As we approach the start of Season 11, I thought it would be good to look back at the OGs. Yes, I’m talking about the professionals known as the gunners, the grinders, and sometimes even known as “the freaks”. We’re talking about players who used to play professionally on the Xbox One, made the switch over to professionally on PC, and have lived to tell the tale. This is by no means an easy task, as changing the medium by which you play the game can be quite a setback, not to mention the need to purchase a top of the line PC. These pros made the switch and were able to stay on top.
As there are a lot of former PC professionals who made the switch, we will be strictly focusing on those who will be playing in Season 11 of Rainbow 6 Pro League. First, we will look at Europe, then Asia Pacific, and finally, North America.
Europe
BiBoo and RaFaLe
BiBoo at the 2018 Invitational.
BiBoo and RaFaLe are one of the oldest duos from the early days of Siege, having started playing the game competitively in Season One by qualifying into Pro League via Go4R6 points. BiBoo, RaFaLe, and three others would be playing under the name of Pingouins Tibétains against the 8 other teams, who qualified in a similar manner. However, just after two playdays, the Pingouins Tibétains would be picked up by Supremacy and would continue to play under them for the rest of their time on Xbox.
Supremacy would do quite well for the very first season of Pro League, placing third with 14 points, finishing the season 4-2-1, with their only loss being to Europe’s #1 seed, Team Vitality. Despite losing their LAN spot by 1 point to Team Infused, Supremacy would not give up their dream of making it to LAN. With the addition of Zephir, Supremacy would attend the Year 1 Season 2 finals as Europe’s second seed. While Supremacy would make the finals, they would be shut down by eventual winners of the tournament, Denial eSports, 2-0. BiBoo and RaFaLe understood they were improving, having made the jump from third to second was the boost they needed. However, they would not rest until they claimed first. With Season 3 fast approaching, BiBoo and RaFaLe would be joined by Spark. With this rejuvenating energy, Supremacy would go on to take first place in the overall season, ending the season 5-1-1, at 16 points. After defeating Onslaught Gaming 2-1, Supremacy had finally done it. After all the time spent together, BiBoo and RaFaLe had finally made it to the grand finals. Despite a valiant effort, all of the hard work that to achieve that first seed in Europe would be in vain, as this time it would be the second seed, Team Vitality, who would take the victory over Supremacy 2-1.
Pictured from L to R: ZephiR, BriD, RaFaLe, Spark, BiBoo.
Now BiBoo and RaFaLe had their last chance to make a name for themselves on Xbox. They didn’t know it at the time, however, the 2017 Invitational was the first and last Major that Pro League Xbox would ever appear in. By falling short at the Season 3 finals, Supremacy would not receive their regions invite, and would have to fight through the qualifiers. Unlike the previous tournaments, the APAC and LATAM regions would gain a spot through an open qualifier, leaving just one spot for the Europeans. After just barely squeezing through by placing second in the final qualifier, Supremacy would be defeated twice by Lucky7 Esports, once in the semi-finals and once in the loser’s finals. Supremacy’s run was over, had it not been for a miraculous turn of events, due to visa issues, the LATAM team known as “Santos Dexterity” was unable to attend. Since it was visa issues that were the problem, the runner up was also unable to attend. This led to Supremacy being sent instead, as they were the runner ups for the Season 3 Finals. It turned out that despite falling short, BiBoo and RaFaLe’s effort was not in vain, and they would be attending the first-ever Rainbow Six Pro League Major. In the end, these strokes of luck are most often trumped by skill, and that is just what happened. Supremacy would start off quite well, defeating the team who had previously pushed them out of the qualifier, Lucky7 Esports, 2-1. While this victory was a welcomed one for the team, facing off against the North American titan Team Elevate was to be another challenge entirely. The eventual winners of the event would defeat Supremacy 2-1, leaving BiBoo and RaFaLe’s legacy on Xbox with everything but a trophy in their hands.
BriD
BriD at Dreamhack Austin 2018. Credit: Alexander Scott
BriD’s story is an interesting contrast to that of BiBoo and RaFaLe’s. While BriD did not participate in any season of Pro League, he did participate in the online qualifiers under the team Lucky7 Esports. In the first qualifier, BriD’s team was able to storm through the qualifiers, giving them a spot in the closed qualifier. It was here where BriD would play against his future teammates, defeating them with a quick 2-0 in the semifinals, and then again in the loser’s finals. However, BriD would fall to Osterity Esports and their dreams of making it to the first ever invitational would be cut short. This would be where BriD’s story on Xbox ended, had the same luck that graced BiBoo and RaFaLe not rubbed off on to BriD. Osterity Esports was found to have not followed the rulebook correctly, giving Lucky7 Esports a spot at the first Six Invitational. Unfortunately, when the event came around, BriD was absent, leaving much to be desired as their first quarterfinal was a rematch between Lucky7 Esports and Supremacy.
Asia-Pacific
Acez and Dizzle
Mindfreak at the 2018 Invitational. From L to R: Dizzle, Kngz, Magnet, RizRaz, Lusty, Acez
Acez and Dizzle qualified for the Six Invitational by battling it out against 19 other teams in the Season 2 Major Cup. Dizzle and Acez stormed through the final bracket, losing no more than 2 rounds in best of ones, and winning the grand final 2-1. Despite this amazing run in order to qualify, they fell to Lethal Gaming in the quarter finals 2-0, featuring prominent names such as Easilyy and Kenz. With unfortunately no real chance to shine while on Xbox, these two are still prominent names in Rainbow Six Pro League today.
North America
Year 1 Season 1
LaXInG
LaXInG at the 2019 Invitational. Credit: Bruno Alvares.
LaXInG is one of the oldest players in all Pro League, as he can be found on a team in almost any season of Pro League or at any major event. For him it all began on the Xbox One, playing under EXcellence Gaming. They would go on to take the inaugural season of Xbox Pro League by storm, ending their season 5-1-1, and safely securing their second seed spot for the finals at 16 points. At the finals in Boston, EXcellence went up against Team Vitality, winning the series 2-1 after losing the first map. EXcellence Gaming then moved on to face Team Elevate in the finals, who had only taken first seed from them by one point. Team Elevate had beaten EXcellence Gaming 2-0 during the regular season, and LaXInG was back for revenge. Flipping the previous score line into their favor, EXcellence Gaming defeated Team Elevate with a score line of 2-0, and with that, LaXInG along with the rest of EXcellence Gaming became the first ever Xbox Pro League Champions.
Geoometerics
Geoometerics at the Raleigh Major.
While LaXInG had practically the best inaugural Pro League season you could have, this would not be the case for Geoometrics. Geoometrics entered Pro League under the roster of InstincT GG, who would later become Orbit. This roster, holding a total of nine players during the season overall, would would unfortunately be disqualified by the end of the season. While Geoometric’s season would end opposite to that of LaXInG’s, it would not be the end for him.
Year 1 Season 2
Skys, Geoometerics, and VertcL
Skys at the Season 10 finals in Tokoname, Japan
Under the banner of eXcellence Gaming, Skys, Geoometrics, and three others would go on to have an average season. Due to various roster changes, both eXcellence Gaming and Team Elevate’s rosters would split, which allowed the gaps on eXcellence Gaming to be filled by the two future super stars. Due to various reasons halfway through the season, Geoometrics would step away for a short period of time where VertcL would step in as a substitute. VertcL would go on to play out the rest of the season with the team, ending around 4th place overall. While these may not have been the desired results, Skys and VertcL performed quite well for their inaugural season.
LaXInG
LaXInG at the Season 10 finals in Tokoname, Japan
After such an amazing inaugural season, the EXcellence Gaming roster would undergo some changes. LaXInG split off to go join what remained of the first seasons Team Elevate roster, however this move would end in a poor showing by the end of the season. While his four former teammates, now under the organization Denial Esports, would go to the SeasonTwo finals, LaXInG would be quite far away from any dreams of making it to the finals. The Team Elevate roster would finish in 7th place at 0-4-2 at 4 points. While it was a dreadful season for LaXInG, this would not be the end of his story in Xbox Pro League.
Year 1 Season 3
LaXInG and Skys
Skys cheering at the Season 10 finals
For the first time, the Skys LaXInG duo was finally created. Now under eXcellence Gaming again, LaXInG and Skys would go on to prove why they are known as a fearsome duo today. Racing to the top of the scoreboard, eXcellence Gaming went on to decimate their competition, securing their spot at the Season 3 finals with a record of 4-2-0 and 14 points. While the duo did rock North American Pro League, it seemed this season that Europe was a whole different monster, as after the first day it was a European final. eXcellence Gaming would fall 2-0 to Team Vitality with a 5-3 score line on both maps. While ideally the duo would have liked to claim a championship, they instead fell to the eventual victors.
Bosco
Bosco after being named Team USA 2019
Often known as one of the best Smoke players in North America, Bosco got his start under the team Onslaught, a team notably featuring Easilyy. While it was a tightly contested spot for who would become the second seed at the Season 3 finals, Onslaught was able to take it over both 3SUP and SOAR Gaming by winning their final match. This put Onslaught at an ending record of 3-3-1 with 12 points, pushing them into second place by at the very most 2 points. While it was an impressive feat that Onslaught was able to slip into second place, Supremacy decided to one up them. Despite some impressive plays from Bosco, Supremacy took the series 2-1 after losing the first map. An unfortunate end to Bosco’s first Pro League Finals, however a welcome one for his first season in Pro League.
Six Invitational 2017
LaXInG, Skys, and Bosco
Bosco at the 2019 Six Invitational. Credit: Bruno Alvares
After the season 3 finals, various roster changes lead to Skys, LaXInG, and Bosco being on the same team along with England and FightiR. Under the Organization Team Elevate, this roster of LAN veterans would be the North American invited team for the 2017 Invitational. Due to being directly invited, the team was given a bye from the quarter finals, and effectively began the tournament in the semifinals. Their first match would be against Supremacy, which would be Team Elevates longest match of the tournament. After each team took a map each, it would be Skys to close out the final two rounds, ending the series 2-1. Now moving on to the grand finals, the trio would have to face off against Team Vitality, who was the reigning seasonal champion at that time. Despite the perceived threat of Team Vitality, the match would play out quite differently. In one of the most historic blowouts in siege history, Team Elevate would demolish Team Vitality 2-0, not losing a single round the entire series. Such an upset was unexpected, which only speaks to this trio’s ability, and why they remain in Pro League today.
VertcL
VertcL at the Six Major Raleigh 2019
Now under the organization Set To Destroy, it was up to VertcL and the rest of his team to work their way in through the online qualifiers. After minimal success in the first two qualifiers, VertcL would qualify for the closed qualifier from a forfeit win against a team featuring current Pro League player Krazy. Once in the closed qualifiers, VertcL’s team had a rough start, dropping immediately to the loser’s bracket after a 0-2 loss against Lethal Gaming. However, as Cinderella stories go, Set To Destroy would climb their way through the loser’s bracket, only dropping one map, to find themselves back up against Lethal Gaming in the grand finals. Due to coming in from the winner’s bracket, Lethal Gaming would be gifted a map. This would not prove to be helpful, as Set To Destroy would deliver two back-to -back 5-2 victories, winning them the series. This was a dream come true, coming back through the loser’s bracket on a revenge tour, just to crush the team who put you there in the first place. This would have played out perfectly, except the match result was overturned, and Lethal Gaming would be the team attending the invitational, not Set To Destroy. Despite a bitter end to VertcL’s Xbox career, an impressive feat none the less.