In 2001, the Seattle Mariners signed Ichiro Suzuki from the Japanese major leagues, a landmark international transfer at the time. It paid immediate dividends. The Mariners were transformed into world-beaters, tying the record for regular season wins.
NRG has a similar story. After the retirement of longtime NRG staple Fireburner this summer, GarrettG and Jstn looked to Europe to fill the void. They imported three-time world champion Turbopolsa, relocating him to North America in hopes that they’d finally exorcise their demons and become Rocket League world champions.
That’s where the parallels between the Mariners and NRG end. The Mariners fizzled out quickly in the playoffs. NRG didn’t suffer the same fate. NRG went on to become the best team in Rocket League.
The RLCS Season 8 World Championships in Madrid were surprisingly light on drama and surprises. European one-seed Team Reciprocity were eliminated sooner than anyone would’ve expected. Surprisingly few matches went to a final deciding game. All the excitement was saved for the Grand Finals.
NRG and Renault Vitality put on an absolute show in the Grand Finals, leaving the result for the seventh game in the best-of-seven series. It was a tense back-and-forth. Jstn opened the scoring with an incredibly creative aerial fake where he pulled off the ball to demolish the netminder. A bit later, a mad scramble on the NRG goalline resulted in Vitality brute forcing the ball into the net. Five minutes couldn’t resolve this.
Source: Destructoid NRG imported one of Rocket League’s biggest superstars and now they’re finally world champions