Banner image: DarkZero Esports
Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski and his new team, DarkZero, rolled through in a 7-4 defeat of Mirage on Clubhouse.
The map marked the North American IGL's return to competitive play following a break that publicly began on March 13. Canadian officially returned to competition on July 7, and immediately began searching for a team.
Following the Mexico Major, the organization reached out to Canadian. In an interview with SiegeGG following his signing, Canadian said he feels like DarkZero is a place where he can win championships. "It's DZ as an org and how supportive they are of the players," said Canadian when asked about why he chose DarkZero.
"I think I have a bigger vision now for what I want to do now, now that I've had these steps in my career," said Canadian of his future plans. "...I want to continue to build in esports."
"I already knew [DarkZero] was the obvious move...I needed to weigh my option, but it was very clear that the pros were stacked up [in favor of DarkZero] and there weren't many cons."
DarkZero raced out to a 5-1 lead on its defensive half and never looked back in its opening match of Stage 3. Statistically, the team was led by Tyler "Ecl9se" McMullin and Nick "njr" Rapier, who notched 11 kills and two opening kills apiece. The headlining news piece of the night was Canadian's return to action, however.
"There's tons of talent on the roster," said Canadian. "...Working with younger, less experienced talent is one of my strong suits, I think."
The victory pushes DarkZero to 1-0 for the season. Its schedule is backloaded following travel struggles at the end of the Mexico Major -- Paul "Hyper" Kontopanagiotis and Brandon "BC" Carr were forced to quarantine after positive COVID tests -- and was unable to play during the opening week of the league. As such, DarkZero's schedule is backloaded, with the team set to play two matches on Wed, Oct. 20 to cap off the stage.
This had been Canadian's first competitive match since the Six Invitational 2021, where Spacestation Gaming had been knocked out of the competition by Team oNe Esports.
Should Canadian want to lead another squad to SI, the ultimate "Rainbow Six Siege" competition, he faces an uphill battle.
DarkZero currently has 570 SI Points, and if the season ended today, it would qualify. However, there are quite a few squads nipping at its heels, and the North Americans need a solid performance in Stage 3 and likely an appearance at the November Major to solidify their spot.