The third-longest remaining map in the competitive rotation, Border, will be removed in favour of the newly reworked Oregon within the qualifiers for the Canadian Division of the North American League. This change will, therefore, likely come to the wider competitive Siege landscape as additional details are announced.
The rules for the qualifiers of the Canadian Division of the North American League. (Image: FACEIT.com)
While not being available on release, Operation Dust Line's free update in Year 1 Season 2 added Border to the game, with the map immediately added to the competitive rotation for Season 2 of the Pro League.
Since then, the map has remained in rotation for 10 seasons since, a record only topped by Clubhouse and Consulate, and tied with Bank (which left the pool last season). Furthermore, with Clubhouse's rework back in June 2018, and Consulate's map buff in September 2018, this had left Bank and Border as the longest remaining unchanged maps since they joined in the pool.
Since its release, Border's two objectives of Armory Locker/Archives and Workshop/Ventilation Room quickly became the two go-to sites, with teams almost never opting to go to either other objectives outside of a rarely seen pocket strategy. This became an issue at the beginning of Season 8 when the rules were changed, forcing a two-round break from a site after a team had successfully defended it.
This effectively forcedeach map to have three viable sites, something Border did not really have. While this rule forced Skyscraper and pre-rework Kafe straight out of the pool, Border remained with a much-reduced pick rate, falling from being the second-favourite map at the Paris Major to the least favourite a year later at the Raleigh Major.
Now, despite it overtaking Villa in picks at the 2020 Six Invitational, the map has been replaced by new-look Oregon in the qualifier's seven-map pool following largely positive feedback to the changes made to it three months ago. Since its launch, Oregon (which is loosely based off of the Waco Siege compound in Texas) sat as a fan-favourite map which, unlike Border, saw high pick rates in the esports scene as well.
Despite this, due to the lack of entrances to the primary Laundry/Supply Room, and the fact the map had been played out so much, many pros felt like it was largely stale, with little innovation able to be carried out. This led to its removal from the competitive map pool at the beginning of Season 10 and rework in March 2020.
The main changes saw a number of extra routes be available for attackers to get to the Basement objective, with an extra stairway being added to go down there via a Freezer room, an extra wall added connected to an opened up Construction entrance, and the Laundry room itself being split into two, forcing the attackers to push further into the site rather than just plant at the bottom of the stairway.
The Basement of the reworked Oregon map. (Image: R6 Tactics)
The middle floor has seen the small tower entrance be expanded out by three times its size, the Showers be moved across the corridor to be next to the Dining Hall, and an extra corridor be added straight between the big tower and the Kitchen site.
The Ground Floor of the reworked Oregon map. (Image: R6 Tactics)
Finally, as well as another expansion to the small tower, the main change upstairs saw an extra area connecting the bridge to the Kid's Bedroom -- an expansion of what was a corridor running through the Dorms site and a drastic change in the interior design of the Main Hall.
The Top Floor of the reworked Oregon map. (Image: R6 Tactics)
Here's what Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski from the World Champions of SSG, Leonardo "Astro" Luis from FaZe Clan, and Kaya "Loona" Omori from Team SiNister thought about the reworked map three months ago:
Canadian:
I believe the new Oregon map is viable. I think there were some solid changes to kind of spice things up on the map, but still make the map feel familiar. I think there are quite a few maps that are on the chopping block for me and it's between Border, Consulate, and Coastline.
Astro:
I think that Oregon is a very competitive map and I would switch it with Clubhouse.
Loona:
I have only played a bit of the new Oregon and I’m not sure how to work a defense on it, so in a way it is better because it was so easy to attack before. Now, it actually takes some strategy and effort to roam clear/set up an execute on laundry, especially.
While opinions may have changed in the months since, this change has been anticipated for some time, with many pros expecting Oregon to have entered three months ago rather than Theme Park.
This new-look Oregon will make its debut on May 30th when the qualifiers kick off while Border, should it be fully removed from the rotation internationally, is unlikely to see a return any of the map anytime soon due to it having no planned rework in Year 5. With that in mind, let's take a quick look at some of the map's highlights over the last four years of Rainbow Six Esports:
- Continuum's (later known as Evil Geniuses') first map win in the Six Invitational Grand-Final against eRa Eternity (later the North American Rogue roster):
- The opening map in the Season 4 Pro League Grand-Final between PENTA (later known as G2 Esports) and Black Dragons (later known as Team Liquid) which was LATAM's very first Grand-Final map:
- The key map in the Season 7 Grand-Final between PENTA (later known as G2 Esports) and Team Liquid:
- Map 3 of the closest Minor Grand-Final in history at DreamHack Austin between Evil Geniuses and Millenium (now known as Rogue), which ended 6-5:
- The DreamHack Winter Grand-Final map win by PENTA against G2 Esports:
- The second map in the 2019 Six Invitational Grand-Final slog between G2 Esports and Team Empire:
- The 7-8 scoreline map two between Team Secret and LeStream Esport (now known as Rogue) in the Allied Minor Grand-Final:
- The Six Invitational 2020 map which put Ninjas in Pyjamas one map away from the title against Spacestation Gaming:
---
For further updates on R6 Esports as they are announced keep an eye out here at SiegeGG.