The final Major on the Rainbow Six Siege calendar has arrived, with the 16 top teams in the world all preparing to enter the Raleigh Convention Centre from August 12th to compete for the honour of being the first winners of an American major. Here at HaloOfThoughts, we are going to break down what to expect coming in.
All Eyes On G2, In An Empire State Of Mind
Ever since the 2018 Six Major in Paris, G2 has been an unstoppable force on their way to winning every major tournament that they attended. However, they seem to be struggling entering the major. In the 9th season of Europe's Pro League, they finished 3rd behind Team Empire and LeStream Esports and currently sit 5th in pro league season 10 after 7 games. While G2 show are at their best during major events, they’re giving many others a glimpse of hope that they are beatable.
Drawn in group B against Team Secret, Cyclops and Rogues, they should make it out without too many problems, but they need to show they haven't lost their grip on the top and Niclas "Pengu" Mouritzen and Juhani "Kantoraketti" Toivonen will need to continue to lead from the front to do so.
While G2 has struggled, Russia's Team Empire has dominated not only the European scene but against anyone they have faced. After a comfortable win in the European Pro League, they followed this up by beating Evil Geniuses in the season 9 Pro League finals and have continued their great form in the first half of the current Pro League season. Their roster currently seems to have no weaknesses, with the entire roster all having a rating of 1 or thereabouts this season according to Siegegg (Dmirty "Scypher" Semenov is at 0.99). The trio of Eugene "Karzheka" Petrishin, Artur "ShepparD" Ipatov and Danill "JoySTICK" Gabov will continue to be the driving force behind the Russian war machine that Team Empire have become and it's hard to see them being beaten on current form
Unvellyvable North American Hype
One of the great things about the major system is that the best teams are coming to represent not only their countries but to prove which region is the best. Velly happily started the age-old Europe vs North America rivalry, in hyping up North America's chances and he might have a point.
Rogue comes into the major in good form after winning Dreamhack Valencia and beating the likes of Faze Clan, Looking for Org, Team Reciprocity, Team Solomid and Vitality to the minor title. With Franklyn "VertcL" Cordero looking hot right now after carrying Rogue thought their Dreamhack Valencia win, they might just be in the perfect position to make a deep run, but many have raised their key issue of consistency
Evil Geniuses are a team that always seems to play their best in Major tournaments and take a scalp or two along the way. Being the highest-ranked North American team on SiegeGG, they will need a good run to stay above Rogue. With Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski still being the heart and soul of the EG roster leading them through the Major, coach Aaron "Gotcha" Chung who will continue to fill and Emilio "Geoometrics" Laynez Cuevas come into Raleigh in red-hot form and should allow EG to have another deep run.
Spacestation and Team SoloMid also have elements within their teams that could allow them to throw up a few surprises.
Spacestation’s Nathaniel "Rampy" Duvall is well known for his playmaking ability and Javier "ThinkingNade" Escamila has shown that capability throughout the North American Pro League; he has the form to look good this tournament too.
TeamSoloMid has struggled during their American Pro League games but they have a bright spark in flashy content-creator/streamer-turned-pro Jason "Beaulo" Doty who can pull out rounds single-handedly when settled.
Both Latin America and Asia will look to cause upsets, especially in the case of Fnatic and PET Nora-Rengo, who always show up at the majors and while there are whispers of FaZe or NIP causing an upset, confidence lies in North America and Europe right now and I find it tough, based on current form for one of these two regions not to win it all. However, there is plenty of Siege to be played from Monday and you can guarantee that there will be upsets.
(A special mention to Derry "Dezachu" Holt, Parker "Interro" Mackay & Loviel "Velly" Cardwell for giving me a push in writing this article)
(More Rainbow Six content during the Major can be found @haloofthoughts on Twitter)
(Picture Credit: Ubisoft, G2, Team Empire, Rogue & EG)
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