Of all the names that have been around the APAC Rainbow Six scene, Yudai "Wokka" Ichise may be the most well-known, but Glen "Lunarmetal" Suryasaputra is one of the oldest, if not the oldest outright. Having captained his team throughout the seasons, a new-look Aerowolf were within two rounds of consigning Fnatic to defeat and making it to Milan (and Raleigh) in their place instead at the Season 9 APAC Finals.
Fate, however, had it differently. A bug at the top of the visa stairs on Consulate saw the defuser become irrecoverable from the vice of the floorboards, and Aerowolf conceded match point before conceding the game. They wouldn't make it to Milan, and they would have to qualify through the SEA open qualifier and the qualifier LAN to make it to Raleigh.
Before that, though, they had to play through most of Season 10 of the Pro League, which did not get off to the best of starts for the Singaporean team. Only collecting four points against recently promoted NEX Esports meant that they were behind close rivals Xavier Esports from the onset. Scrypt E-sports, having almost beat Aerowolf to the APAC Finals in Season 9, were keeping pace, but fell behind once Aerowolf won one map and drew the other in their matchup together.
Scrypt would, of course, be disqualified later on, and Aerowolf and Xavier Esports would be the first two teams to qualify to the APAC Finals -- by some margin as well -- but Aerowolf's Season 9 APAC Finals magic would not reappear in the Six Major Raleigh Qualifier LAN. This was especially a surprise, as Aerowolf had begun to look nigh-dominant once more, having defeated Xavier Esports 2-0 twice in two Best-of-Threes in the online qualifier -- a feat they had never accomplished before, having only won once prior by a 2-1 score exactly a year ago.
It had seemed that Aerowolf's spate of constant playing lineup changes in Season 9 had finally settled, with Martin "SpeakEasy" Yunos and Patrick "MentalistC" Fan added then and Lunarmetal in and out due to other real-world commitments. However, Cyclops Athlete Gaming shattered that belief, taking down Aerowolf 2-0 and going on to win the event and qualify for the Raleigh Major.
Coming back to Singapore, Aerowolf then added Jordan "jrdn" Cheng as a substitute to replace the outgoing Ni "SPirited" Tung Ming, and geared up to try and wrest the first seed away from Xavier Esports. A first map loss was later somewhat salvaged with a second map win for Aerowolf, but the damage was done -- Aerowolf were the second seeds, and would later be matched up against Fnatic at the APAC Finals in the opening match for the fifth time.
SiegeGG spoke to Lunarmetal about this incredible occurrence, his team's Season 10 campaign, and their approach to these Finals:
Would you agree that this season was, to put it simply, a bit of a cakewalk for your side?
You have talked about how hard it is to compete in Singapore in Rainbow Six. How do you keep going?
Unfortunately, MentalistC is going to have to stop playing Rainbow Six. If your team qualifies, however, will he play at the Six Invitational 2020 at least?
This is some ways away, but how does your team plan to adjust in the wake of his departure? Is Jrdn going to be drafted into the main lineup?
Let’s come to the present now, with the APAC Finals. You face Fnatic for an incredible fifth time, how are you preparing for them this time?
How do you fancy your chances at the APAC Finals? Your side of the bracket is incredibly difficult, featuring Cloud9, Fnatic, and NORA-Rengo.
Do you think the APAC Finals deserve a change in format, perhaps using double-elimination, or perhaps Korea combining with Japan, with that combined region and ANZ getting three spots at the APAC Finals?
Do you have anything to say to your fans at home and internationally?
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Catch Aerowolf in action next weekend, as the Season 10 APAC Finals run from the 19th to 20th of October, with games starting at 10 AM AEDT (GMT+11) each day. In what is to be as exciting a game as the ones before, Aerowolf first plays Fnatic, and then could move on to face either Cloud9 or NORA-Rengo.