With Stage 1 of the APAC League set to get underway in a week, the schedule and the teams for the 2021 season have finally been confirmed after today's announcement that T1 has entered competitive Rainbow Six.
The schedule has also been slightly modified to cater to the Six Invitational 2021, now scheduled in May. The first day of the APAC South Division will start on March 18th at 6 PM AEDT (UTC+11), while the North Division will start on March 19th at 6 PM SGT (UTC+8).
Both APAC North and South will each only have one play day per week for the first three weeks, but will have two play days for the next two weeks before playoffs to accommodate the Six Invitational in May.
Teams
APAC North Teams:
- Cloud9
- Cyclops
- GUTS Gaming
- FAV Gaming
- Fnatic
- T1
- Talon Esports
- DWG KIA
The Day 1 schedule for APAC North.
APAC South Teams:
- Giants Gaming
- Wildcard Gaming
- Xavier Esports
- QConfirm
- Seventh Heaven
- Pittsburg Knights
- Okami LFO (now ORDER)
- Elevate
The Day 1 schedule for APAC South.
Format and Map Pool
In further confirmation following the North American official announcement, Theme Park has been replaced by Chalet in the competitive map pool.
Also inducted are the reworked Tachanka and Aruni, who have finished their quarantine period and will be available in competitive play in APAC and all other regions.
The original Stage 1 timeline for APAC, with Week 1 starting on the 18th-19th of March.
In terms of the format, APAC will now shift to a round-robin system and not the rather confusing double-Swiss system as used in 2020.
The positioning of teams in APAC North and South will be based on a points system that is contingent on whether or not the match went to overtime, with 3 points for a win in regular time, 2 points for a win in overtime (OT), 1 point for a loss in OT, and 0 points for a loss in regular time.
The changes also mean that each team will play every other team once in the season, with the matchups no longer determined by either the win-loss ratio or the relative strengths of teams won and lost against.
Both APAC North and South will have eight teams each (down from 12 for the former), with all four Southeast Asian (SEA) teams in APAC North in 2020 joining the top four Oceanic teams in APAC South. The league leaders in APAC North and South will also qualify to the Six Major, while the top four in each league will earn Six Invitational (SI) points as well.
As for South Asia, the South Asian Nationals will remain as the top-tier competition in that subregion, with the two best teams headed to the APAC Playoffs.
There, they will join the second, third, and fourth placed teams from APAC North and South each to form an eight-team, double-elimination bracket in order to determine the final two teams joining the APAC North and South leaders at the Six Major. There, all matches up to the semi-finals will be Best-of-Ones (Bo1), while the semi-finals and grand final will be Best-of-Three (Bo3).
Prize Pool
The prize pools for the APAC Leagues, the APAC Playoffs, South Asia Nationals, and the now-cancelled May Major have also been revealed.
APAC North and South (each, per Stage):
- 1st place: US$15,000
- 2nd place: US$7,000
- 3rd place: US$5,000
- 4th place: US$4,500
- 5th place: US$3,000
- 6th place: US$3,000
- 7th place: US$2,000
- 8th place: US$1,500
South Asia Nationals:
- 1st place: US$3,000
- 2nd place US$2,000
- 3rd place US$1,000
APAC Playoffs:
- 1st place: US$5,000
- 2nd place: US$3,000
- 3rd place: US$2,000
- 4th place: US$2,000
May Major (to be paid out based on Stage 1 Results):
- 1st place: US$62,500
- 2nd place: US$31,250
- 3rd place: US$18,750
- 4th place: US$12,500
In addition, the new organisations in APAC, DWG KIA and T1, will likely be inducted into the R6 Share programme after the vacancies left by the departures of Electrify Esports and Nora-Rengo, with Ubisoft mentioning that if an organisation would be included if it met the eligibility criteria.