Six Masters is almost upon us, with action kicking off in just under 24 hours. There’s some absolute belters awaiting Siege fans that could determine just how the final placements shape up in seven weeks.

The off-season for ANZ Siege is over. Rosters have been shuffled, and a new order is being set. The Six Masters is set to determine who is the second-in-line behind Fnatic, and the first week of action is set to be explosive.

Every week, we will be breaking down what you should expect from the week’s action with our expert predictions. Now, I can’t talk about these predictions without introducing our panel for the tournament. We’ve brought on five of ANZ Siege’s brightest minds (and me) to deliver you tips and analysis heading into each week of action.

• James “Devmarta” Stewart: Caster
• Michael “Guzz” Gurrie: Caster
• Brandon “Raven” Langiano: Caster
• Alex “Skye” McCallum: Observer
• Jess “Jess” Bolden: Analyst

While this piece will be an overview of our general predictions for the week, we will also have our own tips running alongside these. Be sure to check out Snowball Esports’ Twitter tomorrow for the full rundown.

Wildcard vs. SiNister

Prediction: 1-1 Draw

First up on the card is an absolute rip-snorter of a match ?— quite possibly one of the most exciting we will see all season. Wildcard and SiNister have just come off hard runs in Pro League, finishing in fourth and fifth respectively.

While it was a fall from grace for the second ANZ representative at Six Invitational 2020, Wildcard have also been working in some new talent in the background. Bolstering their forces with Onyxian’s Jonathan “Gio” Luciana and Kanga’s Patrick “Pat” Wines (formerly Thumbnail), Wildcard will be looking to keep marching on and improving their form as time wears on.

“With Wildcard yet to prove that their new roster can keep them at the top of ANZ, and Sinister off the back of a flawless end to Pro League, any result is possible.”
James “Devmarta” Stewart

SiNister, on the other hand, are on hot form. Their fifth place might not speak volumes, but they were dead last before the SI break. Since then, they’ve dropped one map ?— sweeping the tail end of Pro League, and taking out the LPL Pro Grand Final against LFO 3-1.

With both teams relatively evenly matched heading into Tuesday’s opener, the jury is split. While we know the peaks of Wildcard can make them the best team in ANZ, this new roster must prove themselves to scale to the heights of their pre-SI selves. If they can, then it’ll be a rough day at the office for SiNister.

Elevate vs. LFO

Prediction: Elevate 2-0

Results-based analysis would lead you to believe that Elevate should trounce LFO. After all, Elevate are arguably the best team in Six Masters in the absence of Fnatic, while LFO made it in through the Open Qualifiers.

However, this matchup could still prove to be a worthy fight. LFO did make it through mostly unscathed, dropping one map in their five-match run through the qualifiers, and did make it through to the LPL Pro finals against SiNister.

The former Oddity roster will have the odds stacked against them though when matched against Elevate. While they took a while to find their feet after adding Trent ‘Worthy’ Rose, they pulled back a top-two finish in Pro League Season 11 with clutch map wins over Fnatic and TBD.

While an Elevate win is expected, expect LFO to put up a fight. This is the perfect opportunity for the underdog squad to start making a name for themselves, and really punch their names in  ?— either as a full core or as individuals ?— for a possible appearance in Pro League Season 12.

TBD vs. Kanga

Prediction: TBD 2-0

TBD and Kanga is another game that might seem like a done deal on paper.

Kanga’s roster has struggled since being gutted by various top-table Pro League teams at the end of last season. The loss of Worthy and Thumbnail disrupted the bit of momentum they were building before the SI break, leaving the team floundering at the bottom of the ladder.

TBD, on the other hand, seemingly went from strength to strength. The ex-Mindfreak roster had a shaky start to play, before pulling it back after the break in tight games with Fnatic, Wildcard, and Elevate, cementing their status as a top four team in ANZ Siege.

TBD should take this game comfortably, but with more time with their new roster under their belt, Kanga should look better than they did at the end of Pro League.

Ferox vs. Pittsburgh Knights

Prediction: Split between Knights 2-0 & 1-1 draw

Now, we come to the matchup that has divided the panel the most. Ferox’s return to Rainbow Six with the old Fury roster is one of the biggest moves of the Pro League off-season, while Knights are looking to build off Pro League Season 11 with the same roster.

The new Ferox roster builds on the old Fury roster with a mix of veteran and young blood. While Todd “Todd” Francis has been around the top for years, this Six Masters marks Deptra’s real break into the top flight.

The previous matchup between these two rosters saw Knights walk away with a 7-5, 7-2 win at the tail end of Pro League Season 11. However, we’re yet to see what this new-look Ferox roster can do.

Tips-wise, the panel has been evenly split between a Knights win and a draw. While the Knights have the record against Ferox’s roster, their off-season moves could prove to be the X-factor that elevates this team into the top four of Six Masters.

Six Masters 2020 kicks off on Tuesday, April 28, at 7pm AEST with Wildcard vs SiNister. You can catch the action on the official Rainbow Six channel.

Be sure to follow Snowball Esports on Twitter for all your Six Masters content throughout the season, including tips, analysis, and interviews.

The Six Masters 2020 is kicking off on April 28 with more on the line than ever before, a $50,000 prize pool, and regional bragging rights to boot.

What once started as the FA Cup of Australian Rainbow Six, the Six Masters has now morphed into a title full of prestige and glory.

It’s making its return in 2020 for the third year running ?— and while we might not catch Siege’s biggest stars on stage, it’ll have big repercussions for the state of APAC in the future.

Eight teams will be matching up against each other in a single round-robin format, similar to how Pro League operates. However, this time, there’ll be no draws, with maps going into overtime if need be. $50,000 is on the line, with $15,000 lining the pockets of the winners.

Get excited Operators! The Six Masters is back for 2020! ???

To kick things off, we’re holding an Open Qualifier on April 18th!
Teams can register here ? https://t.co/bePgzZB4rD

More information to come soon – stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/iBa0TH7CFM

— Rainbow 6 ANZ (@Rainbow6ANZ) April 10, 2020

Seven Pro League teams ?— Elevate, TBD, Wildcard, SiNister, Knights, Fury, and Kanga ?— will be looking to lift the title at the end of the season. One Challenger League team, LFO, will also have the chance to make their mark, after qualifying via the Open Bracket on April 19.

“The Six Masters has truly become a flagship national tournament within the global Rainbow Six circuit and I’m incredibly excited to deliver another amazing season in partnership with ESL,” said Shane Bailey, Esports Manager at Ubisoft Australia.

“With Oceanic teams showing even more promise this past Pro League season in combination with our further dedication to Rainbow Six esports in the region, I’m certain this will be the most entertaining season of Six Masters yet.”

• Read more: Snowball partners with Ubisoft for Six Masters 2020

Fnatic is a notable exemption from the lineup for Six Masters. APAC’s perennial champions have just come off yet another Pro League victory in Season 11, however they will not be defending their 2019 title.

Six Masters 2020 will also be the first tournament after the global shift for Pro League Season 12. With leagues across the world moving to LAN events, APAC will be divided into two regions across the coming months.

The upcoming Six Masters will be tied into the new global landscape for Siege esports, with more information to be released at a later date.

The Six Masters kicks off on April 28 at 7pm AEST. Games will be played every Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

For more Six Masters coverage, including match predictions, wrap-ups, and interviews, be sure to stick with Snowball Esports.

The Six Masters is returning soon, and Snowball Esports is proud to be covering one of the pinnacle events on the Rainbow Six ANZ calendar.

Snowball Esports is proud to announce our partnership with Ubisoft Australia for the Six Masters 2020 season, providing in-depth media coverage and analysis for the event across all channels.

The best teams from across the country ?— from Six Invitational veterans to up-and-coming stars ?— will be colliding over a number of weeks to determine who is the best team in Australia.

• Read more: Six Masters 2020 to tie into new Rainbow Six global esports circuit

You’ll find weekly wrap-ups and predictions for the Six Masters, as well as player interviews and more right here on Snowball.

We are excited to keep telling the stories of the ANZ Rainbow Six scene, from grassroots to Pro League. With Pro League Season 11 wrapped up, and the future APAC expansion on the horizon, there’s never been a more exciting time to follow Siege.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on Snowball Esports, as well as the Rainbow 6 ANZ Twitter for all things Six Masters.

Jessica “Jess” Bolden has done it all in Rainbow Six ?— player, coach, and now caster ?— and while she was only ever in Siege for a break from her criminology career, she’s back into the thick of it, and going along wherever it takes her.

Jess never intended on staying in Rainbow Six for long. While she played during the early days of the scene at a top level, she was busy wrapping up her Masters in Criminal Justice and looking at a career in criminology.

Siege, for her, was a chance to learn another language and work in Europe.

“I wanted to learn another language, and I took German as a result,” she said. “I took German in the last semester of my Masters degree on top of my thesis, and the university let me, and then taking the job with Penta kinda spurred on picking German rather than another language.

“I thought ‘yeah great, I’ll work with Penta, I’ll learn the language, live overseas for a while, come back, do my PhD,’ and it’ll just be the same.”

It wasn’t the same. Now, two years later, the criminologist-by-trade has done it all. From player, to coach, and now desk analyst at the Six Invitational ?— her first major casting event ?— Jess is still getting caught up in the rabbit hole of esports.

• Read more: Elevate re-enter Rainbow Six through ANZ, sign former Oddity roster

This time last year though, she was behind a desk of a different kind. She was coaching a new Penta roster at the event, mashing together her analytical skills from her ‘real-life’ profession and her burning passion for Siege.

However, that passion was slowly dwindling in the final days of the Penta roster. The team disappointingly missed out on a spot on main stage in 2019 to APAC’s Nora Rengo, before the team slowly slid down the rankings.

“There was a time in coaching where there was a distinct moment where I lost my passion, and I think that was forced upon me by some players [at Penta] who had already lost their passion,” she said.

Faced with the decision of coming home and returning back to criminology, leaving behind her life in Europe and her Siege career entirely, she instead stuck it out, rekindling her passion with a group of upstarts ready to set the world on fire.

Those upstarts were Italy’s Samsung Morning Stars. Coaching them was like a completely different game, and soon after, she realized why she went and learned German in university ?— even if it didn’t prove to be worth much on the other side of Europe.

“Those young players ?— anything that came out of my mouth was gold for them,” Jess said. “They wanted to take it, they wanted to do it, they didn’t care about how much I criticized them or how much positivity I gave them, they just wanted to be better.

“I took pretty much Tier 4, Tier 3 players up to close to Tier 2 in close to three months. We made PG Finals, and then unfortunately the whole visa issue happened and I went ‘I don’t ever want to go back to what happened at the end of Penta’ and I wanted to hold those really good feelings I had at the end of those three months.”

After being sent home back to Australia, Jess once again came to a crossroads. Does she keep digging further into the rabbit hole of Siege? Or does she take flight from the scene once and for all.

Her choice was made for her though. She was invited out to the Six Invitational as an analyst, where she could share her previous experiences with Penta and Samsung in a broadcast capacity.

“I think I’m predominantly charismatic and I’m pretty well-spoken when I put my mind to it, so I think it’s a really good opportunity to use my critical thinking skills, my high level analysis from coaching and just playing Siege for so long.

“I was a competitive player as well, so I’ve been in every area that you could really be in Siege, so I feel lucky to be able to speak about the game at a super critical level and being confident in doing so. It fits me because I can say what I want without the worry of hurting a player’s feelings.”

She also got to have a look back at the scene she was once a part of in APAC. While coaching in Europe made following along with the Aussies harder, seeing Fnatic, Wildcard, and Giants at the Six Invitational brought a smile to her face.

It gave her the same feeling she had when she got the chance to explore the world through Siege with Penta.

“The globalisation that I felt from Siege has been at ?— both at face value and at intricate levels ?— is incredible,” she said.

“I’ve flown around the world in eight months, I’ve been to all different continents, all different countries and cities, and I’ve learned culture that I would have never learned otherwise.”

However, her analytical side also took over. APAC has always been in a rough spot on the international stage, and the tides don’t look like changing just yet. While the region is always touted as underdogs at major international events, year on year, skeptics are proven right.

“I think APAC unfortunately ?— I always felt this after being a part of it as a competitive player and then from the outside looking in ?— is that everyone underestimates the capacity of APAC as whole. Not just ANZ, but the other regions as a whole. Unfortunately, statistically, they’re not wrong. On the numbers, on paper, they are the weaker region and they have been for a while.

“Fnatic has allowed us to skew the results in our favour a little bit further, but I also just feel that we don’t have the support staff and capability ?— the simple things that you’d need to be a high calibre team ?— is not provided in any other team aside from Fnatic at the moment, and that’s why they themselves have come so far.”

With the Six Invitational over, Jess has once again got to make that decision between her passion and her profession.

“I have two options essentially. I either dig as far as this rabbit hole will let me dig and it’ll probably pop me out at the other side of the world if I keep going at the rate I’m going, or I stop it completely, cover up the hole, and just remove myself from this scene 100% otherwise I won’t thrive in my area of my industry if I have one foot in each door.

“I have a visa meeting coming up, so I’ll move back to Italy for 12 months, it’s easy to travel there, everything’s accessible, stream from home.

“My partner lives in Italy as well so it’s easier for me and her, so if I get some good offers, and they sound like they’re coming up, then I might be stuck here for a lot longer than I planned ?— stuck in a good way.”

Passion won out again, and Jess wouldn’t have it any other way.

You can follow Jess on Twitter.

From North America, to Latin America, and now Australia, Elevate becomes the fifth international organisation to sign a Rainbow Six squad in the region, picking up the ex-Oddity Esports roster.

The North American organisation announced the move on March 5, just two weeks after ditching their Latin American roster.

“The opportunity to sign a top roster in the ANZ region and potentially APAC representative on the world stage was one that we could not pass up,” said Justin Tan and Brandon Hatfield, the owners of Elevate.

“With this roster, we hope to grow and help them reach the potential that we know that they are capable of,” they told Snowball Esports.

The new Elevate roster has already shown their potential in the Rainbow Six Pro League in Season 11. They currently sit in second on the standings with six maps to play, only one point behind ladder leaders Fnatic.

BOOM. IT’S A HUGE 3K FOR @Vast_R6! ?? #R6PL

?https://t.co/Fl2ghZOVAc pic.twitter.com/VfdEm0YjK0

— ESL Rainbow Six (@ESLRainbowSix) January 16, 2020

The roster has come tantalizingly close to spots at the APAC Pro League finals, and with this new organisational backing, they hope to finally break through on the world stage.

“With the team barely missing out on APAC Finals last season, we know that they are on track to make it this season and be one of the representatives for APAC in the Pro League finals,” said Tan and Hatfield.

“Although we are in a good spot, we are definitely not comfortable with where we are sitting so we still have a lot of work to do,” added team captain Isaiah “Vast” Patterson.

“We have to get more results and the backing that Elevate has provided us has been a huge motivational boost with addition of relieving some stress.”

The team has their sights set high though ?— just making it international isn’t enough. They want to cement themselves at the top of ANZ, APAC, and global Rainbow Six for the years to come.

• Read more: Magnet, Dizzle, and Fnatic going from APAC top dog to global underdog

“We want to be the best ANZ team however long it takes and we want to be at LAN events frequently,” Vast said.

While the team received offers locally, they decided Elevate was the best fit for their goals, and the North American organisation is looking to show their commitment to the scene from across the Atlantic.

We did receive quite a few offers from various orgs during this mid-season break, some offers were very similar,” said Vast. “The team gravitated towards Elevate after our initial conversations for a number of reasons.”

“Elevate is an international organization that is always looking to field the best talent in the games that we enter,” added Tan and Hatfield. “If there is an opportunity to support more ANZ esports, you can be assured that we will be looking into it.”

On top of the organizational support, Elevate has made a slight roster change during the transition to their new team. Jonathan “Gio” Lanciana has departed the squad, with Kanga’s Patrick “Worthy” Gleeson filling the vacancy.

Elevate’s roster is as follows:

• Raine “DgTl” Wright
• Luke “Redd” Cini
• Isaiah “Vast” Patterson
• Jake “GodLeg1on” Harris
• Patrick “Worthy” Gleeson

Elevate’s roster will play their first game under their new banner against Six Invtiational 2020 attendees Wildcard Gaming on March 19 at 7pm AEDT. You can catch the action live on the Rainbow Six Twitch channel.

Follow Elevate on Twitter.

Fnatic always manage to surprise the world when they make it to main stage every Six Invitational, but for Etienne “Magnet” Rousseau and Jayden “Dizzle” Saunders, anything less would be considered a failure.

It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone now. Fnatic have made it to the main stage at every Six Invitational ?— one of the only teams in the world to do so ?— every year climbing through a harder bracket than the year gone by.

Everyone thought they’d fall to Team Liquid in 2018. Pundits only gave them a 0.7% chance of making it through 2019’s group of death. Similar odds were on the line for 2020, especially given they were up against Raleigh Major winners Team Empire right off the bat, and had a finals run that included two-time world champions G2 Esports.

However, APAC top dogs pulled through to once again hit their benchmark of playing on main stage in the top six of the Six Invitational in 2020. Magnet and Dizzle have been there the whole way through ?— well, almost. Dizzle has been at all four, while Magnet missed out in 2017.

“You know, he queue dodges me in ranked,” said Dizzle, laughing at the prospect of even being considered better than Magnet. “He missed the first one on Xbox. It would have been nice to have him in hindsight, but wisdom and hindsight are only good after you need them.”

Wisdom and hindsight are only good after you need them. That’s something teams like Empire, FaZe, and G2 learned on their run through the Six Invitational 2020 ?— don’t sleep on Fnatic. Every year, the APAC squad manages to show even on game day in Montreal, even if it takes them a few tries to get there in the first place.

“People on a brief, high-level overview, will be like ‘well you’re APAC, of course you’ll get easy runs on the qualifier on the way to the Six Invitational,’ and for the first year on Xbox, the main stage was given to everyone,” said Dizzle.

“This year, we had Darkzero, Faze, Empire, so in terms we’ve made main stage, and what we’ve had to do to get there, it’s a pretty significant achievement to follow the journey and being like ?— coming out of the group, as an APAC team, for a couple of years in a row, it’s a really big achievement for these guys.”

“At the same time, people now expect us to make it onto main stage, but we shouldn’t be.”
Dizzle

The goal for Fnatic is never lower than being able to play in front of their fans in Montreal, however, on the stats alone, it should be almost impossible. They herald from the weakest, most isolated region in the world, and rarely get the same opportunities as the top dogs in North America and Europe. But somehow, they manage to pull out something magical.

“Technically an APAC team shouldn’t be doing all of this and getting to main stage every single time against these other strong regions and teams,” said Magnet.

“Looking at the analytics and the quantifiable data, we shouldn’t have the performances we do, but for ourselves that’s the base level of expectation of what we should be achieving,” added Dizzle.

“We’re not coming here to not make it out of groups, and while for some it might not seem overly ambitious to make it out of groups, considering the region we’re from, and the groups that we’re given, getting out of groups is often the first hurdle.”

They managed to overcome that hurdle after running it through the lower bracket to upset tournament favourites Team Empire to qualify for groups, before being matched up against defending world champions G2 Esports in their initial quarter final draw.

The daunting task of topping Pengu and company didn’t stop Fnatic though, as they swept through the reigning champions to book a semi finals berth against Team SoloMid. While they didn’t progress much further than that, bowing out to BDS Esport in 5-6th, it didn’t hit the team as hard as 2019’s loss against Nora Rengo.

“Obviously it really sucks to lose, especially given how well they played, but it’s more frustration at ourselves that we didn’t play at the same level as we did against Faze, Empire, G2,” said Magnet.

That doesn’t mean they had a losers mentality though. The perennial underdogs of the Six Invitational had a new fire in their belly with Tex “Tex” Thompson and Patrick “MentalistC” Fan in their line-up, and their ever-so-slightly-jaded view of playing on stage helped the team push forward.

“Even before the game [against BDS], Mentalist was like ‘guys, I’m going to sound really cheesy and cringe but I’m proud of what we’ve done so far in this tournament, and if we go out here aw well,’” laughed Magnet. “I think that sums it up.”

“We had the conversation a few times while getting seated and prepped for matches ?— we’re used to having everything on the line, we’ve come out of groups in elimination matches,” added Dizzle.

“We’re in that mindset that when teams come into matches against us, we’re happy to come out swinging and they’re very much like ‘oh shit guys, if we lose we’re going home.’ We have the same mindset of ‘if you guys lose to us, you’re going home.’

“I think we’re happy to play in those situations.”

The team’s newest recruits have done a good job meshing into a new structure in such a short time. The jump from your run-of-the-mill Pro League team to Fnatic is extraordinary, but they’ve shown the signs of improving that has the team hopeful of being not just underdogs, but contenders for future international events.

“Both Tex and Mentalist are very young players which for me is super promising,” said Dizzle. “They both have exceptionally good game sense for their age. They’re both very talented players. Their mentality ?— especially Tex ?— is really strong. His focus, his understanding of the theory of the game is really sound.

“Mentalist is an absolute prodigy from the APAC region, he’s been known in the region since he was like 15, so he was someone I was really excited to work with. He still have a bit of maturing to do as a person and a player, but you’ve already seen the foundation that he has, so I’m super excited to work with him even further.”

For a team with 2 new members I’m proud of the run we made through the legendary teams FaZe, Empire and G2

We made historic memories, gained valuable experience & played main stage but it isn’t enough

We have a young team full of potential

We can be better
We must be#forAPAC

— Jayden Saunders – Dizzle ? FNATIC (@DizzlewithaJ) February 14, 2020

In-game, for Magnet, it’s even better. He feels more freed up to do his own thing, rather than trying to micromanage a team from a leadership perspective. Given the current meta of Siege, this extra bit of free thinking allows him to truly focus on his own game and help Fnatic hit the next level.

“From an IGL standpoint, they just do so well on their own in-game that I can kind of sit back and focus on my own job more. In the past I’ve had to really micromanage the team, but Mentalist has been a real leader in the game and called things that make everyone’s job easier.”

While they “didn’t think [they] would gel as well as [they] have” before the Invitational, according to Dizzle, there’s still a long way to finally hit their peak.

“I think we were [playing] around 70-80% [at the Six Invitational],” said Dizzle. “The biggest thing is keeping the consistency, and that comes from the practice environment. Being that consistent comes from consistent practice and discipline ?— the one percenters ?— and that mostly comes with time.

“We played some average games against TSM and BDS and they played a very similar playstyle to each other, so we played very well for our group and our tournament, but we were a bit found out against different playstyles.”

However, as Fnatic heads back to play in Pro League, it’s going to become harder to keep the quality of practice up. Getting the three weeks in London before the Invitational was good, but trying to keep that same level up against local teams is more difficult.

“It’s a constant game of catch-up. As we go home, we’ve had decent results, they’re all going to make the changes and the preparation for the next step while we have to go back to our practice regime,” said Dizzle.

But, as the Six Invitational blends into history, there’s a very likely chance people will forget about Fnatic’s performance and start underrating them again. They’re not relying on being the underdogs always ?— and the best way to do that is to try and elevate APAC Siege to a new level.

“We want to lay the foundations for APAC to start investing and supporting itself to become a stronger region so that it’ll enable APAC to compete globally and allow us to become stronger through APAC instead of relying on bootcamping in other regions,” said Dizzle.

Magnet’s goals were set at a much more personal level: “I want to make it to every Major.”

And if Fnatic can keep up their Six Invitational form, making every major might be setting the bar a bit low.

Fnatic continue their Pro League Season 11 run against the former Mindfreak lineup at 9pm AEDT on March 23. You can catch the action on the Rainbow Six Twitch channel.

You can follow Dizzle, Magnet, and Fnatic on Twitter.

Header image credit: Peter Chau for Ubisoft

Glen “Lunarmetal” Suryasaputra has grown a lot as a player, and as a leader, since his last appearance at the Six Invitational back in 2017. Leading Giants Gaming to the major international event was one achievement, but now, the rest of South East Asia is hot on their tails.

Walking around the Place Bell in 2020 had a different feeling for Lunarmetal. While he wasn’t able to play on stage like Asia-Pacific compatriots Fnatic, he felt more accomplished about himself than when he came over as a spectator in 2019.

Giants Gaming (previously Aerowolf) have always been on the cusp of major international events, only to be gate kept by teams like Nora Rengo, Fnatic, and Mantis FPS (now Cloud9). However, this time, they broke through, with an emphatic Pro League Season 10 run that saw them make it to the semi-finals for the first time in their history.

Only Lunarmetal and teammate Adrian “Ysaera” Wui were here three years ago as players, and while it’s not their first time, it may as well be.

“It’s my second Invitational — but it’s been such a long time that it may as well have been our first,” he said. “We finally were able to put names to faces and we went into this with certain expectations, and I can’t say that we really met them, but it’s been a very huge lesson so far.”

The lessons Giants learned in Montreal were hard taught. The South East Asian squad were knocked out without winning a map, losing to Latin America’s MIBR and Team Liquid. However, even through the losses, the team came out with invaluable experience, and a wake up call.

“The way we’ve been playing is very sheltered,” said Lunarmetal. “What works in APAC doesn’t work at a higher level ?— not to a consistent enough level that we can keep using the same strats.

“I think this is the first event where technically we’ve been very far behind from other teams and felt it, so it’s been a huge learning curve for us.”

Against the bigger dogs of Latin America, and even in scrims against European and North American teams at the event, the Giants weren’t pulling the results they were hoping for. The APAC style of Siege doesn’t hold up at the top level when the best teams make few mistakes.

“I’m going to use EU and NA teams as an example, but their playstyle is a lot more structured in a way like they rely on a lot more ‘functional’ stuff. Things like good droning, good trading, positioning, crossfires ?— it comes very naturally to them, but it’s not something that’s very established in APAC.

“Our playstyle revolves around taking advantage of those openings they give and exploiting openings, but against a team with so much structure, there’s less to exploit, which makes us play a lot worse.”

Now that we saw @fnatic tear shit up at SI.

Can we have a double elim at the next APAC lan? Don’t really feel like getting knocked out by them for the 8th time.

Thanks in advance @ESLRainbowSix

— Lunarmetal (@lunarmetal) February 12, 2020

Giants Gaming were behind the eight-ball from the start though. After losing star fragger Patrick “MentalistC” Tan to Fnatic after the Pro League Season 10 finals, they were forced to scramble together a replacement for the team.

Although his long-time teammate was on the other side of the field for the first time, Lunarmetal couldn’t help but feel proud of how far Mentalist has come.

“I’ve known him since he was 15,” he said, laughing. “I felt proud of him before seeing him on stage ?— the moment that I heard about the offer from Fnatic ?— I was very happy for it. We get a lot of questions about ‘do you feel jealous? Do you feel bitter that he left the moment we started doing well?’ but honestly, if that offer came to any of us, anyone would have taken it.

“The prospect is so good to join a team of the same calibre as Fnatic, and for someone that I’ve known for such a long time, I’m just so happy for him. It might be hard to understand, but there’s no bitter feelings.”

However, there’s one aching regret for Lunarmetal. Seeing how far his old teammate has gone under new guidance has made him reflect on how he’s helping his own region grow.

“The only thing was, with him moving to Fnatic, the world really saw his potential, and my part, as kind of a leader, there’s still so much I can do in coaching and nurturing and bringing the best out of players.

“He’s doing a lot better with Fnatic than he was doing with us, so it’s more of a case of I have to work harder to bring up new talent to let them shine.”

South East Asia is starting to permeate the talent for Lunarmetal, and other leaders in wider APAC Siege, to build a solid base for the region to grow. From the likes of Xavier almost beating Fnatic to make it to SI, to even new Giants recruit Jordan “Jrdn” Cheng, SEA Siege is just getting started.

“SEA really has a lot of potential,” he said. “I say that every season ?— that SEA is improving as a region ?— but I really mean it. You’ve started to see a lot of teams catching up on structure, on strats.

“You go back one year, and you see SEA teams and they don’t really know what they’re doing. You look now, and they have structure, they have support, they have live drone entry, they’re starting to pick up on a lot of things that the best teams in EU and NA are doing.”

“Right now, Jrdn is in his third month [with us], and he’s already starting to show a lot of signs of improvement, so I’m expecting him in the next couple of months to reach Mentalist’s level, or even further.”

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword for Lunarmetal. Although seeing his region improve is always heartening, it means that he’s working harder than ever to maintain his spot at the top. However, there’s still a long way before SEA teams can start to learn off the lessons they got at SI.

“I’m a bit scared, to put it that way. We definitely won’t be able to keep our top position in SEA very easily, but I still think SEA teams need a lot more structure.

“I talk about how Giants lack in structure, but all the other teams are even further behind. They need structure, they need good leaders to put them in the right direction.”

• Read more: Wildcard gearing up for 2020 marathon after Six Invitational “miracle run”

Once the fundamentals are in place though, Lunarmetal is sure the trickle-down will start helping out the rest of the region, and his job as a leader for not just Giants, but SEA Siege as a whole, will be more crucial than ever.

“I know a lot of people, looking up to us, they really try to emulate the way we play,” he said. “When you try and force a strat too early that you aren’t ready for on a mechanical level, they need to work on fundamentals first. Even more so than us.

“After those fundamentals are done ?— like they know how to drone, they know how to establish crossfire, good positioning, take objectives, then they can start emulating a lot around the way we play, and even other teams like Fnatic.”

While he bears the burden of an entire region on his shoulders, his focus is on his team at all times. Hitting the Invitational was their goal, and they achieved that. However, they aren’t getting complacent, and they’re aiming even higher this year.

“Moving forward, we’re not happy with the way things are. We want to qualify for the next SI for sure, but we also want to be number one in APAC again. I know right now we kind of have the title, but we are not on the same level of Fnatic as of SI.

“Personally, I need to do less so the team can do more. It sounds weird, but I’m the type of guy who tries to do everything himself, but it’s really not working out. It’s an easy enough goal to accomplish, but it’s still something that I have to look out for.”

Lunarmetal and his Giants Gaming squad return to Rainbow Six Season 11 Pro League against QConfirm on March 24 at 10pm AEDT. You can catch the action on the Rainbow 6 SEA Twitch channel.

You can follow Lunarmetal and Giants on Twitter.

Header image credit: Joao Ferreira for Ubisoft

It was the Christmas of 2015 when Wildcard support player Kyle “Diesel” Renton got his hands on Rainbow Six: Siege for the first time.

He had dabbled in most games casually— the Call of Duty’s, the Battlefield’s, whatever filled the void on console.

The things he’d say to his 15-year-old self now, after playing on Siege’s biggest stage in Montreal, would have him short for words.

“I got a shot with Taboo in Pro League to get some experience and then I was talking with Ethan and got picked up with Orgless,” he said, candidly looking back.

“I knew I could definitely give comp Siege a go and perhaps do well in it, but I never saw myself ever playing the game that I got for Christmas as a kid and going to the biggest event possible.”

That entire mindset applies to the whole of the Wildcard roster, who qualified for the Six Invitational after a self-described “miracle run” got them to the Pro League Season 10 finals.

Given the fact they thought they’d overperformed to get to Montreal in the first place, you’d think they’d just be glad to play. However, after being handed two heavy losses early in the group stage to bow out of the Six Invitational in last place, it only sparked a deep, burning hunger for both Diesel and coach Barry “Fluxx” Sukesh.

“It was disappointing coming into the event in the way the team is right now but in saying that, it’s also made us realise how difficult it was to get here and how the experience was worth the struggle,” the support player said.

“Knowing that we get to compete amongst these teams and it’s really achievable, and it’s made us hungrier and wanting to make the changes so that we make it back here in 2021.”

Just from the 10 days the team had over in Montreal for their bootcamp and their match days, they learned a wealth of knowledge that a year of Siege back home could never provide.

“Scrimming these teams and learning about the positive and implementing that in our game is very rewarding,” said Fluxx. “That learning factor is you don’t get back home ?— you’re always learning something new, and that’s amazing.”

• Read more: Fnatic’s fresh blood ready to set Montreal alight at Six Invitational

However, just making it here was never the goal or intention. They were ready to make their mark for APAC, but internal issues have plagued the team for months ?— well before their Season 10 Pro League finals run. It had the Wildcard players surprised at how everything just seemingly panned out in their favour.

“It’s a lot of communication issues and a bit of individual decision making and I think that really clouds people’s judgment when you make the wrong decision,” said Fluxx. “It causes a snowball effect where you are always being doubtful and skeptical of each other. We started to lose confidence in ourselves.”

“We’ve had these issues for a long time though,” Diesel added. “It’s just people haven’t seen it that way because we’ve managed to qualify for these big events.

“We shouldn’t have made [the Season 10] APAC Finals, and then we had a favourable draw against Xavier Esports and Cyclops Athlete Gaming and we just managed to pull out a couple of miracle wins.

“We also pulled out a good showing against Na`Vi but our team’s had these problems for a while ?— it was just never exploited by weaker opposition back home.”

However, while they felt a bit out of place in Montreal, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t deserve to be there.

“The main thing is we need to re-evaluate on our last few months, see where we went wrong, and just review it because we know our potential as a team and as individuals, we just need to make the right changes,” said Fluxx.

“You can have as much individual talent as you want, but if you don’t have a team that has good macro understanding and good strategy, you’re not going to be able to compete with others at the Six Invitational,” added Diesel.

“The way the game works now is that all five people need to be both strategically and individually sound. There’s an expectation that you need to meet, but if you look back a few years, Siege revolved around having that one main IGL and four people who followed their orders, and having set strats. The game’s changed so much, and having that flexibility is key.”

We are out of the tournament, GG’s to the boys @TeamReciprocity sorry we couldn’t have made it more competitive. All the best in your next match ??

Extremely disappointing we had to come into an event like this with the position the team is in, this is not our full potential.

— Diesel (@DieselR6S) February 9, 2020

After a rough finish to their Six Invitational run, and an even rougher start to their Pro League Season 11 campaign, Wildcard are taking their time in getting back up to scratch. They are willing to put in the hard yards and the long hours, and success won’t be reaped in days.

Their end goal is just as lofty as their wildest expectations were for 2019 ?— reach the Six Invitational, and prove that APAC is not just a one-team region.

“[Our goal is to get] back to the top,” said Fluxx. “It’s doable. We know exactly what we need to do, what issues to address, what to work on. We have a month until Pro League so re-coup and work on this and get back to where we were.”

“I’m not sure about a resurgence this season because the odds aren’t in our favour, but we are playing it for the long term. We want to make sure that we make the right decisions and play the long game.”

“I don’t really care about the short term goals making back to APAC LAN [for Season 11],” added Diesel, “but if we do, it’ll be a byproduct of us trying to improve the team again. I just want the team to be back on the right track to make the Six Invitational in 2021.”

Rainbow Six ANZ Pro League Season 11 returns on March 18, when Wildcard take on the former Mindfreak roster at 9pm AEDT.

You can follow Wildcard, Fluxx, and Diesel on Twitter.

Header image credit: Joao Ferreira for Ubisoft

After a shaky end to 2019, ANZ’s Rainbow Six powerhouse Fnatic brought in some fresh blood in Aerowolf’s Patrick ‘MentalistC’ Fan and Sinister’s Tex ‘Tex’ Thompson.

The roster move came as a surprise to some, and an even bigger surprise to the two players expected to fill the shoes of Ethan ‘RizRaz’ Wombwell and Ryan ‘Speca’ Ausden.

Aerowolf had just come off the back of a legacy-making run at the Season 10 Pro League finals in Tokoname, Japan. They took down European squad Giants Gaming to make the top four in their first ever appearance at an international LAN.

However, it was expected to be MentalistC’s last appearance as a pro. The Siege veteran had finally qualified for the event he had been chasing for his entire career, but his studies back home in Singapore were starting to nip him on the heels.

“I was surprised when Fnatic made the offer to me, especially since I was distraught over the fact that I might have to quit R6 for my studies in Singapore,” he said.

Sinister, on the other hand, had just struggled to keep their heads afloat in Pro League. A sixth-place finish in ANZ with only two wins had Tex teetering pixels from relegation.

However, the two players’ paths converged at the perfect time, ready to help weather the storm for a struggling Fnatic. The team synonymous with Rainbow Six in not only Australia but the wider APAC region failed to qualify for the Season 10 finals, with bridesmaid Wildcard getting their time in the spotlight for once.

“While I only had an outside perspective during their period of ‘mixed results,’ I can confidently say that now, with the new roster, the boys and I can rebuild and exceed the former glory that they held.”
Tex ‘Tex’ Thompson

The new Fnatic rolled through the ANZ qualifiers for the Six Invitational, before demolishing Cloud9 and Xavier at the APAC finals to qualify for the event in Montreal in February. The team were starting to look like the Fnatic Australia fell in love with four years ago back in the Mindfreak days, and that was partly thanks to the fresh blood.

“We were really excited to qualify for the Invitational after prior setbacks at the Season 10 finals, and also felt relieved that we made it without too much trouble,” said MentalistC.

It wasn’t without its hiccups though. They were pushed to the edge by the SEA young guns on Consulate, almost blowing a 5-2 lead and their chance at becoming one of a few rosters to qualify for every Six Invitational.

“Xavier’s comeback from the 5-2 scoreline had everyone pretty tense,” said Tex. “We had anticipated the playstyle from Xavier, although once they started to pick up the pace on their Consulate attacks we weren’t able to win our heads-up gun fights.”

“We underestimated the effectiveness of [their ultra-aggression],” added MentalistC. “Their playstyle worked based on some of our weaknesses which we will look to address before the Invitational.”

Two more in Black & Orange. ??@MentalistC_ already went global, now he’s here. When we heard he may be forced to retire, we couldn’t let him go. His journey isn’t over; it’s just started.@TexR6_, formerly known as Copper, arrives having recently played for @TeamSiNisterGG. pic.twitter.com/DJ7QtVdzgg

— FNATIC (@FNATIC) November 29, 2019

Qualifying for the Six Invitational is only the first step for Fnatic’s new faces in trying to prove themselves in the region. With Season 11 Pro League finals firmly in their sights, and a chance to try and upset the world’s best in Montreal around the corner, the pressure is ramping up.

However, the duo remain unphased through it all. After all, they’ve been through it before with their previous teams.

“There will always be a pressure to perform and be as consistent as possible but I wouldn’t be here and come this far if I couldn’t handle it,” said Tex. “Still being quite young, I feel I have matured quickly and understand what it takes to be a professional player in a team environment, so I feel I was ready for the opportunity.”

“I didn’t put too much pressure on myself,” added MentalistC. “I knew that I am a very different player from RizRaz and Speca and my strength is what Fnatic wished to incorporate.”

“I never compared myself to them. I stick to what I know I do best.”
Patrick ‘MentalistC’ Fan

Nevertheless, for MentalistC especially, it was hard to let go of the past. The bonds he built with the Singaporean roster were, and still are, unbreakable. While joining Fnatic was a no-brainer to continue his illustrious career, jumping into a new environment is daunting.

“It was both very difficult and easy [choosing to join Fnatic],” he said. “It was easy because it’s a great opportunity that every ambitious Siege player would dream of, but at the same time it was hard knowing I’d have to leave the people I have spent four years playing with.”

The team has two goals in Montreal. Prove to themselves that they can once again cement Fnatic’s place at the top of APAC Rainbow Six, and gun for the title so many doubters have written an APAC team off for.

“Initially the power difference between APAC and other regions was huge due to the gap in knowledge and meta,” said MentalistC. “But as the years go by and the competitive scene in APAC starts to grow, the gap in knowledge is pretty much gone.”

“I just look forward to being on stage in front of all the fans and having some really competitive games for us to prove ourselves with,” Tex added. “I’ve been watching pro CS:GO, League, and Dota for so long and it’s going to be a lot of fun to be on the other side of the monitor and create a legacy.”

There’s very little doubt in their minds as to who can take the title. While eyes are on the likes of Empire and Team SoloMid heading into the big event, there’s only one place Tex, MentalistC, and Fnatic want fans to look.

“Us.”

The Six Invitational starts on February 7, with Fnatic joining fellow Australian team Wildcard in Montreal. You can catch the action on the Rainbow 6 Twitch channel.

You can follow Tex, MentalistC, and Fnatic on Twitter.

Header image credit: ESL

As we close out the decade it’s time for our yearly wrap, and a look back at what we accomplished this year.

In 2019, we went through some major growth at Snowball in a couple of areas. At the beginning of the year, San Hoang and Chelsea Moss became the first content producers outside of myself on the team since Snowball began. Having them on board allowed us to maintain the same quality while continuing to pump out more content, especially during the OPL splits.

We hit up IEM Sydney, the Melbourne Esports Open and PAX Australia this year, and brought our flavour of coverage to those events.

In September, we announced that Snowball will partner with META High School Esports next year. We’re really excited to work with Nigel Smart, Woody Wu and the rest of the team on this for their 2020 season, providing high quality content and regular coverage.

I took a different approach with my year in review, going month to month and picking some key pieces from each to give you some insight into our year.

January

OPL

Presenting Snowball’s Scuffed OPL Tips!

by Josh Swift

January 17, 2019

The likes of Andrew Wray and numerous others try and cheekily convince me to take on ridiculous time consuming projects all the time. After finding out there would be no tipping system for OPL like in 2018, we’d had discussions about trying to fill that gap and do something via Snowball but ultimately decided it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort to set up and maintain a competition.

We now know how weak-willed I can be when the community yearns for something. I ended up building an entire tipping league just days before the OPL returned in January. Over 200 OPL fans participated in the competition during the Split 1 regular season and some won some great RP prizes courtesy of Riot.

February

CS:GO

ARTeMis and refreshed lineup lay Carnage across WESG and IEM Qualifiers

by Reece Perry

February 8, 2019

A great feature from Reece Perry on Jessica “ARTeMis” Majrouh and Carnage after their efforts at the WESG qualifier in Perth. This piece was also produced by one of our talented new additions at the start of this year in Chelsea Moss.

March

OPL

An impossible Dream – How Ronan Swingler made it to the OPL

by Ellis Longhurst

March 22, 2019

I am intensely proud of this piece from Ellis Longhurst. Ronan’s story is one that resonated with League of Legends fans both here and overseas, and is one of the most viewed Snowball pieces of all time. Ellis took a unique approach composing this story as if it were to become a six-part Netflix series, it’s an intensely inspiring read.

Also during March was the OPL playoffs for Split 1, which marked the return of Snowball’s Gauntlet Run series, kicked off by Harry Taylor.

April

OPL

‘The stars aligned for us’: Order forge OPL history with 9-1 miracle gauntlet run

by Isaac McIntyre

April 2, 2019

I’m fairly sure this is the longest OPL recap of all time from Isaac McIntyre, and with good reason. It tells the tale of Order’s run through the OPL gauntlet, after barely scraping into the playoffs and taking down each team against all predictions on their path to the final.

Also worth noting in April was an interview ahead of the Mid-Season Invitational with Bombers coach Westonway which garnered international attention as people looked to find out more about the oceanic representatives, and announcing our IEM Sydney coverage, with the intent to bring a team to the event for the first time in Snowball’s history.

May

IEM Sydney 2019

IEM Sydney: Celebrating a Legacy

by Ash Whyte

May 31, 2019

Along with a myriad of written and video interviews with CS:GO’s biggest names, we had one of our newest writers Ashley Whyte put together a great feature on IEM Sydney, and the legacy that it’s created in our region after we talked with Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz.

As part of our IEM Sydney coverage, the popular Survival Guides made a return, this time with Sydney local Bernadette Wong at the helm.

June

OPL

FBI becomes first Australian in the LCS system: ‘It’s what I’ve always dreamed about’

by Isaac McIntyre

June 6, 2019

After a stellar split in the OPL, Victor “FBI” Huang became the first Australian to make the journey to North America following in the footsteps of New Zealand’s Lawrence “Lost” Hui as told by Isaac McIntyre.

Other notable pieces from June include Emma van der Brug putting a spotlight on the Girl Gamer Festival coming to Sydney, a foray for us into Hearthstone with Legacy signing Grandmasters star FroStee, and the acquisition of the Chiefs Esports Club by ICON.

July

CS:GO

Global Offensive & The Importance of Grassroots in Australia – BrisVegas LAN Preview

by Ash Whyte

July 3, 2019

Building up grassroots esports in Oceania has always been a focus for us at Snowball, so when Ashley Whyte pitched a feature on the latest BrisVegas LAN in July and why it’s important to have these kinds of events, it was a no-brainer.

August

OPL

‘Nothing else matters’: Chiefs eye return to the top – OPL Final Preview

August 31, 2019

OPL

Can Mammoth deliver on the superteam promise? – OPL Final Preview

August 31, 2019

The Melbourne Esports Open was Snowball’s biggest event by far of 2018, and this year was no different. Armed with a team of 7 at Melbourne Olympic Park, we worked to bring high quality coverage to as much of the event as we could.

I’ve spotlighted the two OPL final previews, on Chiefs and Mammoth, because it marks something really important to myself, and the wider management of Snowball. These pieces show more than most the growth in both Harry Taylor and Emma van der Brug. Both of them were added as community panelists for Snowball’s OPL Power Rankings in Split 2 of 2018.

These features are a testament to their hard work and dedication to growing themselves, and I’m intensely proud of that. Pair that with some stellar creative work from producer San Hoang and you have some bar-setting content.

September

MEO 2019

Yuki: A decade in esports

by Andrew Amos

September 16, 2019

Although we capped off MEO coverage in early September, also with the unfortunate debut of Roaming Wray, this feature from Andrew Amos on James “Yuki” Stanton is my highlight for September. It’s not often you see players have careers spanning this long, and it’s even rarer when they span as many titles as Yuki has, and Ducky did an excellent job bringing this story to life.

Also at the tail end of September, Go Next Media was announced to the world.

October

Interviews

Raid: The five thousand mile pilgrimage

by Andrew Amos

October 30, 2019

I believe this feature is the crown jewel of Snowball’s 2019. It was an absolute pleasure to produce, and was a complete product of circumstance. Andrew Amos was in Korea to cover the Overwatch Contenders Gauntlet right in the middle of Raid’s stay in Busan.

This is the calibre of content we strive for. You don’t often see this kind of unbridled view from retired esports pros in Oceania, and I can’t thank Julian enough for sharing his story with us.

Another notable mention from October was our PAX Australia content, my personal favourite of which was Ellis Longhurst’s look at the Mortal Kombat tournament finals.

November

CS:GO

[Updated] Australian CS:GO divided over scheduling controversy: The full story

by Andrew Amos

November 5, 2019

In one of the most worked-on investigative pieces in Snowball’s history, Andrew Amos with the help of Isaac McIntyre and myself aimed to tell the full story of the scheduling controversy between multiple Oceanic orgs and ESL Australia.

It’s a story we didn’t take lightly, and took the time to make sure we reported the facts of the situation after obtaining full email transcripts between the teams and various other parties.

Other notable pieces from November include my report on the Essendon Bombers leaving esports and selling their OPL slot to Pentanet.GG, Ellis Longhurst’s visit to the Red Bull Fight or Flight PUBG event in Sydney, and Kevin Walker’s Snowball debut with pieces exploring Overwatch 2 and its impact on competitive and a chat with New Zealand’s Overwatch World Cup team.

December

League of Legends

Triple joins FlyQuest Academy ahead of 2020 season: “Australian, American, Korean, I have to beat them all now”

by Isaac McIntyre

December 12, 2019

I love this feature from Isaac McIntyre, and it’s a good one to grasp the scale of the offseason oceanic League of Legends has had. We’ll have a piece recapping every move of the ‘OCE exodus’ as its been dubbed in the new year, but his chat with Stephen for this piece shows how dedicated these pros are, and I’m super happy to see so many of them head overseas next year.

Andrew Amos put in some work on the Australian Overwatch offseason this month, announcing the Sydney Drop Bears new roster and telling the story of a new super team being built on our shores.