In a move that many had been anticipating, but had not expected this soon, top-tier organisation G2 Esports has announced the signing of the PENTA Sports team. The news comes as a slight surprise given the previously well-known enormity of the PENTA Sports contract buyout, which was apparently valid until the end of the year.
PENTA Sports is the most decorated team in the history of competitive Rainbow Six: Siege, having won three out of seven Pro League titles, and one out of two Majors. The bulk of the team's success came in Year 2 of the competitive scene, where they won the Season 4 and 5 championships back-to-back in an incredibly dominant fashion. Then playing with KS, they also had Falko as a sixth player for their Season 4 success.
PENTA Sports, after their Season 5 win
KS continued with the roster for a further two seasons, before a disappointing Season 6 Finals performance saw them swap the German out for Shatte from reigning champions ENCE eSports. With this lineup, PENTA Sports went to the 2018 Six Invitational, winning it in stunning fashion after being 0-2 down in a Best-of-Five (Bo5) series against Evil Geniuses.
Despite PENTA Sports being mostly known for their recent successes, their winning ways stretch all the way back to the first-ever Pro League season. Then, they had defeated GiFu eSports in the inaugural PC Pro League Grand Final, although only Pengu is a constant from that roster.
In recent times, Shatte withdrew from the team just prior to the Season 7 Finals. The team then narrowly lost the Grand Final against Team Liquid with Kantoraketti, also from ENCE eSports, as a stand-in. Kantoraketti was then confirmed as a permanent member soon afterwards. The team also signed Ferral as an analyst just days before the start of Season 8 in a complement to their existing coach Shas.
PENTA Sports' coach, Shas, holding the Invitational trophy aloft
G2 Esports, like PENTA Sports, is a German organisation. They are, however, a far more decorated organisation with top-tier rosters in League of Legends (LoL) and Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO).
The organisation has collected just over $3 million in winnings, with the bulk of it coming from the $1.4 million won in CS: GO. G2’s LoL winnings are nothing to be scoffed at, either, with almost a million coming from the MOBA game.
When asked about the signing, Pengu was effusive in his praise for PENTA, and looked to the future with G2 in excitement.
Thanks to PENTA for giving us the opportunities and believing in us when we started playing. Nobody else envisioned our success other than PENTA, and without them we wouldn't be here today. Today is a new chapter where we can proudly say we are a part of the #G2ARMY. It has always been a dream of all of the players to represent one of the biggest organisations, and this is something we have really looked forward to since claiming our (Invitational) trophy to become Siege world champions. Most importantly, this new chapter will also mean a different kind of bond between players and the organisation; this is going to be a #G2FAMILY.
The new G2 Esports Rainbow Six roster remains undefeated in this season’s European Pro League so far, sitting first with 19 points from 7 games. The only time they dropped points was against Team Vitality in a series that ended in a 5-5 draw.
They will now be going into the Six Major Paris in high spirits, satisfied that their status as serial winners has been matched with an identically strong organisation. Already favourites to win, they will be an even more dangerous foe to face. Catch them in action on the Rainbow6 and Rainbow6Bravo Twitch channels over the course of the next week.
The G2 Esports roster is thus:
Niclas “Pengu" Mouritzen
Fabian “Fabian” Hällsten
Joonas “jOONAS” Savolainen
Daniel “Goga” Mazorra Romero
Juhani “Kantoraketti” Toivonen
Thomas “Shas[O]Udas” Lee (Coach)
Daniel “Ferral” Rotheram (Analyst)