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NRG Esports wins Rocket League Season 8 Championship

After an epic Game 7 Overtime against defending champs Renault Vitality, NRG Esports can finally call themselves Rocket League World Champions.

Ozzie Mejia

December 15, 2019 12:04 PM

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The year is almost over and for Rocket League, that means it's time to crown a new world champion. The Rocket League Season 8 championship would be decided in Barcelona, Spain and by early afternoon Sunday, only two teams remained. Defending champions Renault Vitality faced off against NRG Esports in the Grand Finals. But while the Season 7 champs were game, NRG Esports squeezed out a championship victory, winning 2-1 in a thrilling Game 7 that went to Overtime.

The seventh and final game saw both teams play defensively, with each team able to ward off a number of shots from the other for the first two minutes. It was only after Justin "jstn" Morales was left alone, pacing himself as he approached the goal, that he was able to score, blowing up Kyle "Scrub Killa" Robertson in the process.

Both jstn and Garrett "GarrettG" Gordon knocked out two potential game-tying goals in the final minute. But Victor "Fairy Peak" Locquet would not be denied, as he narrowly squeezed in the game-tying goal amidst a crowd of defenders.

The final game went to Overtime, but it didn't last long. After Turbopolsa blew up Alexandre "Kaydop" Courant, the path to the goal was clear and jstn knocked in the championship-winning goal. The ball just narrowly got around Scrub Killa, to give the Season 8 World Championship to NRG Esports and deny a repeat for Renault Vitality.

For NRG Esports, this victory was one the team had worked years to achieve. NRG had frequently entered previous championship weekends as one of the heavy favorites, but would either get knocked out early or fall in the championship game. While GarrettG and jstn have been on the team for years, it was the addition of Rocket League legend Pierre "Turbopolsa" Silfver who turned out to be the difference maker. Turbopolsa was awarded the Rocket League Season 8 MVP award following the championship game.

For their victory, NRG Esports takes home $200,000. Runner-up Renault Vitality will leave with $120,000.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?