London Major NA Qualifier 4: Everything you need to know

The Rocket League Esports team has revealed the first-round Swiss Stage matchups for this weekend's RLCS 2024 London Major NA Qualifier.

The double-elimination qualifier bracket leading up to the Swiss Stage concluded on Sunday, but seeding, which considers overall season performance after recent format changes, still needed to be calculated. Thus, we did not know who was playing who until right now.

Above are all of the matchups taking place during the first round of the London Major NA Qualifier 4 Swiss Stage this Friday, April 26. These 16 teams are seeded by a combination of their performance in qualifying for the Swiss Stage as well as their overall performance during the RLCS 2024 season.

As a result, the order roughly reflects, but isn't an exact copy of, the current RLCS 2024 NA rankings. The seeds for this NA Qualifier Swiss Stage can be read in a U-shape, with G2 Stride being #1 and Clovarity being #16.

The Swiss Stage, also called a Swiss bracket, is commonly used in the RLCS and other high-level esports competitions. This is due to its thoroughness and nearly unrivaled ability to determine the best teams out of any given group. For these reasons, it will be what determines the Top 8 teams in London Major NA Qualifier 4.

The way it works is simple but can be difficult to picture. There will be a total of five rounds, every series is a best-of-five, and all matches in each round happen simultaneously. The only thing teams need to do to advance is win three matches before they lose three matches.

During the first round, teams face off against each other according to the matchups announced by Rocket League Esports. Following that, every round will pitch teams with the same win record against each other, seeded by game differential.

For example, round two contains two groups: one with all teams who won their first-round matchups, and one with all those who lost. In the 1-0 group, the team with the best game differential (e.g. +3 after a 3-0 sweep) will play the team with the worst game differential (e.g. +1 after a 3-2 victory), and so on. The 0-1 group will do the same.

Following the results of the second round, teams will again face off against those with an identical record in round three. The same logic applies to rounds four and five, and the Top 8 teams at the end of the Swiss Stage will advance to the single-elimination playoff bracket.

Rocket League Esports posted a graphic in 2021, included above, that excellently visualizes how the Swiss Stage plays out. For anyone interested, even more details can be found in the official RLCS rules.

The Top 8 teams will be organized by their Swiss Stage records, with ties between identical records being separated by game differential. They then fall into the NA Qualifier 4 single-elimination playoff bracket based on this order.

The single-elimination bracket is a classic format that needs no introduction. You win, you advance to the next round. You lose, you're out.

Each series in the NA Qualifier 4 playoff bracket is a best-of-seven. All Quarterfinals will take place on Saturday, April 27, with the Semifinals and the Grand Final going down on Sunday, April 28.

With a combination of team streams and a main broadcast, keeping up with RLCS 2024 events can be confusing. But worry not, all the information you need is right here.

With matches in each round of the Swiss Stage happening simultaneously, there is no single stream on which to watch everything. Instead, each team has the liberty of streaming their own matchups. Some teams delegate this to a signed content creator, while others hire casters and even small production teams to cover their roster's matches.

The first round of the London Major NA Qualifier 4 Swiss Stage begins at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday, April 26. Below are all of the teams competing this weekend and any known team stream links:

All playoff matches will be broadcast on the official Rocket League Twitch channel. Quarterfinals begin at 10 a.m. PDT on Saturday and Semifinals begin at 10 a.m. PDT on Sunday.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more esports news and Rocket League coverage.