Team History – Northern Gaming: Rocket League Division
When Northern Gaming entered Rocket League in the summer of 2016, the organization itself was barely a few months old. Founded in May 2016 as a Canadian esports brand tied closely to prominent Twitch personalities, Northern Gaming quickly set its sights on the emerging Rocket League Championship Series and chose a European roster as its flagship. In barely a year of competition, that roster would finish third at the first RLCS World Championship, return to the podium in Season 2, and finally claim the Season 3 title in one of the most dramatic lower bracket runs in the game’s early history.
This is the story of Northern Gaming’s Rocket League division, from the moment it signed We Dem Girlz to the day its players moved on and the organization itself was absorbed into NRG Esports.
A Canadian Brand with a European Core
Northern Gaming was founded in May 2016 and registered in Canada, with its ownership group including Twitch streamer Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris and founder Mack Marin. While the brand was built around a North American streaming audience, its first major competitive push came in Europe, where the team identified one of Rocket League’s strongest unsigned trios.
That trio was We Dem Girlz. Officially formed on March 8 2016, We Dem Girlz brought together Remco “Remkoe” den Boer, Nicolai “Maestro” Bang, and Marius “gReazymeister” Ranheim. By late spring they were already a force in European online tournaments and RLCS qualifiers, earning top finishes in the Season 1 European group stages and online finals.
In July 2016, just ahead of the first RLCS World Championship in Los Angeles, Northern Gaming signed We Dem Girlz and brought them under the NG banner. An ESPN feature on We Dem Girlz published on July 24 carried a note that, shortly after the piece went live, the roster had been picked up by Northern Gaming. Community posts and transfer logs place the acquisition at the end of July, with gReazy, Maestro, and Remkoe all moving to Northern Gaming.
In practical terms, this meant that Northern Gaming entered its very first major Rocket League LAN already considered a title contender.
RLCS Season 1: A Podium Finish on Debut
The Season 1 RLCS World Championship took place in Los Angeles on August 6 and 7 2016. Northern Gaming’s newly branded roster of gReazy, Maestro, and Remkoe reached the final weekend as one of the favorites and immediately justified that status.
The bracket pitted Northern against American and European powers in a double elimination format. They swept Exodus 3-0 in the upper semifinals before running into iBUYPOWER Cosmic in the winners final. Afterwards, Cameron “Kronovi” Bills would recall that beating Northern Gaming in that upper bracket series felt like the turning point of the tournament for his iBUYPOWER side.
A loss in the winners final pushed Northern into the lower bracket, where they were eliminated and ultimately finished in third place. Liquipedia and prize distribution records list them just behind iBUYPOWER and FlipSid3 Tactics, taking home just under five thousand dollars from the fifty five thousand dollar prize pool.
On paper it was a disappointment for a roster that had dominated much of the Season 1 online play. In reality, it cemented Northern Gaming as one of the world’s elite three man squads and gave the Northern Gaming brand immediate relevance in Rocket League.
Roster Changes and Rebuilding After Season 1
Off seasons in early Rocket League were turbulent, and Northern Gaming was no exception. Transfer records show that gReazy left Northern Gaming for FlipSid3 Tactics shortly after Season 1, with the move finalized on August 15 2016. To fill the gap, Northern added veteran in game leader Philip “paschy90” Paschmeyer on August 21, only for him to depart a few weeks later. On September 3 2016, David “Miztik” Lawrie replaced paschy90 and joined Maestro and Remkoe as the core trio for Season 2.
Despite those roster shuffles, Northern Gaming remained one of Europe’s most successful teams in online play. They continued to rack up top finishes in the Rocket Royale series and similar tournaments, frequently placing first or second during the late summer of 2016. This kept them sharp as the second RLCS season approached, and by the time Season 2 league play began, they were firmly back in the title picture.
RLCS Season 2: European Powerhouse, Third Again
In Season 2 Europe, Northern Gaming entered league play with the roster of Remkoe, Maestro, and Miztik. Official recaps from Psyonix describe them blazing through early opponents, including a 3-0 sweep of Precision Z in Week 1 and comfortable wins over Summit and Reunited in later weeks.
Their consistency over the four week league stage paid off. Northern Gaming finished first in the European standings and claimed the top seed for the Season 2 European Regional Championship. RL Esports records list them as the gold seeded team in league play, ahead of Mockit Aces, Flipsid3 Tactics, and Precision Z.
At the European Regional Championship, they lived up to that billing but could not convert it into a title. Northern Gaming defeated Mockit Aces in a seven game series in the later stages of the bracket but fell 4-0 to FlipSid3 Tactics in the final, settling for second place and qualifying to the Amsterdam World Championship as Europe’s number two seed.
The trip to Amsterdam would end in a now familiar position. At the Season 2 World Championship Grand Finals event, Northern Gaming once again reached the final day only to fall short. The official Rocket League recap lists them in third place, behind champions FlipSid3 and runners up Mockit Aces.
For the second straight season, Northern Gaming had arrived at an RLCS LAN as a favorite, lost a tight winners bracket series, and ultimately exited in third. For Maestro and Remkoe, it was a frustrating pattern that would shape how fans remembered their early careers.
A New Look for Season 3
When Season 3 roster moves began, Northern Gaming again adjusted its lineup. On January 9 2017, transfer records show Miztik leaving Northern Gaming and David “Deevo” Morrow joining to create a new trio of Remkoe, Maestro, and Deevo.
This change gave Northern Gaming a more mechanically explosive look. Deevo was already gaining a reputation as one of Europe’s flashiest attackers, and ESPN’s Season 3 off season grades called Northern an “interesting conundrum” with a talented new signing but inconsistent preparation in smaller events.
Whatever the worries, the results in official RLCS play were strong. Northern Gaming earned one of Europe’s top seeds heading into the Season 3 World Championship, and community recollections of the season often note that they looked like one of the most dominant teams in league play despite some shaky off season form.
Then everything became complicated. Shortly before the Season 3 World Championship at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, Maestro became unavailable for the LAN. Psyonix’s later profile of Remkoe and the Season 3 champions would emphasize that Northern Gaming had to rely on a substitute at the biggest moment of the season.
That substitute was Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver, a player with experience but nowhere near the established chemistry of the long time core.
RLCS Season 3: Lower Bracket Champions
The Season 3 World Championship ran from June 2 to June 4 2017 and featured a double elimination bracket with teams from Europe, North America, and Oceania. The official recap from Psyonix summarizes what happened next in a single line: Northern Gaming battled through the lower bracket, forced a bracket reset, and won the World Championship 4-3 over Mock it Esports.
The full story was even more dramatic. Northern Gaming’s campaign included two separate series against NRG Esports, the last remaining North American team, and a grand final against an all European rival that had once again taken their former teammate Miztik into the title picture. Mock it Esports, led by Miztik, Kaydop, and Fairy Peak, came into the final with momentum and a one series advantage, but Northern Gaming’s combination of Remkoe, Deevo, and Turbopolsa slowly turned the series around.
As the official prize breakdown shows, Northern Gaming claimed fifty five thousand dollars for first place, with Mock it taking thirty thousand for second and NRG settling for sixteen thousand in third. Deevo was named Season 3 MVP, with the recap highlighting his clutch play throughout the tournament, particularly during the comeback in the final series.
For fans, the image that endured was not just the trophy lift. It was the narrative of a team that had gone out in third place twice, arrived at a third World Championship without its full starting lineup, and still found a way to win with a substitute. Later discussions of Rocket League’s greatest upsets and most emotional championships often point back to Northern Gaming’s Season 3 run as the defining moment of the early RLCS era.
The End of the Roster and the Sale
Northern Gaming’s World Championship did not lead to a long era of dominance. Instead, it marked the final chapter of their Rocket League division.
On June 21 2017, transfer records indicate that all three core players of Northern Gaming’s Season 3 roster left the organization and signed with Team EnVyUs. Remkoe, Maestro, and Deevo each moved to EnVy on that date, effectively shifting the reigning world champions to a new banner.
With its Rocket League roster gone, Northern Gaming had little left in the way of high level competitive presence. Within two months, the organization itself changed hands. In late August 2017, NRG Esports announced that it had acquired Northern Gaming, rolling its assets and co owners into the NRG structure. Reports from Dot Esports and other outlets identify Northern Gaming as a Canadian organization co owned by Sodapoppin, with the acquisition bringing the streamer and other leadership figures into NRG as advisors and part owners.
The Northern Gaming name disappeared from active Rocket League competition, but its Season 3 trophy remained in the RLCS record books. From that point on, the story of its players continued under different colors. The former Northern Gaming trio spent a year as EnVy, while Turbopolsa went on to win multiple RLCS titles with Gale Force Esports and Dignitas.
Legacy in the Early RLCS Era
Northern Gaming’s Rocket League history occupies a narrow window from mid 2016 to mid 2017. In that brief span, the organization’s European roster helped define what top level Rocket League looked like at the dawn of the RLCS.
First, Northern Gaming showed how quickly an organization could gain prestige by investing in the right roster at the right time. By signing We Dem Girlz on the eve of the Season 1 World Championship, Northern Gaming turned itself from a new Canadian brand into an immediate world championship contender. Third place in Los Angeles and third again in Amsterdam gave the organization an established presence in the competitive landscape.
Second, the team’s constant roster refinement captured the fluid nature of early Rocket League. The departures of gReazy and paschy90, the arrival of Miztik, and later the switch to Deevo reflected a scene where players and teams were still finding their long term homes. Northern Gaming’s willingness to adapt kept it near the top of Europe and set up the Season 3 breakthrough.
Finally, the Season 3 championship run at The Wiltern gave Northern Gaming a permanent place in RLCS lore. A European organization in name but Canadian in registration, fielding a roster built around Dutch, Danish, British, and Swedish talent, Northern Gaming embodied the cross regional, cross cultural nature of Rocket League’s earliest era. Winning a World Championship with a substitute after back to back third place finishes turned that story into legend.
By the time the Northern Gaming brand itself was folded into NRG, its Rocket League division had already done the one thing every team in the esport dreams of. It had lifted the RLCS trophy, etched its name into the list of world champions, and left behind a legacy far larger than its short lifespan might suggest.