Rocket League star Slater “Retals” Thomas retires at 22

Slater “Retals” Thomas announced his retirement from Rocket League after an eight-year-long career.

Retals revealed the news in an X post on Sunday, stating he has had retirement on his mind for a couple of months.

The 22-year-old made his first appearance in the professional scene in early 2018 and joined his first team, The D00ds, in July of that year. 

In early 2019, Retals spent a short stint a Honduras, before joining The Peeps, with whom he won his first significant trophy at DreamHack Pro Circuit: Montreal 2019.

Following the heroic run in Canada, The Peeps roster moved to the Pittsburgh Knights, where Retals continued making a name for himself and in 2020 landed at Spacestation Gaming.

Retals’ two-year stay with Spacestation Gaming marks the most successful period of his career. He accumulated a nice haul of tournament titles, including RLCS Season X Fall NA Major and a silver medal from the North American Championship.

After an early elimination from the RLCS 2021-22 World Championship, Retals left SSG for a brief stay at OpTic Gaming before moving to Luminosity Gaming and Gen.G Mobil1 Esports.

Since April, Retals has been a member of Shopify Rebellion, with whom he qualified for the World Championship through the North American Last Chance Qualifiers.

However, his final appearance on the big stage ended in an early elimination, as Shopify Rebellion exited the event in 17^th-18^th place.

Two weeks later, the North American team sacked the entire lineup, leaving Retals and his teammates Jayden “2Piece” Horton, Jayden “2Piece” Horton, and Michael “MEMORY” Moss to move on.

None of Retals’ teammates have yet to find a new home. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old decided not to pursue a new contract but will focus on education and remain involved in the RL esports scene through content creation.