Tournaments are a newer and exciting feature in Rocket League, allowing players to play in premade or random teams to fight for a trophy, winning Tournament Credits and titles along the way. This article will provide a brief rundown of how Tournaments work and what you can get from playing in them!
For the vast majority of playtime, players tend to play in Casual or Ranked Soccar, the game modes which are the heart and soul of Rocket League. Other options include Extra Modes and Custom Games, but there is also a newer aspect: Tournaments. Tournaments can be played in a wide variety of game modes and take place at scheduled times. They offer an opportunity to play in a fixed team for an entire event, fighting for first place against other teams with exactly the same goal. Tournaments are quite different from normal play, but let’s go over the most important part first: how exactly do you join a Tournament?
Joining a Tournament is quite straightforward! Once you press “Play”, you’ll notice a “Tournament” button on the top-right. Clicking that will show you a new menu, with four tabs on top: “Schedule”, “Rewards”, “Custom”, and “History”. The schedule tab will show you all upcoming Tournaments, including their game mode, and here you can register for them by clicking on them. The rewards tab allows you to redeem Tournament Credits, which we will discuss later. The custom tab allows you to create and join custom Tournaments; these can be played with all sorts of settings, but they offer no rewards regardless of placement. Finally, the history tab shows you previous Tournaments you’ve played in and organized, along with results.
The Tournament interface, featuring the upcoming Tournaments and other tabs.
There are a few requirements before you can play a Tournament, however. You need to have placed in a rank playlist at some point before playing in a Tournament; as long as you completed ten placement matches in 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 at any point on your account, you’re all set! Another restriction is that, if you’re in a party of two, you cannot have a significant disparity in Tournament rank if you are playing in a 3v3 mode (3v3, Dropshot, Rumble, Snow Day); this disparity can be at most one rank set. If you are in Champion 1, your teammate can be at most Grand Champion 1 and at a minimum Diamond 1. However, this restriction does not apply to parties of three or 2v2 game modes. Speaking of these different Tournament game modes, let’s take a look at all the different types of Tournaments you can play in!
For the schedule of Tournaments by region, you can use this page on Rocket League Garage.
Tournament ranks, found on the top-right of the Tournaments page, operate a bit differently than in competitive playlists. When you first play a Tournament, you are placed in a rank based off of your most recent rank in a competitive playlist (this is the reason that you are required to complete placement matches). The rank system is the same, with Bronze at the bottom and Supersonic Legend at the top.
When playing in a party with mixed ranks, only the highest one is considered for matchmaking. One thing to note is that your rank is the same across all Tournament game modes, and that extra modes do not affect your rank at all; if you gain Tournament MMR in 2v2, it affects all the other game modes as well! This is something important to keep in mind, as your Tournament rank can also influence the rewards you get for placement in Tournaments, as well as the difficulty of the opposition.
A good strategy for maximizing your Tournament rank is doing well in Ranked before you play your first Tournament of the season, helping you place as high as possible and allowing for better rewards; however, beware, the competition only gets fiercer as the ranks increase.
The main motivator for many players who play Tournaments is the rewards; after all, who doesn’t want something to show for their achievements! The main thing that players receive from Tournaments is Tournament Credits; you will receive some simply for participating, and the amount increases based on your placement and Tournament Rank. You also get a bonus if your placement is in the Top 3 of the past week, offering an incentive to do better and better.
Tournament Credits cannot be used in the same way as Credits; they are used exclusively for Tournament Cups, which give you Tournament-exclusive rewards, with a higher chance for better rewards with higher-tier cups. Pictured below are the four tiers of Tournament Cups:
All available Tournament cups, with better rewards from left to right. Credit: Rocket League Wiki.
Each Tournament Cup has a different requirement to unlock it: the Prospect Cup is unlocked by default, the Challenger Cup requires a top 8 in a Gold Tournament or better, the All-Star Cup requires a top 8 in a Diamond Tournament or better, and the Chromatic Cup requires a win in a Grand Champion or Supersonic Legend Tournament. Some of these requirements are far more difficult than others, but they pay off; the more expensive cups give you a much greater chance of rarer items that are certified or painted! At the end of the season, if you don’t spend your Tournament Credits, they are automatically redeemed for as many All-Star Cups as you can buy, with one at a minimum.
Tournament Cups are not the only reward, however; if you get first place, you are now in possession of a coveted Tournament winner title! These titles are of the format “Season X Rank Tournament Winner”, where X is the season in which you won, and Rank is the symbol of the level of the Tournament. If you win three Tournaments in the same rank in the same season, your title then becomes green to indicate such an achievement. If you win thrice at the Grand Champion level, the title becomes a glowing red; Supersonic Legend titles glow white by default, but a three-peat grants you an incredibly rare pink title! Titles are a great way to flex your Tournament prowess, displaying your achievements with every goal you score!
If none of these Tournament formats appeal to you, or you don’t care much for the rewards, custom Tournaments are another great way to play; in the custom tab, you can join and create your own Tournaments, with your own rulesets and sizes. One thing to keep in mind is that these Tournaments are far less popular, so filling them up may be difficult; however, streamers on YouTube and Twitch stream their own Tournaments quite often, so that may be prospective if you want to compete in a new, wacky format or simply find a new community!
Tournaments in Rocket League offer players a great chance to improve their skills while also working towards cosmetic rewards. Consistent teams can be a nice chance to break away from the randomness of Ranked games and can even help you find your new Ranked partner. Their regular schedule makes them something to look forward to when you get on, and the fight for first place and a coveted title can make any Tournament worth your while. Even if you aren’t interested in Tournaments and instead prefer to grind Ranked, I would implore you to give them a try. Who knows, you might be able to play in your lobbies with a nice title beneath your username! I hope this article was a great introduction to how Tournaments work in Rocket League, good luck out there and go get those titles and rewards!
