After taking the region's top two seeds, CAG Osaka and SCARZ will represent Japan at the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
While SCARZ's first-place finish in the Japan League 2024 Stage 2 awards them a direct spot in Montreal's Phase 2, CAG Osaka must survive the play-in to join their fellows in the Swiss Stage.
From the team's performances throughout the season to what viewers should expect from the roster, here's everything you need to know about CAG Osaka ahead of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
Players
CAG Osaka's stats in the Japan League 2024 Stage 2.
CAG Osaka's roster to compete in Montreal includes the following players:
- Reon "Anitun" Sakai
- Sho "BlackRay" Hasegawa
- Ryuya "Chibisu" Hamasita
- Shuuhei "ShuReap" Yaguchi
- Sho "Sironeko" Endo
CAG Osaka's duo Anitun and BlackRay are the team's backbone as they joined the roster in June 2018 and June 2019, respectively. Their experience should be crucial in the team's performance and development in Montreal, as Chibisu joined in March 2023 while ShuReap and Sironeko joined in February 2024.
The team's main entry fragger is ShuReap, who has produced 31 entry kills for the Japanese roster in the team's last 13 matches — excluding the APAC Cup qualifiers.
Overall, CAG Osaka doesn't have a well-defined planter, with the most experienced players in the squad, Anitun and BlackRay, combining the role.
Another aspect to highlight from CAG Osaka is the team's clutching potential, with the roster having a combined amount of 15 clutches in 13 games.
How did CAG Osaka qualify for Montreal?
CAG Osaka's second split began with an underwhelming 3-7 defeat against VITE. However, the Japanese roster immediately got back on track with six back-to-back regulation victories — including a 7-5 win on Bank against SCARZ.
While this result may look like any other, it was CAG Osaka's first win against SCARZ since July 2022 and only the second in the teams' last 14 clashes. Therefore, CAG Osaka's win against SCARZ before the playoffs could have been a stage-changer.
However, that wasn't the case. After falling against KIONTROPE gaming in the playoffs' semifinals, the team fell into the region's Last Chance Qualifier. Before that, the roster secured Japan's third place after a 2-1 victory against Crest Gaming Lst.
CAG Osaka's first opponent in the Last Chance Qualifier bracket was VITE, who had defeated the Japanese squad at the start of the season. This time, CAG Osaka ran over VITE with a flawless victory on Nighthaven Labs. Following wins against Father's Back and ENTER FORCE.36, CAG Osaka won the Upper Bracket and reached Japan's LCQ grand final.
CAG Osaka's final opposition before reaching Montreal was Crest Gaming Lst as the blue roster's loss against Father's Back in the first round of the Upper Bracket was followed by four consecutive victories in the Lower Bracket — including a 1-2 victory against KINOTROPE gaming, who had defeated CAG Osaka in Japan's playoffs.
Although Crest Gaming Lst defeated CAG Osaka on Skyscraper, the Cyclops ended up taking the win after victories on Nighthaven Labs and Consulate.
Operator bans
Historically, shield operators, especially Montagne, have been extremely dangerous in CAG Osaka's hands. Therefore, the Japanese side hasn't been too bothered to ban attacking shield operators amid the current shield meta.
After playing 18 maps in the Japan League 2024 Stage 2, CAG Osaka has only banned one attacking shield operator — Montagne against Crest Gaming Lst on the team's defeat on Skyscraper in the LCQ grand final. Meanwhile, CAG Osaka's opponents banned Montagne and Blitz ten and six times, respectively.
Instead, CAG Osaka has banned Ying in twelve different maps. Other attacking bans include Dokkaebi and specific bans like Grim against Crest Gaming Lst in their group stage clash.
On defense, CAG Osaka's bans are more different from one game to another. However, the team has focused on banning Azami, Kaid, Mira, and Tubarão.
Map performance and bans
CAG Osaka has played in seven of the nine maps included in the current competitive map pool. In Stage 2, the team has yet to play on Lair and Kafe Dostoyevsky.
While we have yet to see the Japanese roster playing on Lair, the team's last performance on Kafe Dostoyevsky came at the Esports World Cup Japan Closed Qualifier, in July 2024. Overall, CAG Osaka banned Kafe Dostoyevsky seven times while Lair was banned six times.
However, despite having yet to play both Kafe and Lair, CAG Osaka's most banned map was Bank with nine bans.
CAG Osaka's most-played map is Clubhouse with three wins and one defeat. However, Nighthaven Labs is the team's best map, with three wins out of a possible three. Chalet and Consulate also have a perfect win rate after two matches played there.
CAG Osaka's potential play-in run
CAG Osaka's first match in Montreal will be against G2 Esports at 3 PM UTC. It will be the first time both organizations meet since May 2021, at the Six Invitational 2021.
While there's no rivalry between both rosters, it's worth mentioning this will be the first time Karl "Alem4o" Zarth plays against the Japanese team since the Six Mexico Major, where the Brazilian featured in the only tiebreaker match played at a Six Major. Back then, Team oNe and CAG had to play an extra game after both rosters ended their group stage runs with the same number of points and the same round difference.
The winner of the match between CAG Osaka and G2 Esports will play against the winner of the game between CL4L and Black Dragons. Meanwhile, although it has to be confirmed yet, the defeated side is expected to play against the loser of the series between CL4L and Black Dragons in the Lower Bracket.
CAG Osaka and the Global Standings
Ahead of the start of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal, CAG Osaka is in thirteenth place in the Global Standings with 280 SI Points. To mathematically qualify for the Six Invitational 2025 through the Global Standings without the need to rely on other teams' results, CAG Osaka needs to finish among the best eight sides in Montreal.
However, CAG Osaka's chances of qualifying for the Six Invitational 2025 will increase if the Japanese survive the play-in (290 SI Points) and win a Swiss Stage game (300 SI Points).
If that happened, the Cyclops would join what's now a triple-tie in 10th place alongside Bleed Esports, Talon Esports, and Gaimin Gladiators. Although the Japanese would still be behind Bleed Esports as the first tiebreaker rule is the head-to-head record (CAG lost to Bleed Esports in Manchester) they would instantly overtake PSG Talon and Gaimin Gladiators for having more Major Points than them: 130 against 105. For more information about how the tiebreaker works, check out BLAST's Rulebook for the 2024 season.
Logically, CAG Osaka would avoid this situation with two wins in the Swiss Stage. If that happened, CAG Osaka would have 340 SI Points and would be on the verge of securing a spot to compete at the Six Invitational 2025.