Pro League title-winning coach Ellis “GiG” Hindle has found a new team for himself, as he now joins the new Giants Gaming roster competing in Southeast Asia (SEA). Formerly playing under Aerowolf, the Singapore-based roster finally got its break in Season 10 of the Pro League after countless failures. Defeating Fnatic for the first time, it shot straight to the top by becoming the best team in APAC, before beating the old Giants Gaming roster (now Rogue) at the Pro League Finals.
The Giants Gaming roster, including now-Fnatic player MentalistC, at the Season 10 Pro League Finals.
While the Singaporean players are thousands of kilometers away, and eight hours ahead, GiG will be coaching the team remotely from his residence in the United Kingdom. He will, however, join the team at LAN events and potential boot camps. Unfortunately, due to roster lock rules, GiG will unable to stand behind the team at the Six Invitational, having officially left the Natus Vincere team too late on ESL Play.
To know more about the move, SiegeGG spoke to GiG and team captain Glen “Lunarmetal” Suryasaputra:
To GiG:
While you join the APAC Champions, some might say this is a step down as you were previously with the Pro League champions. What attracted you to this team?
How much do you think you can help this team, especially given that Lunarmetal had been the only one strategizing for the team before?
What is going to be the main area of preparation for the three LATAM teams (Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, and MIBR) you will be facing in the Invitational group stages?
Having watched the teams in SEA and APAC as a whole, what would you say the level of the region is right now?
To Lunarmetal:
With the new organisation, presumably, came the chance to sign a coach. How will this help elevate your team further?
How did the search for a coach go for your team, and how did you arrive on GiG?
What kind of a coaching role will GiG primarily be fulfilling? A more general coach, or someone more towards the analysis and counter-strategising side?
GiG had initially begun his Rainbow Six career in the June of 2018 as a player with Aerox Esports, trying to qualify for Season 3 of the Cyberathlete Championship Series and the ESL Premiership Winter 2018, but had not seen appreciable results. A brief stint with the Premiership squad of Wind and Rain would follow, but it would be a switch to MnM Gaming in a coaching position that would begin a climb to the top.
GiG in the center with the MnM Gaming roster at DreamHack Winter 2018. (Photo: MnM Gaming)
A joint-third at the ESL Premiership Winter Finals 2018 would be followed up by an appearance in the Bring Your Own Computer and group stages of DreamHack Winter 2018, before GiG guided his team to victory over Team Secret at the ESL Premiership Spring Finals 2019. Qualified to the Challenger League for Season 9, the team would just about finish above GoSkilla and Trust Gaming, but beat league leaders Team Vitality in the playoffs to secure automatic promotion to the Pro League for Season 10.
GiG and his team was then signed by Natus Vincere, and thus began the ESL Premiership Summer campaign while also preparing for the first international tournament for the team -- DreamHack Valencia 2019. Na’Vi did not do too well, however, losing matches to both the old and the current Rogue teams. Coincidentally, the only win came against the Spanish Vodafone Giants roster.
Nevertheless, GiG and Na’Vi kept winning, defeating Team Secret at the Premiership Finals again, but stunning all to take the top spot in Europe in the Pro League after having been considered relegation candidates in the season and having always been around mid-table during the season. The streak did not end in Japan, however, as the team narrowly defeated Wildcard Gaming before beating Team Reciprocity and DarkZero Esports to follow Team Empire in winning the Pro League in the debut season.
GiG celebrating the Season 10 victory with Natus Vincere in Japan.
Another win at the ESL Premiership then followed -- this time against the new MnM Gaming roster at the Winter 2019 version of the tournament -- but that would mark the end of GiG’s journey with the team. GiG was then dropped, with Na’Vi citing a foreseeable decline after the team’s return from Japan having turned into a prolonged crisis. For his part, GiG had seemed understanding of the move, and now finds himself coaching the APAC champions of Giants Gaming.
The Giants Gaming roster itself was only signed just over three weeks ago, and played its first game under the new banner in a 7-3, 7-3 win over Team Valor in the Southeast Asian Pro League. However, all eyes will be on the team's return to the Six Invitational after three years, with the Singaporeans having been unable to capitalize on every opportunity in the Pro League and Major qualifiers until Season 10.
Catch the following Giants Gaming team in action next at the Six Invitational, with MIBR the team's first opponent:
Glen “Lunarmetal” Surysaputra
Adrian “Ysaera” Wui
Jeremy “HysteRiX” Tan
Matin “SpeakEasy” Yunos
Jordan “jrdn” Cheng
Jose “Histoire” Iman (substitute)
Ellis “GiG” Hindle (coach)
