Going into the fall split of the RLCS 2022-23 season, APAC was shrouded in mystery with the merger of both APAC S and APAC N. Although the first season gave us a glimpse of what the region was capable of, several roster changes and a lack of information for the new season until the very last moment, made it hard to predict the state the region would be in. At the end of the Fall Open, we saw a bunch of upsets in both the qualifiers and the main event, with James Cheese taking the title on Championship Sunday! Today we're going to take a look at some of the top teams in the region.
James Cheese
The kings of APAC as some would say, this roster is made up of the Poster boy of the APAC Rocket League Scene, ReaLize. A veteran of the OCE scene and worlds contender, Kamii. The final piece of the puzzle hailing from EU brings with him a bunch of experience from different top teams in the region, Virtuoso, with Homie filling in the position of coach. A truly international roster in the whole of RLCS, this team has a lot of expectations on them, and for now, they've lived up to them, but how long will the reign last? Will the rest of the region be able to catch up to them? Only time will tell.
Gaimin Gladiators
Previously the winners of the APAC S and the world's representative, in the inaugural season of APAC, they were touted as the challengers to James Cheese. With an international transfer under their belt as well, with OSM coming in from the EU, previously their coach joining Maxeew and LCT in the starting roster, will they be able to take on the giants? after what many would say is a disappointing first showing. The team looks to be optimistic about what the future holds, and with them getting more practice with each other, the squad is hopeful about their chance at the title in the next regional.
Detonator
This is a team that just came out of nowhere in the first season of the APAC region. Although they have been at the top for a while in the region, they were fairly inconsistent at getting results in tournaments. With the first split in the 2021-22 season, that changed, whilst they started the first regional with a disappointing result, they quickly picked up the pace and cemented themselves as the title contenders in APAC N, as well as making the winter major. The roster consists of Lunatic, Burn, and Mikan as the starting three, with Nunki being their coach, and are also considered challengers to James Cheese.
UHUH (1620 Kings)
This is obviously the best team in the region with yours truly being the substitute for the roster. Jokes aside, this is a major dark horse team, with the starting roster consisting of Squigly, BunnyDummy, and JarelNaden, with Spooks as the coach. All three are from successful rosters in the previous season, with the duo of Squigly and BunnyDummy being 2nd in the APAC S region, with JarelNaden making a bunch of appearances in the quarter-finals and grand-finals of several regionals over the 2021-22 season. This roster is looking to take the region by storm and establish itself as a powerhouse in the region.
Tough Love
After a stint with Tokyo Verdy and attending worlds with ReaLize and Tenhow, Sigms decided to join his old teammate Furlashh and picked up Aech, a player relatively unknown to the APAC scene, but made appearances in CRL NA. Forming a roster of all-Americans, they have high hopes this season and started off on the right note by going 3-0 in the Top 16 qualifier, upsetting Gaimin Gladiators on their way there and looked to be establishing themselves as the next best team after James Cheese, but it all went wrong in the main event, where they dropped series to UHUH and God Speed and scraped through 3-2 and bowed out in the quarterfinals losing 3-4 to eventual finalists Detonator. They will be looking to bounce back to their top 16 qualifier form as soon as possible and looking to take the challenge up to James Cheese.
Coming into the season Misty was one of the most hyped players in the region. Due to university, he had spent a few years grinding and honing his skills on EU servers, reaching rank A in 6mans there. So, naturally, people were really excited to see who he was going to team with for the 2022-23 season. This is where Ballerees and Kevin come in, with them being on the same roster and ending the spring split of the 2021-22 season with a very strong finish, with a win in regional 1 and 2nd place finish in regional 3, Misty joined them. With their coach Trill, by their side, this team was touted as the next big thing in the APAC region, but unfortunately, they faced a tough opponent in Detonator which ended their run in the semifinals. This team will definitely be looking to improve upon things and take their place as the title challengers to James Cheese.
Brokoli
Forming an all-Indonesian team, Ripoopi, Gon and Ficeo set out to challenge for the APAC crown. Gon had played with both Ripoopi and Ficeo before, but not all 3 on the same team. Facing one of if not the hardest possible runs in the top 16 qualifiers, facing Gaimin Gladiators, Detonator, and James Cheese on the same day, they went 2-3 and had to play in closed qualifiers to make it into the top 16 for the main event. In the closed qualifiers, they lived up to expectations dropping only 2 games in their 3-0 run to the main event. In the main event, they faced easier opposition but were still made to work after dropping early series to Nimmt55 and Dark Rift Esports. Essentially reverse-sweeping the swiss bracket, they made it into the top 8 with a 3-2 record. After losing 1-4 to God Speed in the quarters, they’ll be hoping for a better finish in the 2nd regional and beyond.
Nimmt55
As bizarre as the name of the team is, the players are anything but. With a very strong performance in the 2021-22 season in the APAC N region where they ended 3rd overall, with a number of showings in the grand finals of regionals throughout the season, people were looking forward to their performance against the rest of APAC when the merger of the two regions was announced. Two of the players on the starting roster i.e. Maru, and Shaolon are previous teammates of ReaLize and had been talked about a lot in the scene as very solid supporting players, and Popo coming in with his mechanical prowess makes this a tough team to face. However, their run in the Fall Open ended with them facing Gladiators who go the better of them, and ended their run in the quarterfinals of the regional. They will be looking to bounce back and improve their standings as a top team in the region.
C.E.R.T
Last season’s super sub Tank finally got himself on a main roster, joining Claw Z and Easel. Claw-Z was on last season’s APAC S runners-up UHUH and Easel played as a sub for Three Rats (now Gaimin Gladiators) and played the fall split on the main roster for Asia Manji. A disappointing showing in the Top 16 Qualifier had them go out 0-3 and not even take a game off any opponent, getting swept 3 times. A better showing in the closed qualifiers put them in the main event with a 3-1 record. A good main event showing for the roster had them just miss out on making the top 8, losing to UHUH (1620 Kings) in series 5 of swiss. They will be looking to build upon that result and try breaking into the top 8 in the upcoming regionals.
BlueAbsLem (BlueAbsTik)
In a region where a team is named James Cheese, BlueAbsLem takes home the award for the worst name in the region. This team was highly rated, even managing to win a couple off-season tournaments. All 3 players had proven themselves to be top players in APAC, with AbsCrazy and Kaotik both playing one split each with the duo of LCT and Maxeew and Blue having a really good season with God Speed. They matched expectations qualifying for the main event in a 3-1 manner and even beating eventual finalists Detonator. But it all went wrong for them in the main event going out 1-3 after disappointing losses to GracesBlaze Refine and Cobweb City. This led to Kaotik leaving the team and the duo of Blue and AbsCrazy moving forward with Alem, who played on Hilltop Picnic. Only time will tell where this puts this roster moving forward and they will be hoping to put this first regional behind them.
Cobweb City
This is a team that on paper had all the right ingredients but barely couldn't make it into the top 8. With last season's breakthrough prospect Hireo on the roster, who with his brilliant mechanics had cemented himself as a top player in the APAC scene, this team was poised to do damage to the hierarchy established in the region. The starting roster, which includes Hireo consists of highly accomplished players in the scene, Asphyx, who had made multiple top 4 finishes in the spring split of last season, Poofy who had won the first regional of the spring split and had made the grand finals of the last, being on the same team as Ballerees and Kevin. Emin, their coach is helping them on their journey to be a top team in APAC and reclaim their lost glory.
GracesBlaze Refine
Coming into the new season, this team was an unknown variable in the already well-established equation that is APAC. The players, Kakaomame, Echo, and Tetu, along with their coach, Empty although fairly unknown in the competitive scene, have a good presence in the ranked leaderboards of APAC with them consistently reaching the top ranks, but there was a big question mark on their ability to transform their ranked success into RLCS. Well, they were quick to answer with a resounding, "we are here to play!" with a clean sweep over Detonator in the first round of the Top 16 qualifier of the Fall Open and an extremely close loss to Tough Love in the second round. However, they fell short of the Top 8 spot with subsequent losses to God Speed, Gaimin Gladiators, and Brokoli. This team will be one to keep your eyes on for the future and will definitely be part of a few upsets in the region.
Dark Rift Esports
One of only 2 teams in the region that made the main event after not being seeded in the Top 16 Qualifier, Dark Rift Esports made a name for themselves by putting on what most would consider a good performance for them with a 12-14th finish. Ryzen and SeaDog along with Machi had done well for themselves in the last season making the top 8 in the last regional of the season. Coming into this season, Machi moved to the substitute spot with Adren joining the main roster. After dropping a series to Ultimate Chimaera in the Open Qualifier and making it to the main event in 3-2 fashion, Dark Rift upset one of the top teams in Brokoli but sadly couldn’t convert that momentum into further wins against God Speed or C.E.R.T. They’ll want to build on this performance moving forward and eventually challenge for the top 8 positions.
Team GanDers
This is a team that a lot of people will be familiar with if they followed the APAC N region last season, although with a vastly different roster, of which only Retra remains the consistent name on the team, with Popo joining Nimmt55 and Nemoto retiring from the competitive scene. Coming into the new season, the team made up of niko2, AKINN, and Retra was not on anyone's radar and was not expected to make the main event, but they made a lot of upsets happen in the closed qualifier and made the top 16. However, they had a tough run in the swiss round of the main event with BlueAbsTik (currently BlueAbsLem) and C.E.R.T. being the first and second teams that they faced, respectively, and had a hard-fought loss, with them ending the swiss round by getting swept by Cobweb City. This team will definitely be looking to improve upon things and become a challenger for the playoff spot in the future.
Asia Manji
With being one of only two teams to keep a consistent roster from the last season, this team had a lot to live up to considering their results from last season, with multiple top 6 finishes in APAC S gracing their list of achievements. With the combination of AryaNeil, Fortymula, and Dan, as well as Cacti being the coach, this team is poised to make some deep runs in the upcoming regionals and will be looking to get back up on their feet after a disappointing round of swiss in the Fall Open, where they lost to Gaimin Gladiators, GracesBlaze Refine, and Brokoli.
Xayfhers
One of only 2 unchanged teams from last season, Xayfhers were a wild card in the region as no one really knew where to place them. A disappointing result in the Top 16 qualifiers where they only beat Sagetta unconvincingly led to their drop to the closed qualifiers. Closed qualifiers weren’t much better for the team as they barely made it through 3-2 in the swiss going in as the 15th seed. The main event where they got swept three times while also sweeping Cobweb City proved to be the last straw for the roster as they chose to go their separate ways and disband after the first regional.
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