Prior to joining Fnatic, Virtue played on the third-seeded team in the ANZ sub-region, Dark Sided, and had never attended an international R6 event. Now, just three months after joining the top Australian lineup, he has been instrumental in lifting the roster to undeniably become one of the top teams in the world.
The Fnatic roster prior to the 2019 Six Invitational. From left to right: Lusty, Acez, Virtue, RizRaz and Magnet.
At the Six Invitational, Fnatic defeated two of the top international rosters of Team Reciprocity (6-8, 7-5, 7-5) and FaZe Clan (7-3, 7-8, 7-2) to become the very first team to qualify for the playoffs, surpassing vast majority of the expectations. Following this, Fnatic met their fellow Asia-Pacific hopefuls of NORA-Rengo to fight for a place in the semifinals, but the Australians fell in a straight 2-0 (6-8, 1-7) defeat.
The top statistics from the 2019 Six Invitational via the SiegeGG infographic.
Despite this loss, Virtue was one of the biggest breakout stars seen in R6 esports for a fair few seasons, with the Fnatic newcomer achieving the very top rating of the entire event. We, thus spoke to Virtue following his team’s exit from the event to discuss his and his team’s performance, and to ask what comes next for Fnatic:
How’s it been coming into the team and how do you think you’ve done in this half of the season?
Coming into your first international LAN at this Six Invitational, how do you feel your team did?
Your stats in the games you played were the top in the whole tournament, meaning should you have progressed further, you would’ve been on the MVP shortlist. Is this something you think about while playing; does it weigh on you or are you very focused in the moment?
In the other teams have there been any standouts to you?
Team Empire during their semi-final matchup via @ESLRainbowSix
When the Season resumes we’ll see Nomad and Kaid join the Pro League. What are your thoughts on these operators and how are they gonna affect the way things are played?
Considering the just announced balancing changes, what do you think of these and do you think they’ll have a significant effect on the upcoming Season’s meta?
Finally, you have an enormous amount of support as an individual and as a team. Is there anything you’d like to pass on onto the fans that have supported you so far?
The NORA-Rengo and Fnatic rosters after the Season 8 APAC LAN in Tokyo
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Virtue and Fnatic’s next game will be against Oddity Esports in eleven days’ time when the Pro League resumes. You can learn more about this roster by checking out our interview with the team prior to the event right here and catch more interviews and coverage of the event right here at SiegeGG.