RLCS 2022-23 Winter Split Major Winners Karmine Corp Take Home First Major Win – Everything you need to know.
| Tags: Rocket League
| Author Nathan Williams
Everything you need to know about French Rocket League team Karmine Corp and their rise to the top.
Who is Karmine Corp?
Karmine Corp is a French Rocket League team that formed in mid-2021 after acquiring the former Vodafone Giants lineup. As Karmine Corp is French, they play in the Europe brackets of RLCS against other teams like Moist Esports, Team Liquid, and Oxygen Esports.
Karmine Corp came into the 2022-23 RLCS season with two new players on the team, replacing Aztral and Noly, who both left to join other teams in the series. ExoTiik (who came from SMRP Esports) and Vataria (who came from Moist Esports) are both French and joined the team in September 2022 after the end of the 2021-22 season. Alongside them is Itachi, who joined the team in July 2021 and the team coach Eversax who joined in April 2022.
In the RLCS Fall Major, Karmine Corp where very successful after coming first in the Swiss stage by winning all three rounds with a game-win difference of +8, sending them to the best-of-3 knockout rounds. In the knockout rounds, they won the first three lineups meaning they got to skip rounds 4 and 5 and went straight to the Quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, they were knocked out by Moist Esports 4-1 in a best-of-7 match. With them being knocked out after a very successful run, they knew they had to work hard over the December break to come back fighting harder in the Winter series.
The team won the Winter Open and the Winter Cup in the European division but unfortunately came second in the Winter Invitational after losing 4-3 in the final against Team Liquid. With a very strong winter season behind them heading into the Winter Split Majors, they were looking for one final success story. The Major includes all the winning teams from the other RLCS continents, which makes it the most challenging event to win.
RLCS Winter Split Major Story.
After coming first in Group B by winning all three best-of-5 games against Team Falcons, Team Vitality, and Dignitas they went straight to the Quarter Finals of the competition. This meant they skipped round 1 of the playoff stages which is reserved for all eight teams that place either 2nd or 3rd in the group stages.
In the Semi-Finals, they were matched against G2 Esports who beat Ground Zero in Round 1 of the playoffs 3-0. Unlike the group stages and playoffs Round 1 the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Grand Final are all best-of-7 which means the team to get 4 wins advances to the next round. After beating G2 Esports in the Quarterfinals 4-2 they advanced to the Semifinals.
In the Semifinals, they faced Team Liquid, who came first place in Group C. This meant they had also advanced straight to the Quarterfinals as well. Team Liquid is the same team that knocked Karmine Corp out of the Grand Finals of the European Winter Invitational. Karmine Corp was back with everything to prove as this was the first time they had played each other since the Grand Finals of the Invitationals. After winning 4-2, Karmine Corp advanced to the Grand finals, where they matched up against Faze Clan.
Kamine Corp entered their first-ever Grand Final in RLCS history. They got an early lead by winning the first game between the teams but unfortunately lost the next two games. After a little knock back they headed into the 4th game, where they scored 7 goals. Winning with a high goal count gave them the confidence they needed to get back into the competition. They then won the 5th and 6th games in the best-of-7 matches, making them the RLCS Winter Split Major Winners. Not only did they win the RLCS Winter Split Major trophy they also took home $100,000 in prize money.
WINTER CHAMPIONS. 🏆
👑 @Vatira5
👑 @itachi_rl
👑 @exotiikrl
👑 @EversaxTHE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD. #RLCS #KCORP 🟦 pic.twitter.com/sR3GrBfdrx
— Karmine Corp ENG (@KarmineCorpENG) April 10, 2023
All of the RLCS Winter Split Major games are available to re-watch on the Rocket League Esports Youtube channel.
RLCS 2022-23 resumes in early May, starting with the Spring Open, which is set to play between May 4th – May 14th. With the transfer market set to close on the 24th of April expect teams to come back stronger than ever to try and secure their places in the World Championships later this year.