Drippay joins Evil Geniuses
Since the end of the Season 6 Rocket League World Championship, there have been many surprising transfers from both North American and European teams, but nobody expected Australian player, Matthew “Drippay” Den-Kaat to travel across the world and join an American organization like Evil Geniuses.
Roster Update: Evil Geniuses Rocket League — Welcome @DrippayRL from the @ChiefsESC 🇦🇺!
Read more here: https://t.co/6goiOddmuR pic.twitter.com/MAWAdqgv63
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) January 12, 2019
Largely considered the best player in the Oceania region, Drippay helped Chiefs Esports dominate in its region for the past four seasons. This roster change has now brought the end of the longest standing duo in Rocket League esports, with both Drippay and his former teammate, Daniel “Torsos”Parsons, having played together for a total of 803 days over the past four seasons.
Although Drippay has proven himself to be one of the best players in his region, many members of the Rocket League community are skeptical that he will help fix Evil Geniuses’ problems.
“It probably won’t end well, but that opens the door for him to join another team in North America, so that makes me excited,” Octane staff member Michael “Dexzy” Lillis said. Octane content creator Frederic “Classique” Nolet also commented on the trade, stating that he has little faith in this change.
Chicago joins G2 Esports
Another major roster change this off-season sees Reed “Chicago” Wilen join G2 Esports from Evil Geniuses. With this change, G2 have dropped their longest standing member, Cameron “Kronovi” Bills.
Watch him GO! Check out what our new Rocket League player @Chicago_RL can do on the pitch!
📽️ WATCH: https://t.co/EJ0Q2xlCIm pic.twitter.com/7dMpTjbuAS
— G2 Esports (@G2esports) January 11, 2019
“This decision wasn’t made easily, as Kronovi has always been a focal point of our team and its founding member,” G2 announced regarding the roster change. “He’s an exemplary professional and was a strong and vocal captain during his time leading the team. With Chicago joining the roster, we’re expecting to add even more hunger for the win. The 17-year-old North American striker brings an ambitious attitude and has been showcasing his great skills on EG in the last couple of months.”
“I’m excited because whenever I watch Chicago play; he always has perfect positioning,” said Sebastien Martin-Schultz of theScore esports. “He will go for that shot if it’s worth the risk, but not in a C9-esque way, though. I think he’ll mesh well under the G2 roster and Rizzo will have a more mechanically gifted player to work with. If Jknaps can get to top form, then I definitely think that G2 will be a scary team.”
Frederic “Classique” Nolet also commented on this roster change, stating that “Chicago is a fantastic addition to the roster and makes G2 a solid contender for the best team in NA, in my opinion. Now to see if his style meshes well with Rizzo and Jknaps. If it does, then, man, will they be scary.”
Kaydop joins Team Vitality
Two-time Rocket League world champion Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant has left Dignitas to join Team Vitality in one of the most unexpected roster changes of the off-season.
Our 1st @RLEsports year has been filled with ups & downs. In 2019, we want our @RenaultSportF1 Team Vitality squad to reach & stay at the top all season long 💪
To achieve that, we're welcoming a champion who proved its worth with @Dignitas: the talented and experienced @Kaydops pic.twitter.com/1DU5vTyJWa
— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) January 13, 2019
With Kaydop joining the team, founding member Philip “Paschy90” Paschmeyer has stepped down from the team, according to a post he made on Twitter.
I have some private plans I wanna try to accomplish, so it seems like I am going to quit rocket league 🙂 it was a fun ride, and I hope @RocketLeague will be there for a long time. 🤠
— Paschy90 (@Paschy90) January 11, 2019
Throughout Season 4 and 5, Kaydop and his former team absolutely dominated the Rocket League scene, earning themselves back-to-back world championships. However, they fell short in Season 6, finishing as runners-up.
“Kaydop leaving Dignitas is really interesting because it will tell us if Kaydop was actually the mastermind behind their great dynamic playstyle, or if that falls on Turbo and ViolentPanda,” said Octane staff member Lillis.
This article will be updated as more roster changes are announced.