Event Chronicles – RLCS Season 1 World Championship
In the summer of 2016, Rocket League went from a fast-growing competitive game on Twitch to a true arena esport. Psyonix and Twitch had spent months building the first Rocket League Championship Series, a three-month league that opened with online qualifiers in North America and Europe and funneled teams toward a shared international finals with a total prize pool of seventy-five thousand dollars.
That road ended in early August at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. Eight teams from two regions met there for the first RLCS LAN, playing three versus three on a double elimination bracket over two days. The live event carried a fifty-five thousand dollar prize pool, drew a sold-out crowd at the venue, and brought in more than one million viewers on Twitch, at the time the largest Rocket League broadcast in the game’s young history.
Format and Qualified Teams
Season 1 of the Rocket League Championship Series was built around a simple structure. Open online qualifiers in North America and Europe fed into regional group stages and online finals. From those stages four teams per region advanced to the live international finals in Los Angeles.
The LAN used a double elimination bracket. All series were best of five except the winners final, losers final, and grand final, which stretched to best of seven.
North America sent Kings of Urban, Exodus, iBUYPOWER Cosmic, and Genesis. Kings of Urban arrived as the top North American seed with Fireburner, Jacob, and SadJunior in the starting trio. Exodus followed as the second seed with GarrettG, Moses, and Turtle. iBUYPOWER Cosmic, the eventual champions, took the third seed behind captain Cameron “Kronovi” Bills, Lachinio, and 0ver Zer0. Genesis rounded out the region with Espeon, Pluto, and Quinn Lobdell.
Europe sent Northern Gaming, FlipSid3 Tactics, Mock It eSports EU, and The Flying Dutchmen. Northern Gaming came in as the top European seed with gReazy, Maestro, and Remkoe. FlipSid3 Tactics fielded Kuxir97, M1k3Rules, and Markydooda, already feared as one of the most mechanically gifted rosters in the world. Mock It relied on Paschy90, Sikii, and Turbopolsa, while The Flying Dutchmen entered with Dogu, Jessie, and Vogan after an underdog run through European qualification.
Psyonix and Twitch co-produced the event with sponsorship from Mobil 1, NZXT, and Razer. On site, Rocket League’s broadcast team included casters Kevin “FindableCarpet” Brown, Adam “Lawler” Thornton, Brody “Liefx” Moore, Caleb “WavePunk” Simmons, James “Jamesbot” Villar, analyst Randy “Gibbs” Gibbons, and hosts Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez and Alex “Axeltoss” Rodriguez, giving the finals a polished sports broadcast feel.
The Stage at Avalon Hollywood
Avalon Hollywood, a historic theater on Vine Street in Los Angeles, hosted the tournament. The RLCS finals page lists the event as an offline competition with a capacity of roughly 1,500 people and dates of August 6 and 7, 2016.
Psyonix’s own recap described the show as the inaugural Rocket League Championship Series Live International Finals, played in front of a sold out house. The same recap reported more than one million viewers across the weekend on Twitch, marking the broadcast as the largest Rocket League viewing event to that point.
The production matched the stakes. A full stage build highlighted the RLCS logo and player booths, with the international bracket and regional rivalries hammered home in on screen graphics and desk segments. For a community that had grown up on community tournaments and small online weeklies, Avalon Hollywood felt like a statement that Rocket League belonged under theater lights.
Day One: Upsets and Statement Wins
Day one opened with quarterfinal matches that mostly followed seeding at first glance but hid early storylines that would define the weekend.
Northern Gaming, the top European seed and one of the clear favorites, swept Genesis 3 to 0, then swept Exodus by the same margin in the winners semifinal. Over those two series they outscored Exodus heavily and looked every bit the juggernaut their regional record suggested.
Exodus themselves had started strong, dispatching Mock It EU 3 to 0 in a series of tight one-goal games that still left the European side without a single win.
The day’s first major shock came when The Flying Dutchmen eliminated Kings of Urban 3 to 1. Kings of Urban entered the tournament as the top North American seed and a popular favorite to win the entire event, but the fourth-ranked European squad coming out of qualifiers punished their defensive mistakes and controlled enough of the series to send Kings into the lower bracket.
On the other side of the bracket the most anticipated match of the first round, iBUYPOWER Cosmic against FlipSid3 Tactics, lived up to its billing. iBP had lost one of the best players in the world when Cody “Gambit” Dover stepped away for health reasons, and entered the LAN as a third seed and perceived underdog.
Against FlipSid3 they fell behind 2 games to 1 and faced elimination in overtime of game four. 0ver Zer0 produced one of the goals of the tournament, an air drag from the side wall that forced game five, where iBP scored late to steal the series. They closed the best of five with a 3 to 2 victory and a place in the winners semifinal.
From there iBUYPOWER Cosmic swept The Flying Dutchmen 3 to 0 in the winners semifinal, while Northern Gaming swept Exodus. That set up a winners final between the European juggernaut and a North American squad that had already knocked out one favorite and silenced some of the doubts around their late roster change.
In the lower bracket the first round finished Kings of Urban. FlipSid3 Tactics bounced back from their opening loss by beating Kings 3 to 1, a series in which Kuxir97 scored ten of FlipSid3’s fourteen goals and reminded viewers why he already carried a reputation as one of Rocket League’s most explosive players. Genesis eliminated Mock It EU in a reverse sweep, climbing back from an 0 to 2 hole to win the series 3 to 2.
By the close of day one Northern Gaming and iBUYPOWER Cosmic stood undefeated in the upper bracket. FlipSid3 Tactics and The Flying Dutchmen survived in the lower half of the bracket, while Kings of Urban and Mock It EU had gone home earlier than almost anyone expected.
Day Two: Lower Bracket Runs and the Northern Wall
Day two opened with The Flying Dutchmen and Genesis meeting again, this time in a lower bracket series that decided which of them would join the final four. The Dutchmen continued their run, edging Genesis 3 to 2 in another five game set and confirming that their upset of Kings had not been a fluke.
FlipSid3 followed with a dominant 3 to 0 sweep of Exodus, led again by Kuxir97, who scored five of FlipSid3’s nine goals in the series. That result pushed the North American team out of the tournament and kept the European side alive in the lower bracket.
In the upper bracket final Northern Gaming struck first. They crushed iBUYPOWER 5 to 0 in game one and looked ready to step into the grand final without much resistance. iBP responded by stealing game two after falling behind, then winning a tight overtime in game three. Northern answered with an overtime win in game four to even the series. In games five and six the North American trio settled in. Lachinio scored late in game five to secure a 1 to 0 victory, and 0ver Zer0 scored twice in game six as iBP closed out the series 4 to 2.
That result sent iBUYPOWER Cosmic straight into the grand final and dropped Northern Gaming into a lower bracket final against FlipSid3. There FlipSid3 ripped through the European rivals. They won game one 3 to 0, edged game two 3 to 2, dropped an overtime in game three, then finished the series with overtime and regulation wins to take the set 4 to 1.
By the time the bracket reached its last series the storylines were clear. Northern Gaming, the favorite, had been knocked down twice. The Flying Dutchmen had become the surprise of the event but fallen just short of the podium. FlipSid3 had fought all the way through the lower bracket for a rematch with the team that had sent them there, and iBUYPOWER Cosmic remained undefeated.
Grand Finals: iBUYPOWER Cosmic vs FlipSid3 Tactics
The grand final put the two most entertaining teams of day one on the biggest stage of the weekend. FlipSid3 needed to win a best of seven to reset the bracket and another to claim the title. iBUYPOWER needed one series win to complete an undefeated run.
FlipSid3 struck first. M1k3Rules scored the only goal of game one, and the European side held on to take a 1 to 0 series lead. Game two swung back the other way. After trading goals through regulation, Lachinio scored just seconds into overtime to tie the series. The pattern held in game three as the two teams traded control, with FlipSid3 finally finding the winner in overtime to move ahead 2 to 1.
Game four may have been the turning point. FlipSid3 led for much of the match, but iBUYPOWER dragged the game back to a tie in the final minutes. With the clock running down and a third straight overtime looming, Kronovi jumped on a loose ball and scored with less than ten seconds left, leveling the series at 2 to 2 and swinging momentum toward North America.
In game five 0ver Zer0 produced another signature moment. With more than three minutes left he collected the ball at midfield, drove into a one on one, and beat the last defender for a go ahead goal that many fans still remember as one of the defining plays of early RLCS history. iBUYPOWER pulled away to a 5 to 3 win and reached tournament point.
Game six belonged to Kronovi. He completed a natural hat trick in the first three minutes, giving iBUYPOWER a three goal lead. FlipSid3 fought back within a single goal but could not find the equalizer. The game ended 3 to 2, the series ended 4 to 2, and iBUYPOWER Cosmic lifted the first RLCS trophy without dropping a single series across the LAN.
Psyonix’s own recap named 0ver Zer0 the event’s most valuable player, recognizing both his emergency substitution into the roster and his impact in key moments against FlipSid3 and Northern Gaming.
The prize pool at Avalon Hollywood totaled fifty five thousand dollars for the LAN. iBUYPOWER Cosmic took twenty seven thousand five hundred dollars for first place. FlipSid3 earned eleven thousand dollars for second, Northern Gaming received just under five thousand dollars for third, and The Flying Dutchmen took three thousand eight hundred fifty dollars for fourth. Genesis and Exodus each earned two thousand seven hundred fifty dollars in fifth and sixth, while Kings of Urban and Mock It eSports EU received eleven hundred dollars each after their early exits.
Significance and Legacy
Season 1 of the Rocket League Championship Series was the first full professional league built around Rocket League and the beginning of the official RLCS era that continues today. Psyonix had watched community tournaments draw strong viewership on Twitch and designed the RLCS to turn that energy into a structured league with online qualification and arena finals.
The Avalon Hollywood weekend proved that the idea worked. The event sold out its venue, reached more than one million viewers over two days, and produced matches that are still replayed and referenced when fans talk about classic Rocket League series.
For players, coaches, and fans, the finals also established several early legends. Kronovi, already a community star, added an RLCS title and a grand final hat trick to his resume. Kuxir97, M1k3Rules, and Markydooda showed how a high skill European offense could take over a lower bracket. The Flying Dutchmen created one of the first great RLCS Cinderella stories. For 0ver Zer0 the tournament became a defining moment, turning a late substitution into an MVP run at the first world championship level Rocket League event.
Most of all, the Rocket League Championship Series Season 1 finals at Avalon Hollywood marked the transition from a beloved physics game to a structured esport with its own history. Later seasons would expand the format and add new regions, but the story of competitive Rocket League begins with those two days in Los Angeles when eight teams, three cars at a time, played for the first RLCS trophy and turned a community scene into a global circuit.