Konstantin Nuridzhanyan

September 16, 2019

Although competitive gaming for Rainbow Six Siege had humble beginnings in Australia and New Zealand, it’s since risen to one of the most popular esport titles in our part of the world, and continues to grow every day. Our region recently celebrated two years since the first ever offline finals, so this article will take a walk down memory lane and look at how the title has changed since its inception.

Like many other esports titles finding its feet locally, Rainbow Six Siege began its competitive life by featuring in the likes of CyberGamer, now Let’s Play Live, and other small open tournaments where anyone could enter a team. From here, communities such as “R6 ANZ” came about, helping to promote the competitive scene by streaming matches on Twitch and connecting competitive players via the likes of Discord and other social media channels.

Thanks to the grassroots success created by the likes of CyberGamer and R6 ANZ, ESL Australia and Ubisoft Australia couldn’t help but take notice. They announced “The ANZ Invitational” which would be this region’s first ever offline event for Rainbow Six Siege. Although the offline event only consisted of the grand finals held at ESL Studios, it was a massive step for this title in our region.

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The R6 ANZ Invitational

Attending the grand final of the ANZ Invitational was:

Athletico Esports: Todd, Neophyter, Shmed, syliX and Mud.

Corvidae: Wildman, Fletch, Warden, JackDaddy and RizRaz.

With the other teams who participated in the qualifier consisting of:

Taboo: Crude, EmoRin, Mugi, FanatiK and Dealzz.

Scylla Esports: Gaz, Shadeydays, Sayer, Grommph and Josh.

Surmount: Kngz, Lusty, Bobo, Pd and Rock.

Mindfreak: Acez, Dizzle, Magnet, Mungo and Pun.

Dedset: C0bal7, Shak, SicaRio, xequt0r and Derp.

Surge ESC: Jdewin, YoungGuns, Calibre, Scrivvy and Astoss.

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From this opening offline tournament, you will notice a lot of familiar faces that are still around to this day. It’s worth noting teams such as “Mindfreak”, who are now competing under “Fnatic”, didn’t qualify for the offline finals, although it must be said they’d only just converted from console.

Other highlights from the above list would be the likes of RizRaz, JackDaddy, Warden, Neophyter, syliX and Todd. All of which competed in the grand finals of this event and all are scattered around the region’s top teams to this day.

At the conclusion of the grand final we saw Athletico Esports come out on top, taking home $5000 AUD. Second place left empty handed, much like all the other teams who competed in the qualifier. It was all or nothing back then, compared to the $50,000 AUD prize pool featured at the Melbourne Esports Open this past month.

Above: R6 ANZ Invitational 2017 winners, Athletico Esports. (Photos by TJ)

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Current State of Rainbow Six: Siege in ANZ

Nowadays, the competitive ecosystem in the region has become much more consistent with the introduction of APAC and ANZ into the Global Pro League. Interestingly, the global esports brand “Fnatic” continue to compete in this region with the former “Mindfreak” line-up that featured in the first ever online qualifier for The ANZ Invitational, minus a couple of retired players. Despite a few roster changes and Dizzle moving to the coaching role, the remaining line-up has become a household name in the Rainbow Six Siege community, thanks to their accomplishments with Fnatic and their first appearance on the global stage with Mindfreak.

Moving away from Fnatic, we have also seen success from the likes of Dark Sided, Athletico and Orgless. They have all chopped and changed between each other’s teams over the past few years, but have found strong success in offline events in the Asia-Pacific regions.

Below is a list of offline events that have been held in Australia since the arrival of the first ever offline event two years ago:

Offline Events - Prizepools

The ANZ Invitational (2017): $5,000 AUD

Six Masters at PAX (2018): $25,000 AUD

Oceanic Cup (2019): $25,000 AUD

Six Masters at MEO (2019): $50,000 AUD

Offline Events - Global Qualifiers

Pro League Year 2 Season 3 (2017): 2 Global Spots

Invitational APAC Qualifier (2017): 2 Global Spots

Pro League Season 7 (2018): 2 Global Spots

Six Major Paris APAC Qualifier (2018): 2 Global Spots

Pro League Season 8 (2018): 2 Global Spots

Invitational APAC Qualifier (2019): 1 Global Spot

Pro League Season 9 (2019): 2 Global Spots

Six Major Raleigh (2019): 1 Global Spot

Key Highlights

12 offline events in the space of two years.

8 international qualifiers.

14 international spots up for grabs.

$105,000 total prize pool in offline events alone.

In the beginning, Australia and New Zealand teams were only able to face each other. But that has all changed, and now, our region competes against the whole of Asia-Pacific in every Pro League finals. Which means that at the end of the ANZ Pro League, our top teams will battle it out against the best of Asia-Pacific for a spot at the global Pro League Finals each season, hence the enormous amount of global qualifiers.

Despite this region’s humble beginnings, we’ve continued to flourish thanks to the support of Ubisoft Australia and ESL Australia. Without the likes of CyberGamer (LetsPlayLive), ESL Australia, R6 ANZ and so many more, and recognition from the developers, it may not have been possible for this region to develop so quickly.

Our region has come a long way since the birth of the initial “ANZ Invitational” back in 2017. More and more teams are being created each season, with players rising through the ranks to try to be the next challenger. Not to mention the amount of competitions that are coming about thanks to both the ever-growing community and Ubisoft Australia’s ongoing support.

Here’s to many more years to come.

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