Rogue qualify for Berlin Major on penultimate EUL play day

^{Image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.}

Despite a loss to PWNZ on the penultimate EUL play day, Rogue have guaranteed themselves a top-four finish and a spot at the Berlin Major after getting one point from overtime.

While the European Rogue roster has a very long history dating back to 2017, its current members have only attended two events under the Rogue banner; the Sweden Major, and SI 2022.

At Sweden, Rogue were the top-placed European team which allowed them to very narrowly qualify for the 2022 Six Invitational, where they had a much less impressive 13-16th place finish. This came after they managed just a single win (against CAG) in the group stage before being eliminated by Elevate in their debut global event.

Since then, Rogue have changed the majority of their team. Tom "Deapek" Pieksma and Juhani "Kantoraketti" Toivonen joined in March to replace Maurice "AceeZ" Erkelenz and G2-bound Kevin "Prano" Pranowitz, leading to a sixth place Stage 1 finish.

Newly turned 18-year-old, William "Spoit" Löfstedt, then completed the roster as he joined in June to replace the team’s longest-tenured player, Jan "ripz" Hucke.

These changes have now allowed them to rise to second place in the standings with 16 points after today. These results are partly due to the remarkable performance from Spoit in his debut season at this tier of play. The young Swede currently sits as the league’s best-rated player, with the highest kills-per-round rate, best kill differential, and second-best entry differential. 

This will also be the first time on the global scene at this level for Deapek, with DreamHack Minors being his only prior experience against non-European teams.

Kanto, meanwhile, will be attending his first global event since the 2020 Six Invitational, where G2 finished in seventh-eighth place. This will be his 11th tier-one global event and he will be looking for his fifth title.

Rogue will now join Wolves at the Berlin Major as the closest thing there is to a home team at the moment, as Pascal "cryn" Alouane is the lone qualified German player so far.

Next week, Rogue will play NAVI in what will likely be a do-or-die game for their opponents, while Rogue hope to secure a top-two seed at least.