A true fan of the game, Kevin “Sua” Stahnke has been in the Rainbow Six: Siege community since 2016, the year when he joined PENTA Sports Academy where he made his first steps as a player. However, most people know him for joining ENCE after the conclusion of the Six Major Paris. Back then, the Finnish roster was about to kick off Season 8 of the Challenger League after being relegated from Pro League the season before.
Working alongside Willkey, Bounssi, UUNO, Gomfi, and SHA77E, Sua’s mission was to get ENCE back to the top division of the game. The roster was able to finish in second place, just behind Team Empire, then an unknown Russian team that had conquered the Challenger League with 13 wins. However, ENCE’s second place was enough to give them the chance to qualify to the Pro League through the relegation match, which they won against Team Vitality (2-1). The goal was complete.
Their next appearance was at DreamHack Winter 2018, where ENCE had a very poor performance, losing to Chaos (2-0) and Team Liquid (2-1), thus finishing last in their group with a -18 round difference.
The Finnish team seemed to bounce back from their DreamHack appearance after a 7-2 win against LeStream Esport (now Vodafone Giants) on the first game week in Season 9, but immediately after the German coach decided to step down from the team. This was followed by two consecutive Pro League losses and two 2-0 losses to XTreme Video Esport and PACT in the Six Invitational 2019 qualifiers.
Despite this arguably poor track record, G2 Esports signed Sua as their new analyst just one month after he had left the Finnish roster and only two weeks before the start of the Six Invitational 2019. After a magical run through the tournament, he would go on to win the Sledgehammer, alongside Fabian, Pengu, Goga, Kantoraketti, jNSzki, and Shas[o]Udas.
After almost eight months with the Berlin-headquartered G2 Esports, SiegeGG had the chance to speak with Sua and ask him some questions about his thoughts about the team, the different regions and the role of an analyst in the scene:
You were “promoted” to coach recently, but were initially “just” an analyst for the team. What has changed?
After a poor performance from G2 Esports in the first half of Season 9, the team decided to pick you up as their newest analyst. Less than two weeks after joining the organization, your players won the Six Invitational 2019 after smashing Team Empire 3-0. How did you feel after the conclusion of the tournament?
What do you think you've brought to the roster after more than half a year with the team?
After some bad games from Team Empire -- two ties against PENTA and GiFu and a loss against G2 Esports -- and a winning streak for your players, G2 is back to top-two in the EU. How did you work to improve your performances ahead of the second half of the season?
It's only been one year since Team Empire's first Challenger League match. The Russian roster went from playing in the second tier to losing a Six Invitational Final against the best team in this game's history, G2 Esports. Three months later they won their first international competition -- the Season 9 Finals -- and, in September, they got their revenge against your roster. As a coach, what do you think is behind Empire's success?
The EU Challenger League qualifiers have never been as close, not to mention that Team Secret and forZe -- Semi-Finalists at the Raleigh Major -- will participate in Season 10 of the tournament. What are your thoughts about the European region?
Let's talk about other regions. None of the APAC teams won a single map during the Six Major, FaZe Clan was the only LATAM team that qualified for the Main Stage, and only two out of five NA teams survived the group stage (Team SoloMid and Spacestation Gaming). TSM currently sits seventh in the NA PL, while SSG got to play at Raleigh thanks to the Host Country Invite. Meanwhile, all the European rosters -- including two CL teams -- progressed to the main stage. What do you think these regions have to improve to give a tougher fight to the European sides?
Do you think that the analyst role is underrated in Siege?
Would you like to say something or give any advice to all those people that are working each day to become analysts in the near future?
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Catch G2 Esports in action again later tonight as they face a Natus Vincere playing with Pie standing in for a banned Doki, and check back here at SiegeGG for more interviews and Rainbow Six coverage.