Pioneers Team Preview

OCE’s next generation have arrived. The lineup of 16 year olds have taken the region by storm, combining incredible mechanics and next level team plays with consistent defence, and have conquered the best in the business to qualify for LA.

Coming off a 2nd place finish to close the Fall split, the kids came into Winter hungry for more. And right off the back, they more than proved their worth, taking down Ground Zero in 5 early in lowers and dominating the Renegades, they qualified for back to back grands. With the momentum on their side, they continued in event 2 where they took down the reigning champs in Dire Wolves and Ground Zero once more to make yet another grands.

Finally finding themselves an organization in KCP, after playing under the banner of ‘Forkidden’, the young prodigies went into the final event of Winter ranked 2nd for the split.Their event 3 certainly wasn’t perfect, with another loss in groups and coming back from 0-2 down in game 5 against a pickup team, they still showed experience beyond their years to climb their way to top 3 and secure their spot in LA as the youngest ever RLCS LAN team.

Going into the major, Pioneers have a difficult group to conquer, and coming up against some of the best in the business, their erratic play style may not hold up as well as regionally. The space they have for their air dribbles and mechanical plays will likely be shut down, and their desperate attempts to just throw themselves at the ball on offence could be swiftly met with counterattacking pressure.

Perhaps the Pioneers will prove the world wrong once more and make a run in LA. But with an extremely tough group, and the pressure of going from playing at home to playing in front of a 5000 person live audience, as a 16 year old, could be daunting, and this major is likely to act more as an opportunity for experience for the young phenoms.