When viewers think of LATAM, they usually remember Liquid’s win in Atlantic City back in Season 7, Ninjas in Pyjamas’ second place at the 2020 Six Invitational, or even PENTA’s loss against Black Dragons in Sao Paulo. Despite those memorable moments, though, LATAM has not been able to translate them to a great quantity of international trophies.
However, everything on the international stage when it comes to LATAM Siege has been dominated by the Brazilians. Mexican and South American rosters have never played outside the continent and their only appearances have been seen whether in national events or in online qualifiers where Brazilian sides usually did not find going too tough.
The truth is that since the creation of the Mexicano and the Sudamericano, both regions have had the tools to evolve in a great national ecosystem with important organizations backing the rosters. Estral’s great performance at the LATAM SI Qualifiers is the best example, as the Mexican side knocked out INTZ and put FURIA in a very difficult situation.
Now, with the introduction of the Elite Six Cup, both sub-regions will try to show the Brazilians that the difference has finally been cut down. In this article we will focus on the two Mexican representatives, Fenix Esports and Atheris.
Fenix Esports
Roster: XigmaZ, Morphed, P1XIE, Luxor, BOPE.
Fenix Esports' roster (via @R6EsportsLATAM)
Fenix may be an unknown organization, but we cannot say the same of the players. The team is the union of five of the most skilled players in the Mexican nation. Fenix eventually secured first place in Stage 1 after defeating Atheris in the very first round, also crowning them as the only unbeaten side in the league.
The Fenix’s duo of Saúl “Morphed” Torres and Arturo “Xigmaz” Vizcarra has been pivotal to their success so far. They are the two leaders in the stat sheets, especially in crucial games against Overknight and MeT. The ex-Timbers player of Morphed ended with a combined amount of 33 kills in those two games, despite playing in a flex role, which was over half of his total kills in Stage 1 (64).
A big reason behind his and the team’s success in this stage seems to be Nomad. His numbers with the Moroccan operator are astonishing; in fact, his worst appearance so far came against Six Karma, the only side who banned the attacker. Morphed had to play with Gridlock, ending with a rating of ‘just’ 1.02.
This roster’s consistency can also be seen in its KOST stats, as four of the five members are in this category’s Top 5. Their support stats are also impressive, as they are the side with the most plants in the league at 11 plants.
Fenix Esports' stats after the end of Stage 1.
Finally, over the six game-days, Fenix has only played on three different maps, which include Villa (thrice), Kafe (twice) and Consulate (once). They have always banned Oregon, and have banned Clubhouse and Coastline four times each. Considering that both Oregon and Clubhouse are the two favourite maps in the Brazilian region, Fenix’s better be saving strats or preparing something new to amaze the viewership.
To know more about the team, SiegeGG spoke to one of its players, Saúl “Morphed” Torres:
After giving MKing and Novys a warm welcome to Mexico, Fenix eventually won Stage 1. What is your opinion on your results, and the rest of the league?
We always aim to be the better side and represent our country in the best way possible. It has always been our objective and I respect the other teams; there were surprises, young players winning against experienced players, and some well-known players in the region were not able to fight for the first place. These situations crated an interesting stage.
Your roster counts with three players who competed at the LATAM SI Qualifiers. How do you think the experience at the previously mentioned event might help your team? In which situations it might be pivotal?
Having three players with this experience will help the others to not be so nervous, be more calm. I think that it might be crucial in our adaptation and the way we understand the Brazilian game-style.
The two most-played maps in Brazil are Oregon and Club House, exactly your two-most banned maps in Mexico. Is Fenix hiding something?
In Fenix we do not like to play with something we are not happy. We have strats on every map, but we still have some things to change.
What is the side you are excited the most to be playing against with? What is a team you would like to avoid?
There is no team I want to avoid or to face, we can learn from any side. That is the most important thing now.
Brazil is the fiercest opponent; however, what are your thoughts on the South American teams and the region?
The region is improving as much as we are, so it is going to be exciting to play against them. I cannot wait.
Atheris
Roster: SkMzY, Novys, Guicho, Navy, MKing.
Atheris' roster (via @R6EsportsLATAM)
Atheris, meanwhile, has been in the Mexican scene since 2018. But, after finishing in third place last year, the organization decided to make sizeable changes to its roster.
Stage 1 of the Campeonato Mexicano began with Atheris announcing the signings of Daniel “Novys” Novy and Lucca “MKing” Cesana, two very-well known personalities in the Siege scene after representing Immortals and MIBR in some of the biggest international events, including Pro League Finals, Six Major, and Six Invitational appearances.
If that was not enough, both Christopher “SkMzY” Espinosa and Luís Eduardo “Navy” Rentería also competed at the LATAM SI Qualifiers in Brazil. Luís Manuel “Guicho” Gómez, the best non-Estral player during Stage 2 of the 2020 season, then completed the roster. Overall, it was a very powerful team, ready to finally take over the nation.
Or so they thought. The already-mentioned loss to Fenix Esports in the very first match of the season eventually was the difference between both rosters.
One likely reason for the loss was the change in team communication thanks to the roster changes, with language barriers being a possible issue amongst the Portuguese and Spanish speakers.
Atheris' stats after the end of Stage 1.
Eventually, the Brazilians finished Stage 1 with the best ratings in the team. Novys was the only player with a KPR (Kills Per Round) greater than 1.0 in the league and finished with the largest amount of entry kills (15).
Meanwhile, MKing has been playing in various roles and excelling as well. Furthermore, he has the most clutches in the team, one being crucial in their 7-5 win versus MeT. He was also pivotal in their win against 6Karma, as he got 15 kills on Kafe, 11 of them coming while attacking.
Opposite to what we saw with Fenix, Atheris put little focus on planting the defuser and instead attempted to take advantage of the fire-power on the roster, as proven by the team having the lowest number of defuser plants in the league at a total of four.
Similar to Fenix, Atheris has also played on just three different maps, with Villa being a favourite with four plays. Incidentally, both teams were also the only ones in the league to record wins on Villa, which will certainly be noted by their Elite Six opponents.
To know more about Atheris’ line-up, SiegeGG spoke to one of its players, Luís Manuel “Guicho” Gómez.
How did the Brazilian signings help Atheris? In what aspects of the game do you think they can help when facing Brazilian rosters?
MKing’s and Novys’ experiences have been pivotal for us to improve during the stage. They know how to find quick solutions in many different ways, and that knowledge is really important to us. Having these players in our line-up is vital, they perfectly know their region, and that will help us in our adaptation to the game-style.
In what areas have you improved since the beginning of the Campeonato Mexicano?
In every area to be honest, communication, coordination, strategy, it is a different roster if we compare it to the first round.
What are your thoughts on the Campeonato Mexicano and what do you think the competition needs to catch up on the Brasileirão?
I think that the Mexican region has a lot of talent and every season reinforces this theory. The only thing missing is more games between both sub-regions.
What is the side you are excited the most to be playing against with? What is a team you would like to avoid?
I would like to face FaZe, and I would like to avoid Liquid.
Despìte Brazil being the strongest country in the region, what are your thoughts on the Sudamericano? What do you think the hispanic teams must do in order to catch up on the Brazilian rosters?
I think that both regions -- South America and Mexico -- have the talent and every region has very special players; however, having the experience of playing against Brazilian players really makes a difference. We must take advantage of every chance we have, so our regions also learn from these kinds of experiences.
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The Mexican teams will be playing in the Elite Six Cup, which begins on Tuesday. Keep an out here at SiegeGG for full results, highlights, roundups and statistics for every game of the event!