I'm sick with the excitement, you can see so bright
Fire in your eyes, I feel like you're right here
Nothing that you like here, I'm looking for the place
It's fire in your eyes, fire in your eyes
I open your eyes, I open your eyes
Let it go, let it go, close your eyes and I'll pray
And turn into the light we've never had before
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
I
Oh
I told you that one day ain't never enough Tell me I hate you, I still call you up
We don't got trust, we can never add love I was put in the hours, hours, hours, hours
I was running in the house
I'm sick of fighting the things that you said
I don't wanna burn all the bridges that I had
I'm tired of going to bed when you left me unregistered
Turn up the noise in my head
I told you that one day, never enough
Well, tell me I hate you, I still call you up
If we don't got trust, we can never have love
I was put in the hours, hours, hours, hours I watched
You were calling me a liar, a liar, a liar, a liar, a liar, yeah
I was putting in the hours, hours, hours, hours, hours
And it's coming down, down, down, down, down, down
I was putting in the
I was put in the arms, I was out, I was out of the world
Looking back when we were young, I
Hopped through Russian, but always pumped it
I drive away, living behind us
Without trace, never the day that we will fight
No one can say what you didn't do it right
So try your way
I might be a better person than you
Maybe if I find something
This time it'll hold me
My mind, the casualty
Finally we'll be together
I
Every day, no fix they say
Feel the way under the weather
Counting the thunder keeping me under
And if we could break out from the tethers
Playin' into each other into each other
We're going down the road
There's a big fire in the house
Without a trace
And for the day that you find
You're going to sleep
We didn't do anything
To fly away
Baby, baby, baby
But I don't get tired of it
Told me I'd never be happy
I'm not sad at all
Baby, I'm the fool
Followin' my dreams
You're gonna see me on every ride
Oh
the world. Welcome to
Championship Sunday of the NA
1v1 regional title here. We are
having six gamers in the building.
One will be crowned North
American regional champion by
the end of today's broadcast. We
got some good looking some good
looking fits here for
Championship Sunday. I'm liking
the white and blue Mr Bates.
I don't worry about what's on this. It's a it's just a nice pink and blue pattern don't look too closely
Okay, okay, okay Johnny. Yeah, you always Johnny on same ship something on these shows you oftentimes look like you just got off of like a
Like a safari with CJ or something. Yeah, we do like to do that. I'm trying to just look and see what
Fears
Lobsters and some golf balls on teas
I'm so glad I'm so glad you kept chasing that Johnny I needed
That answer in my life.
Folks, if you're picking right now
to start watching the Rockinley,
you picked a great time to become a fan
of the greatest eSport in the world.
We are moments away, it feels like,
from the World Championship,
even though it's really in September, folks.
It is very closely approaching here in 2026.
We've completed our 2v2 opens.
This is the final 1v1 open left.
Everyone's waiting on us to find out
who the top four are gonna be
at the World Championship playing for that title
of 1v1 World Champion.
Then we got the last chance qualifiers.
If you and your friends want to compete at the world championship, it's still technically
possible.
Scan the QR code on your screen, follow the link, sign up, fill out the show form, and
then, you know, be in the lobby and make sure you don't, don't lose the, not losing is the
hard part there.
That's, that's the one that kind of, that's the squeaky wheel that gets a lot of people.
But if you can successfully make it through those last chance qualifiers, you can play
for the title of Rock League world champion.
That is coming up pretty, pretty quickly here.
We've got quite the event today, lots of prize money on the line, as well as a spot at that
world championship.
That's the thing everybody really cares about.
We're down to the top six.
Everyone's already secured $1,600 and with every win, you will be almost doubling, if
not more so, doubling your prize pool here with that top spot taking home $7,000 today,
as well as getting themselves an extra 5k on top of the making of the world.
We'll talk about that in just a second here.
Here's the bracket for the world championship.
The winner qualifies to the world championship
for the match against NASA.
That'll be a best of seven.
The winner of the European versus North American 1v1
champions will play for the title of Grand World Champion
there.
The semi-final on the other side, South America
versus Middle East, North Africa.
Nobu will be taking on KV-1.
Now, the top four, you've already secured yourself
an extra prize pool for just being there.
You get yourself $5,000 for showing up and losing four games.
But if you win those games, you will quintuple the amount
you are making at the world championship going up to $25,000. And if you hold the title of
Rocket League World Champion in 2026, they'll earn an extra $50,000. That is the prize for
the players that are in the competition today. But that's a long way ahead. They've got to make
sure they get there. Only one player gets to advance fear if they want to play at the world
championship. Yeah, it's, it's a tough bracket. It's not easy to do. And we've seen that in a
a couple of the regions so far. You know, EU and South America both sending new players.
Mina and NA are the most likely to bring back their repeat players. Obviously,
Newport already has. We watched that yesterday when he secured it. Dia is still the favorite today,
but I mean, it's not easy. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up seeing three new people there online.
Imagine. Imagine we get a new representative today. We'll find out. I love this moment in
the tournament where we don't, we're like, by the end of today, we will know,
but we don't know right now, folks. And if you want to be in the building,
make sure you scan the QR code on your screen. You can be there when we, for the first time
in Rocket League History Crown, three different world champions, 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3. Three completely
different, each uniquely wonderful ways to play this great sport. Rocket League continues on here,
and we've got six players left in our playoff bracket. It was a pretty crazy day yesterday.
We had eight, had some really fun matches, had a few pretty strong sweeps, but also some surprising
and comebacks as well, Evo got work done up against AJ Diaz,
successfully found his way past Zach, Wavy, Bora,
and Zapatoz, gave it his best against First Killer,
but First Killer is so strong in this format.
Let's talk about Bora and Wavy first year baits.
I mean, the first few games,
it really seemed like Bora was gonna lock this one up,
but Wavy the experience paid off.
The experience did pay off Wavy
because Bora, I think he is super talented
as an individual player in fear.
I mean, you got your credit to the fear of mind,
get fear set in, broke it down basically
in the home matchup before it happened.
Boar was really aggressive.
He likes making his plays happen.
And Wavy, he just hasn't really been doing too much.
He's been doing enough to win.
And that's exactly how this series fanned out.
Wavy had a couple of highlight goals.
He doesn't bring it back down low, too slow,
back down to the ground.
Other than that, it was really Boar controlled possession.
From his reset goals, he got double reset.
Blade, as you'll see later on.
I mean, maybe in the highlight package right here,
Yeah, a couple of things off the ceiling, had a couple of great flicks as well.
But ultimately it came down to experience poise and we'll get into how the 8-8, 48 seconds goal in game or if I happen.
Maybe they win both overtime games as well in this series, games five and game six.
It came out on top.
Having that emotional clutchness, being able to hold on and we talked in the interview, just having fun, realizing, hey, when you're struggling,
find a way to enjoy yourself. You will get, you will play better rock.
I think that's all in the transit everything but Johnny we do not talk about the game that the debates was alluding to there
I think it was game five. He's leading by four goals board. He's got a four goal lead lost it in overtime
How does that happen?
Well, yeah, it can happen in 1v1
You can never count out so that that was a goal right before this and make it a five more
Actually recovers really well on this kickoff to delay wavy just a little bit
But wavy plays it just too well in this situation just eventually wears him down
the back of the ball. He's
going to get the ball down and
waits for the boost advantage
to take those goals of 35
seconds left to go game still
very much for a controlled if
he can get control of the ball
here, he should be able to win
the game and he actually does
get control of all you read
way these, uh, kickoff and
this was the moment he should
have had this 100 boost and
possession, but he just gives
that again, same job. You just
have to get controlled about at
least getting even position and
for a drive kickoff deflected into
that corner with momentum.
That's a great way to get into
the midfield play, which is where
we are right now. This time he
doesn't have boost, but he makes
the same mistake. He just plays
it straight into wavy on the
backboard and wavy scores in the
country. So a couple of mistakes
there for Bora in open play. It
wasn't all kickoff goals and then
like sorry earlier, wavy did
with the overtime. It gets a
pass, but I mean, both of us plays
the corner. It feels like maybe he if the if the shots are on target instead of
off the back wall here fear like how much does that change the situation when
Wavy's having to make a save rather than being able to read a clear. You know it
needs to be a really strong shot to be fair you know even if a couple of those
touches were on net still easy save for Wavy still easy counter so you know
probably the best idea was to not force the issue as much Bora just trying to go
constant speed I mean he needs to play the clock play the scoreboard it's not
very often you get to do that in 1v1, but Bora had the position to do that and he didn't.
He just kept going all in.
He stuck to his playstyle and did not pay off for him.
Got himself locked in there.
Well, that was a good performance from Bora.
The 5-0 made it to the top 8.
Incredible achievement.
We're going to see him try to rally again next year.
Let's talk about the other matches.
Zapatos put it up against First Killer doing his best to, but my goodness, First Killer
here baits just incredibly good at the video.
He is incredibly good at the video game.
I'll keep talking about it.
I think it was absolute sensation, the 2v2.
And he's been really good in the 1v1 so far.
He even talks about all the things he plays
once as much as he traditionally did.
Way back in the day when he was making a name for himself,
but he is so Uber talented in all bats of the game.
Even where his apostles might be handling, honestly,
I guess the better one player,
and since he plays once or more,
he knows how to challenge, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
First coach is the better player.
And with the experience behind his belt,
I mean, he is really just that great.
We had the chance of going up against the DIs later on, potentially,
and even in a 1v1 representative.
We're going to see first-skiller play here pretty early on Championship Sunday.
You got pressed. Zepato is pretty cleanly there.
And who knows? Zepato's came out of retirement for this tournament.
Maybe he'll do it again in 2027 there.
Let's talk about AJ and Evo. Kind of a similar story here, Johnny.
But I mean, AJ made Evo work for this win.
Yeah, they were close games.
I think AJ could still be very proud of the level he's at,
given the fact that he doesn't play RLCS weekend week out like the rest of the players in this
competition do. But for the most part, I think Evo, he expected AJ to play the way AJ did,
and I think it would have been smarter for AJ to come in and surprise Evo, particularly with
more aggression in the defensive end, more early challenges. That would have, I think,
given him a chance to win one of the early games in this series, and then later on he can go back
and his shadowing style is reactive defensive style.
He's very good at, but it's kind of a, it works out all right.
You want to, I think at least you want to be aggressive early in the match,
try to get your opponent thinking that you're going to challenge the pressure
every ball if your plan is to shadow later on.
Yeah, the conditioning in 1v1, such an important part of the game.
Give them an idea of how you're going to play and with the knowledge
that you're playing on changing it up later.
I think we kind of see that story a little bit there from Bora as well.
like having one game mode and then when the game mode asks him for the game
state asks him for a different result, a different situation, not evolving,
not changing, sticking to the same plan, giving Wavy a window back in here.
Talking with that mentality, Zach versus Diaz, a story tale of kind of two halves
here, not really halves, kind of like one third and two thirds, because my goodness,
games one and two, Zach running to score up on Diaz here, nine to five in game one,
8 to 2 in game number 2.
Diaz scored 7 goals in those first two games.
And then you get into games 3 and 4.
Diaz scored 19 goals and then doesn't look back.
He beat him by 7 in game 5.
He beat him by 4 in game 6.
I mean Diaz, he was the number one in both your ranking
sphere and Johnny Boy's rankings.
And he's living up to that title.
Yeah, no question.
I mean, for a second there, we started to believe
that Zach was a big question mark coming into this.
And with two straight wins against Diaz,
He was looking like maybe the question marks were getting
answered and then we needed to move him higher up in the rankings.
Diaz recognized that Zach was not going to go down easy.
Zach was doing a lot of great midfield early challenge play,
staying on the ball.
Diaz had to be clean with his touches.
He couldn't just walk this one in.
He recognized that and he totally corrected for it
for the rest of the series.
And you can see these guys, they were quick chatting
the whole time through the match.
They were having fun with it.
I think they both knew Diaz came in as the favorite.
So Zach's not going to be too bummed.
He's going to have a chance to try and go through the lower
bracket.
Diaz figured out what he needs to do in those last four games,
and he's in form right now, trying to continue and win NA once again.
I mean, the message, Jersey definitely give him a little bit of a little bit
of stats plump there. He was trying to channel the goat on that one.
I think a quick, quick follow up there.
We were talking about whereas, you know, Diaz number one in the Alls
Power rankings, Zach, much lower, the first two games was you were saying,
like, maybe we need to raise them up in the rankings here.
Given how the back four games went, do you feel like, no, no,
We still have a pretty solid understanding of Zach.
We knew where he was at or has he earned a little bit more respect given how the tournament's gone so far?
Yeah, I think he probably has risen up a decent bit.
He's got another tough game against first killer, which is is gonna be unfortunate because that's our number two.
So there's a good chance that fall down there.
But I think Johnny and I had him at seven or eight. I mean, he's already in to six.
So he's already, you know, moved up at least a little bit and if he played individually, AJ, Wavy, Evo, everybody to see exactly where he lands.
I actually do get a sense based on what I saw from him against Diaz that he would rise up
Maybe move to like a four ish range. Yeah, unfortunately for him. He's got first killer right away. So
Yeah, for sure though first kill unfortunately is now single elimination
He'll have to get through first killer if he wants to have a match with anybody else today
We'll find out though those matches coming up here in just a moment yesterday has some spectacular gameplay a lot of reset
What a resetting of flips. Oh, you're gonna see this all over the progressive top plays here
These are your top plays from playoff Saturday. Let's get into it
starting off with number five, Evo, up against AJ.
Takes to the sky.
This is a catalyst, like a freestyle play
when you watch from Evo's perspective,
the pure wets, the reset off, the crossbar down.
AJ, how do you read this?
Look at this.
Like you're telling me that this is happening
in top eight play in North America.
An incredible, incredible performance there from Evo.
Obviously, because I went in.
And it's Batzos.
Good game yesterday,
but you got a bunch of good plays
along the way against Barcelona.
And this was the best of the lot.
Look at the distance he gets off the back corner while here with this talk.
She's miles away from the goal, keeping the challenge distance as big as possible,
and then the reset to the top corner.
And then at number three, we've got a player who's normally getting highlight
real plays off the backboard in the air.
This time he's going to show a little bit of ground game as he preflips through
and flicks this. Not only is it a strong flick, it's perfectly placed.
Crossbar down.
Zach is around to make a save.
Diaz preflip pop gets the goal.
The flair that time pulled the most emotions out of most people including myself has now
had the number two player for these reasons why.
Razerball up top gets one reset, another reset, and looks for the third but he doesn't need
it.
He's off the end of the penning.
So much power generated, his ingenuity, his creativity, and his unpredictability.
Kupor was just so sensational up in the sky.
Wavey just never expected that, nobody expected it, it was a great play.
Incredible, you like that play?
Let's do it on the other end of Utopia Dusk.
We already saw one goal from this game against Diaz.
There's one, there's two, off the cross bar and downs.
That can't find it. Diaz scored 11 goals in this game.
He was just styled on Zach by the end of it,
put it in the highlight reel.
He saw one more, they said, hey, I can do that too.
Incredible plays.
Those are your top plays from the day.
Maybe we'll get more today here on Championship Sunday.
This is the bracket.
We played through our upper bracket round one matches
and our lower bracket round one matches yesterday.
We're gonna play through the quarterfinals here first,
then the semifinals and the grand finals.
the closeout championship Sunday should be a good time for all to be had.
And I want us to do a little bit of a, a little bit of a, a build a bracket here.
Okay. So we've got the bracket right now. Let's spoil it for everybody at home in
a fun, creative way. We got 14 minutes till wavy kicks it off against AJ here.
We're going to do this kind of blind style. I'm going to get, I'm going to sign
each of you a match. You're going to tell me what happens.
And then the others, you just got to deal with the results as they occur.
So, Johnny, I'm gonna give this one to you first.
First killer and Zach.
Okay, well.
There's an obvious favorite.
There is.
Who you got?
I do wanna say, like I agree first of all
with what Fierce said earlier on.
Other side of the bracket,
I think Zach does make the semi-final.
I think I take him over to AJ or Wavy,
but I can't pick him over first killer.
Put first killer through.
Okay, okay.
First killer gonna be going through here against Evo.
This is again, this is not results chat.
This is just our build a bracket right now.
Bates, yo, quarterfinal number two, AJ versus Wavy. Oh gosh. Oh gosh.
Why'd you give me this one? You should have given a fear.
Okay, I'll take it. Um, I'll take it.
Yeah, AJ, give me, give me, give me, give me the old fast, fast pace.
One of the ones that shadow defense, your turn, my turn style.
Take a lot of shots.
I don't know. I don't mind the games go by quickly and they're very exciting to watch.
It's very fast pace, neck and neck speed.
And it'll be kind of interesting to see how
Diaz will play against that Diaz
will probably control the pace, but why not?
Why not have Diaz win?
So while we're living in our world here,
this is this future where we're imagining here.
Like, what is it that Wavy drops today?
What's the situation here where, like, because obviously,
Wavy's got a lot of tools.
He said he was going to be bringing the air game today.
Does he not bring the air game?
Like, what's kind of the quarter of the game
that Wavy misses out on?
Well, unless he just had a great night's sleep.
I'm not seeing where the air game is going to magically come from.
If he hasn't come in with it in game and on Saturday,
and he definitely was comfortable with it on Friday either.
So maybe, I don't know, maybe eight is winning this morning,
had a good breakfast, and air games matching going to start
reaching reaching the levels that we never seen before.
But I haven't seen it yet.
So I like AJ.
But looking at this, if I had to imagine AJ winning,
he is a very high flying player, mechanical,
when he's playing his best.
So I'm just imagining if this actually happens,
AJ is on form.
sometimes that can be really tough to stop. He comes out first couple games, hits everything left and right.
Wavy is looking like scared Wavy, which we've seen in this tournament so far.
And then scared Wavy starts to panic, starts to get bad touches, cannot match AJ in the air, and we roll back the clock.
It's not likely necessarily, but I think that's how it happened if it was gonna happen.
Okay, okay, okay. I like it. I like it. I think that there's always a chance folks, and we might be living in this reality here.
Now fear, like I'm gonna keep coming to you here. Let's go to the bottom of semifinals there.
Evo and first killer in the semifinals. Keep in mind, it is championship Sunday.
This is a spot where first killer, it doesn't seem to matter what the format
is. Can struggle at this exact spot. Who you got? You know, the thing about even
first killer struggles, it's Evo and I think first killer, he kind of has a
mental edge against certain players and Diaz has a benefit in this and the fact
that he didn't kind of come up through the North American ranks in terms of
showmatches and playing in USC's,
he had a little bit more of a separate come up.
And I think that helps him not having that mental block
against First Killer.
As good as Evo has gotten, as good as we've seen him play,
he just doesn't have that.
He doesn't have that against First Killer.
First Killer has it over just about everybody else
in this tournament for North America.
I think I'd have to go with First Killer
if it was First Killer.
OK, OK.
So First Killer going to be playing
for the title of North American regional champion
two years back to back.
He makes the full run.
You heard it here, the greatest 1v1 experts in the world, predicting it folks.
First killer through the grand finals, Johnny.
Who's he playing against?
If he has to make the run back, we have the same grand finals.
Johnny got lucky.
Or does AJ?
I got lucky.
What do you mean I got lucky?
I mean, are you?
Yeah, I was just going to say, do we want to get this on a team base or do we want to
throw a...
No, no, no, no, no.
You have it.
This is on you, Johnny.
I mean, you all know I'm gonna say as much as I'm, you know, glad to see AJ still compete into this level
I think that Diaz is gonna be way too much for him, you know, AJ couldn't take a game off evil yesterday
I think it would be a similar story against Diaz. So I'm gonna say Diaz
Rematch against first skill in the grand fight. How many games? How many games?
Ah, 4-0.
4-0, come on!
Wait, this isn't AJ that beat Wavy though. Are you keeping that in mind?
Yeah, I don't think it matters that I think that's just going to be too aggressive whenever
kickoff.
And yeah, I don't think AJ is going to be able to sleep down.
Oh, I do think that like while we're having fun out here, it is a testament to just how
highly rated Diaz is in this tournament.
Even if AJ were to make it past Wavy, Johnny's still convinced.
And honestly, I don't think it's a terrible shout that Diaz could 4-0 AJ in that circumstance,
Which means, Bates, we have a rematch of 2025's North American 1v1 finals.
Diaz was the representative from North America last year.
Does he get the title again, or is it first-killer's time?
That's a good question.
Does anybody have the serious score for that?
What was the serious score for that?
I'm trying to find it.
They played a bit more recently, too, though.
They played in the upper bracket semis of this bracket in the best of five.
Last year's just before one, if I remember correctly.
Diaz.
No, it was 4-0, it was 4-0, hold on.
It was 4-0.
And you first did an extra game.
He did.
He actually gave this off his name.
I guess champs said they didn't go well for him.
I mean, it's a tough matchup for first killer.
I'm not going to lie, but I'm still going to pick him anyway.
So give me FK to take out Diaz here.
Hey!
And I just, I don't know, there's something about,
I saw Diaz play at the international stage last year
when he went up against Nobu and he didn't go well for him.
Yeah, I understand I was a year ago.
We didn't have the experience, but even like in green room
conversation, I was talking to my one's experts,
Fira and Johnny, and I was asking about Moxie.
I was like, I haven't seen Moxie really improve his game
necessarily.
That gives me the confidence that I went up against him.
He went against Nobuo again, or played Zen for the first time.
Algae before he lost was in, and Moxie lost.
So, DI's, I think, I don't know, I'm not seeing the elevation.
Now, we're getting into confidence.
At first kill, I don't know.
Let him come out of NA, give him a chance.
Sometimes you need to see something new.
You maybe can't win in 30s, but you can win it once.
You heard it here, folks.
That bracket is co-signed by every expert on this panel
right here.
We all agree that that is most likely the result of what
happened.
Hey, let's keep it going.
Show me the world's bracket production.
Let's future trip all the way to September here.
Let's see.
This is harsh for Pulse, you know.
He's very far skill.
He just wants far skill to come forth in another game,
but let's see.
like this. I want to see how far this goes. Bates, Nass versus first
skill.
Now, see, this is where it gets a little unreasonable for me to
pick first kill.
Get your seat away, Nass looks ready. You know, you know what?
Just because there's gonna be such a big gap. I don't know. Maybe
first kill is coming off momentum and EWC. Give me first
kill again.
He's gotta get better than four. If they dig his arena at least
one time bring it to the grand final I'm the first time think he's ready to
finish fourth I believe a phase now he's gonna make it the grand final won't
be one first killer over now no he's gonna win on Neo Tokyo
and Nick is arena I like it being the fourth killer curse I like he's gonna
take he's gonna take all the all the take all the curses out all right and
then on the other side can be one no the Johnny boy how fictional are we
I mean, this is this is super tough.
KB one has a bit of a resurgence to win Sam.
He's not been the top dog in once in Sam for a long time.
He's, you know, kind of had to watch Diaz, Swift more recently,
Yan before that, you know, everybody else looking like the better players.
So I was surprised to see him win this one.
I think that's all he's going to get though.
I mean, we've already seen what that's going to do online is level is scary when
When he only dropped one game to Diaz, he only dropped one game to Moksy, that was game one, they're both close games so
And once he got a roll and nobody could stop him, I think he's gonna win this one pretty heavily
Okay, Nobo gonna be playing for the title of 1v1 world champion back-to-back
Fear does he do it or do we crown in the North American 1v1 world champion?
I don't even know I'm not sure if I'm allowed to pass this to teammates, but I want to see how far this goes with teammates
I think you guys know my answer and I think you know Connie's answer.
I want to see a TV, so keep going with this.
Well, listen, you already know what I'm selling.
I want to see if you're buying.
Yeah, I want to see if you're buying fear.
I just want to lay out the storyline.
I'm letting you make a decision.
He's beating the fourth killer curse.
He's taking out DS.
He's beating Nas.
He's thinking he's going to play in his grand final again.
He even won 4-2 against Nas and Neil Tokyo.
He beat the Neil Tokyo curse, too.
And he's beating Omu.
You answered the question.
Oh, I think Nupo doesn't lose a game.
All the way there.
Oh, I see him losing less games.
If this is his bracket, it's a harsh reality.
We live in.
He's just that good.
The reigning champ has so much aura, folks.
So we can't even on a North American pre-show predict
to the North American champion and a fictional bracket
will be them.
We'll find out, though.
We will find out when we get there.
At first, we're going to find out,
does first killer actually make that full run?
Does Diaz get there?
Does someone create an upset?
Could AJ do it today of all days?
We're going to find out together, folks.
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We've got five matches. AJ and Wave, you're gonna kick things off.
First killer and Zach gonna get it done as well.
The winners of those advanced, the winners advance again,
and we crown a champion at the end of championship Sunday.
This is the one, folks. Let's get into that first matchup.
The great underdog run here from AJ again.
He doesn't matter how many years he has under his belt.
He just does not go away back through the championship Sunday again and wavy though
Did he wake up with an aerial game in his pocket? I'm excited Johnny to find out
I am too. I think this is a great start to the day for him. I'll be honest. I think he's
He's gonna get a lot of chances
To have time on the ball against AJ something he didn't get much yesterday against Bora had wavy struggling for a very aggressive
a lot of the players are
not allowed to just send it.
AJ is not like that.
He comes from the older
generation of 1v1 meta where
you give your opponent space,
you fake challenges, you
shadow, you let them flick, you
let them come at you, and then
you hope that they leave after
they're done attacking so you
can grab your back corner
boost and do the same to them.
That was a great point, Johnny.
I like those points so much.
It really made that much
in this particular matchup I want to know how many emotes wavy does we like
all says bingo wavey over under five it's six emotes throughout the series
six you're gonna make you're not only watch the player cam more than the game
just a reason and then also how many times is AJ what is AJ like to want a
camera I don't know he used to used to play used to play with the Sun right
Now he's moved to something so like an angle. Do you guys remember he used to sit like slightly angled?
He'd be like looking left a little bit is one of her. I think now he's squared up
So you can see the whole thing's straight in front of him. I'm just confused. He's got a massive bonafide racing rig
They're behind it. Yeah playing rocket. They like get the steering wheel out. You know, like I'm sure
I got we got predict. I got make our predictions chat make your prediction as well
I mean the style matchup gentlemen, we've been we're talking to the AJ's sort of still play the same game
We've always seen him play here
Meanwhile, we watched wavy find and find midfield or mid match adjustments to take outboard and get to this spot
It feels like one player's trying to adapt one player's kind of sticking to their guns Johnny. Who you got?
I'm going wavy. I think this is a good matchup for him
He's gonna get time to build like to build into the match and to take control of the match
and I do think he is the better player right now in 1v1, so he should be able to take this first one of the day.
All right here. I
Think I have to go with wavy as well wavy absolutely should be advancing to a top forward here
He's also somebody who historically had a good matchup against Diaz
So if you're you know for starters in rusing rooting against the heavy favorite
You probably want wavy to advance here because maybe you can take down Diaz, but definitely have wavy here against H8
fates
I tripped this prediction to fear because fear I just want I was really testing out my ability to potentially make a
Career transition to a salesperson and he didn't like while I was selling and that really annoyed me
So just because he said that I'm really got the double down on my predictions now
Fantasy world so give me AJ
American flag is this thing cuz I just got AJ playing traditional rocket league right everyone rock Lee fast-paced neck and neck speed
He's gonna get the job done. He gets me right here
Hey, listen, listen. That was the first pick we made in that build a bracket. That was that. So I think it makes sense. It makes sense.
I'm proud of you and respect for you picking it here. And I would love to see AJ continue through though.
I do think Wavy's got this one on a lot. The fact that the man is still trying to have some fun while playing here.
I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. You might look genius when it comes when it comes out the other side of this one way.
He's the favorite on the desk. He's a slight favorite in chat though. AJ's been playing this game for a long time.
a lot of people like to see the A and the J. Can he make it all the way through folks?
It's a big match with a big Titan waiting on the other side of it. Who's going to take them on,
folks? It's time for Wavy versus AJ to kick off Championship Sunday.
to get to the end of the
game.
All right, Game one brought to
you by progressive.
Wavy looking to start off his
championship Sunday. The right
ways not started off either of
the days so far. The way that
you wanted ended up in the lower
He had to wait a while before he could get going.
But I guess AJ, he should be able to dictate the flow of the match, dictate where the match is played.
And, actually, it's gonna be an early go for AJ, maybe we're extending here, he's going to get a top shelf shot instead.
It's just gonna be AJ's fault.
I'm going to go back to kickoff again, we go wavy and AJ going to be looking to get
the mind games on each other from the center circle here.
Do expect wavy to come out on top with the kickoff game for your information watching.
We've just waiting the stacks to connect here.
He should be joining us momentarily so you don't have to put up for too much of my voice
Well, here's the problem. I'm North American, so I'm a little slow to the party.
That's AJ's first shot, or next shot, sent away by Wavy.
Yeah, for Wavy, you know, you kind of got...
We've talked a lot, Johnny, about the Old Guard versus the New,
and there are very few matchups we could have coming into today
that exemplify that more than this right here with AJ trying to prove he still got it.
Oh, nice trial and challenge, but it's going to be AJ sneaking it by.
I do like this idea by Wavy, just going straight for the drive challenge in the back corner.
Thinking that AJ would either hit the post or hit his car with his shot, but Wavy did
not expect AJ's accuracy to be that impressive.
From the tight angle, a good start for the better.
I can't ask for much better out of A.J. here in the first minute plus.
He has only opening game.
You know that Wavy almost got this one back to him, but Wavy controls well.
A.J. giving him space, picks his moment, Wavy will beat him on the right side.
And that's kind of what we expect A.J. to be doing.
He just passes away here with this null pass.
That's actually gave himself a good angle to defend with,
if Wavy went for an air dribble bump.
But we all know that Wavy can flick the ball as well
as anyone in this tournament.
So you've got to stay closer if you
want to react to those.
AJ does like to let his opponent flick the ball
and though he wants the flick to happen.
And then he's going to make his move.
Wavy will circle around, but AJ beat him to the punch
if he can recover.
He's got a free beat, and he's got a 3-1 lead.
He's making sure to stay tight to the ball as he turns on that side wall.
Wavy did not have vision of AJ in that play.
He was just going as quickly as he could to the ball.
He underestimated the speed that was coming back at him.
Wait, did he kick off by Wavy's?
He initially worked out.
He got the ball past AJ, but then he's accidentally bumped AJ back into the ball.
AJ takes it the whole way.
And he just saw it.
I thought he was going to slide some part of it, but he's missed.
and he's gonna concede up the other end.
Oh no!
A two goal swing in the worst way!
Listen, you don't have to be perfect,
but you can't afford to give that up.
Yeah, he done so well.
He done the hard part.
He got the ball pass with his high challenge.
But still, AJ, in the lead by one,
had possession.
Nice 50-50,
but the shot is really lackluster.
lost here. That is nowhere near good enough for AJ. Just handed it on a silver platter to his
opponent. Hey AJ, you wonder, maybe frustration already.
You wouldn't expect it at this level, but just an inexplicable mistake.
Yeah, he's just trying to get the ball into a position where Weevy can't control it, but
it looked like he was doing the opposite. He gives it straight to him. He was just going
for a shot and then the boost seal. Now here he comes again. Just get above points of Weevy.
Weevy getting set high into the ceiling, but AJ's forgotten the ball. Weevy will take it.
AJ scrambling back, he just got full sight of this one, barely, but that was awkward.
Wavy almost taking his first lead in the game.
That's a great recovery from AJ, but he's still going to concede here.
As Wavy through the air flip reset just has AJ at his mercy.
Yes, it's a totally game for AJ.
He has had so many chances, failed to put some of them away,
makes a big mistake, select Wavy back into it,
but he's got to walk in here for the final two minutes.
He's going for an aggressive skim on this.
No, he just defensively gets into the back corner,
gets back into possession of the ball
with a nice reset.
Control it, Wavy doing well.
Making sure that he lands on the back wall there
as he saves the ball towards the corner.
That keeps possession in his own hands.
Reset, fine game, A.J. Reads it.
That's great patience though from Wavy.
Bring it all the way back, reset AJ not going to give him the time he wants.
There's way to have him up his sleeve this time to stop him.
Go right at AJ who holds his ground and ties the game again.
Great control by AJ in the back corner.
Saw the challenge coming. Flip reset 50 into a wave dash to control the ball and finish.
And that is a huge goal just in time for AJ to make a late push for the game win.
A game win that I think he's going to need if he's going to have a chance in the series.
Wavy, the route as the series went on yesterday almost shot by AJ.
No, he's going to play for the back corner of his seal.
He scoops himself, Shelf.
This is absolutely amazing.
Double reset under the bar.
He almost kept his wavy by surprise!
He definitely did he caught me by surprise.
I did not think he was going to go for such an aggressive move.
After all of the mis-disease had, the two-goal mis-disease had this game.
He might be on the end of one here.
He's not going to get back to this.
AJ landed awkwardly on the inside of the post, could not recover.
Only 11 seconds later.
Point, counter-point.
And now, after all this, really devolves into a minute-long game.
How many more between AJ and Wavy?
The AJ, to the skies. Wavy, marking them the whole way, and he met them right in front.
Well read defensively, now it's on AJ to try and shut down the young gun. Wavy, denied.
Oh AJ missed the back corner boost. He was first up a seat for it but he's missed it.
That gives Wavy a fantastic position. AJ's is trying to survive here.
It's the ball going center. It is the bounce as well for Wavy. The 50 wasn't up.
One of the most helpless feelings. You make your challenge but Wavy stayed behind it just enough.
Didn't let it out of his sight. After all the scoring we had, we went over half a minute
Before breaking a five-all tie, Wavy looking to add some insurance.
That's going to go wayward. And AJ, bull tank, and the ball.
And he avoids Wavy. And he'll spot it in.
It's the acceleration of the blade from AJ.
He was looking for a demo at Wavy, but Wavy dodged it.
And it didn't still left his head wide open.
He was actually, they're both looking for a demo each other in the back corner there.
Completely even and gave one it's been full of drama that the late kickoff from AJ gives him control
Wavy the crucial touch starts takes a ride though free flip from AJ to get back
AJ will have the last look before we go to an overtime AJ has his flip
I don't believe that wavy with this big ceiling challenge
really expected AJ to pull the trigger there, but AJ just completely
caused a cucumber catch in the vault and puffed it into the open net. What a game.
It was a bit of a game of thrills for a minute there, mostly coming from AJ, but
he watches it at the end, and it does put pressure on maybe the people.
A.J. goes 7-6 in Game 1, had an explosive start, and Wavy dragged it all the way back.
But A.J. holds strong, seven goals from 15 attempts.
What a back and forth battle.
If this is an omen of things to come, we're in for a wild day here in Sunday's 1B1s.
I'm thinking back to those
resets from. AJ the earlier
flip resets that he got on
wavy the outplays. That's why
wavy is getting faked out as
you're second. He's thinking
about that incredible shot
that AJ just hit to the roof
of the net. I'm thinking about
that incredible shot that he
AJ just hit to the roof of the net, not too long ago.
So credit to AJ to pull that out with no time left.
It's truly unbelievable.
We wondered what kind of emotions
we would see out of Wavy.
For the first, just a little bit of dismay.
Straight on kickoff that goes neutral
and Wavy will ultimately win the battle afterward
and get the first look at AJ's net it'll score.
It's from kickoff to start game two from Wavy.
AJ is trying to stay with this one, but if you're going to stay with it, you have to play the ball there as it bounces off.
He obviously misread the bounce on the wall, went a bit higher than he liked.
Let's see if he can fix it going into the second kickoff of the game.
It's going to be Wavy's again if he plays it quickly.
AJ calls his bluff.
This Wavy didn't want to pull send it at that ball.
He was trying to control the play, and he didn't land.
AJ will give it close to the vest, and Wavy's having none of it.
There's plenty of boost to challenge this, and chase this down, and take right over with possession.
And trying to avoid that contact now, Wavy just can't quite catch up to, or AJ can't catch up to Wavy,
but if Wavy's got nothing in the tank, and AJ will nut him out of the way to try the game.
And you know this is promising from AJ. I am loving the aggression from him in offense.
This is going to put a ton of pressure on Wavy who's been struggling so far in this
tournament, struggling to produce his expected level. And AJ can capitalise on that by continuing
to press when he's got boosted advantages. What shot that is though Wavy.
Thank you the most of this possession just like you did off the first kickoff in the game.
Now Wavy with the flip reset AJ out to meet him.
Didn't do much wrong. Just good offense, beats good defense.
Wavy will have the advantage here now.
AJ does well to at least get some boost to challenge this.
I can't say he does so, but wait,
oh, Wavy tried to beat him to the midfield boost.
AJ able to grab it, and we can settle in here,
but AJ's got to get on his horse,
and find a way to stop this aerial assault from Wavy.
Breathe down the ground, and a very weak shot
doesn't yield any results.
Oh, AJ's a bit awkward in the back corner here.
He's got to be careful.
Wavy's starting to demo on his land in here,
but AJ gets away from him,
and he does score the equalizer.
10th moments in the back corner all the way to midfield.
Wavy trying to demo AJ.
Didn't get close enough.
Had to feel like he had him all sized up for the demo and just came up completely empty.
Now Wavy.
Oh, yes, AJ in a very awkward spot.
He's got to grab that corner, Bruce, and now got to go to work.
Wavy split, denied by AJ.
And AJ also defending that back corner boost, immediate turnover to possession, going as
fast as possible to the ceiling.
Both players actually.
Wavy has saved up about 50 boosts here, it's great management by him, AJ, creating angles
for himself.
Really well done again with the 50-50s.
Go ahead and say it, press early on here with AJ's ability to turn boost advantages into
serious chances on that. AJ doesn't have any boost at all and he's gonna pay the
price for it. Wavy will score. AJ kind of got caught in between can I get the
midfield boost or not and by the time he realized it was way too late as Wavy
fixes opening. Yeah Wavy again also threatening that bubble and AJ saw it
and he didn't pull it to get away from the bubble. But in doing so he left the net
open so he's got to find the balance there. Wavy's getting very physical in
the second game. AJ's aware of that but you can't leave an open while you dodge the bump.
Wavy's done it again. Wasting no time off the flip reset and AJ does not have the time
in to stop him.
Yeah Wavy, he had a clean site to the bar post there.
New that he puts that on net fast enough. There's no way AJ can get back.
Wavy's been clinical with his kickoff sessions. He's turning.
turning it's like kickoff wins into serious chances to score something all
the best ones players in the world do if you watch NAS play if you watch the
media finally yesterday any slight imbalance of the kickoff the top
players are turning that into a dangerous shot on target
hey spot again listen you lose some points because it hits the ground but
What a beautiful looking shot from a very tough angle.
Oh, he's done so well there.
Getting up over the ball.
Just had an idea of where Wavy was coming from.
These guys have read each other's movement really well.
Oh, Delay kick off from AJ.
Does he have the efficiency out for this?
But it's all for Wavy.
He decided to mind game it, stayed with the ball,
though there's no angle for AJ to go in.
Wavy is smartly recognized.
Had to go for the midfield boost.
That's the gambit he's gone for.
And if he can get onto this quickly, he's got another one to go up to.
That's smart from Wavey in defense.
Does not want to have to defend against AJ's aerial game.
In his half, he'd much rather challenge AJ early.
This time his reward is a two goal advantage.
Back to the kickoff we go.
Wavey getting pushed back there, but still.
control of the ball and AJ's missed the back corner to boost. It's Wavy's to
steal. Possession does go to AJ for now, but you've got to think Wavy will
a wrestle it off him after a couple of flicks back and forth here. Yeah, that
little bump will do the trick.
But AJ did well not to get completely overwhelmed and catch this, bring it to the corner,
did not go for the corner boost.
Again, that very aggressive mentality from AJ, send it right at Wavy, make him make
it play to stop you.
Unfortunately for AJ, Wavy has during this game and he'll have a chance now to add to
a two goal lead.
Big wide turn, faked about, AJ didn't bite.
Yeah, Wavy kind of removing his angle there as he approached the goal and the closer he
got the less AJ had to worry about he was able to cover the fake and the flick
with the same angle of approach and defense. It's the opposite of what you
want to be doing there. Wavy would rather have options as he's dribbling towards
AJ. He does now, boost advantage. AJ just trying to get all sides. That bump with
the goal line was all Wavy needed. And AJ done well to keep Wavy from adding to
his lead up to that point but finally just ran out of gas. Corner kick off
decent opportunity for Wavy to try and get back in it. He does win the corner
from Wavy but then look how much boost he had to burn just to get back to the
ball as Wavy's able to boost up and he should just be able to kill off this
final 20 plus seconds. Yeah Wavy's been more efficient he's definitely I've
played AJ in that regard like you mentioned a lot of the times that
We're seeing AJ grab back corner boosts from mid boosts.
It seems like it's all disappearing as Wavey will just get right back into the game
with that extra efficiency. You know AJ sees fast enough, he's not
worried about that. He's got to be more efficient in these mid-billish
changes.
Well perhaps to the surprise of nobody, these two
who look so good at different points on Friday and throughout the weekend as a
The whole level through two games here in our opening match.
And not a whole lot of emotions coming out of Wavy there.
Maybe a little bit of relief, but also you
can tell he is locked in here in our first best of seven
of the day.
Yeah, that feels pretty good for Wavy, I think.
His assessment of himself there will be, OK,
that was good enough for now.
But for him, the issue has been consistency.
he's not been able to play his game,
he's not been able to play his style
as often as he wants to,
as often as he's gonna need to,
to beat players like Diaz,
to beat players like Parscala or Evo.
He's doing enough right now to beat AJ,
and it's not disrespect to AJ,
but the other guys in the tournament
are gonna control them all more against Wavy.
You're not gonna get as many opportunities
to challenge early and dictate
where the game is being played
when you go against particularly Diaz,
but the rest of the field as well.
We've also got a couple of guys here who are kind of the epitome of competition.
I mean, they've got that competitive drive.
And I think there is a sense as much as you try to take all the external factors out of
competition at this level.
Here's that sense of, well, everybody else thinks it's these two other guys that are
going to be in the final.
And I imagine, especially with waving, probably feeling some kind of way about that.
Definitely. Well immediately right there in third game AJ is looking to boot with
Valorant. It looks like he's trying to increase the pace even more. I was
wondering if you'd leave back more to being more efficient in these midfield
back and forths. It looks like the opposite of the way he cracks across
far. I've seen AJ do this before. He will just try to take things up to the
fastest possible gear that he's got. He is going to be trying to race around the
bitch and just getting the ball moving he doesn't like this nitty gritty back and forth play where
ball slide down and wavy's able to bump them he's trying to create space with the speed that we
know he's getting full up. Wavy's done a great job of turning the midfield advantage into instant
offense. Be able to branch off for the opposite corner boost as oh go get deep boost on the blue
side AJ looking for the
pump.
They'll take out Wavy to tie the game.
What a switch up by AJ.
Grown to air dribble, flip reset,
gets Wavy into the air and Penny just
bumps him with the reset.
It's a great demo.
Midair right, AJ.
I'd love to see him go back to that
later on in this game, but in between
then and now, expect to see clean reset.
Hopefully it's maybe a line game, wave dash,
Shot low, he's got obviously great repertoire in the air.
Well AJ all the way to the other side to let Wavy start another attack.
Flip reset, shot set away, can AJ get the corner? No, doesn't need it as that's on, target it in.
Getting all the land that Wavy is looking for.
You got stuck all in the post as AJ made the save there.
Really, I'm surprised that Wavy went for the shot, they reset, looked a bit awkward.
The air dribble overall looked a bit awkward for it.
Wavy does get the demo in the back corner and AJ is going to choose the near spawn.
He's put something right underneath the ball, but he at least stops it.
Initially, it was too awkward.
It was kind of picking your poison there.
He's far, far closer than AJ has gotten over there.
He's far near close than you're directly under the play.
And that couldn't have gone any worse for AJ.
He baked on the kickoff, then still got beat to the boost
and demoed, and got put in that spot.
Go straight up here with the head-on kickoff.
AJ, full tank.
Wavy, full on his own as well.
And he makes the stop again.
Huge, huge save by Wavy there.
As expected, AJ switched up his aerial game.
Last time it was Airdrie will reset Demo, this time with a low shot.
Wavy going for a similar idea both at the other end of the pitch, both players though
have predicted that and made the stop defensively, but Wavy going for the long end here.
Faults will lose seals, multiple attacks, back full Demo attempted.
Now the shot reverse goes in.
Again, give AJ credit for trying to make a lot out of nothing.
He tried to get in Wavy's way, forced him to make another move.
Maybe force him away for the ball
But wavy does just enough to trickle that across the line and now the second round of kickoffs
AJ does well to at least control that for a moment at least makes wavy
Drive a long way into his territory that meant AJ could
conserve a lot of boost. Oh
the way
still got the boost, that's insane.
AJ won't think that he should have done a demo there,
it was so close, but Wavy stayed alive,
got the boost, got the ball.
That's gonna feel horrible for AJ.
He got that demo, it was surely gonna be a goal.
It's another case where you feel like AJ's
almost done everything right.
Oh, Wavy couldn't get a run on a shot though,
but for AJ's in such a tough spot now,
completely out-boosted,
Wavy can turn on this,
puck right over, and a 4-2 lead.
Yeah, it's well played by Wavy.
Again, a difficult position for AJ.
Losing it out on the race to the back corner boost.
Also missed it before that battle in the midfield.
So yeah, slight mistake here from AJ.
He's trying to keep the base up.
I'm doing so.
He's in boosts every now and then.
Just getting the light up strong every now and then as well.
I don't mind that immediate shot there.
still put to catch Wavy out free jumping. That's gonna back Wavy down.
Now expect to see the reset to the top gel here. Oh, it's gonna be a very real
bumping set. Oh, what a huge gap between himself and the ball. I am not surprised to see that one.
Failing. Wavy set a good read on it too and now he knows AJ has virtually
nothing in the tag. There's the demo. Where's he spawning? Near side again. Wavy
Holds all the cards, but AJ is done well to recover and keep this manageable.
Wavey immediate shot, just barely doesn't catch AJ in position.
It's always threatening that bump in the back corner.
It's one of a possession just to drive into the back corner, taking the ball away with him.
AJ tried to return the paper, but could not get the ball out of the corner.
And here comes Wavey. AJ forced back with no boost.
Just over a minute ago, it's been AJ struggling defensively for the most part here.
Can he get back to this? No, he's been tripped on his takeoff.
Wavy again with a physical play.
It might have a window here.
AJ just rolls one through.
You know, these games much lower scoring than game one.
This is, I think, having a lot to do with Wavy having a lot more possession.
and AJ just hasn't taken advantage of the very few quality opportunities he's been afforded.
Yeah, definitely the case.
Waving it didn't make a bit of a mistake though in defense.
He's not the hard part, he fell back into the game and then just gave the ball away.
So he's still got to be very careful here.
He gives the ball away to a 100-poose AJ.
We know that AJ can put unstoppable shots on target.
We saw that in game one.
Sometimes there's just nothing you can do against this guy and all the top players in the tournament
if they peek in offense.
No offense right now for AJ. It's all Wavy. Boost steel, shot.
AJ just trying to get out to the midfield. Oh, he has done.
It's the ball past Wavy. It's the top gardener.
I mean, one of the constants here has been, you know, Wavy gets one shot on,
and then he just controls the boots. The entire rest of the rally
and you think, okay, he's inevitably going to score. AJ finally finds
an opening and just kind of lobs one just in the under the corner
the corner of the frame and all of a sudden we're all tied up here down to 10 seconds.
All huge shots here for AJ. Where's he going to take this? Does it field? Oh I really feel like
the side moment of an option though. And away he's from the post. His recovery is terrible.
AJ's got another open down 0 seconds and he scores.
Unbelievable.
The only solace here is you don't see the open miss in the goal replay at the end.
AJ steals one.
I cannot believe that.
AJ had, I thought, a free wall play and instead he cuts it in field, gets completely dunked
on.
But Wavy missed the shot, I'm not sure how open it was for Wavy's POV, we'll have to take another look at it, but it looked like he had so much hype to score that one.
He might not know it now, of course, even from our view, we can see AJ wasn't in the area, but both players seriously had big chances at the end of that game that they let go.
Wavy has done a great job over the last couple of games of limiting AJ's chances.
He had 15 looks at Wavy's net in game one.
Only nine shots registering in game three, but it's enough to get five of them through.
As Wavy and AJ of course fully aware that they are in for a battle here to kick off
Sunday and both no doubt aware of what's waiting for them in the semifinals in the form of Diaz.
Oh yeah, I don't think about that right now. That's not a good thought at the moment for Agent
Waymeek. The way this game is going, it does just look like the fourth place match for me.
Whoever wins this is going to seriously need to elevate their gameplay if you're going to beat Diaz
And even a 7 or a 10 or an 8 or 10 day for Diaz is going to be more than enough here.
There's just so many mistakes from Wavy and AJ in these games.
But they both warmed up into series throughout the tournament.
Let's see if they've saved the best to last.
AJ off to an early starting game more.
I love getting this into Elisario.
He is up 2-1 in the series.
I'm going to add to that advantage. Oh my goodness. In the way he still saves it.
Okay, you can see AJ cutting in field. He wants to try to turn boosted bandages into ground game.
Which is not what he generally does. Usually when he's got a boosted bandage, you'll take the ball to the wall.
Get off in the air. And that does, of course, give your opponent time to grab boost as well.
So AJ's mixing things up a little bit here.
He's getting goals off the back of it though.
And he continues to struggle to deal with the physicality of Wavy.
It just feels like every time AJ wants to grab the midfield boost, Wavy is right there
like the Boogieman.
He's read him.
This time he's got it.
Completely uncontested.
Through the air now.
Didn't have a reset.
Doesn't need it!
Oh, what a shot!
What a shot. This is why AJ.
Yeah, you got the reset early there.
That's why he goes to the to the wall play so often because he's got all the options.
He can shoot that high every once to if you play more standoff defense against him.
He's going to save the dodge shooting the bottom corner.
And we've even seen the flipper. He said Bob from the earlier as well.
So I want to see him sticking to that, just going back to those shots,
which get him goals more often than not.
AJ jumped early, could never cover as Wavy picks him apart!
A great shot, AJ trying to put him off by jumping in defense.
You're not going to get many saves shadowing against Flix of that quality.
Expect to see AJ challenging or at least putting in a more convincing fake challenge.
He faces the same position again.
to the right. Maybe again.
Reset shot at just beat him.
AJ just kind of lulled to sleep
there. Again, AJ just played
standoff defense. This is what
he generally does. He lets it
take shots out and he lets his
bullet flick the ball towards
himself. But like you said
earlier, offense does beat
true of 1v1, if the offense is able to produce quality, the like switch received from Wavy.
Wavy didn't have a lot in the tank, but neither did AJ. He's got a full tank now,
and the battle for every boost found down the field won by AJ. Still Wavy giving him no space,
able to compensate for not having any boost, and now Wavy trying to gain the upper hand here is
He'll recover. A.J. does well at least to get back the advantage, try to roll one through this time, and Wavy's having none of it.
A.J. tried for a wall bump as well, but Wavy sees that mile away.
There's another try at the same shot there in the air, which will just pass from A.J.
He's already scored this game with the wave dash, the mind game, it's a wave dash to the buck, Karner.
I think he's gonna go high if he wants to go or back to that bump. I mean I thought he's going for too many bumps
He could certainly surprise wavy with more air dribble bumps
Really only got a dribble bump a couple of times it was in game two when he went for the first one and it worked
Wavy able to recover on the near post
A.J. gone to that again later on in that game and did not have anywhere near the same level
of success or just haven't seen it since.
You know, there's some science still that Wavy's not comfortable in the match.
He's just not comfortable in this tournament because some of these touches that he's making
to control the ball and set up variables that he had, the ball for free in the back corner
a moment ago and he just gave it away.
But this time he's going to get out straight through midfield.
field, AJ not providing a lot of resistance. So a 2-0 advantage for Wavy,
AJ jumping before boosting. It's much harder to get momentum with boost in the
air than it is falling ground. Didn't have enough of it there. He also initially
missed the corner boost on that exchange. You'll miss the shot here. Had to rush it
a little bit. Maybe he didn't have to rush it as much as he did, but still live off
of pennies, but he'll have to dash back. That gives Wavy the advantage and he's
He's not going to relinquish it at all.
Up three now with a minute and a half.
Ages.
I mean, he's trying to put pressure on.
He was thinking about half flipping into a challenge there,
but failed after realizing it wasn't going to work.
I think he just has to actually go for the ball at some point.
If he's trying to play for big challenges,
I think the best big challenge is to actually challenge.
One time, just go and full send it.
but obviously that's not as stylish.
He wants to wait for punches and counter them.
I mean, he's picked the challenges again,
but when you pick every challenge,
if none of the picks are very convincing,
he just trouble again.
If everything's a fake, it's no longer a fake.
Wavy trying to go underneath,
and AJ is there to at least keep this within reach
and to a minute.
Try to get to kickoff goals
or kickoff opportunities at this point,
And it's not going to happen while it will happen, but it will happen with Wavy scoring to go up 4 and AJ wants to go next.
AJ, you needed to get that ball up to the side while there. It did not happen.
It's about to submit, and like you mentioned, more of it from AJ.
He had honestly plenty of time left for this game to try for a comeback, but he wants to just get into the next game.
Doesn't feel like he's got sufficient control of the kickoff game for the comeback to be realistic.
But that's more of a mental
Forfeit there from AJ with we see we saw wavy come back with a similar score like similar time
Remaining yesterday against Bora
So yes, that's that's borderline for me
The momentum of the game was going more and more towards wavy, but much I've said this before I'm gonna say again
I wish AJ played the next kickoff like dude
Check and see if you at least get possession if maybe gets possession on the next gift card
Then sure you can you can morph it into possible
I'll have the game played out to more of a natural conclusion
Maybe might have gone over his six goal limit here in this series
But yet three times out of the four games six goals for wavy
He's only won two of those games
Two games. He's lost
AJ has really stolen, literally stole game 3 away from him.
But game 1 taken at 0 seconds.
And now we go to a pivotal game 5 between Wavy and AJ.
Diaz waiting in the wings after another lower quarterfinal to follow after this.
We go to the quickly becoming iconic, Park de Paris.
For Game 5, Wavy trying to get two on the track here to go on match point against AJ, who was giving him all the gas for and then some, and he gets one on the kickoff.
Yeah, straight away, standard kickoff. AJ didn't want to dodge the area, so I'm afraid of where the ball is going to go, but he probably wishes in hindsight that he did, because Wavy just walked the ball in 1-0.
like looking at the base gaps between games, it's very clear that Wavy is feeling tense at the moment.
He's letting out a lot of deep breaths, trying to ease the pressure on himself here.
If he didn't manage to do it with a deep breath before the game, two early goals will certainly help in game five.
That's great from Wavy, recognizing where the ball is going to be going.
If AJ does manage to save it, quick shot that he can't react to.
Race to the corner boost this time, won by AJ.
There's not one many races to any given boost pad against Wavy.
Now go in here and Wavy just lets him go right on by.
Great play, AJ.
Right into the full field air dribble.
Had that reset, so Wavy couldn't dive in.
He might have just to control it, flick it,
with the last unsubmissive he has.
So far, we always keep track of what AJ is doing in the air.
We've seen there the
Micke it's gone for the reset into the catch. So he's picked out the reset being used
Really use it next time. It's right to surprise wavy will wavy be surprised is one of the little chess matches these guys are fairly quiet
Wavy gone up the side wall thinking about it, but saw AJ had him beat
AJ will opt for wavy's corner boost
But this goes back towards AJ's half and he has to dump that off to the corner, but concede the corner boost
Wavy can't turn around on this. So AJ will by himself
Just the amount of time he needs this will roll a little wide
And AJ will just screen Wavy away for a moment, but Wavy has full control
Oh and AJ missed the corner again
He's missed. Wavy's missed the open net both players feeling the nerves
Ty series game 5.
AJ missing the boost, leaving his net open.
And then Wavy missed the open net, the other end.
AJ with this early challenge off the wall.
That is Ty there.
And Wavy cannot believe it.
You can see the frustration.
He is just not getting the necessary touches here.
He's not been able to play his air game.
Thank you very much to all.
And he's plus gone by.
Just about straight on again, and this time Wavy will slam it inside the post.
Yes, similar to what we saw earlier, just a normal standard kickoff win actually to the exact same side.
And Wavy's able to get it around AJ. AJ cannot keep going back to this same kickoff, otherwise he's going to be losing possessions at worst.
for our best and goals of course, two kickoff goals in this game are the
difference between AJ leaving by one and trailing by one.
Maybe have some relief to AJ, the next couple of kickoffs would be the diagonal
kickoffs, it's Wavy, do the skies again, will he use it? No, he'll just let this come down and
to his lead. Great placement by Wavy. Early reset, threatening to shot the hallway. AJ
jumped top left from this field beat but the ball is going bottom right so Wavy's
disguised act to the very last second. This goes where nobody was. Wavy can win
the race to the corner. AJ's got to get a touch on this, he does. Will we get the
corner boost. Maybe also missed it. Somebody please take that orb. Alright, there we go.
On the AJ now. His shot will be easily sent away. Just let that get way too far away from
him. How did he not get the demo? It was close. I think maybe he got tricked up with the previous
play. He was trying to trick up AJ and he ended up getting tricked as he played for that boost
steal. Neither player got on one catch. AJ can't get back to this immediately, but he will have an
advantage of the position.
Wavy still has boost though,
so he just gotta be careful
and he does get the follow-up
three times, but I haven't seen
too many of those from AJ.
We'll put Jager, we'll be
coming up immediately afterwards.
Wavy's trying to put him off
for the ceiling challenge.
It looks like he has done just that.
Tried to nut Wavy away,
but he's done well to stay with the play.
Oh, AJ, does well to wait for that ball as well.
Can he turn on this?
Now wavy just got a piece. Now AJ can turn and fire. Basic shot, basic save.
Oh, well AJ's missed this one. I think he realized a little too late that wavy had abandoned the net.
Yeah, I mean AJ, he doesn't ever want to be given the ball away in those kind of positions.
It does lead to more time being wasted, time that he needs to make the comeback.
And it also gives wavy more chances to dictate before the game.
Let's try to put AJ under forward pressure.
Wavy's slowing it right down here,
trying to catch up.
AJ, with a burst of speed, trips him up with a landed again.
But he's not followed up correctly.
Wavy falling over in the aftermath.
Got his wave dash wrong.
And AJ bumps him to make it a one-kill game.
This is great, again, taking advantage of Wavy not getting
when he needed out of that corner.
And AJ, just in the way, they get himself back within one.
Another corner kickoff.
And AJ should have possession here.
That's good awareness.
He made Wavy stick to the right.
It's in.
Shirley.
Oh, my goodness.
Look at Wavy.
He just can't believe it.
He can't believe it.
He can't keep getting away with this.
Yes, he can.
I think Wavy's annoyed at himself more than anything else.
Because that was so, I mean, it was so wide open,
but field for AJ to dunk him.
I think Wavy is annoyed that he's presented the dunk as clearly as he did.
Both players are fighting for this good boost. AJ's got it.
He's going to have a goal lead off the back.
Even Slid and down just a touch to try and tell Wavy even more.
Wavy looks unbelievably frustrated and losing another lead.
Falling behind in the final minute again,
through an AJ who just won't go away.
You would think with these few kickoffs here being forced right on,
Wavey would have the advantage.
He's been the better of the two on these kickoffs so far.
But now all of a sudden, AJ able to grab possession and slow Wavey down considerably.
Oh, I'll be careful here.
AJ censored it's Wavey.
Wavey with a finish.
That's clinical.
That's creative, but that's exactly what Wavey needed.
AJ would love to have that touch back because I knew I'm sure he knew it as soon as he hit it
And he was setting up wavy and it jumped into action and wavy did a phenomenal job
Hanging with the play that is a lay there AJ is all over it. There's this all it was on but wavy's kept the same
Wavy saw the demo come in from AJ as well. He's gonna be so careful here
Tell us come over to the ball. I have a chance to go off the wall here. He's missed the mid boost wavy
What's happened again?
able to take another shot because of that.
AJ's got a boost to get back to this.
It is on target, but Wavy's got him in a terrible position here.
Low boost, zero boost even, and the bump comes through.
It's Wavy by one.
Another missed boost, haunting AJ in the long run.
It's bumped into the goal by Wavy.
The ball follows AJ, gets a dose of his own medicine.
I want to kick off to try and tie it up and he'll fake.
He's in touch to get behind Wavy.
This does get to the wall, but Wavy will bring it down.
And we have Wavy on match point after AJ tried to steal another.
My goodness, this series has been so back and forth.
Just when you think that someone's
going to settle into a lead, the lead just evaporates.
And then you think, okay, surely that means that the player who's newly leading is going to take control.
But it seems like these guys are allergic to controlling the series as soon as somebody gets an advantage.
They just start to crumble. They start to misboost.
They start to misplay their touches.
Wavy with a Tugal advantage conceded and then just walked into the dunk.
He couldn't believe it. He's like, what? I'm good.
Then AJ pops it across to the front of his arm.
So that probably didn't think Wavy was gonna score it the way that he did it.
It's a great goal, but these guys are playing so loosely with the possession.
And it's just been unusual to see his agency, is he gonna try something?
Is he meditating?
And final way to center himself to get two in a row here against Wavy or
his tournament run is over as we go to Neo Tokyo for game six.
Champions field on the horizon
Wavy trying to lock it down here. Well six goals being up again in game six. Let's find out
Yeah, I like the little meditation there from AJ
Let's see the maybe score the absolute black black range
Yes, he does
I'm going to the credit though
If you're only listening it's a top in my distance, but
Great patience from Wavy. So you take his time with that one. He did not want to make the same mistake he made again.
I think it was game four. Or was it no? It was game three where you moved the post, wasn't it?
From a similar starting spot.
Yes. Yeah, it's a very awkward looking angle too, but able to convert in the early seconds.
And you know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's early yet, but those shots matter in the course of the game.
The first ten or the last ten as Wavy just rides AJ to the wall, but AJ able to recover.
Trying to take possession.
Let's Wavy go on by.
Can he get around on a shot?
Gonna take his time.
AJ on the line and Wavy keeps him out.
Howdy's gonna score.
Oh, what a sequence.
Incredible from Wavy defensively, but AJ has just...
He forgots a little part of Slayton.
He's just spun out of a wave dash.
And he's conceded as a result.
I think he would have easily been back to contest that,
probably to take the ball for free into his back corner.
That's still the classic.
Great patience from Wavy at both ends of the pitch.
First in offense to secure the opening goal.
Then in defense to barely get the ball off the goal line
before it crosses.
Well, AJ concerned for a lot of boosts there.
Still Wavy with a massive win at Booston's fawn for him and-
Wait, Havy!
AJ just barely gets it up to keep this ball out.
He can turn and fire, but Wavy's got an easy save.
Yeah, Wavy got the venture of him here.
This looks like the most lauded Wavy would seem so far.
hyper-focused after struggling to get full state, to activate the full state, any of the games so far
that we've seen. This has been the best one of the lot, AJ, the horse to level up this game as well,
but again he's caught out. Wavy, one thing he has done really well even though he struggled with
his mechanics in the series, his physical games been on point.
Wavy fires and doesn't convert, but AJ also didn't get control off of that.
Wavy again, trying to spin AJ out.
He'll just nudge him around a couple of times, but AJ comes away with the ball and he'll just score it open next.
Oh, I think Wavy got made by the corner boost.
That last but one to AJ, he could have probably started to beat an AJ or at least matched him to the ball, but the boost started to glow.
And that's the, you know, thanks to that update, we got pros all around the world thinking, oh, the boost coming back, maybe I can hang around for that.
But I wanted to complain exactly.
I mean, I find myself doing that a lot more.
Oh, AJ's got this one passed.
Just beating Wavy to this one.
Looked like it was gonna be a 50-50,
but AJ, the faster the two players,
look at the margin he's snuck that one by.
I don't know if Wavy has had tunnel vision
necessarily on the boots, as much as he has,
just trying to be overly physical with AJ,
and AJ's just kind of shrugging him away.
And now the muffler, he's sent that one out by Wavy.
AJ again, with the boost,
Wavy will get back to this low and bring it all the way to the corner.
More importantly, got the corner boost with AJ buzzing all around him.
Again, they're looking for that demo.
Wavy's still good at spotting opportunities for that.
AJ cannot spot in the way.
Look at the timing for Wavy.
It's full in second.
AJ lands.
Wavy's there to demo him.
And you know, if he gets that wrong, AJ's escaping.
If he lands or if he goes too far forward,
AJ is just going to land on top of him.
Excellent timing.
Oh, the mind game of AJ.
Vacate at Wavy's inside the game
Unreal he just won't go away
Wavy's been nowhere near on any of these goals that have gone into his net as
AJ scored from long range
He'll slow it up here off the kickoff as all the angles and Wavy still makes the save with nothing in the tank
That was a fantastic shot as well from AJ
turn a surprise wavy with that one.
Now here he comes from distance.
He's way out on the takeoff here.
Wavy identifies that, closes the gap.
AJ started that from so deep in his own half.
Now look at a kind of feel.
AJ with boost and defense.
Stayed within the hallway.
Now he's boostless though.
Well, Wavy's missed the boost.
That did briefly get AJ and open net.
Now Wavy trying to jump him up again.
Has he overextended for it though?
Not quite as he defends the boost.
Ah, just AJ couldn't get around on the shot, big break for Wavy.
Looking to wrestle back control of game six, coming up on the final minute.
AJ's got to pick a spot he has, and more importantly able to grab his own corner boost
as Wavy opts for midfield as well.
Can he get that quickly?
No.
And AJ takes control again just to flick on, and not an easy rebound for AJ to work with.
We'll take the shot and Wavy's up to meet him again.
It's a good defense from Wavy.
He wasn't entirely sure how much boost AJ had there,
so he decided to die.
And here comes AJ with the reset.
Delays the shot.
Wavy never blinked there.
Just kept his eye on the blade.
Tricks on the post to defense as he loops around,
but AJ couldn't punish him.
And AJ is really extended here for offense.
He's going to get a goal.
Oh, and the way he doesn't go for it.
Excited, instead to play for the mind game.
This session will be his as a result.
Here comes Wavy again to win the back quarter.
So many demos been ran.
That's a great job by AJ.
Avoiding that demo, Wavy will bump him away again
and again, he turns away from the demo.
Still take possession.
Down to the final countdown of game six.
AJ surely needs the next goal to prolong his tournament life
and he'll hold the possession.
One reset.
That's always getting me going to overtime.
Wavy nearly able to keep it up.
He said most of the kickoff wins this series, but Game 6 has been pretty good for AJ in that regard.
That ball came back off the sideline with a bit too much heat on it though.
AJ couldn't play it. It was a great touch by Wavy.
He's got the beat and now he's just got an open net.
So much time and he does not miss.
Wavy comes through with the win in 6.
It was a nervous performance but he stays alive.
Phenomenal stuff from Wavy as he fends off Father Time himself.
AJ trying to make a deep run in the North American 1v1.
I mean, listen, it wasn't perfect.
It wasn't pretty.
But he also can't deny.
AJ can still go here at this level.
Gave it an honest run.
But it is Wavy who gets a crack at Diaz with the chance
to play spoiler later on today in the semis.
Yeah, great, honestly, great run from AJ.
He could be proud of this.
He's done so well on the group stage
and he competed at the playoffs,
but yeah, the bad game's gone past something
and Wavy showed that today,
even on a golf game for him mechanically,
he was too much for AJ.
More quarterfinals coming up after the break.
I think I want to try an experiment.
All right.
To help you un-become your parents, I want you to try a game called Rocket League.
Ooh, is it a puzzle like my crossword?
No, picture soccer.
Okay.
With a car.
What do I hang my feet outside the window?
No, not your car.
But you said think of...
It's a video game.
Oh, okay, I get it.
Where's the cartridge?
No, it's an online thing.
Is there a joystick?
Not like the ones you're thinking of.
But I need to get some quarters, right?
No.
In the cartridge?
Again, no cartridge, but you'll need a username.
Username? How about Keith underscore 9914?
The bathroom coat?
That's the only number I can kind of remember easily, so.
Every day, Michelin innovates to move the world forward on the road and far beyond.
Michelin, motion for life.
Oh, what a devil, almost dizzy, down here down the jack, open yet, he doesn't have any.
Big shot, pass, oh, a five, not over, zero seconds, it's too late, on the ground, one report.
That is how you take an opportunity, you little ass.
You know it's needs nothing out of the way to open the door.
I
The magic of Rock-a-league is the stories you could tell about.
The zero second buzzer beers, the epic saves, the underdog victories.
It's all there.
As we return to this legendary arena, we'll witness Rock-a-league's story unfold together.
Who will hang their team's banners in the rafters of champions field?
Let's start to find out.
I like it when my cause is a crime like me.
I like it when my clothes move chromatically
Nobody does it quite like me
I like it when my clothes move chromatically
chromatically
Oh
Light it up, light it up, light it up
Cause you're my life, I'm gonna burn it up
We're gonna light it up, light it up
Oh, light it up, light it up
The spectacular start to championship Sunday six games for them decided by one goal or
less at two buzzer beaters in there but ultimately wavy peruse the analysts correct and gets
it the win for Chad here and joined by McGinn congratulations on the win sir big one there
How did you feel, how did, what goes around?
Those buzzer beaters are going in and game one three.
No, no, that was so tragic.
Like game one, that's more of just a good play by AJ.
Like it's a good fake.
I did, like I thought I, I didn't mean to get faked,
obviously it's a good fake, I have to give it to him.
The game three one, I just missed an open out.
Like I don't know how, like, I honestly don't know
how my inputs didn't lead to a goal there.
I might have to watch that back.
Maybe it was like so intense that I just like
messed something up, but that felt like
I should have scored instead of, but I'm not being able to win.
I'm definitely too stressful.
Okay. Okay. Well, you know, I, how, how would you describe playing against AJ?
Like what has kept him competitive in Rocket League for so long?
He's just fast and he plays with that confidence.
That's, that's what I'd say. Cause he could just like, he's a,
he just does something and follows through a lot of the time.
That makes sense. And it's very hard to read consistently.
Sometimes you get predictable. I think like in the latter half of the series,
I was like bumping him like 17 times like per minute. Um, and I was kind of like getting the ball. So despite the games being close, especially at the end, I feel like I kind of started dominating. But to go back to AJ, I think he plays actually
actually confident very fast and he also has mechanics which people probably under eight because he's like kind of
He still his inputs are leading the goals that is what it would get some all the way there
I okay that you you you promised me today
We were to see the aerial game and I'm not saying we didn't see it
But I feel like we could have seen it more like are we saving it for the finals like where's this aerial game?
We're talking about I
Think I'm probably gonna be the motion the air playing Diaz out of anyone in the world. So honestly
I know what you said like how I didn't it's not like I didn't go in there, but I do agree that I probably couldn't find the error
More often like especially not game six
I was taking the ball on the ground like almost all my opportunities to be fair though against AJ specifically
It was working very well, but I guess I'm like Diaz. You probably need to add a little bit more variation
Okay, okay, well my next question was gonna be what's it gonna take to get past me you've beaten before but
got Diaz in front of you here.
I don't want to, you basically answered it there.
I'm excited to watch the real game,
so it won't take any more of your time.
Congratulations on the win.
Good luck against Diaz.
All right, thank you, thank you.
All right, always a pleasure talking to Wavey here.
Humble in victory, but also confident moving forward
in the bracket here, Bates.
And he got the win.
He did what he needed to do.
I gotta say, Jay.
Listen, one thing about Wavey, he's gonna be all smiles,
great vibes, and I appreciate that about him.
I'm glad he's happy about his victories.
He's earned them.
He's getting the job done, mono and mono.
In versus AJ, you got to tip your cap.
And saying that, Wavy, you still got to be a little bit better.
I expect more of a player out of your calibrary.
And he even talked about it in game six.
I was really just keeping the ball on the ground.
It wasn't just game six, Wavy.
It's actually a lot of the games where you're
keeping the ball on the ground.
Yeah, I guess he was working against AJ.
But when he's going up against the S,
he is going to have to be just a little bit more precise,
a little bit more efficient, and a little bit more
just proactive on the offensive end
give himself chances otherwise it might get ugly that's it what do you think
thanks I mean the frustration was there definitely you could hear wavy talk
about it with wavy and what wavy did a great job of though as the series went
on he did recover well you know mentally you know ones is so taxing
because there is only one person to blame when things go wrong you don't
have a teammate to back you up at all. And Wavy recognized that and that was the Wavy
we expected to see as the scours went on and it's the Wavy we got. And he finally overcame
his zero second overtime demons on Neo Tokyo. Getting the overtime winner, putting AJ away,
now he can look forward to Diaz. He only scored six goals in all of these games though guys.
I mean, you know, sometimes we're used to seeing these ones, you know, you can see eight, nine, ten goals in a game.
Wavey played a very controlled style and kept games very low scoring.
And I mean, he did find a strategy that worked against AJ.
He was describing him in an interview saying like, you know, he's got the skills.
And while he's really good at making quick decisions and forcing you to counter that decision,
he found him to be a little bit predictable.
And the ground game was what was countering what AJ was offering.
So, I mean, it makes sense that he wouldn't take it to the air in a situation where he doesn't need it if he can figure it out on the ground there.
But he says he's going to see it bring out more of the air game against Diaz.
My question makes like, will Diaz give him the space in the air to be able to get the ball up there?
Wave's got to go get the ball.
That's what I keep talking about being up in the air against Bora. Wave didn't have the ball.
Because AJ, Wave didn't have the ball.
Wave is scoring off of other people making mistakes.
And Diaz will have the ball.
So, Wavy has to go and possess the ball, and like I said, he has to be proactive, he has to be aggressive.
He has to go and actually get the ball to give him some chances. It's not going to be easy.
We'll see if he can do it, but he's got a little bit of time, because we've got one more match to get through before we get to our semifinals here.
AJ versus Wavy, fantastic way to start the day, but AJ doesn't make an exit in top six here from our North American 1v1 regional open.
Let's get into the next one. Another player going home. Every match going to be an elimination match heading forward here.
Zack trying to prove the doubters wrong,
trying to continue the streak here
against the 2025 North American runner up, first killer.
Trying to get that title.
Again, he was so close last year, this year.
The road is laid out in front of him
to make it back to those grand finals here's Tex.
Yeah, and for, you know,
Zack it's an opportunity to play spoiler.
You know, for first killer,
this almost feels like almost annoying.
like I have to actually go through all of this just to get this match up that
the Diaz that I want you know Evo of course waiting for the winner here you
know this is gonna be kind of a big mental test I think for first killer
you know taking care of business where on paper you would expect him to against
everybody who I mean he has to know he's got a target on his back all throughout
This part of it.
Not to be easy, either,
because I mean, looking at Zach's style
and it's the way he is approaching 1v1.
He hasn't necessarily had a history in 1s,
nor near to the extent of 1st Killer,
but Zach is a great individual player.
And I do think that, we saw it yesterday against DS,
where he took the first two games
and I don't really necessarily think it's because Zach
is a great in the 1v1 game mode.
I think it's more so,
because he's just a great at the video game.
But then once Diaz locked in, he showed you that Diaz is also great at the video game.
And he's also really great at one of your ones.
Probably the best NA1s player currently at the moment.
So taking that into account, definitely differentiated two players.
So it'll be interesting to see in this matchup how Zach approaches this one.
Well, Chad, let us know who you think is going to win.
We'll make our picks on the desk as well.
It's Zach's.
I mean, it'd be an upset, but it doesn't seem out of the question.
You got Zach here, or are you taking FK?
It doesn't seem out of the question at all.
I think the...
Here's what you can say about Zach.
He retired after Worlds last year, then came back mid-season here, and he's making this
deeper run in the 1v1s.
I think any questions we've had about his mental toughness have been answered to this
point.
I still think Zac is going to take first killer here.
Oh, okay.
The call for Zac.
Bates.
First killer all day.
The first killer all day.
I was looking at the camera.
I wasn't making any facial emotions or expressions.
The first killer all day looking at the camera wasn't making any patient emotions or expressions
I just thought that's gonna be one of those stacks monologues and he goes but I'm still going first killing wings
Pops like you do come on. She's probably yeah, she trust me. It's next. I know you're not talking
I'm like one thing about you. You got a quick one right off the top of your tongue way push your prediction. Sorry
I got first killer here as well. I think it probably goes to six how many games you given Zach on this one first killer
First kill it baits.
Listen, I appreciate it.
You have to compare me to Grayton.
I looked at the name tag on the screen.
I'm probably like 4-1.
4-1, I would say.
I think 1st kill is really good, man.
Okay, I mean, Stax, how many games do you think 1st killer gets?
Oh, three.
I think this goes all the way.
Wait, question.
That's a call.
That's a hotter take than Zach.
Beat him first kill, then he beats him on Champions Field.
We'll see.
Question for you.
Question for you guys.
So first kill up 3-2 and you lose as Neo Tokyo and Chance Field, or as you down to 3, he
wins the Neo Tokyo and he loses on Chance Field.
After watching and find out, enjoy the show.
Ah, doesn't answer the question, folks, doesn't answer the question.
First killer is obviously the favorite in pretty much anything regarding North American
Rock and League.
But Zach, the new blood on the block, trying to change the story, change history, he's
a rematch against his teammate.
He has long run ahead of him.
Let's get into it.
First killer started his 1v1 journey many years ago
as a teenager, but he stands here in this game
as the veteran guard.
He's got Zach, a symbol of the new era,
trying to climb up the ladder behind him.
Will he be able to do it here in this game one?
Brought to you by Progressive Johnny.
I'm excited to see because Zach, for me,
he's been the surprise package in this tournament so far.
a lot of the names we are seeing.
In fact, all of the rest of the names that we're seeing
are the players that we thought would be
your top four coming in, maybe absent Chronic.
But, oh, it's actually adding some entertainment to
and some of the questions to that list.
Great defense early in.
Nice flick from the other way as well.
Right early signs for his first try.
How can we expect a good performance from him?
He is playing at top speed.
He's gonna have to play at top speed
to try and stop first kill.
That's a great save.
Honestly, first killer got that all the way into the corner,
but just a little bit of a bounce off the wall
allows Zack to pinpoint a power shot,
and we are booming the ball to start.
The first shot that was as well.
I love this.
I explain for the shot there and not gone for the corner
boost, because a lot of players will just
play for the 100 boost there, turning around,
set up, attacking the midfield.
But it's the 1v1 play to just take the free shot,
just slam it, sell bins, back yourself
to have the power and the accuracy, which, obviously, Zack
He does have, he's had so much success in threes and twos.
He's currently the only player with a chance to win all three
game loads now, so you ask him, wow.
The thing that Perce Killer continues to do
while over the years, he's hit the ball really, really hard.
Whoa, that shot, that is, yeah, it's just,
you don't see this very often.
Perce Killer is about as far away from the net as possible.
And it just says, yep, I think I could go in there.
I think I could get in there before the defender.
Zach wasn't even close shadowing, Zach was back there.
But it doesn't matter, first killer, way too strong.
Big kickoff wins getting another one.
And just the shooting again.
First killer does not go for the mid boost here.
He sees what looks like a defended net to us.
He just sees an open net.
And he's just slammed in two goals.
I mean, credit to Zacchiote for a great shot as well.
It's been all about the shooting early on.
It might continue that way.
Zac trying to score straight away off the kickoff.
Something he's given me to to continue to do in this matchup that he's always surprised Marskiller down here behind
There's like really in there. He's he's in the dog pile my
Extremely experienced one player
Yeah, no question. Nice shot here is that a cat that's hanging on the kickoff
He's able to force the street down the center first killer
Maybe hoping to get a second touch there as that's a lack word, but he doesn't get it
It's going to be free for Zach on the follow-up.
It's a little bit of a mechanic mistake, and it's tough to get every play right,
especially getting starved out low on boosts.
And one of the ones that he had another great win, though, this ball straight to deck.
This time, Zach does recover, forces it out.
We'll see how many pads he's able to pick up.
You see, first killer not worrying about the 100 at all.
He's worrying about keeping Zach pinned back.
He thinks that's more important than boosting his own team.
Trying to prove why right now, Zach's a little first touch reset.
Actually, can I reverse for that a backoff?
That reset is so important, because without it, first killer doesn't respect that.
It hasn't fought. Zach, time to pick up boost, but he doesn't have any.
He had to go get it from the other corner.
I swear he went to the midfield, but he decided to cut back early or just missed it.
He missed it.
Yeah, he just missed it.
So it didn't matter at the end of the day.
His first skiller wasn't able to punish it, but that is a small mistake.
We saw a lot of earlier between AJ and Wavy.
AJ, especially trying to cut the quarters and all of his big boost grabs
ended up missing a bunch of them.
It's been all about the hard hits in this matchup early on.
Zach, they can first killer on their own game.
It's not something many players have tried to do.
It's like, all right, let's see who can win Puma mode
with no future settings right now.
Nice!
Hot!
We're just gonna get power shots on that.
Exclusively here for game number one,
they won't get it switched up,
but first killer, you see lots of different players
trying to take this bounce and maybe open the air,
slow the game down.
First killer instead, rises up for the earliest possible shot
he can take.
Zach picking up that boost and then places it perfectly as well.
He gives himself the lead. He's handed the ball over to Zach though.
Who's trying to take it around the corner. First killer is on the wall to meet him.
He's going to be out in the midfield. Tap away from first killer and have to rotate back.
He's going to try and dive in right away before Zach can set up any sort of hookshot. Probably the right idea and it might have run into possession.
You had a great challenge there from the first killer. Zach didn't expect that.
You thought the first killer was going to go back for boost and get involved for free.
It's never that easy against FK. Here comes Zack again, shooting early straight into the
bridge up this side. But, oh, the boost advantage was his brief reward. Didn't get a lot of
time to enjoy it, because 1st Killer surprised him with a demo, and he's going to continue
battering long shots in. Just keep the attack on us here. No transfer Zack to move up field,
and 1st Killer spamming hard clears.
that first killer this is how he's like to play historically he loves taking shots
on nets and not having to do too much you know else if players leave it
available right now if he has a slight lead we'll see if Zach forces him to make
adjustments in the future Zach been very good in the air has a reset he's been
in top 10 plays many times and he fixed the wave now shy will bounce into your
post one shot Zach the ran in with the reset that kick on the reset he got the
ball sufficiently in front of him that first killer was worried about the dodge
so nice last touch there from Zach bringing that space between himself and
the ball the first killer had to worry about no Zach's gonna win the kickoff
trying to keep the ball under control he does pop it just about awkwardly enough
the first killer couldn't stay with it the 50-50 is good for Zach as well has to
be careful from first killer trying to devil in here he does accelerate into a
sidewall play maybe I think he over did it there maybe a bit too scared of the
that really sent the ball on the side wall.
First killer, he's shooting off of the side wall right now.
You don't see that very often.
He is finding any way to shoot the ball from distance,
even if you have to create extra distance
by going to the wall first.
He's out of boost now.
He's actually going to have a ton of space to work with.
And it's actually not going to go to the air.
At least not immediately.
He's not going to play it off the bounce.
He's going to take it right at first killer.
Got the big first killer.
Oh, some out.
Kept it out for a moment, so let's act with him to finish.
Yeah, initially like said, dribbling at FK and then nearly 50-50 and straight in up and ceiling.
First killer did well initially there but didn't get the right touch to by time.
42 seconds left. Zach, head by one. So far his kick-offs are holding up.
He's been able to read most of what first killer is doing.
First killer has been sticking to that game.
What's going on?
I mean, my first kill, he's been slamming the ball around a lot,
but usually in the other direction.
Yeah, first killer, he was hoping,
maybe he just needed to pinch it in that moment
and help shoot it away.
I mean, there's no other way to describe why he'd go for that.
Obviously, he needs to do something.
The ball is falling in front of his net,
but he did not read that correctly,
and that was such a crucial moment, too,
his possession, he needed to open it.
And Zack's gonna get a kickoff.
And just like this, it's 6-3,
and in fact, first killer,
He's had enough. He does not want to see any more kickoffs and he's forfeiting game number one. I
Can't believe it. I mean I'm gonna
Send it in the last series. This is a super unnecessary carpet because he's got the 27 seconds left in one-to-one
with all the different tricks you could pull and kickoffs you could
Absolutely get a goal back in less than five seconds and then you've got you know perfectly winnable game
But first Kelly doesn't even want to try and that is either it's one or two things either
Confidence of this matchup and now he's gonna start playing right-handed
Playing with it only long shots style
But like you said, I think it's probably not anything to do with that
I think probably just a 90 things that give me out of this game. It's games cars
I don't want to go next because this game obviously
I mean, he scored that kickoff
goal off the side wall. That
took probably two to three
seconds off the clock. Maybe
for a very, very fast goal. First
gets even one of those. When
you're looking at you do the
math on the clock, sometimes
you're dividing it perfectly
even they like you need. Oh,
you have 20 seconds. You need
10 for this 10 for that. We have
to remember is if you have even
four seconds at the end, you can
get the ball in the air and then
you can just hold possession in
the air and make something
happen. So that very final goal
you don't need to have time to
You don't need to have tons and tons of time, just enough time to be able to chip it up
in the air and then play from there.
So it's just a very playable score line that First Killer decided to give away.
And you have to look at that own goal that led to this whole thing happening and think
there's got to be at least a little bit of tilt to it.
Maybe First Killer kind of player who needs to forget about that as soon as possible.
He doesn't want to sit in that game loss anymore.
He wants to get into the X1.
It's a mentality shared by a lot of different players.
You know, in America, I see four fits a little bit earlier.
And we're going to see an early one here in game one.
We just long for the day where someone will at least play the kickoff and then forfeit once they see if the kickoff goes their way.
Of course, if Zack wins another kickoff, he just wins one of them and then hit dribble the ball back.
You're well within that point. You can forfeit, say, oh well.
For this position, very, very unwinnable.
But we're right back at the game two, though.
Don't kickoff go here, but Zack Slot's going right, regardless.
That first skill has got a real test of his ass.
Yeah, it may not be a direct kickoff goal, but as a kickoff possession win,
it almost feels like, you know, a quarter of a kickoff goal or maybe a half
when you get that first position and you never really push it and you're able to score.
This time didn't even take Zack that terribly long.
This is only 20 seconds off the block.
He's able to get a great aerial play.
gonna be his strong suit. You can see him going to the air as much as possible.
Whenever 1st Killer gives space, what we talked about, what we talked to 1st Killer, I should say, about to match him against a Pantos.
That got the best out of him alongside of the ball. That was a really impressive shot.
I was watching for 1st Killer POV though, and from his view, it's clear where the shot would be.
I don't see that very often. 1st Killer's just missed a long range shot. It was completely open,
And he did not need to rush it either.
Oh, he's going for the pitch now.
That was much better.
The wall finished by First Killer.
Pitch from the midfield.
At that angle, it's not easy to get right.
Beautiful shot from First Killer.
I don't know if somebody told him that you get extra points
if you shoot from behind your midfield line
or if he came into this deciding
I want to just spoon the ball,
but he seems adamant on trying to shoot from long range.
Yeah, and even if that means he has to go for a pinch, he's gonna get him a goal, see if he'll go long series.
That switches up at all right now, he's falling boost, so he's gonna tap this away, back into that.
Zack seems to like his aerial game.
He's not gonna have time to go to the other side of the arena and tap up those.
Oh, wow.
So he'll take it in field and get it on the top of the first killer.
That is so creative from Zack.
This baiting first killer challenge in with what looked like a fake.
I mean it is the lead is not so long there with the outplay
I love the angle dribble as well to start that off
You know a lot of little things that Zack's doing here show that he's been putting the time into preparing for 1v1
He's considered a kickoff goal the old classic kickoff goal here
Zack's side onto the ball first to their goal side
It will flip in the same direction. So if the ball does go the way the goal side player
This one should be more usual
See if you can get any front flip kickoffs or if that's just for Mina yesterday.
It's the only place I had seen it before and neither of these guys are going to go to it.
Zack trying to get a little point flick top right.
Does get First Killer in the air but didn't cost a ton of boost for First Killer to make that save.
Only a couple he's able to save the rest of it to continue to play defense.
This one high in the air. First Killer did jump up early to get to it but Zack just at the first time shines with the post that it's in.
Zack is playing so well.
Well, Berskiller, expecting him to make a controlling touch here, but Zack, new Berskiller is up,
hits it a hard pass in, and he's got as far right on the goal there as he can,
while keeping the ball in a scornable position in the rebounds.
That was, of course, to stay away from Berskiller, who's challenging from the left.
Zack's kickoff game is looking great here, but that was one of the questions.
Will he be able to match Berskiller, or at least hit even go better than him?
Hit the kickoff, the answer is yes, he can.
He is really doing a good job here. 7 shots to 2 inside the first 2 minutes.
He's taking this ball all the way to his own back wall.
He's probably seen that a few times when he's played DS.
He did not take the whole good air travel, but he did get himself possession to attack again against Burst Killer.
And when he goes up to the air and gets his reset, he has been so tough to stop.
Well, you know, Burst Killer is going to need to start playing like he is playing against DS here,
because these aerials from Zac are still threatening.
keep with them all in any corner he wants, whether it's top shelf with the flip or just bottom corner with the mind game.
Ferskiller prefers to challenge early against Diaz. He knows that if you let Diaz irritable, you might as well, you know, just go next.
You're not going to win against that guy if you let him in the air.
But he is giving Zack some space for now, like Zack is here for Ferskiller, favorite turn of the favor there.
Ferskiller just missed his intended touch. Have you shot from Zack in the test, F? Hey, one more time.
No decent pass in the test, but the chip back really doesn't do too much
That's first killer going back to see if you can get powerful touches the exact in the back foot
First killer little camera movement there is that ball went to the back wall to see exactly where it was going and to be
You can get away with
Yes, that it bounce away to 16 boost now
He's gonna let Zach get a catch and attack 50s once and it's hoping to keep first killer pin back absolutely nothing for him
Now first killer. Oh wow does at least chase down the ball
Switching around a little bit, trying to get a demo, so he's not going to get red by any boost early because Zack stays out ahead of him.
And then, wow!
First killer's time challenge, Zack is going to have a freebie, I think.
Yes.
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
He's playing with this freeze, I thought, but he does get it.
Yeah, he did well with that one.
Just waiting.
Fairly long enough to beat First Killer to the punch, and still not have to pre-jump the bounce.
Honestly, before that, First Killer got a bit unlucky, so he accidentally bumped Zack into a possession after beating into the ball.
And then he didn't get a demo that must have been a couple of pixels away from landing.
So, Berskiller can feel a bit scammed in this game with how he's been going.
But he's not making his place either. That's completely open top shelf.
Berskiller's shot is not good enough.
Call-up shot also lackluster.
And now Zach has 100 boosts to defend with a great play challenge.
Berskiller did not see that one coming and it's 6-2.
Berskiller did not do a great job of protecting this ball.
He gets rolling out almost the head of it and then has no way to turn around.
Even if he dashed, he wouldn't have found his way back to that ball.
He needs to keep that much more in his control.
One thing I've noticed from first-killer 2 is he's falling too far on the other side of the ball.
It's going to be a follow-up goal.
But he's following too much in love with his heavy touches.
You know, taking shots from long distances to try and beat Zach is one thing.
But a lot of these set-up touches seem to be too heavy as well.
He's letting too much distance close between the two of them.
and he's unable to actually make an outplay, so when he isn't going to shoot, he does need to control the ball just a bit more.
He's trying to get a little hookshot here, he should get a boost steal, and Zack might get a clay.
Yeah, again, Zack is just able to avoid these demos, he's keeping control of his back corner boosts,
and that one actually used as bait as first skiller lunges in for it, thinking that that's what the play is.
Zack just shooting for distance wide open net.
Still, 1st Killer has time, 4-footed last game, done by 3 with 25 seconds left, give or take.
Now he's trailing by 4, as we get inside the final minute, Zack is restraining him here.
Late 50, find himself a lot of time.
Well, 1st Killer did get a demo there though.
Yes, and I wanted the demo as well, they're a full, going for it.
1st Killer means a winner, nice flick from 1st Killer.
Does get sacked into net
Can you convert sacks already up before first killer is so you can put this first for the back down the ground nicely
Great shot by first killer
That's such a good play
He's gonna
Have a good chance that they come back here just like lost game. He's absolutely go up plenty type to make this happen
First killer trying to lock in here like Diaz had to yesterday against Zach who's been a surprise package of this tournament
but first killer, kickoff goal.
Two goal game, there's more we're talking about last game.
Imagine this was 25 seconds left, two goals.
He's obviously gonna play it.
Could have had this, didn't get one.
Yeah, definitely.
We'll see if Zac makes any adjustments
to try and reduce the volatility of the kickoff.
He goes way-bash kickoff, which does reduce it slightly,
but still nothing like a fake
or maybe a track kickoff that could find even more time
for himself because make a diving save.
First killer, off early, has no choice
He's kind of be aggressive with his defensive style now.
He is kind of midfield 100, but he can get back towards the ball.
These two guys jostling in the corner.
First killer feels like he has to leave, but he doesn't really have a choice.
He has to stay on ball.
And a couple of strong touches from Zach have it into the blue back wall,
and that might just be enough.
Not enough time left for first killer.
Zach is going to confirm the game to win.
Yeah, good press right at the end of the game here.
Zach won't even get another goal off of this.
just to persuade first killer even further.
Wow, what a performance so far.
All credit to Zach for the early games
he's winning against the guys yesterday
and the first killer today.
He is definitely a contender in this tournament
and we keep talking about that he's the only player
currently with and will ever, this season, have a chance
of winning all three RLCS World Championships
as a long shot, obviously.
3v3 is difficult enough by itself.
never mind you, the add two's and one's into the next.
But this is the one that we're most surprised by.
We didn't think he was gonna be this impressive
coming into this weekend.
And here he is.
Now, you see a lot of ones played
since we only have this one tournament here in the LCS.
A lot of ones played community tournaments
or show matches here and there.
Zach, now just fitting in those communities
although he did play the ranks ladder,
he got up high, even reached out to him.
Do you wanna get some matches?
Maybe prepare against people and he declined.
He said, no, I think I'd rather, you know,
to stay and just prepare for RLCS outside of the normal system.
Maybe that's helped him.
Maybe not giving looks to everybody else
on how he's going to be playing once,
how much you need to actually respect his game,
has maybe helped him here.
And he's definitely playing at the top level.
It's clear now that he's in the mix with these top four guys,
even if he doesn't end up getting top four.
First Killer comes back like Diaz did yesterday.
But he's got me believing.
He's got me believing.
Have me believing yesterday against the favorite.
He's got me believing again that he
the number two guy in any right now.
Absolutely. I think that can definitely take this first
skill. He's got to seriously improve his game play too
many hard hits. He's not been controlling the ball
enough when he's had it, and he's not been able to, you
know, he's not been able to outplay Zach with the one
V one knowledge. I think that is partly due to Zach's
excellent game knowledge in the mode. That's good. Speed
go first. Joey double tap. He's going back with these
This is what Zach had with the ball there in the first try.
Go, bust him on the second ball.
Zach, then you have a loose late, first killer.
And that red, he likes to have races to the ball.
He trusts himself to win those, more often than not.
Another kickoff wins.
Zach does a good job, double jump.
He's going to get his boost stolen.
As he boons his ball away, it'll fire him a bit of time.
He's selecting to stay on the ball.
He's not using it to go pick up boosts.
First kick is to shoot from distance,
but sends it too high this time.
Zack now with an opportunity to pick up 100.
First killer though immediately cuts this towards the next domestic advantage
if Zack's not repositioning but Zack makes the play.
And Zack's so known for his goalkeeping and 3v3 using that
to the best of his ability here in once.
Definitely make impressive saves.
He's been outplayed twice out of the same way though.
Great pass from Zack to first killer for the second goal.
First killer just letting him have that just like you let him have the first
Goal as well just let him hit into the side wall because nothing is being threatened there by Zach
Yeah, what's interesting is that watching from tax BV it did seem like first killer left
It's gonna be another make it three zero here and gain it for three
But it looks like maybe there was an angle that's that could go for for a bit and kind of baited him in and then by the time
You got to the ball
It's not in position to make a good touch just passes it to first killer now three straight admitted in
first killer trying to remind everybody just what he can do in once it's gonna
be a bit of a better kickoff for Zach first killer around to stop effecting
full possession here from the back quarter into the air reset around
ceiling high uses it already goes for the double Zach actually saves that's what's
saved by Zach reset double attempted by first killer he was going quick at that
one as well not a lot of time to react to defense first killer really leveling
up his possession game here.
Profi's kickoff wins.
He's been able to dictate for most of the game's play.
Oh, it's Zach's time though.
First killer overextended in the back corner, just like that.
One goal is back.
First killer thought Zach had to take it up the side wall.
Surely no way he's going to cut it back in field.
So he's just prepping to challenge him over there.
But Zach said, I'm just going to dodge you
if I know where you're headed.
I'm trying to avoid that.
He's in infield.
It's actually going to pick up this 100 boost.
So First Killer hoping to get as big and clear as possible to buy himself a moment to recover.
He's going to like to go midfield under it as Zack gets set up.
First Killer kind of depending off from the side as he tries to jump and stop this aerial
Zack just going straight towards the corner.
First Killer makes it back.
I wasn't sure where he was but he falls back down on the save.
A great save there by First Killer and he's going to be rewarded with another goal as
well.
First Killer with his best game yet just like Diaz yesterday showing that he's got another
here to go to when he's tested.
Zach just a little bit too far underneath
that ball that he was trying to keep in the blue half.
He knew he was done for after he had popped that
not only straight up but slightly back into his own half.
First killer up at ceiling height, able to intercept this one.
He's gonna try and start the restartation.
Zach's managed to hold on to a decent amount including a wall dash here.
Helps him keep speed.
Double jump shot.
He's not gonna let first killer get down from this wall
Try not to let him get down as well easy.
Of course, Giler does get to demo and now has some space.
He's going to have the ball again.
Rascal accelerating to play.
Thought Rascal's going to turn his back on him there.
Rascal initially stayed base in him.
Break first touch with Rascal.
He's so efficient in the takeoff.
Wave dash pop to make it 5-1.
Rascal did not have an answer.
He could be a world-class goalkeeper,
but he didn't need in-command reactions
if the ball comes flying at you that quickly.
Yeah, such a great couple of touches.
One could be awkward to pop that ball in the first place
and then really soft, such to catch it and finish it off.
I won.
Flurry here from first killer in the first half
with this game of three.
So he's now on the back wall, double jump away.
He's had a constant mis-boost to get there.
But Zach cannot control it.
First killer's going to chase it down and extend the lead.
Yeah, this has been what the first killer we expected to see.
Zac, for the most part of the series,
is that pretty well keeping him to toe with him
in the one-to-one meta game.
He's not like 1st Killer dominating the demos
or dominating with kickoffs.
But this game, Zac's been a bit outpacing.
He's still got time to fix that.
Well, he's gonna do well here.
Make it two.
But this would be a seriously impressive comeback
against 1st Killer, now that we know 1st Killer's leveled up.
Yeah, Sack has done well to not fall for a trap that lots of non-1s players will, which
is being too interested in picking up that Thunder Boost.
He's very clearly recognized when 1st Killer is making a mistake for going for that, and
there's just an opportunity to bring Fault in it to get his 2nd goal, so he tries to
put this one away.
We're having a midfield under him.
It's Fault floating in the air.
Sack would hope to get two touches in a row, and he's going to try and do that, but it's
bit awkward to actually control it. Now, first killer has the ball rolling, Zach's going to back off.
He's going to play passive for much longer, but the mid-30 left to go down four.
He's getting away with shadowing for a fifth. He might be forced to start diving in if it stays this
distance. Yeah, has to go for it here. And he does! Zach with a reset dunk. It looked like the
heavy touch. Fighted giving them all the way to first killer, but what an adaptation. By Zach,
Zack, crushing the 50 back within three.
On to the diagonal, getting the first possession delay kickoff.
Just flipping into the ball, trying to get something out of this.
You got the movement away though, first kill to make sure to take a trip across all the
100 boosts, so that Zack's gonna have to play off that.
Just gonna have the opportunity to take first killers here, this first killer loses the
balance on his dribble.
Zach, gonna challenge down three,
he'll boost the final minutes,
he's in control right now,
or at least he might be in control here soon,
first killer wants to prevent that,
he actually has no boost,
he's not gonna spawn for him.
So he has to back off, he will die,
gets a demo at least, so now he's got time.
So, Paul's gonna roll for him,
see how he tries to get something started,
he's gonna avoid going to the wall,
but he's going in, first killer is expecting
a wall to air dribble, and Zach just takes the shot.
Oh, what a play, Zach, getting rewarded
with a demo before that,
but completely pulls Farskiller there.
That was threatening that air dribble off the wall,
spotted an open and is said to go more direct.
He's got a lot of time to work with here.
What a comeback this would be
from a huge deficit against one of the greatest
one's players to ever play the game in Farskiller.
Farskiller's got control here.
It's gonna be a tough one for Zach to do this possess.
He's trying to bait him in, then he's taking as long as possible, waited as many bounces.
First killer doesn't want the ball to fully stop.
It becomes much harder to deal with if it does stop bouncing.
First killer using every possible bounce he could to waste time.
Zach, decent enough to keep you talking about how you don't even need this goal.
That's soon. You just need to save yourself a couple seconds to get the ball in the air on the final kickoff.
As long as Zach stays in control of the first killer, that's a great fit.
He hits the other way.
First killer should be getting on the board.
Yeah, Zach tried it at the end there nice come back attempt, but first the other was
too solid with the defense
Staying with them at every step there getting his first game win on the boards
What much like the ATI Zach series yesterday?
We have walked a competitive match ladies and gentlemen Zach is at this level with the tournament favorites
He's pushing them to the limit
He's got to I think just that they had a tiny bit more kickoff variety
to his rotation, and then he'll be just fighting in this matchup, but yeah, this gave us heavily
F1rstKiller's favourite early, thanks to F1rstKiller's kickoff wins up to Zach now to
maybe add some fakes, maybe some dry kickoffs as well, I would love to see that.
And otherwise the goal would just be more F1rstKiller, the day where the game's played.
Yeah, it ultimately comes down to those first couple minutes in this game, not only
was this kickoff maybe not there, but he also had a couple of misdashes that
You know, we don't see from either one of these guys very often and you add that to the rest that was going wrong
You're suddenly looking at a big deficit and you have to claw it back for the rest of the game
Which he did ultimately couldn't bring it all the way back
But not the worst sign ever the fact that you know the most domination came in early parts of the game
So Zach already looking like he was playing a bit of a better game and maybe could get himself
You know a few match points here against first could if you could take game before you might need him
You might need that many chances against the guy as good as he is, but notice what he's getting.
You know, what information is he getting from that phone? He's always on it every time he's
in a way. I don't see any info. Is he getting kickoff strategies or something? I don't know how
or who knows, but we're gonna get back into here to gain him more Utopia Coliseum. Big moment.
What did he just learn? Will he use it here on the field? Will we get Zach possessions early?
that's the big question. He's definitely into the chance of this one. Nice little thump
once at first killer to secure the first possession of the game. He's got all the options of the
world for what to do with this one. He's going to fake the long-wind Jared Dribble,
then actually fake bringing the ball bite down. Also layers of buying games here by Zach
early and he's going to open it as a result. First killer is absolutely lost control there.
Yeah, first killer trying to get up and beat Zach. I'm just expecting Zach to race him to the ball
As soon as he recognized that was not racing him to the ball, he realized he was in trouble.
Wanted to get the softest possible touch he could, went for that reset touch, but still handed it away.
So first killer, not the best read on the play, but he'll make up for it quickly with a kickoff.
And Zach's quick, you know, losing quite a lot to this side.
This one, the ball does go a bit further, but it's still something Parskilla could work with.
Saks, again, the player who has to switch something up,
first-gamer continues to beat him.
On the majority of the kickoffs, gets a kickoff goal,
then a kickoff possession, which is as good as a goal
in the continuation, plays out like this one.
That's Saks.
Went all the way to his own back corner boosts
and wanted to be immediately involved in the play.
You know, sometimes you can't surprise players
who just assume no way to go for that challenge
or you're gonna fake that, right?
But that first-gamer seemed to be able to tell
About one was legit Zach truly was gonna try and drive half the field of the challenge
So first killer
We'll sleep around him and that heavy first touch is gonna last active nearly dive on him
If you kept it somehow more in his control Zach would be less confident as he dives in trying to take it away
Get them into a hundred
Again see that's it that's a heavy touch right there
He makes up for if I get in a demo, but he didn't have to pitch that off his wall and push it away out of his control
But that's what first killer has been defaulting to.
How he's going to slow down.
His catch pushes it out to the midfield high, bouncing ball.
Again, just over the top of Zach, but it's under the corner.
He's going to get free shot.
Zach should find his way back to net.
No reset there for first killer.
Zach gets maybe convinced that he does have it though,
so he'll let him get back up into another air dribble.
Slow!
He's got the shot and saved!
And Zach keeps it out.
And no miss for Zach, though.
He's got to be careful in this follow-up play.
play. Looking to steal the ball, but that did leave him briefly open to be demoed.
First killer didn't make the move in that direction in time, but if looking near your
opponent when you've got no boost, very dangerous thing to do.
The first killer stealing reset. Doesn't get under the ball at all. First killer
getting dunked on in exactly the open net, ties the game, and in his quest to go to that
double match point, actually with the triple match point, he's made a step in the right
direction here compared to the last game. For sure, and first killer needs to get these
controlling touches to be a little bit better. I don't know if you've ever tried to keep
the ball around in boomer mode, but it's almost a possible dribble. That's kind of what
first killers remind me of right now. Like, you just cannot seem to get there, that's
what he needs to do. And Zac, now he's going to steal away this airfield. And Zac has done
such a good job of midfield play. We're wondering if he's going to change up the kickoff game
drastically he has it he's still losing that aspect of the game but he is
challenging first killer much earlier than last game that's a surprise for
skill in several occasions. Zack's losing so many kickoffs I pick at least five out
of the six kickoffs he's lost so far he does lose a lot to this wall
interestingly enough the same side he's just a little bit weak on it seems and
And he's going to quit this one.
He's overdue and definitely going to help him a lot
in reestablishing the leap.
But it's something that he has to think about.
I mean, this is how only one works.
It's not down to singular goals that you see often in maybe
threes.
If you're losing, the majority of those kickoffs to that wall,
you can't just let one win be good enough to say,
oh, I'll just keep going for it.
You know, if there's an 80% of them, that's a problem.
So it needs to be adjusted.
I'm now, Zack is still in it despite first killer,
they have two quick kickoff goals to make up
one of his three goals, that's a great way to have shot,
first killer saves and marshallate the follow-ups in.
Great play again by Zack, as soon as he shoots this one.
Already getting back to give himself a run up
for the follow-up shot, his anticipation is top tier.
He's still nearer to the ones moved than all the other guys
left in this tournament, but you wouldn't know it looking
at how smart he's playing a lot of the midfield plays.
You can definitely tell from his kickoff though. Again, it's that same sign.
Exactly.
He just doesn't protect this side of the ball.
And if he's not noticing this, it's going to continue to be a problem.
It's three out of four first killer goals are just exactly that.
There we go.
Just don't go to the kickoff at all.
That's what you have to do. That's what you have to do.
But this is going to work either.
First killer, really aggressive dive in this corner, picks up the under the sea.
and that gets exposed and just heals it away.
A good call on the block there by Farskiller.
He knew that Zac did not want to hard clear that.
He didn't want to air dribble from that position.
It was so awkward of a position to go from.
And yeah, I guess he's got another free goal for himself.
It's been devastating performance so far from kickoffs
into the immediate moments after kickoffs from Farskiller.
second this I got a little bit longer though this is where we entered this
territory can he get out of the spin cycle here looks like he might you know
he's still gonna be under so much pressure
first player had a great moment doing this where some players would have
tried to score there to try to end it there you have to be really careful
because if you go a little bit too all in you allow the zero boost defender to
escape you know the save if it does happen and possession first gonna
recognize the passive advantage. There's no reason to shoot any earlier than what I know for sure it
will go in. Decides to keep backing off eventually gets an opportunity where no question he's about
to score so he's trying to pre-goal. That's off of Zach. Advantage is to do so. Zach is underneath
trying to cut him up but it doesn't matter. Yeah a lot of movement by Cressulae who's flipping
over the top of Zach, shrugging off the bump and converting a seven goal it was turning into a
dominant display of possession and control. Zack just cannot get the kick off to go his
way. Even this one is Percealer's favorite with Percealer taking that mid boost. Yeah,
Zack just not had the... I just don't think he's had the tricks that he would need to
get Percealer out of this. Post-it is clearly in. Okay, that's one. I thought Percealer
might be able to save this one but after dodging the bump he couldn't get
both sides of the ball.
Waited the zap.
Oh he did get both sides.
He got slightly bumped at the end of that, Zack caught him with the tail end of his car
but this has got to be a really frustrating game if you're Zack.
I've seen it from players especially when they scream before when they cannot get first
possession tough kickups because every time Zack does get a possession as he gets one
here he's converting.
You know if he gets even a little bit of space he's done really well to convert so we'll
Steve Krush gets so frustrated to get mad at the kickoff,
says if there were some sort of 50-50 points,
like they couldn't control it, they're getting unlucky.
I mean, that was ways to keep control of this.
And hopefully, he recognizes that going forward, or maybe
he'll just keep throwing himself at the wall,
and maybe get fortunate a couple of times late.
But this one seemed to be Krush going to see when it goes back
into the blue half.
He's going to have possession with under a minute,
trying to switch the field here on the side wall,
so he could bait Zack in.
Zack did not.
Now, 50-1 on the undercut, or Demo's
gonna try and get it again. Zach forced up to make the save. First killer, staying on a little backflip in order to not hit the ball hard and to stay on the correct side of the play.
So that is a pain off, Zach went off, we're flipping off. I see Collector the ball, first killer out ahead, this should be another one.
Yeah, first killer's just too strong it seems. Zach's trying to pump him, that's here side by side, just like he did earlier.
The first skillier just doesn't let it phase in, continues going forwards.
And he has taken 14 shots in this game to Zach's seven shots.
Zach's been the more clinical of the two players.
But pure volume from the first skiller, possession and chances to score, winning the game.
What I'd say though, I'm impressed by Zach's resilience.
He's going to lose this one as well.
But he has made the first skiller work for it.
No question, I don't know if he maintains this kickoff domination because, as you said,
high efficiency from Zac when he does get offense.
First killer just preventing that offense is his way.
He has gotten this equalizing game winning game before.
Zac, we'll see, you know, if he gets into the phone for answers because that's new.
They switched something up on the kickoffs.
You know, 15 shots to seven.
This game ended 8-6.
First killer, more than the bubble out shot.
I mean, he had full control.
If Zack could get anywhere close to the same amount
of possession, it seems like he's going to have the advantage.
Yeah, it does.
It seems like his midfield game is more than good enough.
I think first killer has not been at his best
in the midfield today.
Been a bit loose to this possession.
Like you mentioned earlier, a lot of heavy touches,
but Zack needs to change up what he's doing.
We're going to keep saying it because it really is the most important thing for his game right now.
The reason you don't really see this many kickoff goals and this much domination from the kickoff alone in modern day 1v1 matches is because there are so many different strategies the players can use to switch things up.
It's a surprise they're opponent. The thing about Zach, though, is he's just, he is newer to the game mode.
He's not had as much time to practice these strategies, but you'll need to be doing, I think, more delays.
You know, you faked out one last game. I'd like to see that again.
Drive kickoff and offset spawns. We haven't seen a lot of that.
But he's starting off with standard and he wins it.
So that's nice to...
Oh, well, he did briefly win it.
It was nice to have a normal kickoff win for just a moment there.
You do bring up a good point how, you know, maybe there's a mechanical practice level that he needs to get on certain kickoffs that he doesn't feel good about, but these guys are so good that you think they can almost forget off the fly.
Maybe start losing the game here, just use the rest of it to figure out the mechanics on certain kickoffs you haven't done before, but first killer great read of the challenge, popping this ball up with a backflip, and you'll go up early, game number five.
Yeah, I'm a bit worried about Zack.
He can't get more success in aspects of the match that he's losing it.
I do think Farskiller is going to start to have more success.
I'm playing Zack's challenges like you did there.
Zack was more aggressive coming forward in defense in games three and four.
Two games he ended up losing.
That's a great save at the back end here.
But yeah, again, Zack's looking to dive in.
This time he's accidentally side-flicked by Farskiller.
It was taking the ball past him either way by losing things.
Pressure there.
He went to take that one towards the left.
Zach was going to struggle to take a little side of it.
Yeah, he was actually flipped left on accident,
so maybe he recognized the adjustment he needed.
He made it just a bit too soon, and it
registered as a flip in that direction as opposed to just
aerial.
Oh!
First kill at Ongo!
Ha ha ha!
Zach forces the Ongo.
We got a first spike after the kickoff goes in the cycle.
Full player safe, bye!
Fencing off, I'm out again!
I mean, Zach got to do something, he didn't want to give him free access to the ball.
The first killer get bumped into an angle, is not what you expected.
First killer, pick up possession again, the camera check.
Zach gonna chase me down, or is he gonna go back to his corner boost?
Zach was gonna try and intercept.
Now Zach picks up the 100, not the easiest thing to get.
Zach tried to spawn close, not gonna matter, first kill was on the other side of the play.
Yeah, you just didn't see that one coming.
It was the typical play in that position.
I think First Killer, he's not really risking much
by going for that, so it's a great idea.
The upside is, he could maybe even get a goal as well.
And it's very much First Killer favorite series
from this point.
It's gonna be another heartbreak for Zack,
who's shown us such an impressive level this weekend,
but lost four straights to Diaz after going up by two.
Now he's losing games to First Killer
after going to fight soon in this series as well.
Zack's got 12 boost right now.
He's going to be in trouble.
He needs to be careful with that dribble.
Keep it in front of him.
Keep the ability to roll it down in 15 at any moment.
First killer, almost a good advantage.
Or something that doesn't directly into the net.
But this shot is going to be on target.
Do not give first killer the opportunity
to shoot from distance.
Yeah, there's a bit of a mistake there from Zack
trying to hit the ball over first killer.
But first killer, it's so much time for the high ball like that
to get behind it, turn and shoot.
And when Zack's jumping off the wall that high,
we know he's out of the game for a long time.
Oh, chance at the air post here.
Zack went for it.
Will have a chance to control the ball
on his back corner here.
Got to look out for the devil, because we're going high.
Purskiller seems like he's starting
to get a much better read of Zack as this game's going on.
Zack is seemingly struggling more and more
to stop Pruskiller from getting away once. Pruskiller not able to keep up with the midfoot
hundred on his way back though. Now, has popped the ball out and away. Oh, thank you for such,
but Pruskiller's there trying to dunk it in. Here, moving it top speed. Everybody's
moving the ball right now. Will somebody bring it down the ground? Pruskiller's not going
to want to because this is going his way. He's down to chase around the field for the
ball multiple times, because he's off of the wall.
And Pruskuler is just completely outpacing Zack.
The ceiling challenge came in before Zack could react.
And then he just dusts him in the midfield afterwards.
It is incredible how much mechanical ability
and speed Pruskuler has years on in his career.
But he is making one of the most mechanical players
in North America look second best by a fair margin here.
And this hasn't been the same one-sided kickoff game that we saw in games three and four.
This one's been a bit more even by hasn't mattered one bit.
Yeah, First Killer is forcing this game to be played in the way he excels.
Now, this is where Zack excels, and we haven't seen this from him too often.
And this is what Zack needs to try and do.
He needs to try and somehow slow the game down and get to these positions where he can air dribble and get reset pops.
This time, it's off of a kickoff win, a rarity for him for the most part, but a great sideflip gets crossbar down.
Got two on the board, he's got tons of time to bring this back.
He's got plenty of time to save.
That's not going to help him out too much though, zero boost.
Can he get a goal here?
Honestly, just...
Evening the position would be good in that exchange.
Zero boost flick is not threatening for the first killer.
Nice idea there by Zac, he didn't have enough momentum to bump the first killer out of the game.
He's got enough boost here to do something with the full push air dribble.
dribble, first killer easily behind it though, Zack reacts well, but all this back and forth
in the midfield favors first killer after the 4-0 lead. Oh, what challenge though, Zack!
Catches first killer by surprise. What looks like it was going to be a routine 50-50 to the
side wall has been completely dunked on. Yeah, he got out ahead of first killer who's trying to
attack from the side wall. It feels like when Zack can get this ball in the air high, that's when
He's been able to have the advantages first killer is chasing down right now and wants to play for that boomer ball
You know fight for possession type gameplay that has been going his way
Zack I'm gonna launch this one
And it's gonna stick around close make sure first killer doesn't get possession of course backing off now
It's gonna allow first killer to gain control
I'm not sure he necessarily needs to do that
Ultimately, he's gonna be turned out right first
and he's back to his favorite positions in the air, he's played well this time he used the reset.
First killer faked him out like he was going to jump, but went back down the ground and took the free beat.
Yeah, just a bit of a misplay there by Zach and you can see the desperation as he went for that.
He's not had enough chances in these games, he's a feel comfortable.
If they come back in the time remaining, you feel like at some point you have to make them play
And he decided that was the moment
look at first killer thinking who's traps.
He's missed the long shot, though,
after wiggling to beat Zac out of position.
Zac needs a gold gear, and he's not going to get one.
Absolutely shut down as first killer goes up by five
and Zac calls next.
Yeah, first killer, he has had enough
of playing in the blue half at all every time he gets a chance.
He is moving the ball out to the orange net
when Zac gets a save or not, or even if it's slightly off
target. That's where he wants to play the game right now. He wants to play it over there
and even when Zach gets a possession there to maybe carry before he lets Zach have even
a moment he says, nope, I'd rather dive. I'd rather dive or I'd rather keep this away.
Maybe I'll be able to steal the ball away as well. That's what it does. It gets himself
a goal. So this is snowballing a little bit per-first killer. And I see maybe isn't quite
dominating like he did before on the kickoffs, but he's able to play his game. He is forcing
the issue here, I mean, Zack.
Yeah, so, here is the note,
how much Zack's head is still in this is so brutal
to be losing games consecutively like this,
but also the manner in which he's losing.
You'll feel like he's just been watching Farskiller
for the most part in these games
and hoping that Farskiller makes mistakes,
which is not something you want to be relying on.
Farskiller is such a reliable player,
such a consistent player in 1v1.
I mean, it's been a pretty,
you know, I think a pretty good
display of what does make
first skillers so great. So
efficient, so consistent with
his touches so, uh, vast around
the pitch as well, even with
the newest generation of
mechanical ones players coming
up against him. It's they can't
keep up. He's just making
everybody look like they're a
gear below. Yeah, it's actually
ones because we see a lot of players playing a much more aerial focused game, a lot more
side wall air dribbles into resets, into those wave dash shots, and first killer is just
you know taking it straight down the center of the field.
Just boomer after boomer shot, chase you down, chase you down, wear you down, and eventually
get his goal.
We'll see if he can continue that on Neo Tokyo, Zack though.
So it sees First Killer coming, no surprise there, but this time Zac does get around the
ball. He's got to be on the lookout for these First Killer challenges. First Killer is going
to be sending it. It's going to work it for the past few games so I don't think there's
any chance that you're going to see him slowing down. First Killer jumping over the top of
the Zac to win the boost race. That's brutal for Zac. And First Killer convert on it though.
He actually likes to get the ball for free. He's shipped it over him. What a play!
Interesting. The first killer, as he was rolling his dribble up, he was keeping the ball near the back end of his car often times.
That could be the beginning of a pop-clump because you're appearing in your car to get out ahead of it and bump them.
But then he completely switched it up and does the pull-off, so he just lets it roll off to the back of Zack.
He's like, not fooled, takes it away.
It was totally calm in the moments.
Oh, what is he saying that actually a great save to keep it away from first killer almost every other save would have brought it into first killer control
Now it's Zach through the air this dribble down the ground. Oh first killer covers
You know Zach having my contact. He's got an open at though now
Wow reaching to the corner and taxiing in the other
Yeah, first killer a bit lost underneath the ball in the air
Did not expect Zach to play that one
Up for it's thought the fight was gonna be for boost but Zach just saw an open into score
It is good though to see that the first guy we've been watching, partly Jack and Rettles,
keyboard and mouse 1, P2s, he's the same mechanics that you do, just for the first guy we've
been playing, you want to hit them all back into them, I'd love to see it again, but it
didn't work for the first time, so I don't think we will.
Yeah, there is a time and place where just rolling the ball awkwardly at the back of
that defender can take advantage, but Zach's showing that he's not the opponent that Jack
The second reddles are playing in their keyboard mouse series.
First killer delayed this one, what we saved, but that first killer's back into a game that
likes to play, which is Zac playing at the defense at just speed.
I mean, that first hit got this one on target, and it will bounce in.
It's so annoying for Zac, because that has just been off target, which I'm sure he would
have loved.
He'd be on the ball, he'd have more time to waste, but instead it's first killer.
I'm slotting it. I'm just about the halfway line.
But I give credit where it's due, though.
Zack has improved his kickoff results.
And it's much harder to do that while you're playing than it is.
When we're watching, we can see both players' POVs.
We can see the trend.
Oh, the first skiller bustling in.
Back to back 50-50.
Once again, Zack's so close to defending this play.
He did do well.
Yeah, landed on the side wall, gave himself a chance, but the first killer made sure to stick around in case
the first attempt did not go through.
That's where the first killer will take this into his own back corner.
He's actually in his back corner, close to distance.
He saw that insane challenge all the way from his back corner to midfield.
He's not going to do that anymore. He's going to back off. First killer
mailing out of this aerial.
Look at this, see if he can't extend a little bit more.
He tried to position himself where the ball was headed, but he did not make contact.
Zax had a boom on the other way, and he's going to get a goal.
Well, first killer wanted Zach to shoot. We didn't want to shoot that well though.
What a finish. From distance. Into the far side of the net, first killer could not control it.
Before that, first killer was trying to be sneaky, looking for a, uh,
livery set fake into a demo on Zach. Zach didn't get hit by that one either.
He's definitely a tricky customer in ones, is Zach. Providing resistance, well, down
3 games to 2, he's lost 3 games in a row, but it really shows you that evolution Zach's made mentally to come back out of these circumstances.
And this is where Zach has looked so great, he hasn't been able to create these scenarios too often.
We have to be able to improvise and this time right after Zach gets the reset, he sees first killer coming to get him so he just lean back and throws the backflip to get it into the net.
Absolutely stunning stuff from Zach, so creative as well.
Half the game gone.
Biggest worry for me is that
Burst Killer's gonna get some strong
kickoff possessions to work with here.
So this three goal lead could evaporate
and it's already happening.
Zack, maybe underestimate what
Burst Killer could do with this one.
Didn't realize it was gonna be
the immediate goal threat,
but the fight was for the mid boost.
Zack needs to stop believing though.
Very tripping up, Zack gonna tap away.
First Killer is gonna instantly move the ball to try and take advantage of Zac, who is creeping in, Zac will make this save.
This is the game First Killer likes to play though, he feels good about forcing save after save against Zac and eventually getting his goalie to do an air triple bump.
We actually haven't seen that in this game, but Zac, able to save it, he's gonna shoot a long shot.
First Killer will be around and actually manages to get some boost as well and pass it to himself, Zac, just barely able to clear it away from him.
Oh, Zac gets the boost in the back corner. First Killer was trying to trip him up there, Zac.
refuses to let that happen. That is a big moment of the match.
Berskeler could have been back within it all, but instead it's still two.
Good defense by Berskeler. Gives it himself a counter attack in what shot that is.
Rips it right as Zack makes the move.
It was not the freest counter attack, but Zack on the other end
greeted out the last bit of his error dribble. He had a decision to either start
playing defense or see if he could get just a little bit more movement to try and
score. That's what he went with. That worsens his recovery ever so slightly.
The first killer you know still wasn't free. Zach's still getting around to maybe
make a save. The first killer does finish off the play though now up to the air. Zach
up to meet him. Trying to dunk it. And that was half. First killer hits a demo. They both
turned in on each other but first killer going faster gets the deletion.
Yeah Zach just said he didn't realize that was a threat in the moment. He saw
first killer was but he's thinking first killer is going to go for the boost maybe go for the ball
he forgot that the temp was the most dangerous thing to be looking out for first killer just
landed in a slightly better position the flip gave him supersonic and now he could move ahead
here with a strong kickoff he's got Zach backwards look for another bottom Zach dodges it did not
take the immediate shot but he's got a chance of the dribble just going to save the first try
Zach with the boost seal Zach continues but it's all for Zach to generate a shot here
He's going to try and pick up another one, first killer manages to get the 100 and dodge
the demo, get control of the dash and base for a moment.
It's Zach trying to take it away, and then the first killer slashes the back wall, and
that's going to allow Zach to easily control it, or at least control it easier than it
could have been.
First killer had a really great opportunity there.
Zach wall dashing back, it's not going to be enough, first killer makes a 6-5.
Yeah, even though the first killer just missed the open net initially, that touch, what's
that perfect outcome it was. Zack was trying to get the back corner boosted.
Back to his net bat. Did not expect First Killer to play it so perfectly into a
strikeable position. But Zack's won the race to the mid boost. The demo's available
before everybody gets it. Can he get this all on target quickly enough? First Killer's
gonna spawn on the way of him. Still, boosted advantage for Zack. The back
corner is spawning momentarily. Who's gonna get it? No one. The ball's gonna be an
Open play.
First killer is going to hit this.
This is what first killer wants to do.
He is so good at sniping these.
This is the freest thing ever.
So, see when he has six moves after this 50,
he has to reposition, pick up pads, and still fly.
The power shot to keep it away from Zach,
because Zach tries to cut off the angle.
First killer makes a seem like a foregone conclusion, though.
Huge moment now.
Zach, the layoff kickoff.
And what might be his final kickoff of is one-to-one tournament.
This one into the corner.
He needs to start moving the ball.
First killer is just chasing it down.
He knows every last touch he gets weighs an additional second and he's done enough.
First killer is going to win four straight in order to advance past Zach and into the semifinals.
Overall a great tournament for Zach.
I think he's looked like it's up for Claire.
He's looked like a good match for the DIs and first killer.
This is the tournament favorites, especially early in these series.
Unfortunately for him, some lack of experience in 1v1 showing.
It's an ugly head later on in these games.
It's a G-Strike to the late kickoff at the end there.
I think the kick here, the late kickoff
was delayed about two or three games too late,
in my opinion.
He should have been maybe doing that one a bit earlier,
but no credit to our sculler.
What a loss in that.
It's just like, yeah, it's winning course
straight against Zach.
Yeah, it's got to be no frustrating for it to happen.
That same exact way as Zach has a great start.
But this is just the start of our day.
We've got a lot more rockin' than one to one.
We've got the semifinals and finals coming up next.
Okay, if the plumber is fixing that burst pipe,
it should be all set.
Good thing you're protected 24-7 with your home and auto bundle from Progressive.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure out the right caption to post about this.
Maybe something like,
a half-protection just need a lifeguard.
What about that emoji with a shocked face?
Or maybe flooded with emotion.
That's too much.
Try, um, Tuesdays are crazy.
You know, technically, you don't have to post everything that happens online.
I totally believe you. Life is meaningless with an affirmation, am I right?
Part of the magic of Rocket League is the stories you can tell about it.
The zero-second buzzerbears that fix saves the underdog victories.
It's all there.
As we return to this legendary arena, we'll witness Rocket League's story unfold together.
Who will hang their team's banners in the Rafters of Champions field?
Start to find out.
It's better when we just talk, when we just talk, let's talk
Maybe you're not gonna love our language
I ain't got no time to sit there and play
And our life is better when we just talk, when we just talk
Let's talk about this
I know sometimes I can say the wrong thing You won't get away with a response, babe
You know life is better when we just talk When we just talk, let's talk
I
I just want to get to know
down to our top four here in North American. Zach, you know, man, two series in a row made
it look like he was it. He was going to take out the reigning grand finalists from the
last season, but after game two, both against Zach or both against Diaz and against first
killer here. Just got the favorites wake up here. First killer back through. He's got
to match up against Evo here fear and he's looking hot. Yeah. First killer is looking
like he's playing his game in those last four games. He's able to dictate what he wanted
to see. He's going to see maybe a similar ish player in Evo. Someone who's a little
bit more prepared in one be one, but first killer wants to be North America's representative.
I think if you look at the history of ones,
it'd be nice to see a little 1v1 champ tag for first killer.
He's deserved it over the course of the history of 1v1 play.
That's the whole goal there early on.
You can see getting frustrated by Zac.
But if there was frustration, it was gone by the later half
of the series because he started to play control.
I mean, it's Johnny.
Like, what was, well, it's just to talk about Zac here
as he makes his exit from the tournament in top six.
Like, what wasn't he's doing in these first two games
that both Diaz and first killer were struggling with?
I think that they both underestimated him a little bit because they didn't expect him to be so good in the midfield game, but yeah, Ferskiller had to make some adjustments, he had to start controlling it all a little bit more, realizing that Zach is countering him very well.
and just like wavy against AJ getting very physical as well.
Ferskiller was dominating the physical game, so he was able to find some weaknesses.
The kickoff also, you know, he found a weakness, the kickoff just kept prodding it,
and Zack, just like other players who are not as well versed in 1v1 over the years,
just didn't have enough backups to go to, and yeah, he's starting to get a bit frustrated.
Both players actually get frustrated at times.
On the camera, I think I saw Ferskiller, mouthing, oh my freaking goodness!
probably wrong, which is really impressive that Zack's able to get enough straight out.
And it is a testament to how strong the competition is here, the both players.
One player could even be winning this harshly and still feeling frustrated by their competition.
Zack, a fantastic improvement from his 20-25 performance he tweeted after the series ended
that he feels like he's obviously sold against Diaz and first killer,
but he's very proud of his performance this year overall.
He's looking forward to next year there.
He's first killer, advances here.
He has a match up with Evo,
which is a rematch from our 2025 semi finals.
First, let's take it down there.
Can he get it done again?
We'll have to wait and see
because it's time to get the reigning.
North American 1v1 champ on the field, Wavey.
Got work done early against his opponent today,
and now he's got Diaz in front of him, fear.
This is the big one.
Yeah, this is the big one.
This is the one that Wavey's gonna have
to change how he's been playing.
I think even when we talk to him in the interviews,
it's funny, he's been sharing the sentiments
that we've been talking about,
that he is not playing to the level
that he needs to against Diaz.
He says he'll bring the aerial game out
now that Diaz is his opponent.
It's time to actually prove that to be true.
Is Diaz singing?
Is he?
It looked like he was singing.
Maybe he's just trying to know you.
What do you think?
Cause he's vibing.
Can't tell.
One inch higher than you think he's singing.
But maybe, oh.
New camera angle.
This is a new camera angle.
That's just the way he's going to unlock his additional gameplay,
maybe unlock some more frames per second.
This is side-on, Steve.
Yeah.
I mean, not to dramatically overthink a camera movement,
but there's a chance that putting the camera off
to the side, he's not going to be like,
when it's over your monitor, right?
You know, if you're like, you can constantly see the camera.
There's maybe the back of your mind.
He's like, thinking about the broadcast.
Move it over to the side.
Just look at the game directly in front of you.
Maybe easier to forget your own RLCS.
just play the way you play ranked.
You know, the problem with this angle though,
it's a very like camera on the desk pointed up angle.
I'm not sure if I'm gonna get to see his emotes.
If he starts hitting some crazy emotes for the fans,
it's gonna be tougher to see them.
I'm not gonna get to see the full thing.
New emotes.
Now he's got this side on Evo repertoire ready to go.
So I think we might be seeing some new emotes there for Blavy.
If he has anything to Evo about anything to celebrate about.
It also looks like a much nicer camera,
which could be, could be.
I don't know a lot of there's a new technology now where you can use your phone as a web camera. So chance
It's not a different camera. It's just a separate camera that he can then pick up and move around imagine that
On a theory crafting and dreaming a man can dream chat. Okay, let's get into our predictions chat
Who do you think is gonna win? Is it gonna be Diaz does wavy cause the upside? Let us know fear when you go
To me based on what we've seen from wavy, you know historically
He's had a over the course of many many years early on in DS's career at a decent matchup
But maybe we see right now should not have a good matchup with Diaz. Diaz should absolutely
be winning this. He should be going to the finals. I have Diaz here. Okay, Johnny.
Yeah, similar sentiment. I think wavy, he used to cause Diaz problems then Diaz started
to dominate the matchup. And now in this tournament Diaz looks like he's on, you know, for him,
a pretty good level and wavy is not. He is yet to play his game all three days. He has
not looked like himself. So I, I don't think this is going to be close. A whole thing for
for wavy that is got to love wavy. Great personality. Great player, but he's got to step it up.
Getting it, getting the chat with wavy both today and yesterday. He's just one of the
most down to earth, real players. He does seem to have a very level head about himself
and his mentality of like, let's go out and let's have fun playing a video game, a novel
concept in eSports, but it did get him to this point. The tournament, I don't think
it takes it further though. We have had very few desk sweeps this weekend. Diaz just looks
on another level and has given us no reason to doubt him at any point. I have Diaz as
Well, we'll give him the full curse how many vertus pro fans have shown up here not enough to sway it away
From Diaz and the skill he has brought so far. This is clearly his match to lose does wavy
Finally bring out the aerial game. We've been talking about that. He's been promising us
He said this is the match you would do it in and if he does we might see him play for the title of North America
1v1 regional
Champion he would knock out the reigning champ to do it folks this Diaz play for it back to back does
Wavy get the opportunity to hold the trophy. Let's find out wait versus Diaz
Another opportunity here it is to play spoiler for wavy. He said he needs to be better
He needs to do more in the air. He needs to me for variable
He's got to be on his game to take down the reigning regional champion in Diaz game one
Brought to you by progressive as we kick off our first semi-final
Kicking off the first set in the final, of course,
you got stacks and Mr. Bates on the microphone.
And you got the desk with a complete sweep.
In favor of Diaz, he has already shown you why.
Opens up the score, and the four seconds
will have to kick off.
Diaz first strike, four seconds in.
Setting the tone.
Wavy knows he is in for a battle.
He's going to concede another one.
And it may be a very short-lived battle.
If Wavy is not able to control these kickoffs, these are the kickoffs where he was exceptional against AJ.
That's AJ with all due respect. This is Diaz, and it is going very different.
Exactly.
Right there already. Wavy has responded.
That's a kickoff go right back to this paper.
And the question for Wavy in this matchup in particular is
how aggressive are you going to be? How proactive are you going to be?
You need to be able to create your own chances.
We've seen Wavy against Ford.
We've seen him Wavy against Aging.
He got both wins.
I can't see they were the prettiest.
He was kind of just letting both of those players make mistakes.
And D-ass, he's not going to make many mistakes.
He's going to push the envelope.
Wavy is on you to respond.
All right, D-ass.
Talk about a player going to the air.
Put the back side of the phoenix.
Three-one lead as Wavy.
Adam lined up.
Good offense, beats good defense, as we've said many, many times here in the one's finals.
Here's Diaz again, Wavy at least have to beat him very quickly.
Diaz full take of boost, but Wavy on the ball, under the bar and back within one.
Oh, Swetley's backs, that's what I like to see, Wavy immediately. He just conceded.
Ten seconds ago Diaz brought up to the sky, got a reset goal.
This time Wavy jumped before Diaz even popped it up in the sky, got a great challenge, led to him getting possession.
And then he also just took a nice good flick right underneath the crossbar.
Those are the type of opportunities you want to see from Wavy. That's how it's going to be successful in this series.
Diaz thought about the corner first and said he'll just roll the ball to Waltix midfield.
That gives Wavy possession to the ceiling and Diaz is all over it.
And he's got it open net and a two goal lead again.
Man, I don't mind it. I don't mind it from Wavy.
It's a decent idea.
The execution was a little lackluster, but the idea was there.
He's going to be a little better, but even then,
it's even having to wear a thaw and a confidence to go for a play like that early on.
Test out DS and defense, also see how your aerial game is connecting in his day number one.
We haven't really been seeing much Wavy aerial game.
It bodes well for Wavy in the future.
Wavy, how'd it go?
Diaz cut him off again now wavy on the other side you'll get another habit and wavy back within one
But first you don't succeed keep on trying he just avoids Diaz contact
Back within one, but can he make any meaningful progress?
That's when the kickoff right there
It's so far stacked you talked about way to miss losing out in the kickoff
It's about 2-2 even, DS just has two goals his name.
Oh, wait, he booked DS, but he had the fans flip!
Oh, no!
He put the great pass in the chat!
Ha ha ha!
Oh, brother.
Well, it happens.
There's still, hey, you'd rather have it happen
with three and a half minutes to make up for it.
In game one, too, at that.
Yeah.
That wouldn't happen in game five or game six.
Oh, yeah, it's awesome.
I know the DS.
It's so fast.
It's a double whammy stash, yeah, he played it well.
He got the bump, he had a bad flip,
DS scored a open net, and then he gets hit
with a kickoff right after.
That's a three goal swing.
We're talking about a potential 4-4,
now it's 6-3 in DS's favor, and DS has the ball again.
Oh gosh, oh good, he saved, he saved it.
It's got to save, and more importantly,
onto the ball very quickly,
rolls that head of DS back within two.
Listen, Wavy played a lot of low-scoring games in his quarterfinal with Ajay.
Six was his upper limit.
He will need significantly more than that, considering Diaz is already there with still three minutes left,
and the scoring's not going to stop.
High off the back court, easy.
Clear by Wavy, but he won't have any boost to work with.
That's going to go just a little high, and Diaz opting to turn for the ball, not the boost.
Now, Wavy's got a full tank, so through this Diaz, Wavy out of the corner, he'll send Diaz all the way across.
That boost will spawn in a couple seconds here, as Wavy will go down to ground, he can't afford to wait along for it.
So Diaz goes right over top of Wavy, he got the midfield boost and it didn't matter.
He did, and the aggression is there from Wavy, but right here I think he's just trusting the fact that he's got a B.O. naturally that Diaz can't have that much boost.
So DS has limited options there.
You see that he's got a bringing in close.
50-50 would really wouldn't be that smart
because then now he could DS
and isolate a position with no momentum.
So DS is probably just going to toss the ball away.
Maybe he can just secure a boost in secure possession
if DS tosses that ball away,
but instead he opts to challenge.
DS gets a freebie right here.
And now maybe he has a lot of work to do.
Two minutes or so left.
Does get a good 50 right here, Stacks.
And now he's only down by two.
Love it when a 50 just goes directly or indirectly into the other net.
Unloved for Diaz, 2-14 to go.
He's seen his lead shrink to two again as Wavy delays on the straightaway kickoffs.
Diaz with possession, no boost, no problem.
He'll be able to bring it all the way back to his own corner.
And that's the biggest difference, I think.
One of many that Wavy is experiencing.
It doesn't matter how much boost his opponent has on the other side in this game.
He has control with so little.
There's a demo.
Olden boost from midfield, but Diaz is already back to the playoff.
That's a great 50 by Wavy to stay with the play and get within one.
Wavy's playing his best ball so far.
Closer to distance, gets the demo.
Diaz immediately challenges him early.
Wavy displays a low 50 hit.
That's easy for Wavy.
Easy, simple.
He's got to play wall to kick off.
OK, corner kick off, and it will fall to Wabey.
He has to play a shot through his own wall,
but boy, that's, or rather, towards Diaz's net.
I've got to pull it wide, OK?
Here's Diaz.
He'll go to work.
Listen, you can see this coming from a mile away.
Wabey, the save, trying to take a piece out of Diaz
when he'll run back.
And he quickly turned on this fall.
Diaz around Wabey, and a true goal lead again.
And Wave is gonna make sure he at least gets in there
to make sure Diaz doesn't burn a bunch of time off the clock.
I mean, it's like a boxer.
Just trying to keep somebody on the road.
You're trying to keep yourself within a bunch in range.
And that's what Wave's attempting right there.
But I mean, sometimes she's still
got to give you probably a little bit of great shit.
With Diaz, there's no reason to go
in a regional champion for a reason.
Wave would challenge that on way too far in the corner.
Diaz would just bring that ball right into the middle,
like he did.
And it should be easy going every single time.
And now, once again, all the work Wavy's done,
it might be no one fully keeps on doing more work.
And he does it right here.
Great save from Wavy, but he doesn't do more.
And the problem is, he's got to grab midfield boost
and then set up to do it again all the way up to the stealer.
What a read.
And he gets to this quickly.
Oh, he sailed it high.
And then Diaz, sending it even further off,
credited with the save.
Can Wavy turn on this one?
No, he cannot.
And Diaz was threatening to dribble back the other way.
He's still good.
It's just inside the dotted line.
Wavy grabs that corner boost, and he can turn on this
with 30 seconds left.
Not a lot of time to work with, but an eternity in once.
Wavy marching in, stays low again, and again staying low,
but this time it goes out neutral towards the side
for Diaz, who will win this in the air,
and he'll walk this into it up in that,
and we'll go next with nine seconds left.
That's right, Wavy put in the chat, N-E-X-T.
That's supposed to be next, but those of y'all do not know.
And I mean, Wavy had to try to challenge right there.
The clock was ticking, Diaz was just wasting time.
He also didn't fall for the 50-50
that Wavy attempted to do right at the end
of that last attack, so.
Great game from Diaz, not a bad game from Wavy, though.
I think, honestly, I know he lost.
If people are always confused saying,
well, he lost the game, Harkey plays best.
I think that was the best I've seen him play the whole weekend.
He was aggressive, he great his own chances,
and he was trying to just in general,
make it awkward for Diaz.
He had a couple of interesting challenges though,
within that aggressiveness though,
that gave Diaz a couple of empty necks,
a little bit of aggression in those,
a little bit more poise in some of those moments.
And I don't know, way too much that came out on top.
He gave up six goals to Diaz in the first couple of minutes,
held him to three goals in the final three.
And again, it's not how you start, it's how you finish,
or something like that.
The problem is Diaz finished exceptionally well
early on in the game.
So that's something that Wavy now has to kind of unpack
as we get into game two.
And I think you're right, though, base.
He did play.
The best game, certainly the best game
we've seen him play today.
That's right.
And while he loses by three goals here with nine seconds left,
he's also against the reigning regional champion.
You know, very much accepted number one player in the bracket.
It's also a little question,
it gives me a little cause to pause as well,
because I mean, I'm saying he played his best game,
but also it could be because he feels as if
for the first time on any of his opponents,
and that includes Boer, that includes AJ.
He feels that he's not walking into the natural best
of better players.
So he feels like he has to be more aggressive.
And I don't know, that might pay dividends for him,
Already he's going to reset going to goes off the crossbow. How's this for going to the air?
Wavy flip reset
Just across Diaz
Need more of that for waving. He's gonna pull off a stunning upset here in the semis
Quickly up for this
Kept it close getting the flip reset
Yeah, there's a little poking pressure there in the corner, but he will retreat from Diaz.
This is always an anchor.
He's going to the sky, and it's not going to work out.
Neither player able to stop their opponent in the air.
Yeah, once again, it's one of those wavy challenges.
He's suspected a lot from Diaz.
He thought Diaz would keep it close, so he immediately committed, right at the diagonal.
Approach back in that open ceiling.
He went horizontal.
Trying to close that distance but Diaz had no intention to keep the ball close himself and Diaz scores again.
Right off the kickoff. I gotta keep track of him. That's one for Diaz in this game.
And so far it's a lot for Diaz and not too many for Wavy.
Now they're dead straight on here for the fourth kickoff.
And it'll be Wavy going with the delay and Diaz just plowed right through.
He's gonna almost get another goal from it. Didn't miss by much. Catches a piece of Wavy shot.
This comes all the way back to the orange half and Wavy's not gonna get there in time as Diaz extends this lead.
That bumped it all there? Where did Wavy go? Oh, he tried to land!
He started, he started breaking this. If I rather put his four tires back on the pitch.
Wavy, you gotta put him back on full on. You gotta want to get back to that plate.
Good bump from Diaz, and also a good save as well to take Wavy's counter attack.
Right up high across high over the backcourt with speed.
Giving us a chance to then come and bump Wavy, but then once again Wavy right here stacks.
Low 50-50 on Diaz.
That's just that.
And so far Wavy's got at least two or three of these type of goals for Diaz jumps up early.
Wavy knows it's coming, gets a great low 50 and just puts it in.
talked about being variable but below 50 he's gotten them three goals already in
this very young series. It's got him back within one here in game two.
Quick turn on this but not quick enough as Diaz was all over him. Now they're gonna
race to the corner of Fuss and where Wavy won all of these races in the last
round. He's not gonna win many against Diaz who's got safety boost and
He's been blocked by Wavy. He's got plenty of juice in the tank to work with.
They both do as they, and as they're boosting exceptionally well.
He has, it looked like he's on base necessarily to score 11,000 goals as he did in game one,
but he will add one here if Wavy don't get there, and he does catch up.
Wavy got there just at a nick of time.
Now, yeah, there's Wavy once there. It's all it takes is about one minute flurry,
3 goals turns into 10 real quick, D.S. tries to go low.
He causes it to that because already D.S. is setting up the fact that he can't go for the reset.
Maybe...
Wavy doesn't jump.
D.S. is gonna bring it all the way back to the ground.
Do a nice Wavy dash just right here once again, two times in a row.
That almost gets a Wavy on Wavy, D.S. and that bounce just out!
D.S. would have been in trouble.
Wavy was paused over there at the corner boost.
Hopefully it was spawned, it was starting to.
But he had to abandon, right as that boost spawned behind him, left him nothing in the tank to challenge it, nearly stayed out, but only just.
Oh, Diaz, tough angle, can't convert. Maybe we'll still have some in the tank to work with, he'll throw this downfield, grab the midfield boost.
No boost concerns for either player as they work back towards neutral, it's Diaz on possession.
Yeah, trying to walk it right in and Wavy's having none of it.
Oh, but Diaz is still on the boost, and he's got a bump on Wavy.
He's just in the goal.
He's in the goal. Diaz is basically playing NASCAR out here.
He should drive around the pitch, taking all the boosts.
He went away, and he's off for positions.
Diaz got both, and he stopped this momentum in the air.
That's called taking contacts, Dex.
Oh, God!
That's what you're supposed to do.
You know, I know a guy.
Yeah, I know a guy who knows how to take contact with the low.
Here's Diaz. Again, looking for more. Maybe looking for an early knockout blow.
He'll turn on this. It's no wide open. 6-2 with 2-0-3 to go. Listen, there's still a lot of game left,
but Diaz is really opening up game two.
Staxon, you just had the jinx wait me didn't you?
Well, you know, he's only got three goals so far.
It's not looking like he's gonna put up a 10 or 11 there already. He's got six. He's got two minutes left to play
Hey, he has a
Minute sooner in game one
Takes the floor, you know
Maybe trying so hard to just get some type of possession, but he has to be in so bothersome
Every single time way he gets the ball he has to work
But even in this moment so much boost is utilized just to bring this ball back across the way because it well
Now, lands really quickly, immediately jumps back up with it to get speed, catch Diaz
on guard, and waiting for him out of nowhere, gets his third goal.
Ah, love that from Wavy, back with a 3, we're under the corner kickoffs, the square players
can really shine, he has, this faked him, have a go at Nett, why not, oh oh oh, go the
If it's good enough for first killer, it's certainly good enough for Diaz.
Oh man, that's a lovely shot right there. That's the beauty.
Diaz going on the right-hand side. Wavy's coming back down the midline.
Most people, they usually shoot that near post. Diaz opts for the bar post.
He likes waves and lets him against them. He's no way stretching back to get back to that point in that situation.
Good shot by him, but Diaz might have just made a mistake and he did.
And he did!
Kind of lost possession coming off the ceiling.
Wavy instantly capitalizes.
Still bound by three, but he's got a chance.
That may be a little overconfident,
if anybody could be such as it open the door just a little bit.
Wavy will have the midfield boost and possession.
But he's got Diaz with the full tank on the other side
and could serve quite a bit of boost
to turn around and make this save as well.
Diaz, back to the other way that Wavy
They'll bring it all the way back and play a more patient game now, and make Wavy come at him, who needs to with a three-goal deficit.
Pitch? God, he's nowhere near the mark. That was kind of the Hail Mary throw for Wavy. Here's Diaz trying to put him away.
But Wavy stays alive, throw down Field, he's ahead of Diaz with 35 seconds to go.
I've seen this before these players right here man. Yo, I don't know how to set a lease
Why he has gone from a month reset musty
Up by three
Yeah, is that confident?
Listen, we're about to come back enough. Don't don't bring him to Aaron. Don't bring him to Aaron
Alright, let's see what the wavey kid do right here. 30 seconds left. Hold on, I don't know what that was
Where is wavey going?
He's looking at empty
He left the ball.
Oh, he's so blind.
He turned away.
Wavy, I thought the new camera angle
was going to give you some new power,
but you're not even switching back.
Now I like the way you're going right there.
Still got a chance, though.
He has to make it happen right here, those stacks.
I tried to run ahead for the bump on Diaz.
And Diaz just stayed grounded.
Let him fly on by.
Going to be down to 13.
The pinch is wide.
That would have given him at least a glimmer of hope.
But Diaz will clear it away and take a two games
and un-lead here over Wavy.
Halfway to another 1v1 NA final.
Halfway and D. Wavy's typed NEXT in chat again.
You guys don't know that spell's next.
And we will not be playing the last two seconds of this game.
Diaz, thanks for getting number two.
You're very welcome.
You just have to educate the youth sometimes.
Y'all should practice that in chat.
NEXT means next.
It's something we only see in 1v1.
That's the only game where people have the opportunity,
the ability to go on to the next game.
Looking at stats, DS has 15 shots.
Maybe has seven, okay.
I don't know what DS is doing on the camera.
I think he's listening to music, he's bobbing out,
he's having a good time.
And also, we don't know where Wavy was going on the ankle.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
It was a head scratcher of a sequence for sure.
As you know again, maybe it was still very much alive, but
It's just the power of Diaz and
We're waving to his credit he battled back down three goals down four goals at one point
Certainly had his opportunities
Yeah, you and you can you can turn things around very quickly as we've touched on many many times
100% on the one scene
but
It can also start to pile up big time, you know having those those stretches where
You know, you're pushing a little harder to get back into a game
And then you haven't pulled away from me at the end that also has to be exhausting mentally as
No, maybe Diaz is texting Zach
He's out. He's gonna just been maybe they just been texting back and forth their entire runs
Well Zach's run ended his last match
Yeah, awesome. Here's Zach, this is how you do it.
Uh-uh, whoa, is it? You mentioned Zach, was Zach was up 2-0 in the series?
Yeah, first kill he came out hot.
Oh, oh, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, it's not looking good early.
The S was another kickoff right here, Stax.
It's the flick, maybe he should be equal to this.
And he just messes up his flick.
He wanted to put it over the crossbar and he kissed it like he needed to.
and he put him to his own neck.
All that unlucky. Good to get it back here though.
He does. Wavy ties the game very quickly, just ahead of Diaz.
It's a great recovery here. He ends up vertical, still able to slam his front down,
get a little forward momentum, dive ahead, high up the game.
of a difficult kickoff.
Diaz looking to do the same for the Wave Dash and Wavy.
More importantly than making it a save,
got it outside the post as well.
Oh, but Diaz just dumps him in reverse.
He's a Wavy, you're just simply too readable.
You gotta switch something up.
Diaz boosts away, hits the brakes.
Expecting, gets on the inside of Wavy,
said expecting Wavy to hit it onto the midfield.
Diaz back flips and puts it right in,
and puts it right in, and the DS with another kickoff right here is the pressure coming.
But the ball does bounce away, gives Wavy a little bit of a breeze.
The DS isn't done this yet, oh wait he might just be though, he messed up his recovery.
Wavy gets some freebies.
Look at that.
How much boost did DS, so he's on 95 when he gets that much.
He burns 50 boosts to go exactly nowhere, as he could not get any momentum forward at all,
and Wavy counters.
One of the ones that's interesting game, I'll tell you that much.
Oh, the way he's got to switch the kickoff.
I can't get my perspective right now, but in looking at this on the right side of
the ball right there, but he has been equal to that every single time he
always gets possession.
That's a blade from wavy, more so goal side.
Something in all those lines, just give wavy a chance because every single time
they're a little offset straight up kickoff.
He asked if he wanted basically 100% of the time, and that's what would be in a bad position
Maybe to the ground and then Diaz just lets it go right on
as he just drops this high bouncer
Poor way, but he never had a chance
Oh, oh gosh, and he set it up so well last game
Last game he actually didn't go for the paint. He went for the pop into
Play winning, use lost the ball, and pop it off the wave dash.
And they end up working out for him.
And this time he goes to the fake.
It's off off the center.
But it doesn't matter though.
Every single time DS does something to have really good,
Wavy gets another freebie again.
This is fantastic.
You don't see it off the replay.
Wavy going deep into his own goal, coming up the side wall
of the inside of the goal to make the save
and the quick counter.
It's a long range strike.
Beautifully done.
But again, all this effort that we see out of Wavy, it's just to get back within two.
Just to get back within one.
If he can get a lead in the middle to late stages on Diaz as he goes down by two again,
Diaz just throw one away from midfield and it happens to bounce home.
Yeah, Wavy kind of gave it to him.
Kind of similar along the lines earlier in this game where Diaz tried to pop the ball
the ball and instantly recover.
Wavy tried to do the same, but the ball just got too far away,
gave it to Diaz just enough time to get back to Diaz.
They missed the boost right here.
He's going to have to scramble.
He does.
Saved Wavy's shot, and now Wavy once again
kind of kicked it Diaz to the ball.
He doesn't have the boost advantage those stacks,
but it might be dangerous.
Oh, great touch by Wavy, making the stop on a low boost Diaz,
recognizing that he doesn't have anything in the tank
to recover where then that touch just ahead of Diaz gets him back within one.
They kick off right here once again all set.
Pick off Diaz is one American time waving and trying to change it up.
They're right there trying to just get a more of a wave that's tick off.
And actually that's favorite way to be a little bit because I was right by Diaz
could have opened that if he gets the power he does way with the adjustments
off the kickoff.
What's the main position where he is the instantly using the momentum of the wave
Get the mid boost, he's back into the blade, this possesses Diaz, and then instantly scores off it.
The only type of adjustment you'd love to see.
They had to score quickly because Diaz didn't miss by much.
Wavy's bought himself time to grab the corner.
Boost ends just got a piece of that offering from Diaz.
He'll spawn behind Wavy as he makes his 4-8-1 field.
He's got something in the tank.
He'll have to back off.
Here goes Diaz.
right at the net. This time it has to work out as Wavy's got to save. And more importantly,
as he bumped himself down to grab the midfield boost on, Diaz started going for it. So Wavy will
have to settle for his own. And there's Diaz time and space, and Wavy still manages to shut him down.
What does he have up his sleeve? Do the heavens! A round Diaz, but off the crossbar!
Not done just yet though. Stacks Wavy has.
Man, a really good last 15 seconds.
It doesn't matter though, Kay's died.
Oh man, he was playing so well too.
You kind of want to see the aerial goal go in.
Off the reset, hit the crossbar.
And this Diaz just gets a demo.
Man, it opens it up, changes.
He's back to lead.
Now Onus is back on Wavy to make something happen, yet again.
That's one of the longer stretches we've seen
with Diaz not getting on the scoreboard as Wavy
Wavy just slips one under him, and we're level again.
It's a lovely play from Wavy right here.
Jumps up early while Diaz is in the face of him.
So Diaz hears the audio.
His audio cue.
He knows Wavy's up.
He's anticipating the instant shot.
Wavy says, no, sir.
I'm bringing it back down to the ground.
His kiss is right underneath his car.
But once again, Diaz wins the kickoff.
Did nobody watch Tamina won me one yesterday?
I like, I just watched TRK and Nubon
go for the front flip kickoff every single time and it was very effective.
I would love to see Wavy or even Diaz try to incorporate that game.
Just seeing the fishing, nobody was necessarily dominating.
What's currently happening, Wavy is just losing on these kickoffs,
anything that's straight up. He's in struggle every single time.
Wavy only burned about 30 boosts on a drive towards the net that didn't
mount anything from Diaz, but then he wins this ball. Wavy must not have
No, he had a split for something, he did it.
Because he just sat under and watched him go, huh, plus he did it.
That's perfect timing for him, Diaz.
We're talking Elizabeth in milliseconds.
On that flip, on that flip left for Diaz right there.
He held that to the very last second.
Ain't got the job done.
That's a beautiful play.
Wavy shots get a kick off go right here.
Won't convert.
Close it in.
Only a minute 30 left in his game stacks.
And now Diaz has full control, full possession.
and it's all Wavy, he's got to make something happen.
Nine has been the magic number for Diaz so far in this series.
Nine-six, nine-five, before Wavy has called the go next.
Still a minute plus, he's on the verge of his ninth goal here,
but Wavy, I couldn't catch that, he'll have to wait patiently.
Diaz, the order of attack, makes the save.
And then Wavy just trying to stall out Diaz a little bit more, but it's not going to work
out.
Diaz got the clear, he got spun out.
The Wavy, chance to take advantage of that.
Diaz trying to live off Pennies, Wavy forces it through with the flip resets.
What a play from Wavy.
Stalled out Diaz, so Diaz can get the boost, Diaz is working the small pads.
Maybe it was even a tough position initially to start the air dribble.
Still got the reset. Still goes right on DS.
Only down 5-1 now.
Maybe with a never-say-time mentality.
Oh, he had DS rather than DS still able to go underneath
and at his ninth goal.
Maybe he's got to have the courage of his convictions right here. You've read him.
You pre-jumped him. You knew he was going high.
Play the ball! He got scared big way through.
It's a moment of some doubt.
Hey DS, no way to go low.
Went low, is it enough? No, DS the same.
Can he do it again? No he can't!
Wavy back with it one again!
Good shot right there from Wavy.
Splitting on target right there, that's the difference,
because last game Wavy put it too high.
And then he couldn't follow.
When you put it actually underneath the crossbar, the player has to respect it.
Right basic kickoff. Can I get a frontflip kickoff? No, no frontflip kickoff.
Wavy kind of got delayed and a little bit of weight.
I wanted to save some boost. That's boy, that is playing with fire and Diaz burned him.
Ah, the kickoffs have not been in Wavy's favor. He even tried to go around him right here and then
look for a fault Diaz dodged it. Right over Wavy's head. The aggro kickoff now.
This way we have the sleeve here to try to make something happen. Diaz is going for a standard
and wave dash kickoff, push up in position.
And now it's all on wavy.
He's got to make it happen right here, right now.
Get him to put three sets to set things up.
He sure can.
Oh, but he couldn't carry that through.
Drop the combo and Diaz up three.
Man, man, man, man, man.
It's the kickoffs, it's the kickoffs, kickoffs.
He's losing so many of them.
That was his best game again.
We've had a great game.
He's losing too many kickoffs.
He's giving DS too much possession.
And every single time he generates
this some level of attack, he made it.
It wasn't eight, seven, or nine, eight.
DS instantly scores, he can't round up the kickoff.
It's every single time.
Maybe he's got to find a way to just neutralize DS and kickoff.
He gave himself a chance to be competitive in that series.
If not, he can't win the kickoff in one.
She is thankful to win the series.
Wavy has not led past any kind of early side.
He might not have led at any point.
I think he led in game two.
Very, very briefly.
But he has been looking up at Diaz constantly in the series.
And now he is looking way up a mountain down 3-0
to the region's 1v1 representative from a year ago,
Looking to run it back to worlds.
If you're what Diaz is, he's got to be singing something.
He is full vibes.
Regardless, as we go to Utopia
for game four, will it be a sweep in our first semi-final?
Let's find out.
Diaz wants to kick off again on that off-stack kickoff.
Here we go.
Right back to what Diaz likes.
He goes for a one reset, brings it back low.
Wavey misses on the ball, Diaz is gonna be able to score.
Nine seconds in, Diaz gets kick off control.
Wiz possession, Wavey has the challenge.
He has to respect every single thing Diaz is doing.
Diaz says, actually, I don't even need to shoot.
Option not to.
Waze for Wavey to make a misplay.
Diaz hopes.
It's been a rinse and repeat all series.
I mean, Wavey was just expecting Diaz
to finally use his flip.
And all Diaz did was bring it down to ground.
Wavy goes right on by and then Wavy ends up on Diaz's back wall. Diaz will go into his net,
two nil, over 20 seconds in. Wavy trying to get aggressive, way too aggressive right there.
That's not necessarily a one-challenge. He's up into Diaz's corner chasing him up the back wall.
If you're chasing somebody up the back wall with no teammate, that means that's wide open.
That's just simple logic. Wavy putting off her position right there and now Diaz
He's just once again taking his time bringing all the way back to the corner and here we go
We're getting back corner bearing in early 30 seconds into the game stacks
There's no shock block
He has though drops it maybe couldn't catch
Have the midfield boost if Diaz a look and then Diaz is all right looking what I can do
Gotta go over top of wavy, but he's there to meet him. That's what he should have done
That one faithful challenge late in game three.
Got the demo here on Diaz.
And he'll finally get on the board.
Diaz with an air of touch right here, trying to get back in.
Then accidentally kept the ball in the play for Wavy.
And in doing that, then he had to try to get back to the ball.
And he ran into Wavy in the process.
So unfortunately for Diaz, great for Wavy.
Maybe it's fair to carry around that ball and that kick goal
just to push it right there on the Diaz aside.
Secured a mid-boost
Hope these players still try to fill each other out. I can't say wavy's not out this series
He just takes a couple of breaks, but he's got to be perfect here on out
No way we playing a little bit differently too is he just ranges across with the same feet the ass of the boots
But it doesn't matter. He'll just come back with the funny
He has again wavy to the ceiling of the goal to make the inside out save and looking for the midfield boost
It'll spark for him and it means he can fresher Diaz who has boost himself
Another turn for wavy, but he's gonna lose possession and it looks like
It's kind of throw right on by that Diaz wins this and he'll win another goal
He is going to win another goal. Diaz just wasting every single second now. He says he wants out of the series
This was done in Dusty. I don't know why Wavy was in the corner being that aggressive with that little amount of boost in his tank
The moment he loses a 50 or any type of challenge he's just stuck in the corner. He's never going to get back.
Maybe he thought he has an half boost? I don't know. Maybe that's when this guy comes right in.
Maybe he's going to get back though.
Listen, DS is out of the woodwork just yet. He should close his distance, he does.
Anybody can get a goal out of it. Nope, shoot that high.
What was that? Wavy, he's going to bring it back. This is going to win. He might have an angle.
Oh, no way. Nope.
Nope, very nearly, but he certainly laid the foundation for Wavy to get back in and Diaz still the same.
He's got a very quickly out of the goal he does from the ceiling and now Diaz quickly on and Wavy out to the corner.
Very bizarre exchange for both players and a longer rally than usual as Diaz patiently waiting.
maybe the flick trying to go over Diaz had already retreated and maybe wins that
corner boost but Diaz undeterred and that's the thing I guess a lot of
players they lose that corner boost race you know they're gonna back off Diaz
goes right at you and maybe recognizes that maybe she's gonna try and slow
play and Diaz is not giving them any time for it. This is comical. This is a man who is a man brought to fall back all the way to go cross-map.
Oh, it's just as- Oh, what'd I say?
You better save that way, but don't let him disrespect you like that.
Give me disrespect. It's a smart play.
He just said, oh, he needs players to knit at the time more than what they do.
Oh, he's disrespecting him.
No, it's not the fact that he brought him to the corner.
It's the fact that he didn't know that he'd bring him to the corner.
He went for a cross-map, and...
Oh, what'd I say again?
Wave, he's doing so much, but it doesn't seem like it's gonna be enough right here.
No, no, no, no, he's not catching up to it.
Oh, wait, he's not catching up to it, he's catching up to that.
What's in the top?
What's the game?
I'm watching.
Did he almost?
No, no, he didn't.
Here goes Wavy again.
That means somebody's just going,
this game may end in 3-1.
Oh, Wavy!
That's what you like to see from Wavy!
Your life's in his momentum,
He comes up the ceiling, musty, double tap right into your neck!
Diaz puts out a nice one, and Wavy with some momentum.
He did tell Wavy, he's bringing out the aerial game.
Maybe he's coming out of Utopia.
He's gonna need to see a little bit more though.
Stop the kickoff!
And he does! Wavy slams the goal!
Wavy's done a real good job of preserving boost off the kickoff
so he can make plays like that, but then Diaz,
arrows through him in the air.
It's the kickoff, man.
at all stars with the kickoff. Wavy has to protect the first DS shot.
He saves it but he has no boost after that. DS is already taking the corner.
This Wavy half here on this kickoff is just gonna roll out once again.
Trying to do it with another one. Wavy has the first pass.
Gonna be a great try. Probably hit it will be.
Two straight kickoff goals in a row for DS and that has been the story of the series.
Wavy gets some type of momentum. He scores some type of goal and Diaz instantly responds for the kickoff goal.
Diaz very quickly over to the side where the ball went. He grabbed that midfield boost. Diaz, if he's going to come for a rather wavy, if he's going to come back,
he needs to go all the way back to his own end and try to stop this from Diaz. He has done so.
Maybe he's trying to fake that he doesn't have much boost to the bank trying to take Diaz in
All in the musty goes right at him the follow-off the post and
Nothing behind that last shot from wavy and that might have been the last gas Diaz
for the knockout blow
Six two and Diaz to the finals
GG's when wavy in the chat GG's when Diaz
Think that's me. He's done with the series
He's an ex-limation mark from DS.
We haven't even really seen him be successful.
With his cross-map air, Eric Drupal's won that thing.
He's patented.
As you see, he's just bopping to his beers.
He's having a good time.
He was bopping whole entire series.
He was comfortable.
He's a great series from DS.
He moves on right back to a place
that he's already known, a place he's won.
DNA 1v1 Grand Final.
He wins the 1RD1 versus 1st Killer.
Wavy, I mean, he had a, I can't say,
he had the best, the greatest series.
But he did have a really good series.
It's just that it simply came down to the kickoffs.
The kickoffs just really put him in a bad spot
a lot of the time and that was Diaz's ability
to just keep faking out into air stacks.
I mean, it's just tough to overcome.
There are two ways to look at 1B1s.
There is the approach of, oh, it's just kickoffs.
And then there's the approach of, yeah, it's kickoffs.
It was the difference for Diaz.
They were that much better.
Who will face Diaz for the title of 1B1 NA champion?
We'll find out right after this.
Keith, I want to try and experiment.
All right.
To help you un-become your parents,
I want you to try a game called Rocket League.
Ooh, is it a puzzle like my crossword?
No, picture soccer.
OK.
With a car.
What do I hang my feet outside the window?
No, not your car.
But you said think of it.
It's a video game.
Oh, OK, I get it.
Where's the cartridge?
No, it's an online thing.
Is there a joystick?
Not like the ones you're thinking of.
But I need to get some quarters, right?
No.
I got to blow in the cartridge.
Again, like no cartridge, but you'll need a username.
Username, huh?
How about keith underscore 9914?
The bathroom code?
That's the only number I can count on.
Remember, easily so.
Every day, Michelin innovates to move the world forward on the road and far beyond.
Michelin, Motion for Life.
That's your start to build up.
Oh!
Clean the bump, but see the end!
Oh, no!
Just in my eyes a little bit of finish.
Oh, what a gamble.
Oh, he's dizzy.
Downfield down to Jack.
Open net, he is not there.
Big shot, pass, oh!
A play, not over, 0 seconds.
It's too late.
On the ground, army forwards.
That is how you take an opportunity, real ass.
No jigsaw, take out the latch, open the door.
I
The magic of the broccoli is the stories you can tell about it.
The zero second buzzer gears, the epic saves, the underdog victories, it's all there.
As we return to this legendary arena,
we'll witness Rocket League's story unfold together.
We will hang their team's banners
in the Rafter's Champions field.
Let's start to find out.
He's dropped two games in the bracket and he is one win away from being back-to-back
North American 1v1 regional champion Diaz takes care of Wavy and Thor outscoring him.
It was a 13 gold margin by up by three every single game there. Sir. Congratulations. You've made it back to the finals
I gotta I gotta ask where you were you were you singing like the whole match? Are you listening to music while you play?
Are you talking to somebody? Yeah?
What what do you listen to what what keeps you in the zone some Spanish songs and Mara five
five. Okay. Okay. That's a blend
five Spanish songs. I love
that though. That's cool. Here
in the people. Do you not? Do
you have to listen to the game
sound is like, is it not more
important than ones to be able
to hear like when the opponent
is boosting or in the air or
is like you do play with the
game on mute? Uh I listen to
game sound, but like that
doesn't affect it as much
because right in ones, you
know where that the opponent
most of the time.
Gotcha.
OK, well, you completed an already incredible accomplishment
of making it back to the 1v1 Grand Finals two years in a row
trying to defend your title here.
Has the competition this year felt different than last year at all?
Has it been more difficult here in 2026?
Has the competition improved?
I think it's still the same.
In North America, no one grinds once as much into you.
So I think it's the same thing as last year.
Well, so far it looks like we're
about to get a rematch if FK can get through EVO.
That's the only match left before the grand finals.
Who do you think's got it?
Do you think FK is going to be there again?
Yeah, FK going to be there again, I think so.
All righty.
Well, I will not take up any more of your time.
Congratulations on the win.
Good luck in the grand finals, sir.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Diaz going to be playing for the title of champion again.
Who will his opponent be?
We'll find out here in a moment, gentlemen,
but Johnny Boyd, you made that one look easy.
Yeah, he really did.
I mean, we kind of worried about Wavy's level
throughout the weekend.
He's just not been able to click.
He's not been able to perform at the level
we know he needs to if he's gonna contend for this tournament.
And yeah, he, I think for a moment in game one,
looked like he might be gaming.
And then it all fell apart.
Diaz is still just a different level.
You know, Wavy did pick it up, I think, in that series.
He wouldn't have known it from watching how the series ended with a 6-2 to Diaz.
But, you know, to get the same offensive output that he had against AJ,
against a much, much tougher opponent here in Diaz, I think speaks to how Wavy, you know, did kind of bring his A-game.
It's just not enough against somebody, the caliber of Diaz and, you know,
the guy knew he was a huge underdog going in.
I don't think he put a lot of pressure on himself at all.
And he played like it for the better part of three games.
Wavey makes it to the top four.
We've only had two 1v1 tournaments here in RLCS for North America so far,
but that is his best result ever.
And it is very difficult to not give him the respect he's due,
make it to a top four in a dominant region like this.
impressive performance, but that is the end of his tournament and we are one match away Johnny from a rematch of last year the more things change the more these players develop the more sometimes it seems like it just stays the same first killer one match away from having his revenge tour here and the possibility of getting the run back on the
Yes. Yeah. And you know, in this case, staying the same is impressive because first killer has been this same dominant force in North America for such a long time, which is it's so hard to do.
The thing we can understand how impressive it is that you still able to do this and by dominating so many mechanical players as much as he does.
does, but yeah, EVO also still very consistent throughout the tournament.
He is coming from the upper bracket again, just like he did last year.
First killer coming from the lower bracket, just like he did last year.
So it really is very, very similar that we've landed on this in the semi-final.
Yeah, let's get into it, folks.
And you're talking about the path they went through to get to this point.
They played each other at this point in the tournament in 2025.
First killer obviously coming out on top as he made it to the grand finals.
Can Evo change history here, Stax?
It was a 4-1 last time in favor of first killer.
Evo's gonna be trying to get those four games
this time around in 20-26.
Yeah, it's, well, you look at the path
that Evo has had to get here,
and this is, I think, by far, the biggest step up.
At least last year, at some point during the tournament,
he had to go through first killer.
He beat him in the group stage last year
to reach this point,
and then first killer cut his revenge.
Here it's been like, you know,
Mech, Kofa and Bora in the Swiss.
It's been Porky and Zap in the groups.
It's been AJ and he did sweep AJ,
which, you know, the way AJ was playing,
I think is a great win for Evo.
But this is the point where we're really gonna see
what Evo is made of here in the semifinals.
Oh, this camera angle, looking at the left ear there of Evo.
left eye is also made the frame, including his goatee as well. A little bit of the left side of
his mind. I mean, he's not got the whole face in there, but in fact, as he leans out, we've almost
got none of his facial features. He might need to work on the positioning there of the camera,
but in game usually no issues with positioning for this guy.
He does a very solid positioning. According to the stats trackers, we have, these two players
I've played at least one time before on the season here
related in recent history.
It was a five-one, though, in favor of first-killer.
So a lot of history looks like first-killer
is the clear favorite.
We've seen that so far today, the favorites
have been winning.
It'd be kind of a boring daystacks
if the favorites won the whole way down, right?
So that must mean that Evo's got this, right?
Since we love one-word answers around here.
No, I learned my lesson, don't guess we're skillets.
I think this is gonna be a good series, but I have to respect first killers earlier performances in the tournament, even though he's coming through the lower bracket, he was coming through the upper bracket.
Simply the fact that first killer took evil to game five or not. So you know, even Diaz to game five in the groups makes me think that he is on that similar level as Diaz.
even though he's coming through the lower bracket,
Evo's coming through the upper bracket.
Simply the fact that first killer took Evo to game five,
or no sorry, Evo Diaz to game five in the groups,
makes me think that he is on that similar level as Diaz.
And if he's on Diaz level,
he's gonna be in the grand final against him.
So I'm the same, I'm predicting a rematch
for all in the last year's final.
I think that there was gonna be an upset today.
It was gonna be in the match previous to this one.
Zach was able to look at those first two games
up on first killer.
The fact that first killer locked that series down
to get to this point does not spell well for Evo.
It's gonna be an uphill battle. I do have first killer here, but Evo has earned an opportunity again to get a rematch
Against the player that knocked him out of the tournament last year and he'll be trying to make that grand finals this time around
We've got him fully supported on the desk chat has first killer here as well 81% one of the highest percentages
We've seen in the tournament. It's time to find out who's taken on Diaz in the grand finals here
The title of 1v1 North American regional champion hangs in the ballots and only three players remain in the competition
Only two will get the opportunity to play for it. Will it be Evo or first-killer? Let's find out
Okay, a complete sweep from the desk or one the greatest 1v1 player in all CS in North American history
3 aka first killer and that's what is backing them the question is can the new guard the young garden evil the person
He played the last year's semi-final. Can he get the job done? That's fine now game one brought to you by progressive
Is your boy Bates is your man fear and it's even on first killer gone neck and neck against one another
Yeah, we'll see if evil can get over the big brother complex that first killer has on all of North America
first killer is even looking back at Evo and slowly walking this one in to just
really rub in the fact that Evo is gonna make the first mistake of this
series he actually had first possession there not able to hold on to it ends up
diving past first killer he's trying to play quickly he'll need to play quickly
but he needs to stay within his limits if he wants to stand a chance
he will he will and listen I don't want to ask you a question because you know we
We have me and Stax with the cast last game and whatever that is, what I would say is on
as educated on the kickoff intricacies that you and Johnny need, Johnny are.
Whoa, whoa!
Why are you trying to say that he's still on the kickoff because I saw a lot of things
last series and I kept...
Why some adjustments from Wade, but it just never happened.
Well, interestingly, we got an interview with Evo earlier in the tournament and what he
said about the kickoffs was he doesn't think about them, so I mean, it doesn't mean that
he isn't adjusting naturally like the reality is he's such a good player that he probably is just
noticing trends without maybe actively thinking about it so i'm not sure we're gonna see tons
of different mix-ups though from evo's end first killer's had a really solid kickoff he's gonna get
a demo and should be able to convert that evo even picking his respawn doesn't save him it's two zero
so i mean we'll see as we get going we'll have to keep in mind that evo says he doesn't think at all
See if he actually adjusts in any way. This is a dynamic slightly delay intentionally, but he loses it horribly
Yeah, and almost went very bad for him to look like a old school 2017 scrub killer kickoff right off there
I'm sorry wall straight to your neck
When the greatest kickoff is one more scene has ever seen
Honestly, the thing that made kind of put ones on the map as first killer kind of gets hit by
but Evo and Evo just props him into the net.
Evo scores his first goal of the series.
Yeah, Pruskiller, big, really, up high on the back wall
of Evo, trying to get an interception.
You have to be sure that you're either getting the ball
or the car.
When you go up that high, because we get neither,
you can bet that the opposition is going to be taking it
all the way to your net.
Pruskiller, seeing the early big challenge,
does try and flick with the top of it.
Evo's going to back off.
And Pruskiller, a soft flick.
We've seen tons of power shots from him earlier that have a ton of strength.
His split game hasn't shown nearly as much power,
but he's got Evo on the wrong side of the ball right now.
He has to swing his way back around.
He actually manages to do so.
No boost for either, but Evo an opportunity to make a quick play.
I'm actually surprised that he rotated so far out.
It seems like he couldn't force the issue more and maybe prevent
him from getting his wheels set in defense.
But because he allowed that, now First Killer chasing him down
and might be able to break up his play.
Yeah, and this is one of the few matchups, at least in North America.
You let me know that by it's a beaver first killer might not be the fast person on the pitch
Evo is constantly zoom and he's constantly playing Mach 90 who was such pace
Trying to make it awkward for his opponents and he saw that yesterday against AJ
He just kept going and going and going didn't leave any opportunities
The first killer I think this is the experience he's gained over his years in all CS
You can see he can see just playing like a little net Evo. He's just gonna follow right by you
Yeah, it's Gore for Ebi!
Yeah, you know, first killer, he's got speed and efficiency.
He makes it effective.
Ebo right now is matching the speed like he talked about,
but he's getting exposed on these little pumps.
This killer season coming, a little demo.
It's a nice touch to himself.
Wait, he missed this! He missed this!
That was an open opportunity.
He had a little wave dash turnaround.
Just needed to get it on that right side of that.
You did not make contact.
Ebo's gonna pop it over the top.
No, Ebo's gonna get a goal the same way.
Two goal swing right there.
The first killer on that low pop with the back side of the finnig, he set up so well, it's so tough.
He even put the ball, honestly, in a quick scoring position, especially with the kick, with the spawn in, the demo spawn in, update.
He did everything he needed to do, but put the ball away, and then he challenged Evo with no boost.
And rather than it being 4-1, it's 3-2.
That huge swing, Evo will pass himself off the back, while the first killer is there trying to stop him from getting possession.
First Killer is gonna back off an interesting decision from Evo to just shoot it out towards him because if you're gonna have a defender back off you can slow that play down.
Touch me and maybe control the wall. He does tip this around. First Killer promised he doesn't have any boost to work with so First Killer is gonna be able to get the possession.
And now headed to the air. Evo's gonna meet him there, floating up behind. Nice coverage of every opportunity for First Killer.
First Killer thinking about setting up another play. Got to the midfield boost too soon. You might have wanted a hundred.
We didn't get it. It goes down to the ground. Now a little bump on the Evo doesn't get the power shot off this to score
This lob should be saved by Evo
Should be, but then Evo kind of just gives the ball right back away
And a missed opportunity right there for Evo. Could have possessed it. Nice guy bought a first killer demo and Evo won't Evo
Bought like a shooting duck and it all starts with Evo on a very simple pop shot from first killer
So he's got to float it at the net.
First killer's here, take possession.
I'm going to go back and get boost.
Evo said, no, you can have the boost in the ball.
And it set him up to be in a not promising position.
Yeah, I don't know.
I have to agree with you.
What was he thinking then?
First killer cutting off his kickoff opportunity.
Now in control of all, Evo's not going to let him get with that.
And first killer's hanging out not high above the ball.
He's not going to be able to protect it.
So Evo turned in.
Now here's these long shots that first killer loves.
He wants to get defenders back, stuck in net.
Evo is going to be able to pick up this boost.
And the scorer might be forced to leave here
because he popped it up so high
that he could end up favoring the higher base player.
Evo though, not the best flick to get out of his half,
but a power shot from first killer on the side wall.
It is imminent.
He does miss this one.
Evo controls it though.
Even with only a pad to work with,
he's able to back first killer off a nice flick from Evo.
He's got a chance here in this game, number one.
He sure does.
And that's the second time in this game.
He's caught first killer out in the midfield,
turning, trying to make a challenge happen.
Honestly, first killer, interesting decision
he was going to make in that challenge,
was he trying to turn way dash and get back to the ball
all with no momentum?
That didn't seem that promising for him.
A very questionable challenge for a person who's
challenged him, but usually it's one of the best,
if not the best in the game.
Now he's out of position again.
Can Evo do any of this?
He cannot.
He's got a lot more to do.
Only 20 seconds left.
First kill to try to switch the field. Side flip from Evo is going to keep this in the blue half.
First killer will be back to it first.
He can't really control the ball and get the 100 moves.
Evo doesn't really have time to fully leave the play like he maybe would earlier
because he had the opportunity to bring that all the way to his back wall.
Now he's going to have to do something in the air at 0 seconds.
He might be able to get into this, but first killer taps it away.
Wait a second chance for Evo. Flick on the top. This one's still floating in the air.
First killer gets just enough on 50 to get to the ground.
Wait, first killer's keeping it up!
First killer's keeping up just to rub it in.
He's gonna bring it all the way to the side of the field.
He couldn't just let it hit ground,
but now it's a two goal win for first killer.
I mean, I'm just loving first killer's tape.
Whatever he's out here has to lead.
He is not pulling any of these mistakes
that you see some of these young players make.
In the 2v2s, there's the games,
I believe him to a time for the plan
where he just immediately started wasting the clock.
In the ones you already saw yesterday,
it gets the Pato's where he's at there
for a whole minute with the ball.
I don't know what it was that Pothos was doing in that play, and even right here, just wasting 30 seconds off the clock.
Just to put this game away, so smart from him.
I mean, you've already got to leave this, get the game over with.
Yeah, first killer is a winner. He's not just down there trying to play as fast as possible.
He knows how to secure games. We saw him baiting in opponents whenever it was possible.
And he's got the early starts on Evo.
Ivo, Ivo, you know, he showed signs of life there.
It wasn't the worst possible game, number one,
for somebody who struggled to beat
first killer in series.
He's able to at least keep it close,
keep it lower scoring.
Maybe that will end up favoring him
as this series goes on,
but ultimately first killer keeps it up.
And that to me plays to your confidence
and it goes to show just how first killer
is gonna believe that he has the edge here
until proven otherwise, he's historically had it.
And he's so comfortable that he doesn't feel like,
I need to hit this ball to the ground.
You never know what's gonna happen.
I'm like, oh, no, I'll catch it.
I'll carry.
I'll do whatever I want.
This is my game.
This is my field until you prove it otherwise, Evo.
Until you prove it otherwise.
That is the statement, Beard.
I give you some.
You summarize the whole entire series, actually, already.
I know we're only one game in, but that's exactly how
first-killers is a tough one in this.
This is my series.
It's my game, Evo.
You've got to show me that you can beat me in this moment
when the pressure is against you like this.
And the experience is so much against you as well.
And it's a big question to ask.
For Evo from first kill, it is.
Even right now, and Evo in the series yesterday,
Evo talking about his speed, he moves around a lot of pace,
but is that going to be enough to simply get by a first kill
if he just sold his side within all facets of the game?
Well, Evo's going to bail out of this race with first killer,
letting him go up and get the ball.
But he's even used all of his moves just back,
looking to try and recover.
Now both of them on zero.
Evo in and out of the net is going to elect to wait and make
the six.
He's done that.
But now he needs to go pick up boost
and see what he can get away with while First Killer sets up.
We've lost the dribble, so we can't pop it up high.
Interesting from First Killer, not the best execution
of a position that should have been a really big advantage.
Technically, that advantage isn't yet lost,
because he is going to get control in the back corner.
But now, Evo's going to have 100 and a lot more to work with
than he did previously when he was on the attack.
But he bakes Evo in for a challenge
and flicks it over the top.
Oh, man, Evo.
He somehow survived the first turn around.
You get the boost, and then you just let him score on you.
He's trying to put us up in Omen's lane again.
Half decision from Evo.
Challenge and a fake challenge.
Instead, he opts to do it better than either.
He just sat horizontal and then jumped.
The moment first killer had his flake already up,
already poised and already ready to go.
Half position for Evo.
FK strikes first.
Maybe he can condition first killer a little bit
in order to expect those early challenges.
Maybe first killer at the midfield.
John all the way, a bit more opposite.
first killer actually gets a great bounce to roll away it'll still be evo's
evo not gonna try and go directly to the other half he's gonna try and switch the opposite
corner actually got a great catch off of first killer's touch had to make a really fast read
did just that he's gonna dunk this oh not him though crossbar now awkward recovery for evo and
it's gonna be another one for first killer and as evo had all in play right there fear it wasn't
all it wasn't a bad all in play either i mean you gotta sometimes go for that even in one of you
everyone. And I was worked out for him. He's the crossbar, but that's okay. That's okay
for Evo. Those type of plays, he stays confident in himself. He should be able to put those
away later on in the series. If that gets down right there, it goes where it must be.
Oh no! Oh no! You don't want to see that!
This is a microcosm of how the series has been going and how it might go, where just
Everything is going to go first killer's way, Evo had to save, he pushed it off the post and
first killer's just in the right spot. Evo forced it back in, that's the kind of
bounce that Evo did not get on the other side of the field.
And so he maybe has advantage on the kickoff, first killer popped it up high, Evo.
How is your world of air dribble looking? It's one of the strengths of many North American
Wombie Winters and oh my goodness, it's going back in well! He bumped Evo, slowed the ball down
and made the follow up save. It's a great play from first killer.
He's utilizing Evo to save his own shot, he kept it out just enough.
First killer almost scores immediately as well, great challenge by him.
First killer should have the backup right here for Evo, he was away possession again.
First killer doing such a good job, floating, challenging early.
Even Evo's trying to start possessions in his back corner, he's having to deal with First killer.
Already there, already breaking up the play, and Evo doesn't have a great secondary.
Low boost play for Evo late, so now he's going to be recovering back in top position. Oh my goodness moon ball from first killer
I can't imagine he wanted it to go that high his flicks were lacking a little bit earlier
That one was a bit too much, but just steals away Evo's aerial so easily. He seems to be positioning defensively. Oh my goodness
Evo great save. I won't take it up because a bump will secure it. Yeah, the bump was always coming
First killer, there's too much momentum right there
He has the backflip, and at that point he's a sitting dog yet again.
First killer, easy goal for him.
And game number two is starting to slip away from him, but he's kind of going to kick off.
And not only that, but he also has to establish himself on offense.
Generating multiple attacking opportunities, not just a one-off all in, not just an air dribble.
Now a one-off shot, a multiple shot.
String them together, give them some of the chains.
First killer's so good at not allowing them.
We see a little bit of separation right now.
He does not get it and Evo does get the follow-ups, so finally one of these you know ties back
and forth for control does go Evo's way.
He gets bumped, it's an A and one, he gets his goal.
Not an A and one.
You don't see that.
They go right there for Evo.
The late kickoff from as well.
Looks out for the first kill and bumps him, has 30 boosts to his name.
Evo does get it, he gets a shot.
There will be two goals for Evo.
The late kickoff bolls well this time around.
I'm not sure if you're going to be able to see this,
but Evo had a full-on camera pull-out.
He kept ball game on, and he searched around
to try and see where first there was,
so he could line up that bump and make a quick play.
Evo is one of the top camera work players in the game.
If you ever watch his POV, he loves to move that around.
Sometimes it throws players off.
Evo can just swing his vision anywhere
and keep his mechanics working.
He uses that to his advantage in order
get that bump and secure that goal. It's funny that his face cam has only barely parts of him in it
because his camera work in game isn't peckable. Yeah, it's a hot brain and I'm surprised. I think
Evo had an opportunity to kind of really commit to a swing demo into the net and now he's going to
conceive of first go out of no boost. Early on about 10 seconds prior to this, Evo had a great
50-50 secure the corner boost and first go tucked in the net. Evo, he could have came in with speed
He went for a hard bump, went for a demo, and steady.
Just kind of walked in there and didn't really do much.
Game first killer free out of the play.
He came back to bite Evo about 10 seconds later.
First killer low air, air journal right now.
Reset bank.
And he just has Evo panicking at every moment.
Evo has not been able to get a read.
And it's clearly trying to get one step ahead on defense,
and it's not working.
First killer break.
You know what?
It's enough to the mental that Evo has had enough.
He's called next, I believe.
And we're gonna be heading to game number three,
Evo had a minute to bring back four.
He's known for kind of early four fans.
What do you think, T-Bates?
Was this too early?
Well, I would say it's about right,
but I saw yesterday that, listen,
being down by four for a minute left
is always through a chance, apparently.
Evo himself, four, four,
and Wavy put down this plate.
So maybe it was that too early.
At least he had a kickoff on his first name.
Maybe called next right after that,
He goes out to score to go to the next game.
He also, in combination with that, is called Time Out.
Evo's going to take a second, collect his thoughts,
think about what's going wrong in this series.
And this is where I start collecting my thoughts.
And that's Professor Fear.
What is going wrong for Evo?
Right now, he hasn't been able to get anything going.
I mean, first killer in every fast of the game
has not just won, but he's gotten Evo to not play
to any of his strengths either.
Ivo seems like he's mentally decided. He's lost almost every play almost before they start and the way that his car is moving is something that implies that if you ask me and you see him in his head down right now, he needs to find some confidence. He can be first killer.
You know, this isn't the old days where first killer was completely untouchable and then a players do get wins. Yes, it's shown how to get wins against him. So it's possible for you to come back. It feels like mentally he's already, you know, conceded not just that last game by four foot early.
early, but has been unable to convince himself that he can just play a little bit more of
his regular style. You know, I wonder how this series would be going if instead of first
killer on the other side, it was, you know, in stream remote and he had no idea who he
was playing against. If he would play this game because I think he would. I feel like
he's letting a little bit of first killer aura almost affect him before the series has
even been decided.
I like that point. And what do you think that he would be doing differently if it wasn't
stream remote?
I think he'd be panicking less.
There's times when first killer is on the ball,
about to take maybe a long shot or something,
kind of decent away from the net.
There's nothing guaranteed yet.
And Evo's already jumping, pretty much flicking,
jumping around in defense.
And he's normally such a good defender.
But when you give too much respect
and you're panic jumping on around everything,
it's not going to work out.
I expect to see Evo much more confident
and much more casual in that, reacting to late.
He's a pretty good goal line defender.
He's tried at times to exclusively goal line defend
one's and he's found ways to make that work. I don't think that would work, you know, historically against first killer.
He can't just do that exclusively, but I want to see more confidence defensively when first killer gets possession.
Evo needs to
expect it to be just another player and then just another ranked opponent.
I'm sure he's played many times and I think he'll improve there.
Get more chances to score himself and maybe get something going. Listen, timeouts over game number three starting up.
That's the fear analysis. I love every second of it. Evo has had a core change.
She went from octane, now he's on the finish.
And then now it's just one fear, the TLDR, the synopsis.
It's Evo.
Just play your game.
Too much respect for first killer.
You have the ability to get the job done,
believe in yourself, and let the bygones be bygones after that.
Don't let first killer just win the game
after you make a mistake that you usually don't make.
And already Evo is going to score immediately
off of first killer double touch, a tip that goes wide.
Evo opens it up.
And Evo stays grounded and accepts the fact that, you know,
Test Furskiller says, I don't think you can hit that well enough
that I need to jump, which is what he needs to be doing.
Just hang out and take advantage of all of those mistakes
that Furskiller makes.
And maybe if we see a couple saves, maybe a nice shot,
you know, from Evo, that mental can switch.
Or if Furskiller starts to show just how human he is,
if he gives any more free opportunities,
I think Evo will be able to shake it off.
Right now he's got a boost.
Furskiller's so quick, though.
Evo is feeling like he's in an advantage position
because he's going to take the boost
and maybe keep possession, but first killer lands
and gets back to the ball so fast
that he's scoring the other way.
Oh my gosh, he drips on the landing
in the corner, first killer did.
Gives him a momentum to immediately pop back up
and Evo's not a back-back with challenge right there.
It's reasonable.
But the problem is he is going to get first killer
who just plays so quickly.
Instant transition for him, great goal from FK.
Evo tries to go for Ezra up on me.
FK's up two, put for that, and he gets a perfect counter-attack shot.
Two goals!
The first quick, first killer, quick succession.
Yeah, I mean, they just, these air dribbles from Evo just have no fight at all.
Doesn't seem like there's anything first killer needs to worry about.
He's just jumping up and stealing all of them away.
Evo needs to get some resets earlier and needs to try and mix things up.
Because what he's doing right now is just far too easy to read.
Trying to pass to himself, but I would say too heavy of a first touch without high of a bounce.
First Killer knows he can challenge without getting outplayed.
Now First Killer slowing the game down.
He's actually gone to his flicks this game, which is not something I've seen him use a ton yet in this tournament.
But he seems confident about it here. He doesn't love these power shots, you know, from distance.
That's never going to go in. Evo's there, but he's going to do it again.
We're just going to do this as many times as he needs to.
Evo should not be letting this in.
But after the third time slamming it to the backboard, it's going to work.
I think it was the backflip from First Killer.
It threw Evo off. Most people after Evo had that problem saved, they go for an half flip and it turns them, their car away from the ball.
First killer just backfliped. He backfliped and then immediately shot the ball right back in the net.
I think it threw Evo off and the first killer scored to get off the kickoff.
And already the momentum in game three, it's all FK.
And Evo is somebody who needs to see a lead.
You know, this is the reason why he forfeits so early.
He wants to get into that next game.
He wants to be able to feel like he's competing in the game
and not needing to rush back.
And instead of getting that after his forfeit in timeout,
he's now again back in a familiar position with first killer,
a big lead, or at least a big enough lead that Evo clearly seems affected by.
Oh no.
Now it's going to be another first killer role.
Evo trying to bring this ball back into his own half.
Thought he could maybe bump first killer off,
but ends up just passing it to him.
Yeah, it's overcompensating.
It's just over thinking.
He knows that he goes to that boost.
First killer's still gonna be there.
He's gonna shoot.
You gotta stay in between the ball and the goal.
This is universal sports 101.
He knows that.
It's just a mental error from Evo right there.
He's got to take his time.
He just goes back.
He's running the money.
He doesn't need the foresees.
He doesn't have to feel like he needs to get everything back all at once.
It's one moment after one moment.
He's still got plenty of time left in his game.
Except for mental errors like that, it's going to end up costing him B.
Alright, Evo, can you get something going in the air?
This kid threw a lot for the confidence.
Passing Saltarisa is in!
Evo is on the board.
He attacks through the air.
We've actually seen First Killer doing a lot of this, passing to himself off the ceiling for reset.
Evo's going to use it this time to pick up the speed on the ball and make it.
It's two goals, it takes him halfway through the game to get two, but that could be the spark.
It could be the spark, but we could go out wins.
Whit bowed well for him, but he doesn't get this one, first killer immediately.
Just takes another pop shot at Neko, why not?
There's one of a few people in the woods I feel like nowadays who just keeps shooting the bow on net like that.
Well that's a more archaic way of playing ones.
Most of you go for what Yvon's doing right now, nice little popper, he's second to get back around and he might be able to know.
Evo, that's getting around first kill, he's done enough, Evo has scored three!
Evo popped us over the top when I'm watching the first kill of the BV, he seems so calm,
he just goes to, you know, wave dash this wall and take it away, he seems to be sure that
every challenge is going to work this time. Challenge does not work, Evo is able to see it coming,
able to get it around him, the question is can he close the distance here and make it feel like
we're a kickoff away from him taking over.
First killer bailing out of this as he sees that Evo's going to tap into his corner for him.
And now he's trying to read Evo challenge and he popped it up.
Gonna take the shot, Evo denies it.
And now Evo used up all his boots to make that play.
First killer going to keep forcing the issue, actually allowing Evo to pick up 100 instead of just instantly booming the ball like we've seen him do before.
Going through that flick game, just a little bit more than in the past.
Evo, irritable bump, wants to get there.
First killer saw that wave before it happened, takes it away, and counters.
The counter is what he does.
The counter he did, a score he will.
The first killer is to play a play that's so tight.
That's one of the best ways to counter a hero with a bomb.
You just play really close to your opponent,
and you just sense it coming.
You get up way higher than they do immediately.
There's no chance they can pop the ball up high enough
to also end, get underneath it and bump you.
It is impossible.
The first killer does handle that.
Easily, Evo almost gets the first killer, another freebie.
Now's the moment too where Evo seems like he was gaining some momentum. He's find himself to stab himself in this game
That's give first kill out, but he will score again
Four goals now for Evo
After this constant pressure right here puts FK in an awkward position gets right back around the ball
And his taps it on him
Yeah, pretty impressive diagonal flip he jumped up and was actually not able to win that
you know, challenge as good as he was going to,
but then Diagonal flipping the control easily,
First Killer electing Nauta Hookshot here.
He's gonna try and get you both starved out
and on the goal line,
and we'll swing around to steal boost.
People got a good enough boost to see this.
He's gonna swing out to the other side of the field,
allowing him to pick up 100,
and maybe if you can get a goal here,
you can entertain winning this game.
You got it over the top of First Killer,
can't get back around.
In other words, I'm gonna try to,
he packs away and lets First Killer tap it,
and now First Killer,
who has been playing his leads well,
Michael to do that more here.
He's going for a fairly safe shot
that keeps him on the ground and around the ball
and he's got a follow up and got a seven.
Evo's got to recognize first call
is not going to go side in his first challenge.
He's just got to go around.
I don't even know what Evo, actually,
he believed that first kill was going to leave the corner.
I don't even know why he challenged
in that manner during the ankle.
And now first kill gets to wave that kick off
and gets possession.
And now first kill is going to do
Exactly, I expected him to do waste time.
I'm surprised he didn't turn around.
He actually won four and he's gonna get more.
You thought he was gonna run around too?
I thought he was.
First Killer just owns this matchup right now,
so it just doesn't matter.
Extreme can take it back,
but also he's gotta feel so good about everything he does
that why not just flick it?
In fact, he's gotten out of the game faster this way
because flicking it into the top right made Evo all next.
So first killer up 3-0.
This has been his matchup historically.
He is showing why here today, not letting Yvo into this.
Timeout's not going to help it all.
It's all first killer.
And at this point, we'd be surprised to see Yvo even
take a game.
Yeah, and the camera, the camera body language,
it's really showing through completely different people
into completely different spaces right now.
Yvo, you see it head and hands.
You see he's stressed.
He's thinking about what he needs to do.
First killer, meanwhile, he's looking at his phone
He just, he's just not concerned about game at the moment, so.
Yeah, I mean.
And he took this to me too at the moment.
We talked to Friskler about his previous matchups and you know, asking whether or not he would
test it or if he just had a specific matchup.
He was kind.
He said he wasn't just clear better.
He said he had a better matchup against the Pantos when asked him.
But Salim tells me he'd say that about just about everybody.
I'm not going to be able to
get to the top of the game.
Everybody even sell. Yeah, it's
not that I'm good. It's that I
have a good matchup against,
you know, a chronic and AJ and
Evo and everybody in North
America, but Diaz. So I think
at the end of the day, it is
just you know, a skilled if for
first killer. He's proven it to
be that case and Evo has yet to
give us a reason to believe we
see him going for those air
dribble bumps often to me. That's
also you know, a lack of
going to have to be more than that. First killer is shown. He's ready for all the tricks. He's ready
to get over the top of those. It's going to have to be spectacular. We saw that one spectacular
goal from Evo. And he's going to have to do that. That's what it's going to have to be like
if he wants to take a game off first killer. But for now, it's all first killer as we start getting
What kind of kickoff the first code is going for?
Oh my gosh, he gets back to the ball too, wow!
And Evo's gonna be in trouble, okay?
Evo has no moves, the first code looking for a double-touch, the double is on the way, it's top left!
Off the post!
Evo gets away with one, that's the type of breaks that Evo needs.
What is he gonna do with it?
Oh, he has the map!
Let me get the ball back to the sniper, and of course the sniper is gonna make it from across the map!
Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
I don't even know what to say, I mean, Evo just hands the ball over and that's not what
is going to get you mentally back in the game for Skiller.
I missed some pads on the way to this kickoff, but it just feels like every time I see the
ball on first killer's car, I'm expecting an internet exact opposite right now with Evo,
but he's got a little bit of air game.
I like this.
Even though this is now, it's going to have to look something like that.
It just has to be a little bit lower to force an actual save attempt at a first killer problem as he reads it and gets down in counters.
When it rains in force, and it's pouring a lot over an EVO lamb right now, fear.
It wasn't even a bad reset attempt, it just hit the crossbar again.
And not only did it hit the crossbar, it went right next to the first killer.
And even off the bump, the first killer comes back around off the kick-off, hits it with the backside of Pinnick, all post!
EVO is...
Evo's not moving after every goal, which is not a good sign.
Usually indicative of some tilts.
You know, Evo, if you didn't like what you saw in the previous games,
he's gonna hate what you see here as First Killer.
He's got multiple resets over the top of Evo.
First Killer can do no wrong.
You can't do any wrong.
Now he's just doing it for you.
He's going for his double reset.
Not for why not.
One, two, put the late pop right over Evo's head.
Four goals and less than a minute for First Killer.
He's already got EVO on match point and this goes about two more goals this Baylor magazine. He's any XT early
He's not allowed to call it
Till 230
That's what I'm talking about. This is this is what you need to do to you need a fake first kill
You do something to make him look at least slightly silly because right now first killer has such a big mental advantage
But he did go flying over the top of this fake from evo credit to him needs a kickoff desk really
I think he's just has to win this kickoff the next kickoff all the kickoffs
Well, I don't think he's won this one first killer to the back wall double is
He's on fire somebody's gonna put him out
It trips up even right here. It's like it's the boost the confidence on the double to
This was such power. No, not sits
first killer's not playing around
That should not be easy. That should be a risk two and one.
This should be a risk maybe not worth taking going for that back wall double.
Right now, first killer in the zone. He's in free play out there.
Doesn't mind taking those risks because he is pulling it off.
Reset. Wait up! That's what I'm talking about!
This is what we need from Evo! If he's gonna get anything going,
it's gonna be up the back of this shot. It's a pinch to the top right corner!
Look at the power! 72 miles per hour from Evo!
This puts it in nice and clean. That's the type of momentum he needs.
That's the type of place that will give him a little bit more confidence in himself.
Still gotta get to where the first killer kicked off, so how does he manage it?
He stops FK right here.
I think that gives the way to ball.
Evo keeps it close.
Now he need those away. Can he get back to it? No, he can't.
Trips up first killer though.
Still with possession right here.
Not to get by FK. Might just be able to get to the little wave dash.
That way too easy to save. First killer now reset the other way.
What are you doing EVO's POV right here?
No I wasn't. I was on first killer. I'll check EVO's POV.
Where is he going? He went for the boost of the kill!
Yeah, you're right. Yeah, he should not have swung that line by any means did not stand a chance after that
Has a mental error from evil at that moment and our first kill is just playing with the food
He's gonna get the boost
But let's get possession though. It's not that bad from him
52
Still much not much opportunity. Oh gosh and first kill try to get even on goal
I
I think the important thing that Evo needs, I think Evo can't afford to concede another goal.
If he does, he's now in the range where he's allowed to forfeit.
And if the ball goes in, he might not be able to stick it out, even though his full tournament
life is on the line for Skiller against the bump and taps it in 7-2-5.
Well, Evo's car is moving though.
Evo's car is still moving, so I don't expect him to tap out just yet.
Means he's got his hands on his controller and he's ready to try and get something going.
But it's not looking very likely
It's not looking like me at the moment. It's a lot on him
He's got a loose another kick up right here first killer flip the little tour early and first come is the boost
He would this spot that
That's you go just trying to create a little bit of pressure that's kind of been its problem in this series
Even when he has straight line triples or opportunities
He's not really getting
Both scoring chances in situations like this everything's just way too easy for first kill Dan
Then a first-killer pick challenge, got Evo to get rid of that ball when it should have been a position that was really strong for him.
He just sidesteps away, trying to connect on a bomb, but now Mike, good recovery, does as he will take it to the side wall.
First-killer not gonna allow any aerial play except the fact that Evo wins the pinch, gets the ball out,
but I mean that is just such a soft little touch, just can lead to a free first-killer possession.
He should have even started wasting time with a mid-30 if he really wanted to, and maybe that's what he's doing.
I don't know, he just throws them all away.
First killer point is a K.R.
I mean, right now, he's playing so well
and has such a big edge.
I don't think he's sweating at all in this series.
Just a soft, don't-jump-make-evo-shoot-over-the-top.
It's whatever. I can do no wrong.
I'm up five, and we're approaching the final minute.
Oh, my God. He's going right there.
That would have been an expansion mark.
That would have been the slam dunk,
and I would have had to leave myself.
There's no way he would have came in with speed.
He just came off the ceiling and dunked it in
like that from that angle.
I would have been upset.
made out or been upset for you, but this is this is starting to look like free play though right now.
Yeah, it is.
You're like both players just kind of tapping the ball around on a real plan.
I don't know.
Evo is going to score, but you know, first killer, like I said, you can see Evo scoring
because first comes kind of decided it's free play.
Like, you know, I don't know if he's mentally thinking about how he's going to do against
Diaz later, but he definitely is not worried about this game.
I mean, Evo's going to need to string kick-ups together.
That hasn't been going well for him much.
which has been going a little firm in this series at all.
Oh, now.
A demo.
Candy's score here.
These are the positions that Evo should have a big advantage,
but look at that.
It's just right to first killer, he's the same.
He hasn't been successful, though.
He's had multiple goals in this game,
and let alone in the series.
He's not been able to get the ball by FK.
I just don't understand.
What's going on with Evo's attack?
And oh, gosh, he's brought it to his own quarter
with 20 seconds left.
Yeah, I think he said this is a replay.
This was all but done and dusted.
This is 15 seconds of free play now.
Evo, you know.
Oh, look at the second!
It's a good goal, but it's just so way too late.
And it's also only going in, it feels like,
because First Killer is almost slightly checked out as well.
I mean, maybe I'll eat my words
if we see three straight kickoff goals,
but this looks like First Killer's series.
I don't know.
Now that he's saying one's a scripted,
but it's not that scripted this time around, you're right.
Yeah, it's the least scripted.
But hey, maybe the grand final was grifted.
Evo, not a bad result.
Top four is something you can hang your hat on.
But man, he ran into the wrecking ball of First Killer.
And First Killer Dian is going to be a rematch
to the grand finals last year.
Diaz was saying people have not been grinding in ones.
It hasn't changed much.
Well, he's going to have a rematch against the same guy.
No, a rematch against the same guy, indeed.
I don't know, maybe all the way they play is new play.
I wonder what, at the moment, it looks
like it's first killer as Diaz and everybody else is nowhere near.
What do you think about that?
Yeah, I'm not.
Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice.
Let's get everybody in there.
I'm not sure if I can convince these pros to play, but if one thing is clear,
is that we need some new blood to try and take down a first killer Diaz,
because if they don't show up, it's going to be them over and over again.
We are headed after this break to the grand final of first killer Diaz.
Keith, I want to try and experiment.
All right to help you unbecome your parents. I want you to try a game called Rocket League
Oh, is it a puzzle like my crossword? No picture soccer, okay with a car
What do I hang my feet outside the window? No, not your car, but you said think it's a video game. Oh
Okay, I get it. Where's the cartridge? No, it's an online thing. Is there a joystick?
Not like the ones you're thinking of but I need to get some quarters, right?
No, I got a blow in the cartridge again like no cartridge, but you'll need a username
Here's a name. How about Keith underscore 9914?
The bathroom coat?
That's the only number I can kind of remember easily, so.
of this legendary arena will witness Rocket League's story unfold together.
Who will hang their team's banners in the rafters of Champions Field?
Start to find out.
I think it's possible
Got you
Got me too
Your magic's true
2 players remain in the running for the title of 1v1 North American Regional Champion and
are the same 2 players that were at this spot in the tournament.
We ran it 65 days ago and we ran it in 2025.
Diaz vs. First Killer will be your grand finals in the North American 1v1 open and you know, it feels like we could
Resist saying we could have this emailed in the whole tournament your face. Just like these guys are so good
Well, listen, that's what I was telling Johnny and sing a little bracket. We've been here about two hours ago
It was inevitable that these two teeth these not these two teeth these two players
We're gonna play each other. There's certainly just too fast in the bracket
There's a question mark where Daniel is,
real estate everybody, but Daniel keeps not signing up.
So we have the moment, we got first killer,
and we got DS.
And even in this series, I mean,
it was back to back four row, four rows,
and they did it so effortlessly.
It felt like both problems were good.
I've been getting dubious, what's that?
You know what?
You know why we don't do single elimination?
Because then the other regions would also have to do that.
And some regions in this world actually have some depth,
Tyler.
This region, listen, we've known it was gonna be these two
the finals you know kind of in the back of our minds at the very least for a long time
they both win their semi-finals 4-0 and first-killer you know I mean you give
even a lot of credit you don't get to be in the top four without having some game
yourself but he ran into an absolute buzz off and I don't know that first
killer necessarily did anything that you look at and go oh yeah like this is why
he's just right up better. He just played solid the entire series and you know had just felt like
superhuman reflexes. This could be a fun final. Last time they played it was a 4-0 in favor of Diaz.
Diaz has only dropped two games in this bracket so far. Can first killer changed the story here
in 2026. He's earned himself the opportunity and you know how much it would mean to him to be a 1v1
North American champion. Let's get into it. The grand finals. First killer for Shot of
Fire Rebellion and Diaz for SSG. It wasn't a particularly close 4-0 in 2025 either. It
was three to five goal games every single time. So Diaz absolutely has a expectation
around this match. He has a sort of looking for a standard to meet. He has set the bar
for himself very high. But first killer just continues to get better at the game, Bates.
And this might be his year. That's right. It might just be because even though first
killer did get swept last year in the grand final in the same match, they did play in
this bracket on Friday in groups. But first go lost in five to DS. He has went up two
2-0 in a series and the first killer won game 3-10-9.
He won game 4-7-3 and he lost game 5-7-2-8.
So he was going off a recent history.
First killer has elevated.
He's leveled up.
He can compete against the Diaz now in the year 2026.
The question is, can he compete against the Diaz
with vibing out the music like he has been so far?
And we saw him vibing out earlier
and it looked really good for him.
Here's the difference though.
That's Friday.
And there isn't the kind of pressure
that players are under when Sunday rolls around.
And, you know, watching, I mean,
first killer, absolutely, laid waste to Evo.
He came ready and locked in.
But the way I watched Diaz take down Wavy,
it just felt like, it didn't feel like
there's anybody in this region.
You know, we'll get into it in a moment,
but it didn't feel like there's anybody in this region
that actually can keep up with them on a 1v1.
And Diaz has consistently brought it from Friday
all the way to today.
Been a huge fan of his game
and excited to see just how far this goes.
I mean, they're talking about like the weight
of Championship Sunday and the weight of Grand Finals.
There's few players that we've seen be affected
more negatively by that burden
than first killer and Diaz right now,
appears to be so relaxed.
For somebody who has come in defending a title,
it's chasing down the top dog.
It usually is a little bit easier than staying on top
when they're kind of gonna nip it at your heels
the whole time, but he doesn't seem to bother at all.
Getting up five into his music,
sitting back down, it's just another day
at the office for Diaz, which feels like
that the worst case scenario for first killer.
I mean, it could be, but I will say,
this is a better first killer than ones,
at least on form, at least in tournaments
that you're preparing the 2025 runs or the 2026 run.
In 2025, first killer, I mean, he lost to Wavy in Swiss,
and he had beat Evo 3-2.
I mean, he just 4-0ed Evo,
and it simply wasn't close in that match.
And then also first killer then lost in groups to Evo.
And once again, he just 4-0ed Evo,
and it simply wasn't close.
I know he did beat Evo as well,
the semifinals of last year, I was rematch, like we just say, beat him 4-1, but the whole
point I make it is that the first kill is making it look easy against everybody, except
for Diaz and the one match that he lost on Champion's Field.
So looking at First Kill's form, Diaz was better in 20-25, but we have a real question
that needs to be answered.
Who was better in 20-26?
And we're about to find out.
Yeah, it's the only question that really matters is why we play the game, because anything
can happen and what a story it will be, either way, back-to-back champions or revenge from
the previous year. First killer on one side, Diaz on the other. Let us know what you think
has got this one. Stacks. What do you got?
When I look at this matchup, again, we've been looking forward to this all day. I've
had a lot of time to think about it and really, my opinion hasn't changed. I think at the
end of the day, when the dusts out, we're all going to be saying, and still, I got Diaz
here.
And still.
You know, see me, I think Rock League is a game of stories.
Well, Rock League champions, you said a lot of word and safety.
I was just going to win. Watch this.
It's one of the best parts about Rock League is the stories you can tell.
Exactly. Yeah. And some of the first ones are they.
I like that. Robby Wave.
And I just think that first killer, the person who has not been able
to get it done in three is a person who's been a herald for so long
in North America. I think it's just something poetic for him to go
and play once, get better at it,
and then wrap North America, go to Dickie's arena.
Arena that we still have yet to see a North American
come home victorious and get the job done.
So give me first killer in this matchup
and to rematch against Diaz.
I think he's gonna go over to Dickie,
he's gonna pull in the show against Nass.
Hey, my parents read me straddle fairy tales
when I was a kid too.
Look, I think it would be an incredible story
and I do think that is it.
But it's the whole reason we like sports
at the first place is getting to see this drama happen.
But here's the thing, like, I've talked to First Killer yesterday,
and asked him, like, what do you do?
Like, how do you balance preparing these three different game modes?
And he said, I'm really not preparing for one.
I'm just going to show it up and play him.
That's not that great of a story here.
And the story time and time again has been,
he gets to this point and struggles.
And it makes me, it makes me, I hope for it.
And I'll be amazed.
I'll be so happy when I see him and finally get past it.
But it doesn't make me believe it's going to happen right now.
When Diaz is looking as good as he is,
The story of the back to back is incredible.
I think Diaz has this in the bag.
It is not one-sided, but there is a favorite.
Chat's got first killer here.
We've got Diaz.
They've got themselves.
Who is it going to be, folks?
The European 1v1 champion, Nass, sits and waits
at Vicki's arena for the conclusion of this contest.
SSG versus Shopify, first killer versus Diaz.
the last two games. After two
dominant semifinals
performances Diaz and first
killer meet once again. Last
time it was an equally dominant
final with Diaz coming out on
top for skill is here for
revenge in Game 1 brought to
you by progressive. First
killer had as good of a
possible, you know, set up
right before this that you
could hope for. He was in
It looks like against the rest of the field because that's what Diaz looks like when he's playing against the rest of the field.
Right now, North America, a matchup between these two Diaz is going to flick first, get the line, and first killer will get the first goal.
Great placement by first killer and this is off the perfect challenge as well.
Straight through the middle of the ball, confident challenge. No chance for Diaz to take him out.
And interestingly, not the bullpitch here, dribble to start off the game that Diaz usually goes for.
He had the opportunity to there, but he helped it against it.
Now he's been fucked away from the winning kickoff,
but First Killer slots it for 2-0.
First Killer has been accurate today,
and he's going to continue to prove that.
This one, maybe, you know, I'll almost offline,
but doesn't manage to find it.
So it's enough to get quickly, but quick shots on net,
quick, powerful shots on net.
So First Killer likes to do,
he likes to surprise you and take you out of the game.
Now Diaz, this is what he likes to do,
It's not the perfect set up towards his back wall, but he does like to take possession.
He does not mind where he's out on the field.
He'll play for him anywhere as he gets a reset.
And this Chateau-Shelton, I'm my first killer.
This is a great sign to open the series.
He's going to boom it back the other way.
This is his first killer playing his game, and it's besting Diaz's game.
So, Payton, this girl's a bitch, first killer.
Looking like absolute prime first killer.
Back in the day, this used to be his bread and butter.
Just lunging across his net to get saves,
and then immediately counter-attack it with hard hit shots.
We've seen plenty of that today, like you mentioned.
He's been at his best form.
That's it to be doing this.
So many years on from his once prime is truly unbelievable.
Diaz is going to try to switch things up in the air
to a buff.
Breskeller nowhere near getting hit by that one.
Diaz did back off though.
He recognized that.
Oh!
Big C on the back wall.
Diaz is going to be in trouble.
He cannot get back to this.
And he is starting to make some mechanical errors here.
He's letting First Killer do what he wants to do.
Just boom, power shots on that, and he's up 4-0.
Great start by First Killer.
He's rolling through the defensive from the semi-final
into the grand final.
This is exactly what you want if you
want to see a close match today.
Well, who knows, maybe with First Killer's level
that he's shot this entire tournament,
this could be the one.
Oh, it's he has.
Almost less than we go in.
He's ready to control it on his goal line.
He lost control, gives away possession.
Could have been easily a goal there, almost saved, D.I.'s three boosts to his name, under so much pressure in here.
First killer trying to keep it awkward for him as he has three boosts now, and will look too flicked to give it a little bit of height.
I don't know why he thought he could follow it up, maybe because I just watched first killer win a thousand races in a row in the last game,
but if you push that ball in the air that much, you've got to know that first killer is going to take it away,
and he just takes it off the top of D.I.'s car to make it 5-0.
0. Yeah, I think Diaz is just hoping the 1st Killer reads that he's not gonna go.
He's hoping that 1st Killer's thinking, oh well there's no way Diaz goes for that
stuff. Obviously going B, but 1st Killer went just to be sure and gets the goal
as a reward. 5-0 in the first two minutes. Is it crazy score line? It's
exactly what 1st Killer needed, but Diaz has looked a little bit off here. Oh he
gets one goal. 1st Killer looks across No Man's Land and Challenge. Diaz just
And we have seen a couple of mistakes in this first couple of minutes from Diaz.
He's done that little chair shuffle.
He did it against Zach as well.
He's going to get comfortable.
That was a mix-up from what we normally see.
A high bouncing ball on the way to the ground.
Very easy to chip up and start and air dribble with.
Diaz, hopefully somebody who wants to do that every time he possibly can.
This time, he just bounced it.
He took that power shot.
I actually got the first kill off.
Maybe he saw that coming.
Diaz trying to bridge up this.
This first killer may be made it seem like he's one back down to the ground
But he uses the reset to go over the top
It's a great shot by first killer. This is good for with reset to make it 6-1
The Diaz has been known to forfeit early in some games in the past
But I really think he's gonna work his way through this one try to figure out what is going on
the level first killer is playing at right now is
Just crazy to witness can easily make it seven here against the Brazilian
It's Diaz. Now you may have farce killer off the post though. That was just a millimeter away from being a goal for him
But he stayed as a goal for Diaz
That's huge swing
Huge swing in favor of Diaz. Maybe he can use this to get going but
Definitely needs to stay in this game cannot leave early. This is not like you know previous first killer matches where first killer runs away
And there's no hope there is hope for Diaz and he just needs to figure out that he's just gonna be today
The first killer man is one right back.
It's that same blocking style kickoff that he's used a few times.
Turning sideways into the ball to completely block it in the direction he chooses.
It's not something that really anyone at the top level is doing as consistently as first killer.
This is his strategy that he goes to every now and then.
And it's worth it wonderfully there to keep himself ahead by five.
Now, here comes Dias. This is what he is always so good at.
and he makes it work once again.
The only difference being is he used all of his boots
for this one.
This was all in.
Yeah, this is all in, but it's confident from Diaz.
First killer missed 100 pickup.
He actually dove out to try and get it.
Didn't pick it up.
Not sure it would have ended up mattering.
Might have taken the same approach
to that back corner either way.
Diaz, wow.
He's got these kickoffs.
First killer's just been so quick.
He was winning this way earlier.
Once he gets the ball, you know,
off the kickoff, he's so quick to recover
and get a shot.
And he even delayed the shot a little bit there.
The first killer knew that if he made the first move, Diaz could pre-flip and deflect the ball to the corner.
So he just waited a touch and then made a move for the ball.
When Diaz was the distance, it's going to be next.
Diaz is forfeited with a minute and 54 remaining in the game.
What a start for a first killer.
Yeah, this is, you know, I don't know if I agree with Diaz trying to tap out of this game.
We've seen him score a lot of goals before two minutes is such a long time one be that yeah
It's just a ton of time and he has no answer right now
I mean he needs to figure out an answer to the kickoff
He needs to figure out an answer to something that first killer is doing and it would have felt like a great
Opportunity to do that over the course of this game not only that even if he brings it back and
Loses still and loses by just a couple goals the feel of that is way different
And I feel like good play in his favor right now first killer has to feel amazing
It doesn't get better than that.
You're just scoring instant goals, five seconds
off the kickoff every time, and your opponent wants out
with two minutes to go.
I mean, it doesn't get better than that for First Killer.
Yeah, that was dream first game in the grand final.
And First Killer coming through the lower bracket here
because of the amazing format that his AFL format doesn't
need to win two series.
He could just win the one.
And he is in to the world championship
representing North America.
Yeah, Diaz has got to switch
something up here. He's not
left the lobby. I was checking
to see if he would because yesterday
he changed car after going to
down against that came back in the
octane. He might still change car
even though he's not left the lobby.
You can do that. But usually players
prefer to go out change outside lobby.
Make sure that they are selecting the
preset that they want. So maybe he's
holding off on that for now. Just
going to play another fennec game
But he's not keeping it in his back pocket. He knows exactly which octane preset he wants
He doesn't need to go to the lobby to figure it out and he has switched to it here and gain number two
Maybe he just has two free two presets octane infinite result this time has been the same
He's lost the kickoff again and first killer is going to be leading again. So
This is a change up from yesterday. He said so in the post match interview that the octane was winning more kickoffs for him
And that's not happened so far against 1st Killer. We'll keep playing the trend.
Who's getting more possessions. This one will go his way.
Will it be a direct goal? Okay. Much better for Diaz.
Maybe the Octane's solution.
Diaz is able to force this off to the right. 1st Killer is trying to push it the other way.
Not able to muscle it through. But 1st Killer, Diaz's domination, it feels like it would be slower and methodical.
What first killer shown right now that a heavy first killer sided series is going to be really fast really fast and first people can run it up
You know when he's dominating he's scoring off or go off your goal, but he is dominating
He's slowly breaking you down through the air gliding like a ball of rain as you fly over the top of the ground
Pitches it in to get his goal
Yeah, perfectly tight tears he has
Fancy high-air dribble first killer went extremely high with his free jump
He was over the top of the ball at the entire approach, which would indicate he expected Diaz to hit that really hard.
Maybe even go up to the ceiling, but first killer with a chance to equalize here with an air dribble of his own one reset.
Looking to air dribble high, doesn't get the demo with Diaz, but he does get the boost seal.
Diaz 23 in defense here.
First killer always gets such hard hit silverhead to keep his opponent's out of position,
But he has his building back up here.
We boost him, I meant it.
First killer, tries to get the angle.
Diaz cuts it off with very little leftover,
and is able to get 100.
So reward for a great save.
He's going to play a little bit of first killers game
by just booming the ball towards net
and trying to put the defender on the back foot
so you can't continue that for goal.
Maybe wants to demo a war of first grabbing.
That's going to be the boost.
First killer is trying to dash his way back to the ball
and score on zero.
Sometimes you can take advantage of that person
being on the wrong side of the ball for just a moment.
First killer back in here and gets a goal.
And yeah, it's first killer's tempo right now.
This is the pace he wants to play at.
Just keep things moving.
He doesn't want to slow down for a heartbeat.
Diaz not able to keep up with him there.
He had to flip in front of the ball.
Otherwise, first killer could score.
He gets faked out as well.
It does seem like the kickouts are going more even though,
back and forth for the type being.
And I do like that long shelf from Diaz earlier in the game.
Now, he's going to keep first killer grounded,
He's still doing this for pre-jump and air dribbles.
What I don't necessarily like here from Diaz
is he had an opportunity to do his bread and butter.
He had possession he had first killer on zero boost.
There was no way first killer was close enough
to chase him down.
Previously Diaz takes that to his own back wall
and plays with the air.
This time he popped the ball up infield,
allowed first killer to stay on ball
and stay and ball them to play.
That's the game first killer wants to play.
But Diaz now, you know,
liking a little bit on this air dribble,
he still has huge boost advantage.
So he's just doing this as a way to get first killer
away while holding onto that boost and this flick is good enough.
First killer just reset on 100 but it doesn't matter because Diaz gets the goal.
At what finish Diaz had to make this one count.
First killer had the boost advantage and defense there.
Diaz does score with this flick. The standard classic style.
He's now going to get kicked off position left side of the pitch.
First killer forced back by Diaz. Deployed by Diaz.
You'll be able to spawn in the way of this, but he is still able to get the goal.
Great control, newer first-killer is going to spawn, bait him in the middle of the pop and shoots over him.
He didn't just know where he was going to spawn, but he put that shot on target.
He knew the one place that first-killer had to go to save it.
So after he put it there, just chased down the spot that he expected first-killer to be at to get that demo in the first place.
Now, another kickoff goal, maybe directly to the net.
First killer. Oh, try to catch and cut it and get a nice save, but Diaz gets the goal.
It's just fascinating to see Diaz two days in a row switch to the opportunity to start winning 50-50s, which, you know, is what the pick-outs really are.
The Phoenix, usually the card that's more known for its 50s, Diaz, same hitbox, of course.
Able to go. It's so cold now that he can do much of it. Diaz, you lose at this one.
Blocked it off.
From first killer, he just created a wall again.
Yeah.
Dude, can you see it there?
It's very consistently.
Nice bump as well.
Pull shot.
On goal.
And nice play from first killer.
It's interesting to see a mix-up like this,
this deeper to the tournaments.
We'll see if Diaz tries to pick it up at all.
If he notices what first killer is doing on the other side
of the field, because right now, it
has a really high stealth rate when he's gone by.
He's let Diaz get baited in.
And first killer will run the field.
Honestly, I just have no idea what Diaz is thinking here.
that's so obviously going to be an open net for first killer somebody can hit the
ball as hard as first killers because this is the least first killer can yeah
so it's really really under hit that such and I see a type of the start of the
wall big ball play coming off for Diaz he decides to go in field with it just
letting the grind to air dribble be his main takeoff in the grand final we've
not seen many back corner than any back wall air dribbles even off the wall is
It's been even probably grind for Diaz.
And that's a switch up.
What we've seen him do before, he's
going to have an opportunity to go from the ground here
this time.
See, Spurskyle up and decides, you can have it.
You can have the ball.
I want to go take your boost.
I'm going to try and work it off the landing.
Spurskyle's done a good job scoring from these positions
when he has very little.
He's going to try and chase Diaz down.
Diaz has to dodge the boost.
Can he arrow the shot in?
I think he missed it wide.
So no immediate goal.
That's Spurskyle.
They're actually going to try and switch field here.
Diaz was prepping for it on the other side.
He's left the ball and it's open.
Yeah, Fresco, you're too afraid of the demo here.
Didn't want to get taken out of the game.
So he threw him out of the wall.
Diaz with the Lord's heart had the openness here in the face.
Two goal advantage to the Brazilians.
Trevi North America has represented him two years in a row in the 1v1 World Championship.
For him, he's got unfinished business at 1v1 Worlds.
and he's seen the fended champion night before qualify again.
He'll have to go through Nass of course.
The winner of NA will be playing against
EU's champion Nass in the semis at Niki's Arena.
I think Diaz would love to get back there
when we saw him there last time.
I'm not sure we saw him play his normal game.
He wants a second chance.
He's been playing better on land in other game modes recently
and Icelot 50 has got a first-scaler dancing behind the ball.
Ultimate League forces his way through
It's so clear to see the pace that these guys want to play out first killer when he was in control of game 1 and even the start in this
Game when he was getting more possession
continually up in the pace getting the game moving as fast as possible and
That's what enabled him to win so comfortably against people
He ran into the opponent is quite happy to do the same thing and first killer's just in his comfort zone
So he has is not about that he's controlling the game
and he's slowing it down, he's using bursts of speed instead of average speed to outplay
as important.
And yeah, first kill, he's starting to feel the pressure here in game two.
And we see that sidewall dribble working this time.
Diaz will take a tenet if he needs to.
It's more than capable of reading the defense when need be.
Here is Erichal, that's not head to the net, not yet, at least not before Diaz gets a couple
of resets in places there.
First killer though, angled to make that save.
So not only does he get that save, he's going to get a follow up touch as well.
Really, first killer just needs to be-
Oh!
That's a skim shot down the side of the field, or the length of the field, I should say.
But I should do it! I mean, even that clear probably takes up enough time.
DS should be equalizing here.
Yeah.
Oh?
Well, it looks like first killer will get one through.
And, yeah, TNs can't believe it, because he thought he did it up here to block this one right before he bid his touch in the fall.
First killer's bumped him out of the way.
Technically still possible for first killer.
We've seen a half of them before, but against the players experience is D.I.'s, we don't think this is going to work out for our Schiller.
D.I.'s quite sick, as he has here, with at least one of these three kickoffs, and he's one of the first of the three.
D.I.'s good response, slowed the game down to be played at his pace.
He likes to pick you apart and make you look silly for playing fast for Schiller.
has not been easy to make look silly at any moments and if he gets to you know
get enough first possessions and maybe did that a little bit better when DS was
not in the octane but in the octane not as many first possessions wasn't able to
dictate pace of this game and ends up going to use his way.
Initially it was very animated, initially it was Bar Scaler on the board he you know
the game. I mean, I'm not
sure I'm going to let us back
into this by pre top of it too
much in defense. Fresh colors
just got to try to stay
composed when he's on the
defensive end. But yeah, you
can see he's very annoyed at
how the game is going. He's
very annoyed at the fact that
Diaz is. Controlling the ball
is going to want to play it's he is going to want to take this ball into the air slow control it's
what Diaz his game has been for a long time he seemed to know that he was going to be playing
against first killer here he expected first killer to be back when he was talking in the interview
but he's the one who has grinded ones I mean I think he stayed fresher than the rest of his
North American brethren who he says does not grind the game mode it's time for him to prove
that the extra practice is the difference as we're all nodded up in game number three.
Yes, I'm going to start off with some defense. First guy tested him with some early shots.
He has his poor boost. How's he going to use it? He's actually managed to build up to seven.
A huge increase from a percentage standpoint, but still had to do some more work. That's still
overall very well done to get the turnover of possession. And then kind of starting off as
This first back to all air dribble of the game, he goes low with it as the takeoff was
extremely diagonal and that first killer tried to launch a long shot, not enough moves to
get the power.
He's got no chance to air dribble and he's been declining these which is very unlike
him.
For some reason he's loving the ground to air a lot better.
This one's going to get dunked by first killer, first killer is always going to try and counter
this quickly.
He loves his ability to just get a sweet touch to set up the shot.
He does it better than anybody else.
You know in fairness to Diaz, he's not ran into too many early challenges from
Harskiller, you know, whenever he's making the wall to air dribble, they're cutting in field for the ground, the dribble, or they grind to air dribble even.
Harskiller's letting him have his face. He's letting Diaz take the Bugs involved.
So from that perspective, oh Diaz is the best of the wave dash. Does break, look to the safe, but he's really in trouble here.
Overall though, I think D.I.S. has made a good read on FK. FK is backing down, giving him space. That was not enough space.
So, it's D.I.S. Trails by two. First killer. Just taking enough shots to eventually get one through.
Yeah, just trying to put it high. I know it's D.I.S. on low boost. It is going to have no choice but to not jump up there.
there and ultimately could not clear it out. First killer looking to try and keep things going as Diaz
got free flip, grab boost, maybe play out of the air but no one's going to back off. First killer
will clear down the length of the field and now should be able to, oh yeah maybe he missed a catch,
maybe wasn't going for the catch in the first place but it's going to be Diaz control or at
least every time I think it's going to be, first killer tries to stay into play on zero boost,
He refuses to leave, now he will actually leave as he has had the ball carry, double jump.
First does do a great job of cutting these off, he sees, he senses them, he smells the
neutral bumps before they're here and gets around and jumps over the top of them.
Yeah, he really does, and then right in the pinch, that's huge!
A skillar!
Has broken the side barrier with a monstrous pinch to make it 3-0!
136 KPH 85 miles per hour all the way to top shelf almost too high almost too
high I can't believe how perfect that was that was first killer we some do
that yesterday too sure he likes to move them all normally you know on a
regular power shot but apparently he's practiced shooting from distance off
these pitches as well now passing to himself off the ceiling not gonna have
quite as much success but he is trying to get this game to run like they never
one where he can run away.
He's got muscle, he's through, Diaz got back, but he's not strong enough.
Diaz is a little gridner. He's trying to bait Percekiller into going for the boost steal.
Looking to hit him with the counter attack straight down the middle of the pitch.
Percekiller does not fall for it. He just stays on the ball and wins two 50-50s in a row.
That's an eighth shot of Percekiller taking the escape. Diaz only has one as we approach half-time.
Percekiller completely controlling the game.
And once again, whenever he does, it seems like the pace of the first
killers of the ball rises significantly.
Diaz trying to get a possession that can maybe slow this game down,
has the ball on top of his car.
So what does first killer do?
Times immediately, backflip challenges, breaks it up.
He wants them playing back and forth, constantly trying to get a possession.
Diaz, I'm not sure if he has a recent, has to go get it again,
because he didn't have it the first time around.
He does undercut first killer here in order to steal the boost.
Now the ball's popped up, so this is heavy advantage to Diaz,
who likes to go down to the ground
Roll it up the back wall first killer is still not in a great spot. Yes, I'll shoot it directly at him
It's not over yet. He has continues his possession shot top right this time. It's in
Let's say thank goodness for Diaz. He scored because the previous shell was
Straight up first killer who's stranded in the net the first killer the biggest greeting for that 12 lose
But if it's possible to be greeting for its well-loosed
tried to try to ride after grabbing that to make the same
understandable to want that one. When you're zero vs. net against Diaz and still Diaz threatened
in the comebacks. He was down and out for the first half of this game. Now here he comes.
And every time he does a wall to air dribble and scores like this, I have to wonder to
myself, why is he declining these? You know, why is he declining these in other moments?
It doesn't seem like he's, you know, shaky in that front playing today. Every time he
goes for them they seem to be going well and yet in general he wants to avoid
them I like to see him stick to them until you know they don't show success
especially now when I want to let first killer get two games you know maybe you're
trying to save something you're trying to mix things up as the series goes on so
I don't want to let first go to get too much. Now being said it's keeping this one close
a nice long shot to make it three. It's a little cat nice in the midfield
first killer Joss lost his momentum briefly trying to grab mid boost so he
didn't get the boost. That left his net open to do so. He has three goals in a row. After
he got his first one it seemed like the game completely turned around in his favor. Farskiller
has got the no boost on his back wall. T.S. Ducks on it. Great read. Farskiller is trying
to bait him in. T.S. obliged. Yeah, this is an example of trying to play for possession
maybe from Farskiller. He could jump, he could try and 50 here, but jumping with zero boost
He's usually a death sentence to D.
It's not interesting that.
He'd rather potentially get the ball dunked over the top of him
and get scored on, which is likely to happen either way.
There's a small chance that keeping his wheels on the ground
allows him to maybe stay alive in the play.
Now he's having to play defense again.
D is going to rip the crossbar and get forced back.
He's had a couple full pitcher dribbles,
but he's mostly had to do them off of awkward starts
and hasn't really been able to get them all the way
the length of the field that he's known for.
Does get a good boot scrab here.
still not the best setup.
We'll look and see if he's able to switch the field
and go for a wall to air travel on this side.
Again, they look really strong. I wanted to keep going for it,
but he hasn't been able to get these resets.
He drops down to the ground and might even give a possession.
Huge chance for Farskiller.
He's not having any chances in the latter half of the game.
Here's one of them. Goes alone.
He has Reeds.
Farskiller backs off. He's the ES-Tart.
Ceiling reset for him. And to end stuff.
He's used a lot of his boost. My game is good!
With the Wave dash shot.
He takes that, pretty jump in FK.
And that touch off the wall.
Look at this ball.
Get so close to the ceiling without hitting it.
You've got to make sure that it does not
bounce into the ceiling and fall back down
faster than you're expecting.
It is a perfect touch from Diaz to start the aerial
in the first place.
And now with the light kickoff, as he tries to secure this game,
he's dodging first killer's demo attempt
as he picks up the back 100.
And he's going to switch to the opposite corner.
We'll see if he takes his air dribble,
or if he just baits first killer in.
He kind of delays it slightly before actually getting up
into the air, and first killer's taking it away.
Cleaning is going to have a free net.
How does first killer successfully challenge this?
He is so quick to the air.
I mean, that is just absolutely perfect.
Right before Diaz could make his second touch of the ball.
Diaz thought he did enough.
He thought first killer bit of turns.
He delayed his takeoff.
First killer read it the whole way, but here comes Diaz again.
Off the wall, final 10 seconds.
He could go pretty all in for this one.
Same shot, same results.
The vine game, the wave dash, and the gulp.
Diaz has looked so good off the sidewall,
able to win that kickoff there.
First killer, such a tough read to make
against the guy like Diaz.
He's got six seconds to work with on Daniel.
He goes for the block kickoff again in a crucial moment,
but this time he's blocked into the control of Diaz,
who has just to let it hit the ground.
First killer actually, man, wait, what?
No way, it's in the air.
First killer has a chance, he's gonna flip back to this,
pop it back up in the air.
Diaz is supposed to work with Willie Figg,
first-killer's man.
Liesling rushes to the ball and hits it to the ground.
Diaz will take this game.
Wow, what come back by Diaz.
First-killer was up four goals to zero.
Diaz only had one shot in the first half of the game.
He finishes off the 12 to first-killer's 11.
A complete second half takeover, patiently done by Diaz.
And first-killer's got all these crashes.
I said to that one, I'm wondering what went wrong
because everything was going his way.
He was picking away at Diaz's defense.
Diaz is looking for straight in the camera.
He even scored one of the best goals
we've seen all weekend.
And one of the fastest pitches you're going to see all season.
But then it started to go Diaz's way about two minutes ago.
And it was in large part due to that reset.
He got over first-killer set.
Clearly, first-killer remembered that
because later on in the game, Diaz hit
resets underneath first-killer,
predicted the adaptation from FK's defense.
Yeah, it's just great play off the wall from Diaz.
And when he hesitates, it hasn't looked quite as good.
I think back to the crucial goal that gave First Killer
a real chance at the end there,
where he was trying to waste time,
so he hesitated on his touch, ultimately decided,
I probably still should take the year dribble,
and then we saw First Killer take it away.
I don't think there's any reason for Diaz to down his game.
You know, we normally see him in free play type mode
in some of these 1B ones,
where he's just taking every first touch up into the year,
He's just bringing him up there and breaking down defenders left and right seems like when he gets to that
He's still doing well, but maybe trying to play just a little bit safer here in this RCS Grand Final
Then we see him do in show matches for now
It's okay because he's got to lead in the series against first killer, but first killer is right there
Trying to catch back up
Yeah, I think we've got quite a first skillers defense is these guys have played already in the group stage
Clearly Diaz doesn't think that he should be going for full-fledged shavables
against FK, starting off game 4 with a pretty unconvincing fake challenge from Diaz, first
killer will just low 50 right through when they go lane for 1-0.
First killer to the wave dash as he tries to pinch this away, not let Diaz get boost
and all.
It looks like that is what Diaz will get on the left side wall, it will take a bit of
the air.
First killer was already up, Diaz, oh no Diaz, not able to finish it.
and so put as well for FK to make it 2-0.
Initially it looked like Diaz had done the hard part.
He saw a Froskiller challenge come in, but he couldn't get the finish.
He missed it while trying to be too safe.
Obviously he's a bit afraid to hit that hard into the ground in case he misses,
but I get some contacts, of course.
And then we could start for Froskiller,
and it was starting out to be an extremely interesting red final.
Diaz into the way ahead of the ball.
ahead of the ball. What is he gonna do now? He tries to float back to pop it up.
But ultimately didn't lump his remote. DS does not mind going back to his own half.
First killer trying to chase him down. Let him keep the possession. First killer pop this up.
DS was hoping for a demo. Didn't get it. Now on 30 boost. He's got to play the ball.
It's gonna work out. First killer looks awkward and DS will go.
I can't believe DS has gone for this. There's no way First Killer expected him to do that.
With low boost in the back corner, usually that's the one place in defense that you feel comfortable in.
back corner with the ball close by.
Diaz find a way through and that bump on Farskiller was critical
to successfully score. Farskiller flipping away. Diaz knows
that the first shot will be uncontested. That sets up more
in the future. Farskiller's point time to grab boost to the back corner but Diaz
makes about and that's the danger of giving your opponent space.
Farskiller with a little wiggle in the post goal celebration. I guess not
really celebration, is it? It's a great
Hookshot fake. It's so threatening to be able to shoot that your post first killer believed it to be true
Diaz fakes it when that's undercut first killer got retake the lead
It'll wave that as the cash back up to it and guarantee it, but strong kick out puts first killer back on top
Yeah, Diaz isn't in a world of trouble there
You know, he's got he's got a goal for the ball and he needs a way attached to get there
But by doing so he just telegraphs his movements in First Killer.
He's able to bump the ball. First Killer just missed that one.
Tiaz doesn't have boost though so he's got to leave the ball for First Killer.
Brings it down. Tiaz's fake challenge.
Tiaz gets First Killer off the ball immediately but First Killer turns and shoots!
Tiaz didn't see that one coming. What a move by First Killer.
Tiaz was hoping to control this. I don't know if he liked the touch he got there
because he just gives it right back to First Killer.
Maybe he's just going to completely leave and that's why he doesn't have to worry about it, but
Not a good controlling touch
Diaz out ahead of first killer. He took an opportunity to go quickly here
But Diaz in general likes to slow down and first killer able to get around the double jump bump
Attempt there and he's gonna have to get back possession though Diaz
A little bit awkward. He's not able to get an air trouble going out of it because it's so close to the back wall that way around
He's kind of dribble at one inch height here as he takes it down the field.
He's killer.
He's able to take away possession though, flipping through the ball,
going to get a reset and one last shot.
Diaz stops it and gets it to the back wall.
Diaz using some boost to close the gap here.
Doesn't want first killer to tariff.
That's first killer who's found a way to do just that.
Create some space in field.
He's got so many angles to play with.
Diaz managing his boost well in defense here,
but first killer's going to try to throw one past him in the reset.
Top shelf is good.
And it's 5-2.
Great shots from First Killer.
You see Diaz going out for pads.
Didn't think his 30 was enough.
Got all the way up to 54 before taking an angle back
towards an S. Seems like maybe a tougher angle to make the save.
But he thought it was worth the tradeoff.
Was unable to stop First Killer from extending the lead.
This kickoff should go his way though.
He should be able to get everything he wants.
Get off the ball, bounce out to the midfield.
He tries to watch First Killer on either side of the ball.
Athlete, net fly for his killer, early in its progress.
For his killer, after power shoot, he doesn't have any other boost to do anything else,
but he's so good that it's almost in, it's just barely crossbar out.
That's a good build by Diaz. He realized he wasn't going to get there,
so just hope the crossbar recovered in which it did.
And Diaz with a boosted fantasy and offense.
For his killer, trying to survive.
He's got momentum as he flies out of his net, sticks to the vault.
Here comes Diaz again, doesn't quite get it directly off the wall,
But that's going to finish with the tap in.
First killer manages to revive for a little bit there.
But eventually Diaz finds a way through.
Yeah, first killer, no boost.
Kind of on that awkward corner on the wall there.
Diaz knows he's not going to be moving out of that
or making a good play quickly.
So he just slams in off the wall, back out to the net.
I'm sure he wouldn't have minded it, went straight into the net,
but didn't need a bit of a follow up as this one remains close.
Two minutes left to go.
Diaz with 12 boosts.
really careful of you wasn't careful enough so first killer we get a free one
Yeah, I'm not sure what Diaz was looking for here. He was
You know a very awkward angle very low boost as well
So there's obviously not going to be any recovery
First killer had control so Diaz probably might not know where they could show there
Even if he did get exactly what you wanted it. I still don't really see what the upside would have been
He's got what he wants here though, space, boost, handball, the golden trifecta and 1v1,
first skill that closes the gap though.
He's finding another way through.
Diaz own goals, and an attempt to clear it.
You said maybe the previous series taught Diaz not to take his wall to air dribbles,
but I might have to go back and watch the tape there because that is Diaz.
Being shook, being afraid, when does he not take that air dribble?
Instead of taking that air dribble, he cuts it back down to the ground.
No player does that let alone somebody who's as good as he is in the air and then our killer turns and dives to take advantage of that
And gets a freebie. I mean Diaz. Yeah from my perspective you got to play your game. Why are you not playing your game?
You're allowing first killer, you know to take away one of your best weapons without even having to try and Diaz
He's had enough of this one that you see eight first killer goals
And that's more than he wants to see he wants to go next
Yeah in that situation absolutely what he's already done by three
And you know, he's got a little bit more than a minute left to play.
I think that's when he just has to go for it.
He has to back himself to score more often than not.
You know, when he's got a leader, when he's tied,
I can kind of see what he's doing here.
He's trying to...
I think capitalizing the fact that
Parskiller doesn't like to take risks.
Parskiller doesn't really like to take risky challenges.
And yeah, yeah, it's at 3-2 down.
trying too hard to catch our
skill over extending. That
doesn't work. It's picked
apart. And then there was a big
moment. Yes could have gone for
the ball play instead cuts and
feels and just gets completely
dunked on. Yeah, the cotton
field is one thing, but the
fact he's not even shielded the
ball while doing it is very
unusual. It's not easy. Even
there's a reason why I've talked
about this in the ones game
the game. It's a really tough
time for me to see from him. And
he might have good reason. You
know, he's not getting destroyed
in this series by any means, but
he has been doing that in games
that he hasn't looked his best
in the last few years. And I
think he's a really tough
player. And I never would have
thought Diaz would be somebody
who would go against the flow
for an air dribble. So it's just
really surprising for me to see
in games that he hasn't looked his best.
We'll see if he sticks to that,
continues cutting balls that are rolling up the wall,
back down to the ground.
Normally, there's no place on the field where he can do it.
If he missed his back wall, he usually takes them.
He doesn't like them right now.
We'll see.
Oh, and he's back in the penning.
So he's lost game one, switched to the octane.
Blue's game four, back to the penning.
And now he's winning.
Genius.
You know, it might seem like pure placebo,
but this will definitely switch up the way that Diaz
is approaching a kickoff, sitting the ball and kickoff,
even though the hitboxes are the same,
the visual being a different image,
it gets you playing a bit differently,
and also will just change things
from first-guelter's perspective as well.
So it's a nice little changeup that Diaz can go for here.
He makes it 2-0 in 14 seconds.
Diaz, this is something you'll see in three's as well,
just the car change,
and then straight away a player's leveled up.
Yeah, Diaz, does that mind making changes?
I have to think back to a moment
in which I saw him on land changing camera settings
while sitting at the desk.
That doesn't seem like something you should be doing,
but he's just kind of player that switches it all the time.
I know there's some pros out there
who get kind of camera setting placebo,
and they're like, oh, you know,
I don't want to be in works.
Let me just slightly change it for this next game
and I'll play different.
Oh, Diaz is really willing to do that,
but now he's finally doing one of the dribbles.
He's known for his big here.
First-gathered balls for this.
What does Diaz we know and love?
The bikes he's just got three consecutive touches
in the air that are within a couple of millimeters
the ceiling. Just the as things will it be a return to the nor for the defending
North American champion. He's been waiting all day as his soul game for
first four games has been conditioning first killer to expect a grounded
version of Diaz and now he's really unleashed again. Or is he just not
playing right handed? Maybe he reads first killer off the wall. These are the
ways I expect him to counter first killer trying to stop his aerial game. It's
what you see more often than those cuts down to the ground.
And, you know, right now it's working for him,
so I don't know why he'd go away from me.
He's got another reset.
These are the positions that Diaz is so good in.
This time it gets saved.
I wouldn't mind seeing him shoot a little bit more near post
because he keeps shooting far post and allowing
the first killer to get that save across net.
But even then, you know, he hasn't conceded immediately.
So it's still a play that's not terrible for him.
And he probably should stick to it more.
Oh, oh, careful.
Oh, is he like, not quite enough on that first notch.
and set the inside of his own pose.
D.I.'s looking for another mind game.
Barskiller plays the ball, though.
Hard to fake about in that position.
Barskiller, you must be wondering what is going on.
Why is this guy leveled up again?
It's 5-0 inside in 90 seconds.
Despite this being a significantly improved performance,
when compared to last year, we're still D.I.'s favorite.
Definitely, First Killer needs to claw back now.
Wave actually accompanies to stop this ball roll.
And he's got a possession in his favorite truffle power slide.
They're a little bit within.
Build out of it.
Diaz floated from the ceiling.
First Killer, FIAM, doesn't seem to be too panicked by it.
He's just going to go to the opposite wall.
Get into the dribble.
This first touch is away from the net.
So he's actually bailed out of the dribble early.
He's decided, I can't score it.
I'm instead going to try and just play this bottom up position.
Oh, no way.
We didn't get a couple great touches.
And Diaz's got a long shot.
I'm faked by DS. Completely full first killer.
I thought first killer thought this was going to cross the box.
For the boost, he flipped in that direction to win the race.
And DS is going for that boost. He's going for the shot on target. It's 6-0.
DS is really locked in now, much like he did against Zach after falling down to that series.
He's got that other gear to go to. And first killer behind it.
Yeah, it's high pop. No, it's first killer's low on boost.
His follow-up is in, playing great keep away from a defender who cannot do much but watch.
Literally zero, not even a pat to pick up.
You see First Killer trying to get more.
Nope, he's not going to get that.
It's going to have to be with just his jumps and it's not enough.
And it just goes to show you the levels in this game.
I mean, even in the pro level,
First Killer crushes Evo in the semi-final.
Diaz now 7-0 up in that same First Killer in game five of the grand final.
And you look at last season Diaz
Goes and only takes a game off 9-1 lines
You know these guys really are levels above that's gonna be eight as far skilling is faked again
Diaz is inside his head rent free
Makes me wonder how we see you know first killer for football. I can't remember maybe
You know the memory. He can't even forfeit yet. So you have to
It's your point not necessarily that he's gonna forfeit now, but that he might forfeit in a game like this, you know
It's pretty fun to just see it popping right now.
Just calm next to while he's floating in the air because he didn't win the kickoff.
You can see it now. I mean, 9-0. DS has full control. His car's not moving. There it is!
Wow!
The first-skiller's had enough. 9-0 for DS will be the game's scoreline.
That is a crazy game by DS.
I guess the first-skiller is playing this well, who just dominated his semi-final
against an excellent ones player in Evo.
But Diaz switches back to the Fennec and remembers who he is.
I can't believe what we just saw.
He talked about the levels that were at.
You know, when I was watching First Killer in that last semifinal,
I was also thinking about that.
Is there another level?
Someone's going to maybe destroy First Killer in this path.
It's time to see how is it possible that First Killer
that first killer who just dominated you know a top four NA player as thoroughly as he did
could maybe get dominated 9-0 in a game against his next opponent. That's just how it goes
in ones at the highest level. These players who are not just good, not just S tier, but the ones
who win tournaments and hit themselves on this very exclusive land. Almost nobody gets to go to
these lands. DS is the kind of player who gets there. It's just another step up. That being said,
first killer has gotten a couple nice wins here. You know, it's not the end of the world. He does get to reset the scoreline to
00 and try and regain from this, but Diaz has all the momentum he could ever hope for to try and finish off this series.
Yeah, that full picture dribble was a factor in game five. It was early in game five, the full field into the fake.
That's going to be the scariest thing for first killer to witness because it did seem like you mentioned Diaz wasn't playing his usual style.
he seemed like he's a team adapted to try to be more safe, be more careful against Farskiller.
Now he's just got all guns blazing and now he knows him to expect to see more of that here.
Time for Farskiller to stop him. He will start by getting a goal.
Diaz, into the back corner, will we see an Airdrie from or some kind of aerial play?
He actually tapped it away, maybe because Farskiller was around the area.
Farskiller was able to control FDs, has to look and be careful to not get bumped by Farskiller
On this back line, as yet another air triple starts,
Diaz has a bit of a boost to work with,
the first killer is around him and has an early lead.
Actually shot by Perkzkiller,
and he does what he couldn't do in game five.
It's actually massive power,
he's able to get that last up,
so it's difficult to generate more power
when you're air dribbling in the ball like that.
That's a really stretching neck out for it.
Diaz was closing the distance quickly.
Here comes Diaz again.
goes for the low 50 midair, the time trips up Farskiller and the follow up.
He does get so many back up possessions Diaz. Oh, he's on the other side of his
post. That's going to give it's Farskiller and it's going to be a shot immediately as well.
Diaz tricky position. Farskiller, wait, is he originally not? No, he will get back to this.
I'm probably stored. Diaz is dope. Yeah, Farskiller no nonsense. 2-0.
Yeah, I was watching from Diaz Pov and you know, he tried to shoot the long shot short,
didn't go in now it's time to concede the fact that you gave up possession but no yes we wanted to
see what else he could do he just followed it all the way down and every last moment of that I
thought what's he gonna do what's he gonna do oh he's just gonna give him the ball but there
is not a secret it didn't look like a good challenge it ended up not being a good challenge
first killer i can't believe he's got two in the first minute after he just got absolutely
routed by these in the last game really go for this back wall air dribble first killer
does know how to stop it, or at least try to stop it by staying close, and he's able to redirect it off target.
It is actually crazy to see that that's the go-to defensive strategy, but it looked like a great flavor for Skiller to dive in that early.
He didn't want to give Diaz the reset, even if it's close to his half, even if it was in his half firmly.
Now the fight for the back corner was Diaz's wave, dashed Bup's first Skiller off of it.
Look like first killer is on that way too soon pros still like all of us not adapted to the update but first killer no issues
Stays an offense and scores the next passive self off the side wall
That's so funny the watch them just camps on the corner and then get fucked up not even get the boost after waiting there forever
This is just such a momentum based series right now nine straight goals for Diaz in that last game now a
3-0 start for first killer almost two minutes off the block without idea school after he put up nine and just about the same
Out of time, but he does get this over the top of first killer first-first
First killer stick it to the same game plan in defense just getting up into the air early denied a reset
Fortunately for him here. Diaz didn't play for one. He just air dribbles over the top of it
Really go me wondering if first killer wins this game would Diaz go back to the octane again
with the fact that he's won a game 9-0 in the Fennec, make him stay with the Fennec for game 7.
Obviously it's game 7, all of us are hoping for. The sick of the pre-jumps just takes a long shot
and it's not a long shot you expect to go in, but it will make 1st Killer think twice about pre-jumping
next time. You got a sweet bounce out of the back. Well, he really wants to demo and he's not going
to get it. 1st Killer managing to dodge to get away from that, but still a very low boost. He is
Trying a muscle first killer away from the plate.
He's got a low view defender.
It's goes from the ceiling, and gets the reset.
Oh, wow.
With the ceiling, but didn't stay in control of it.
First killer able to take over.
Yeah, first killer put him off there.
He just appeared in front of him.
Now first killer at the other end,
looking for a low 50 of his own.
Got the reset just in case.
Both these guys desperately trying to read each other's.
Almost unreadable aerial games.
Very low scoring game, especially
with the offensive prowess on show.
First killer once more.
Reach up immediately, shots in time.
Diaz thinking, well, surely he fights off.
Because I've just taken a long shot from a similar position,
but no.
First killer sees the air dribble coming.
And even when Diaz, who has sight around the ball,
notices First Killer's going to challenge,
he tries to adjust the dribble so that he can win the 50 move.
First Killer just too strong, too quick, arrives.
Before Diaz is ready, Diaz, be careful here.
That shot was not good enough.
First Killer's going to rush straight back the other way.
Diaz does manage to make up for his mistake.
and get back to make the save,
but it's a tough position to be in.
It's gonna be the chance to try again this time.
Now with the carry, you can't get up into the air
off of that position in the corner.
Fakes, and Purskiller has a ball for it.
Now maybe a chance to the air.
Purskiller coming down for the ceiling.
He loves his ceiling challenges, and he intercepts this.
He's just wasting Diaz's time here.
Purskiller in plain survival mode.
Diaz is a huge first advantage, though,
and will 50 at end for his second goal of the game.
A very impressive defense for Purskiller
to survive this long.
Yeah, Tia is just pulling it out as far as he can to the middle of the net or out to the opposite post.
So first killer has no choice but to jump and dive across.
Then he can win 50 in.
He tried to, but first killer saw it coming and flipped through in order to counter that physical play.
And now he's picked the challenge in and got Tia to drop this ball to the ground.
Interesting free flip touch there.
The first killer is so good when chasing down the ball, on zero boost he's managed to regain control.
DS has his rolling in the corner when he takes it to the air, where his first killer is off on the bottom left there.
DS going to this into the field, face the flick! First killer chumps and still makes a save, but it is DS's possession.
At least I thought it was. First killer doing enough to bully DS off for a moment.
DS recognizing, no I can go back in and take control but now he's just handed it over. It's going to be first killers.
up on the side wall this could help secure a game seven if you could finish
this one off when you try to their role instead of going for a reset Diaz was
there for it counter attack soft touch I'm not sure he's gonna modify this is
not the best play from that point. Farskiller's doing so well to stay with
the play despite being stuck in zero boost and defense so many times now Diaz
forced back to the ground by Farskiller's free jump he cannot find a way
through the defense that Farskiller sets up at the halfway line now his
Here's comes the long-shot first killer strategy doesn't have any boost. He still gets the same
Maybe into some crossbar
Final few seconds of the game. Can Diaz find a way through? No first killer stops him again
First killer is playing on nothing on this field. It doesn't matter
He maintains his speed so well and a great flick to just put an exclamation point on the end of this game
He's got Diaz wanting to go next. You know what?
North America betrayed us last time betrayed the 1v1 game mode not giving us a game 7
But they have given us a forgiveness. We got game 7 in North American 1v1
Once again 1v1 delivers sprints all throughout the world's
We pads game 7 in Europe. We've had game 7 in me now
We've even had game 7 inside of my memories not feeling in here in North America as well
game seven. It's just truly unbelievable how often this has happened throughout the years.
But this time, it's Farskiller going toe-to-toe with DS.
We knew that he was going to be the main competition when we saw the players who have signed up for this,
but we didn't think you'd be able to step up this much from being swept forward zero last year.
Now, he is right there on DS level.
Yeah, North America was a threat to be the most run of the mill, the most chock bracket.
Just put Diaz right back there on land over in Mina.
There's a couple of different contenders who can take anybody down.
Same thing with EU.
I mean, EU is tough.
South America, I thought South America was maybe second place.
You know, I thought a Yan was, or maybe a Swift.
Even then, we saw somewhat a completely new player, neither of those two.
And now NA proving that it is not free for Diaz.
He has a chance still to be the representative
and to get another chance on land.
I think he desperately wants it.
And in one point, you'll get lands multiple times
throughout the year.
You've got to wait a full year
before you're going to get another chance.
Diaz is going to be bummed if he has to do that
and can't correct his mistakes last time around.
First, he has to get through first killer here
on Champions Field.
And for the first time in the series,
Diaz has lost the game and he stayed in the same car.
After that night nail earlier on,
I think he's still feeling pretty good
The Fennec is his main car. Oh, he just barely gets away from first skillers devil threat early
Which would have no time results in a goalie's get a return the paper far sculler escapes that one both players
So close to being demoed first skiller stays on the ball though, and it's 1-0
Diaz almost had a spectacular recovery as he got a recent off the ball
And maybe use that to get back in net if he had checked that up and saved it. I would have been so impressed
But instead, it's gonna be first killer who starts off in the lead, into the wave-dash
tank off, maybe another chance on that.
Diaz cuts it off and grabs the 100.
First killer gonna be forced back.
What does Diaz go to?
When he has a bit of space, it's gonna be his wall to air dribble this time out of the
corner.
Great first touch, has the reset.
Everything can be threatened, but he goes to the ground and first killer covers it.
I would like to see a high shot there from the start off the game for Diaz.
He does still get the goal as far as killer loses control in the following play.
He just panicked, he thought Diaz was going to go off immediately there, but the first
killer was not contested on that plate.
Diaz, even though he doesn't score on the immediate dribble, he's not being able to
keep possession as well.
And as that this time, he's now going to pop this one up, has to go to the back corner
for 100.
Oh wow, now because first coach is going to shoot right away.
Diaz, he's going to stop that, now winning out of 50.
How does he try and collect this ball here?
He's going to let it bounce out.
He's doing the midfield first killer.
The flick is just barely off.
Diaz wants to force it but recognizes he does not want to go for the ball.
Maybe he shut up because going back down to the ground just leaves the net open.
Diaz and first killer are both looking nervous.
In game seven, first killer gave away possession.
This moment to go, Diaz could not convert with it.
And now Diaz, second guessing himself.
Not quick enough back to the grind though.
It's not 1st Killer's long shot, which seems like it's good to be a continued part of 1st Killer's game here.
But there's so many shots from distance, so many early challenges.
SDS aerial game, there's no reset there for 1st Killer.
DS new, both players, they're half attack and boost.
1st Killer shoots, DS saves.
These low boost situations, 1st Killer's been so good in DS though.
Gonna make it not a low level situation.
Whoa, 1st Killer afraid of the demo, pulled away, just didn't take the shot.
As Diaz was returning, he wanted to evade it, he did.
He's looking at how many moves to work with, he'll finally get a hundred.
Great setup for Mani Urgible right here, he keeps it fairly low,
making it tough for Diaz to try and challenge back down off the ceiling.
And being said, Diaz still makes contact, he's trying to float away,
able to survive as First Killer only undercuts him.
Now we see Diaz also looking to try and slow down the aerial play,
although he's going to back it off, First Killer's not doing this,
he's not backing off, he's challenging every time he can with Diaz.
Oh, but now it's a reversal of roles Diaz gets the long shot Diaz
Scores to tie the game from distance first killer got tangled up in the back corner
He was trying to trip Diaz up, but he was the one who took more of an impact from that one
Unbelievable scenes these guys are absolutely neck and neck
They're keeping it simple in game seven, but first killer's accidentally bumped Diaz into the ball here
Diaz they're returning the favor both players have a hundred minutes
Ball straight down from the ceiling. Could have been awkward, but Diaz left, allowing first-killer to happen.
For you, he was trying to re-flip flicks. The first time I've seen him try and go for that.
All series long, it's an incredibly risky play, and you need tons of space to do it.
You need to be able to completely finish your flip while popping through it.
Diaz just reads it, dunks it, and gets a goal.
I mean, that's just so aggressive by Diaz. First-killer thought he was going to give him space.
Diaz does not. He stays active.
What's to say in control, but now he's missed his ball.
This is the most nervous we've seen both these guys first skill is going wide open that takes his time
But that paddles it in with about his little confidence is another seed
That was safe, which is all about
Three three all mounted up who is going to shake it off earlier
It starts to just make the little things happen just the right touches in the midfield
In order to play your somewhat regular game that could even mess your kids gonna leave that boost in the midfield
And now, while he's taking air dribble, he still feels confident that First Killer is of course going to rise up to meet him as early as possible.
Diaz will get back for a boost steal, and since it's the other way forward, he'll get a race off to the other side. Diaz gets there first, gets First Killer off the ball, now has a reset way far away from the net.
He's going to find a way to score this and try to wave that shot. He'll steal the opposite boost. He doesn't mind doing this as many times as he needs to.
First Killer you see picking up pads, so he's sending a workbook. He's almost got a full take off of it, and Diaz shoots directly at him.
Now, Berskiller, he's building his boost back up, he's managed to turn over the possession, Diaz pops it over to set, Berskiller's at zero,
letting Diaz to the punch, chance to go up by one, and again he takes it, composure, for the North American.
Great defensive sequence there for Berskiller, you find yourself having to deal with Diaz,
taking the back corner boost back and forth on the right, Berskiller recognizes his moments and
and when she can build up an entire tank and escape from defense,
Vias is going to be enough to at least help him for now,
but he's going to be in that safe spot where he was in earlier.
He's just even as good as Chris Goose is.
Here's what we'll reset.
Touchdown for Chris Goose.
He's up two.
And Chris Goose's first touch is just better
than any of the ones Diaz had.
Had the goal in front of him, could see where Diaz was,
and he didn't waste any time getting it on target.
First killer by two.
in what's been an incredibly back and forth grand final.
Horskiller fake kickoff, Diaz saw it, chips it on target.
Horskiller still got momentum in there,
but no boost to play with.
Diaz flicks it over him, and that's gonna be four.
What a kickoff by Diaz.
Diaz converting this time around.
Every time Horskiller's on zero boost now in net,
I don't worry for him.
I don't worry for him at all because he's been so good
at making the right play,
making the right challenge to survive.
This time, he dives in and Diaz does manage
to get it over the top.
and that's normally the results from players in that position.
First Killer has just convinced me that it's not the case.
Diaz over touches the ball.
He's now going to fully reset.
This is Diaz's game.
First Killer isn't allowing it.
No back wall air dribble.
He chases down the ball.
And Diaz has to be careful not to hand this possession
over to First Killer.
It should be his.
Diaz finally going to get First Killer back off.
It's a crucial double jump.
He's clearly challenged.
And Diaz is equalized.
Oh, that is just cold from Diaz.
Twice in a row.
He has perfectly timed first-killer challenges, and I'm really doing me perfectly first-killer fake to challenge.
Let go of his boost just for a moment, and then as soon as he goes again, Diaz makes a double jump.
And it doesn't look fancy, but it is effective.
Now Diaz get buffed away from the plate. First-killer scores it!
He gets to kick off Bill right back.
The undercuts Diaz here, gets the wave dash and uses that to get down the ground just a little bit faster.
Brieflips is trying to put himself where he knows Diaz is headed to undercut him and get that advantage
He has his now not just in that game but
One Diaz
Looking down at first killer. See what he's up to one in the back wall for us
50 so he can keep it around and get a follow-up on that the guy who does
I mean it's first killer with the same idea
Double tap from Diaz, actually leaned away from the second touch though, to keep the ball in the area.
He predicted First Killer's save, tricks him up for the lead and we're all tied up again.
Huge kickoff on the back though. Diaz gets the 100 boost and hits a free bounce.
Will he take it to the air? First Killer's up immediately with him. He's getting lost a little bit.
I mean, the ball, they're going to meet it around a ceiling height.
First Killer, oh, I get the shot on target.
So it's going to be Diaz's possession. 12 seconds left to go. Could be the final possession of this game. Diaz bounce off the wall.
First killer needs to be in the midfield. Not an easy challenge from first killer, but he manages to get there.
And now, really trying to keep it up in the final moments. He's got a ball carry. Diaz shadowing.
Dunks is down the ground. We got OT in game 7.
Who's going to watch up? Who's going to lock in? It's Diaz who's got the first chance.
First killer, gonna play ball in low boost.
Diaz trying to get a turn here without getting dunked on.
He's got it.
Trying to air dribble.
First killer's up again.
Pre-jumped him.
Diaz is gonna seal the boost away.
He got pushed into the corner.
Now, first killer low on boost.
Diaz in the air.
First killer on the back wall to try and stop it.
Diaz goes all the way around
and never tries to put it on target.
He's got first killer in such a tough spot,
but he's escaped so many different times this series.
He's gonna be on the 10th.
First killer goes on the 10th,
and he can't get the 10th.
Tiaz gets the win!
GGs! Tiaz defends his title in the most dramatic fashion.
Farskeller pushed him to a place he's never had to go.
At least of all in North America, but at the end of the day, there's only so many air dribbles you can defend.
Farskeller defended so many of them, but Tiaz emerges victorious.
He has just did such a good job of converting that overtime possession, got control, first
killer was forced to back off multiple different times and ultimately going back to one of
the most reliable moves in 1v1.
The pop bump, able to save first kill out.
He even got a touch, he got underneath it but he couldn't stop it.
Tiaz is going to go to land once again.
You will be North American's representative.
He's going to be taking on Mass in the semifinals of the World Championship for 1v1.
His second appearance, he's going to try to go one step further than he did before.
Well what a grand final, what a performance by both.
Let's head back to the desks to break it down.
It wasn't decided until the final moment, but Diaz is back to back North American 1v1
champions.
What a game.
What a series.
I mean stacks. So while you watch on jmvjip sunday and still a lot of performance man that
You know again, we we go all day expect okay like we're all here to see Diaz was first killer right and we gave everybody the
Opportunity to play spoiler and show why they deserve to be in the final
Nana it was Diaz and first killer and it delivered after making us wait all day
They go to overtime game seven
just a wild roller coaster throughout the entire final like 90 seconds and into overtime of game seven. You couldn't ask for a better finish.
Bates I mean after after a sweep in 2025 we were like is it going to be close? What's it going to be like? They went to game five two days ago and we said I should be a little bit different this time around.
from this time around and first looking out of the gates,
swinging in gate one, winning it nine to three,
immediately told us we had a different series on our hands
and boy how he wasn't.
Yeah, it's a great series.
That was DS's offense versus FK's low boost defense
and he put on a display defensively.
Remind me a lot of Nobu versus Roas
in their grand final last year in 2025
where, I mean, nobody had all the pressure.
He's kept shooting and then Roas's defense,
Low boost, 12 boost, 16 boost, 6 boosts at times.
Just constantly kept making saves.
But at the end of the day, that much offensive pressure,
it doesn't matter who you are.
Eventually you're going to break.
And then Diaz, I don't think we saw him go forward
the whole entire series.
The bump, the bump, their triple bump.
FK wasn't expecting it.
Lined up, linear line, took him out.
And FK even got a touch too.
It just, it's just so hard.
It's so hard to avoid the bump and get the power
and then played above the crossbar.
It was, it's just tough.
Ah, it's just tough for that first killer.
It's the pressure that Diaz puts on you though, man.
Like, we saw either it was near zero or very early on
and overtime, you know, how first killer had got to the back.
Well, he didn't have a lot of boost.
Diaz didn't have much.
He had just picked him up and immediately turned.
And he's already almost up at the ceiling
in the blink of an eye.
It's just you get no respite at all against him.
Yeah, and and first killer matched him toe to toe the entire way.
And that continued into overtime.
And like you said, he got a piece of it.
He got a touch on that at the end, and it just wasn't enough.
Diaz finally would not be denied.
But boy, did he have to earn every bit of it today.
This just felt like one of those series where someone like it's just someone had to win.
It didn't even it feels like if we go if we went
If this was the best of nine, we'd be back into game nine by the end of it.
FK would come back and win game eight.
We'd have we'd be coming back and forth at some point.
You got to call it. You say, all right, next goal wins.
And that happened to be the one.
But you run it again the next day.
Who knows what a duel.
I mean, also how close the one V one grand finals were across the board.
Every single region that's playing games, the champion, they all went to game seven.
I just checked incredible, incredible competition here.
And I think this is the one that was maybe the most questionable about where it go the distance and it's in here
We did. Oh my goodness. What performance? Yeah, and I will say
Yes, it's composure. I had first kill. I mean it came out hot and DS actually started series with the FedEx switch back to his Octane
It was a USA working for me there. It wasn't that comfortable in it
It was but there was the game five that not was it again five nine. Oh, I believe that was occasion nine
Oh, and game five. Yeah, he has a lot of momentum
some yeah at that point I was like oh god here we go neo tokyo first go down
is that he's gonna lose right here but he didn't bounce back it was insane
game three it's like you know what Johnny said right there Johnny say you
broke the sound barrier I mean like even here like you just see it he has
constantly it's the low fakes the low fake fakes and to the air dribbles into
the recess into the top corner and then I mean we're not gonna see that build up
I think even before overtime that stacks up to about game seven, but it really is his ability to transition straight
Straight from taking your booze back into the air taking our shot back into the air as a consistent pressure
You've got to deal with that and it honestly if he wanted to go against anybody else
But first killer he probably would have swept them, but first kill is because of just that great
I think you could say the same for both these guys if they're playing anybody else in the tournament
This is a sweet. It's maybe a very generous
for one. Now these two were the best in the region. We knew it coming in. We expected the rematch. We
got it. I'm just so happy it delivered. I mean, this was a heavyweight bout from Bell to Bell.
And yes, the better man won, but it was not decisive by any means. It wasn't decisive,
But the final goal goes in.
The championship is won and Diaz is back to back.
North American 1v1 champions were joined by him now, sir.
Congratulations on the victory.
I got to ask, man, it's game seven.
You kind of weren't really tested by anyone other than FK
in this entire tournament.
What was the hardest part of winning this championship?
FK is an amazing player.
He's so good at every mode.
And then in once he's annoying than any other mode.
He's so annoying once and makes me work so hard to be a 10.
Yes, congratulations.
Yet again, representing, I mean, you represent Sam as well in a way you're from Sam,
but you also represent North America in two time in a regional champion in once.
Now you got got him past this point, looking forward to the World Championship.
Where will you say where?
How would you describe your level this year in comparison to last year and prepping for like a nascent, potentially a nobu?
I believe that this year I'm more for Fred mentally than the year before. So I have more mental now.
I can't imagine who that is running around in the background, but congratulations Diaz.
You know, mentality, oh so important, especially in the ones here.
Yeah, first killer, I think he hit that pinch in, I think it was game three.
I think he gave him a two or three goal lead very early on in that game.
You managed to come back and win that game.
I think that's kind of one of the key moments in this whole series.
How do you kind of get back into the right mindset after kind of giving up a big goal like that and, uh,
managing to bring it all the way back several goals in a very short amount of time?
Uh, I just think like me once you have so much time to do whatever you want.
So you can square it as many goals as the opponent to like 30 seconds.
So, you just need to have mental and a good mindset and give them a fairly big team if
you think you can beat him.
And I want to give you an opportunity for shout out, but I just want to talk about like, how
what has it been like being with SSG this year?
You guys going into the world championship with your 3v3 roster, you look hot, your teammates
are 2v2 champions, you're the 1v1 champion, SSG is going in representing North America
a big fashion. How's it been to be with SSG this year? SSG is an amazing Oregon. Mike's teammates
are amazing too. Skriva's and Reveal, Zach and Reveal. And X-Pair, my coach, like they are all
amazing, good teammates, and I'm happy to have them with me this year. I'm so happy. Well,
you got any final shout-outs you want to make here before I let you go? The floor is yours.
to my mom and to my dad. That's it. We love that. We love that. The family representation,
sir. Congratulations on the back to back championships. Good luck at the World Championship. Thank
you. Bye. All right. Diaz gets it done again. There are only two players repeating as regional
champions of the World Championship. And what a road it was to get there. Took out his
championship, and what a road it was to get there. Took out his teammate Zach and the
uppers yesterday took out wavy and four and then it had to hold off the best first killer
we've seen in a while here Bates, but he got it done.
He did get it done and it wasn't easy. And that's such a great fun fact that you have
about all these players who would be representing their regions in Dickies Arena. The fact that
he all went game seven. I mean, no defending, reigning RCS 1v1 world champion had to go
game seven against his teammate TRK. Push him to the brink. Nass. Went up against Zen,
I believe, if I recall correctly in that final. Had to go game seven to get that one done.
I think D has gone off against FK all the way to the end. He's just like these type of series,
this type of level. These players, I mean, especially in 1-1 nowadays and how hard it's to
defend and how hard it is to just reset. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be a show.
He's gonna be sure one or two who's are both gonna be super exciting in Dickey's. I know that might just copy super exciting
It's gonna be great man stacks. He's got he's got NAS come out of the gates here
Diaz does but if he manages to make it through the European champion
He might get himself a rematch with no boo. They played in the semifinals last year
He didn't get the chance to play as anyone else
He had to go right up against the eventual world champion in the semis
Imagine if he gets the rematch in the grand finals in Dickey's arena. Yeah, remember the first time I went to Dickey's arena that Friday night
We had the Friday night duals and it was like TRK Yan and all these kind of like kind of dream matchups that we wanted to see.
And now we go back to Dickie's Arena.
We have these duals.
They have real real stakes to them.
And you know, I think, you know, all respect to KV-1.
I would love for the chaos of it all.
I would love to see him upset Nobo and give us a guaranteed New World champion.
But Nobo against either of those two, I think constitutes a dream matchup for me.
I can't wait until we're in front of Esports greatest fans inside.
I think he's arena for that one be one final.
No, we have we have talked very little about KV one and all of this.
And it's because he's going up against the reigning defending world champion right now.
But what an upset match that is what a trap game that is for no blue there here.
It baits I feel like this is like KV one definitely has an opportunity.
And the KV was not a scrub.
I mean, he had to beat the end.
I believe in the semis.
I think thinking to the end of the play with Steve as the guy who'd be in game seven.
Um, and he had a run too, man. It looked like he was gonna be the guy
Yeah, and so like keeping one of me
He's always been really good at ones and um in Sam for a long time Johnny's always been talking about that for many many years
There's the fact that then it Yan came up with he came up swift came up and you're like, okay
He was kind of paid off into the to the limelight, but now he's like no
I'm still here. I can still compete the highest level and take it now
Yeah, I remember a person who brought moxie all the way to game seven in Birmingham
If I'm correct, don't
First week when you might have was yeah, moxie reverse what was yandup 3.0 and mark said reverse Sweden
Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, and and so yeah
So like and we saw the level that moxie has all the level honestly any European 1v1 talent has at this stage
So to take out again and meet with Steve KV was not gonna be on slouch either
Every single one of those players in that bracket can definitely win it. Now you got your favorite everybody can definitely handle business
It's gonna be a fantastic show. I hope to see you there for folks now that concludes all of the
Regulation play of the RLCS before the world championship
We've completed the 2v2s and the 1v1s down there
The only thing that is left are the opens for the last chance
Qualifiers this 3v3 action you and your friends can sign up and try to play for the title of Rocket League world
champion. It'll be July 23rd through 26th. We have probably
through 27th. We have no, no, no, excuse me. It's through the
26th. That's how math works here. There's only four days of
action in a row. Scan the QR code on your screen. If you want
to be a part of it, we'll be doing the Middle East, North
Africa on the 23rd. We'll be doing South America on the 24th,
North America on the 25th, and then OCE will have a tie
breaker as well as Europe having their last chance
qualifier on the 26th. So that's what's coming up next. Teams
teams are gonna qualify. There will be more teams at the World Championship. We don't
know who. We got good ideas in a few of these regions who the hot contenders are, but Bates,
they've been mixing up their rosters. Anything could happen at any four of those events.
I mean, anything can happen. And also, I mean, there's, there's a gap. I mean, the 3v3
pairs, I was in May, LCQ's, the LCQ teams, I mean, they haven't played since some of
them in April. And then, and then going into that, that's April to July jump. And then
for the 3v3 teams, our next big tournament is EWC.
That's in August.
So, I mean, the season is all in one within one season,
but there's a big break in between.
So a lot of people's levels and how they pair,
how they deal with this break in 3v3 actions
really doesn't matter a lot, especially on the road
to the World Championship.
So just because Carmine came out of Paris
and got the job done,
Hey, see, might not be the best team, come come Dickies.
We're talking about a mainland versus a September land.
So everybody's gotta stay sharp.
Hey, the mayor's coming back to Fort Worth.
That's all I'm saying.
Oh, God, not the mayor.
That's true.
Listen, I'll say the last time the mayor
won the World Championship, base is gone right after that.
I didn't talk to another single person.
No, it's not.
It's going to be a wild event.
Bleeding is a monkey moon.
Pull it up again.
I hope to see you guys there.
That's the next big event we have.
But we will be live Thursday, Thursday, July 23rd at 9 AM
for the games of the Mina qualifiers.
We'll see you guys there.
Okay, the Palmer's fixing that burst pipe.
It should be all set.
Good thing you're protected 24-7 with your home and auto bundle from Progressive.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to figure out the right caption to post about these.
Maybe something like, I have protection, just need a lifeguard.
What about that emoji with a shocked face?
Or maybe flooded with emotion.
That's too much. Try, uh, Tuesdays are crazy.
You know, technically, you don't have to post everything that happens online.
I totally believe you. Life is meaningless with that affirmation, am I right?
Let's just start the build-up.
Just a major look at the finish.
Oh, what a dabble.
Oh, Stizzy.
Down to the double jack.
Open up.
Here they are.
Big shot.
Pass.
Oh, a play.
Not over.
Two seconds.
It's two-way on the ground.
One of the ports.
That is how you take an opportunity, real ass.
You have to be excited to count the man to open the door.
The magic of Rocket League is the stories you could tell about it.
The zero second buzzer gears that Epic saves, the underdog victories.
It's all there.
As we return to this legendary arena, we'll witness Rocket League's story unfold together.
Who will hang their team's banners in the rafters of Champions Field?
Let's start to find out.
You're like how I get into the moment
Treat you like a man while I only wish we were
There's something special about the time of night
There's something special that can heal the night
You don't mind what you show me when you're certain
But you don't mind when I take control of your body
The sound is special but there's time and night
As I look at the sky for the day
It's ready for a run in a sticky lane
The sound is special but there's time and night
The song is special between me and the
You gotta help me out, help me out
I have a closest to dreaming eyes
You gotta help me out, help me out
Swim, I'll show you to breathe your eyes
Don't you ever give up, baby
I just can't be alone tonight
I just can't be alone tonight, I'm taking like a bone, falling in love, she said, tearing off the stage, hoping that we'll be right here.