It was an opening week full of upsets in Oceanic Nationals. Rhythm managed to beat Order. The Knights, favorites for OCN, went 0-2. And the main protagonist of it all? ROFLCOPTER, the new squad fresh from Relegations, blasted off to a 2-0 lead to sit at the top of the ladder.
There were some expectations set on OCN heading into Week 1. Knights were set to dominate. Wildcard, without Diesel, weren’t going to fire as hard as many expected. Upsets were on the cards with the top teams juggling domestic play and APAC South.
However, no one really expected the shake-up to be this drastic, and it was the smaller teams showing off.
ROFLCOPTER have made their impact on OCN evident in their first week in the top-flight. The new team, fresh out of the open leagues, blazed away to a 2-0 start to sit in first ahead of Elevate on round difference after Week 1.
Their first win was an expected one over Rhythm, the squad they beat in Relegations to make OCN. However, their 8-6 stunning win over Knights has put the region on notice, as they used their calculated aggression to dismantle the favourites.
For Lachlan “Boydy” Boyd, the wins have forced ROFLCOPTER to re-evaluate where they stand in the power rankings. They came into the season looking at fifth-place. Now, winning OCN isn’t out of the question.
“We had placed ourselves about fifth as of a month ago. We were confident we could beat Bliss, LFO, Rhythm. Then the trouble with Wildcard came up, and as unfortunate as it is, we were confident we could beat them which would put us in the top four. Higher than that though, we had no idea,” he told Snowball.
“How Order and Elevate performed the other night; we are very confident in getting top two or first place now. They performed pretty awfully. It just depends on whether they’re going to continue performing that poorly in OCN, or if they’re going to clean up their act for this weekend.”
The ROFLCOPTER boys find themselves “in a perfect scenario” of roster shuffles and instability at the right time, and are looking at taking it by the reins.
It’s been a rapid rise for the former Skyfire player, who only started his journey in professional Siege in 2020. He found himself on the LPL Pro roster, and then was quickly kicked after two games.
He grinded his way back up through the open divisions, and eventually found a home at ROFLCOPTER at the right time.
“In playing LPL Pro, I met a lot of people I currently play with on ROFLCOPTER. Eventually when they decided to make a team to push for relegations, they offered me a trial and it went well.
“We weren’t expecting anything else [other than making OCN]. You can’t set yourself up for failure. That was the only chance to make it into Pro League in the next year unless you got a random trial with the team, and that wasn’t going to happen.
“I’m very lucky that we actually made it in that regard.”
Now, Boydy is flexing his muscles against the giants of ANZ Siege. His Ying against Knights on Oregon threw more than a few curveballs into the mix. Him and Bouncin provided great roaming threat on defense, with the two fraggers keeping the rest of the league on their toes.
However, it’s Hotshot in the engine room that is really making this ROFLCOPTER roster tick, according to Boydy.
“We got Hotshot in two weeks before the start of OCN, and what we really needed was a good solid IGL, which Deptra just sadly couldn’t provide,” Boydy said of the late roster change.
“Hotshot doesn’t have an amazing amount of experience, but he puts in a lot of effort and is naturally talented at being an IGL. He’s been restructuring our team and our strategy and it’s worked well.”
Despite their high expectations of a first place finish, that’s not what ROFLCOPTER are here for in the long-term. Instead, they want to prove they are a consistent top team, not just a one-stage wonder.
“I would consider a pass mark being a consistent top four team. That’d be very nice. We want to be a consistent team,” Boydy said.
In this week’s other action, Wildcard managed to escape with a 1-1 week with coach Vinnie “syliX” Tam in place of Kyle “Diesel” Renton, beating LFO 7-5 on Gameday 2.
Order, Rhythm, and Bliss also finished the week with one win a piece while LFO currently sit in last without a point after two close 7-5 losses.
Oceanic Nationals Stage 1 2021 Week 2 kicks off on March 28 at 7pm AEDT when Knights takes on LFO.
