The third week of The Grid EU marked a turning point in the season in the eyes of many.
As Dignitas closed out the sweep against Endpoint in the Grand Finals, you could almost hear the collective shaking of boots across the entirety of Europe.
On Sunday afternoon, Dignitas completed a nearly perfect day of Rocket League just a week after winning Beyond the Summit. They currently look like, without exaggeration, the best team in the world.
Brace yourselves, Dignitas are coming for your favourite team’s head. They want it on a platter. They’re probably going to get it. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
But why are Dignitas so scary all of a sudden? How did this happen so fast? What on Earth is going on?
Yes, 1v1 Skills Translate to 3v3, Stop Lying To Yourself…
Joreuz has been one of the most innovative and dominant players in the 1v1 scene for the better part of the last year.
His biggest accomplishment came in the form of a thrilling 4-3 victory over 1v1 legend oKhalid in the Salt Mine 2 Grand Finals. He also 4-1’d the arguable 1s GOAT Fairy Peak in SMUG 1, cementing himself as an unmatched foe in Europe.
I’d like to take this moment to address the crowd that still believes that 1v1 and 3v3s require completely different skill sets and that 1v1 dominance does not always translate to 3v3 dominance.
Yes, there are clear nuances between the game modes both large and miniscule. It isn’t the case that the best 1s player in the world will be the best 3s player in the world. However, the belief that we “have no idea how good this 1s god will be in the RLCS because we haven’t seen him play 3s before” is a tired myth that should’ve been put to rest the instant Firstkiller entered the RLCS.
Time and time again, we have had players bypass the RLRS due to their godly ability in the 1v1 game mode, and time and time again, these players have proved the doubters wrong.
Most notably are Season 7 World Championship MVP Scrub Killa and current-top-3 player in NA Firstkiller, but there has been an additional wave of such players in season X that has been led by Dignitas’s Joreuz.
This isn’t even to mention the fact that several players who are more well known as 3s legends such as Fairy Peak, Kuxir, and even Kaydop and Squishymuffinz, have all seen the top of the 1s world as well. We have yet to see someone who is a top 1s player in the world fail at the highest level of 3v3 competition.
That said, Joreuz has displayed levels of mechanics never seen before in the RLCS. Not only are his advanced mechanics such as double flip resets and chain wavedashes absolutely world-class. His movement is also full of tiny optimizations that just make him seem faster than everyone.
Joreuz has some of the best boost management in the world. Just check out this goal from the most recent Grid. With just less than a full tank, he manages to carry the ball from the ground at his own backboard into the top shelf of his opponents’ net unassisted, except with the help of a textbook flip reset. It’s one of the most brilliant displays of boost management you will ever see.
Just for fun, watch this goal too. It speaks for itself.
Here’s the crazy thing about Dignitas, though: they have two of these guys. Their new third, ApparentlyJack has basically the exact same level of technical ability as his teammate.
Also a 1v1 expert, Jack’s most recent boast is that he destroyed former Dignitas star AztraL in SMUG 4. He is perfecting his own mechanics as well, such as the wavedash kickoff, and is just as capable as Joreuz in the air.
The Perfect Third
Two-time world champion ViolentPanda has found himself once again surrounded by unreal potential that is just beginning to be realized. He seems to be quite good at this.
ViolentPanda is, without question, the best talent scout in RLCS history. Every replacement he has ever found for a teammate has proven themselves to have MVP-level ability and he has been able to utilize that ability to the fullest year-in and year-out.
Since the departure of Kaydop after getting embarrassed by Cloud9 at the Season 6 World Championships, ViolentPanda has had four new teammates, each of them being a wild success.
First is Yukeo, who faced struggles for much of Season 7 but cemented himself as a world-beater during his incredible run at the Season 8 World Championships.
Then was AztraL, who immediately impressed from the get-go, and eventually earned the MVP award in both the regular season and playoffs in Season 9.
Third was Joeruz replacing AztraL and fourth came Jack, Yukeo’s replacement.
ViolentPanda is one of a select few players whose value lies mostly in their intangibles. His leadership and ability to develop a raw talent such as AztraL into a disciplined, team-oriented but also solo-play oriented when needed, near-perfect player is unmatched. He’s done it three times now and Jack is showing all the signs that it will soon be 4/4.
VP has never been the offensive force or primary goal scorer of his team but that’s largely because he has always put himself in a position where he doesn’t need to be. He knows his strengths and weaknesses, and while he does work (and has made serious progress recently) on his weaknesses such as mechanics, he has a unique ability to recruit players that play to those strengths and around those weaknesses.
This results in ViolentPanda almost always being on a good team because the roster around him is specifically crafted to optimize each others’ play. As one of the best passers of all time, putting VP with two players who can shoot from nearly anywhere on the field is incredibly dangerous.
….and Fourth
You can’t discuss Dignitas without mentioning Virge: one of the most involved and dedicated coaches in Rocket League.
I’ve listened to and read my fair share of interviews with Virge, watched tons of his YouTube content, read his GamersRdy reviews, listened to player/coach comms from high-pressure series, and even witnessed him on stage at the World Championships.
From these experiences, I feel I can soundly conclude that Virge is one of the best RL coaches of all time, if not the RL Coaching GOAT. Not only does he have an incredible passion for the game and coaching himself but his perception of the game is very unique and incredibly valuable. Even the best players in the world could learn from Virge despite him never having a pro career.
It’s not just his in-game coaching that makes Virge such a valuable asset to Dignitas. Rocket League can be an incredibly tilting game, and he is an all-time great at helping his players keep their emotions and nerves in check. His speech before reverse sweeping Barca in the Season 8 Regional Playoffs had me ready to run through a wall.
Be Afraid…
So what happens when you put two 1v1 gods with incredible mechanics with a player whose knack is developing incredibly mechanical players into MVPs and arguably the greatest coach in the world?
You get the first ever perfect sweep in a best of 7 series.
The Grid Week 3 was one of the most ridiculous, record shattering, unfair displays of dominance ever seen since this team consisted of VP, Kaydop, and Turbopolsa.
Here are some interesting facts about Dignitas’s performance in the playoffs on Sunday: (Major thanks to u/FoolsLove from the RLEsports subreddit for several of these)
- Dignitas became the first team ever to complete a perfect sweep in a best of 7 series in an A+ tier event, beating Guild 4-0 in the semifinals with a goal differential of 8-0
- Having also perfect-swept Galaxy Racer in the round of 16, (3-0, also an 8-0 goal differential) Dignitas became the first team to ever complete 2 perfect sweeps in one day
- Dignitas had a +29 goal differential, the 3rd most in a single day all season
- Their +12 game differential in a single day tied BDS’s season record from The Grid Fall Week 8
- They also became the third team to pull off consecutive BO7 sweeps (NRG Winter regional 1 & BDS Fall Grid week 8) this season, and the second to have those series be the semifinals and grand finals of a tournament (BDS)
In other words, Dignitas just had possibly the best individual day of online Rocket League ever. They have an expertly-crafted roster with oodles of chemistry, two of the nuttiest solo carries in the world and arguably the best passer ever.
Despite sitting at 9th in current RLCS rankings, they look like a lock for the World Championship. With four more regional events and two majors left in the season as they’re reaching their peak form, Dignitas is bound to pass several of the teams above them very shortly.
Their performance in the most recent Grid was absolutely not a fluke. Dignitas is back, baby!
