show what they’ve got: There’s dribbling the ball with flair on the hood as it flies across the entire pitch, cutting balls so precisely that they’re twirled into the corner or fished out of the box at the last second with the tail. Trailing by 4 goals? No problem in “Rocket League”! You only win after the final whistle, when the ball touches the ground again. That’s probably why the games are so exciting, because anything is possible at any time.
The quarterfinals were already a good and fast-paced start, but in the semifinals between SRD and Tenacity the hall finally shakes. After the second match the score is 1-1, in match number three both teams decide to play an enormously offensive game, which leads to five times in a row first hitting the post on one side, then the ball is cleared on the other side still on the line and it goes back again. “No outlet has that much excitement” says commentator Mori, and he nails it. “This is how Rocket League must be, this is how e-sports must be”. In the end, Tenacity moves into the final narrowly but deservedly.
The final: Tenacity vs. Chilled2s
Against Tenacity, Chilled2s is in the final. The players come on stage to great applause. From the first minute the match is exciting, many shots on goal just miss, but just as many hit the box. In the first round, after a 4:4, it goes into overtime, Tenacity manages the golden goal after just under a minute. The fans are getting louder, clapping rhythmically, cheering on both teams, who are putting on a great match here.
Round 2: Chilled2s goes ahead, Tenacity saves the second goal on the line shortly after, only to launch a quick counterattack and equalize. Chilled2s really gets going after that, slamming two precise goals right into Tenacity’s corner. 3:1, two minutes left on the clock. Connecting goal Tenacity, the pressure on the players increases, both teams fight for every ball, for every boost. 30 seconds left on the clock, Chilled2s plays for time and hits many high balls. The strategy works, the clock ticks down, point for Chilled2s. The score is 1:1.
Thrill to the end
Round 3 is also absolutely even, every attack is super close. Both teams manage one goal each. When there is only one second left on the clock, the youngest player of the tournament, SiiZLoo from Chilled2s, manages to sink the ball. Perhaps the boys were still too inspired by this great goal, because at the beginning of round 4 their goal is completely empty, so that Tenacity only has to push in to take the lead. But it takes barely 30 seconds for Chilled2s to make up for this mistake. We see thoughtful attacks, terrific shots on goal. Chilled2s converts, 2:1, 3:1. Now it’s just a matter of who has the better nerves. There are still three minutes to play when Tenacity opens up to 3:2.
Chilled 2s secures the win
But then the nerves shake. ImaginE from Tenacity wants to clear, but he doesn’t hit the ball correctly, own goal. The score is 4:2. After a precise attack, Chilled2s can extend its lead to 5:2. Tenacity fights, but the air is out, the game flow is broken. Chilled2s increases to 6:2, then 7:2. This is bitter for Tenacity’s Munich team, who now have to admit defeat after all. Chilled2s wins the first Veritas College Cup and secures 2000 euros in prize money. “We are so relieved,” the boys say after their victory and breathe a sigh of relief. “All the pressure is off, our goal has been achieved”. Happily, they lift their big trophy into the air. So far, they haven’t thought about where they’ll put the trophy. But they already know what they’re going to do with the money: “I’m definitely going to give something to my parents,” says SiiZLoo. His teammate Gnagflow06 LFT wants to use it to finance his driver’s license.
Does “Rocket League” have the potential to become a mass sport?
In total, there were about 500 fans at the station. That’s not a huge number yet, but the atmosphere was great. Something is emerging here that could become big. The “Rocket League” event was the first tournament hosted by Veritas Entertainment, a new e-sports agency based in Berlin. “We saw today that ‘Rocket League’ works as an e-sport in Germany,” Dorian Gorr, CMO of Veritas Entertainment told TURN ON. “Our company has only been around for two months, but it was totally worth it to go full risk and make the event big. What the fans gave back to us today in terms of atmosphere and enthusiasm is indescribable.” The company has a clear goal: to make e-sports big in Germany. “The tournament was just the beginning. Soon we will open our own e-sports location in the middle of Berlin. We will also launch three to four major tournaments a year. Then it won’t just be about ‘Rocket League’ anymore, but also about other big e-sports games.”
We’re excited to see what happens next. The first College Cup in Berlin has already clearly shown that something is possible.
Follow us and check out our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook & YouTube ►
● on Twitter ► esport.directory
● Facebook ► esport.directory
● Youtube ► esport.directory
RocketLeaguetips, RocketLeaguetricks, RocketLeaguecheats, RocketLeaguehacks, RocketLeaguehacks2022, RocketLeaguetipspro, RocketLeaguepaidcheats, RocketLeague, RocketLeaguetipsandtricks, RocketLeaguetipsandtricks2022, RocketLeaguetipsandtricksforbeginners, RocketLeaguetips, RocketLeaguetricks, RocketLeaguetrickshots, RocketLeaguehacks, RocketLeaguehacksfree, RocketLeaguehacksfree2022,