This season, Sydney will host the two home teams of Fnatic and 0RGL3SS as they fight their way from the opposite ends of the bracket in what could possibly be a double-ANZ representation at the Season 9 Pro League Finals in Milan.
The Season 9 APAC Finals bracket
Fnatic this season -- this year -- have been performing excellently. Starting with a good showing in the first split of Season 9 of the Pro League, they followed that up with an immensely impressive performance at the Six Invitational.
There, with the addition of Jake “Virtue” Grannan, they made it to the main stage of the event (repeating their 2018 performance), and were only stopped by fellow APAC side NORA-Rengo. Coming back home, they capped their online Pro League season off by going undefeated, although they only finished as runners-up for the Six Oceanic Cup.
0RGL3SS playing at the Six Oceanic Cup (via @sjanecooper)
Winning the Six Oceanic Cup were their ANZ rivals, and fellow APAC Finals representatives 0RGL3SS. While their season was not as illustrious overall as their more experienced rivals, it is still nothing to be scoffed at, especially since they were able to defeat Fnatic 2-0 in the final of the Six Oceanic Cup.
0RGL3SS had also beaten Fnatic to the first seed last season, and technically finished this season with a better positive record than Fnatic -- with eight wins and two draws -- but losing to Fnatic on the final day meant that they would narrowly miss out on the first seed this time around. At the Six Invitational Qualifier LAN this year, they also gave Cloud9 an incredibly tough fight over the first two maps even though they ran out of steam on the third.
Fnatic’s coach, Dizzle
SiegeGG spoke to the coaches of both teams, Jayden “Dizzle” Saunders from Fnatic and Bharath “Fluxx” Sukesh from 0RGL3SS, to talk about their year so far, and their goals for this LAN and beyond:
What does a typical day of practice look like for your teams?
Dizzle:
Fnatic in Japan for their bootcamp prior to the Season 9 APAC Finals (via @MagnetR6)
Fluxx:
Who do your teams really wish to avoid at the APAC LAN, and why?
Dizzle:
Fluxx:
How do you think APAC can grow further?
Dizzle:
Cloud9 signed the mantisFPS roster just two days ago
Fluxx:
If you had to choose one other APAC player to play for your team -- forgetting the issue of replacing someone on your team -- who would it be?
Dizzle:
Wokka, now retired, was a player for Japanese titans NORA-Rengo
Fluxx:
Is franchising the way to go for Rainbow Six?
Dizzle:
The Overwatch League runs on a franchising model where organisations hold the seat in the league rather than the players like in Rainbow Six
Fluxx:
To Dizzle: Fnatic shares the undefeated streak this season with Xavier Esports and Cloud9. How important was achieving this to your team, personally?
Dizzle:
Southeast Asian side Xavier Esports is similarly dominant in their region
To Dizzle: Speca’s Pro League debut didn’t get off to a winning start, but are we in for possible appearances at the APAC LAN?
Dizzle:
To Fluxx: How goes the organisation hunt? Could we see 0RGL3SS joining Phase 2 of the Pilot Program soon?
Fluxx:
To Fluxx: 0RGL3SS got their first title with this new roster, and it took a pretty sizeable change with syliX becoming coach to bring this about. How would you rate your improvements with Diesel in as your newest member?
Fluxx:
0RGL3SS at the Six Oceanic Cup with syliX in the background (via @sjanecooper)
Do you have anything to say to your fans, locally and internationally?
Dizzle:
Fluxx:
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The Season 9 APAC Finals schedule (graphic generated prior to mantisFPS’ pick up by Cloud9)
Catch all the action from the event from 10AM GMT+10 onwards on the Rainbow6 Twitch and YouTube channels to see which two of the eight teams will be making it to the Pro League Finals in Milan this season.
Fnatic: Magnet, RizRaz, Lusty, Acez, Virtue, Speca, Dizzle (Coach)
0RGL3SS: Ethan, Derpeh, EmoRin, JoeyMASSA, Diesel, syliX (Coach), Fluxx (Coach)