Rocket League's Championship Series begins this weekend

Rocket League can best be described as three-a-side football - in cars

Rocket League's second season of the Championship Series begins in earnest this weekend after two months of league matches.

The regional playoffs for the RLCS are taking place over two days, where the top six teams from the two regional leagues will face-off for a place in the grand finals. Only four teams will make it from each region into the grand finals, which will be hosted in Amsterdam.

The qualified teams for the North American regional playoffs in order of league position are: Orbit, NRG, Genesis, Take 3, VindicatorGG and Revival.

From Europe, the six teams playing in the regional playoffs are: Northern Gaming, Flipsid3 Tactics, MockIt Aces, Precision Z, Red Eye and Reunited.

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The top teams of each of the leagues are fairly familiar from last season's competition.

On the North American side the top team is currently Orbit, the squad being formed from Team Exodus after the organisation bought them out following the close of RLCS season one.

NRG are chomping at Orbit's heels, with the Shaquille O'Neal-owned eSports organisation having brought in new talent to help the team compete this year.

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The big surprise is that G2 Esports will not be competing this weekend after they finished seventh in their regional. G2 Esports' roster contained every player from last year's champions, iBuyPower. For those players, it was a major fall from grace, and the big surprise of the regional qualifiers.

For Europe, the top contenders are mostly unchanged from the previous season. Northern Gaming - who changed names from We Dem Girls late into the first season - is currently topping the league ahead of the playoffs.

While Northern Gaming surprisingly failed to make it to the grand finals last year, it was considered one of the best - if not the best - team in Rocket League.

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NG are followed by Flipsid3 Tactics, a team that also managed to prove themselves in the RLCS last year. Flipsid3 Tactics came in second in the RLCS last year, and are considered one of the favourites to progress to the grand finals.

Then there's MockIt Aces. While there has been a roster switch from last year, their star player Paschy is still part of the team. With his skillful control of the ball, Paschy is currently considered one of the best Rocket League players.

The regional playoffs will take place this weekend, while the championship - to determine which four teams from each region will actually make it to grand finals - will take place the following weekend between 12-13 November.