ViolentPanda hangs up the controller

One of the most successful Rocket League players of all time, ViolentPanda, is retiring after six years of professional play. The two-time world champion and four-time European champion plans to remain on the scene as a coach or manager.

Having played in the very first qualifier of the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) back in 2016, Jos “ViolentPanda” van Meurs is an OG of the Rocket League scene. His team back then was Crowns & Jewels, and his teammates killerno7 and Yeezy have both since retired.

Started with friends

Unlike many of the pros from the very beginning, ViolentPanda did not play the predecessor of Rocket League, but only started the game in 2015. It all started with friends, but it soon became clear that he would take a different path. He improved much faster than his friends and then looked for better teammates.

ViolentPanda found what he was looking for in the German player Ryuk, with whom he took part in the early ESL tournaments and won two of these events. But for the Dutchman, it was always higher, and at some point, new teammates had to be found.

He started the RLCS Season 2 under Mock-It eSports With paschy90 and Deevo and the first European title followed in midseason Mayhem. Nevertheless, at the end of the season, they placed “only” third in Europe. At the Worlds, the team was defeated in the grand final by FlipSid3 Tactics 0-2 after two best-of-sevens. The following season, Deevo was replaced by Chausette45 and the team missed the leap to Worlds and subsequently disbanded.

Shaping an era

In the RLCS Season 4 came the breakthrough under Gale Force eSports. ViolentPanda, together with Kaydop and Turbopolsa, managed to win in Europe and at the Worlds 2017. The special thing was that they won the tournament at the Worlds without losing. In RLCS 5, Dignitas’ team managed nothing less than defending both titles with just one loss all season. The age of this Dignitas team was in full swing and the following season they managed to defend the European title.

At the subsequent Worlds 2018, the march through to the Grand Final followed, where Cloud9 from North America taught the European representative a lesson with 27 goals to 13 and eight games to two.

Roster changes

In 2019, Kaydop was replaced by the up-and-coming Austrian Yukeo, but the highly decorated team in RLCS Season 7 went completely empty-handed. After the disappointing result of the previous season, Turbopolsa left the team and was replaced by Belgian Aztral.

As a result, the team only finished fifth in RLCS Season 8 in the regular season. In the following two knockout phases at European and international level, two fourth places followed. Despite this, the team stayed together and Dignitas won RLCS Season 9. It was the fourth European title for ViolentPanda and marked the end of an era.

And so, after two unlucky RLCS seasons and a disappointing start to the season, ViolentPanda has decided to retire from professional play and is now looking for coaching or managing positions in the scene.

Header: Stephanie Lindgren / DreamHack