
NORA-Rengo came into this tournament as a promising outsider after disappointing appearances at the Season 7 Finals and the Paris Major were followed up by a joint third-place finish during Season 8 of the Pro League. This meant that here at the Six Invitational they had clear potential, but still were in a difficult group that included Evil Geniuses, LeStream and PENTA, and thus many people underestimated their ability to repeat their Season 8 performance. This meant that NORA-Rengo smashed expectations when they not only got out of their group but then went on to defeat their regional rivals of Fnatic to become the first APAC team to ever make the semi-finals of a Major.
While Nora was then knocked out by the Eastern European lineup of Team Empire who were on a similar underdog run, their exceptional performance and their clear ability to have fun during their games made them one of the clear fan-favourites with kizoku’s signature dances being particularly popular.

Kizoku via @ESLRainbowSix
As such, we spoke to kizoku to ask what their experience of the tournament was and what comes next for the ever-improving Japanese roster: So, I’m here with kizoku, coach of NORA-Rengo, and RedEnergy, manager and translator of the team, and I wanted to start off by asking how you have found the Six Invitational?
From your experience here have you learnt any lessons to grow as a team?
Who do you think really impressed you in this competition?
So for the rest of the season are you looking forward to going back to your home region and performing there as well and hopefully going back to the next season’s Finals?
And what do you think of the new operators that are about to come into Pro League -- Kaid and Nomad?
Do you have any thoughts on the changes they just announced? Things like changes to Dokkaebi, Capitao, and Ash?
Your team has been fan favourites, you have brought a level of energy that we haven’t seen before and your enthusiasm has been very remarkable. Do you have any messages to those fans who have been so enthusiastic to support you?
NORA-Rengo’s next game will be against CYCLOPS athlete gaming when the APAC Pro League restarts in two weeks time. Keep an eye out for more coverage of Nora and player interviews on the SiegeGG Twitter and YouTube accounts.