Season 6 of the Rivals Championship Series kicked off last September with an expansion of our Australian region to include all of Oceania. As New Zealanders officially joined the fray, players battled over four events themed after our upcoming characters, followed by a high stakes finals event that concluded this weekend. It didn’t disappoint as the Oceanic RCS saw one of its most fierce battles to date, featuring titans from events across the season.
Special thanks to @LichgoFGC for running the finals stream.
A Look Back at the Season
RCS Hot Springs
The season opener saw last year’s Champion, SNC, tear out the gates to secure his win in the biggest event of the year. A grand finals reset over OSU left Jet and Gabe smelling blood in the water at 3rd and 4th place respectively.
RCS Melody
After finding his way back to grand finals from winners side, SNC fell to Jet twice to award the legendary Wrastor his first of two victories in Season 6.
Some of the final standings for season 6.
RCS Fireworks
A return to form for Australian giant, Gabe, as he secured a flawless victory over both SNC and Jet. Gabe’s crown marked the third unique winner in three months, with one tournament to go before the RCS Finals in January.
RCS Crystal
After three events, the Oceanic region finally sees its first repeat champion. Gabe fell to Xenix in winners semis, setting up a losers run where he would eventually double eliminate Jet to take home the victory in the last regular season event of the year. Now with the finals on the horizon, Gabe managed to secure two RCS victories while sticking to the Elemental theme of each event.
The Season 6 OCE Champion
The RCS Finals
With the regular season out of the way, Jet had earned his spot at the top of the RCS leader-board, while Gabe remained the only player in the region to secure multiple championships.
The stage was set for an epic finale between the two players, with Jet and his teammate, Random7Flame striking an early blow with a victory in doubles on day 1. Day 2 did not disappoint, because this time it was Jet’s turn to get upset in winners semis, allowing for a losers run of his own. Jet managed to drive home back to back set wins over Gabe to top off his RCS mastery of Season 6.
Our OCE Champion – Jet!
After the dust settled, we reached out to our champion for a brief interview regarding his journey:
SBS: How did you first hear about Rivals and get into the scene as a competitor?
Jet: Before Rivals, I had given a few different games a go as a competitor, Battlefield 3, Dota 2, and Rocket League, with varied success. So when I learnt about Rivals of Aether from a youtube video back in 2015, I thought it would be a great game to try my hand at competitively. Played around with all 8 characters at the time, and found Wrastor to be my favourite to play,
Stuck with it ever since.
SBS: How long have you been playing Rivals for? How long did you play the game before entering brackets?
Jet: Just over 6 years now, having started playing Rivals around late 2015/start of 2016. I believe the first bracket I played was Dreadful Duels XII, which was hosted January 14th, so around 3 weeks of playing before I entered my first bracket…
A blast from the past…
SBS: This season was hard fought from beginning to end, with tournaments won by three separate competitors. What was your most difficult hurdle on your climb to the top?
Jet: Physical health has been my biggest hurdle. Like many others I have dealt with my fair share of hand and arm injury, a product mostly from practicing guitar as much as I do. It is a struggle to play some tournaments when your arms and hands are aching, so in the lead up to RCS finals I took a break from playing guitar and went to the physio to get myself fixed up. Of course I ended up getting covid a half a week before the RCS finals. But it wasn’t enough to hold me back..
SBS: One of your toughest hurdles this season looked like the return of former Australian champion, Gabe. His first active season since Season 3 came with a fourth and two first place finishes during the regular season, before ultimately leading to a grand finals clash with you in the RCS Finals. What was your approach to overthrowing him with the championship on the line?
Jet: Most of my friendlies have been played against Gabe this season, we have adapted a lot to each other’s playstyle and pushed to improve our gameplay. With so many games, there comes a lot of mental notes on how they play. So I went into Grands feeling confident that I would have the answer to his overall gameplan, and that clearly showed in the Grand Final Set.
Huge congratulations to @Batarax_Jet for securing 1st place in the OCE regional RCS finals! Stay tuned next week for more coverage to wrap up the OCE season. pic.twitter.com/QoceuNW4O1
— Rivals of Aether (@RivalsOfAether) January 22, 2022
SBS: Now that you have won your first RCS Finals event on top of owning the regular season leader-board for a second consecutive year, what are your competitive goals moving forward?
Jet: I have had my sights set on EU & USA for a little while now, I really believe I would put up a great fight overseas, and learn a lot from different playstyles and metas. But most likely won’t be able to visit for a few years due to funding. So in the meantime I think I’ll just keep winning here in Australia..
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Stay safe and thanks for playing! Keep an eye out for more 2022 official season news this spring.
