When Rocket League was still finding its footing as an esport, Ted “0ver Zer0” Keil became one of the game’s first global reference points for mechanical skill under pressure. An American player born on September 2, 1996, he rose from small online teams to join iBUYPOWER Cosmic in 2016, helped deliver the first Rocket League Championship Series world title, and earned RLCS MVP honors in the process.
In the Esports Legacy Profile framework, 0ver Zer0’s career centers on a short but defining prime. His résumé includes one World Tier championship with the Season 1 RLCS title, at least one notable exhibition trophy with G2’s RLCS Season 2 North America Midseason Mayhem win, and a string of A Tier online results during 2016. By the time he shifted his focus to coaching and analysis, he had moved from upstart mechanical ace to one of the first world champions to build a second career teaching the game.
Early Climb and Mechanical Identity
Keil entered the Rocket League scene through smaller North American organizations, including Ignition Gaming and Syntactics, during late 2015 and early 2016. Those lineups mostly lived in the shadow of more established names, yet they gave him a stage to develop an aggressive, aerial heavy style that fit the game’s rapidly evolving metagame. Community tournament data from that period shows him grinding weekly events, Gfinity cups, and Rocket Royale brackets in the months before RLCS existed as a formal league.
By the spring of 2016 he had attracted the attention of iBUYPOWER Cosmic, the North American superteam built around Cameron “Kronovi” Bills and Brandon “Lachinio” Lachin. Initially, Keil joined as a substitute, practicing and scrimming with the roster while the starting trio of Gambit, Kronovi, and Lachinio handled most official matches. An ESPN feature later noted that he had already been working with the team before stepping into the spotlight, filling in while Lachinio balanced school and competition.
Stepping Into iBUYPOWER Cosmic
As RLCS Season 1 progressed, iBUYPOWER Cosmic built a record that marked them as North America’s leading team. Official results show them topping the first North American group stage and winning the Online Final over Kings of Urban, earning the label of the region’s number one seed from the league’s own coverage. Those victories still belonged to the original starting trio, but they created the expectations and pressure that Keil would inherit.
In late June and mid July 2016, iBUYPOWER’s lineup shifted. Keil moved from substitute into the starting trio as Cody “Gambit” Dover stepped away shortly before the live finals, reported at the time as health related. Liquipedia’s timeline places the change in mid July, with Keil promoted to full starter and Gambit returning to the bench. At almost the same moment, the team entered a dense stretch of events that included Rocket Royale weeklies, the Season 1 North American group stage two, and preparations for the inaugural RLCS live finals.
The change came under difficult circumstances. An ESPN post-finals interview framed iBUYPOWER Cosmic as underdogs after losing Gambit late in the season, and described how the new lineup of Kronovi, Lachinio, and 0ver Zer0 had to prove that they could still close out a championship.
RLCS Season 1: World Champion and RLCS MVP
At the August 2016 RLCS International Finals in Los Angeles, the reshaped iBUYPOWER Cosmic turned that uncertainty into a historic championship. Official brackets show the team defeating European favorites Northern Gaming and FlipSid3 Tactics on the LAN stage, with the grand final finishing 4–2 in iBUYPOWER’s favor.
During that LAN run, Keil produced the moment that would define his playing career. Against FlipSid3 Tactics earlier in the live finals bracket, he controlled the ball off his own backboard, carried it the length of the field in the air, and scored an overtime winner that the broadcast immediately labeled a “must see” play. Clips of that dribble circulated widely on social media and YouTube, and years later community threads still cite it as one of the most iconic goals of the Season 1 era.
The league’s own recap of the event underlined his impact. Rocketleague.com’s finals report notes that team captain Kronovi and Lachinio were “joined by late substitute and eventual RLCS MVP, 0ver Zer0” as they defeated FlipSid3 Tactics in an “epic” best of seven. Guinness World Records later formalized the achievement by recognizing iBUYPOWER Cosmic as the first Rocket League world champions, explicitly naming Ted “0ver Zer0” Keil as one of the three players crowned on 7 August 2016.
For the purposes of an Esports Legacy Profile, the RLCS Season 1 run gives Keil a single World Tier championship, one of the rarest achievements in Rocket League history, and fixes his place in any discussion of early era greats.
G2 Stride and a Short Second Act at the Top
Exactly one month after lifting the trophy, iBUYPOWER Cosmic’s roster was acquired by G2 Esports, a larger European organization expanding into Rocket League. Under the G2 Stride name, Keil and his teammates entered RLCS Season 2 as defending world champions, but the new season produced a more uneven record.
RL Esports and earnings archives show 0ver Zer0 competing through a run of online tournaments and RLCS league play with G2 during the fall of 2016. Those results include appearances in Gfinity and PRL tournaments, plus a first place finish at the RLCS Season 2 North America Midseason Mayhem exhibition, along with a seventh place league record that left the team outside championship contention.
By early 2017 Keil and G2 parted ways, a decision he elaborated on at the time through personal statements on social media and in community discussions that framed the split as both a competitive and personal reset. For legacy purposes, the G2 period extends his top level record but also marks the end of his continuous presence at the very top of Rocket League’s professional scene.
Returns with Spacestation, Inception, and Genesis
After stepping away from front line competition, Keil returned for brief stints with newer organizations. RL Esports and esports earnings data place him on Spacestation Gaming’s roster in early 2018, followed later that year by a short run with Inception. Both lineups operated below RLCS championship contention, but they showed his continuing ability to attract offers as a former world champion.
In 2021 and 2022 he resurfaced under the Genesis banner, taking part in RLCS qualifier cycles and smaller events. These late career appearances did not add new major trophies, yet they reinforced the image of a player still willing to test himself in modern formats even as newer generations dominated the league.
Coach, Analyst, and Teacher of the Game
Keil’s most sustained second act came not on the stage but as a coach and analyst. On the coaching marketplace GamersRdy he describes himself as an ex professional Season 1 world champion who played for iBUYPOWER Cosmic and G2, and notes that he has spent thousands of hours reviewing replays, scrimming, and studying competitive play.
That profile and its dozens of five star reviews document a different kind of influence. Players from Platinum through Grand Champion ranks credit sessions with him for rank breakthroughs, improved training routines, and a clearer understanding of rotation and decision making. Keil emphasizes mindset, efficient free play use, and long term problem solving, positioning himself less as a one off replay analyst and more as a mentor in how to think about Rocket League.
He has also appeared on official and community broadcasts. Liquipedia’s broadcast records list him as a commentator and analyst for showmatches such as “The Longest Game in Rocket League History 2” in 2021, extending his presence into modern content even after his peak competitive years. Earlier, he took part in high profile 1v1 showmatches organized by figures like JohnnyBoi_i and Feer, including a transatlantic series against Scrub Killa and later a North American showdown versus Wizz.
Esports Legacy Profile and GOAT Tier Rating
Within Rocket League’s broader history, Ted “0ver Zer0” Keil occupies a distinctive niche. He was not a multi era dynasty player in the way later champions would be, nor did he spend years farming regional trophies. Instead, his legacy rests on a concentrated burst of excellence and a role in the game’s foundational narrative.
From an Esports Legacy Profile standpoint, his record can be summarized this way. He holds one World Tier championship as part of iBUYPOWER Cosmic’s RLCS Season 1 title and RLCS MVP run. He has at least one notable exhibition title from G2’s Season 2 Midseason Mayhem win and several A Tier online results in events like Rocket Royale and other 2016 era circuits. He later reinvested that competitive experience into hundreds of hours of coaching and broadcast work, shaping how everyday players and viewers understand Rocket League at a deeper level.
Taking that entire arc into account, a reasonable EsportsHistorian.org GOAT Tier rating for 0ver Zer0 is A Tier within Rocket League’s global history. His peak is as high as almost anyone’s thanks to a world championship and an all time highlight reel play, but his time at that summit was brief compared to S Tier legends with multiple world titles and long running domestic dominance. Even so, as long as fans remember the first RLCS finals and the air dribble that helped define that weekend, Ted “0ver Zer0” Keil remains one of the defining faces of Rocket League’s earliest era.