RLCS S9 Week 4 - Cloud9 vs G2, Knights head to Space and Soniqs start dreaming

It’s Week 4 and we are already reaching the halfway point of the RLCS. 

Yes, almost halfway through the season! It feels like only yesterday the servers crashed, leaving a community starved of the greatest esport in the world. 

Thankfully, good things come to those who wait and since then we've been gifted with one of the most exciting RLCS seasons to date.

In North America, Soniqs have shown they aren't here just to make up the numbers, G2 has managed to erase the memories of last season, while Cloud9 seem to be in perpetual free-fall.

There are plenty of games and some tasty match-ups, so let’s get into our preview and predictions of Saturday's North American action in Week 4 of RLCS Season 9.

RLCS Season 9 Week 4 - North America Preview

We kick off this week with Ghost Gaming vs Flight. Flight don’t look in a good place at all, they lack a goalscorer and struggle to sustain any offensive pressure, and looking at their who they still have to play you don’t really see any winnable games for them.

Ghost will play two games this weekend and will look at Flight as the perfect opponent to get an early win under their belt. This season Atomic has been one of the standout players of the league and this Flight side will give him the opportunity to go nuclear.

Prediction Ghost 3-1 Flight

NRG has been calmly going about their business and despite their loss against Spacestation Gaming last weekend, still, look like the best side in the league. 

Rogue, have looked unbeatable at times but those times have been few and far between, their 3-1 loss last week against Susquehanna Soniqs showing they still have a way to long. Defending is Rogue's problem and Wonder the teams “third” has one of the lowest saves counts in the league which says everything.

NRG will simply bee too much for this lopsided team.

Predication NRG 3-1 Rogue

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Ghost Gaming back in action for a second time this time against the highflying Susquehanna Soniqs. It’s hard to overstate just how good Soniq’s have been - with Shock arguably the player of the season, he's solid at the back and looks devastating upfront. As a collective, the chemistry of this team is on point each player knows their roles and are playing them perfectly, and you feel they have a real and growing confidence in their abilities.

It will be a close game with Ghost coming in hot from a likely win against Flight. While it’ll be close, Soniqs will look to this match as an opportunity to make a good start into a great season.

Prediction Ghost Gaming 2 - 3 Susquehanna Soniqs

eUnited have had a poor start the season. They demolished an abject Cloud9 in Week 1 before being soundly beaten by Ghost Gaming and NRG in Week 2 and 3. They look short on confidence, all three players are in the bottom 10 for goals and they have scored just 5 in the last six games. 

Rogue are the polar opposite, and perhaps for that reason, the perfect opponent for eUnited. They look like they can score at will (Wonder excluded) but struggle to keep it out their own net. It’ll be close but Firstkiller's attacking prowess gives this Rogue side the edge in a tight series.

Prediction Rogue 3-2 eUnited

Pittsburgh Knights looked a different team against Ghost Gaming than we had seen them in the first couple of weeks of the season, but they will be facing a Spacestation Gaming side on a high after their defeat of NRG. 

The word that comes to mind when you think of SSG is balance - Sypical, AxB and Arsenal complement each other well, while Pittsburgh look like their still trying to find their grove after bringing in Ayyjay.

Both teams will look it get into each other's faces and this series will be played at a ferocious pace however SSG's settled line-up will ultimately tip the scales in their favour.

Prediction Pittsburgh Knights 1-3 Spacestation Gaming

Cloud9 may have won last week, and no disrespect to Flight, but it was against a side who may well drop into the RLRS without a series win. Their opponents G2 have had widely different fortunes since they both flirted with relegation last year. 

Cloud9 look stuck in their old ways playing plodding and slow Rocket League, while G2 has taken the new season as an opportunity to start afresh, Rizzo got the plaudits last week but JKnaps has been equally as impressive. They are demolishing opponents and have a perfect 3-0 record going into this game.

There is only one winner here.

Prediction Cloud9 1 - 3 G2

How To Watch RLCS Season 9 Week 2

You can watch all the weekend's games on the official Rocket League Twitch and YouTube channels. 

Schedule

• North America League Play - Saturday 22 at 11:30 a.m. PST (7:30 p.m. UTC)
• Europe League Play - Sunday 23 at 8:30 a.m. PST (4:30 p.m. UTC)