Mkers won North America’s official off-season competition ELEMENT THREE after tonight’s victory against Wildcard. It wasn’t the team’s only win against a top-flight roster as they took down Soniqs in the group stage.
Mkers joined the North American professional scene of Rainbow Six Siege after signing the roster of T2 Warriors following the team’s qualification for the North America League 2024 Stage 1 qualifier playoffs. The players would qualify for the region’s Last Chance Qualifiers after winning the qualifier playoffs. Unfortunately, the team’s Cinderella run to Manchester was stopped by the eventual qualifier winners Spacestation Gaming.
Following Mkers’ defeat against the astronauts, both teams met again in the Esports World Cup open qualifiers lower bracket final. Again, Spacestation Gaming would defeat the Italian organization.
However, Mkers would redeem themselves at the ELEMENT THREE after a 3-1 record in the Swiss Stage and a first-place finish in the tournament’s Group A, including a victory against Soniqs. The team’s only defeat there came against Upper Deckie, a roster with multiple former top-flight players like Davide “FoxA” Bucci, Mitch “Dream” Malson, and M80’s recent signing Paul “Hyper” Kontopanagiotis.
After securing Group A’s top seed, Mkers defeated Spacestation Gaming Academy in the semifinals after victories on Nighthaven Labs (8-7) and Skyscraper (7-2). Eventually, Mkers defeated Wildcard on the same maps but by 7-3 and 8-6 scores, respectively.
Despite ELEMENT THREE being the first edition to include top-flight teams, the winning team ended up being a Tier 2 roster. The team’s only former top-flight player was Jaidan “Packer” Franz who, curiously enough, played for Wildcard in the second split of the North America League 2023.
With this win, the Italian organization ended up earning US$13,000 as they got the highest placements from both the base and the T2 Booster prize pool. The second-highest earning team in the competition wasn’t Wildcard but Spacestation Gaming Academy, as they reached the semi-finals as a Tier 2 roster.
North America’s upcoming off-season tournament, the Wildcard RESTART 2024, will include five top-flight teams in Wildcard, Soniqs, Spacestation Gaming, Oxygen Esports, and Luminosity Gaming, and three more teams from the closed qualifiers.