Marc ‘Stake’ Bosch is never far away from the winning circle. A professional Rocket League player for Spanish pro team Vodafone Giants, he takes part in all manner of high stakes tournaments. Along with his team he’s won multiple events in the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), just last week notching a 4-3 result against Team Vitality in Week 2 of The Grid.
With Giants posting multiple top four finishes in as many months, the team are one of the biggest in pro Rocket League right now, so it’s with great pleasure we got to sit down and chat with Stake about all things car ball, his hopes for the year and even how you can grind your way up the ranks too.
Starting small
Like many teams and players, things started out small for Stake. “I’m really proud of the team performance”, he says. “We come from the old second division in the EU and now we’re a top-four EU team, so I’m really happy.” And if that top team moniker was ever in doubt, a recent appearance in the S-Tier (reserved only for the elite teams) cemented it.
Rocket League tournaments are changing these days, as the game continues to evolve, and Stake is happy about this, it seems. “The format is completely different, so it’s open to more people. Compared to the other previous seasons, this one is the best one by far for everyone,” he explains.
“The RLCS Worlds will have a way bigger impact than the ones before because the game is constantly growing and it is not RLCS Worlds every six months, it’s now once per year, so it makes it more interesting and exciting.”
Performance and preparation
Stake has enjoyed great performances recently, such as during the last regional of the Winter Split, and the first split of The Grid, but he still has higher goals for himself and the team.
“Our main goal is to qualify for Worlds,” he remarks. “We’re in a very good spot, so I really think we can make it! Also winning a Regional or even a Major would be our main goal.”
Of course, winning takes a great deal of preparation, so how does a pro get ready for the kind of big events he takes part in? “Between seasons we always take one to two weeks’ break after the previous split ended,” he explains, showcasing how important a rest can be for players of any sport. “Afterwards we train everyday for three hours as a team and two to three hours individually minimum with a day’s break per week.”
Focus is key
Rocket League has a stratospheric skill ceiling, and it’d be remiss of us not to try and get some pro tips from Stake, who explained he doesn’t think there are specific strategies for matches outside of kickoffs and the basics of rotation. But he does have tips for newcomers to the game, acknowledging that patience is key, and that “Rocket League is a game that at the start is very hard to play, but with time you can start learning things and hitting the ball will be easier.” Stake is also keen to suggest that keeping a keen eye on the pros is a good way to improve, too, and that switching from console to PC is a good move, because it’s smoother on PC.
Rocket League is now a free-to-play game, so the barrier to entry is lower than ever. Focus is important to new players, and Stake has some superb advice on that aspect of the game. “Focus on a single aspect of the game: saves, goals or passing,” he says. “The key is to be mentally prepared if you want to climb and grind for hours. The game is great fun, but in order to climb you’ll need to play focused on the ranked games.”
Climbing the ladder
Once you climb the ladder a bit, from Bronze to Silver, and into Gold and beyond, you’ll need to start to master both attacking and defending, says Stake.
“Dominating attack is key here because people defend really well, you need to rotate well and do well with passing the ball to your partners”, he observes. “From Diamond and onwards everybody plays really well, so you all should focus on the same thing, being a good team-mate and having good synergy with whoever you’re playing with.”
Of course, as Stake alludes to, Rocket League is a team game, and he’s happy to explain that “one player alone can’t win games”, so it’s key to focus on being a good team-mate as well as an individually skilled player. He seems to be a genuine team-player, too, and someone who loves the game unequivocally, so we had to know: what’s the best recent additions to the game on the whole?
“The new RLCS format was one of the best additions,” he says. “Also the game becoming free to play was one of the best moves because it reaches more people.”
We wish the best of luck to Stake and Giants Gaming at the Spring EU Regionals, which take place March 25-28.
