Aerion Jones

This isn’t something I thought I’d be writing this soon, but after carefully thinking everything over, I came to the conclusion that this will be my final split. Looking back on my career, I’m so unbelievably proud of what I was able to accomplish and so grateful to have had the opportunity to play alongside my best friends, who also happen to be some of the GOATs of Rocket League. Becoming a World Champion was my ultimate goal, and the way we were able to do that, with a run and circumstance that’s truly unmatchable, is a memory I’ll never forget. I was lucky enough to win 4 major LANs as well as Season X on top of that World Championship win. I just feel like I did everything that I set out to do and I can enjoy Rocket League now without all the stress of competing. I originally planned to play this entire season, but many things happened as a result of the overall rough period that this esport is experiencing. Over the course of this very long off season, I was the first to announce my new team. I began the hunt for an organization to back us, and that only led to a series of unfortunate disappointments. Getting within a week of closing the deal with 6 major organizations only to have something out of our control get in the way every time. With the RLCS announcement, I now understand why there was some fear from orgs that ended up scaring many away from joining the RLCS in the later stages of the offseason. The new season format is also not something I am interested in, especially with the potential of another very long offseason. As the game gets more competitive, I think lessening the major spots is the opposite of the direction we should be going for the best show for the viewers as well as the best overall competition. Regardless of those things, I want to assure you that I’m going to give it my everything this final split, and I know my team is capable of winning against anybody. I have so much confidence in them; unfortunately, I simply can’t go the whole year putting all my effort into competing without having a salary especially since it'll have been almost a year since leaving NRG and having no salary by the end of split 1. My team has been very understanding of this decision. I love and have so much respect for both of them as players as well as people, especially Gimmick, as I was able to complete my ultimate goal with him. As for what’s next for me, I will be shifting all my efforts into content creation. You guys will only see more of me, and I’ll likely watch party every RLCS event and give you my thoughts for the years to come. I fell in love with Rocket League in the beta nearly 10 years ago and uploaded my first video a month after full release. I haven’t stopped since, and I don’t plan on stopping. As for my streams, you can expect me live every weekday with the occasional weekend watch parties, as mentioned earlier. I hope you guys will cheer us on going into my final split; I’ll try to make you guys proud. We will be playing under the team name: The Muffin Men. Thank you for all the support over all these years, and I hope you continue to support me in my new focus on being the best streamer/youtuber I can be for you all. Forever grateful to have left the mark you all allowed me to leave competitively, and I’ll pay you all back for these unforgettable years with many streams filled with laughs and new memories, as well as videos where I’ll always give you all the knowledge that I continue to learn climbing ranked. I’m still gonna aim to stay up to date mechanically and knowledge-wise. That way, you guys will always have enjoyable gameplay, but just without me having the stresses of competing anymore. I have so much love and appreciation for each of you that has supported me since I was that little 14-year-old kid all the way until now, turning 24 this year, through the highs and the lows. Those of you that went out of your way to give me positive messages, every one of them helped more than you know. Best of luck to everyone this season; it was a pleasure competing against everyone over all these years. Take care of yourselves; I know this job isn’t as easy as it appears mentally. I’m already beginning my full-time stream grind, be sure to come watch and say hi whenever you see me live. I’m excited to see how big our community can get with me giving it my 100% focus. I love you guys, thank you for everything. ⁃ Mariano <3