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NA Stage 2 Everything You Need to Know — North American League, Challenger League & Collegiate Championship

Next week sees the a number of tournaments within the NA region kick off, from tiers one to three. Here's a quick rundown of everything you can expect.

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Major Circuit, Challenger League, and Collegiate tournaments will all take place over the next few months, as teams in both the USA and Canada prepare for the upcoming November Regional Major, the North American Finals in December, and the Six Invitational qualifiers in January.

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Major Circuit

Stage 2 will see the same format, talent, and schedule as Stage 1, kicking off tonight with the Regional Major on November 6th. The only changes come within the teams taking part.

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The Stage 1, Six Invitational, and US National champions at the OGA PIT Minor.

United States Division

  1. Spacestation Gaming -- Thinkingnade, Rampy, Bosco, Fultz, Canadian, Lycan (coach), Sov (coach), and EkuL (analyst)
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  1. Team SoloMid -- Achieved, Beaulo, Merc, Geoometrics, Chala, Pojoman (coach), and Daeda (analyst)
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  1. Oxygen Esports -- FoxA, LaXInG, VertcL, Slashug, B1ologic, HOP3Z (coach), and Redeemer (coach)
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  1. DarkZero Esports -- Mint, HotanCold, Hyper, Skys, Ecl9pse, BC (coach), and eCentral (analyst)
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  1. Susquehanna Soniqs -- Supr, Gomfi, SlebbeN, Easilyy, Iconic, and Jobro (coach)
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  1. Tempo Storm -- Creators, Dream, Krazy, Mark, Jarvis, KenZ (coach), DnA (analyst) and RaMz (analyst)
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  1. Disrupt Gaming -- Read, Retro, Shuttle, njr, J9O, EvilWaffle (coach), and Mango (analyst)
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  1. eUnited -- Gryxr, Yeti, Alphama, Rexen, Kanzen, and meepeY (analyst)
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With a number of these teams making huge changes prior to stage one, we only saw a few changes leading into stage two. The biggest change in numbers came from eUnited with them replacing two players -- Seth "Callout" Mik and Roman "Forrest" Breaux -- as well as their coach of Colby "Bagel" Smith with the ex-Luminosity player of Richie "Rexen" Coronado and the newcomer of Evan "Kanzen" Bushore.

Rexen had this to say about the new lineup:

As of now, I don't know how much I can speak on it, but we're playing a little more traditional Siege, with aggressiveness in between, because that's how we are as a team... The playstyle has definitely changed from what it used to be with the two previous players, at least I feel. I feel like with time, we will contend in Majors.
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Rexen at the OGA PIT Minor.

The sixth and seventh-placed teams of Tempo Storm and Disrupt also made changes with Tempo replacing their Italian import of Manuel "Sloppy" Malfer with the ex-DZ, TSM, and LG player of Sam "Jarvis" Jarvis who makes his return to the top-flight after four months out. Disrupt, meanwhile, opted to kick the player of Zachary "Nyx" Thomas to be replaced by the Soniqs' temporary stand-in of Jack "J9O" Burkard. Nyx stated the following about the change:

I have done a lot of thinking and realize that my personality is one that is hard to mesh with. I am determined, hardworking, resilient, and most of all vocal. I think my tendency of being so vocal causes tension within teams and I am working countless hours on trying to fix this. I apologize to anyone that I have teamed with if I have said anything to upset you or demotivate you etc. I can assure you my intentions are not to bring you down.

Games will kick off tonight with DarkZero vs Soniqs and Oxygen vs Tempo Storm with SSG vs eU and TSM vs Disrupt on Wednesday. Check out the following articles for a more in-detail rundown of stage two of the NAL:

Canadian Division

  1. Mirage -- Flynn, NotLoading, zilchy, Silent, Quartz, Forceful (coach), imp (analyst), and Devpetm (their two analysts)
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  1. Nordik Esports -- Bosak, S4, Stormz, LakQii, Skvz, oGrievous (coach), and Vezzy (coach)
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  1. Altiora -- SzymaTwo, Misio, Guns, and Spiritz
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  1. LiViD Gaming -- Zigalo, OmegaProject, Spektrum, Bryan, and Hiperzz
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After a last-place finish during stage one, LiViD hopes to avoid the relegation zone as they brought on the ex-Pro League player of Bryan "Bryan" Agema as well as the relative newcomer of "Hiperzz" to the roster. Bryan is a veteran of two Majors and two Pro League Finals, peaking with a joint third-place finish at the 2018 Six Invitational on Rogue, making him the most experienced player in the league.

Also of note is the exit of Mason "DotDash" Brasher from Altiora as he moves to join MeT in the Mexican Championship, with his replacement on the lineup unconfirmed as of now. Finally, after an impressive North American League Qualifier performance from Mirage during Stage 1, both them and Nordik will be hoping to compete regionally without making any major changes.

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Flynn at the Six Raleigh Major, then a caster.

Regional Major

The top three US Division teams and the winner of the NA League Qualifier -- which invites the top Canadian and fourth to sixth-placed US Division teams -- will compete at the North American Regional Major on November 13-15th. Here, they will fight for the following prize:

  • 1st place at the Six Major: $62,500 and 510 SI Points
  • 2nd place at the Six Major: $31,250 and 390 SI Points
  • 3rd place at the Six Major: $18,750 and 330 SI Points
  • 4th place at the Six Major: $12,500 and 275 SI Points

The Stage 1 results mean these teams above go into the tournament with the following Six Invitational points, with DZ and TSM both likely having secured their spots at the 2021 event already:

  • 510 Points -- DarkZero Esports
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  • 390 Points -- Team SoloMid
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  • 330 Points -- Spacestation Gaming
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  • 275 Points -- Oxygen Esports
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  • 225 Points -- Susquehanna Soniqs
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  • 180 Points -- Mirage
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  • 140 Points -- Tempo Storm
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  • 115 Points -- Disrupt Gaming
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Finally, the prize pool for the stage was also announced with the US Division worth a total of $50,000 and the Canadian Division worth $30,000:

  • 1st place in US / CA Division: $15,000 / $8,000
  • 2nd place in US / CA Division: $8,000 / $4,800
  • 3rd place in US / CA Division: $7,000 / $4,000
  • 4th place in US / CA Division: $6,000 / $3,200
  • 5th place in US Division: $5,000
  • 6th place in US Division: $4,000
  • 7th place in US Division: $3,000
  • 8th place in US Division: $2,000
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DarkZero Esports at the 2019 US Nationals.

Challenger Leagues

Five returning teams join three more from the relegation matches to form the following lineup in the US Division:

United States Division

  1. The Last Dance -- Yung, Butterzz, Doodle, Spades, Kilo, and Cristian Guerra (coach)
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  1. RentFree -- Tomas, Prophecy, Sweater, Filthy, Drip, Brycer (coach), and DrewSpark (analyst)
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  1. Joe Esports -- Rethinkin, Whimpy, England, Beastly, Benjimoola, and swnky (coach)
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  1. The Favelas -- Jolten, DiasLucasBr, Kyno, Abunai, and Karnageb
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  1. Team Oblation -- Inryo, Gity, GuyOnaBear, Razorr, and Vivid
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Almost every team listed made changes since stage one to either sure up their lead or due to players leaving for pro-tier lineups.

The most notable of these saw the ex-LG player of Coal "Doodle" Phillips enter the Stage 1 victor of The Last Dance, the recent Soniqs stand-in of "Sweater" joining the runners-up of RentFree, and the third-placed lineup of PogChamp effectively disbanding, with them attempting to requalify for the league with three new players and two new coaches.

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The changes in league since the end of Stage 1, which can be seen in the roster change thread here.

Canada Division

The Canadian Division also has its own Challenger League tournament, with an identical format to that above. The six top teams progressed to the new season to be joined by two more from next weekend's open qualifier:

  1. Honor Esports -- Pox, Wolfzies, Maple, TaC and Envision
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  1. Team Oblivion -- Pyrex, Boomski, Frostii, Cabal and B4cca
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  1. Oceanus Gaming -- Phoen1x, Exod, Japanadian, DarkN and Kybbs
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  1. Axios -- Ashes, BigSekzy, Challenger, Veross and high_amp
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  1. Windstorm -- Kuush, Joeeee, Faiko, Twist and Vitrius
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  1. PDHM Gaming -- Headless, NiceH4x, Elsest, XWilliam, Wick, Bicks (analyst), Axe and SenSai (their two coaches)
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Unlike stage one, all games will be cast live on the r6esportsNA secondary Twitch channel every Saturday and Sunday presumably by community casters.

Collegiate Championship

Following the success of prior collegiate tournaments such as the CR6 League, this academic year will see officially supported Ubisoft and FACEIT-run collegiate tournaments take place including the main Championship worth a total of $30,000, a secondary Recreational League as well as a number of community events.

Starting with the main championship, this October will see the pre-season take place in which all the teams will be seeded into groups of four to play in a round-robin format once a week from the 10th to 31st.

From here, the top team in each group will proceed to the November playoffs in which three Ubisoft merchandise packs and a massive 66,000 R6 Credits worth around $360. For this main league, each college can only submit a single lineup to represent them. The full season will then kick off from January to April 2021, where the full prize pool will be won.

The CR6 leagues mean there are already existing lineups which have shown promise with the following teams having won prior seasons as the title wrestled between California and Texas:

  • Fall 2018 -- University of California San Diego
  • Spring 2019 -- University of Houston
  • Spring 2020 -- California State University - Long Beach
  • Summer 2020 -- University of Texas San Antonio

Alongside this, a much more casual tournament will be run in the form of the Recreational League. This sees merchandise and R6 Credits available to the winners of weekly games and allows multiple teams from the same college to participate. The pre-season will take place from October to December, followed by a primary league from January to April, however, the formats of the tournaments have yet to be unveiled.

Finally, also being organised is a number of community events including a dedicated 10-Mans Hub for college players, viewing parties for esport events and support from Ubisoft and FACEIT for those attempting to run their own college tournaments.

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The Collegiate rewards for running community events.

Keep track of these tournaments here at SiegeGG with news and stats coverage over the next month.