Top 5 winningest orgs in Rocket League esports history

April 26, 2021

by Mitch Reames

NRG Esports were the second major esports organization to field a team in Rocket League esports (G2 beat them by less than a month). Starting in RLCS Season 2 in 2016 where the dominant teams were IBUYPOWER, Flipside Tactics and Mock-It Esports, NRG eSports (spelled that way at the time) signed a team of Jayson “Fireburner” Nunez, Jacob “Jacob” McDowell and Kais “Sadjunior” Zehri that competed under the name Kings of Urban. That team finished first in RLCS Season 2 North America. From there, the success has rarely subsided.

In the five years since, NRG have seen many of Rocket League's biggest stars wear the red and black. As of last week, the Rocket League team became the first RL team to accumulate over $1,000,000 in total prize money won. With a current roster of Garrett “GarrettG” Gordon, Justin “jstn” Morales and Mariano “SquishyMuffinz” Arruda, NRG find themselves in a familiar spot -- on top of the North American region.

With NRG joining the two-commas club, here are the top five winningest Rocket League organizations by total prize winnings.

Note: The total earnings are sourced from Liquipedia and have been verified by the teams.

Photo credit: DreamHack

No. 5 Cloud9 -- $602,000

Ahh Cloud9, the organization's time in Rocket League was short, but bright. C9 jumped into the Rocket League scene in 2017 after picking up the Muffin Men, a community team led by SquishyMuffinz who had just won DreamHack.

Starting with RLCS Season 4, Cloud9 immediately became a team to beat. Great league play translated to a couple close runs in the RLCS Finals before C9 broke through in RLCS Season 6, beating Dignitas for the world championship and $200,000.

Unfortunately, in June 2020, Cloud9 released their roster, leaving Rocket League. SquishyMuffinz joined NRG, while the duo of Jesus “Gimmick” Parra and Kyle “Torment” Storer have since joined Version1. When they left, C9 thanked the Rocket League community but the team manager said on Reddit: “There were definitely some frustrations with how Psyonix was handling Rocket League esports and the RLCS; our experience was mostly consistent with the open letter that other teams had sent Psyonix.” Those frustrations spiked again recently as the community reacted to Psyonix’s announcement that there would not be an international LAN to cap off RLCS Season X.

Photo credit: DreamHack

No. 4 Dignitas -- $646,000

From NA, we move over to EU for two of the next three entries on our list. Any discussion about Dignitas has to start with arguably the most talented roster ever assembled in Rocket League: Gale Force eSports.

Featuring Jos “ViolentPanda” Von Meurs, Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant and Pierre “Turbopolsa” Silfver, Gale Force eSports were nearly unbeatable. The team finished first in EU in Season 4 then won the world finals.

Season 5 saw a repeat as Gale Force topped EU, then Dignitas stepped in and acquired the roster ahead of the Season 5 Finals. Now with Dignitas, the Gale Force roster won Season 5 as well. Season 6 looked like a repeat performance. The team finished first in EU and ran through the bracket in the Season 6 Finals. With a potential three-peat looming, Cloud9 blocked their path at the last moment.

After that, the original Gale Force roster split. Kaydop left first, heading over to Renault Vitality, and Turbopolsa followed after a fifth-place finish in Season 7. Dignitas bounced back in Season 9 with ViolentPanda leading Maurice “Yukeo” Weihs and Maello “AztraL” Ernst to a first-place finish. Both AztraL and Yukeo have since moved on from the org. ViolentPanda continues to be the driving force of Dig, while his two former Gale Force teammates found success with other orgs on this list.

Photo credit: DreamHack

No. 3 G2 Esports -- $658,000

G2 are the other major organization that can share in NRG’s deep roots. After IBUYPOWER won the first RLCS Finals, G2 picked up the roster. Led by Cameron “Kronovi” Bills, one of the best players in early Rocket League no matter who you ask, the IBUYPOWER roster was considered top tier.

But it wasn’t until 2017 when Dillon “Rizzo” Rizzo and Jacob “JKnaps” Knapman joined the team that G2 Esports really hit their stride. Every single split G2 were right there among the top teams, unfortunately that success didn’t often translate to the actual finals. A few more breaks during those brackets and G2 would likely be challenging NRG for the top spot on this list.

Two big examples stand out. In the RLCS Season 5 Finals, G2 finished first in NA but lost two straight series to be eliminated and finish eighth in the bracket. In RLCS Season 6, G2 finished second in NA but once again didn’t get a single series win in the bracket stage and finished 10th.

Dominant league play has given way to underwhelming bracket performances. The addition of Reed “Chicago” Wilen in 2019 and, more recently, the retirement of Rizzo, sees a new G2 team in RLCS Season X. Currently in fifth place in the points standings, G2 need to remain within the top six in order to compete in the upcoming RLCS X North American Championship.

Photo credit: DreamHack

No. 2 Vitality -- $822,000

Since Vitality picked up Guess Who in 2018, the team has consistently been at the top of EU over the last six seasons. The key player through all the years has been Victor “Fairy Peak!” Locquet. He joined with the original Guess Who roster and has remained on the team the whole time.

While Dignitas’ original roster was good, the team became a true top-tier contender after picking up Kaydop from Dignitas in January 2019. Kaydop, fresh off that loss to C9 in Season 6, picked up right where he left off as Dignitas faltered in his absence. With Vitality, Kaydop and Fairy Peak grabbed the Season 7 crown and almost had Season 8 as well.

Now in RLCS Season X, the roster is still going strong. If it weren’t for BDS becoming an unbeatable buzzsaw in RLCS Season X, Vitality would have won quite a bit more money this past year.

Over the course of RLCS Season X, Vitality have lost to BDS in either the finals or semifinals of regionals or majors six times. BDS won all six of those events. Vitality’s total purse from the Fall Regional 1, Fall Regional 2, Fall Major, Winter Regional 1, Winter Major and Spring Regional 1 was $79,000. BDS took home $196,000 for those six events. Vitality took first in just one key event, Fall Regional 3. Without BDS’ rise to take the EU crown, Vitality would have been close to being in the top spot on this list.

Photo credit: DreamHack

No. 1 NRG -- $1,000,000

Although Vitality had a longer consistent streak on top, NRG’s long history in Rocket League with top results spread out over many years has led to a hefty purse. The team has only one world championship, and it was the first season that Turbopolsa played with NRG. Rocket League’s champions can almost all be traced back to Gale Force eSports in some way.

That’s not to say that NRG’s team needed a carry, GarretG and Jstn are two of the best players on any team, but Gale Force players (and especially Turbopolsa) have some extra magic when the world championship brackets come around.

Much like BDS have dominated EU, NRG have been the team to beat in NA During RLCS Season X, although the margin has been narrower. While we won’t get to see NRG vs. BDS in the finale to RLCS Season X as regions remain separated, NRG gets to claim a two-commas crown no other organization in Rocket League can claim. But, if Vitality can grab a first-place finish in the RLCS Season X European Championship, NRG will have some company.

Lead image credit: DreamHack