The 2025 RLCS season hits its first international LAN this week. Sixteen teams from seven regions descend on the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, UK, for a four-day Major running March 27–30. It's also the first event to feature an RLCS 1v1 tournament alongside the usual 3v3 bracket — a format we'll see twice in 2025 before it crowns a World Champion in Lyon in September.
What's on the line
- $400,000 prize pool across 3v3.
- A separate 1v1 bracket per region, with regional winners qualifying for 1v1 Worlds.
- Max RLCS points for both Major champions, which will heavily influence Worlds seeding in September.
The 3v3 favorites
Karmine Corp
Top of our most recent power rankings and EU's #1 seed coming in. Vatira-Atow-Itachi looks like one of the cleanest mechanical trios in the game. The only question is whether they're going to close out a Grand Final when one shows up.
Team BDS
Defending World Champions. Quiet Open results so far, but historically this is exactly when the M0nkey M00n era of BDS shows up.
Gentle Mates
Reigning Copenhagen Major (2024) champions. They've been the most consistent top-3-finishing team in EU qualifying. Watch their second/third game adjustments — that's where they've been winning series.
Team Falcons
MENA's #1 seed. Falcons have been in two consecutive international finals without winning one. Birmingham would be the third try.
The teams to watch
The Ultimates
EU's biggest surprise of the qualifying period. The roster grinded up through Open 1 and Open 2 with a refusal to lose easy series. Reliable, sharp, and already a Grand Final–capable group in our books.
Dignitas
UK-leaning roster playing on home soil. Birmingham is going to be loud for them. Don't be surprised if they go further than the seed suggests.
NRG (NA)
Atomic, BeastMode, Daniel. We've had them in our top 5 since Open 1. This is their international audition.
1v1: the inaugural bracket
Birmingham's 1v1 tournament is genuinely unprecedented in RLCS — the first time individual players will compete for a competitive 1v1 title under the league banner. Each region has its own bracket, and the winners qualify for Worlds.
Players we're tracking most closely: Mawkzy (France), Atomic (NA), Vatira, jstn., and from MENA, Nwpo — the Saudi player who has been comfortably the best 1v1 grinder in MENA scrim circles for over a year.
What we're watching
- Does Karmine Corp finally win a Grand Final without leaving any margin?
- Does the 1v1 bracket reveal a player nobody had on their radar?
- Does a non-EU/NA team make the 3v3 Grand Final?
- Does the new format produce a Major final that looks structurally different from 2024's?
We'll be running a daily quick recap on each day of the Major, with a full tournament recap up by April 6. Birmingham, here we go.