With the announcement of the future of the North American League and, specifically, the Canadian Division of the tournament, the Montréal-based organisation of Mirage has acquired a star-filled lineup to compete in the league.
Captaining this team is the ex-Challenger League player from the Season 10 lineup of Shrug and caster for the 2019 Six Invitational, Season 9 and 10 Pro League Finals, and 2018 US Nationals, Rob "Flynn" Flynn. Joining Flynn on the team are a number of ex-Pro and Challenger League players, as well as a few fresh names.
Firstly we have the ex-Pro League player from Year 2 of Kyle "zilchy" Wrigglesworth, who made it to the Season 4 quarter-finals alongside Pojoman, Hotancold, and Mint on Flipsid3 Tactics. Next up is Chase "NotLoading" Neely, Flynn's teammate from Shrug who played in Seasons 9 and 10 of the Challenger League. While being an American, he can play due to an allowance of a maximum of one American allowed in the Canadian league.
Finally, we have the two relatively new players of Peter "Silent" Christie-Cnossen and Alexandre "quartz" Moranta, who both have little prior experience as they both had only recently turned 18. The five players now join the organisation of Mirage ahead of the Canadian Division's Pro League qualifiers on May 30-31st.
To know more about the signing, SiegeGG spoke to Flynn:
Could you introduce your team to us?
Mirage is a roster you could probably all relate to. A lot of us have taken runs in competitive leagues previously and come up short, and I think we’ve all taken different lessons from those losses. I’m Flynn, you may have seen me on a desk casting or being made fun of for my incredibly awkward arm placement while playing. I’m a support player through and through, my aim is trash and everyone knows it. But, I pride myself on my communications and teamwork and, with this team, I feel right at home knowing they have my back in the fragging department while I hold F and try not to die. Flynn casting the Season 10 Pro League Finals. Loading is one of my best friends in the world, and a grossly underrated player in NA in my opinion. He’s our rock, our IGL, my support duo, the definition of consistency, and I couldn’t imagine playing on a team without him. Zilchy is a name many may recognize from Flipsid3 in 2016, and he’s become a very good friend of mine through our mutual friend z1ronic. Zilchy is our team dad, keeps us zoomers in line whenever we step out, and fills any hole in our lineup as the flex. Quartz is the team’s wildcard for sure, I’ve only known him for a few weeks now, but he surprises me daily, whether it be through humour or gameplay. I’ve been incredibly impressed with his ability to navigate challenging situations in game and turn lost rounds into wins. Silent might be the most talented player on the roster, and being so young in comparison to the rest of us I can only imagine how high his ceiling truly is. I’m looking forward to seeing him have triple my kills every day, should be real good for my ego.
After your time in the Challenger League and behind the desk of many an event, you now come back swinging as a dedicated competitive player. How did you decide this is what you wanted to do?
Signing with Mirage prior to the qualifiers themselves is a certain show of confidence. How certain are you of becoming one of the four Canadian Division teams?
Signing early is definitely a huge vote of confidence and I thank Mirage endlessly for it, but with how we’ve been performing lately I have no reservations about making the Canadian Division. Obviously in a single elimination best of one bracket anything can happen, but the team we have put together has been around the block a few times and I’m sure we’ll surprise a few people.
What is your opinion of the future path Rainbow Six is taking, inside North America and globally as well?
I’ve made it quite public I’m not a fan of dividing the regions by country, in my own opinion. I believe it restricts growth of talent by limiting who can play with each other. In any sport you’ll have players from multiple countries on any given roster and that’s simply because drawing from a pool of 7 billion people will net you better results than a fraction of that. I’m not quite sure what the obsession is with imposing country restrictions, but if these are the new rules then so be it, we’re here to win and we’ll do it any way we can while abiding by all rules and regulations.
What made you settle on Mirage as the organisation to sign with?
I have a close personal and professional relationship with Mirage’s ownership, and they called me saying they wanted to build a roster. From that point on, I’ve been committed to building a roster for them that can reach the heights we’re all dreaming of. Just competing is not satisfactory for the organization or the team, we are not just a participant, we are here to dominate. Mirage believes in us, we believe in their vision for the future in Canada, and I couldn’t think of a better organization with better ownership to represent.
Mirage has previously competed in Seasons 1 and 2 of the Canadian Nationals in 2018, where they finished in fifth and sixth with a completely different lineup.
Outside of R6, they also hold teams in games such as Rocket League -- where they finished joint fifth at DreamHack Montreal 2018 and competed in their equivalent of the Challenger League -- Fortnite, Rocket League, Smash Ultimate, League of Legends, and Clash of Clans.
Most recently, however, the organisation was acquired by Northern Arena, the tournament organiser who ran the first three Canadian National events back in 2018.
As many of the well known Canadian names are aiming to stay within the US Division of the North American League, this makes this lineup likely the favourites within the Candian subregion. Should they qualify for the four-team Canadian Pro League tournament, the team will then be playing "in lockstep with the US Division's tournament schedule" in weely best-of-three matches.
Winning this tournament will both qualify them for the Regional Qualifiers each Stage where they can win a spot at the following Major while also earning themselves Global Standings Points to go towards the Six Invitational leaderboard.
As well as this lineup, 17 other teams have signed up to the qualifiers as well, the most notable of which being "Squires" which includes the American ex-CCS champion who's previously played on both Disrupt Gaming and Rise Nation in Mason "DotD4sh" Brasher.
This Mirage team will likely be one of the most important Canadian teams to play at a professional tier, and one which will hopefully lead to increased competition and viewership within the newly revamped Canadian scene. The players will thus first be in action in a weeks time with the following lineup:
Rob "Flynn" Flynn Kyle "zilchy" Wrigglesworth Alexandre "quartz" Moranta Peter "Silent" Christie-Cnossen Chase "NotLoading" Neely
