With a number of national and sub-regional tournaments taking place around Europe each week, most of which offer Challenger League qualification spots, it can be hard to keep a track of all the Siege happening in the region and so here's a quick rundown of all the action you may have missed:
Jump to:
- Benelux League Finals
- GSA League
- 6 French League Season 2
- PG Nationals
- Elsewhere in Europe
- Regional Changes
Benelux League Finals - LLL Doles out an L
The Benelux Finals took place last weekend as the LowLandLions, Sector One, Epsilon eSports and UX Gaming all competed for the title of Benelux champions and the latter three competed to join the LowLandLions in 2020's Faceit Challenger League.
After LLL sent UX out in a 7-0, 7-0 scoreline, a three map thriller saw Sector One win the Challenger League spot before losing 3-1 to LLL in the grand-final. You can read more about the Finals here.
GSA League - Rogue And G2 Share Points
Five days after playing in the European League, Rogue and G2 Esports faced each other once again -- this time in the GSA League. This was a big game for Rogue, as it sat seventh after a very sloppy start. Meanwhile, G2 Esports sits in first place with six wins out of six possible, a perfect score that Rogue had to break in order to keep up with Team Secret’s pace.
The match started with a very quick rush from G2 onto Armory Lockers, as UUNO -- who was playing Thermite with the M1014 shotgun -- directly rushed the site after the exothermic charge exploded, with the ensuing chaos resulting in a narrow recovery by Virtue against LeonGids. Another round would go to G2, while the third would be the definition of G2’s time so far in the GSA League -- with the roster using Montagne, Amaru, and Glaz in the same round. Rogue had a better time in this round, though, and was able to get a round on the board.
A flawless round then followed, featuring CTZN using Amaru with an SMG-11 without a sight but with a suppressor. Rogue seemed to get back in the game as they finally won an Armory Lockers/Archives defence prompting G2 to then select a more common line-up, as CTZN swapped Amaru for Nokk -- although with the shotgun -- and Kanto swapped Glaz for Sledge. This seemed to work, as G2 quickly got control of the round with two kills over LeonGids and Korey, but a very intelligent roam play by Aceez got him a 4k, which helped his team to win their last defense.
The game got very exciting after the side swap, as neither team was able to take control of the match. G2 successfully won the seventh round, however they lost the next one after UUNO was left alone in a 1v2 post-plant situation. This was answered then by another win from G2, but Rogue tied the score with an almost flawless attack onto Armory. After this exchange of rounds, Rogue finally broke the curse and won another Armory attack, giving them the chance to provide G2 with their first loss in the competition. However, an unexpected defence in Tellers/Bathroom by G2 was unanswered by Rogue, leaving Rogue with just a point.
This draw might feel like a loss for Rogue, in actuality, as they are now six points from the top-four to qualify to the GSA League Finals. However, they have got a great chance to get closer to this part of the table as Team Secret and G2 Esports will be playing each other the next week, while Rogue will face second-placed DIVIZON.
In the other games of the round, DIVIZON got a very important win on Consulate against the European League team of Team Secret, with the former now considered the favourites to take the German Challenger League spot. FACT Gaming, their closest contenders, are third with 12 points as they beat mYinsanity by 7-1. The last match of the day was between Turtle eSport and WarKidz, with the latter taking a 7-5 win.
6 French League S2 - Tempra Falls Against PENTA
After both sides kicked off the league by taking at least a point, the match between Tempra Esports and PENTA was set to excite, with the former being an European League team and the latter having very narrowly missed out on promotion to it.
After drawing on Monday against Chaos in their European League debut, Tempra had to focus on their national obligations as they faced the CL side of PENTA. Playing on Kafé, and with Thatcher and Hibana banned, the defenders were expected to have the lead. PENTA started on defence with a very sloppy round, as Chaoxys and Voy were left alone in a 2v5 that Chaoxys reduced to a 1v1.
After getting his fourth kill, he quickly planted in Cocktail, leaving Kaktus -- who was playing Clash -- in a 1v1 situation. Although everyone expected the Tempra player to complete his ace, Kaktus got the final kill of the round and successfully defused to give his team the first round of the match. The next round, too, saw an exciting 2v4 from Voy and Chaoxys, with the latter denying the plant by downing two players and collecting the third trying to revive the two.
PENTA successfully won the following round with an incredible triple kill by BlaZ, who got all these kills in a space of five seconds, but the following defense was even better for the Challenger League side, as PENTA went flawless. What was surprising though was that at this stage of the game, Chaoxys had nine kills, while the rest of his team combined only had three. Despite that, however, Tempra was not out of the game yet, having had finished the attack half 2-4.
After winning two of their first three defences, Tempra’s comeback hopes were raised but then quickly dashed after PENTA won the tenth round as well, meaning that they would get at least a point. There was little more that Tempra could do, though, as PENTA took the same site again and thus the 7-4 victory.
As such, the game marked Tempra’s first loss in the league but there is still a fair way to go. The team is still in a comfortable spot, with its strength certainly set to grow as it racks up experience through the European League.
PG Nationals - IGP Burns Mkers Hopes To Make Challenger League
The PG Nationals semi-finals were played this weekend and gave us two very exciting matches. The first saw Mkers face IGP, while SirBoss’ team, Samsung Morning Stars, faced GoSkilla, with the former being the game to watch.
After finishing in first place during the regular phase, after only losing two matches, the Mkers players had to beat IGP in order to keep their Challenger League hopes alive. Mkers was also the clear favourite, not just because of its record in the regular phase, but also due to its dominance in Italy as this roster has won every top-Italian competition since 2016.
The first map played was Kafe, with IGP starting on defense. Both sides had played on Kafe in the very first week of the regular phase, with Mkers having won 7-3. This time, the game followed a pretty similar script as Mkers won by a 7-4 margin, with IGP only winning three of their six defenses. After swapping sides, Mkers pulled out an advantage pretty quickly as they won the following three rounds. Although IGP staved off the first match point, Mkers gave little chance to their opponents while defending Kitchen and took the map.
The second map of the series was played on Theme Park, another defended sided map. This time, it was Mkers’ turn to start on defense and, surprisingly, the Italian team only won three rounds, which gave IGP a big chance to make it to the third map. However, Mkers got to match point pretty quickly once again after winning the first three attacks after the swap. Another round win and they would be in the PG Nationals Grand Final for a chance to make it back to Challenger League.
IGP, though, woke up. Both teams suddenly looked completely unrecognisable from before and IGP not only forced overtime but won the thirteenth and fourteenth rounds of the map, forcing the third map of the series.
On the reworked Oregon the teams once again gave it everything they had and were once again evenly matched after regulation time. Mkers then started overtime off on the right foot, with a great push through the basement that left Brodello alone in an impossible 1v4 post-plant situation. Mkers was, for the second time in the day, one round away from progressing to the next round.
However, IGP won the fifteenth round after a clean attack onto the basement, with the round won by IGP in the early stagesas Atroci killed Hibana, limiting Mkers’ options for attack. Mkers then decided to push from the main window in dormitories, but IGP managed to drop the defuser away from the site and won the round by time.
As such, this marks the first time that Mkers doesn’t make it to the grand finals, while IGP will be playing Samsung Stars for a chance to make it to Challenger League.
Elsewhere in Europe
Polish Masters:
This week saw a notable upset as Invicta -- the league's favourites with two ex-Challenger League players -- lost their second game of the season against fifth-placed devils.one (5-7) creating a gap at the top of the table between them and SLAVGENT. This gives Slavgent a notable advantage going into tonight's game against Invicta as they fight for a spot at the top of the table in which the victor becomes the firm favourites to take the national title and Challenger League spot.
The statistics between the two teams
MNEB Nationals:
The Hungarian national league playoffs took place this week as the second to sixth-placed teams -- WiLD MultiGaming, Team Plague, Budapest Five, Genesis Gaming and Illés Akadémia Spirit -- competed in a ladder format to see which one team will meet Salamander in the Finals. Despite a number of close games, everyone in the ladder was won by the higher seed up until the final game where Team Plague defeated WiLD for a spot to compete for the national title.
Salamander went on to smash Plague 3-0 (8-6, 7-4, 7-2) to be crowned the Hungarian national champions!
Salamander -- DogeFather (), Hedsut (), StriKe (), w1oza (), Prox () and F4uw () (their coach)
Regional Changes
A number of notable roster changes and announcements took place this week in the EU Nationals:
MENA Regional League Revealed
A long-awaited Ubisoft supported regional league has been announced for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) starting next month. The tournament will offer a huge $41,000 prize pool putting it in line with the GSA League as one of the biggest in the world and signals a possible inclusion of the sub-region in future R6 esports seasons similar to how the ESL India Series preempted the addition of South Asia into APAC South.
UK Ireland Nationals
The qualifiers for the UK Ireland Nationals finished last weekend with the following teams making it into the league:
London Esports -- Sejinex (), Temp (), Meds (), Virch () and Nerf () Demise -- Sh4ttered (), AnThraX (), Alfiee (), Law () and Hxsti ()
As well as this, it was announced that the three-times league champions of Natus Vincere would be competing in the tournament thanks to a direct invite indicating they may be playing with a substitute to fulfil the majority British requirement.
These teams now join MnM Gaming, Audacity Esports, Cowana Gaming, Fierce Esports, and Vexed Gaming in the league with most of the invited organisations currently having unconfirmed lineups. Also, this week saw the entrance of Rickard "Secretly" Olofsson -- the ex-Pro League and Six Invitational player -- onto Fierce Esports in the UKIN possibly signalling another serious challenger for the Challenger League spot.
forZe Roster Leaves Organisation
The forZe lineup which qualified for the 2020 Faceit Challenger League last month has left their organisation after playing just seven games under their banner. This follows two roster changes in the team over recent weeks as Always and OzoneY was replaced by ViKiNG and Neky with a new organisation announcement likely in the coming weeks.
ex-forZe -- SmashByAsh (), eXoduSS (), Leri (), ViKiNG () and Neky ()
p0Lo Leaves GamerLegion for Heretics
The Spanish player best known for his appearance at the Season 10 Finals for Ninjas in Pyjamas has left his most recent team in GamerLegion to rejoin his ex-teammate from his game on NiP of baroz in the Spanish challengers of Team Heretics. The team currently sits as one of the main three challengers for the Spanish national title and accompanying Challenger League spot alongside Movistar Riders and Giants Spain.
Team Heretics -- Kuriboh (), baroz (), p0Lo (), sakke (), JuK4 () and Noel () (their coach)
Official German Language Twitter Account Launches
Joining the R6esports, R6esportsNA, R6esportsEU, R6esportsBR, R6esportsAPAC and R6esports_FR accounts is the R6esportsDE account which will provide German-language coverage of all tournaments related to the scene
Hello world! Here we will provide you with all the news about the European League & the GSA League 2020!
Electrify Esports Picks Up an APAC Lineup
With the pickup of the Taiwanese APAC North lineup last week, Electrify, like Giants Gaming, now holds teams in both APAC North and the Spain Nationals. This likely means they will need to drop the later team soon to avoid a conflict of interest now that the Spain Nationals is tied in with the Challenger League.
This conflict will likely also lead to an announcement regarding the Samsung Morning Stars PG Nationals team as both SMS and Tempra Esports in the EU League are ran by the same company, Dive Esports.
Vodafone Giants Gaming -- vASS1LYY (), jwey (), Iluzjonist (), Theroxz () and Curr3nSy () Electrify Esports -- javixu (), JoT4 (), Welshyy (), JU4MP4 () and aLex () Samsung Morning Stars -- j3n4 (), SirBoss (), Keenan (), Fratelli () and Hunter ()
Keep an eye out for weekly coverage of these leagues as they continue and we find out which other teams will join LowLandLions, PENTA, ex-forZe and Sector One in the 2020 Faceit Challenger League.