Following four seasons of competitions in North America and two seasons in Europe, the CCS league will now run an all-women's league over the coming months in these two regions, with the aim of “highlighting the ever-growing skill of female Siege players as they attempt to rise up through the R6 competitive scene”.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen all-women’s leagues in R6, with the Latin American region hosting a number of tournaments such as the Circuito Feminino tournament, the LSA Circuit, and the Women’s Super League, which helped attract multiple Pro League calibre organisations to the women's scene, including Black Dragons, INTZ e-Sports, and ReD DevilS. Despite this effort, however, the Latin American region has never had a female player in the Pro or Challenger League. As of today, there are just two female players in the Pro League around the world -- Goddess for the Soniqs and Loona for Team SiNister -- as well as two coaches -- uyen for FURY and Lyloun for Team Vitality.
The Black Dragons Women's roster lifting the Game XP Circuito Feminino 2019 trophy via @rainbow6br’s flickr
These tournaments have also garnered a lot of controversy on their announcement due to the gender restrictions, so we spoke to one of the organisers of the league, Jessica "Jess" Bolden, who previously coached the Pro League team of PENTA about what the goals are for this league:
What's the ideal outcome for this tournament?
The ideal outcome for this is multifaceted. We want to use this league to provide further competitive options for the already growing amounts of female teams that exist throughout North America and Europe. We also want to use this league to highlight particular players who may fit well within other leagues like the Challenger and Pro League. Short term, it is to provide another platform of competitive outlet for women and long term, it is to highlight the skills of female players as sort of a "scouting ground".
We've seen a backlash from tournaments such as this in the past; what would you say to people taking issue with these rules?
Many people want to take offence to segregation. We all should. But in this particular case, we have empirical evidence that some women are afraid to engage in mixed competitive teams. This means they do not engage at all. We want to break this ice and believe this league will show women in these cases that the competitive world is not a scary environment, rather one where they can flourish. The community should celebrate any idea, no matter its method, that promotes inclusion and diversity, even though the use of rules such as these, especially with long term positives.
Do you have a message for potential players considering taking part?
Give. It. A. Go. If you do not give something a go, you won't know if you like it. You don't have to be the best, know the call outs or even have played ANY competitive before. We want all women to feel like they can engage in this league and feel like they are getting the same experience they would in any other competitive environment. You will get to make friends, learn the game more thoroughly and promote women in esports.
Jess coaching PENTA via @PENTA_Sports
Format
The league will invite teams on a first-come-first-serve basis, with a priority given to pre-made teams up to an eight-team maximum per region. This means there will be no actual qualifiers taking place. The format will then see a round-robin, best-of-one map league take place, with its length determined by how many teams have signed up in each region. The ruleset will match that of the Pro League, with the usual map and operator pools with the addition of three-rounds of overtime if needed.
At the end of the league, all the participating teams will advance to the playoffs, with the league standings determining their seedings. At this point, no teams would have been knocked out as the league is designed to be “showcasing the competitive talent” involved.
Schedule
The signups will be open from Sunday the 18th of August till Saturday the 7th of September, where the league will be aiming to attract eight teams from both North America and Europe to fill out the league. The signup page will be available when signups open next week so keep an eye out on the CCS Twitter account here and their Battlefly page here for more updates.
Following this, the games will be played every Wednesday from September 18th, starting at 7pm local time (CET for the European league and ET for the North American league), with the playoff dates yet to be determined.
So far, the European talent has been confirmed, with Jess and Sternab casting while med1cz observes, whereas, in North America, Volkquin will be observing, with the casters yet to be chosen.
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And so, that’s what you can expect over the next few months from the CCS before Season 5 comes to us sometime this Winter. Keep your eyes and ears peeled at the SiegeGG and CCS Twitter accounts for more info on this new project as it unravels!