A new season of RLCS has begun, and with that, a new season for Dignitas. However, this year looks a lot different, as we have moved on from last season’s European roster and picked up a brand new squad in North America. We had the opportunity to chat with one of the new players, Andres “Dreaz” Jordan, about the beginnings of this new chapter for Dignitas Rocket League.

First of all, Dreaz, welcome to Dignitas! How does it feel to be a part of the organization?

Dreaz: It feels great to be a part of Dignitas, especially because of the history behind it! They’re really involved in Rocket League and they’ve been in the esport for years. They have a lot of history of having good teams and being a good organization in general.

Let’s talk a little bit about your journey up to this point. At the start of last season, you were on G2 Esports with Chicago and JKnaps. With them, you got to play in the Fall Major, which was the first Rocket League LAN since the pandemic. Talk a little bit about your experience with that.

Dreaz: So the Fall Major was a really fun experience for me, especially since it was my first LAN. I wish it had been a bit more open because there were COVID guidelines still in place for that LAN, but for it being my first LAN and getting to travel to Europe, it was really fun.

Afterwards, you ended up on Team Envy, which later became Optic Gaming. What was your biggest takeaway from your time with that team?

Dreaz: I think my biggest takeaway is that, sometimes, just having fun with the game is better than being super serious. When you take it really serious, sometimes you take the losses a lot harder and you aren’t enjoying it as much because you aren’t having fun. We went into our splits with no expectations, but we ended up making a major and Worlds.

Speaking of Worlds, at the end of last season you did make that appearance at the first World Championship since 2019. Tell us a little about that.

Dreaz: So I definitely did not expect to make Worlds last season. But, we ended up making a decent run! It was fun, it was a week-long event and we bootcamped there a week prior. We ended up being there for a total of three weeks! It was super amazing to play in front of so many people.

Alright, let’s talk some about the offseason. You ended up teaming with Andy and Delta here on Dignitas. What was the offseason craziness like for you and how did this roster ultimately come to be?

Dreaz: There was definitely a lot of last-minute stuff, especially with this team. We had one player lined up, but then he decided to join another team. Then, we had another player lined up, but he decided to take another offer as well. It’s been better than expected though! Especially for being such a last-second team. I didn’t expect to do as well in the first Regional.

Tying in to that a little, do you think that people are sleeping on you guys and what are your biggest strengths as a team?

Dreaz: I think people have slept on us. We haven’t fully shown what we can do, especially since we’ve only been a team for a couple of weeks. For our strengths, I think we’re good on offense. Once we get going, we’re very tough to stop.

I do think there were definitely some good examples of that in your first Regional Event. In this first event, you guys started off as an invitee to the qualifier for the top 16. This meant that a top 8 finish would send you straight to the main event. In your first match in this Swiss stage, you had a tough opponent in Version1, which didn’t go your way. But, you followed it up with a sweep against Luminosity. Talk a little about those series.

Dreaz: We treated the Version1 series as kind of a warm up since it was our first ever RLCS series together as a team. Before that, we had only been playing together for a couple days. So, we definitely didn’t take that loss heavily. With Luminosity, I feel like we knew we were better than that team, so we just outpaced them and felt very confident against them.

After a loss to Team Axle in the next round, you were 1-2 in the Swiss and needed to win your next two series to secure a spot in the main event. And you did manage to do that! You got a 3-1 win over Akrew and a 3-1 win over Furia. Tell us about those games and if you felt it was a big statement for you guys.

Dreaz: I think the Akrew one was like Luminosity, we were confident we would win. We felt better as players individually and we were able to outpace them. With Furia, it was tough but I knew we could do it. They actually respected us a lot, which was kind of unexpected since they had just gotten a top 4 World Championship finish. It was tough, but I knew we could pull it off! I think the win against Furia shows we can beat some of the top teams if we continue to improve. Like I said, we had only been playing together for a couple days, so imagine us as we get comfortable with each other over the next few months.

In the main event, you finished 12th – 14th. You got a nice win over NRG, but you did fall to Shopify Rebellion, Gen.G and Complexity – although the Shopify and Complexity series were very close. How did you feel overall about your first event as a team?

Dreaz: I think, overall, we aren’t taking our placement too heavily since it was our first Regional Event playing together. We knew we could have done better, but we aren’t taking it too hard. I think heading into the next event, we’re going to really try to remain composed. We want to make sure to stay composed after a loss instead of getting down on ourselves.

Finally, are there any shoutouts you’d like to give, and where can people keep up with you?

Dreaz: Shout out to my teammates and everyone at Dignitas! You can find my socials at @dreazuh (Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok).