The Rise Of PWR

PWR is one of the biggest organizations in Australia, run by Lachlan Power, a famous youtuber with 15 million subscribers, some incredibly large content creators, and a tier 1 level Fortnite team that held many FNCS championships.

In late 2021, after being a solely Fortnite invested organization, PWR made the announcement that they would be entering the Rocket League competitive scene as their second esport. With some very solid unsigned teams, both locally and internationally, and a decal already confirmed as in the game, expectations were high for PWR’s announcement.

So when PWR announced that they would be signing EpicJonny, Mile and Pulse freestyler Forky, skepticism was high about whether the team could perform at the highest level. And unfortunately, despite the backing of a huge organization, the team hugely flopped, failing to progress through even day 1 of the first qualifier.

In the second open qualifier, they improved, but only just barely, getting swept 3-0 in the first round of day 2 lower bracket to again sent home extremely early. After a disappointing Fall, the team had failed to even qualify for a closed qualifier, and despite some passable results in the Astronauts circuit, a change was in desperate need.

So heading into Winter, PWR decided to drop EpicJonny and Mile, the two more experienced players on the roster, putting their faith in Forky’s progression and signing two upcoming players in Noxes and Nibra, as well as coach Garenn.

Although they faltered again in day 2 of the first event’s qualifiers, the team‘s work off field, and in NSG Qualifiers, finally came to action in the second event of Winter. After finally finding themselves in the winners bracket on day 2, a heart breaking game 5 overtime loss to AXLE-R8 sent them to losers once again, for a do or die series with Prestige, a rising team who were one series off qualifying for the first event.

But this time, PWR did not falter, taking the series 3-1, and finally, qualifying for their first closed qualifier. Finally beginning to find some traction, PWR kept their momentum going straight away in the closed qualifier, producing a shock 3-0 upset over previous top 12 playoffs team Vibrance, one of the teams PWR was initially blasted for not signing.

Although the team was then swept in devastating fashion by XSET, followed by a tough loss in game 4 overtime to RBG, the PWR boys bounced back perfectly with a 3-1 domination of previous high level team Pittsburgh Knights to secure a 2-2 record, surprisingly just one game from main event.

Unfortunately, the run was abruptly stopped by a dominant Shopify Rebellion, who won a heart breaking game 3 overtime to prevent any comeback from occurring, sending PER home in 17th-19th position for the event.

Despite the loss, PWR looked good out there today. Forky’s bumps set up crucial goals, Noxes was a wall in defense, and Nibra had some huge pop off moments, and even if they’re not perfect just yet, this story shows one of resilience and ability to handle pressure, showing that PWR is, at the very least, a team to be respected for the future.