Category: News

Championship Series Jersey Giveaway

To celebrate the Season 14 Championship Series weekend, courtesy of our friends at Guardian Proline we are giving away one quality MLE Praetorian jersey!

This prize is only open to current MLE community members. To enter simply do the following:

1. Follow @mlesportsgg on Twitter and/or Instagram
2. Like and retweet (for Twitter) either or both of these posts: Twitter post , Instagram post
3. In the comments reply with #MLEChampSeries

If you follow the entry instructions on both Twitter and Instagram you will get two entries! You only need to like and comment on Instagram post for valid Instagram entry. For full terms & conditions of the giveaway please see below:

Terms & Conditions:

    • Prize is for 1 Praetorian style jersey from the MLE collection of the winners choice only.
    • Prize can not be swapped for something of similar monetary value.
    • Entrants are only permitted to a maximum of 2 entries (1 for each successful Social Media platform engagement).
    • Multiple entries using different/alternative accounts is not permitted. Any entrant found to have exceeded the maximum no. of entries will have all entries invalidated bar 2.
    • Winner must be a current member of the MLE community (i.e. in the main Discord server).
    • Prize is limited to NA and EU residents. MLE reserves the right to refuse winner on behalf of Guardian Proline if logistics of shipping prize are problematic.
    • Entrants should ensure MLE is able to identify entrants from their Social Media accounts to their Discord profiles within the MLE server. Where possible Social Media accounts should be linked to Discord profiles.
    • MLE reserves the right to invalidate an entry.
    • Entries close on Monday 22nd November at 12pm ET.
    • Winner will be announced within the next 7-10 days.

Big thank you to Guardian Proline for working with Minor League Esports, providing fans and the community with excellent merchandise.
Good luck folks!

And don’t forget to tune into the MLE Network this weekend from 6pm ET Saturday and Sunday for the Championship Series weekend.

Season 14 Playoffs Are Here!

13 gruelling weeks of boosts, goals, demos, flips, screams, sweat, tears and much more have led to one thing… PLAYOFFS!

Seasons 14 Playoffs promise to be the most exciting yet. With 10 Championships up for grabs across 5 leagues and 2 game modes, come the 20th November there will be a lot of jubilant celebrations from those lucky enough to claim Championship glory.

31 of the 32 franchises had at least one team qualify for the playoffs with only the Jets missing out altogether. No doubt the Jets will be back next season determined to prove they are “top guns”.

With 31 franchises all vying for triumph the competition will be fierce with many feeling deserving of the title of Champions. But only a few can prevail.

To see who succeeds the live action starts on the 29th October from 6pm ET on the MLE Network and continues every weekend up to and including the grand Finals weekend on the 19th & 20th November.

Playoff Live Schedule:
29-30th October | Play Ins
5-6th November | Conference Semi-Finals
12-13th November | Conference Finals
19-20th November | Grand Finals

New Affiliate Announcement: ExpressVPN

Minor League Esports is proud to announce a new affiliation with ExpressVPN, the world’s largest premium VPN service provider! If you’re looking to surf the web safely and securely then a VPN is essential. Well, ExpressVPN has you covered!

ExpressVPN is a privacy and security tool that encrypts users’ web traffic and masks their IP addresses. With easy-to-use apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, as well as platforms that other VPN companies do not support. ExpressVPN offers best-in-class encryption with over 3,000 servers in 160 VPN server locations, in 94 countries

There are many benefits that come with using ExpressVPN. Here’s just a snippet of some the great advantages ExpressVPN has to offer:

  • The only provider that unblocks streaming services not just on the VPN, but also using MediaStreamer on devices such as Apple TV, PlayStation, Xbox, and smart TVs that cannot run any VPN.
  • A strict privacy policy. No activity logs. No connection logs.
  • Access content anywhere, free of geo restrictions on all of your favorite streaming services such as Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, BBC iPlayer, ITV, Sky Go, and more.
  • Next-gen Lightway protocol offers greater speeds, security, and reliability, especially on mobile.
  • Reliable service in high-censorship places where other VPN providers are blocked.
  • 5 simultaneous connections.
  • A Stream Sports Guide that lets users know how to watch live sporting events with a VPN. Learn the best ways to stream sports on your computer, mobile device, or big-screen TV and get the best prices for sports streaming by comparing services.

Sounds good right? If you want to find out more about ExpressVPN you can do so right here. As part of our affiliation with ExpressVPN we have a great offer for anyone who signs up. Sign up for a 12 month package now and you will receive 3 whole months extra for absolutely free! Every sign-up helps support Minor League Esports and revenue generated from the affiliation is invested back into the league and our amazing community. So there’s no better time to get yourself protected online!

Thank you for your support and thank you to ExpressVPN for supporting Minor League Esports.

MLE Starts Season 8

Season 12 Preview: New Season, New MLE

Season 12 is finally here. It seems like with every season the league gets better and better. The graphics team puts out new fancy things for us to look at, the broadcast team gets closer and closer to upstaging that Gibbs guy, and more players experience their first MLE season. So with everyone revving their engines to start the pre-season, we thought we would preview some of the things you’ll see this year. And no, this isn’t a power ranking or “who to watch” list, because to be honest, my power rankings from season 11 were about as wrong as it gets. This preview is going to highlight some of the things you’ll 100% see this season. 

 

Scrims, ELO, and “What’s My Salary”

The biggest questions leading up to the new season all pertained to the way players’ salaries are calculated. For eleven seasons players have been placed in their respective leagues based on their competitive rank in Rocket League. This season MLE is establishing a new system to sort players based on their performance in scrims that take place within the league.

Past players have been given a starting salary based largely on their performance in season eleven, while new players will be given their salary based on their MMR. But once scrims start players’ salaries will be calculated based on their results. Playing in these scrims will be pivotal to getting your correct salary and will be a regular way to play with other members of the league.

This new change aims to make your salary a more accurate representation of where you stand compared to the rest of the league as it will be based on your performance against your MLE peers. Players can look forward to not only seeing an accurate representation of where they stand within the league but also having a new way to play against fellow MLE players. For me, scrims represent a whole new way to show how badly I can throw games so I personally couldn’t be more excited. 

 

3s League Brings a New Way to Compete and Win


When MLE began it was known as Minor League Doubles. Back then it seemed like a very lofty goal that the league would expand into what it is today. But both the player base and the staff have continued to grow and now the league itself is growing. This season, players will have the opportunity to play both 3s and 2s while on the same roster. Teams will have rosters of five to eight players and each week of the regular season they will select a 2s and 3s line up to play. This not only means more opportunities to play but more opportunities to win. Season 11 brought us five championship titles for the first time. In season 12 we will have 10 new champion franchises. Across twos and threes, that’s a whopping 50 players that will be competing in a championship final this season.

For players, this means more opportunities but for managers, it means new strategies and challenges. FMs and GMs will now be searching for players that will succeed on their 2s teams and 3s teams. Some teams may seek out versatile players while others will look to build two separate but equally skilled rosters. Building the right team could net a franchise not one but two Championship titles per league so finding the right drafting strategy will be more important than ever.

 

Franchise Managers become the new head honchos

As the league expands so too does leadership. This season MLE has added the title of Franchise Manager. This new broader title allows Franchise Managers to oversee their whole team spanning multiple leagues and focus on what their Franchise community should be. Franchise Managers are also able to appoint General Managers to aid them and help with the scheduling and maintaining the rosters of each league. Building out the staff for each franchise is crucial to building communities within each team. Both new and older players will likely benefit from having an FM and GM to turn to when navigating the regular season.

 

Franchise Cup, Events, and More Games

The addition of Franchise Points to the last season proved to be extra motivation to bring out the franchise rivalry in all of us. Throughout the season MLE players took place in various tournaments that earned them points for their franchise. They also earned franchise points as they won season matches. At the end of the season, all points were added up to determine the Franchise Cup Champion. Last season the Jets took the first-ever Franchise Cup. This season the Franchise Cup returns and gives players another chance to earn points for their team in the chase for the cup. 

In addition to the Franchise Cup, the events team will be looking to expand MLE into other games. They have begun to host tournaments for Valorant and opened up new channels for games like Valheim. MLE has always hoped to bring other games into the league and it looks like season 12 will be a big step forward in that regard. The MLE community is passionate about Rocket League but as the player base grows we reach a number of members that could perhaps support other competitive games for a full season. Personally, I’m waiting for MLE to introduce a competitive Mario Tennis League, then maybe I’ll finally have a shot at a championship title. 

12 Seasons of Champions Bring new History and opportunity 

After 11 seasons and multiple league expansions, several franchises have had time to make their mark. As we enter season 12 there are 16 franchises still searching for their first championship. That is half the league that has yet to find victory at the end of the season. Perhaps more notably the Elite have become the kings of the MLE hill by being the first team to win a fourth championship. Only the Ducks and Tyrants trail them with three championships. With 10 titles up for grabs this season any franchise could take multiple titles and push their way to the top.  As a new chapter and a new league begin in MLE, will we begin to see dynasties rise in MLE? And will this be the season that some of those struggling franchises finally get the championship they have been chasing?

Both seasons 8 and 10 saw a franchise win two championships across different leagues. In season 10, The Foundation League Tyrants became the third team to win back-to-back championships. There will always be sway in the power struggle over MLE dominance. But now with so many titles to fight for, I believe Season 12 may be the season we see one team prove that their success is no fluke and be the first team to win three championships in a single season.

 

A Whole Lot More In-store

There is a lot to look forward to this season. More events, more games, more streams, more players, and more pings in the server which I will turn off and then back on after fearing I’m missing out on something cool.  And to top it all off the content team for the MLE site will be posting more articles than ever for you to read and enjoy. As MLE grows we are delighted that more and more people will experience the fun of being in the league. As the pre-season starts to ramp up we wish everyone good luck in the draft and the new season. 

Impostors Raise Money for Charity

Last month Minor League Esports hosted a special charity stream in the name of raising money for good causes!

Raising money for Extra Life and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, we put on a special Among Us charity stream, which saw members of the MLE Council take to space and merrily accuse each other of “impostery” (a word we definitely didn’t just make up) in the hopes of raising a few cents for the charities… and our community did not disappoint!

Big gg’s to everyone who supported the event. You helped to raise a total of $646 which means each charity will receive, after GoFundMe fees, $310.91 each! This is a great result and the money raised will go to supporting invaluable services and support for those who need it.

If you missed the entertainment you can watch the whole stream back here. And we are happy to report that, despite the wild accusations and frequent sabotage that occurred during the event, the Council are all still friends… for now.

MLE to Host RLCS Season X Fall – South America Grand Series 2!

MLE has grown by leaps and bounds over just a few seasons. From two leagues with a small but devoted audience to five leagues, with a reputation among other minor leagues as being one of the most active and well-run communities. MLE now has another chance to show off its growth and professionalism to both old and new viewers. MLE is partnering with Rocket Street and South American professional Rocket League to bring viewers the English language stream of the SAM: Grand Series. This marks only the second time the MLE has partnered with the Rocket League Championship Series(RLCS). The first time RLCS and MLE joined together was way back in season 4 of RLCS qualifiers. The trajectory of the RLCS is not unlike the growth of MLE. As both leagues continue to grow and improve, it’s encouraging to see these types of partnerships emerge. 

The SAM: Grand Series will be broadcasted on MLE’s official twitch channel and is composed of casters from the MLE broadcast team. This provides an opportunity for the hardworking members of the broadcast team to be featured in front of a broader audience. For casters like Hunted, it’s yet another step of a long journey from MLE caster to becoming a well-known figure of professional Rocket League streams. This is Hunted’s third time casting a Grand Series event. This series, however, will be the first to blend the worlds of MLE broadcasts with RLCS tier events. When asked about what this means for MLE Hunted said, “Personally, I’m excited that the top tier production team gets an opportunity to show the scene just how “grand” of a broadcast they can produce!” 

For broadcasters like InanimateJ, who have been a staple of MLE from the early seasons, this represents a chance to show off the quality they have been helping to develop since the beginnings of MLE streams. InanimateJ, who started casting in season 3 of MLE, said of the event, “Just being able to be thought of as one of the top-tier community productions and given the opportunity to present such a high-profile event on our channels could open up so many doors for the community moving forward.”

For newer members of the team, the simple fact that the MLE is tied to an RLCS event is a huge opportunity for their budding casting careers. “My face is squarely planted on a graphic that has the RLCS X logo on it. If that doesn’t get a Rocket League caster excited, I don’t know what will,” said Thunderballs, who began casting for MLE just last season. Now he will get the chance to be featured on his first Grand Series event. And yes, that RLCS X logo will be featured alongside his face throughout the event.   

The series represents a great opportunity for the MLE community as well. Fans have the benefit of being able to support the league’s twitch channel while also discovering a region of professional Rocket League they may not have watched before. Viewers may even find a new favorite team to root for. I myself am looking forward to rooting for a team called No Mercy Esports because among their roster is a player by the name of Droppz. Anytime I jump into an RLCS twitch chat people seem to be spamming their name, so I assume they must be a great player.

The Grand series will take place on October 1st through the 4th and will be streamed at 3 pm EST every day on MLE’s Twitch Channel. Be sure to tune in and show your support for the SAM: Grand Series, Minor League Esports, and the amazing broadcast team that has been such a huge part of what makes MLE great.

Behind the Scenes of the Franchise Cup: An Interview with Kilt and GoldenTornado17

The Franchise Cup is now a few weeks old and is quickly becoming a mainstay in MLE. If you’re not familiar with the concept, here is an excerpt from the initial announcement about the Cup:

 Introducing a whole new way to earn glory for your franchise and for yourself… The very first Franchise Cup begins this season! All 32 franchises will compete in the most epic and massive event in MLE history. Teams earn Franchise Points in a variety of ways including winning MLE matches, competing in events, end of season awards, and more! Every goal matters in this format. Never take your foot off the gas if you want to claim the ultimate achievement in taking home the Franchise Cup! Teams win points based on the margin of victory for each game, the number of goals conceded, and underdogs can score massive points for a big upset. But that’s not the only way to get your franchise to the top…”

I wanted to get the inside scoop behind the Franchise Cup, so I went to the Events Team Lead himself, KILT. While talking to KILT, he directed me to the mastermind behind the Franchise Cup, GoldenTornado17. I got to talk with both players about their role in the Franchise Cup, as well as their thoughts on the progress so far and potential future events.

 

Royal: What sparked the idea for the Franchise Cup? 

KILT: The Franchise Cup was thought up by Goldentornado. Something that has always plagued events in the past has been a lack of interest and overall structure, which is something I’ve been aiming to rectify since taking over as Events Team Lead. Thankfully the timing coincided with Golden pitching the idea to Sleegi so the potential was immediately evident.

GoldenTornado: I was actually attempting to create a new rating system that could work across all 5 leagues when I kinda stumbled into the idea of creating a “points” system that rewards teams for how they win individual games and more accurately reflects how dominant a team is in its league. 

 

Royal: What went into the creation and setup of the Cup?

GT: First I needed to make sure that the scoring system and behind-the-scenes stuff would work. I created several google sheets that track stats from the replay bot and instantly update the point totals. I also had the idea of creating events (called Majors) that the events team could run to gain exposure for the Franchise Cup and to give the events team a more scheduled and organized format.

KILT: A lot of the backend was settled before I even saw the project; Golden already had points and how to calculate them in a fairly comprehensive form. The setting up of the Major events was split between the Events Team and headed by myself; a lot of it has been trial-and-error and learning from any mistakes. Thankfully there haven’t been any large scale issues so far, so depending on how the rest of the season goes, I could see the overall event structures evolving for the next season.

 

Royal: What impact do you see the Cup having on the league as a whole?

KILT: The Franchise Cup for me solves two issues; it incentivizes participation in events, which helps the community come together and make new friends within the fun framework of an event. It also brings the franchise together; rather than 5 different leagues just being under the umbrella of a franchise, it provides an overall goal for the entire franchise to aim for. I hope this can bring people who might otherwise never truly interact with each other together and can help the franchise [become] stronger for it.

GT: I think that the Cup will create more team unity across leagues, so people on the Master League team are more invested in the performance of their Academy League teammates since the Franchise Cup requires that every team on a franchise performs well to win. The events side of it is going much better than I had ever hoped and I think that it is giving the MLE a competitive outlet outside of MLE matches that are still important.

 

Royal: How do you see the longevity of the Franchise Cup, and how do you plan on keeping the community engaged?  What events do you have planned for the future? 

GT: I think this has the potential to be an MLE tradition for many seasons to come! I genuinely hope the community will continue to show interest in it and, as they understand how it works better, I hope that more people will follow the standings. The winner of the Franchise Cup is truly the best franchise in the MLE regular season. As far as events go, we are discussing a ton of great ideas for future Majors and even working on some “Minors” which could be game modes like rumble or drop-shot. There is even talk of expanding the events outside of Rocket League if the community showed enough interest. 

KILT: The Franchise Cup is currently every season and that’s what we’re aiming for. I’d like to see it stay as a staple of MLE but it’s something we’ll have to review at the end of this season. For this season, we have 3 Majors planned, with one already concluded and another currently underway. The next Major is a 3v3 double-elimination tournament, which should be very exciting. As for what we have planned, we’re hoping to have some smaller weekend tournaments, as well as tournaments that aren’t just playing the game; such as our current DECORATE THE DESKTOP event, to have people make MLE desktop wallpapers or other events such as a freestyle tournament or even a fashion show.

 

Royal: Are there any off-the-walls ideas? Rocket Labs maps, chaos mixer, anything crazy? 

GT:  Oh we are considering anything! The idea that I most liked so far was a Minecraft event where the franchise with the best design after a week of work wins. 

 

Royal: Do you think it will change the way GMs draft or think about their teams? 

KILT: I don’t personally think it will change the draft strategies of General Managers but if it does, that would be very exciting. There are some General Managers who currently focus on one or two of their teams doing well, even drafting away high draft picks in other leagues to benefit in those one or two, so if this means they value the overall strength of their franchise, then I’d consider that a success.

 

Royal: Who are the front runners that are emerging in the cup so far?

KILT: Our current frontrunners are the Hawks, Bulls, and Knights, with the Hawks and Knights getting a big boost in points from their event placings. The Bulls have had a fairly successful run so far in all of their teams, though the top 10 teams are fairly close in the standings currently.

GT: Right now the Bulls are off to a blistering start thanks to a strong showing in every league, but they have not performed well in tournaments so it has left the door open for teams like the Spectre, Knights, and Hawks to close the gap. The Sabres are also very close to the top few teams but need to step it up in the tournaments 😉 

(Golden later amended his final answer to say that the Hawks are currently killing everyone after week two)

 

I can’t thank KILT and GoldenTornado enough for giving their insight on the Franchise Cup and I think their excitement about it will match the league’s excitement for the cup going forward. I, for one, am looking forward to the Sabres rise to the top.

MLE News: Season 10 Update!

the festive is season is coming to a close but as the New Year draws near so does Season 10…


Season 10

2020 will see the start of 10th season of MLE and it promises to be an epic one! We know a lot of people have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the start of the season and we are happy to announce that the competitive action will start on February 13th! Below is a list of key dates for Season 10 (please note these dates are provisional and maybe subject to change).

Season 10 Key Dates:

Player Drafts: January 25th & 26th
Week 1: February 13th-16th
Playoffs: Begin weekend of 9th & 10th May
Season 10 Championship Series weekend: 30 & 31st May

Full schedule for Season 10 will be released soon. The date for the Draft Lottery, which decides the order for each League’s draft, is to be confirmed.

If you are interested in joining our community with the possibility of playing in Season 10 fill out an application form! There’s nothing to lose and you could be representing one of the 32 franchises in Season 10!

There will be lots more info coming regards Season 10, including important changes.


FRANCHISE LOGOS

10 franchise logos have now been completed with a further 2 currently in creation. Progress has been somewhat slower recently due to other commitments and projects undertaken by the designer but we are very happy with the quality of the logos. We are an adopting a quality over quantity/speed approach. The franchises with completed logos so far are: Aviators, Bears, Blizzard, Bulls, Comets, Demolition, Dodgers, Eclipse, Elite & Spectre.


SEASON 9

As Season 10 starts to take shape you will notice some changes on the website, most notably the archiving of Season 9 standings & stats. Don’t worry they won’t completely disappear but will be moved to the “Season” section.


COMMUNITY NEWS

 

BROADCASTING & MARKETING COORDINATOR OPPORTUNITIES

As we prepare for Season 10 a couple of coordinator positions have become available (please note these positions are only available to those in the community).

Broadcast Operations are undergoing an overhaul, with a new team in place to manage & oversee operations. As part of the restructure we are on the look out for a new Broadcast Coordinator who will join the current team; Sleegi (Broadcast Coordinator), Riyo (Affiliate Lead) & InanimateJ (Broadcast Advisor). The main objective of a Broadcast Coordinator is to ensure the smooth running of Broadcasts; making sure each Broadcast has sufficient support & those involved have the right information & support. If this sounds like something you can do and you have an interest in Broadcasting, Production, etc. as well as strong organisational and communication skills we want to hear from you!

We are also on the lookout for a new Marketing Coordinator. We are looking to improve our the consistency and quality of our promotional output, looking to further the exposure of MLE as a direct result of such. The Marketing Coordinator is instrumental in helping to achieve this as they will help create, lead and manage promotions and campaigns with the assistance of the Marketing team. If this sounds like something you can do and you have a strong interest in Marketing along with an enthusiastic & proactive attitude then please fill out an application form linked in the corresponding post in Discord.


SEASON 10 FAQ CHANNEL

Keep your eyes peeled on the Season-10-FAQ- channel in Discord under “MLE Home” category for updates regards Season 10. This channel will act as reference for those in the Community of all the vital information for Season 10 such as key dates, team salaries, etc. We will also be updating the League-Info channel soon!


FINAL WORD

2019 is nearly over but we just wanted to take this moment to wish everyone a Happy New Year and start getting everyone excited for the upcoming season! Lots is happening behind the scenes and these efforts will soon become apparent.

As always keep those peepers peeled to this site as well as our Twitter account for the latest news & happenings. Until next time…

Have fun & Happy New Year,

Minor League Esports

 

MLE News: New Champions, All-Star Series & More!

roll up, roll up! It’s an MLE news extravaganza!


SEASON 9 Champions Crowned!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week then you will know 4 new champions were crowned the weekend before last!

Foundation League Champions: Tyrants

Academy League Champions: Flames

Champion League Champions: Rhinos

Premier League Champions: Elite

The Flames and Rhinos both managed to break their “Championship ducts” by winning the first Championship titles in their history. The Tyrants added to their Season 8 success when they won the Champion League, by adding the Foundation League trophy to their cabinet. And last but not least the Elite added another success to their illustrious history. Winning the Premier League title gave the franchise their 3rd Championship trophy, after winning Championship titles back in Season 1 & 3.

It was a great weekend of action with 3 of the 4 Championship Series going to game 7 deciders! If you missed any of the action, check out our YouTube channel where you can see not only all the Championship Series but every broadcast series from this season!


POWERA GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Our good friends and sponsors of MLE, PowerA, generously provided 14 Fusion Pro Wired Xbox One controllers to giveaway over the Championship Series Weekend! A big congratulations to the following…

Aida-Aposta, Americas_F1nest, antonioo77, ChefBaker,  djleance, Kirstiekfg, NoJuiceFTW, Ondofir, SINdalu, suzakutwitch, Therealmobagz, Tido4The5Gun, TrullsRohk, Wolfpack523

The winners are currently being finalised and all being well prizes will be shipped out soon. A big thank you once again to PowerA for their support.


ALL-STAR SERIES RETURNS!

Season 9 isn’t over yet! This Saturday evening the best players from each league face off in a “Battle of the Conferences”, as the Orange Conference take on the Blue Conference. Last season the Orange Conference took the bragging rights, beating their Blue counterparts over 20 games, 11-9!

This time around ZeeBee, General Manager of the Ducks, will seek revenge for the Blue Conference, as he leads his Blue stars into battle. Tasked with retaining Orange’s honour is Wizards General Manager, Isosolo. Who will come out top in this end of season showpiece? Tune in this Saturday from 7pm ET on the MLE Network to find out!


PLAY OF THE WEEK WINNERS!

The competitive play is over for another season, bar the All-Star Series, but there’s small matter of announcing the last two winners of Play of the Week (in case you missed them). A big thank you to BAWLS for their continued support this season and for sponsoring Play of the Week.

Conference Finals Winner: Cearu (Elite)

Championship Series Winner: O.G.S.R (Rhinos)


FRANCHISE LOGOS

There’s been some progress on the franchise logo front! 4 more logos have been completed with the overall total now sitting at 8, that’s a quarter of all the logos for all those mathematicians out there. Those 8 franchises are: Aviators, Bears, Blizzard, Bulls, Comets, Demolition, Elite, Spectre! Of course we will not be revealing the logos until all 32 are complete! Currently there’s no definitive timeline for when this will be but hopefully all 32 will be complete in the near future.


SGT & SCOOBY TAKE A BREAK

Wondering where those “loveable” scamps have been these past couple of Monday evenings? Well yes you would be right in thinking they have been shirking their responsibilities! No need to worry folks, Sgt. & Scoobs are taking a break from the “Sgt. Scooby Show” during the off-season. They will no doubt return in Season 10 and who knows they may do the odd special show before then.


COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY SURVEY

With another season done & dusted we want to get your thoughts. Accompanying this article in Discord will be a link to the Community Survey. Please take your time to fill this in as best you can. We appreciate all the feedback we receive and look to use it to improve what we do.


FINAL WORD

Phew what a season and what an end to the season! Big GGs and well played to those who competed in the Championship Series. Each final was full of dramatic moments, clutch plays & great teamwork. Full credit to all players for their efforts.

We would like to take this moment to thank everyone in the community for their involvement this season. From players to those helping out behind the scenes, Minor League Esports would be nothing without your support.

It’s been another great season and we are enthusiastic to start Season 10. The date of which is being finalised as we speak but expect it early next year. As always keep your eyes peeled here for the latest news and updates!

Have fun & see soon,

Minor League Esports

 

Championship Series PowerA Giveaway!

The MLE Season 9 Championship Weekend just got even hotter as our generous sponsors PowerA are supplying 14 quality Xbox One controllers to giveaway!

We will be giving away 7 PowerA Fusion Pro Wired Controllers for Xbox One (White variant)* on Saturday & Sunday! The giveaway will close at 9pm ET both nights with winners being announced at the end of each night’s stream.

To be enter Sundays giveaway visit here! *Winners from Saturday are ineligible to win for Sunday’s giveaway.

Saturday giveaway winners: Americas_F1nest, ChefBaker, Ondofir SINdalu, suzakutwitch, Therealmobagz & Tido4The5Gun.

A big thank you to PowerA for supporting us with this fantastic giveaway as well as their support throughout the season.

Don’t forget to tune into the MLE Network Season 9 Championship Series Weekend for all the action & excitement. Streams start at 7:45pm each night!

*Prize has been updated since launch of giveaway, original prize was for PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox One.

MLE Season 9 Championship Series Preview

With two days to go the Season 9 Championship Series weekend, it’s time to take a look at each series…


12 weeks of play has come and gone with hundreds of players representing the 32 franchises across 4 leagues. There’s been goals, whiffs, demos, high, lows, drama and a boat of load excitement but now only 2 teams remain in each of the four leagues. These teams now have one last series to overcome to be crowned MLE Champions but who’s fighting for the coveted crown? Let’s find out….

The Battle of Cunning vs Power

Both the Foxes and the Tyrants experienced Championship success as franchises last season; the Foxes claiming the Premier League title and the Tyrants taking the Champion League crown. Those glories signified each franchises’ first Championship win and no doubt they will be both hungry to add to it.

The Foxes could be seen as slight favourites having finished 2nd in the overall regular season standings, 1 place above the Tyrants, winning 4 more individual games. In reality there isn’t much to separate the two teams, this is the Championship Series after all! The Tyrants will be hoping GameStrike, who joined midway through the season, will continue his impressive form shown since joining. He will likely be paired with TheLouzer, the pair teaming up for their Orange Conference Semi-Finals win against the Pandas. The Foxes will likely field the pairing of FasterThanFalcon & K03, who played in both the Blue Conference Semi-Final & Conference Final victories. Their experience in big-game situations may come clutch come Saturday evening!

The Foundation League Championship Series will kick off the Championship Series Weekend at 8pm ET on Saturday!

 

Fire meets fight in the academy league

Two franchises who have yet to experience Championship glory have the chance to rectify this fact and write their name into MLE history!

The Flames go into the championship on the back of a very successful campaign not losing a series so far! Despite a slightly less impressive but still respectable 7-3 series regular season record, the Spartans only lost 1 individual game more than the Flames. The Flames will likely call upon the pairing of coversum & Eazuu who have played in each of the previous rounds and have been on the team for the vast majority of the season. They will no doubt go into the series full of confidence with nothing to fear.

The Spartans, having to come through one extra round than their opponents, have fielded 3 of their starters during the playoffs; Burrie, Deli (Saprtans GM) & Eclair and it’s likely it will be a combination of 2 of these 3 that will feature in the final. All 3 have performed well during season, all averaging over 4 MVPR so the Spartans will be confident in whoever they field.

The Academy League Championship Series follows the Foundation League series on Saturday evening, approximate start time is 9pm ET!

CHAMPION LEAGUE HEAVY HITTERS CLASH

A new Champion League winner will be crowned on Sunday and it will be a hotly contested affair with the two franchises being represented both clamouring for their first title.

The Rhinos charged their way through the regular season, ending it in style with a perfect 10-0 series win record. They also scored a massive 209 goals on their way, an average of 4.18 per game! They will certainly hope their attacking prowess doesn’t desert them against the Knights. O.G.S.R & Yeet are likely to line-up for the Rhinos on Sunday after both playing in each of the previous rounds, helping to dispatch the Bears & Pandas in clinical fashion.

The Knights while not quite matching the Rhinos in terms of series won during the regular season (8-2) are certainly not here to make up the numbers. The 5th best offence and 3rd best defence during the regular season the Knights definitely have the steel and power to cause the Rhinos problems. The Knights will most likely field two out of Lil’ Q, MikeIsMyike & Taels. Each player has performed well over the season, with Taels in particular being one to watch if selected after recording an MVPR of 6.28 for the season.

The Champion League Series begins Sunday evening at 8pm eET!

PREDATORS LOOK TO TAKE DOWN ROYALTY

The Premier League Championship see’s two iconic franchises battle it out for the ultimate prize. The Elite already have two Championship Trophies to their name, winning Championships in Season 1 and 3. They have yet to win a Premier League Championship since the league’s inception in Season 6 but have the chance to write another chapter in their history this Sunday.

They do come into the final as somewhat underdogs. Finishing 6th in the overall standings and with a 6-4 series win record, the lowest of any team competing this weekend. On paper the Elite have a tough task ahead of them. But to dismiss the Elite would be foolish especially after they battled through 3 rounds of playoffs to make it. Those spirited displays will put them in good stead going into the final where the tension will be at fever pitch! Cearu & El Diablo Rojo who have played together in every round are expected to take to the field once again as they look to immortalise themselves into MLE folklore.

Looking to stop them are the Hawks. They finished 2nd in the overall standings with a 7-3 record, an indication of the competitiveness of the Premier League. TestGravity & Zayo will likely represent the Hawks, a pairing who played in both the Blue Conference Semi-Finals & Blue Conference Final. TestGravity will definitely be a key player, finishing the season 3rd for MVPR, playing 30 games and averaging 7.04. The Hawks have come close to success in previous seasons but this long standing franchise have never been better set to fly!

The Premier League Championship Series follows the Champion League series on Sunday evening, approximate start time is 9pm ET!

So the wait is nearly over! The players will no doubt be getting in their last games of practice as they prepare for their series. It’s going to be a fantastic finale to what’s been an awesome Season. You won’t want to miss the Championship Series weekend so tune into the MLE Network Saturday & Sunday from 7:45pm ET for all the action & excitement! See you there!

MLE News: Playoffs Begin! PowerA Giveaway & More!

The Season 9 playoffs are here! Read on to find out what happened in the Wildcard weekend…


PLAYOFFS

The first weekend of playoff action saw lots of thrills and spills as the “Wildcard Weekend” aka Conference Quarter-Finals took place. But who prevailed and who fell at the “first hurdle”?

Academy League

In the Orange Conference, #6 Orange Conference seed the Pirates took on #3 seed Elite. A series that ebbed and flowed finally ending with Elite snatching a 3-2 series win to clinch their place in the next round and a meeting with last seasons Champions the Outlaws! In the other Orange Conference tie, #5 seed outmuscled #4 seed the Spectre 3-1 to set up a tie against the #1 seed the Flames who finished the regular season with a 10-0 series record.

In the Blue Conference, #3 seed the Spartans saw off a spirited #6 seed the Hive with a 3-2 series win. For their efforts the Spartans will face the Puffins. The other clash in the Blue Conference section saw the Hurricanes and the Wolves fight it out. And things blew in the ‘Canes favour as they managed to put losing the 1st game behind them to win the series 3-1. Their “prize” for victory is a meeting with #1 seed the Ducks, who finished top of the regular season standings.

The 8 remaining teams contain some illustrious franchises with the Elite, Ducks & Outlaws all winning the Championship title at Academy League level in previous seasons. If the Outlaws were to retain their title they would be the first franchise to do so since the Wizards in Season 6!  History counts for little though and no doubt the other 5 teams will be hoping to make glorious tales of their own!

Champion League

#3 Orange Conference seed, the Pandas, continued their search for a first franchise Championship win with a 3-1 win over #6 seed Demolition, themselves also without a Championship to their name. The Pandas will face their Tropic Division rivals the Sharks in the next round, a team that just pipped them to the division title by a single game win. The other tie in the Orange Conference saw the #5 seed the Bears beat out #4 seed the Bulls in a 5 game thriller. With a total of 34 goals scored during the series, it was the Bears who triumphed, winning game 5 4-3! They will take on #1 Orange Conference seed the Rhinos. The Rhinos charged their way through the regular season winning all 10 of their series as they also look to add a first Championship trophy to their cabinet.

Over in the Blue Conference two historic franchises battled it out for a place in the Conference Semi-Finals. The Ducks, a franchise no stranger to success, overcame a spirited 6th seed in the Wolves, winning 3-1 and setting up a clash with #2 seed the Knights. In the other Blue Conference tie it was the Jets who soared, putting in an impressive performance to defeat 4th seed the Eclipse. The Jets now face the not so envious task of taking on #1 seed the Puffins, a team which went unbeaten during the regular season.

No one will be taking the Jets lightly after their display though! 8 teams now remain left in contention with only 1 franchise, the Ducks having ever won a Champion League title in their history. Can they add another feather to their impressive achievements as franchise or will one of the 7 plucky contenders stuff their ambitions?

Premier League

Not content with having 2 teams make the Conference Semi-Finals in other leagues, the Bears also progressed into the next round in the Premier League. The #4 seed put out the Flames hopes with a 3-1 series win to arrange a clash with their “brothers from another mother bear”, #1 seed the Pandas. In the other Orange Conference tie the Elite defeated the Demolition 3-1 in their quest to add their first Premier League title to their trophy cabinet. Standing in their way in the Conference Semi-Final is the tricky Wizards.

In the Blue Conference #3 seed the Wolves overcame #6 seed the Spartans in a fiercely contested series that ended 3-2. Victory for the Wolves means they progress to face #2 seed the Hawks. The other Blue Conference Quarter-Final saw #4 seed the Eclipse joust #5 seed the Knights from playoff contention with a 3-1 series win. The Eclipse now face the steamrolling #1 seed the Express who finished top of the overall regular season standings.

No team left in the Premier League Playoffs has won the Premier League Championship before though the Elite and Wizards as franchises have won multiple MLE Championships across other leagues. The Premier League was closely fought this season, with the top 5 in the overall standings only separated by 5 game wins and 4 of those teams are still involved going into the Conference Semi-Final stage! It’s going to be one wild battle to the finish!

Foundation League

There are 8 teams in contention for the Foundation League Championship. If regular season form and results indicate anything it would point the way of the Blue Conference, in particular the Hurricanes and Foxes who finished 1st and 2nd respectfully. The Hurricanes in particular come into the playoffs in hot form on a 5 win streak and winning 9 out of their 10 series. Should the Hurricanes turn this regular season success into playoff triumph it will mark their first Championship win as a franchise!

There are 4 other franchises in the Foundation League Playoffs who have yet to taste Championship success, the Pandas, Shadow, Wolves and the Blizzard. The Pandas finished the highest in the overall regular season standings out of the 4 teams, ending the season 4th overall with a 29-21 record. Although the Foundation League is the lowest competitive tier in MLE you can be sure all 8 teams left in the playoffs will be gunning for glory and pulling off some great plays in their bid for Championship greatness!

The Foundation League playoffs start this weekend; 26th and 27th October with the Conference Semi-Finals.


PowerA Playoff Giveaway

Our good friends at PowerA have once again come up with the goods and will be providing not 1, not 2, not even 3 but… 14!!! enhanced Xbox controllers to giveaway during the playoffs. Details of the giveaways will be posted on here and Twitter so keep your eyes peeled for more news later this week!


Franchise Logo Update

Another update on the logo front and another franchise logo has been completed! The Bears are the lucky ones, joining the Aviators, Blizzard, Elite and Spectre to receive a fresh logo. Of course we are keeping said logos under wraps until all 32 have been completed and as always we will keep you updated with any significant progress.


PLAYS OF THE WEEK

Missed the last couple weeks of Plays of the Week presented by BAWLS Guarana? Don’t worry here’s a recap for you all. Don’t forget you can vote for your favourite plays from the Playoffs. Just submit your clip to Twitter using the #MLEPotW for it to be considered. Community members can also used the PotW channel in Discord to submit plays!

Week 9 Winner:  Pops (Express)

Week 10 Winner: Zeebee (Ducks)

 


Community ANNOUNCEMENTS
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

We would like to announce the appointment of Hellyaman as our new Social media Coordinator. Hellyaman will be coordinating and organising the Social Media team to help improve MLE’s output and exposure on social media platforms. We know he will do a great job and look forward to working with him.


NEW ADMISSION AGENTS

There have also been additions to the Admissions team! We would like to welcome Alton, AtoMic, Deejay, Hershey, Krosis, RainbowNoms & Taelo to the team. no doubt they will soon have their hands full as we near the off-season and the usual glut of applications we receive!


MESSAGE TO THE COMMUNITY

We just wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who turned out for the playoff streams this past weekend. We reached over 100 viewers both nights which is great to see and we really appreciated the support. Hopefully as the playoffs continue those numbers continue to grow!

Good to luck to the teams remaining in the playoffs. Whatever happens we know you will give it your all! Don’t forget to tune in this weekend folks for the Conference Semi-Finals. The action starts at 8pm ET Saturday and Sunday on the MLE Network! Until then…

Have fun & see out there,

Minor League Esports

MLE News: Logo Update, Playoffs Imminent and More!

With two weeks to go before the playoffs it’s all go in Minor League Esports…


IT’S BUSINESS TIME!

The race for the playoffs is nearly over and with just one week of the regular season left it’s make or break for many team’s playoff aspirations!

Don’t forget to tune into the MLE Network this weekend to catch some intriguing, potentially season defining series. The live action starts 8pm ET Saturday & Sunday evening!


PLAYOFFS INCOMING!

As the regular season reaches its climatic conclusion thoughts are definitely turning to the playoffs and with that in mind we can confirm the dates as well as structure for the playoffs.

The Season 9 playoffs will take place over 4 weeks starting from 19th October. As the Foundation League playoffs will have only 8 teams competing in them, the Foundation League playoffs will consist of 3 weeks, starting from the Conference Semi-Final stage.

The majority of playoff series will be broadcasted on the MLE Network. Dates and stream times are detailed below. It’s going to adrenaline-fuelled to end of the season as we look to crown four new Champions!

Conference Quarter-Finals: 19th & 20th October (Stream time: Saturday & Sunday from 8pm ET)
Conference Semi-Finals: 26th & 27th October (Stream time: Saturday & Sunday from 8pm ET)
Conference Finals: 2nd & 3rd November (Stream time: Saturday & Sunday from 7pm ET)
Championship Series: 9th & 10th November (Stream time: Saturday & Sunday from 8pm ET)

Don’t forget you can check out who’s in contention to make the playoffs for each league here and you can also check out the wildcard standings here. Also keep an eye out for a wildcard report from Deejay!


FIRST LOGOS IN

Work is well underway on creating new logos for the 32 franchises and we are excited to announce 4 logos have been completed! Now we are going to be teases here as we are keeping those logos under wraps until all 32 logos have been completed. While you ready the catapult of rotten fruit aimed in the direction of MLE HQ, we can tell you the franchises who’s logos are complete… And its the Aviators, Blizzard, Elite and Spectre who have the honour of being the first franchises to have logos made! But who will be next? You will find out soon as we will keep you updated with any significant progress made.


PLAYS OF THE WEEK

Missed any recent BAWLS Plays of the Week? No worries we’ve got you covered! Checkout the top 3 plays from the past few weeks!

Week 6 Winner: Delisys (Spartans)

Week 7 Winner: Adiously (Blizzard)

Week 8 Winner: Dewy413 (Spectre)

 


Sgt. Scooby Show GETS A New Time!

The wonderful, weekly Sgt. Scooby Show will now air from 9pm ET on Monday evenings! Don’t forget to tune into the MLE Network tonight as the guys have a “special guest” on their show!


FINAL WORD

It seemed like only yesterday Season 9 began but low and behold 9 weeks of seasonal play later and we come to the final week of the regular season. To all those teams and players still in contention to make the playoffs we wish you luck and to those who have fallen short this season we commend your efforts and hope you had a blast. Behind the scenes are thoughts are turning towards Season 10 but before we release any information regarding Season 10 there’s still lots to look forward to this season. Anyway, until next time…

Have fun & see out there,

Minor League Esports

MLE News Update: Merch Launch! New Show & More!

We’ve just passed the halfway point of the Season 9 regular season and what an eventful week it’s been…


MLE MeRch Store Launches

Last Wednesday we announced the launch of our new store! If you haven’t checked it out already then what are you waiting for?! There are tons of great products on offer allowing supporters to represent MLE and their favourite franchises. And don’t forget for the next 7 days there is 15% of all orders, just use the redeem option at the top of the store page! All proceeds raised from the store will go back into MLE, primarily franchise logo commission. We want to take this moment to thank all those who have shown their support so far. At the time of writing we have amassed over 70 sales!

What’s more from tomorrow, after community requests, we have decided to allow a level of customisation to products. From tomorrow you will be add to add text as well as additional logos to products! Keep your eyes peeled for an announcement for the “launch” of this feature.


SGT & SCOOBY TAKE OVER THE MLE NETWORK

New to Monday nights on the MLE Network is “The Sgt. Scooby Show”. MLE community members sgtmc50cal and Scoobert Doobert will be bringing their fun weekly recap to the MLE Network every Monday evening. So tune this Monday evening at 7:30pm EDT for interviews, league updates, memes, sweet plays and general tomfoolery courtesy of Sgt. & Scoobs!


BAWLS PLAY OF THE WEEK | WEEK 3

Though week 5 may have just concluded this weekend just gone it’s time to announce the winner of week 3. A big well played is in order for Troubadour (Bulls, Academy League). You can see their winning play below as well as the other top two plays from week 3. As week 4 was a break week there was no play of the week competition. Find out next time who was the BAWLS Week 5 Play of the Week!


COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

NO FORFEITING PLEASE!

There have been a few instances of players quitting mid-series this season. We deem this to be unsporting behaviour and as such will be handing out severe disciplinary action to anyone guilty of this. We pride ourselves on providing a fun, friendly and respectful environment for our community and such individual actions & behaviour have an unfair effect on others. Any player found guilty of quitting and forfeiting will be suspended for 10 weeks of season play (not including playoffs). We are also looking at retroactive disciplinary action for those who are guilty of such action before this week, once a decision has been made we will let you all know. Please remember when competing in MLE to be play respectfully and sportingly.


COORDINATOR POSITION AVAILABLE

We are on the look out for a new social media coordinator. If you have an interest in leading the social media operations of MLE, helping to promote MLE and working with other departments such as media & marketing to ensure communication across social media platforms is clear and presentable then you maybe just the person. Keep an eye out over the next couple of days in the Discord server for how to apply for the position.


MODERATOR POSITIONs

We will also be advertising for additions to the moderation team so keep your eyes peeled in the Discord server for an announcement regarding this.


SUGGESTIONS OVERHAUL

As you may have seen the way we handle community suggestion has undergone a bit of an overhaul. The new system we have in place will make it far easier for us to handle suggestions as well as offer the community clearer visibility on the responses to every suggestion posted. For more information on the changes see the recent post in Community Announcement channel.


WEBSITE UPDATES

There’s been a few small updates to our website you may have noticed. Firstly the league standings have been updated so win % is now the defacto method of sorting followed by head-to-head. The standings also now have streak & form columns and you can click on the individual wins or losses in the form column to see the relevant match results & stats. You can now also see which league every player is competing in, neat huh? There’s going to be a few more additions and improvements in the coming weeks too! Big thanks to Stevo for his continued work with the website.


Final Word

And that’s the news for another week folks! Not too much to add really but be sure to check the Sgt. & Scooby show tonight on Twitch. Show them guys some support for the great show they will be putting on. We hope everyone enjoyed the return of the live broadcasts this weekend, we know they were some technical issues that affected Sunday night stream. Unfortunately this was out of control, blame those pesky Twitch servers. Nevertheless onward & upward they say. Anyway, until next time…

Have fun & see out there,

Minor League Esports

MLE News Update: Week 3 Woes, Play of the Week & More!

We are already over 3 weeks into Season 9… time flies eh? Here’s a brief news update…


Week 3 Broadcasts

We would once again like to apologise for the lack of official broadcasts this past weekend. Unfortunately we were unable to fulfil our schedule due to a number of circumstances. A big thank you to all our affiliates who provided the community with some fantastic MLE action! On the back of this weekend we are reviewing our broadcast schedule/format going forward as we want to ensure we can fulfil the schedule and provide a great selection of action without compromising quality. As planned there are no official broadcasts this coming weekend however we may have something special lined up!


BAWLS Play of the Week | Week 2 

Dewy413 (Spectre, Champion League) was the first winner of Play of the Week sponsored by BAWLS Guarana but who would be the Week 2 Play of the Week winner and the lucky recipient of a refreshing case of BAWLS? Step forward Vitali (Aviators, Premier League)! See his winning play below as well as the the 2nd and 3rd best voted plays from week 2!


TOWN HALL

The town hall bell tolls once again! This Sunday at 6pm EDT several MLE admins will be on hand to answer your burning questions. For more details on the Town Hall please read the recent announcement in Community Announcement on Discord.


ML3’s CAPTAIN CLASH – SIGN UP NOW*

Looking for some weekly, competitive Rocket League action on Tuesday evening? Then look no further than the ML3’S CAPTAIN CLASH! To play in the event sign up here. Once you have signed up be sure to check in at 7:30pm EDT (30 minutes before start of the event).

The event works as such: there will be a Draft to select teams, then play a Double Elimination bracket right after. Highest ranked players will be captains. This whole event will take a few hours. Winners Bracket is a Best of 3, Losers will be a Best of 1. The event is open to all MLE Community members so why not give it a go?

*Event for community members only


INSIDE MLE

We hope you enjoyed the first instalment of “Inside MLE”. We have had a couple of suggestions regarding possible content for next instalment and after some deliberation we will be looking at the semantics of expansion; how has MLE grown over time, what is our current disposition on expanding and what are the plans/hopes for the future. And don’t forget if you have any suggestion for content you would like to be explored in-depth for Inside MLE feel free to suggest it here.


Final Word

Well folks week 3 was certainly an eventful one. We were just as disappointed as our community with the cancellation of the week 3 Official Broadcasts. Unfortunately we had to make the difficult decision to cancel as we were left without any alternative. Hopefully people’s disappointment will soon shift to excitement as we have a number of things in the works and soon to be revealed but to mention them now would spoil the surprise.

On a side note from our majestic President, TheGamingBear, who definitely didn’t  write this. He would like to inform the community his availability this coming week will be somewhat unpredictable as he is begrudgingly prodded out of his current dwelling to a more spacious “hovel”.

Well that’s a wrap for this update, until next time…

Have fun & see out there,

Minor League Esports

MLE News Update: Season 9 Starts, Sponsors news & More!

Season 9 is up now up & running and with it comes whole host news…


SEASON 9 IS A GO

Oh yes! Season 9 of MLE is well underway as the first week of action concluded on Sunday. There was plenty of fantastic live action for people to enjoy with Premier League & Champion League series broadcasted on mlesportsgg and Academy League & Foundation League matches broadcasted on the mlesportsgg2! It’s still very early days in the season but a number of teams were intent to make their mark early on. You can see who made strong starts the season in the league standings below. Week 2 action starts tomorrow. Don’t forget to tune into mlesportsgg from 8:30pm EDT Saturday & Sunday as well as mlesportsgg2 from 8:00pm Saturday & Sunday for more enthralling MLE series!

Premier League Standings | Champion League Standings | Academy League Standings | Foundation League Standings


Suggestions GET AN OVERHAUL

Our new community coordinators; Galaxy & SSS, along with League Operations coordinator; Riz, have been hard at work implementing a better system when it comes to handling your suggestions. Going forward we will be posting regular summaries of suggestions on the website along with relevant responses from MLE council members and coordinators. We believe this will provide much more visibility with regards suggestions and ensure none get overlooked. The way community members can provide suggestions remains the same but the way we handle them will be much more effective. Keep a lookout within the next week for the first post!


DISCORD NAME TAGS

We realize that with the addition of cross-play, system tags are no longer needed for names in Discord. It was brought up as a suggestion to change them to something else at the end of last month. We sent out a survey to see what everyone thought about it. We received many great suggestions and we want to thank you for submitting them. After much consideration we have decided to go with ‘nothing’ as our system tag replacement i.e. DOD | Player … that’s it. Nothing fancy but we feel this option is very clean and direct. We’ll be instituting this change over the next couple of weeks.


BAWLS & POWERA ARE BACK!

As we are sure you are aware by now our good friends at BAWLS and PowerA have once again agreed to sponsor us for this season. We are forever thankful for their support and the great prizes they offer to our community. This season BAWLS will once again be sponsoring Play of the Week, rewarding each weeks winner with a case of refreshing BAWLS! On top of this they will also be providing 1 case to each Championship winning team! PowerA will be providing lucky winners this season with their quality controllers and headsets so be sure to keep a lookout for giveaways. We feel privileged to be supported by these great companies once again and look forward to continuing our relationships.


PLAY OF THE WEEK

Speaking about MLE Play of the Week sponsored by BAWLS Guarana, don’t forget to vote for your favourite plays from week 1. You can do by submitting the form linked here. Please note voting is only open to community members. We are looking at ways to better present Play of the Week clips that are up for vote so if you have any ideas or suggestions please let us know. Don’t forget to clip plays during streams and post them in the Play of the Week channel on Discord so they can be considered for that week’s vote!


FRESHLY VERIFIED

A big well played goes out to community members DK & TeaBoneJones who have become the latest Verified Affiliate Broadcasters! They will now be able to broadcast any MLE series outside of Official Broadcast times on their channels helping to increase the exposure of MLE whilst giving them support and promotion as well. Anyone interested in getting involved with broadcast such contact Broadcast Director: Hunted or Broadcast Coordinator: Riyo.


INSIDE MLE

In case you somehow missed it, please check out our brand new feature “Inside MLE”. Inside MLE will be dedicated to providing an insight into hot topics in MLE, giving in-sight and perspective into decision making and operations. The first instalment of Inside MLE tackles the engaging topic of Franchise Logos and our current situation with regards to getting them produced. You can read all about it here.


SEASON AWARDS

So we know there was some confusion as to what happened with the “Well Played Award” for Positive Contribution to the Community for the Season 8 Awards show. Good question. It’s not that it was forgotten far from it, it was more the fact the votes were very spread out across a large number of people so there was no conclusive winner. That being said we are still looking at doing something for it. Obviously talk about Awards will instigate questions regarding the seemingly ill-fated Season 7 Awards. Fear not they too have not been forgotten and they will be resolved in the very near future. We apologise for the delay and any confusion on these matters.


FINAL WORD

Well there you go folks Season 9 has started! We hope everyone has enjoyed it so far, whether you got chance to play, watch or just be involved in some capacity. There were a few hiccups, that’s par for the course, but we have no doubt as the Season progresses you will see a number of improvements. We continually look to develop and enhance what we offer to our community and we are confident Season 9 will be one of the best yet, if not the best.

If you have only just found about MLE, where have you been? No but in all seriousness even though Season 9 has started there are still plenty of opportunities for people to get involved. So please don’t hesitate to sign up! Right onto week 2 and it promises to be another banger!

Have fun & see out there,

Minor League Esports

MLE News Update: Season 9 Schedule, New Coordinators and More!

The start of the Season 9 Regular Season is nearly upon us and there’s lots of juicy news to announce…


Season 9 Draft

It’s over! The much anticipated Season 9 Draft played out last weekend and now the 32 franchises have filled their rosters for the season ahead. Congratulations to all that were drafted. A full list of current rosters can be found in the link below. Good luck to all those drafted to play in Season 9. For those not selected or joining MLE after the draft don’t panic, opportunities to play will arise throughout the season.

Season 9 Rosters: view Rosters here


Fixture List & Broadcast Schedule

A new season means plenty of changes and we have decided to implement a Broadcast Schedule for Season 9. What that means is for weeks 1-8 of the regular season, excluding week 4, series have been pre chosen for broadcast. We decided to go down this route as this will allow for better organisation and setup as well as giving franchises fairer opportunities of exposure on broadcast.

No series have been selected for week 4 as, in a first in the history of the MLE, we are introducing a “double header” week. Week 4 falls on Labor Day weekend and as a result we have decided to give franchises the option to schedule two series during week 3 if they wish.To keep things simple and clean in terms of presentation only week 3 series will be broadcasted during the double header week.

The fixture list will be viewable on the website soon.

Fixture List & Broadcast Schedule: view schedule here


New MLE Twitch Channel!

Season 9 will see 11 series broadcasted every week (technology permitting). With four leagues on show it can lead to a slightly confusing viewing experience. With all this in mind we would like to announce a second Twitch channel! For Season 9 we have decided to divide content and broadcasts between two channels, with mlesportsgg broadcasting Premier League & Champion League action and the newly acquired mlesportsgg2 (inventive name huh?) hosting Academy League & Foundation League series. These changes will ensure more streamlined & focused broadcasts as well as providing a greater spotlight for all four leagues and the players within them.

Both channels will stream Saturday and Sunday evenings (ET) every week. On Saturday from 8:30pm, mlesportsgg will be broadcasting 3 Champion League series whilst mlesportsgg2 will be broadcasting 2 Foundation League series from 8pm. On Sunday from 8:30pm, mlesportsgg will broadcast 3 Premier league series whilst mlesportsgg2 will broadcast 3 Academy League series from 8:00pm.

mlesportsgg: Saturday 8:30pm, Sunday 8:30pm
mlesportsgg2: Saturday 8:00pm, Sunday 8:00pm


Rulebook Updated

We can officially announce the MLE Rulebook has been refreshed and amended ahead of Season 9. There have been a number of amendments and changes in the rulebook so when you get chance please read to ensure you understand. Any questions from community members should be posted to the #help-desk channel in Discord. Those reading this and currently not part of MLE can direct any questions to mlesportsgg@gmail.com

Rulebook: view rulebook here


New Coordinators

Thank you to everyone who applied for the Community & Marketing Coordinator positions. We have made our decisions and we are excited to announce the following appointments, first our new Marketing Coordinator…

Congratulations are in order to Sleegi! Sleegi has made a profound and positive impression since joining the community, becoming an established caster for MLE, a General Manager for the Hawks franchise and a well respected member of the community. We have full confidence he will excel as our new Marketing Coordinator, here’s a few words from the man himself:

“I am so excited that the council has entrusted me with this role, and can’t wait to get started! I expect to help grow MLE like we’ve  never seen before, get started with merch that you won’t be able to resist picking up, and focus on pushing the image of our wonderful community out to as many eyes as possible!”

Over to the new Community Coordinators and we are happy to announce that SSS and Galaxy have been recruited! Since joining MLE, SSS has provided a great deal of support and help, especially with Admissions. Galaxy has become an active and productive member of the community and showed a real desire to improve community operations. Here is what both of them had to say about being appointed:

“Hello everyone, for those who don’t know me, I’m SSS! I am very excited to step into this new role as community coordinator to see the growth of this league and community as it continues to thrive. As I step into this role, I invite those who would like to share their thoughts on the league with me in professional manner. This will not only help me to help the community, but I know that many people here have some fantastic ideas that may be too shy to share them publicly. I just want to say thank you and I look forward to working closer with you all.” -SSS

Hello everyone! I look forward to being one of the two new community coordinators in MLE. I look forward to meeting everyone, if I haven’t already, and I am super excited to help our talented staff team. I am almost always able to be contacted through Discord most of the time so don’t hesitate to send me a message if you have any questions. Again, I can’t wait to get started and help continue to make this community grow!” – Galaxy

The Broadcast team would also like to announce the appointment of Riyo as a Broadcast Coordinator. Riyo has shown great initiative and character, working his way to become an Affiliate broadcaster to helping run and broadcast Official Broadcasts. There’s no doubt Riyo has been a great addition to the Broadcast team and is certainly excited about what lies ahead:

“I can’t wait to get this new season started. I want to help bring the best broadcast possible to MLE and make sure as many games as possible get on a stream every week. If you ever have any ideas or questions feel free to message me any time. Hope everyone has a good season.”

We wish them all well in their new roles & look forward to seeing what they can do. 


Beware Hackers!

Folks please beware of any links you receive in private messages on Steam & Discord, if in doubt do not click them as your account may be compromised. If you receive a suspicious DM from a member of the community please inform a member of the council or community coordinator immediately.


Final Word

We are just one week away from the start of Season 9! We don’t know about anyone else but this off-season has flown by! The 32 franchises have now drafted their rosters for each of their teams and the time for talking is nearly over. We would like to take this moment to thank everyone who has helped us get this far and has supported with the preparations for Season 9.

Now it’s the time we have all been waiting for, the moment when players turn on their engines and take to the field to battle it out with the ultimate goal of immortalising themselves in MLE history! You won’t want to miss out any of the action this season so make you sure you tune into our Twitch channels each weekend for live MLE action and follow us on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook so you don’t miss anything!

Thanks for reading folks, until next time…

Have fun & peace out,

Minor League Esports

 

MLE News Update: Season 8 Awards, Season 9 Drafts & More!

We are just a few days away from the Season 9 Drafts. Find out about them and much more in the latest MLE news update…


Season 8 Awards Show

The votes have been cast and now it’s time to reveal the winners…. Well not right now but this Friday evening! Tune into the MLE Network at 8pm EST to see who won what in the MLE Season 8 Awards Show! Thank you to all those that voted! See you all Friday!


Season 9 Drafts

This weekend also sees the much-anticipated Season 9 Drafts. Each of the four leagues have their own draft where General Managers take turns to pick Free Agents to represent their team for the forthcoming season. Saturday will see the Foundation League draft followed by the Academy League draft and on Sunday the Champion League draft will take place followed by the Premier League draft. All drafts will be live on the MLE Network stream start times listed below.

Saturday 27th July, 7pm EST: Foundation League & Academy League

Sunday 28th July, 7pm EST: Champion League & Premier League


Community & Marketing Coordinators Wanted!

MLE are looking for some new Community Coordinators as well as a marketing Coordinator. Coordinators are an integral part of MLE and we are always looking for active, determined individuals within the community to help support our organisation. Coordinators are fundamental to the operations of the areas they operate in and help shape how MLE runs. For anyone interested in a Community Coordinator position or Marketing Coordinator position please read the Coordinator Information document linked in the Discord post. (Please note only Community & Marketing Coordinator positions are being considered at this moment). To apply for either position please fill out a form linked in the Discord post. Applications close at the end of this week so don’t delay!


MLE World Cup Mixer Champions Declared

Last Friday 16 illustrious nations, such as Brazil, China, North Korea and Zimbabwe were represented by MLE community members in the MLE World Cup Mixer… even a certain Presidential Bear who captain plucky underdogs to a respectful quarter-final appearance! In the end there could be only one winner and it was the mighty Poland represented by Miller_Ball_22, Oni & Rook who lifted the metaphorical trophy. Big GGs to everyone who turned up to play and those who organised the event. 


Alberta Rocket League Event

This “announcement” comes courtesy of MikeIsMyIke:

Attention Alberta MLE Members! Salt Mines 2019 is Calgary’s premier Esport tournament series and this year they’re adding a Rocket League 3v3 tournament! Full PC gaming setups will be provided on site, so you’ll only have to bring your own controller! The $30 competitor pass gets you entry into 20 different tournaments throughout the weekend including Rocket League, so you can play in as many events as you’d like! And if you’re a fan of Smash Bros, this is Alberta’s most stacked event yet! The event is held the weekend  August 3rd / 4th Full information can be found here https://smash.gg/tournament/salt-mines-2019/details or alternatively DM MikeIsMyIke for further info.


Final Word

Right folks this is it. Draft Week, the biggest week of Season 9 so far! To all those Free Agents looking to be drafted we wish you well. Some of you will be lucky and get drafted whilst otherwise will not and have to hope they get a chance during the season. To those that do fall into this second category don’t be too disheartened, each season there have been numerous opportunities to get picked up by a team during the season as players rank up, leave rosters, etc. So if you don’t get drafted it’s not the end of your season, far from it. There will also be plenty of community events throughout the season for you to enjoy as well.

As we approach draft weekend we would like to thank everyone who has helped push applications this past week. It was looking a little close to the line with some of the leagues in terms of player numbers but this past week we have seen a surge in applications and admissions into MLE and we would like to take this moment to thank everyone involved with making that happen, from the admissions team to those who simply helped promote MLE in anyway, your support is greatly appreciated.

So all that is left to do enjoy the rest of the week, be sure to tune into the MLE Network this weekend for the Awards Show and Drafts if you can. Those Drafts can be extensive affairs so I know the Broadcast team will appreciate your comments and support. 

Thanks for reading folks, until next time…

Have fun & peace out,

Minor League Esports

MLE News Update: Draft Lottery, Applications & More!

We are hot off the heels of last night’s Season 9 Draft Lottery, which saw our 32 Franchises learn their respective fates for the upcoming Drafts. With the Season 9 draft only a few weeks away there’s a lot of news to bring you all! So without delay here is the news…


Franchise Fates Decided

Last night the Draft order for each of the four leagues was decided on stream. But who did the wheel favour and who ended waiting till the end. Let’s find out…

It was the Sharks who got the luck of the draw in the Foundation League. This will be the Sharks first season in the Foundation league after not being involved in the inaugural season of the Foundation League in Season 8. The Pandas and Blizzard were next out of the hat at 2 & 3 respectively. For one of the founding franchises of MLE, the Elite, it wasn’t such good news as they got dealt the card of having to pick last in the upcoming draft. 

Foundation League Season 9 Draft Order

In the Academy League, 32 teams eagerly awaited to find out their fate and it was Season 7 Academy League runners-up, the Jets, who flew in as first pick. They will be hoping 1st pick will improve their fortunes after a tough Season 8. The Pandas once again struck lucky getting the 2nd pick again, drawing ahead of Season 6 & 7 Champions the Wizards. Last Seasons Champions, the Outlaws have a slight disadvantage going into the defence of their title being picked last but one, that “honour” falling to the Tyrants.

Academy League Season 9 Draft Order

With the Tyrants winning the Season 8 Champion League Championship in their inaugural season, the chances of them being picked first were slim but they again had the blow of having to pick last in the upcoming draft. On the flip side, the Spectre enter their 2nd season as a franchise with renewed optimism after being drawn first. They are followed by Season 6 Champions the Aviators in 2nd and the Outlaws in 3rd.

Champion League Season 9 Draft Order

And last not but not least the Premier League teams were informed of their place in the upcoming Draft. With the addition of 16 teams this season, their will be plenty of places up for grabs and it was the Bears who will get first pick. In bizarre circumstances the Pandas once again got drawn in 2nd & the Spartans received some luck from the wheel after being drawn lowly in the Academy & Champion League draws. Last seasons Champions, the Foxes, were last “out of the hat”, pipped to 31st place by the team they defeated, the Bulls, in last season’s Championship Final.

Premier League Season 9 Draft Order


Season 9 Important Dates

In case you missed last week’s Community News update don’t worry, here is a friendly reminder of a couple of important upcoming dates.

Draft Weekend, Saturday & Sunday 27th & 28th July 

Draft weekend is always an exciting and nervous time for those hoping to get picked up by one of the teams. Full times, details, etc. regarding the Draft Weekend will be released nearer the event. 

Season 9 start, Thursday 8th – Sunday 11th August

Week 1 of Season 9 is provisionally planned to start on the “second weekend” in August. Full fixtures and season structure will be released in the near future once details have been finalised.


Foundation League Players Wanted

MLE is a great place for players new to Rocket League or those looking to progress from the lower ranks. Many players who started out in Foundation league have improved their skills and rank, whilst having a lot of fun along the way, so if you are ranked Platinum 3 or below and are looking for a supportive & competitive environment, MLE is a great environment to develop… if we do say so ourselves. To apply for the chance to play in Season, click here.


Follow MLE

Did you know MLE has an Instagram account? MLE is present on several platforms so why not check us out and give us a follow.

Facebook: @MLEsportsGG

Instagram: mlesportsgg

Twitch: http://twitch.tv/mlesportsgg

Twitter: @MLEsportsgg

Website: https://mlesports.gg

YouTube: Minor League Esports


Final Word

With the Draft Lottery completed the 32 franchises will be hard at work trying to scout players ahead of the forthcoming drafts. Season 9 is on course to be the biggest yet and as these next couple of weeks unravel there will be lots of information to digest.

Don’t forget to keep out on league announcements for any updates, as well as the website and Twitter.

Thanks for reading, until next time…

 

Have fun & peace out,

Minor League Esports

 

Week 4 Power Rankings

Might be a little late, but better late than never right? We are into the home stretch now, and every new look we take into the Power Rankings has shown us the dominance of a few teams that are looking to confirm a playoff spot within the next couple of weeks. Which teams are gunning for number one?

Yes, it is true. The Foxes have been dethroned by the ferocity of the Bulls, led by the absolute monster that is Floms. Aside from this outcome, pretty much everyone was here last week, apart from the Sharks. It does not seem like there are many teams making headlines now that we have had a decent amount of time to confirm the top teams. The Bulls with their 5-0 against the Spectre, and the Foxes 4-1 over the Spartans were probably quite expected from most other people. Do not get me wrong, the Spartans and the Spectre are fantastic in their own right, but there is way too much skill being cooped up in the Bulls and Foxes for them to have had much of a chance at all.
With the Canes, Hive, and Sharks though, it was much less a battle of skill for the top 5 here, but who could lose the least amount of games. The Canes, despite the 2-3 loss against the Elite, boosted them up into a 3rd place spot in Power Rankings. Why is that? Well, the Canes in their past performances have played against some of the toughest teams the league has to offer. We definitely got to see them work to mitigate their losses in their match against the Dodgers a couple of weeks back, which they did manage to hold it to a 2-3 loss. The Elite are no laughing matter either. However, in the games the Elite won, the Canes just could not shoot to save their lives, averaging only about 3 shots between both Synthex and Iguane. But when the Canes won, none of the shooting habits changed for either team, but what did change was the sharp uptick in defense from the Hurricanes. Both games were completely scoreless for the Elite, a feat that is pretty much unheard of.
Much in the same way with the Canes, the Hive were just trying to lose the least amount of games possible, and the Sharks looking for a solid, convincing win. With the Hive, they would plummet down the rankings, and with the Sharks, they might be looking at a difficult chance of making a playoff run. With a 4-1 win for the Sharks, both teams vaguely accomplished what they wanted to do. The Sharks won their games very handily, and the Hive managed to scrape a win together. Just how handily is noted by the rise in only one place for the Sharks and a drop of only one by the Hive. Not much has changed for this league. It seems we have got our first group of playoff berths right in front of us.

“All right, so let us see what went down in Champion League (CL) last week… Bears got a 5-0, okay that is a bit better than I expected but okay. Puffins got… Oh dang, another 5-0! Over the Aviators too, wow. The… Tyrants fell? Eh? They lose or something? …Tyrants vs Dodgers… 3-2 Dodgers!? And the Spartans went up by 5 too? WHAT? THEY DID NOT BEAT THE FOXES 5-0, WHAT IS HAPPENING ANYMO-” That is what my brain was doing as the week progressed. A lot of outcomes here were pretty expected. I do not think anyone thought the Bears, Puffins, Shadow, or Tyrants would fall out of the top 4. They seemed pretty solid. Now a couple of these high-risers in the middle of the pack, hoo boy. They did some WORK this week. Let me show you.
Like I said earlier, the Tyrants lost 2-3 to the Dodgers. At the time of the match, the Tyrants were 2nd in the league at a 12-3 record, and the Dodgers were in the middle of the pack at 8-7. How could the Dodgers possibly have beaten them? On paper it seems so wrong, right? Well, there can only be one reason if it is the Dodgers. Minamacky. At the end of week 4, he is one of only 4 people in the 6+ MVPR club, held by two players on the Bears, and the legend of the Lightning, Sough. Not only were the games that the Tyrants won close, not only did the Tyrants have to shoot twice as many shots as the Dodgers to score one or two more goals, but they also got reverse swept. Not just any reverse sweep. Probably the most sudden “flip-a-match-on-it’s-head” kind of reverse sweep I have ever seen. You do not go from losing 2-3 and 1-3 to absolutely smacking the other team 3-2, 5-2, and 6-1. Absolute savages.
With the Foxes/Spartans match, it seemed like it was split down the middle. 3-2 either way, both teams seem really solid, Cali and Thunderballs have been really really good for their teams, so there is no way a team can sweep here. I was quite wrong. The match was very, VERY close to be fair. The first three games were all narrow one-goal wins, followed by a two-goal win, and finally, a three-goal win. It took all 5 games before the Spartans could really break through and seem dominant. However, not dropping the concentration after three incredibly hard-fought wins is incredibly difficult in its own right, so a 5-0 of this caliber is nothing short of astounding.
The Jets and the Express had very narrowly lost/won matches against the Comets and the Eclipse. They managed to perform well enough against other decently difficult teams in order to stay pretty much right where they were the week prior. Now the oddities. The Knights and the Outlaws. We have seen other Amber Division teams poke their heads in, and quickly duck out in the past, but I feel as though these two teams are staples we will be seeing for the next few weeks. A 4-1 win by the Knights over once top 10 Sabres catapulted them up to a 13-7 record, the closest strike the rest of the division had on the Bears. And despite being at an 11-9 record by the end of the week, the Outlaws proved themselves incredibly capable as well with a well-fought 3-2 win over the Pirates top-tier roster. Do we see a potential usurping in the works over in the Amber Division? With the pace these two teams are looking at, the outcome seems somewhat grim for the Bears.

…Now as a statistician, I essentially have to take a look at numbers and make some kind of sense out of them, to put it simply. I can not make sense of this. Even the people on the Power Rankings Committee agreed that this is crazy. So instead of attempting to pretend like I am some know-it-all and seem like I can make sense of everything, this specific one I will take you on a trip into my thought process and try to make sense of it on the fly, cause… +5? +8?! -4?! What is this, even!?
Okay, starting from the top, the Spartans… Ugh. 5-0’d the Foxes. Okay, that explains the rise to the top, and the very steep drop the Foxes had. For the past few weeks, we have seen many Foxes rosters make, and stay at 1st in Power Rankings. But 5 losses in a row is just unheard of, especially when despite losing 5 whole games, they are still 4th overall in standings. The games were only narrowly won too. For the Spartans to not drop concentration for 5 games over what looked to be the guaranteed 1st overall is absolutely amazing.
Onto the Express! …They did not move at all? Wow, for this week, I think that is the most impressive part of all of this. And it was because of… A well-fought 3-2 win. All right, something manageable for once! Thank you Express for being kind to the PR Committee. We appreciate it.
…Oh no. +8 with the Spectre. What did they d- …Oh. Yeah, that would do it. A supremely dominant 4-1 win over the Bulls, who had an incredibly similar record to them. 7-2, 6-5, 5-1, 4-3, that is some high-octane offense if I have ever seen it. The weirdest part about all of this is the Bulls were not even doing badly in the shot category either. There was only one game where they just could not shoot at all. Even more strange is the lack of saves from the Spectre. So clearly the Bulls were probably pegged to win by most, missed many shots on net, and paid for it by the Spectre being in the right position to rebound to the other side.
Let us get some of the small changes out of the way now while we are at it. Elite, Outlaws, Hawks, and Shadow. A back and forth, close 3-2 series between the Elite and the Canes kept the Elite at the top of their division, just barely. For the Outlaws, it was a combination of a “close-when-losing” and a “crush-them-when-winning” mentality that propelled them to a 3-2 win over the Pirates. …Like, come on. 8-0 in Game 2? Kerwood you need to calm down there bud. And now the Hawks with a… Oh wow, a 4-1 win over the Blizzard. Brought them up to an even 10-10 record, took down the Blizzard’s new FL prospect CaliforniaDays, very nice work from them. The Shadow received a decent 2-3 walloping by the Lightning, who employed a very similar mentality to that of the Outlaws. Gus, in the same way as Kerwood, calm down bud.
And that brings us to the final two. The Rhinos and Knights. Now these gains of +5 and +3 respectively are probably due t- Sigh. Okay, who let the Rhinos 5-0 the Demo? 7-0, 4-0, and 6-0?! Do they just not feel remorse or anything? Now, in these kinds of situations, I would advise other teams to stay as far away from Zeaks and Meddler as possible, but I do not have to because it seems like they drive away people just by their presence. Three scoreless games for the opponents is incredibly difficult to do, especially when they put on a decent number of shots. And the Knights? …Okay, phew. Just a 3-2 over the Sabres. Very closely fought by both teams, especially when both teams are incredibly close to each other in standings.

Ooh. OOH. Now, THIS is what my statistician self can handle. The Wizards and the Bears duked it out last week, and despite a 1-4 loss to the Bears, nobody can really say that it was not expected. The Bears, while a great roster, and still in the top 4 overall despite the loss, pale in comparison to the dominance the Wizards have put on so far. Despite that, the match was still surprisingly close. The first four games were either won by a margin of one or two goals. It was only when the Bears finally lost their third game in the 4th game that they let down their defenses, and let the Wiz Kids drill in a 5-1 win to end strong.
That +3 from the Express is no joke. Not only did they 5-0 the Eclipse, but they also did so in a marvelous fashion, with a +16 goal differential. What was even more impressive, is that before Week 4 had finished, both the Express and the Eclipse were tied at 7-8. Two teams, that on paper should be relatively equal, had an abnormal sweep that was insanely convincing. That is the stuff I live to see, and I hope the Express can treat us to more what with their newer, higher outlook on life.
…I will save the Outlaws game for last. You’ll understand why. Now, the Lightning/Shadow match, I do not think anyone expected the Lightning to lose. Tied with the Bears and the Wizards for 1st overall after week 3, they seem to be the dominating force that will probably take the Sapphire Division Champion title. A 4-1 win over the now 2-18 Shadow on paper seems about right, but it must have been a blowout, right? Yeah. It was. The match started slow, a 3-1 Shadow win to get them their 2nd game win of the season starting the match off. As the match progressed though, you could tell the Lightning were getting warmed up quickly. 4-2, followed by a 6-2, 7-1, and to top everything off, an 8-0.
And here is why I saved the Outlaws/Pirates match. *inhales* YOU DON’T 10-0 TWICE IN ONE MATCH, WHAT THE HECK GUYS!? If you want to see things that are almost NSFMLE, you can check out the results in #fl-series-results, because I think all I need to say is the double 10-0. You can get the gist of the rest of the match from that. It was not pretty. Viewer discretion is advised if you do look at the results. Heck, you might even want your parents to make sure you can even look at it. Even if you are in your 40s. Do not say I did not warn you.

“It made me feel like I made a real impact…”, Interview with Majik

Jason “Majik” is the current GM of the new expansion team the Tyrants. He plays for the franchise’s Champion League (CL) team, which is currently ranked #4 in the league with an incredible 14-6 win/loss record. He is also #6 on the individual CL leaderboard, averaging just under 6.0 MVPR per game – proving that he is a competitive beast.

However, Majik is also one of the most fun-loving people in the whole community. From my personal experience playing in tournaments with him, mentions from other people, and just watching his banter unfold, it is clear that Majik loves the game and has a blast playing it.

Majik embodies the mix of competitiveness and fun that makes MLE unique, and it is for this reason that we chose to interview him for our GM Spotlights.

Let us start at the beginning: What is your history with the MLE? When did you join, and how were your early seasons?

Well, my interest in the MLE was piqued in around October 2017 when I saw that it was a developmental league and a great opportunity to get better. Unfortunately, there was no Champion League at the time, so I was really disappointed, but I paid attention to the teams and how they did because I thought the franchise system was pretty awesome. When they dropped the Champion League, I was one of the first players to apply – but I wasn’t taken, so I went and subscribed to their Twitch channel and I got immediate access. (laughter)

So which season was this in?

This was back in Season 5. I got in around January 2018. I played a little, strutted my stuff, and then in February TruSolja hit me up and he asked me to come tryout for the Spartans. I ran some games with him and Stumpy and then I got picked up, which is where I spent the rest of the season.

TruSolja, of course, is one of your current teammates, so you two have been playing for a long time.

Yeah, me and him getting back together have been a long time coming. We had great synergy that season. After that season, I was drafted onto the Puffins for Season 6, where we were able to make playoffs, which was pretty awesome. And now we’re here, in Season 7, and I’m the new GM of the Tyrants! It’s a new expansion team, but I think I’m running it ok.

Speaking of being a GM, how has that new responsibility been for you? This is your first season, so how do you think it is going?

Getting accepted was awesome. It was almost like becoming the face of the Tyrants, especially since it’s a brand new expansion team and I’m their first ever player. It made me feel like I made a real impact, which was amazing. I’m also excited about running the social media accounts, the Twitter and all of that (side note: follow @MLETyrants), but the biggest thing was being able to draft all my players and have that freedom in picking teammates. I guess scheduling sucks, but everything else is pretty great, so I can’t complain.

About the draft and the pre-season, I have heard a lot of GMs talk about the difficulty of juggling the pre-season and the draft. Did you find that held true for you, or were you able to coast through?

It was really difficult for me, especially for Academy and Premier League. For Champion League, I already knew what I wanted. I knew that TruSolja and Alex were my picks from the start – they’re sleeper picks because they didn’t have time to do tryouts, and I knew I could rely on them. I’ve been playing with them for almost my whole time in MLE, so I knew I could count on them. For Academy, I had to run a lot of sessions – I was having a really hard time picking them out because as a Champ player I didn’t have a good perspective on who was good for their salary and stuff like that. I think I made good choices but it was super hard to juggle everything, with schools and extracurriculars, and so on. I was also in Florida for the Academy League draft, so it was difficult, but I managed it.

That is some dedication.

It was really rough, but I think I made some good picks and we’re not doing bad.

Definitely, definitely. You guys have been popping up in the top of the leaderboard in multiple leagues.

Thanks! I also think it’ll be easier in the future, because I can retain players now to help me with tryouts and avoid having to do as much. I think as long as I don’t get put on another first-season team, it’ll be a lot easier for me to handle. And as of now, nothing’s going badly – I think it’s going pretty well for my first season.

Obviously, we have got a pretty good idea of what you like about your CL team – you like the synergy, you know the players, and you know they are solid. Do you think you can also talk a little bit about your other two teams, those in PL and in AL? Why do you think those teams are going to do well?

For Premier League, I have a ton of faith in Barry Allen. I watched him play last season for the Elite and I watched him grow as a player through that whole season. His playstyle is super, super solid, and once I saw him play a few times in my Premier tryouts, I immediately knew he was one of the people I wanted to grab. As for Fuzh, he’s a mechanical maniac – he’s so confusing to play against because he’ll pull some 360 flip reset pinch out of nowhere. He’s just got the weirdest playstyle. And as for JRyck, I only saw him in two of my tryouts. But he’s a really solid player, his rotations are clean, and his offense is really good. There’s nothing more I could really ask for in a player or a team. All of them are solid, and since we’re not relying on one player to carry, they can all grow together and become better players together.

As for Acad, I was struggling because I was in the middle of the pack and all the picks I had originally wanted got sniped. I picked up Sci_Frye because he did really well last season on the Hawks, and then used his knowledge of other Academy League players to get TSR and Revolving. TSR and Sci_Frye are very aggressive, very offensive, and I like that a lot. Revolving is more passive, but he’s still an offensive monster – all three of them are really good on the offensive end and as long as we can clean up the defense, we have a playoff team – maybe even a championship team – right here.

Sticking with Champ League (since that is the time you play for), who are you scared of in your division?

I mean, the Flames seemed kinda scary but we took them down already.

Yeah, 4-1. And that was with TruSolja and Alex, so not even your highest salary team.

Yep, it’s looking good. Next, I’d say probably the Pandas, with Pomwonderful, that’s a team to watch out for. We’re playing the Bulls this week but I’m not really worried. Honestly, I think we’ll do really well in our division. I think a lot of people have been citing the Elite as a team to watch out for but I’m not really scared of them.

Oh really?

I’ve seen Xeia play, and he’s solid, but I’m not really too worried. If I had anybody on that team to worry about it’d be Demonic, with that experience, but I definitely think we can take them down.

Note: this interview was before Week 2. The Tyrants would go on to beat the Bulls in Week 2 and the Elite in Week 3, before taking a close loss to the Dodgers in Week 4 with a 3-2 scoreline.

How about outside of your division? Who are the big teams in the whole league?

Shadow’s probably no. 1 – even though they aren’t numerically on top, I think they have the highest ceiling. I think a dark horse to go far is the Pirates – they’re looking mean with RED. Also, the Outlaws have a pretty good scrim record against other top teams, so they’re a team to keep an eye out for too.

Basically, MLE is super stacked – both in CL and in general. It’s gonna be exciting this season no matter your league.

Definitely, definitely.

Last question: What do you think you are most excited about, not for your team, not for any of your teams, but for MLE as a whole? What are you anticipating coming up soon that is going to be awesome?

It sounds super dumb, but I think the most exciting thing for me moving forward is having new logos. I’m so pumped for that, because it adds a new element to the team for me. It adds some extra life – right now we have the banners with the circles and the team name in the middle, but that’s just a name to me. That’s not a logo, that’s not a look. When I have that look, that personality, to associate with a team, it feels so much more exciting. It feels like that team is more than just words – they’re a community.

That’s a great way to look at it. And, of course, you joined MLE because of the franchise system, you loved the teams and the idea of the franchises, so seeing those getting more attention must be awesome.

Yeah, I can’t wait.

Thanks for taking the time, Majik! We can’t wait to see you and your teams on the field over the coming season, and we wish you the best of luck!

Thanks! Happy to come out.

You can follow Majik on Twitter at @MajikRLE and keep up with the Tyrants at @TyrantsMLE. Keep an eye out for him on official and affiliate streams in the weeks to come!

Week 3 MLE Power Rankings

Week 4 has dawned on us finally. We are now halfway through the season, but how did we get here? Three weeks have passed, and while some trends are forming, the four leagues still seem a tad… chaotic. Let me explain.

In our most prestigious league, it is no surprise that the strongest teams are both on top in Power Rankings, as well as win/loss record. The Foxes for their 2nd week in a row are the best of the best. From your average humble beginnings with a 3-2 in Week 1, their most recent 4-1 win against the Jets was nothing short of destruction, firmly planting them at the top for weeks to come. However, while they bask in their glory, a few groups appear to be poised to take the #1 league spot. The two that are the most capable at the moment, are the Bulls and the Hive, both tied with the Foxes at 12-3, achieving a 5-0 and a 4-1 this week respectively. All three teams have absolute monsters of a star player, the Bulls with Floms, Hive with oogga, and Foxes with henrY. But hey now, the Spectre and the Canes while not having top players as good as the 12-3 crew do on paper, their recent achievements have been impressive. Having played difficult teams in the past, and losing quite hard as a result, being at a 10-5 record is a feat on its own. The Canes even faced the Bulls in Week 1, one of their biggest rivals now out of their way. With the Spectre set to play the Bulls, they are in prime position to either comfortably sit in the top 3, or let the Bulls fleet off and grab the #1 position they have yearned for, for three straight weeks.

They did it. The Bears curse is finally over. From jumping between dead last, and top tier team ever since the creation of the franchise in Season 1, they have finally been able to break through the last barrier that has taunted them for years. Are they safe though? Probably not. While they have an untied 13-2 record, many teams almost seem eager to pounce on this weekend and make a firm statement that they are the real title holders. Take the Tyrants and Dodgers for example. While they are set to play each other, any result will be a good thing for both of them. Longstanding Dodgers fans will probably agree in saying this is the strongest roster we have seen from them, period. While ranked 10 in Power Rankings, mainly due to a shaky start, they have brought out the big guns. The Tyrants, static in the top 3 for the entire season, are where they are because of a level of offensive trouncing never before seen. Either team can walk away with a win or even a loss, and feel content. For most other matches though, it seems quite one-sided. Having the Lightning play a team like the Shadow when they are at an 0-15 start seems cruel. Same goes for the Blizzard playing the Hawks. All other teams in the top 10, like the Jets, Foxes, Puffins, Elite, and Express are playing modest, decent squads. While a few matches are going to be absolute nail-biters, much like the Tyrants vs Dodgers, most others are almost NSFMLE. But who knows? It is impossible to know the outcomes until they have happened. The Puffins proved the Shadow to be fallible. The Shadow said the same to the Blizzard.

 

 

Sigh. Foxes. Foxes? Foxes, Foxes, Foxes. Seems like the Foxes just really like those top spots. Is it, I don’t know, a little possible for them to give them up? Well at this rate, probably not. Our first case of the #1 Power Ranked team not being the #1 in the league, the Foxes now with a cycle of 5-0, 4-1, and 3-2 sit 3rd in Academy standings, and 1st in their division. Having played in quite the variety of series, this will probably be their greatest test, as they will be coming across #3, the Spartans. These warriors have been hard at work proving their mirth, sitting 4th overall, as well as 2 games behind their canine counterparts. It will be a brawl of brains and brawn, as the Foxes have undoubtedly one of the strongest, if not the strongest offense in the entire league, and the Spartans have the man, the myth, the legend himself in the Power Rankings Committee, ZeeBee.
“So, while those two are off fighting, we can just take #1 right?” Wha- oh. The Demo and the Express. Right. Well, I suppose they very well could, seeing as they are quite well equipped to deal with the 7-8 Rhinos and the 9-6 Eclipse. The two are currently tied for 1st overall at 13-2, but while they might have “easier” opponents, the Foxes and Spartans can walk away with a heavy loss easily, and just have an easier end of the season. The Shadow, Elite, Wolves, Dodgers, and Flames can all walk away with good, if not fantastic weeks. But they did not play one of the best. That titan of a match can go just about any way imaginable before it gets worse for one team or the other. While things cannot be well predicted quite yet, these top 4 teams have placed themselves almost completely out of reach of the other 28 teams. It will take some very specific circumstances to see drastic shifts, but we are all fans of those kinds of stories, and we will be more than excited to see what these teams bring to the table.

Foundation League. The final frontier. 11-4 records ravage the league, two of the holders meet for a battle to conquer the Orange Conference. This is the Wizards and Bears: Civil Wa-
“Hey Zyta? Let us not get copyrighted by Marvel… Or Star Trek, okay?”
…Fine. You get the point anyway, the Bears and the Wizards have been on fire lately. The Bears had even bested the #4 ranked Sabres. Like we have seen from the Academy League, any result out of this will be perfectly fine, not even close to putting either one out of contention. However, both of them need to be aware of the lurkers that wait just below their feet. As mentioned before, the Bears handed the Sabres a 2-3 loss, but despite that blow, they sit at a very comfortable 10-5. Halfway through the season, they will be facing the 6-9 Knights, currently 14th overall, and 7th in the division. Quite the opportunity to shoot up that last little bit, right? Same goes for the Lightning, the only Blue Conference team to tie the Bears and Wizards at 11-4. They will be playing the last place Shadow, at 1-14. While they might have managed to fix the issues they have faced the past month, unless the Lightning take drastic measures, we will likely see an uncontested 1st place holder. And then, and yes I saved them for last for a reason, the Blizzard. Currently 8-7, they are in the middle of the fray for the Blue Conference. What could possibly make them special here? Well, you know how the Lightning are 11-4? You can probably tell where those 4 losses came from now. Weeks 1 and 3, the Lightning did some smacking and returned to the clouds with 5-0s. Not Week 2 though. Not Week 2. If there is one team that can hang back, play the long game, and use all of their energy in one burst for the Championship, the Blizzard proved quite easily, that they are the ones for the job.

Week 3 Foundation League Recap

Well folks, Week 3 is done and there is a whole lot for us to talk about. As we approach the mid-point of the season, the playoff picture starts to become clearer as teams attempt to solidify their positions. So, let us take a look at what all happened this week with the Foundation League.

Puffins take out Shadow in convincing style
The Puffins rarely struggled in their 4-1 win over Shadow. Tuxedo Marx had an absolute screamer of a series, posting 19 goals and 8 saves for a staggering 7.08 MVPR. The Shadow were able to prevent the sweep with a 5-4 win in Game 3, but the Puffins victory was never in doubt. The Puffins will look to keep that momentum against the Aviators, while the Shadow will attempt to bounce back against the Lightning.

Knights fall under the Wizards spell
The Knights started out strong, but the Wizards were able to pull off a magical comeback as they secured the reverse sweep in a 3-2 victory. The Knights just seemed to fall apart in the final two games, getting outscored 13-2. LilRock and Sprk worked very well together, posting a 4.85 and 4.64 MVPR respectively. The Knights will try to regroup for their game against the Sabres, while the Wizards hope to keep it up against the Bears.

Bears able to outlast the Sabres
In a series that went all the way down to Game 5, the Bears were able to secure their victory in a 4-1 win. Bepsi tried his hardest to prevent the Bears from stealing the day with his 15 saves, but it just was not enough in the end. The Bears will face the Wizards in their next game, while the Sabres will go up against the Knights.

Outlaws tame the Rhinos
The Outlaws were able to reign in the Rhinos, outscoring them 16-5 in their 4-1 series win. The Rhinos managed to prevent the sweep in Game 3, but the dominant performance from Rednyte was too much to handle as he posted 11 goals on the day. The Outlaws look to continue to take wins when they face the Pirates, while the Rhinos need to secure a victory against the Demolition.

Express win close match against Blizzard
A series that went to Game 5, Express were able to just squeeze by Blizzard in a close 2-1 win in the final game. Quinestupapa carried the day for Express, scoring 11 goals with 12 saves for a 5.81 MVPR. Express will face Eclipse next, with Blizzard going up against the Hawks.

Aviators secure the win against Lightning
The Aviators were able to secure the series win against Lightning in Game 4, with the final result ending in 3-2. A relatively low-scoring affair with only 21 goals between both teams, an impressive 32 saves were made in total. Rsayers managed 11 goals and 11 saves for a 4.74 MVPR, with a 68% shot accuracy. Aviators will begin to prepare for their match against the Puffins, as the Lightning begin to formulate a game plan for Shadow.

Eclipse win the day over the Hawks
The Hawks were able to win both Games 1 and 5, but Eclipse proved dominant in the space in-between as they took the series 3-2. Drewnobyl was the man of the match for this one, netting 10 goals and 5 saves for a 4.17 MVPR. Eclipse will go up against Express next, while the Hawks will battle Blizzard in Week 4.

Demolition so close, yet so far away
In an exciting match that came all the way down to Game 5, the Demolition were almost able to pull off the reverse sweep. After losing the first two games, C0P3x and YOUGOTOWNED4200 steamed back to tie the series up. They ran out of steam in Game 5 however, losing 3-1 in a dominant showing from Forgivv and TheOnlyBirdy. The Demolition desperately need a win next week against the Rhinos, while the Pirates look to take down the Outlaws.

That wraps everything up for this week, as we move into the mid-way point of the season. Teams are beginning to take their spots in the race for the playoffs, but there’s still plenty of time for upsets and mix-ups to shake the league. Join me back here next week to take a look at the carnage of Week 4.

Week 3 Academy League Recap

Week 3 is wrapped up, and there were a lot of exciting games over in the Academy League this week! As we move into the mid-way point of the season, let us take a quick look at everything that went down.

Foxes squeeze past the Jets
In an exciting series that went all the way down to Game 5, the Foxes were just able to squeeze past the Jets to secure the series win. After winning the first two games, the Jets kicked into gear and came within one of the reverse sweep. However, their effort just was not enough in the end as crossfire8255 stepped up with an impressive four goals in Game 5 to win 6-3. The Foxes will look to rack up more wins next week against the Spartans, while the Jets will begin preparations for the upcoming match against the Comets.

Outlaws take down the Rhinos
In another game that went down to Game 5, the Outlaws were able to outlast the Rhinos, winning by only a single goal in the final game. Hotsaucethepirate was able to propel his team to a victory with an imposing 5.21 MVPR, putting 9 goals and a staggering 14 saves on the board. The Outlaws will be looking at the Pirates next, with the Rhinos resetting to take on the Demolition.

Eclipse show too little too late against the Hawks
After the Hawks took the first three games to secure the series, the Eclipse finally seemed to find their momentum. After getting outscored 10-3 in the first three, Eclipse was able to take the final two games off the Hawks with a 3-2 scoreline in each. Those two games could be massive as we inch closer to the playoffs, with both teams needing as many wins as they can get. Eclipse look to take what worked in those final two games and funnel that into their game against Express next week, while the Hawks will attempt to maintain momentum against Blizzard.

Puffins left in the Shadow
The Puffins were left in Shadows, well, shadow after a 4-1 loss against them. Dkmc6 and Jordak played off each other extremely well, posting a 5.20 and 4.56 MVPR respectively, with 21 goals and 9 saves between them. The Puffins were able to prevent the sweep with a close 4-3 win in Game 3, but the rest of the series was all Shadow. Puffins will try to regroup to prepare for their game against the Aviators, and Shadow look to keep the winning ways up against the Lightning.

Elite win tug-of-war against the Tyrants
The Elite were able to win the tug-of-war against the Tyrants, as the series went back and forth all the way to Game 5. The series proved to be a defensive battle, with a total of 32 saves against 29 goals. Both teams surely tried to be offensive, with 72 shots between them, but it was eventually Elite edging out in the end with a 3-2 win in Game 5. Elite go up against the Hurricanes next week, while the Tyrants will face the Dodgers.

Flames sputter out against Spectre
The Flames started strong and finished strong, but everything in-between fell to the Spectres. Every game was extremely close, with 1 goal being the margin of victory in each match. With the Spectre and Flames both sitting around the middle of the table, both needed a solid win to start solidifying their place in the playoffs race. The Flames look to recapture some playoff ground next week against the Pandas, with Spectre looking to do the same against the Bulls.

Wolves show up big against the Sharks
The Wolves showed out during their 4-1 series win against the Sharks, with the only loss coming in a close 4-3 in Game 3. Eric_ stepped up for his team, getting a staggering 6.52 MVPR alongside 17 goals. That is 4 more goals than the Sharks team combined. The Wolves next game will be against the red-hot Ducks, while the Sharks face a recently swept Hive.

Bears pull off the reverse sweep on the Sabres
The Bears, never giving up on the series, were able to pull off an impressive reverse sweep against the Sabres. After getting outscored 7-2 in the first two games, the Bears surged back to win the series with 13 goals in the back three games. The Bears hope to take this momentum into their game next week against the Wizards, while the Sabres will be looking at what they did wrong to prepare for the Knights.

Comets crush the Hive
Killerbaird2 and Springer showed no mercy against the Hive, as they stormed to a 5-0 sweep. With a 4.27 and 6.65 MVPR respectively, they propelled the Comets with 25 combined goals. The Comets desperately needed those games as they work to climb back into the playoff picture, while the Hive slip further into dangerous territory. The Comets aim to keep the streak alive when they face the Jets, while the Hive try to reverse course for a win against the Sharks.

Bulls win in a low-scoring affair
The Bulls were able to pull off a 4-1 series win against the Pandas in a low-scoring series, with only 20 goals between both teams. The Pandas defense was on point, with 22 saves between blizzardchill and Clowdy Howdy, but ultimately the Bulls outshot them 39-16 to get the goals they needed to win. The Bulls will be facing Spectre next week, while the Pandas get ready for their match against the Flames.

Knights go on a crusade against the Wizards
The Wizards showed promise when they won Game 1, but the Knights proceeded to go on a crusade winning the remaining four games. Galaxy and Schult combined for 17 goals on 37 shots, with an MVPR of 4.93 and 4.32 respectively. The win catapults the Knights to second in their division, just behind the Demolition. Knights will attempt to keep the crusade rolling next week against the Sabres, while the Wizards will look to whip up some magic to take down the Bears.

Express dominate Blizzard
Express were nothing but dominate in their 5-0 sweep of Blizzard, outscoring them 25-11 across the series. LightningHawk505 especially showed up with 7 saves and 14 goals on 21 shots for a meaty 6.09 MVPR. This victory keeps Express in the top spot of their division, with Blizzard falling to 7th. Express will try to maintain the winning streak against Eclipse, while Blizzard will be out for blood next week when they face the Hawks.

Spartans fall to the Ducks
The Ducks pulled a controlling 4-1 upset over the Spartans. Scoring double the amount of goals than their opponents, the Ducks were offensively dominant all series. The Spartans fall to second in their division, while the win puts the Ducks in the top 4. The Spartans will be facing the Foxes next week, while the Ducks look to take down the Wolves.

Dodgers surprise the Hurricanes with a downpour of goals
The Dodgers made it rain goals down on the Hurricanes, outscoring them 21-9 in their 5-0 sweep. NoahBez racked up 14 goals and 6 saves to secure a respectable 5.54 MVPR for the series. The Hurricanes came close to preventing the sweep in Game 5 but ultimately lost the 7-6 shootout. The Dodgers hope to maintain this momentum when they face the Tyrants, and the Hurricanes will no doubt be eager to take a win off Elite.

Lighting strikes the Aviators
In a closely contested series that never had more than a single goal deciding the match, the Lightning were able to edge past the Aviators to secure a 3-2 victory. Lawrence was the star of the show with 12 goals and 9 saves, with Cakekyst putting up 7 assists to secure the deal. The Lightning will face Shadow next week, with the Aviators going up against the Puffins.

Pirates demolished by the Demolition
Faker and Super were able to combine for 26 goals on 52 shots in their 4-1 victory over the Pirates. Faker, in what would be his last game for the Demolition, was able to secure a dominant 5.95 MVPR, with Super following close behind with a 5.60. The Pirates will look to strike out against the Outlaws next week, while the Demolition will try to keep their top spot when they face the Rhinos.

And that about wraps it up for this week! We are approaching the mid-way point for the season, as each game becomes ever more important in the playoff race. Join back with me next week to take a look at the carnage of Week 4, as teams begin to attempt to solidify their playoff positions.

Interview with TyTy

Today it is time for an interview with TyTy, he is the Elite GM and an active member within MLE. We have seen him guide the Elite to the playoffs in season 7, which started quite different than for other teams. Now for season 8, he has a Premier League added to the franchise. Let us see what TyTy has to say about the Elite and his work as a coordinator in MLE.

Hey TyTy, the first weeks of season 8 are done. How are you experiencing it so far?
Honestly, it’s been great so far! I got really lucky with all my draft picks. So far I’ve had a blast with each league. I think Council did a great job this offseason getting things set up for Season 8 and week 1 just felt very smooth. I’m super excited to see how the rest of the season plays out!

The draft was a few weeks ago, it was an exciting time. Can you give us a little insight into how you went about picking your players?
Going into the draft I had a pretty good idea of who I planned on drafting! Retaining Latte and Rick really helped make that decision easier. I’ll talk about my first round picks seeing as those were all planned!

For AL my first choice was ChunkyLover. I met Chunky in our brand new admissions server and he was one of the new members in the first few waves of members we accepted. He had a great sense of humor and was just great to be around. I introduced him to Rick and he really enjoyed talking and playing with him as well. That was when I told Rick he was our #1 pick.

For CL Latte and I had put together a list of 13.5s and 14.0s we wanted to draft. Demonic was in our top 3. I wasn’t expecting him to make it to my pick but I was happy to see him there. He’s a former MLE Champ and a great addition to the Elite Franchise.

For PL everyone had a clean slate. 48 salary to work with, I was not expecting to fill that Cap. I decided that I was going to try and build an easy going team, that knew how to have fun and was able to build chemistry. Cearu, he fits both of those categories very well. He’s actually on my team for another league and I knew he was going to be a great fit for the team.

This is not your first season as a GM, how different is it so far compared to season 7?
There are definitely some differences. Obviously the biggest being the 3rd League. Although honestly, it’s really not that hard. Some other differences are just some basic GM things like the new weekly roster page. Other than that it’s not that different. Only thing I’m doing differently this season myself is trying to stay more on top of my Twitter game.

The Elite went 9-6 overall the first week, with your PL team taking the only loss. What did you tell them after the series?
Going into week 1 for PL I had Codex and Cearu scheduled to play. However Cearu had a big storm happen and was unable to play. So 24 hours before our scheduled time I had to make a roster change and play El Diablo Rojo instead of Cearu. I told the guys to get some practice in and I was happy with 1 win. They were going into a mismatch salary wise and I was excited to see how they would perform. They exceeded my expectations and I made it clear they did. They’re a great group of guys and I’m super excited to see what they do this season.

You have decided to be a reserve for your Champ League team this season, why didn’t you become a starter?
To be honest I wanted to be a starter. However I was a 14.5/15.0 and I wanted Latte on the team. With both of us as starters, we would not be able to meet the salary cap. She’s a great person and I wanted to give her the opportunity to stay on the Elite like she wanted. So I decided to put myself on the reserves and take over for either Demonic or Latte if needed. I also figured I would be ranking out early into the season and that also played into my decision.

In the meantime, TyTy has ranked out of Champ League and is now a reserve on his Premier League team. Congrats on hitting GC TyTy!

What do you hope to accomplish with the Elite this season?
My hope as a GM has always been to make the franchise a family. I want everyone to be able to talk to each other, hang out, enjoy each others company. I actually have plans to do game nights with the team that have nothing to do with Rocket League. Yes MLE is competitive, but not all aspects of it have to be. That’s my take on being a GM and I really hope others feel the same.

You have been an active member of MLE for quite some time. Can you tell us a bit more about how you joined MLE and your growth within the community?
I had actually found out about MLE awhile before I ever joined! However, I was too high of a rank to play at the time so I never applied. One day I was talking to CloudFuel and he told me they added Champion League and to apply. So I applied and within a couple weeks I was in the MLE! I’ve been in the league for about 2 and half seasons and loved every minute of it! My first season I got picked up as a reserve by the Knights, then picked up as a started on the Spartans, then dropped to free agency, then picked up by the Elite for the final 2 weeks of the season! It was definitely an eventful season for me. I applied to be a GM/Captain for season 7, however, I didn’t get it and went undrafted. Things happened with the Elite before week 1 of season 7 and I was offered the CL captain spot and took it instantly. Having to pick up a whole new team in 4 days I was a busy man! Throughout the season there was a Moderator form put out and I applied and ended up being accepted and that’s when I knew I wanted to do even more for the community I fell in love with. I then decided I wanted to run some draft mixers, which I talked to Reverse Fridge about, and got started with my mixer organization. I had previous tournament organizer experience which greatly helped my ability to run these as well as what helped my coordinator application. It’s been great, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Next to being GM, you are also a community coordinator, mostly focused on events/mixers. Can you tell us more about that and what you’re planning?
Oh man! You want my secrets?! As the Event Coordinator, I obviously handle Events and Mixers within the MLE! Currently planned so far for Events is the MLE Apex Takeover which is happening March 31st. However, I do have some thoughts floating around in this crazy brain of mine. The one at the forefront is definitely a MLE movie night! Currently trying to figure out which movies to have the community vote on. SoonTM. Also there is a mixer announcement coming soon from a new community member alongside plans to continue my 3v3 Draft mixers. Things are coming. It’s just taking a little bit of time and I’m excited to see how the community reacts to these!

And last but not least, are there any teams you dread, or are looking forward to facing on the pitch?
Really looking forward to playing the Flames this season! I’m good friends with Fittz the GM along with a lot of the players. Reverse Fridge who is one of my close friends. Whale who was on the Elite last season and I’m still close with. IP Joker who makes some crazy training packs. Bones who is a good friend of mine! It’s going to be a tough week so I can’t wait to see how all the games go week 5!

As you can see, TyTy is a busy bee within the MLE. Appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions and we will definitely keep a close eye on how the Elite and TyTy’s plans will develop.

Week 2 MLE Power Rankings

Week 2 has come and gone, all 48 matches well behind us now as we enter the midseason. The Power Rankings Committee has been watching us all quite closely, every goal, save, shot, and assist being taken into account to Week 2’s Power Rankings.

For Premier League, the Foxes saw an opening, and blasted straight through the Comets, sending them into a far-flung orbit. That 5-0 sweep not only catapulted them to 1st in the power rankings but also 1st in the league overall. The Hive, Sharks, and Canes all managed similarly dominant sweeps. Those performances kept the Hive firmly in the top three but also kicked out the Flames and the Wolves, something they are probably not thrilled about. The Sharks and Canes are going to have to keep the fight up for top five for some time. And then we have the Bulls. Still quite the team, at a 7-3 record. Only managing a 4-1, this placed them in the middle of a frightening pack no matter the direction you look. None of these teams will be facing the other this week, so it is their spots to lose. Let us see how they handle the pressure.

In the Champion League, not much has changed at the very top. The Shadow, Tyrants, Puffins, and Express all performed the same across both weeks. Incredibly well. The Shadow, in particular, starting perfectly with a 10-0 record. It is no surprise they are the kings of CL. But will they be dethroned? According to the rankings, yes. We have the Spartans and Foxes, managing clean 4-1 wins over beefy pairings like Steve/HaimGame, and RapidChampion/Badgey. You have the Jets and Sabres, getting well-fought, narrow victories over incredibly difficult opponents in the Hive, and the Pirates. The Elite managed a similar close victory, but after their 4-1 win in the first week, they seem to be lacking a little. The team that seems to be the most likely to overtake the Shadow is shockingly the Bears. With their best start to a season in MLE history, a 9-1 record going into week 3, they seem to be looking to tilt heads, and disprove every opinion possible. They have yet to make another playoff appearance since their 1st in Season 4. Will they do it in dramatic fashion? There is only one way to find out.

Academy League has had some massive shifts. Mostly good, but a few teams did some falling, and they fell hard. The Puffins squeaked right by the Eclipse, managing a 3-2 win over the guys who swept the week before. Unexpected from the Eclipse and the Puffins, but proves just how close the race for Sapphire Division Champion will be. The Flames had a monumental comeback, starting the season 2-3, and stunning everyone with a 5-0 turnaround to send them into 1st for the Topaz Division. And then you have the top 3. No one doubts the Spartans, or the Foxes, or the Demo. All of them have had stellar starts, 9-1s across the board. No one doubts the players either. ZeeBee/mykey, a +14 goal differential. TeaBone/crossfire, +8. Supersupermanz/Faker, +18. They all know what they are doing. But can they keep it that way? The Elite, Tyrants, and Hive are on the rise. They all had good starts. Overconfidence is a momentum killer, so Week 3 will be a good indicator for the top teams to see if they have given teams an opening to strike.

Starting the Foundation League season with an uncontested 9-1 record, the Lightning has proven their worth quite substantially. Eclair, CommanderSushi, and SammyNieds have put up an offense that is unmatchable. While the rest of the Blue Conference is trying to sort themselves out, they stand proud at the top. The Blizzard tried to contest them last week but to no avail. However the Orange Conference, despite what several seasons of history have dictated, is undoubtedly the stronger of the two. Top 3 in the conference, and top 5 rated teams, the Wizards, Sabres, and Bears are all tied at an 8-2 record. Where would that put 4th in the conference? 4-6. A four-win gap. It is early, but there is a surprisingly precise divide between the top and bottom teams. Unless some extremely motivated pushes come from middle-ground teams, these are the 5 you’ll see at the top come week 7. The main question now, is will those pushes happen? Or rather, will there be a need to push that high? Will these teams fall, because of rank outs? We have to wait and see.

Eclipse Interview

The Eclipse is one of the eight expansion franchises in MLE. One of the two franchises which name was picked by community voting.
In this article, we’ll talk about the franchise and its journey into season 8 so far, as well as some insight from Kiimmmiiii (GM) and Krops (AGM).

The first week of season 8 has played out over the weekend and the Eclipse franchise left its first mark in what hopefully will be a rich MLE history. The three different league teams that play for the Eclipse franchise all managed to win their series against the Aviators. The Champ League players went 3-2 in a well-fought series, the Foundation League had a comfortable 4-1 victory and last but certainly not least the Academy League decided it was time for a good sweep and took the series with a convincing 5-0.
With a 12-3 overall week 1 record, they go into week 2 with confidence.

We spoke to Kiimmmiiii and Krops about their vision for the team, the players and what they hope to accomplish this season.

As a first time MLE (A)GM what is your vision for the Eclipse?
‘Three different leagues under one franchise, to me that means we’re one team, we all represent the Eclipse franchise. My priority for the players is to enjoy the competitive experience, have fun and get to know their teammates all while improving.’ – Kiimmmiiii

‘My vision for the Eclipse this season is for every player to enjoy the season and improve while making new friends.
We also have the players on our roster that enables us to make a playoff run this season so I hope to see all three of our teams qualify.’ – Krops

It’s been three weeks since the draft, tell us something about your players.
‘The players have been great so far, most of us have been enjoying playing private games together. The Eclipse server is always active, whether it’s creating Eclipse memes or rambling on about some random topic, it’s so alive. Everyone gets along and I couldn’t be happier with all of them.’ – Kiimmmiiii

‘The Eclipse players are a unique bunch. There are a few quiet ones among us who don’t say much in our team chat and then there is everyone else. We enjoy talking banter and making jokes with each other so it is usually an entertaining time throughout the day.’ – Krops

What do you hope the Eclipse franchise accomplishes in their first season?
‘Well, like any GM I think, I’d love to see all three leagues reach playoffs and even win the championship. It might be a bit optimistic, but all of them have the potential and drive to make it there. There’s a lot of good teams out there, it won’t be easy, but I’m confident and believe in my players. We are ready to make a mark that will be remembered.’ – Kiimmmiiii

‘I hope our franchise is able to win a championship this season.
I will be rooting for all of our teams but I will try to bring a title as a player on the Champion League team. It would be really cool to see an expansion team make a deep run this year and I believe in our team’s chances.’ – Krops

Is there a particular franchise/team you dread facing?
‘No, not any team in particular. The Sapphire division has a lot of strong teams, I won’t underestimate any of them. However the Eclipse is also a strong team with great potential, so I’m not afraid to face any of them.’ – Kiimmmiiii

‘There is no specific franchise I fear to face. I think every team can be beaten if we play our matches with confidence and continue to work hard on improvement.’ – Krops

It looks like the Eclipse franchise is in good hands. This week they will face the Puffins and they hope to continue their winning record so far.

Week 1 Foundation League Recap

Week 1 is now officially in the books for the inaugural season of Foundation League, and boy oh boy was it entertaining! As the players begin preparing for next week, let us take a look at where all that action left us.

Sabres pull the upset
The Sabres pulled an impressive 3-2 upset over top-ranked Outlaws on Thursday, taking the series all the way to game five before emerging victorious. While the Outlaws kept it close throughout, in the end, it just was not enough to prevent the onslaught of goals from TourneyEarnie, who ended up scoring a blistering twelve goals. Sabres go into week two against the Pirates with massive momentum, while the Outlaws will be looking for blood next week against the Knights.

Blizzard buries the opposition
The Blizzard entered their game against Shadow ranked #4 in the power rankings, and they proved why. With a 5-0 sweep against Shadow, Blizzard showed that their offense is one to be feared by the rest of the league. With a combined 34 goals and 19 assists between them, Adi and CaliforniaStoll put their teamwork on full display. Shadow will be looking to bounce back in week 2 against the Hawks, while Blizzard will attempt to keep the ball rolling against Lightning.

Eclipse start strong
Eclipse began the season strong with a 4-1 win over the Aviators on Friday. The Aviators defense was on point, netting 17 saves, but when your opponent takes nearly 40 shots on goal it is impossible to save them all. Aviators need to keep that defensive prowess next week when they play Express, while Eclipse will be hoping to stay consistent when they go up against the Puffins.

It is a Pirates life for me
In the age-old question of who would win, Pirates vs. Knights, the Pirates made a decisive statement on the matter when they beat the Knights 4-1 on Saturday. Forgiiv and hellyaman combined for 24 goals and 8 saves, taking most of their games with large margins. The Knights will be looking to take the chemistry that worked in their only win in Game 4 and funnel that into their gameplay for week 2 against the Outlaws. The Pirates look to extend their winning ways next week against the Sabres.

Express show too little too late
After the third game of Express vs. the Hawks, it seemed like a menacing 5-0 was looming over the horizon for Express. Something must have kicked in at that moment for quinestupapa and InsaneRossi13, as they proceeded to outscore the Hawks 11-3 in the final two games of the series. A strong finish salvaged some games for them, but the series had already been decided in the 3-2 win for the Hawks. Maybe Express can keep that attacking fire we saw in the second half of that series next week when they go against the Aviators. Meanwhile, the Hawks will be looking at what went right in the first half, versus what went wrong at the end as they prepare to take on Shadow.

Bears take the day in a highly-competitive match
The Bears and the Rhinos came to play on Sunday, taking the series all the way to Game 5. After a hotly contested match, though, the Bears emerged victorious in their 3-2 win over the Rhinos. The Bears look to take this momentum into week 2 when they face the Demolition; while the Rhinos will be recalibrating to take on their next opponent, the Wizards.

Wizards demolish the Demolition
The Wizards were outright dominant this week against the Demolition, outscoring them 23-10 on Sunday in their 4-1 victory. Scoring five goals a game in every match except one, the Wizards offensive capabilities were in full force. Demolition showed sparks of some offensive flair, but in the end, it was snuffed out by the flood of goals from the Wizards. Demolition look to take out their frustration on the Bears next week, while the Wizards look to continue their rampage against the Rhinos.

Puffins struck by Lightning
The Lightning showed on Sunday that they are here to win, and win convincingly. In their 5-0 sweep over the Puffins, only one game even came close. Eclair and SammyNieds18 showed that they are one of the teams to best, netting 19 goals evenly between them. They will be looking to remain undefeated next week when they take on the undefeated Blizzard. Meanwhile, the Puffins will need to regroup and focus on their next target, Eclipse.

That is it for this week folks! The power rankings will be shaken for sure, and the season is only just getting started! Join back with me next week to take a look at the carnage from week 2, as we begin to see who the contenders for playoffs are, and who is getting left behind!

Week 1 Champion League Recap

DFH Stadium erupted into a frenzy of cheering, and preparedness as the ceremonial torch was set ablaze for the 8th time in history.

Eight brand new bases have been scouted out and settled. The Express headed toward the trainyard, couping up in a few slightly rundown passenger trains. The Eclipse started toward the tallest peak, forever ready to honor the celestial event at any time. Most of the Hive decided it best to use some funds, and buy a few apiaries to aid in the current bee crisis. Sabres were the quickest to leave, darting toward the jungle- Elite’s jungle. The towering Tyrants began to roam the plains, the marshes, and the tundras without a care in the world to be brought along with. The Spectre waited for every squad to depart, and began to recite short incantations, as they slowly descended below the Earth. Shadow and Outlaw– well no one is quite sure where they ended up.

What remained were the 24 returning rosters. All went about their normal season routines, heading off in many directions, some the same. The mightiest of the Elite abruptly chased after a few Sabres fleeting off into their territory. While the violent Blizzard surrounded the Bears, covering their already frosty forest with a much thicker blanket.

As the groups left, the storm came, rapidly transforming the placid, flowery field that surrounds DFH Stadium into a musty swamp. The storm lasted weeks.. long enough to flow into the start of Week 1, where we saw a wide assortment of playstyles, players, and creativity.

Champion League, now eclipsed by the highest of the high, Premier League, arguably saw the most colorful range of groundbreaking starts to a season. Undoubtedly the most assertive of these was the Puffins 5-0 carnage brought down onto the Lightning. The two newcomers, Trent and BazedN, knew exactly what they wanted to do– and boy did they ever do it perfectly. Beating the Lightning roster of robin and Magnus is by no means simple. Especially when robin had set a new league-wide record of 22 saves in a series. Robin’s absurd defensive prowess will be sadly relegated to a reserve spot, although his efforts were not in vain. They showed the Puffins can indeed be slowed down, quite a bit. Whether or not another team wants to try that is a question of both sanity and courage.

Also dipping their toes into the domination section, are two of our newest additions. The sly Shadow and the chugging Express excellently handled themselves in getting convincing sweeps.

The Express vs Hawks match on Saturday showed the untapped potential kept in Manatee for far, far too long. He and newly found recruit Flog Pops rammed head-on into the unready GM Shackelz and T3nshuN. The Hawks have a propensity for starting season shaky and ending strong. Whether or not that strategy continues to work out will be a matter of if they can analyze precisely where they went wrong, and fix it. The best tool for any losing team is to remain calm, and learn. It is up to the Hawks to flex their wings, and the Express to keep things oiled properly, otherwise, you might find them in an uncomfortable position at the end of the season.

The Shadow, the 3rd and final team to end the premier week in style, did so in a lobby chock-full of MLE veterans. GM Euronate led, former Blizzard, Thunder through a winding path of being hidden in plain sight. Icey6, GM for the Blizzard, and Jroja, Academy League Foxes alumni were quite taken aback at the sheer ability to be on defense at the absolute perfect times. This 0-5 loss is by far the most misleading we have seen yet. The Blizzard actually outshot the Shadow 45 to 41. Their offense was most surely there. However, the only problem was that pesky defensive rotation. 23 saves came on the Shadow’s defensive end. Saving over half of the opponent’s shots in a 5 game set is ridiculously difficult. This week, the Shadow singlehandedly proved that you do not have to be the most offensive to be the most dominant, a feature of their play we would all like to see more of. The Blizzard had bad luck. They are the guinea pigs to see how overpowered the Shadow’s strengths are when they have been hidden. Unless they can be well studied, we might be seeing the best contender for a #1 league spot.

The only match being mentioned that was not a sweep is one of the most interesting reverse sweeps the league has seen in quite some time. Sabres and Outlaws on Saturday night. This match, to most people, was probably a toss-up. Their results back that up. 3-2 in favor of the Sabres. K3vbeast and Big Boi Johnny donned the gray, and Saucey and notmike the red. K3v and notmike had ranked up from Academy League the season prior, and both were joined by a fresh, high ranking recruit. The Outlaws to start went all out. 5-1 and 3-2. 17 total shots. Johnny and K3v were at 10 saves combined at that time. Something had to change before it got more out of hand. And then, they saw their chance. Overconfidence. A great player’s biggest weakness. They caught notmike and Saucey off guard, blowing them away with a 5-2 domination, 10 shots to 6. K3v takes it a step further in the 4th game, duking it out with Saucey. K3v, shooting 4 for 5, Saucey 3 for 3. All tied up. They both knew what could happen. Either you kill their dreams, or
they destroy yours first. At that thought, it had to come down to a bloodbath. A margin of one goal was all it took for the Sabres to walk out of DFH exhausted but victorious.

Starting the season comes with a statement. It defines what the onlookers expect from you. If you’ve started strong, they expect you to stay strong. If you start weak, they expect you to stay weak. However, sudden shifts have become quite commonplace. The trio of 5-0s this week could very easily be followed by a trio of 0-5s. MLE is dynamic, every appearance influences how other teams play against you and try to beat you. Great teams are not going to be the strongest offensively, defensively, or rotationally. They are going to be the ones that can throw the other off guard the best, and be able to react to the other effectively. Week 1 has called, and now we’re waiting on Week 2’s response. Only time will tell us what it is.

MLE Starts Season 8

Season 8 Revs Its Engines

Just under 4 months ago the Ducks beat the Bulls in a thrilling Champion League Championship Series making the Ducks the most successful franchise in the history of Minor League Esports… only MLE was actually known as MLD; Minor League Doubles.

Saying it’s been an exciting and dramatic period in the history of the organisation is definitely an understatement, not only did MLD go “under the knife” and undergo a conclusive re-brand but many changes and additions were made to every asset of the organisation.

The number of leagues doubled from 2 to 4, with the introduction of the Foundation and Premier Leagues. The inclusion of these two leagues provides more players opportunities to play and develop and also offers a greater, as well as fairer, level of competition.

8 new franchises joined the roster bumping up the number of franchises from 24 to 32! Those new franchises are Express, Hive, Sabres, Shadow, Spectre and Tyrants along with the Eclipse & Outlaws, which were chosen by the MLE community.

Last season saw franchises battle it out over 14 gruelling weeks of regular season play, with those fortunate to come out on top going on to the playoffs. Season 8 however see’s the regular season schedule dramatically reduced to 7 weeks! The shorter season will no doubt lend itself to more intense competition and more dramatic moments especially as the race for the playoffs heats up.

But enough about the changes, Season 8 is here and it’s ready to cause a riot. It all kicks off from Thursday with week 1 of the regular season, which sees 48 series due to be played over the course of Thursday through to the end of Sunday. Each franchise will have a team competing in the Academy & Champion Leagues, as well as a team in either the Foundation or Premier League. Will any franchise do the triple?

There are so many tantalizing questions lie in wait to be answered; Who will be the early pace-setters? Can the Ducks add to their trophy cabinet? Will one of the new franchises employ some beginners luck in their debut season? Which players will light up the pitch? What new things will we see over the course of the season and what surprises will there be?

All this and more will be answered in Minor League Esports! Follow all the action on mlesports.gg, @MLEsportsgg and twitch.tv/mlesportsgg