Cover-Credits:
The Playoffs bracket of the Gamers8 2023 Rocket League tournament kicked off on 26th August with eight teams all geared up to fight it out in a single-elimination bracket. With no second chances, all eight teams had their backs up against the wall. In the end, it was Version1 which survived the two-day playoffs bracket, and won the grand final against Rule One with a 4-1 scoreline in the best-of-seven series.
Version1 also took home a whopping $500,000 USD prize money from the $2 Million prize pool along with the coveted trophy.
Here's a closer look at Version1's journey through the Playoffs stage.
Version1 Defeats Rule One in the Grand Finals of Rocket League Gamers8 event
Firstly, here's how the playoffs bracket worked:
Single Elimination Bracket.
All matches are best-of-seven (BO7).
The participants distributed their rosters on who will play for them in a 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 game.
The members of the Version1 team are Robert "comm" Kyser, Landon "BeastMode" Konerman, Daniel "Daniel" Piecenski, and their coach Jayson "Fireburner" Nunez.
On 26th August, Version1 took on Oxygen Esports in the first Quarterfinals and it won the series with a very close 4-3 score. Meanwhile, the other quarterfinal winners were:
Team Falcons [4] vs Gen.G Mobil1 Racing [1]
Team BDS [4] vs FURIA [1]
Rule One [4] vs Team Vitality [0]
On 27th August, in the semi-final match, Version1 was matched up against Team Falcons. In this series, Version1 one bested Falcons with a 4-2 score in the BO7 and secured its finals spot.
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final match featuring Team BDS and Rule One, Rule One defeated BDS with a 4-1 score.
After winning their respective semi-final matches, Version1 and Rule One were matched up against one another in the grand final series. Notably, this is not the first time these two teams are facing one another. Initially, both teams played a series in the Group D Upper Bracket Finals, but it was Rule One which proved to be the better team on that occasion.
While many people expected it to be a close series, given how strong the two teams were, the grand final was rather short. Version1 closed out the BO7 series in just five games. It won the following maps:
Utopia Coliseum (Dusk)
Forbidden Temple
Wasteland (Night)
Urban Central (Night) [Overtime]
On the other hand, Rule One won map 2 Salty Shores (Night) in overtime.
On top of securing the trophy and the title, Version1's player Beastmode was also awarded the 'Most Valuable Player' [MVP] award of the tournament.
Likewise, Version1 members Daniel and Comm were featured number one and three, respectively, in the Merit Awards for the 'Most Demos' at the Rocket League 2023 Gamers8 event.
The conclusion of the Rocket League tournament also marks the end of Gamers8 2023 The Land of Heroes. The esports festival featured a total of 13 esports tournaments with a combined prize pool of $33.5 Million USD.
