After forging his legacy as one of the greatest Rocket League players to have ever competed in the Oceanic region, Matthew “Drippay” Den-Kaat is now making the cross-region move to Evil Geniuses in North America.

The transfer is a momentous one for Oceania, as Drippay’s switch across the Pacific is the first time an Australian talent has been signed by an international organisation in the Rocket League Championship Series, and the “major move” is already front-and-centre when the 18-year-old thinks about his future.

“Making this major move for the Oceanic region has definitely played on my mind, it’s not only a big step forward for me, but also the OCE region as a whole,” Drippay said. “Hopefully this inspires young talent in the region to keep working towards what they want to achieve.

“I will try to do the Oceanic region proud.“

“With this being the first cross-region roster move I think it will definitely open the gates for more [similar] moves, especially if Oceania continues to perform on the international stage.”

Although Den-Kaat’s talent was obviously on show for all to see as he played with organisations like Legacy Esports and Alpha Sydney early in his career, the Australian striker found himself unsigned alongside Jake “Jake” Edwards and long-term teammate Daniel “Torsos” Parsons and competing under the title ‘Billy Fan Club’ before the Chiefs Esports Club acquired the trio in August of 2017.

From there Drippay and his squad won back-to-back Throwdown Esports: RLOC grand finals, first sweeping aside Pale Horse Esports Club 4-0, and then clinching their second trophy with the same scoreline against Tainted Minds six months later.

Then in June of 2018, the Chiefs went on their first deep run in the RLCS as the fifth iteration of the season-ending tournament was hosted at Copper Box Arena in London.

Drippay, alongside Torsos and Jake, defeated Evil Geniuses 3-2 in a five-game epic to progress in the upper bracket, before a 1-3 defeat at the hands of the eventual champions Team Dignitas dropped them into the lower bracket.

Although their campaign ended with a three-game defeat against Cloud 9 in the Losers’ Round 3, a 3-0 over Team Envy saw Drippay score three of the Chiefs’ five goals and create the final two, putting the young Australian team on the international map.

Their 5th/6th place finish in Season 5, coincidentally the same placement as Evil Geniuses, then spurred them to go one step further the following season, as they entered the year-end tournament as Oceanic runners-up behind Tainted Minds.

Armed with a new recruit – Cameron “Kamii” Ingram – after Jake had announced his retirement nearly a year to the day since signing with the Chiefs, the boys in blue and white once again reminded the world why Oceania is to be feared in international events.

Two 3-2 victories over PSG Esports and NRG Esports put the Chiefs up against the star-studded unsigned roster of We Dem Girlz, with Drippay collecting the Day 1 MVP trophy for his efforts.

Although the Chiefs slipped to a 0-3 defeat against We Dem Girlz, their run in the losers’ bracket kept the momentum going, and the Australians sent Evil Geniuses out the tournament with a 3-1 win, only falling in a two goals to one over-time clash on Mannfield.

Cloud 9 once again proved too much for the Oceanic representatives to deal with however, and a 1-3 loss to the North American roster left the Chiefs with a fourth place finish – the best placement Oceania had ever seen.

This series of strong showings, and some individual brilliance from Drippay, saw heads turning from the North American league, the young striker revealed.

“I didn’t need to think about my decision that much because getting a chance to compete in North America and playing with Evil Geniuses is a massive opportunity that I can’t really turn down.”

“After RLCS I was getting a fair bit of interest from the international teams,” he said. “A spot on Evil Geniuses opened up after one of their players left to join G2, so EG reached out to me straight away, showing interest in me joining their team.”

As well as the fact that Drippay is now joining an organisation first founded in 1999 and with two decades of history behind it, the Australian star also joins a roster dripping with talent – Gabriel “CorruptedG” Vallozzi and Jason “Klassux” Klass will be Den-Kaat’s teammates in 2019.

“I’m really looking forward to playing with CorruptedG and Klassux,” Drippay said. “I get along with them really well and they are great to play with. Our manager and coach Fireworks [Stephen Swims-Fuleihan] is also super helpful and it’s an honour to play for such an amazing organisation.”

“[Because of this] I am holding very high expectations of myself now that I’m playing in NA,” he added. “I will now get to play against the best teams on a regular basis and this will help me reach my potential as a player. I am still holding the same expectation of being the best team in the region”

“We might have overtime…”

Nope.png. @DrippayRL drops the dagger at 0:00 as we take game 1 against Florida Poly. pic.twitter.com/JDaGcaiO6w

— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) January 12, 2019

Although Drippay is definitely excited to be joining up with some of the best talent the North American league has to offer, he admitted it’s “definitely sad” to be splitting from long-standing teammate and friend Torsos.

“It’s been insane what we have achieved together, and we have made some unforgettable memories along the way,” Den-Kaat said. “It’s definitely sad to be leaving Torsos. I hope he continues to find success, and I’m sure he’ll keep smashing it in Oceania.”

If Drippay is keen to see Torsos and the rest of the Chiefs roster continue smashing it in Oceania, the organisation’s owner Frank “Sangy” Li is even more invested.

Sangy, who created the esports club in August of 2014 and entered the Rocket League scene three years later with what would become one of the region’s finest ever teams, said he was “very proud” of Drippay’s North American transfer, even if it was “incredibly sad to see him go”.

“[Matthew] has worked incredibly hard over the past two years and represented us with all the Chiefs’ values,” Sangy said, before imparting a cheeky message to the 18-year-old and his new organisation. “I wish him all the best in North America, but I can’t wait to beat him and Evil Geniuses at RLCS again.”

Li also revealed the quality of the Chiefs’ line-up had seen offers from international clubs come in before, but due to their lack of offered relocation the Oceanic team owner had waited for one that could see his star players flourish to their full potential.

“I think that Drip, being the player that he is and with his meteoric rise, would have caught the eyes of international clubs a while ago,” he said.

“I think myself, and the rest of the squad, always knew there was a possibility that he and anyone on the team would be a target for importing given the consecutive top level finishes at the World Championships, which is no mean feat for any team.”
Frank “Sangy” Li, Chiefs Founder

Sangy also echoed Drippay’s sentiments that many other players with the Oceanic region could make the league swap that Den-Kaat has made in 2019.

“I believe there are several players from the region that have the talent to compete overseas, chief among them being our lads Torsos and Kamii, as well as the Tainted Minds squad who have had several close encounters but could never quite seal that first win,” he said.

“That being said, Drip was a special case and has put up the most MVP performances on the world stage, so I think it’s not a surprise he was picked up and that would have been an easy decision [for Evil Geniuses]. From my knowledge G2 Esports, who picked up Chicago from Evil Geniuses, were considering Drippay as an alternative option too.”

Despite the obvious allure of creating world-class talent that can join the highest ranks in Rocket League, Sangy also admitted he would like to see the Oceanic region become a league players may not want to leave immediately, even if it will take a long time.

“I’ve always been a proponent of retaining local talent, and wanting Oceanic competition to be the best it can be, but I also don’t kid myself that playing in a major region is a huge opportunity for development, exposure and to earn a shit-ton more money,” the Chiefs owner said.

“The goal is obviously to work hard until [perceptions of Oceania] change, but that will take several years, and we will never fully get to a point where we can match them. We can only hope to build the Oceanic esports profile to a point where the decision to transfer to another region is not as easy.”

Farwell @DrippayRL! Thank you for an amazing 2 years in our #RocketLeague squad!

We wish you the best of luck on a huge next step in your journey at @EvilGeniuses! Go smash the NA region! ? pic.twitter.com/Kbf51AKM2W

— The Chiefs Esports Club (@ChiefsESC) January 12, 2019

The Chiefs Esports Club recently announced their replacement for Drippay in the form of former Order young gun Aidan “ZeN” Hui, a youngster that downed the Chiefs’ roster in the 2018 Elite Series Season 1 semi-finals.

The Chiefs, now equipped with the roster of ZeN, Kamii and veteran commander Torsos, will compete in the seventh season of the Rocket League Championship Series, when it returns later in 2019.

Drippay recently kicked off his career with Evil Geniuses with a third place finish at the DreamHack Pro Circuit Leipzig 2019 Closed Qualifiers, missing out on a seeded place at the event behind Bread and Ghost Gaming in the North American bracket.

The organisation will still compete in the German-based event through open sign-ups. The first matches at the major will be played from Friday, February 15, and you can tune in to watch Drippay’s games at twitch.tv/dreamhackrocketleague.

The North American Rocket League Championship Series’ Spring season is slated to begin on Saturday, March 30.

You can follow Drippay, Sangy, Chiefs & Evil Geniuses on Twitter.

In a major move in the Australian esports industry, Melbourne-based organisation Order has confirmed a partnership with computer hardware giant Alienware.

As part of the new agreement, Alienware has promised Order a suite of new Alienware Aurora personal computers, as well as m15 gaming laptops.

The Melbourne esports club’s League of Legends and CS:GO rosters will also receive a mix of AW2518HF and AW3418DW monitors, Alienware Wireless Gaming Headsets, Alienware Pro Gaming Keyboards and Alienware Elite Gaming mice.

It’s a partnership that Order chief executive Chris Derrick has welcomed with open arms, especially considering the enterprise’s meteoric rise since its foundation in late 2017.

“Order is thrilled to have Alienware join us a major partner in 2019 to support our teams,” Derrick said. “This year we established ourselves as being highly competitive in the Australian esports scene, winning the club championship of Gfinity Series 1 and 2, won our first international tournament and established ourselves as a destination club for esports players.”

“High performance and professionalism is at the core of the Order team, and we’re excited to have Alienware powering our League of Legends and CS:GO teams with their powerful gaming machines.”

As well as the hardware that the Order stars will be kitted out with across their 2019 seasons, fans of the Melbourne organisation will also see new content spawned from the partnership.

Alienware and Order have also announced they plan to create “exclusive content to help [fans] take their gaming to the next level”, including ‘how-to’ guides, player and game statistics and behind-the-scenes access which will all be available to esports fans through both the esports club’s and hardware giant’s social media accounts.

The support of developing players, avid esports fans and the general gaming community is something that is close to Alienware and its parent company Dell’s hearts, general manager for consumer and small business Ben Jackson said after the announcement.

“Australia’s esports scene is well established and has incredible potential”
Ben Jackson, Dell ANZ/Alienware

“We’re incredibly proud to continue Alienware’s long history of supporting esports and we are excited to be partnering with Order not only because they are an outstanding team with impressive runs on the board already in their first year – they also have a vision for the team and their business that complements our own,” Jackson said, speaking for Dell ANZ and Alienware.

“We are whole-heartedly committed to the Australian esports industry and gaming community pushing forward both in national and international competition. We are fostering and nurturing new talent and cultivating an environment for all gamers – professional and amateur – where they can strive to improve, learn new skills and be equipped with what they need to level up.

“We look forward to working with ORDER as the Australian esports industry and local gaming community grows.”

Alienware, operating as a subsidiary of Dell, has previously been involved in Australian sponsorship, when they signed on as presenting partners with the Gfinity Elite Series for 2018. At the time, the investment was heralded as one of the largest commercial partnerships in Oceanic esports history.

“I don’t get amped up playing them specifically anymore” @JaykeLoL, @SwifferOCE and @SpookzOCE are set for an important week two of the @OPL when they play against former team-mates on @ChiefsESC and @GravitasOCE tomorrow and Saturday! Let’s go lads ? #ORDERUP?? pic.twitter.com/UILlzbfIbp

— ORDER (@ORDER_army) January 24, 2019

Order, operating as Melbourne Order due to the localisation of the Gfinity teams, won the Counter Strike competitions in Series 1 and 2, beating out the Sydney Chiefs 3-0 and 3-1 respectively to secure $80,000 in prize money across both competitions.

The Melbourne organisation’s League of Legends roster recently bounced back from a poor start to their Oceanic Pro League campaign, recording a 2-0 weekend with victories over the Chiefs Esports Club and Gravitas. The team’s jungler Samuel “Spookz” Broadley was named in Snowball Esports’ Team of the Week for his performances.

You can support Order at @ORDER_army on Twitter. Follow Alienware on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Alienware.TV.

When your established fan base is a continent away from your live matches, getting fans through the door can present a challenge. We met up with Perth’s Ground Zero at the Gfinity Elite Series to talk about their innovative approach to building a fan base.

In esports, being ahead of the curve is a pathway to success, whether it’s finding an unknown talent or finding ways to get more fans through the door.

While some may go all in on a player, organisations that have a focus on their fan base tend to survive and thrive in a cut throat industry where everything can be lost in a matter of weeks.

Especially for newer orgs, an early impression is vital to any hope of success. Even if you’re in one of the most publicised tournaments in the region, fan interaction is crucial element and ultising that interaction can uplift the tournament and further help the esports scene.

Ground Zero, a rising organisation from Perth, has grown over time to become one of the fastest growing orgs in the country. It has participated at multiple LAN events since its inception in 2016 and recruited talent that has propelled it further into the esports scene.

While they are still dwarfed by the likes of ORDER, the Chiefs, and Avant Gaming, they have made a name for themselves, building a reputation as the banner for esports in Western Australia.

It was no surprise then that when the Gfinity Elite Series came to life earlier this year, Ground Zero took the opportunity to fight for the west of the nation.

But they had a small issue. With the Elite Series being played out of Hoyts at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, it was always going to be hard for them to get fans to the Arena.

So they created something no one else had thought of in the Elite Series: a fan club. Created for Season 2, it brings GZ’s Sydney-based fans together to support their teams as they look for glory. It promises a thriving atmosphere where fans can cheer on GZ during Counter Strike:Global Offensive (CSGO), Rocket League (RL) and Street Fighter V (SFV).

We were fortunate enough to spend a match day as a part of the Ground Zero fan club, experiencing first hand hype of the Gfinity Elite Series and the the fan engagement that Ground Zero have been able to build up in the esports haven of Sydney.

During the game, the fan club members are the most vocal part of the crowd, cheering and chanting on the Ground Zero CS:GO squad. This week was the final week of the regular season, and first place was on the line against the Melbourne Avant with the winner taking the coveted spot.

Getting Sydney-based fans to cheer for the western team is surely no easy feat, with state pride being one of the surest ways to ignite passions in any Australian competition. Alongside the Ground Zero staff, Katherine “Kitty” Crea was brought in to mastermind the fan club and according to her, it has been a great success so far.

“I’m really happy and somewhat overwhelmed with how well the fan club has gone.”

The popularity of the fan club is evident to those who have attended Gfinity during the regular season, with a sizeable section of the crowd supporting the Western Australians. Which is fair to observe as a slight surprise, since they face off against east coast teams every week.

“It has been such a challenge to find Ground Zero fans in Sydney,” said Kitty, “so I’ve done a lot of building through social networks and finding people online and so far it’s been successful.”

While the few Avant fans tried to cheer for their team, the Ground Zero fans responded by drowning out their opponent’s fans, asserting dominance in the crowd.

For the players, the chanting is a welcome sound, as Ground Zero’s Cal “bURNRUOk” Henderson said. “You definitely hear it on the stage,” Burn said.

Clip: The crowd cheers as ‘bURN’ sprays down 3 Avant members. Source: Gfinity Elite Series

As the rounds went by, it was obvious that Avant were on the back foot, but they had a shot at coming back at half time. However, GZ quickly put the game to bed, losing only one round in the second half to take away both the win and first place in the regular season.

Just like the game that unfolded that day, Ground Zero considers the fan club a successful venture.

“Seeing the fans come, get really excited and be happy to see their favourite players and even meet the teams afterwards is great,” Burn said.

As for other teams, like the Brisbane Deceptors have a similar fan base at the Arena every week but Kitty believes that when Gfinity starts back up in 2019, “we’re going to see a lot more fan clubs from each team.”

But with GZ able to claim that they got theirs in first, they have a massive advantage over the rest.

Ground Zero and their fan club will return for Season 3 of the Gfinity Elite Series. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live when the Gfinity Elite Series returns in Season 3.

Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

This site was named after what a lot of people consider to be one of the ideal ways to win in League of Legends – eke out a small advantage and snowball your lead to victory. Never did I envisage our journey as a content platform following a similar path.

Esports is a strange place. It’s an industry that has such a large global exposure but is simultaneously in its infancy. I know that term is thrown around quite a lot especially in a region like ours, but the reality is the region is still developing platforms outside of viewing esports.

How close are we to getting player agents, how close are we to a players union, when will we see commercial broadcast rights? These are crucial services that take a serious amount of investment and time to establish, but we’ll get there.

Snowball was born out of frustration due to a lack of content relating to the offseason changes in the OPL heading into the 2018 season. Just two mates, an off the cuff blog on a bare bones WordPress site, and many opinions. After all, both of us had close ties to the Oceania League of Legends scene.

In the span of less than 12 months, that small blog between two mates now covers three esports and one major tournament – three of them with regular content cycles. Snowball now has 20+ team members regularly developing content for us, a sleek website and 2019 is set to be even bigger.

However, 2019 can only get bigger for us by the effort put in by all of our hard working contributors in 2018. Inero’s Pick 6 was the first post to make the front page of Reddit, generating over 10,000 hits.

We took the leap into Overwatch – thanks to our now Overwatch Content Lead Andrew Amos’ constant pestering – leading us to cover two international events.

We had one of the largest media representations at the inaugural Melbourne Esports Open, with six contributors covering three different games over the two day festival. We also appeared at Rift Rivals, the University Esports League finals, League of Origin and Supanova Brisbane.

But there’s always a strive to better and make the snowball smoother, faster, and bigger.

In 2019 we’re going to diversify our content platforms, you’ll be seeing us a lot more on Twitch and YouTube. While we love written content and it will always be at Snowball’s core, there’s a high chance a lot of our readers also watch the likes of Thoorin and Travis Gafford, and we want to fill that void in the oceanic region, so we will look at expanding into video content.

We spent the latter part of this year adding the Gfinity Elite Series to our regular coverage schedule, and from that we are looking forward to branching out into more CS:GO and other game coverage.

It’s also time for us to start working better together. Everyone in the region has been incredibly supportive of our work but we want to push the boundaries of esports content together. We’ve started this in our collaboration with Riot Games, getting the OPL Roster Tracker off the ground and even having it and other OPL content featured in the League of Legends game client.

However, if you are a publisher, team, tournament organiser – anyone involved in esports in Oceania – let’s collaborate. If there is content you need help building, let’s open the conversation. We depend so much on your rights and players, allow us the chance to give more back.

Of course, there is the elephant in the room – the strain in any organisation’s running – financials. Snowball currently has no other revenue than our loyal and valued patrons on Patreon. Building this out will be a major focus in 2019.

We’re hoping by working closer with key stakeholders and producing more quality content across multiple platforms that we will be in a position to further grow and support our community through this next year.

Last of all, but most importantly, I have to thank all of you – the readers – for interacting with our content. It’s what drives us to do better day by day.

We are extremely open at Snowball Esports, and if you would like to become more involved please let us know – we have no shortage of opportunities. This can range from content creators, to marketers, established business people looking to mentor our project or even tournament organisers needing experience.

On behalf of the staff and our team of contributors, thank you for joining us for the ride thus far, we hope you’ll stay with us as we look forward to another year of producing great content for the Oceanic region.

Follow us on Twitter and other socials for the latest updates and content releases. If you’d like to support us further, consider checking out our Patreon for more ways to get involved, exclusive perks and more!

The Grand Finals of the Street Fighter V Gfinity Elite Series saw the two top teams, Melbourne ORDER and Sydney Chiefs, go head to head for the first place prize of $10,000 AUD.

Additionally, prior to this set, both clubs were also tied top place on the Club standings. The winner of this set would also earn their club the first place prize of $30,000 AUD.

The Chiefs were hiding their big guns last time they played ORDER in Week 5, utilising two of their subs in an attempt to mask their formation. Chiefs would then opt to bench core member ZG in favour of DaBigChoppa. An interesting but justified decision when you look at Choppa’s flawless win streak to date this season.

For the final, they decided to stick it out with Somniac, BKSama and DaBigChoppa, while ORDER came in with their reliable line up of ROF, Travis Styles and Bug.

ORDER’s Bug sends an early statement to the Chiefs by not only putting the first point on the board but also handing DaBigChoppa his first loss this season.

There was a lot on the line and you can see the early match nerves coming from both players.

The match started of a bit shaky, both players scrambling to find an advantage over the other.

Bug however clinched it out with a clean Ibuki sequence, perfectly hitting Choppa right where his defences were most exposed.

Carrying the momentum forward Travis Styles defeated Somniac to bring ORDER up two points in the series. While Somniac is well known for his defensive playstyle, it became his downfall as Travis used that against him by gaining an early life lead and forcing Somniac to engage.

The first round demonstrated this best as Somniac was left with critical health and Travis just waited for him to hang himself in desperation, over 40 whole seconds passed before Travis closed the round.

ROF capped off the first three games with another victory, bringing ORDER one game away from clean sweeping the Grand Finals.

BKSama rushed out the gates with a hyper aggressive style in the first round but the tables turned drastically when ROF had a chance to use V-trigger. The increased damage, movement speed and armor helped ROF equalize the score.

In contrast BKSama just couldn’t manage to make anything happen with his own resources, ironically losing to an overhead punish when his Aegis Reflector ran out of duration in the third round.

It was looking grim for the Chiefs, facing down the barrel of a possible clean 4-0 sweep. However DaBigChoppa managed to pump the brakes, taking out Travis Styles, finally scoring Chiefs first point.

DaBigChoppa looked a more dominant the second time round and applied pressure in excess, probably lending to the fact that Balrog doesn’t have many options on defence. Travis was struggling to keep Choppa out but was unable to keep the fight at the mid range where he usually excels at.

The final showdown would fittingly be between the two teams captains, ORDER’s ROF and Chiefs’ Somniac. ROF was as formidable as ever, unrelenting in his birdie pressure claiming the last game of the season in a dominant 2-0.Somniac was struggling to find his opportunity with ROF contesting a lot of his larger frame gaps and interrupting Somniac rhythm. ROF closed the set with a bold EX Bullhead, crowning ORDER the two time Gfinity Champions.

With this victory, ORDER claimed the first place prize in both Street Fighter V and overall club category. A fantastic performance by ORDER’s team overall, they have painted a undoubtedly large target on their back coming into the teased third season of the Gfinity Elite series.

With the two best teams in Australian Rocket League pitted against each other in the Gfinity Elite Series Final, the aggressive Sydney Roar and the methodical Sydney Chiefs gave us an enthralling match right down to the last touch.

In the regular season, the Roar were able to get over the Chiefs in relatively surprising fashion in a 3-0 sweep, with the top four in the world team only scoring three goals against Oceania’s second seed in a convincing loss.

Looking to redeem themselves for that loss in Week 4, the full strength Chiefs held no punches against the Roar. While the Roar was putting on the pressure early, it was Kamii who drew first blood after just over two minutes in Game 1.

While Roar were up 2-1 in the final minute of Game 1, Torsos beat Shadey and CJCJ in the air to force overtime, before taking advantage of an infield clear by Express to seal the deal. However, the game could very much have been a blowout right from the start had Express not put in the defensive yards, racking up five saves alone in the first game.

Game 2 was slightly more convincing form the Chiefs, who were looking to make this a quick 4-0. Drippay slid past the exposed Roar into an empty net to open up the account, before Torsos set up Kamii to double the lead.

CJCJ brought it back to a one-goal game, but in their attempts to equalise in the final minute, their overcommitment cost them with Drippay sealing Game 2 3-1.

After the break though, a much more composed Roar appeared. While they were still pressing and making aggressive plays, they weren’t exposing their goal as much, and it paid off with CJCJ scoring the first goal of Game 3.

From there, CJCJ shot a bullet into the top left after Express centered the ball to double the lead, before Shadey slipped a neat goal under the jumping Kamii to extend the lead to three. Torsos shot off the roof to try and get Chiefs back in the game, but Roar kept the pressure on and broke the Chiefs 4-2 to bring back one game in the series.

In case you missed @CJCJ_RL‘s Over Time goal for @SYDRoarSports, here it is again! pic.twitter.com/mZoT9h1Ezp

— Gfinity Australia (@GfinityAU) December 16, 2018

Motivated by the loss, Chiefs came out all guns blazing in Game 4. Drippay went from goal line to goal line in a brilliant solo effort to start the game just 22 seconds in, before Torsos and Kamii sealed the deal with just over a minute remaining. Both teams put in miraculous defensive efforts in Game 4, but it was Chiefs who prevailed with the first clean sheet of the series 3-0.

Now on tournament point, Roar had nothing to lose. Looking to get the first goal on the board once again, CJCJ took Express’ pass down the line and angled it beautifully into the bottom right to get the first, before Torsos once again cut off a Roar clear, allowing Kamii to swoop over the two defenders and equalise with 42 seconds to go.

In overtime though, it was a different result to Game 1, with CJCJ swiftly sliding behind the Chiefs defense to take the game after a missed clearance 2-1.

Just like Game 4 though, Game 6 saw the fire lit in Chiefs’ belly once again, forcing the Roar into a scrambling defense from the get-go and never allowing the underdogs to settle. Torsos opened scoring just after one minute, but Express beat Drippay in a neat 1-on-1 to bring us a leveled game.

It wasn’t enough to bring us to a Game 7 though, as Drippay got one back on Roar before a stalwart defense denied any semblance of a comeback, with the Chiefs taking Game 6 2-1 and the series 4-2.

The Gfinity Elite Series will return in 2019 for Season 3, where champions Sydney Chiefs will be looking to retain their title of Rocket League Champions against some of the best talent Australia has to offer.

Two weeks ago Melbourne ORDER defeated the Sydney Chiefs 3-1 in the Gfinity Elite Series Season 2 Grand Final.

ORDER were heavy favourites before the game to take down the $40,000 first prize, as most experts only gave the Chiefs one map in the Best of Five series.

ORDER lived up to the predictions, flying out of the gates thanks to an unfortunate post-plant from the Chiefs, as they quickly galloped to a dominant lead on Inferno.

The Chiefs didn’t help themselves, with multiple mistakes on executes across both sites and an interesting play at top Banana allowing Order to get to ten rounds without impediment.

ORDER’s run was also built off of individual plays as well, as ORDER player hatz explained.

“We had quite a bit of momentum coming off big individual plays from emagine and ins earlier in the game”

Emagine holds strong from pit with 4 kills pushing back the Chiefs

They then continued with their blitzkrieg with only one minor hiccup on round 14 before ending the half 14-1, a near impossible score to lose from.

While the Chiefs did pick up the second pistol, it was too little too late, as ORDER quickly wrapped up the final two rounds to end the map 16-2.

After the break, ORDER continued with the push into Overpass, running to another dominant lead early on the T side as they cruised to an early 8-2 lead. While the Chiefs did find some sort of footing towards the end of the first half, ORDER were able to respond, getting to double digits as the half ended 11-4.

After a technical pause for the Chiefs during the break, they were able to find some light, winning the first three rounds in the second half to retrieve some semblance of hope.

But with the gun rounds came the AWP of Alistair and with it the end of any hopes for the Chiefs on Overpass, as ORDER stormed home to win 16-7 and with it a 2-0 series lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Chiefs needed to fight back. Mirage provided them with such an opportunity.

An early lead gave them some breathing room, but ORDER responded, wrestling the lead away from their opponents to take the lead at the halfway point of the half. A late surge from the Chiefs saw the half end 8-7 and gave the Chiefs a golden opportunity to try and take Mirage.

But ORDER wanted to go home, and when the second half started, they turned on the afterburners, quickly running to eleven before the Chiefs could respond. But with their backs against the wall, they found their second wind, finding dominance with the rifles to regain the lead on round 23.

From that point on, they ran away with little further difficulty, taking out their first map of the series 16-13 and continued the series to Train

The loss shook the ORDER lineup.

“I think we were all a little disappointed since we have high expectations of ourselves” said hatz. “But overall the mood got reset on the next map.”

The Chiefs continued their good run on train, picking up the first three rounds to have a small lead. But with the gun rounds bringing back ORDER, the deficit vanished they took the next eleven unopposed to get them back into the driver’s seat once again, taking the half out 11-4, losing only on round 15.

Hatz connects a nutty spray transfer, picking up 3 kills and the Gfinity Elite Series as he completes the post-plant on tournament point.

And from that point on, ORDER were too dominant, as hatz explained.

“I think we knew once we had a good CT side we were confident we were gonna take it out since we know overall our T sides are usually strong.”

Their T side was strong, was they only dropped one round to the Chiefs as they cruised to an 16-5 win on Train and with the Grand Final as they clinch their back-to-back titles 3-1.

ORDER made it two straight in the CS:GO division, toppling Chiefs in both events. They close the year with an important win that they’ll look to build from into 2019 while the Chiefs will be keen to get back to their main roster and continue their run.

We look forward to what the next season of the Gfinity Elite Series has in store, and if anyone can take down the Melbourne juggernaut.

A monumental night to take us that much closer to the Gfinity Elite Series Street Fighter V Grand Finals.

Two more teams have been eliminated and the stage is set for the final showdown between returning Champions Melbourne Order and their rivals the Sydney Chiefs.

It wasn’t an easy road to get here, both teams performed extremely well in the round robin stages and had to compete with Perth Ground Zero and Melbourne Avant in a single elimination match.

Editor note: Unfortunately due to issues with WordPress this week the clips aren’t able to be inline embedded into the piece. Should be rectified moving forward.

? This weekend’s finals will pack a punch, get prepared with @ASTROGaming‘s Top 5 #StreetFighterV Moments from the semi-finals!

? @Oi_Rupps | @RoF_uu | @DaBigChoppaNZ | @xaverunsgdlk @bksama | @SydneyChiefs pic.twitter.com/nfVNWPpT3l

— Gfinity Australia (@GfinityAU) December 13, 2018

Melbourne ORDER vs Perth Ground Zero

A very decisive 4-1 victory for Melbourne Order, they showed no mercy in their rematch of Season One Grand Finals with Perth Ground Zero.

Bug and Syo kicked off the night with an Ibuki Mirror between Mentor and pupil. Traditionally Bug would be the favourite to win but recently Syo has managed to swing things in his favour. The match was very volatile and it almost felt like whoever scored the first Knockdown take the round.

Syo clinched the match twice with Ibuki’s deadly Air Kunai release, a technique that pries on a player’s defensive throw tech habits and unfortunately for Order, Bug wasn’t prepared for it the first or the second time.

https://clips.twitch.tv/SwissTacitOrangePRChase

In the second match Rupps bought out the Alex in a very questionable approach against ROF. He had a shining moment in the second round where he managed to steal a round after landing three perfect reads in a row.  However the high risk / reward game eventually fell out if his favour and ROF secured the victory.

https://clips.twitch.tv/KawaiiFragileSardineKeepo

The Marquee player for ORDER was definitely Travis Styles and his formidable Balrog. He once again scored two matches and garnering yet another Astro MVP, he is hands down the most consistent player in Season 2 and a very reliable asset for the team. His matches against Syo and Ghostchip’s highlighted his rock solid defence and excellent decision making under pressure. 

His opponents used characters who are well known for having very oppressive pressure. His liberal use of V-reversal helped to push them off and allowed him to create space to play at the range he is comfortable in.With these two dominant wins under his belt, Travis’ looks primed to carry Order to victory next week in the Grand Finals.

With ORDER only one match away from getting into Grand Finals, the pressure was on for Ghostchip’s to carry his team from defeat. He barely squeezed a victory with a trade combo in the first round but it would all go downhill as Birdie’s reliable damage seemed to tip the scramble situations quite heavily in ROF’s favour.

By the end of the set, ROF had Ghost all figured out with a well timed jump back to catch Bison’s Slide into V-Trigger activate.

https://clips.twitch.tv/SmilingSuavePistachioFrankerZ

Once again ORDER claimed their spot in the Grand Finals. Their convincing victory here paints them as definite favourites to take out the championship. Will history repeat itself? We’ll find out on Sunday!

Melbourne Avant vs Sydney Chiefs

Oh boy, this was a crazy set. Sydney Chiefs narrowly closed it out 4-3 thanks to their trump card player DaBigChoppa.

The team composition in this match had both teams align perfectly, Each player would have the same opponent through out the set. DaBigChoppa had mentioned earlier in the Round Robin stages about how he wanted to have a go at “Mr. Gfinity” RumourOfGhosts and he got his wish three-fold.

AwildLLAMA scored the lion-share of points for Avant while making Somniac look like a fish out of water in the G vs M.Bison match up. In the first match Somniac looked like he was in full control until AwildLLAMA found his opportunity with a very pivotal cross up jump in to claim the corner. From there he scored outrageous damage on every successful read on Somniac’s defence to claim the first match.

Somniac took a very different approach in the second match with a heavily offensive style, which in theory works well against G’s low defensive options. However, AwildLLAMA matched it pound for pound and just made so much more damage from every chance he could get compared to Somniac.

https://clips.twitch.tv/AgileKnottyAdminTTours

Spaceghost barely stole the first match in a close call against BKsama. It was down to the wire in all three rounds and these two players were looking very evenly matched. BKSama did everything he could to keep in Spaceghost’s face, wanting to avoid playing the fireball game against Guile.

Their second match looked nothing like the first. BKSama just proceeded to run a train over Spaceghost in a clean 2-0 victory. Look at this nasty Shimmy conversion.

https://clips.twitch.tv/RelievedBraveToadUnSane

The MVP of the night goes the DaBigChoppa claiming 3 straight wins against Avant captain RumoursOfGhosts. DaBigChoppa has brought nothing but carnage in his wake since he has entered Gfinity this season and this week was no different.

As the series went on it looked like Rumours was getting closer and closer to victory but DaBigChoppa kept managing to clutch it out. There were so many highlights between these two, just check them out yourself below!

https://clips.twitch.tv/ManlyKitschyAyeayeRlyTho

https://clips.twitch.tv/OriginalArborealCobraSmoocherZ

https://clips.twitch.tv/CrunchyImportantLampPogChamp

With only one week to go which team will take out the lion’s share of the $27,500 prize pool? Can the Chiefs overthrow ORDER? Will ORDER walk into 2019 as the two time champions? Join me in the Twitch chat later today to find out!

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with Street Fighter V and Rocket League Finals today. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

With one team seeking revenge, another looking to defend their unlikely title and two new challengers stepping up to the plate, this week’s Gfinity Elite Series Rocket League playoffs saw some teams live up to expectations while others fell short of triumph.

With the Sydney Chiefs bringing their main roster back after their ELEAGUE Cup run, everything was at stake for the team who this time last season lost their first Australian LAN in over two years. Going up against young guns and top-seeded Brisbane Deceptors, led by ex-Chiefs player Jake, they looked determined to make sure they booked their rightful place in the final.

The game started out slowly, with Chiefs getting the first break with 28 seconds left on the clock in Game 1. While Jake was able to secure overtime with a great solo effort, Torsos finished off the Deceptors to take the lead in the series.

After a dominant Game 2 saw the Chiefs in the lead at the first break, the Deceptors struck back in Game 3 in a back-and-forth affair. While Torsos and Kamii played off each other for the Chiefs, SSteve and Jake were finding innovative angles to strike back at the veteran roster.

With overtime on the horizon and scores locked at 2-2, SSteve snuck behind the Chiefs defence to set up Jake off the backboard to claim the victory for Brisbane, who were looking to make their resurgence in the series.

It was short-lived glory though for the playoffs rookies. Game 4 saw SSteve make some miraculous saves on the goal line but it wasn’t enough to keep Brisbane in the game, while Game 5 saw Chiefs keep a clean sheet as they drove all over the defeated Brisbane.

The currently “fourth best team in the world” claimed a 4-1 series victory and booked their first Gfinity Elite Series finals appearance against the winner of crosstown rivals Sydney ROAR, and last season’s victors Melbourne ORDER.

?Get your morning boost with @ASTROGaming‘s Top 5 #RocketLeague Moments from the semi-finals!

?@TorsosRL | @KamiiRL | @shadeyRL | @JakeRL_ | @ExpressRL_ pic.twitter.com/bkUfynD7Su

— Gfinity Australia (@GfinityAU) December 12, 2018

The second-seeded ROAR took no time at all to get a headstart over third-seeded ORDER, scoring in the first two minutes of Game 1 after great synergy between Express and Shadey. While Julz snuck one in to take it to overtime, Express was able to punish the aggressive ORDER to give the ROAR the early lead.

ORDER looked to close the gap in Game 2, going blow-for-blow with the ROAR, but great passing pressure created by the ROAR saw another game slip by the champion’s fingers in the dying moments. It was a similar story again in Game 3, this time with CJCJ topping it off with a fancy air dribble as ROAR looked to sweep ORDER.

Game 4 saw ROAR dig the grave of ORDER with brilliant mind games to set up a goal for Shadey, who looked to pass but instead took it himself off the backboard to give the ROAR a 2-0 lead in the game.

ORDER dug their heels in with some superb defensive efforts, and while Julz got a consolidation goal, it wasn’t enough to take the game as the ROAR secured their first ever finals appearance in any game 4-0.

With a Sydney v Sydney rivalry heading up the finals of the Gfinity Elite Series Rocket League, this is one game you won’t want to miss. Six of the most talented players – all of whom have played in RLCS LANs – will bring all the fireworks to the Hoyts Entertainment Quarter this Sunday.

The Gfinity Elite Series Finals continue on December 16 with Street Fighter V and Rocket League. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch the games live. You can also head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

While the ORDER main squad was over in Odense getting upset by Natus Vincere, here on the home front the Gfinity Elite Series was doing its best to match the level of upset we saw on the international stage.

In the first vs fourth match, we saw ladder leaders Perth Ground Zero take on a Sydney Chiefs squad that have been bolstered recently by the return of the main Chiefs squad. They’d first do battle on Dust 2, which looked like it should have been fairly comfortable for Ground Zero because the Chiefs main squad has looked poor on it in recent weeks.

Chiefs started on a tear though, putting the opening 4 CT rounds away thanks to 8 frags on a rampaging Moeycq. GZ battled back to trade the next six rounds evenly, but the Chiefs accelerated away and gave away only consolation rounds to finish their CT half up 10-5.

The Chiefs roared out of the blocks early on their T-half, getting to 15 rounds before Ground Zero had even reached double-digits. However the boys from the west were not done, fighting off map point five times en route to eventually falling 16-13. It was an impressive show of resilience by Ground Zero to not simply fall over, but equally impressive by the Chiefs to hold their nerve and close out a map that most of them have struggled on.

The series then moved to Train where it started in a back-and-forth fashion, with the Chiefs opening with the pistol round, trading their way to 4-3 up, before falling behind 5-4. Eventually Ground Zero held serve and secured their T-half at 9-6, with NikkeZ the chief destroyer (pun intended) for the half. Ground Zero pushed it on through into their CT half. With BURNRUOk joining NikkeZ fragging out onto the Chiefs, and they closed the map 16-10 winners thanks to a massive BURN 3k in Ivy.

And so the series headed to the hallowed sandstone, arguably the MCG of Oceanic Counter-Strike. That’s right, it was Mirage for the decider.

Again we saw a tightly contested, back and forth affair as the map opened up. They traded rounds throughout the CT half of the Chiefs until Ground Zero pulled ahead, thanks once more to NikkeZ who was having a barn-burning performance on the big stage of the semi-finals.

Eventually, with Ground Zero still trying almost stubbornly to prevent NikkeZ dragging them across the line at 15-12, the Chiefs finally stepped up and delivered like the LAN kings we know them to be.

Their two best performers on Mirage, Pecks and Infrequent, stepped up when they were needed the most and delivered a monstrous 14^th round to the Chiefs from down two picks early, and then they promptly secured overtime.

The Chiefs opened Overtime with a win but dropped the next two to close their T-sided overtime half down one. They held strong on their CT side, claiming the first two victories right back into GZ to go to match point where the established vets of their main lineup in Moeycq and Infrequent picked the Perth boys apart with AWPs to secure overtime, Mirage, and the series in a thrilling 2-1 win.

Chiefs continue their LAN dominance, even in their Gfinity form, while the ladder-leading Ground Zero fall disappointingly in the final hurdle before the big dance. They’ll be disappointed based on the form they were showing, but on paper these were two well-matched teams. A good team losing a close series to another good team is no shameful display. On another day the overtime goes their way, and I’m writing a Very Biased Perth Preview of the final, but on this day the kings overcame the would-be kingslayers.

Following this barn-burner of a series was the spicy Melbourne derby in the other side of the bracket. The Melbourne Avant Gaming took on the draftee squad of Melbourne ORDER. Avant were heavily favoured on paper, being the regular teammates and stronger players overall, but the thing about this Avant squad is that on their day they’re capable of losing to anyone so it was by no means a sure thing – especially according to Gfinity caster Geordie “Mac” McAleer who picked ORDER to take the series.

ORDER were able to secure arguably Avant’s weakest map in Inferno for the first game and promptly staked themselves to a 6-2 early lead, with RaZ being the main instrument of chaos while the two usual guns of Avant in pan1K and ju1ces trying their best to keep Avant in rounds.

Some might have credited pan1k drinking a Dare Iced Coffee instead of his beloved Red Bull for their struggles but make no mistake, ORDER were sharp in the opening. To Avant’s credit they managed to take a little control back and keep it to a respectable (after the opening) 9-6 half on the ORDER T-side.

Avant continued to ramp it up as they moved into their own T-side, a 6-1 opening of their own saw them sitting on a 12-10 lead with a strong chance to really break the ORDER economy. However, ORDER stood firm and re-took the lead thanks to an excellent clutch from Jabbo. From here they closed emphatically, winning a final gun round that put the Avant lineup onto a gross buy on match point and duly dispatched them, winning 16-12.

Avant would have taken the recovery there as a positive – they’ve basically evenly split the last 20 rounds of the map and were in a winning position on what they’ve identified as a weak point of theirs. Especially as they were headed to their preferred playground as we once again entered Mirage.

ORDER posted the pistol and secured the anti-eco with two bomb plants on their T-side, but pan1k was able to save an AK from round 2 and used it to secure a huge 3k and put Avant on the board. ORDER immediately hit back, savaging Avant’s money and one gun round later they had set themselves up with an intimidating 7-1 lead. Avant managed to carry an AWP through two rounds on a sole survivor, and they used that to get themselves an important second round as they looked to keep the halftime score respectable.

Avant made it to half time at 10-5, which was a reasonable effort but still left them a mountain climb which somehow felt insurmountable when ORDER took their 11^th round. However Avant showed remarkable resilience and mental toughness to peel off three in a row to bring it back to 11-10.

Unfortunately for the Avant faithful, ORDER put away three of their own on the bounce to go to 14, and despite one last gasp for Avant, the ORDER subs sealed the map 16-11, the match 2-0, and a date with the Chiefs this week where they’re aiming to go back-to-back. Presumably though, it will be the last we’ve seen of the sub squad.

This was really a remarkable win for the ORDER subs in my opinion. They’re not terrible players by any stretch but despite Mac’s prediction I think they were massive underdogs on-paper and this was a highly winnable match they’ve let slip away. They were slow out of the blocks in both maps and it really cost them here – and, as we’ve seen in other events, it’s cost them elsewhere as well. They’ve recently added a new coach and I hope we can see how their true form once they get their structure organised.

Moving ahead to the final, we’ll see a cracking match involving two fierce city and organisational rivals in Melbourne ORDER and Sydney Chiefs. For much the same reason as I saw them as underdogs against Avant, I rate ORDER to be the favourites as they come in against 3/5ths of the main Chiefs squad.

This match is still highly winnable for the Chiefs though, and after the year they’ve had one would be a fool to count out the LAN Kings. Be sure to check out what promises to be an excellent final on Saturday!

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.