Why Year 5 Will be the Year for Korean Rainbow Six Geo Collins Follow Feb 20 · 8 min read

Mantis FPS, who later went on to be picked up by Cloud 9, became one of the most successful Korean teams in Siege history (Source: https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/pc/2018/02/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-apac-pro-league-qualifiers/)

It’s Sunday 16th February 2020, and the Losers’ Bracket Finals at the Six Invitational have just been played. TSM have failed to make it through to the Grand Finals, and Spacestation Gaming are preparing themselves to live up to the home crowd donning their jerseys and ready to scream their team’s name. All of the previous night and this morning, broadcast talent have been teasing their online followings with tweets of ‘Imagine the biggest shake-up in the history of Rainbow 6. Now imagine something even bigger. That’s today’s Year 5 Panel.’ and ‘OH MY GOD. WAIT TIL YOU GUYS SEE THE YEAR 5 PANEL!!! NOBODY IS READY FOR THIS.’ And now everyone tuned into the Six Invitational 2020 is about to find out what the next two years of Rainbow Six esports is going to look like.

And, let’s be real, those tweets didn’t disappoint. So many new changes happening to the game and the format of the esport that it would be hard to not get excited about something. But for the APAC region particularly, and by proxy the Korean region, it makes the future look bright.

APAC’s turn in the spotlight

One of the difficult parts about being an APAC player in any game is that the region is so gargantuan that it is incredibly difficult to play as one cohesive unit. A player in Auckland would struggle to play against someone in Osaka without experiencing massive ping. By nature, this simply negates the competitive integrity of that game that’s being played. So so far, each subregion in APAC has been playing as its own entity — ANZ, SEA, Korea, and Japan.

However, this brings about problems in its own right. Historically, one of the benefits of being an EU player is that the viability of all playing on one server between many, many different countries, means that people have a fantastic opportunity to improve their skills: your growth is not capped by the best player in your country. You can form mixed-nationality teams across the continent and consistently have ways of improving and pushing the skill ceiling higher and higher. When your region is confined to itself, it makes it much harder for that to happen. Especially if your region is one that’s developing, such as those we see in APAC.

But the changes to the APAC region in Year 5 should have a positive effect on these issues. The region will be split into two subregions: APAC North and APAC South. APAC North will be Korea, Japan and SEA, while APAC South will cover Oceania and possibly South Asia. Each subregion will have 12 teams competing, and while this means there will still be just four Korean teams, they will now be competing against eleven other teams, as opposed to just three as has been thus far. This broadening of the region will be massively beneficial to both the growth in skill of the Korean teams, but also their branding and fanbase beyond just their own bubble. An introduction to new regional playstyles, as well as more effort required to climb to the top of the standings, will force the Korean teams to develop at a much faster rate.

Because of how large APAC as a region is, the only time teams can play with other countries in the same region is as LAN tournaments (Source: https://www.facebook.com/ESLAustralia/photos/a.379448455455593/2522037607863323/?type=3&theater)

Not only are these regional changes to APAC being implemented, but also some other huge news: in 2021, there will be an APAC major in November. So far there have been no majors in APAC, with just Paris and Raleigh to count. But by doing this, Ubisoft are giving APAC a huge chance to put their names on the global map. The Japanese region gained a lot more attention after the Pro League Finals in Tokoname, but a specifically APAC major could be a huge opportunity for these teams to show their region off to the rest of the world, and fighting for a spot in the Major will be a significant source of motivation.

It seems that no longer will the world just be clamouring over EU and NA, but now APAC too. With a system designed to help APAC teams reach their full potential and be just as competitive as their western counterparts, Korean, and other APAC, teams are on the cusp of a period of immense growth.

Talent Rising Up

When you have a format that means you play the same three teams over and over in a Pro League season, and beating out just two of them puts you in a Top 2 spot, it’s very easy for talent to get stale and not be pushed to their limits.

But now having to face 11 teams instead of just two, it will no longer be feasible for the same talent pool to simply sit pretty and ride out the season. And that means Korean players should be worried. Why? Because new, evolving talent is rising up beneath them, and they will be a threat to those roster spots if Pro League talent can’t prove themselves.

In December and January, the Korea Open Season 1 took place, a tournament of the five upcoming Pro League XI teams plus qualified team Talon Esports. Talon, an organisation who already had a name and success in esports like League of Legends and Overwatch, came a solid second place behind esports titans Cloud 9.

But what does it say when an org, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to start in a new game, beat out three of the four Pro League teams in a tournament? Well, if you ask me, it means that there’s talented players ready to take on the Tier 1 pros, just lurking under the surface. And if these Pro League teams are struggling against such a team, then those are the rosters that, when the time comes, will end up fielding these Tier 2 players first.

When I asked Talon Esports player EGG how he felt about it, he said, ‘We’re practising, believing it’s possible. We are positive about the possibility.’

Esports organisation Talon Esports were able to take their Overwatch team to the international stage — can they fight the same odds with their talented Rainbow Six roster? (Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ee3gkA6c6/)

It has taken a while for Siege’s popularity to grow in South Korea, but particularly after Siege became free to play in PC bangs across the country in 2019, it has seemed to somewhat increase. It has a thriving community that the western world rarely sees, with a community Discord server of approximately 1500 people and an active presence on Twitter. In fact, the newly announced Rainbow Six Cup may contribute to bringing a lot of that community into the competitive scene. So while the current Tier 2 players are the ones vying for those Pro League spots, pushing the skill level of the region upwards, the Tier 3 players or those yet to be, will be the ones who will keep the cycle of development going.

The APAC Response

Naturally, everyone had a lot to say about the announced changes when they happened. In fact, it almost felt like people had forgotten entirely about the Grand Finals that were yet to occur — almost. And of course, those over in APAC were no different.

The general sentiment of optimism was abundant, as exemplified by what Hybrid — head coach for SCARZ, Korea’s leading Pro League team right now — had to say. ‘South Korea PL problem: Resolved’ he said as a comment on the increase in the number of teams they would be facing going into the regional changes.

A similar attitude was expressed by Australian captain of the exalted Fnatic, who believes that ‘APAC will become bigger and more competitive’.

iLeven, one of the pro players for SCARZ, tweeted saying, ‘ APAC integration next season!? I’ll work hard so I’ll try my best to do well in the integrated APAC league!’ The message comes specifically with an air of incredulity, however when I spoke to iLeven directly, he said, ‘I think it is very good for existing Korean teams…I think the existing PL teams will improve.’

I also spoke to SummerRain, a Korean Rainbow Six caster and a figurehead of the Korean Rainbow Six Siege community, about his thoughts on the changes. His initial response was that ‘viewership will increase, then organisations will follow.’ When I asked about the potential for player skill to rise, he brought up aforementioned Talon Esports, ‘As you can see with Talon Esports. If the players can have benefits like a team house, then my answer [to whether skill will increase in Korea] is yes.’ And if his predictions about organisations showing interest turn out to be correct, then this is certainly something we may see in the region. When comparing a competition of 11 teams to three, his stance was, ‘Yes, you’re right. 11 teams is way better for players.’

We also touched on the topic of non-pro Korean players wanting to make it through the ranks into professional Siege. According to him there are a lot of players out there who want to make it that the world just doesn’t know about. ‘There are many Challenger League teams who want to be involved in Pro League…and the rest of the world think only a few Korean teams want to be a part of Pro League…It sucks that most non-Asian people think there are no teams in Korea.’

It seems the Korean scene is ready and waiting for its trigger to boom, and these changes to APAC may provide exactly that.

The future looks east

So it seems things look good for the Korean scene heading into the future plans that Ubisoft have laid out for them. Not only systematic changes that set everyone (not just Koreans!) up for success in the APAC region, but an injection of positivity and optimism from the players in that region themselves. A new fight to face and a new grind to give, plus a potential influx of new talent from both Challenger League teams and the yet-unknowns who could rise up through the Rainbow Six Cup. And not only the players, but a new audience from previously separate regions waiting to discover their next favourite Korean team, through a door that will have been opened up onto the world stage.

As with the development of any region, it always takes time. But with passion and infrastructure, anything can be achieved. And why shouldn’t Korea be able to accomplish? After all, in the words of SummerRain, ‘Korea is the country where ‘esports’ began.’