Banner image: Ubisoft / Kiril B.
After an off-season full of roster moves, the teams are finally back in action. As the Europe League Stage 2 is kicking off today, here's everything you need to know about this game day's matches.
MNM Gaming vs. Heroic
Heroic's The Last Dance is set to begin today against MNM Gaming, just five days after announcing their departure following the conclusion of Stage 2.
Murat "MrOfficer88" Motevalli's boys head to the Europe League after suffering two departures during the summer: Aleksi "UUNO" Työppönen, who joined G2 Esports, and Jamie "Skiddy" Diamond. Instead, Heroic signed Jake "Leadr" Fortunato and Reece "ASTRO" Lambert, who represented KOI and Team Secret during Stage 1, respectively.
Meanwhile, MNM Gaming's summer was the opposite. The team spent multiple weeks together as they played in Japan and Berlin to compete in the Japan Invitational and the R6 Central Combine, with both competitions ending in the hands of the marshmallows. Such a long time and momentum are perfect ingredients to build or improve the team's synergy.
If we look at their match record, MNM Gaming hasn't lost a single match against Heroic since July 2022. This season, the marshmallows ran over Heroic in a BO3 game in Stage 1. Later on, both teams met during the off-season, with MNM Gaming winning by 2-1 and 7-3 in the GWB Open Qualifier and in the R6 Central Combine EUL Qualifier, respectively.
Team Secret vs. ITB
Team Secret's Brazilianization peaked this summer with the incorporations of Kaique "Faallz" Stephano and Luiz "Miracle" Abrantes. Alongside the roster's coach, Marlon "Twister" Mello, three of the seven members of the team are Brazilian.
Today, the former Brasileirão players will make their debut in the Europe League against ITB. At the same time, ITB will make a return to the Rainbow Six Siege esports scene. It will be the first time we see Jonas "Jonka" Kaczmarzyk and Callum "Azzr" Aitchinson together with the former TT9 Esports roster. With so many debuts, this game is worth watching.
G2 Esports vs. Team BDS
Brace yourselves, Team BDS are back. After a dreadful first Europe League stage where the Frenchmen finished in third place at the Last Chance Qualifiers, Team BDS proved to the world their disappointing start to the season was just a mirage by winning the Gamers8 2023.
Meanwhile, G2 Esports has gone through a post-world champion crisis. Parting ways with Byron "Blurr" Murray after the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen didn't have the expected effect as the European powerhouse finished at the bottom of the Gamers8 2023 standings following defeats against M80 and Team Falcons.
Due to the team's recent results, G2 Esports decided to re-sign UUNO, who played for the double-time Six Invitational champions for over two years. Moreover, Fabian "Fabian" Hällsten parted ways with the team, which resulted in the signing of the former FaZe Clan coach Matheus "Ramalho" Ramalho.
Small warning; If you're a G2 Esports fan, don't continue reading. Since July 2020, both teams have met 14 times, with the Berlin-based team taking the win on only four occasions. Ouch.
WYLDE vs. KOI
Last but not least, WYLDE and KOI will finish the first Europe League game day of the stage.
In Stage 1, WYLDE went wild in their group as they topped the standings after winning every match in regulation. However, such performance wasn't followed by a BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen qualification.
Precisely, both teams met in Stage 1, with Usain Bolt's organization winning by 7-2 after a fantastic performance by Jesse "Jeggz" Ojanen.
While WYLDE hasn't made any changes to their lineup, KOI completed two roster moves throughout the summer. After parting ways with Leadr and Adam "nudl" Hryceniak, the Six Berlin Major champions signed Adam "Hxsti" Imre and Jack "Jigsaw" Gilles, with the latter coming from the Oceania League.
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