Team KRN pulled a huge upset against Team Falcons and won the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) 2022-2023 MENA Fall Open. Team KRN takes home $9000 USD and sixteen RLCS Points. This huge win is definitely an amazing achievement for the young team and it indicates an interesting challenge for the MENA region this season.
Team KRN on their journey to dethrone Team Falcons
Team KRN is powered by these three young Saudi Arabian: Yazid “Kiileerrz.” Abdullah, Saleh “Rw9.” Abdullah and Nadr “Nadr” Alqahtani. A little fun fact: Kiileerrz. and Rw9 are twin brothers! With their complementary playstyle with one playing defensively and one playing aggressively combined with Nadr’s underrated skills and mechanics, they are definitely a team to watch out for.
They were among the teams invited for the first Fall Qualifier of the MENA region, the Top 16 Qualifiers. They breezed through the qualifier, landing a spot in the RLCS MENA Fall Open. Throughout the Swiss Group Stage in the RLCS Fall Open, Team KRN smashed every team in the way. They even swept Team Falcons in their last match of the group stage. This puts them first in the group ranking.
Team KRN then continued to the playoffs to meet Ketchup and won with a convincing 4:0. They went ahead to meet Geekay Esports who provided a challenge, ending with a win for Team KRN with a score of 4:1. They finally reached the Grand Finals and met Team Falcons, the final boss in their RLCS Fall Open run.
RLCS MENA Fall Open Playoff’s Bracket.
Team Falcons were just not having the best time in the series. Their hectic rotation and shaky defense couldn’t counter Team KRN’s improving playstyle and defense. They fell to Team KRN with a score of 2:4.
Team Falcons’ nine qualifiers streak was broken
Team Falcons throughout the last season of RLCS was a beast. With the acquired roster of Sandrock Gaming, they went and snatch every qualifier in RLCS MENA 2021-22. During the last Spring Major, they achieved their biggest milestone yet by earning second place in one of their best Major runs. They were the ones with eyes on them coming into the new season. They were the ones looking for their 10th back-to-back qualifier. However, Team Falcons were denied their winning streak by Team KRN’s clutch timing, powerful saves, and aggressive playstyle.
Team KRN’s rough start
The team was originally created by Kiileerrz, Rw9, and Hisham “Nwpo” Alqadi. Nawaf “crespor” Al-Osaimi, the previous manager of the now-retired 01 Esports, also joined Team KRN as the manager. Unfortunately, twelve days later, Nwop left the team as he was banned by Psyonix from all Psyonix-operated events for a year. This is in response to his violation of the RLCS rules where he played under Omar “Winters” Nasser’s account under team Rise Up during the MENA RLCS Fall Regional #3 Open Qualifiers last season.
In the short time they had before the roster lock, they signed up Nadr. The team’s name, Team KRN is a combination of the original roster’s initials. Pretty lucky of them to find a good fit for Team KRN that fits the team name! This last-second change was in their favor and they performed really well.
What do you think of the new, fresh contender for the MENA crown? Do you think Team Falcons will manage a powerful comeback later in the season?
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