With only a month left until the next Pro League playday, Rainbow Six roster changes are in full swing. With the Six Invitational in the rear view mirror, teams across the globe are making moves to shore up in preparation for the second half of PL Season 11.

Here’s a deeper look at all of the Rainbow Six roster changes made by Pro League teams since the Six Invitational 2020.

Team Reciprocity: -Nyx, -Retro (Benched)

Reciprocity kicked off the North American roster shuffle by benching both Alexander “Retro” Lloyd and Zachary “Nyx” Thomas from the starting roster. The team’s social media or website did not officially announce the REC Rainbow Six roster changes. As a result, both players were forced to announce their own restricted free agencies.

Lloyd was a member of the American Cloud 9 roster bought by Team Reciprocity weeks before SI2019. The team went on an electric run to the Six Invitational semis, taking out Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Lloyd and REC had average showings before finding their footing in Season 10 of Pro League. The team finished second in NAPL, and made it to the semis of the S10 finals.

Thomas was brought in from DarkZero after a player swap saw Alexander “Skys” Magor leave to DZ in late 2019. He played with REC at the US Nationals where they secured a second place finish. However, Team Reciprocity failed to make it out of groups at the Six Invitational 2020. REC currently sits in fourth place of Pro League Season 11, nine points behind the first place Team SoloMid.

NaVi: -CTZN (Benched) -Pie (Dropped)

Natus Vincere has made Rainbow Six roster changes by releasing Ellis “Pie” Pyart and benching Ben “CTZN” McMillan. The two were part of a very successful NaVi squad that took a turn for the worse recently.

NaVi acquired McMillan and the Molotovs and Marshmallows squad in mid 2019 after dropping their German roster. The U.K. squad found its footing and quickly surged to the top of the EU pro scene. NaVi took first place in S10 of Pro League and was looking strong heading into the finals

However, ESL banned Jack “Doki” Robertson for six months for toxicity in October 2019. The team brought Pyart in as a result of this ban. Despite this, NaVi still managed to take the Season 10 trophy.

NaVi has slipped in the rankings since that victory. The team sits in sixth place in Pro League, and failed to make it out of groups at SI2020. Changes were expected at some point, because NaVi needs to free up a roster spot for Robertson’s return in April. However, NaVi still has the second half of Pro League to play before his ban ends before the final match of the season. The team will either need to pick up two new players, or unbench McMillan and find another player to join the squad before Pro League returns in March.

Elevate: -Entire roster and coaching staff (Dropped)

Elevate CEO Brandon Hatfield announced the org was dropping its roster after re-entering the Rainbow Six scene in November 2019. It’s the sixth time the Elevate org has fielded a Rainbow Six team, with this being their second foray into the Brazilian scene.

The American org had originally picked up ReD DevilS for the LATAM S10 relegation matches. That team lost to CHICOS in their bid for the LATAM Pro League spot. As a result, the two-month-old Elevate squad was dropped to pickup CHICOS and their coveted PL slot. Elevate has also dropped this Brazilian roster, after finishing the first half of Season 11 in sixth place.

The move left the following players and coach orgless: Thiago “LENDA1” Torres, Fabio “Hxnteer” Pieri, Lucas “soulz1” Schinke, Willian “WILL” Rodrigues, Eduardo “KDS” Santos, “High5lander” and Matheus “Ramalho” Ramalho

Former Team oNe eSports player Renato “rhZ” Costa announced he has joined the ex-Elevate squad in a statement on Twitter. He will replace Rodrigues in the team’s starting lineup, according to coach Ramalho. “High5lander” is absent from the roster in the post by Ramalho.

The ex-Elevate players will keep the Pro League Season 11 spot and continue to play together. Currently, the squads sits in sixth place of the LATAM Pro League standings with nine points.

Other Rainbow Six roster changes by region

This section includes other Pro League changes and notable changes made by Challenger League teams since SI2020 ended.

North America

Team SoloMid: TSM release coach “Bagel” who helped lead them to third place at the Six Invitational 2020 and a semi finals finish at the US Nationals 2019.

Susquehanna Soniqs: The Soniqs officially release Jason “GhxsT” Luu from the team after he was inactive on the roster since August 2019.

Latin America

General LATAM: Guilherme “gohaN” Alf officially retires after leaving Ninjas in Pyjamas in Dec. 2019. In a statement on Twitter, Alf says he plans to professionally play Riot Games’ Project A when it is released.

Team oNe eSports: Luiz “SKaDinha” Salgado rejoins the roster after leaving in late 2019.

Europe

Team Secret: Joonas”jNSzki” Savolainen officially returns from semi-retirement by signing with Team Secret. He unofficially returned after playing with Secret in the SI EU qualifiers where the team finished second to BDS.

Penta Esports: Penta reveal an all French starting lineup featuring Julian “ENEMY” Blin, Jean “RevaN” Prudenti, Alexandre “BlaZ” Thomas, Medhi “Kaktus” Marty, Nathan “Alive” Donday and coach Arnaud “BiOs” Billaudel. Janis “Janixs” Linins remains as a sub and Balázs “blas” Kővári is benched as a result.

APAC

Cloud 9: Japanese R6 veteran Kwon “h3dy” Yugeun leaves the team.

Nora-Rengo: Riku “Maavi” Kaizo is dropped from the NR roster “due to academic difficulties in boot camps and gaming houses.”

Rainbow Six roster changes: More to come

Witha month left until Pro League Season 11 starts back up, plenty of teams will be looking to shuffle their rosters. Stay tuned to SQUAD for more updates on Rainbow Six roster changes each week leading up to Pro League.