OCE Closed Qualifiers: Key Take Aways From The Day

After a long day’s play, OCE’s bubble teams have now had their last chance to qualify for a regional event in winter, with the closed qualifier for the regional event 3 concluding earlier this evening. With some dominant performances and newer faces, it certainly brought an interesting day of competition.

Bandits Scarily Strong

Due to their roster change, the Juicd Bandits lost all 850 of their RLCS points, meaning they had to come through the open qualifiers for regional event 3. But even with such a small turn around in between events with a new lineup, this new Bandits team looks incredibly strong with the addition of veteran Siki, who’s been a top level competitor since 2017 in OCE.

Having attended worlds twice, Siki’s experience paired perfectly with mechanical sniper Hawk and play maker Spratt. Although Bandits were clearly still expected to make it out of the closed qualifier, it was difficult to predict a performance this dominant as they went 9-0 for the day, scoring 41 goals in their 3 perfect sweeps.

Despite some rotational and defensive errors costing a few goals against them, they’ve got another week to patch up any holes for main event, and will now be a force to be reckoned with come next Friday.

Da Babies Excel On Debut

Da Babies (formerly named Defecate before a Psyonix enforced name change) came into the closed qualifier as a dark horse team. Newly formed, the team certainly isn’t void of skill or confidence, but given it was both Lunr‘s and Morse’s first events for the season, and an earlier than anticipated loss in the Adapt lead up event, there were worries about how they’d perform.

But any worries are now all out the window as Da Babies have definitely proven their worth with today’s performance. Faced with a difficult run, they took down previous top 12 team Collateral, one of the outside favourites for top 12 (and top 2 in the past qualifier) in Physicists, and finally a dominant sweep of The Sussmen, a team filled with chemistry and fearlessness.

Out on the pitch today, Da Babies looked like a well oiled machine, and heading into next weekend’s main event, will certainly be a forced to be reckoned with.

Top Of The Bubble Almost Pops

In our recent power rankings, we listed Big Goose at #9 in OCE (technically 8 with Wildcard disbanding), and that prediction nearly went horribly wrong today. Throughout the day, their normally vibrant offence was held firmly by their opponents’ tight defence, with losses to The CEOs and Collateral putting them at a 1-2 record.

Although their offensive prowess and clutch ability returned in two tight series wins over dangerous lineups Lost In The Sauce and The Sussmen, Big Goose’s qualification was certainly a shaky one. They did manage to prove that they still have the calmness to continue to make main events, but are they still worthy of a playoffs position? Only time will tell.

Additionally, Trident would have come into this event with high expectations coming off their recent top 12 and nail biting win over once top 8 team Antic Esports.

But the rising Trident roster, who were popularized in their strong performance between seasons, started off the day on a very shaky note, struggling against both The CEOs and Physicists to fall to 1-2, much like their counterparts at Big Goose.

Yet on the verge of elimination, Trident proved their worth to OCE, and why they’re considered by many as a top 12 team, scalping a sweep against the undeniably experienced Wazoo, and a blow out game 4 to clutch a 3-1 against Collateral. With their spot now booked in main event, and their form seemingly returning, it will be interesting to see which side of Trident we see performing at next week’s main event.