For the second year running, the city of Melbourne in Australia will become a hive of activity later this weekend. The Melbourne Esports Open is aiming to build upon its inaugural success in 2018 and this year, they’re playing host to the biggest LAN event in the ANZ Rainbow Six region -- the Six Masters. With the prize pool doubled from last year’s A$25,000 winnings, eight all-ANZ teams will battle it out for the title of the best team in the sub-region.
With that in mind, we spoke briefly to a member from four of the squads -- Oddity Esports (ODD), FURY, Mindfreak (MF) and Team SiNister (SiN) -- all of which will also be playing at the Ubisoft Experience event in Sydney on September the 14th for charity. The Ubisoft Experience is a celebration of the community that it has cultivated through its titles, or as Ubisoft themselves put it, “the place where we all finally meet and celebrate our love for gaming together.”
If you’re unfamiliar with any of these teams or it’s been a while since they last crossed your mind, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a brief summary of each of these teams:
Mindfreak are a name many may be familiar with -- they’ve had three different rosters to date. Most will know the name as the organisation that the now-Fnatic roster played under before their big acquisition, but this current roster previously played under the Dark Sided name, where Fnatic players Virtue and speca honed their craft.
Tied with FURY on 9 points after the group stages of Six Masters, MF stole a map away from Fnatic but couldn’t bring the points home. Currently sitting in fourth place just behind Oddity in the Pro League (PL), both teams took a map victory apiece when they met earlier in the season. Mindfreak now look to focus on their quarter-final matchup with ACME Association this weekend.
The Six Masters 2019 Finals bracket
Team SiNister, meanwhile, returned to Rainbow Six’s professional circuit with the acquisition of the Avant Gaming roster. Currently languishing in last place during the regular season of the PL, their Six Masters online phase went more smoothly, with wins over Oddity and Team CryptiK. With names like Kaya “Loona” Omori, one of only two female players in Pro League, and CoconutBrah regular Erik “Nikoh” Ahrenfeld (who is currently on the team as a substitute), SiNister will be hoping to turn their fortunes around when they take on FURY on Saturday.
On the coattails of Fnatic and 0RGL3SS are Oddity Esports, who for the duration of this PL season and last, are chasing the two big dogs within the region, and giving them a real fight. Oddity have the distinction of being one of only two teams so far to have forced Fnatic into dropping points, a real mark of how this relatively new roster has come under the experience and guidance of Brandon “Raven” Langiano and Todd “Todd” Francis, who both have prior experience within ANZ Pro League (with Dark Sided and Athletico Esports respectively).
Their Six Masters run was rocky in contrast, with just a single win to their name, and they were forced to play with Raven in the lineup whilst Todd was unavailable. Squeaking into the LAN stages ahead of Team Cryptik, they now face a Fnatic side returning from a disappointing Raleigh campaign.
The final standings for Group A for the Six Masters
FURY have been struggling similarly to their quarter-final opponents SiNister within the PL -- just two points separate them both as it currently stands. Six Masters’ online component was more fruitful for the team however, collecting a 3-2 record to put them in third place in Group B behind Fnatic and Mindfreak. One of a handful of New Zealanders within ANZ Pro League, Josh “Warden” Wadham was on hand to answer our queries ahead of the upcoming events.
Here are our burning questions for these competitors:
How have you been preparing for the Six Masters Finals?
Bailey “Cutie” Murdoch (MF):
Kaya “Loona” Omori (SiN):
Loona
Todd “Todd” Francis (ODD):
Josh “Warden” Wadham (FURY):
How important do you think events such as these are to the growth of the ANZ scene?
Cutie:
Loona:
Todd:
Warden:
Despite that, the scene still sees players struggle significantly. What improvements would you make to the region?
Cutie:
Loona:
Todd:
Todd (via Oddity Esports)
How do you balance your career as a professional R6 player with other responsibilities?
Cutie:
Loona:
Todd:
Warden:
What aspect of UbiXP are you looking forward to the most?
Cutie:
Cutie (via Dark Sided)
Loona:
Todd:
Warden:
Warden (via Cameron Thistlethwaite)
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That's all from us here at SiegeGG for now, tune in to this weekend's Six Masters tournament on the main Twitch channel, twitch.tv/rainbow6 from wherever you are in the world, starting later today at 5 PM AEST (GMT+10), and 10 AM and 9 AM on the subsequent days, before UbiXP on the 14th and 15th of September.