Note: The following responses were made a few weeks before the Challenger League kicked off meaning a few transfers had yet to be made.
As usual, the Challenger League in Europe will see eight teams play in a best-of-one map double-round-robin format tournament. Subsequently, the top two after the 14 playdays will progress straight into the Pro League for next season, without any relegation matches, as the league expands to 10 teams next season.
The Challenger League Season 11 lineup of teams via @Rainbow6Benelux
Seeds 1-4
First up, here are the four teams coming in after their Season 10 performances:
PENTA
ENEMY, RevaN, BlaZ, Kaktus, Alive, Janix (their substitute) and BiOs (their coach)
While PENTA is the second most successful organisation in R6 history, with this being the first season not in the Pro League, success has been lacking following the sale of the now-G2 Esports roster. Now, following the pickup of three new players, they will aim to climb back up to the upcoming top-tier European league after having been relegated by forZe in Season 10.
PENTA at the 6 French League LAN Finals
GiFu eSports
Bounssi, Movetaho, jonitr, OSKAMOSKA and Kalenski
Despite being a very different looking GiFu than many are used to seeing, this fully Finnish roster is keen to make it back to the Pro League as one of R6’s oldest teams after being relegated by BDS Esport last season. Since then, they merged with the KKona KKopteri roster to form this lineup, with just Jouni "Bounssi" Salo left from their time on ENCE eSports.
Team Secret
meepeY, LeonGids, Fonkers, blas, jNSzki and Helbee (their coach)
Despite being one of just five teams in R6S history to win more than one cross-regional tournaments -- DreamHack Valencia 2018 and the 2019 Allied Minor -- this is now the third Challenger League season for Team Secret in the last five seasons. While Secret did win Season 7 of the league and secured promotion, the team was sent right back down in Season 9 and was pipped to the Season 11 spots by BDS and forZe.
Team Secret with their Allied Minor trophy. From left to right: meepeY, Ferral, Helbee, Fonkers, LeonGids and Elemzje.
OrgLess
KS, Drvn, Prano, Hife, Exp0m, Omerta and Lazzo (their two coaches)
Just like GiFu, this team is not like the OrgLess many are used to, with just KS remaining from the Season 9 roster that played in the Pro League less than a year ago. Since then, three players have been picked up by other Pro League rosters -- ripz and korey to Rogue and Cryn to G2 -- leading to this fresh-faced lineup made up of primarily inexperienced players keen to break into the top league in Europe for the very first time.
Seeds 5-8
After five initial open qualifiers taking place on January 6-February 6th, the top 16 teams played in a best-of-three map double-elimination bracket to find the top four teams to complete the Challenger League lineup of teams:
The upper-bracket of the Closed Qualifiers via @ESIX_EN
IziDream
Chaoxys, P4, Dirza, Shiinka and Voy
After finishing third in last year’s 6 French League national tournament ahead of the Pro League team of PENTA and finishing joint with G2 Esports in the Six Invitational qualifiers, IziDream destroyed their opposition during the Challenger League open qualifiers with a 32-4 win-loss record, before winning the Closed Qualifiers while not dropping more than a single map.
Considering the team's record, and the fact it includes three members of the Pro League Season 6 team of ARES Esport, this makes IziDream the most formidable team entering the Challenger League. As such, we spoke to Christophe "Chaoxys" Soares about the team and their chances in Season 11:
Firstly, can you introduce your team to us?
IziDream at the 6 French League Finals
You’ve been working with Voy and DraZ (their previous coach) since Year 2 and with this team for eight months, how has this experience together helped the roster?
You played the last of your Challenger League qualifier games at a bootcamp, how did this help and can we expect your team to be playing together like that during the season?
Your team has already defeated forZe and PENTA and was within a few rounds from defeating Rogue at the 6 French League LAN. How have you been able to challenge and defeat Pro League teams with limited top-tier experience together?
How well do you expect to do this season and which other teams do you think will be the biggest challenge?
Salamander
DogeFather, Hedsut, Rep, StriKe, w1oza and F4uW (their coach)
Including one player from the Hungarian national champions of WiLD MultiGaming, and three players from the league’s runners-up of RIFT Esports, this team previously qualified for last Season’s Challenger League as well before it was disqualified for playing with Ferenc "SirBoss" Mérész.
Since then, they stayed together to defeat PENTA in the Six Invitational qualifiers before very narrowly qualifying for the Challenger League Closed qualifiers thanks to a sixth-place finish in the fourth qualifier. Despite prior difficulties, they then narrowly defeated the top-seeded Russian and Spanish seeds and defeated the top Benelux roster 2-0 to qualify for the Challenger League yet again. We spoke to the team’s captain, Gábor “DogeFather” Juhász, about their path here and what comes next:
Firstly, can you introduce your team to us?
After being disqualified last season, how have you improved over the last six months to prepare for Season 11?
You initially struggled in the Open Qualifiers before storming through the Closed Qualifiers, what changes between the stages?
None of the Salamander roster has extensive experience outside of Hungary, will this inexperience compared to teams like Secret, Trust, and PENTA hurt your chances?
How well do you expect to do this season and which other teams do you think will be the biggest challenge?
Defusekids
Leonski, Avaiche, Deapek, Next1, Cryn and Sternab (their coach)
Best known as Trust Gaming, the three-times Benelux champions are back in the Challenger League after finishing Season 9 in third-place and Season 10 in seventh. To get this far, they secured a 32-4 record during the Open Qualifiers before then losing to Salamander in the closed qualifier winners’ bracket and, finally, defeating the Russian lineup of Unique Team to book their spot in the league.
With victories over the Latin American Pro League rosters of Team oNe eSports and Team Liquid and the pickup of two ex-Pro League players -- the ex-Chaos player of Arif "Next1" Keskin and ex-G2 and Na'Vi player of Pascal "Cryn" Alouane -- the team has serious potential to become one of the most successful esports teams in Dutch history. We spoke to the two longest remaining players on the team, Dean "Avaiche" Groenen and Leon "Leonski" Snikkers, about their chances this season:
Note: All the following responses were made prior to them joining the Defusekids organisation.
Firstly, can you introduce your team to us?
DK with their Benelux Season 4 trophy via @Deapek_R6
Unlike previous seasons, you currently lack a coach and an org behind you. Do you think this will hurt your chances this season?
Note: The following question and response were also made prior to Sternab joining the team.
What does Sternab bring to the team?
Halfway through the Challenger League qualifiers you replaced Meadzzz and JinxedOwl with your previous teammate of Quadzy and the ex-Pro League player of Next1. Why did you chose to make this change so late on and how do you think the team has improved since?
How well do you expect to do this season and which other teams do you think will be the biggest challenge?
CR4ZY
pacbull, dats, M4DMAN, Jonka, Nathan and rcuth (their coach)
The Cr4zy organisation's victor's graphic via @gocr4zy
Finally, we have CR4ZY (ex-MnM Gaming), who hopes to follow in the last MnM Gaming roster to qualify for the Challenger League as they went on to win the league, get acquired by Natus Vincere and become Pro League champions six months later.
At the moment, this CR4ZY roster has already been crowned the reigning British national champions after winning the last ESL Premiership season. It also knocked out OrgLess, Vitality, G2 Esports and Chaos in the Six Invitational qualifiers, making it a very strong early contender for the Challenger League title.
In the CL open qualifiers, they struggled initially before achieving a second-place finish in the third qualifier to finish fourth overall. Then, in the closed qualifiers, they beat Ronald Mc Dyrt Byke by a single round and lost to IziDream, before finally defeating GamerLegion to become the last team to qualify for Season 11 of the Challenger League. We spoke to the team’s coach, Ramiz "rcuth" Cuthbert, about their prior successes and hopes this season:
Firstly, can you introduce your team to us?
CR4ZY defeated three Pro League teams including G2 at the Invitational qualifiers but struggled in the Challenger League qualifiers. Why was this?
You previously coached OrgLess and the core of GiFu, how does working with CR4ZY compared to those other two teams?
What has the support from the CR4ZY organisation been like?
How well do you expect to do this season and which other teams do you think will be the biggest challenge?
MnM Gaming at the ESL Premiership Winter 2019 Finals via @MnMGamingUK
Schedule
These teams will kick off the Challenger League tonight presumably on the rainbowsix_uk and rainbow6 channels starting from 19:00CEST where we will see the following games:
The schedule and streams via @R6esportsEU
The following names will be casting the games in English while Nicolas "Swish" Bouhier and Paul "Frenchi" Droal will cast the games in French on the rainbow6fr Twitch and RainbowSixFrance YouTube channels.
The talent lineup via @R6esportsEU
Keep an eye out here at SiegeGG for full coverage of all three Challenger League regions over the next week.