This season, Sydney will host the two Korean teams of Cloud9 and Ageless as they attempt to carry their home country’s name far and wide, especially with the mantisFPS roster having been picked up by Cloud9 just a few days ago. Ageless, on the other hand, will be looking to prove that they can match the level of the other teams despite qualifying from Korea out of a grand total of three teams.
The Season 9 APAC Finals bracket
Cloud9 as an organisation needs little introduction. The second top-tier organisation in APAC after Fnatic, their signing of mantisFPS means that teams can no longer take advantage of the roster being unable to dedicate all of their time to Siege. Finally able to break free from working at McDonald’s to make ends meet, Cloud9 is undoubtedly about to become one of the top teams in the world.
This season, though, at the APAC Finals, we may not see that improvement just yet. Cloud9’s players have not been able to leverage the organisation’s resources to their full extent, and they will have to be judged by what has been available to them so far. Still, they are not to be underestimated.
Cloud9 has been the only team outside of NORA-Rengo and Fnatic to make it to multiple international LANs, and has consistently been the third-strongest team in the region. Most recently, they reaffirmed their position as the best in Korea after winning the US$44,000 Six Challenge Korea, and once again went undefeated in the Korean Pro League.
The Cloud9 team
Ageless, on the other hand, is a highly unknown quantity. One of the two teams outside of Cloud9 that participated in Season 9 of the Pro League from Korea, they will be keen to prove that they deserve to be at further APAC Finals. While their Korea Cup run was abruptly cut short after a loss to Potato, the few games that have been played by them may not be an accurate indicator of their performance.
SiegeGG spoke to Cloud9 head coach Inyeong“SummerRain” Kim and Ageless coach Seunghyeon “Mikelate” Ryu to talk about their year so far, and their goals for this LAN and beyond:
What does a typical day of practice look like for your teams?
SummerRain:
Mikelate:
Now that NORA-Rengo lost Wokka, who is the strongest APAC team in your eyes? Is it still NR?
SummerRain:
The Six Challenge Korea was the biggest APAC LAN event ever -- do you think we can see more of these soon, including in other subregions?
SummerRain:
The Cloud9 roster won the Six Challenge Korea 2019
Mikelate:
How do you think APAC, specifically Korea, can grow further?
SummerRain:
Mikelate:
Could we see your teams joining Phase 2 of the Pilot Program soon?
SummerRain:
(Cloud9 manager Tiffany “Tifa” Chiu has separately confirmed that the organisation will try for the pilot program.)
Who does your team really wish to avoid at the APAC LAN, and why?
Mikelate:
To Cloud9: After NORA-Rengo and Fnatic, mantisFPS is the only APAC team to go to multiple international events. What has been the key to this consistency?
The Cloud9 roster, then under Element Mystic, qualified for the Six Major Paris
SummerRain:
To Cloud9: Do you think your signing with Cloud9 will herald more top tier organisations investing into APAC, especially for teams such as 0RGL3SS in ANZ?
SummerRain:
To Ageless: Ageless is going to the APAC LAN for the first time -- what can we expect from you guys?
Mikelate:
To Ageless: Is it going to be intimidating going up against all these far more experienced players and teams at the APAC LAN?
Mikelate:
Do you have anything to say to your fans, locally and internationally?
SummerRain:
Mikelate:
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The Season 9 APAC Finals schedule (graphic generated prior to mantisFPS’ pick up by Cloud9)
Catch all the action from the event from 10AM GMT+10 onwards on the Rainbow6 Twitch and YouTube channels to see which two of the eight teams will be making it to the Pro League Finals in Milan this season.
Cloud9: EnvyTaylor, SweetBlack, Neilyo, h3dy, Nova, SummerRain (Coach)
Ageless: Fah0N, Shintaz, yass, Agent, CATsang, Mikelate (Coach)