As SiegeGG’s hub for all roster changes in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Pro League, this page will be regularly updated with the latest transfer news. Check back here to keep up to date with all upcoming changes and you can check the LATAM, NA and EU threads for all other changes since the regular season of Pro League concluded.
Summary of Changes So Far
Japan
Sengoku Gaming Extasy: Aroer1na retires, Cabbagest joins
NORA-Rengo: RaMu replaces JJ
eiNs: Roster joins FAV Gaming
Australia & New Zealand
Ex-DedSet Roster: Avant Gaming signs roster
Avant Gaming: Loona replaces UnY and becomes the second-ever female Pro League player
Athletico Esports: Todd leaves, JoeyG joins, roster leaves organisation
ViewSonic.DarkSided: Virtue and Cutie dropped, Fletch leaves
Freshman Class of 2018: Todd goes to school, Oddity Esports signs roster
Team TBD: Mindfreak signs roster
Fnatic: Virtue joins as sixth
Taboo: Roster leaves organisation
South-East Asia
Aerowolf: Reveck leaves, Xesoxs and SPirited join, Xesoxs leaves, MentalistC joins SPirited moves to substitute position
Ferox E-Sports: Reveck joins roster as stand-in
GOSU: Roster splits; FightiR and Mas return to the United States, shinbagel to Korea, and team reverts to Scrypt E-Sports. Quervo also makes a return to the team.
Roster Changes
21. [SEA] GOSU Rocked by FightiR, Mas, and shinbagel Departures
The NA to SEA dream has shattered before it even began, with FightiR and Mas both choosing to pack their bags and return to the United States. The mastermind behind bringing them together, shinbagel himself, has also returned home to Korea.
The move had been met with excitement as it marked the biggest transfer in APAC history when FightiR and Mas had announced that the two would be coming to play in the SEA Pro League. They would be following shinbagel, the General Manager of GOSU, who would be marking a return to his playing days as the roster of Scrypt E-Sports was bought out. A fourth roster change was also announced, with SpeakEasy joining the team -- something that eventually caused the collapse of fellow Pro League team KlickBait Tactics after Xesoxs and SPirited departed causing the team to fall afoul of the 3/5th regulation.
However, today, it has come to light that GOSU has in fact exited the scene without featuring in a single Pro League game. The move comes after an extremely disappointing showing where the team was dumped out of the Six Invitational Online Qualifiers for SEA without a single win (aside from a forfeit victory) and lost 7-2 to an unknown team in the lower bracket. Speaking to Matin "SpeakEasy" Yunos -- the only surviving member of the roster shuffle, the reasoning behind this split came to light.
Despite the excitement to return to the Pro League, he shared that "both Mas and FightiR had disputes with shinbagel". This information comes as little surprise, as his departures from Team CryptiK and especially Corvidae (now Dark Sided) were acrimonious -- the latter which did not even dignify an official announcement. SpeakEasy now doubts that GOSU will make a return to the Rainbow Six scene, and the remaining roster sees Quervo rejoin after being dropped by GOSU in preparation for the start of Season 9.
Curiously enough, there is no news of the departure on the organisation's Twitter page, and the announcement tweet of the signing of the roster is in fact still pinned. The last communication by the account was on the 19th of November.
As such, the current roster comprises Sunan, Evou, Berphy, Quervo, SpeakEasy.
20. [ANZ] Loona Joins Avant Gaming, Becomes Second-Ever Female Pro League Player
In a historic move for the ANZ region, and the entire Rainbow Six: Siege competitive scene as a whole, Kaiya "Loona" has become the second-ever female Pro League player after signing with Avant Gaming. Furthermore, with Goddess being dropped from Team Reciprocity (formerly Cloud9) this season, this makes her the only active female Pro League player as of now.
She will be replacing James "UnY" Sullivan, and while this will be her first season in the Pro League, she does have experience in the Challenger League in Season 8, and was in fact on the team coached by now-PENTA analyst Jessica "Jess" Bolden. It is safe to say that with this signing, many will be watching Avant Gaming closely to get a good look at the APAC region's first female pro player. Hopefully, her example will inspire other females in the region to take the leap and enter competitive Siege, and also convince teams and organisations to consider signing more females as well.
19. [ANZ] Taboo Roster Leaves Organisation
The ANZ Pro League side of Taboo has left its organisation and is now looking for representation for Season 9 of the Pro League. The team will now be known as Gentlemen In Underwear until it finds an organisation. In Season 8, Taboo had finished in fifth place, but its points haul of 11 was far from the fourth-place total of 22, and even further from the top three who collected over 31 points each.
18. [ANZ] Oddity Esports Signs Freshman Class of 2018
Oddity Esports has signed the Freshman Class of 2018 roster, comprised of Vast, Redolent, Todd, GodLegion, and Shabz, with Vinnie as the substitute. Raven will also be joining as a coach, giving the team a boost for Season 9 of the Pro League.
While the team has not achieved anything significant together yet, it holds a great deal of promise and boasts Todd with arguably the most amount of experience. Formerly of Athletico Esports (now 0RGL3SS), his exploits include attendance at three LAN events -- the ANZ Invitational in 2017, the Paris Major Qualfiier LAN, and the Season 8 APAC LAN. Of the three, he secured a trophy in the former, and with his recent experience will be invaluable to Oddity Esports for this season and beyond.
17. [SEA] MentalistC Joins Aerowolf, SPirited Moves to Sub
One of the most anticipated roster moves in Southeast Asia, if not the entirety of APAC, has finally come to fruition. After having turned 18 a day ago, Patrick "MentalistC" Fan has officially joined Aerowolf.
He had been part of the team as their unofficial, underaged substitute for over three years -- stretching back to Season 1 in 2016 -- but now confirms his core position on the roster. He will now make his debut on 12 January at the 2019 Six Invitational APAC Qualifier LAN, and will continue on for Season 9 of the Pro League.
Together with this move, Jasper "Xesoxs" Tay has also left the team while Ni "SPirited" Tung Min moves to a substitute position for Season 9.
16. [ANZ] Athletico Roster Leaves Organisation
The Athletico roster has left the organisation after being together since the May of 2017. The original team, from which only syliX remains, saw immediate success as it won the ANZ Invitational in August 2017.
Since the introduction of the Pro League to APAC, though, the team had always been just a hair's breadth outside of the top two APAC LAN qualification spots until Season 8. While the roster did make it that far, it suffered an extremely narrow loss to the Southeast Asians of Aerowolf in the Quarter Finals and soon after lost Todd. JoeyG joined to replace him, though, and now the roster will be looking for an organisation to represent in the 2019 Six Invitational Qualifiers and Season 9 later in the year it looks to defend it's first seed in ANZ.
15. [ANZ] Fletch Leaves Dark Sided, Puts Team's PL Spot in Question
In a move that shook fans of the team, Fletcher "Fletch" Hickling has announced his departure from ViewSonic.Dark Sided (VSDS). This move was not only unexpected but now also puts the team's Pro League spot under question.
With three members from the Season 8 squad having left, the team is now unable to maintain a majority 3/5th of the core roster. As such, unless Fletch or Cutie decides to rejoin the squad, it is likely VSDS will be disqualified from Pro League due to a lack of returning players. Nevertheless, the finer points will also depend on ESL admin rulings.
14. [JP] FAV Gaming Signs eiNs Roster
After three seasons without an organisation, including an international Pro League LAN and the 2018 Six Invitational, eiNs' roster has been signed by FAV Gaming.
While FAV Gaming is not a particularly sizeable organisation with just a shade over 2500 followers, fans of the team will be hoping that the organisational structure provides them with enough support to make a return to an international LAN event.
13. [JP] Cabbagest Joins Sengoku Gaming Extasy
Former eiNs player Yosuke "Cabbagest" Tamura has joined Sengoku Gaming Extasy. He makes the move from Father's Back and replaces Shuto "Aroer1na" Nasukawa. While he had played the online portion of the Season 6 Pro League with eiNs, he had unfortunately not made an offline appearance with the team.
12. [JP] RaMu Replaces JJ on NORA-Rengo
Prolific NORA-Rengo player Takumi "JJ" Iwasaki has been replaced by Father's Back player, RaMu. RaMu is widely considered to be one of the best fraggers in Japan, even with Merieux and Wokka being more well known than him.
JJ will move to a substitute position, and will be joined on the bench by former captain Yasuhi "CrazyPapiyoN" Nakajo who returns to the main roster from the academy team.
The move is somewhat questionable given the success NR had achieved at the Season 8 Finals with JJ, and the fact that he played more traditional support roles unlike RaMu who is a stronger fragger. Only time will tell, however, how this move pans out.
11. [ANZ] Fnatic Signs Virtue as Sixth Member
Fnatic has signed ViewSonic.Dark Sided (VSDS) player Jake "Virtue" Grannan as the sixth member of the team. The move comes after Dizzle had to fill in twice during Season 8 -- once filling in for NeophyteR in the ANZ Pro League, and then again for Magnet at the Pro League Finals in Rio de Janeiro.
Virtue was previously on Zero Gaming for Season 7 of the Pro League, and in his time with them and VSDS he has proved his worth and skill. Fnatic had previously said that this "sixth member" role will not be a plain substitute, but will regularly take part in games throughout the season, which means that the move marks a significant upgrade for the Australian.
The signing comes after Fnatic had released a "Looking for Player" post on Twitter in search for their sixth member. Multiple international players had apparently applied for the place, but had been turned down.
Whilst we're humbled by the interest from our international friends in joining, we wish for now to remain an authentic APAC team and offer the opportunity to people in our region who've worked hard and shown promise. Jake has certainly done this. Welcome!
- Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders, Fnatic Coach
10. [SEA] Reveck to Stand-In for Ferox E-Sports
Warren "Reveck" Lim will temporarily join Ferox E-Sports while he "explores his options". Reveck left the top SEA team of Aerowolf, a roster he had been with for almost two years now, five days ago after failing to make a LAN Finals since the Six Invitational 2017. He now joins the rather large roster of Detrian, Tolji, Zetosin, Kura-, Rixx, Edshad and Zoljing in Feroz E-Sports as they aim to improve on their sixth-placed finish during Season 8 of the Pro League.
9. [SEA] Xesoxs and SPirited Join Aerowolf
After the departure of Reveck last week, Aerowolf has signed Jasper "Xesoxs" Tay and Ni "SPirited" Tung Ming as a replacement and a substitute respectively. Both the Singaporean players thus continue their professional career on a local team after having played for the ex-KlickBait Tactics roster which, as a result of these moves, is unable to field a 3/5 majority for Season 9 of the Pro League.
Both Xesoxs and SPirited had started their Rainbow Six careers on an all-Singaporean team known simply as Msk, before the two -- and a third Msk player -- had made the move to the team known as GuYas Tactics. GuYas Tactics then participated in Season 6 to 8 of the Pro League, changing its name to We The Best Music and then KlickBait Tactics. SpeakEasy's departure to GOSU had in fact triggered the exodus of Xesoxs and SPirited too, and the two had both been free agents until their pick-up by Aerowolf.
This season marks the first time Aerowolf will be playing with a dedicated substitute player, who will no doubt be an asset in the long-run, and marks the end of the majority of the team seen at the 2017 Six Invitational under the Team Envy banner.
8. [ANZ] Mindfreak Acquires Team TBD
One of the best-known organisations in the APAC R6 scene has reentered the game after seven months out.
Mindfreak was previously represented by the current Fnatic roster until the Tier 1 org picked them up just prior to the Season 7 APAC LAN. Prior to this MindFreak finished joint 5th at both the Six Invitational 2018 and 2017 (on Xbox) making them the best known and most successful org in APAC until very recently.
They now reenter the scene by acquiring Team TBD, a recently promoted Challenger League team made up primarily of ex-Pro League players who hold a great deal of promise for Pro League Season 9. Most notably on this team is kngz who was on the Mindfreak roster at the Six Invitational.
7. [SEA] Reveck Leaves Aerowolf
Longtime Aerowolf member Warren "Reveck" Lim has left the team, citing "problems" within the team that made it difficult for him to stay on the team, and impacted his gameplay as well. He is now looking for other opportunities, both as a player or coach/analyst, and it is likely a few teams will be interested given his wealth of experience.
Reveck had been part of Aerowolf as far back as the first Invitational in 2017, when the team had been known as Team Envy. He was part of the first APAC roster to feature at an international LAN event, and holds the distinction of having been part of the first APAC team to take a map off international opponents -- a feat achieved against eRa Eternity (now Rogue) in the quarter-finals of that event. Since then, though, he and his team have been unable to make it to another interntational LAN, failing at three seasonal APAC LANs, and two qualifier APAC LANs.
6. [ANZ] Todd Joins Freshman Class of 2018
After leaving Athletico Esports, Todd "Todd" Francis has quickly found himself on another team. He will be joining Freshman Class of 2018, who previously played under SYF Gaming and finished fourth in Season 8 of the Pro League. His move makes it almost a straight-swap with JoeyG, with the latter heading the opposite way.
5. [ANZ] JoeyG joins Athletico Esports
The former SYF Gaming player, Joe "JoeyG" Lanciana has been announced as the replacement for Todd. Having played the game since launch, he brings with himself a wealth of experience Atheltico are sure to look to propel themselves forward with. JoeyG had in fact replaced EmoRin at Taboo when the latter had joined Athletico Esports, and will now join forces with him on the same team.
In Season 8 JoeyG had finished in fourth place with his team, first known as SYF Gaming and then Freshman Class of 2018. He had also made it to second place in the Paris Major ANZ Qualifiers, with his team losing out to none other than Athletico itself.
4. [ANZ] Virtue and Cutie dropped by Dark Sided
ViewSonic.Dark Sided has undergone yet another significant change in its roster, with the duo of Jake "Virtue" Grannan and Bailey "Cutie" Murdoch leaving the team. There have been no replacements announced as of yet, but the move is sure to rock the boat for the team after their third place finish in Season 8. They will, however, have been smarting at missing out on an APAC LAN appearance and will look to improve their squad with this opportunity.
3. [ANZ] Todd Leaves Athletico Esports
Citing "internal issues" in a Twitlonger, long-standing Athletico Esports member, Todd "Todd" Francis has left the team. The move comes as a surprise after Athletico Esports had their best-ever Pro League season in Season 8, finishing in first place in ANZ, and making it to the Pro League APAC LAN Finals for the first time.
The team also had proved its worth by winning the 2017 ANZ Invitational, but of that roster only Todd and syliX stayed with Athletico until the team's next LAN appearance at the APAC Paris Major Qualifiers. Despite that recent upward trend, though, an international LAN appearance has eluded them both times when the opportunity was presented, with the Southeast Asian Aerowolf squad standing in their way each time.
2. [ANZ] Avant Gaming Signs ex-DedSet Roster
Earlier today on the PAX Australia stage in Melbourne, Australian organisation Avant Gaming announced the pick-up of the ex-DedSet roster. The signing is a significant step up for the roster, which only managed a fifth-place finish in Season 8 of the Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) Pro League, and was only three points away from the relegation zone in the top-heavy sub-region.
Now playing under their new organisation will be UnY (Captain), Flossy, Sheaffey, VICIOUS, Fishoguy, and Copper.
1. [JP] Aroer1na Retires From Competitive Siege
The Sengoku Gaming Extasy (SGE) player, Shuto "Aroer1na" Nasukawa has retired following his team's loss to Fnatic at the APAC LAN two weeks ago. Previously on eiNs, Aroer1na qualified for the Pro League Finals in Season 6, as well as the 2018 Six Invitational, with limited success in both tournaments.
Shortly afterwards, Aroer1na left eiNs to join SGE but has failed to make it out of the APAC region in every attempt since. His team fell to Fnatic in the Season 7 and Season 8 APAC LANs, and to Aerowolf at the Six Major Paris APAC Qualifers LAN.