The Great RS Logo Gauntlet

All 32 logos involved in the Gauntlet

The best way to start this article is to apologize. It's impossible to select obvious candidates for the top 32, let alone the best logo in league history outright. Your eyes may have already wandered to the logos above, and there could be a fire growing within you as you discover that your favorite team didn't even make the cut. Rocket Sundays is blessed with a rich history of all types of logo - the weird and wonderful, the deep and meaningful, the professional grade, and even a donkey being punched in the face. All of these logos are unique and excellent in their own way. However, as soon as you see the board above, one thing becomes clear to all readers.

There's content to be made here.

And so it came to pass that on a cold Tuesday afternoon, I recruited Doomato and Ares to sort through these 32 logos and help me pick a "winner." Logos would be judged not just by the quality of the image on our screens, but also their deeper meaning and recognizability within the wider RS community. The bracket itself was completely randomized, and re-randomized for every subsequent round, with the only constant being that each of us had a single vote in the Best of 3 rounds.

Round of 32

Ares, Herb: Donkey Punch Doom: Ping

Ping's logo is warmly regarded by Doomato as having "cleanness and OG status", but Donkey Punch wins the matchup for boasting "added detail and a fun aesthetic."

Ares, Herb, Doom: Glasgow Storm

The well-rounded logo of former league champions Glasgow Storm progresses comfortably from the Round of 32, with SnakeCension's logo described as "colorful, but a little messy with the layered team logos".

Ares, Herb, Doom: Orionis Venaetores Let's not go there.

Herb, Doom: Old Men Yelling Ares: Gros Trucs A tricky matchup - the Gros Trucs logo was praised for "matching the Rocket League aesthetic" with a well-rendered Merc, but Old Men Yelling edged it for having "high effort production and an obvious brand".

Herb, Ares: Double Kermit Doom: Portuguese Connection DK squeezes through "on the grounds of originality", as the PTC logo was eliminated due to being "heavily lifted from Manchester United", but was still regarded as a strong logo with good adjustments.

Herb, Doom: Kestrels Ares: Ninja Cupcakes Despite "looking kinda like Mozilla Firefox", the Kestrels logo won out for having become "synonymous with the team" over 5 RS seasons. Ninja Cupcakes was credited by Ares for "vibrant colours and strong branding".

Herb, Doom, Ares: Good Feels Crew

A dominant win for the GFC logo summarized by Ares as "making me want to smile for some reason", whilst the ASCB logo was critiqued with "the text upsetting the synergy of the image", and "a slightly mispositioned beard", with Doomato favoring Asensjun's S9 logo.

Herb, Ares: German Wodgeys Doom: Canard Esport Another tight decision, with the Wodgeys emerging victorious for being "a hilarious logo" whilst doubling as "a creative take on a whiskey bottle label".

Herb, Doom, Ares: Bawbags

Consensus opinion swung the way of Bawbags, "a memorable, strong brand for many seasons". Despite this, ESH's logo was referred to as "comedy gold" and "a quality meme compilation", which probably wins a different kinda competition, just not this one.

Ares, Doom: Pro AM United Herb: Ootje Pro AM, owners of "the league's most memorable crest", sails into the Round of 16 over an Ootje logo praised for uniqueness, but criticized for "a lack of color and brand recognition."

Herb, Doom, Ares: Galamo Emerald GALE wins with a "logo highly appropriate for Rocket League which makes good use of team colours", whilst Dyno-Thunder's logo was lauded for being "a well-edited image", but not one that had become synonymous with the team or the colours they used.

Herb, Doom, Ares: Project MK Ultra A bizarre first round matchup between a brainwashing conspiracy and a plastic helicopter that could only happen in a Sundays Esport article, PMKU moved on by virtue of being more recognizable around the league.

Herb, Ares: Ferrari's First Doom: Hylian Honkers FER1's "widely recognized logo with a well-drawn car" emerges victorious over Doomato's "coolest banner I ever played under" in an unfortunate Round of 32 draw for HONK.

Herb, Doom, Ares: The Poops One of the easiest R32 decisions for the team, The Poops brand remains unchanged since Season 4 and the logo was described as "iconic in its own right within RS" despite taking inspiration from pro team The Peeps.

Ares, Doom: Noot Noot Herb: Disaster An all-star selection from RS lore comfortably moves into Round 2, seeing off the challenge of Disaster's "very decent logo", praised for managing to be memorable without needing text.

Herb, Doom: RC Milan Ares: Platoon NOOT's little brothers don't fare quite as well against more recent crowdpleasers RC Milan, a "well-worked idea with plenty of creativity despite the AC Milan inspiration". We still don't know what Platoon's logo is.

Round of 16

Surviving logos going into the Round of 16.

Ares, Doom: Ferrari's First Herb: Pro AM United The FER1 logo continues to conquer, praised for "good contrast between the red centre and white outline", as Pro AM exits for "simply not being creative or original enough", despite the polished appearance.

Herb, Ares: Kestrels Doom: The Poops The Kestrels advance in an agonizingly close matchup by virtue of being "a wholly original design", but The Poops can exit safe in the knowledge their logo could easily have made the top 4 in a differently drawn bracket.

Doom, Ares: Orionis Venaetores Herb: Galamo Emerald In a duel of galactic proportions, Orionis moves on, quoted as "a logo fit for a Greek football team", whilst Galamo is "slightly let down by the font" but should still be considered as "one of the better org logos out there".

Herb, Ares: Old Men Yelling Doom: Project MK Ultra The lack of originality in PMKU's logo brings their stay in the bracket to an end, though Doomato did highlight "a recognizable image for their reputation", but YELL moves on for "high effort and creativity".

Herb, Doom: RC Milan Ares: Double Kermit Easily the longest discussion we had for one matchup, RCM eventually advanced for "bold colouring and association with Rocket League". DK's logo was narrowly eliminated here, primarily for being drawn in pencil with pale colors preventing it from standing out.

Doom, Ares: Noot Noot Herb: Bawbags Ares quoted "nostalgia from being young and watching Pingu", music to the ears of NOOT fans everywhere, whilst Doom described it as "a bit more cute and likable". The decidedly less cute Bawbags logo exits in the Round of 16.

Herb, Ares: Donkey Punch Doom: Glasgow Storm The "complimentary colours and creative artwork" of DP's logo edges it past a Glasgow Storm logo that oozes "coolness and recognizability", but was criticized for its uneven shape.

Herb, Ares: Good Feels Crew Doom: German Wodgeys Colour proves to be the key difference in the final R16 matchup, as GFC prevails with "a vibrant color scheme that's quickly becoming iconic", over the black and white Wodgeys logo.

Herb asks "Which would you want on a jersey?"

Quarterfinals

Surviving logos going into the Quarterfinals.

Ares, Doom, Herb: Kestrels Described by Doom as "the best abstract logo in RS", Kestrels advance to the semifinals over Donkey Punch, which fully deserves a place in the top 8, but has been dropped for being "slightly too busy, and on the newer side for the community to recognize it".

Ares, Doom, Herb: Orionis Venaetores Taking heavy inspiration from AC Milan's logo ultimately lets down RCM, as they lose out to the "wholly original" Orionis Venaetores, described as "a perfect combo of business and cleanness" by linguistic brainiac Doomato.

Doom, Herb: Ferrari's First Ares: Good Feels Crew

A tough decision is edged by FER1 for "a better incorporation of the team name", over a GFC logo that "continues to radiate positive vibes", but also contains "a purple outer circle that creates a bit too much negative space".

Doom, Herb, Ares: Old Men Yelling Nostalgia is swept aside, as Noot Noot is defeated by "the higher quality logo", one that "represents the team name extremely well without resorting to text". Noot Noot worked hard for its top 8 spot, with Herb voting against it in every round.

Semifinals

Surviving logos going into the Semifinals.

Doom, Ares: Orionis Venaetores Herb: Old Men Yelling Herb accuses the Orionis logo of being "too busy", but Ares and Doom concur that "YELL is a memorable RS logo, but in pure quality of design terms, Orionis wins" to help it progress to the final.

Herb, Ares: Kestrels Doom: Ferrari's First

Doom credits FER1 as "an easily accessible logo to remember", whilst Ares lauds Kestrels as "an excellent abstract crest", but Herbie deals the final blow, labelling FER1 "ultimately just a car - a great looking car, but still just a car".

Final

Herb, Doom, Ares: Orionis Venaetores Congratulations to Orionis on winning The Great RS Logo Gauntlet! It may strike many as a surprise champion (a reminder that this article is simply our opinions, and the bracket system may have eliminated some good logos early on for the sake of entertainment), but Doom is pleased with this, claiming "Orionis is super aesthetically pleasing, and I might have even picked it out as the winner at the beginning if I had been asked to". Ares agrees, stating "If you gave their logo to a real football team somewhere, they'd make it work." But what about the opinion of yours truly, the author? Where was AZA?