KCP Chronicles: Pioneers Place 14th in Major 1

Pioneers place 14th in Major one, finish as the second seed Oceania team

Written by Trey Donovan

A refresher before Split 2 begins.

The Rocket League season is well underway with the finish of the Copenhagen Major. The Pioneers placed 14th in the major and finished as Oceania’s second seeded team behind PWR going into Major two’s open qualifiers.

The schedule for the Pioneers in the Swiss Stage of Major one was a difficult path for any team, starting the stage playing G2. The offense started slowly and G2 took advantage, winning games one and two by a score of 3-1. In game three, however, it looked like the Pioneers slowed down G2 offensively, but it wasn’t quite enough as they fell 1-0 to end the series.

The next matchup was against fellow Oceania team PWR and former Pioneer player Bananahead. Before this Major, the Pioneers lost the last four matches against PWR, but looked to correct course during the Major. Similarly to the G2 series, the Pioneers offense started slowly and PWR won game one 4-0. Game two saw both teams provide offense, but PWR’s shot volume led to a 5-2 win. Game three was more defensive than the other games, but PWR took the game 2-1 with good defense from both teams.

With two losses, the Pioneers needed a series win over Elevate. The story of this series for the Pioneers was offense, and in game one they provided that with a 4-1 win. Game two slowed down a bit as the defenses kicked it up a notch as Elevate won 2-1. In game three, Fiberr helped with all the scoring with two goals and an assist to help the Pioneers win 3-2. Then in game four, it was the Scrub and Amphis show offensively. Scrub provided two goals and two assists, while Amphis came away with a hat trick leading to a 5-2 game four win.

With a win under their belt, the Pioneers then faced Complexity who were coming off a loss to Karmine Corp. Complexity came out hot and stayed hot in this series sweeping the Pioneers with 4-0’s in all three games. That loss took the Pioneers out of the Major, leaving them with a top-16 finish at number 14. Shortly after the Major, it was announced that Pioneers would be looking to make a change, seeing longtime Pioneer Scrub being dropped.

This will be the first time in two years that the Pioneers Rocket League team won’t have Scrub on it and we wish him well in his future endevors. With change on the horizon and Major II around the corner, so what does this change and performance mean heading into Major II open qualifiers?

Right as it stands now, the team is looking for a third member for the team. Once they find said player, it may take a little time to see the team gel together in the Open Qualifiers. While the team might not look 100% heading into Open Qualifier four, the floor of the team is still high with Amphis and Fiberr. They will be looking to keep their Oceania rank and challenge PWR for the top spot. Open Qualifiers four begins April 27 so fans will get to see a new look Pioneers team soon.