The biggest transfer window in R6 history? TSM, G2, Liquid, FNC and more have all made major changes in Stage 3.

The number of big changes that every single top-flight league has seen over the August transfer window is unprecedented. Almost every team in North America and Europe, as well as APAC’s most successful team, APAC South’s three most recently successful teams, and two of Brazil’s giants, have all made changes. As such, some of the biggest names in R6 are looking to find a new home in Stage 3, or afterwards.

Here is a rundown on the highlights of the carnage:

The World Champions change 2 players

Brady "Chala" Davenport and Emilio "Geometrics" Leynez have left the reigning World Champions, TSM FTX. Chala has since retired, while Geo is now on Soniqs. 

This isn’t too strange, as George "KingGeorge" Kassa left Continuum just after their SI 2017 win, Ville "SHA77E" Palola left PENTA three months after SI 2018, and Joonas "jNSzki" Savolainen left G2 three months after SI 2019. 

Nevertheless, TSM are one of just four NA teams ever to win a global title (and the only one that didn’t include Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski), and its effective break-up is a sight to see.

After 66 months on one team -- the most of any member -- Shas leaves G2

Thomas "Shas" Lee, the most successful coach in the world has left G2 Esports in what is one of the biggest changes in European Siege in quite some time. With Shas’ exit, not a single member of G2 has ever played with former G2 captain Fabian, as a completely new guard has come through since Fabian presided over G2’s dynasty.

Shas’ two SI, one Major, three Pro League, and one Minor title all came during Years 2 and 3 of Rainbow Six. It is now Year 7. While G2’s dominance was the story of R6 esports for many years, this is another case of their legacy fading into the history books.

The Empire’s BACK… just in time for a new era?

While the organization may have left, the core roster of the famed Team Empire lineup has joined Virtus.pro for Stage 3. Danila "dan" Dontsov and Dmitry "Always" Mitrahovich have joined as players, while many expect their new coach, Danil "JoyStiCK" Gabov, to use a potential loophole in the stand-in rules to reunite the trio in the server once again. 

This is a momentous moment for Siege esports. Europe just won their first Major since Empire last did it three years prior, and they did it in front of an invigorated home crowd. Now, the arguably second greatest team in history has strolled back into the limelight just as G2 and BDS also bring reinforcements.

If another EU era was ever going to start, now’s the time.

NA’s longest duo break up… again

Davide "FoxA" Bucci and Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirelez have separated after 50 months together.

The two joined up in Jun. 2018 after FoxA’s beastcoast had relegated LaXInG’s Counter Logic Gaming. The duo then won DreamHack Montreal 2018 together and finished in the semi-finals of the 2019 Six Invitational. While LaXInG was kicked from Cloud9 for three days, this was resolved, and they stayed together for another four years.

He has now been replaced by beastcoast’s Jacob "Sweater" Bravico.

Liquid picks up LATAM’s best IGL

LATAM’s first global champions, Team Liquid, have been somewhat left out of Brazil’s resurgence -- while Ninjas in Pyjamas, FaZe Clan, and Team oNe all won titles, they’ve missed several events.

To remedy this, Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi, considered to be one of the top in-game leaders in the game right now, has been signed to replace the 29-year-old Paulo "psk1" Augusto. 

It’s a big move that leaves André "Nesk" Oliveira as the last remaining player from the Pro League Season 7 winning Liquid lineup, as they hope this new team will take them to an even greater victory.

An exodus of organizations yet again

Team Empire, INTZ, Chiefs ESC, and Invictus Gaming all left the scene this stage, while TropiCaos joined.

INTZ’s exit was simply a buyout of a struggling relegation-bound roster, while Empire’s was seemingly due to sanction-imposed financial issues. Meanwhile, both the Chiefs and Invictus were seemingly due to a pessimistic outlook on the future of the Rainbow Six scene in APAC South. 

While Team Empire are the fourth most decorated organization in Rainbow Six history behind G2, PENTA, and Continuum, the Invictus Gaming roster attended every global event from ESL Pro League Season 10 to the 2022 Six Invitational, and Chiefs attended both Sweden and Berlin Majors. They’re three very big names to lose.

Two of the seven players who have attended every Six Invitational are without teams

Alexander "Skys" Magor was replaced in Spacestation Gaming by Alexander "Yeti" Lawson, while LaXInG was replaced on Oxygen by Sweater as previously mentioned. 

These two have attended every single Six Invitational to date and were crowned victors together at SI 2017 on the Xbox. They are two of only seven players who have attended all six such events. The others are Tyler "Ecl9pse" McMullin and Canadian from DarkZero, Gabriel "cameram4n" Hespanhol and Leonardo "Astro" Luis from FaZe, and Bosco from SSG.

Since SSG and TSM will likely need to go through the SI open qualifiers, a “pickup team” isn’t likely to make it. Their only realistic hope of keeping their streak of SI attendances going is by joining a top-tier roster in the November window.

Fnatic’s Japan saga hits yet another ditch

Two years ago, Fnatic announced plans to move to Japan. In Stage 3, they will have finally achieve this in totality… but not with the roster they wanted, as three players were abruptly benched following an apparent falling out with their support staff.

Fnatic used to be APAC’s crown jewel. As Invictus Gaming, then DWG KIA, and now Elevate have taken this accolade away from them, they will hope that this will be the last obstacle in their way.

Soniqs super-team?

While this is a judgement call, the single best business of any organization during this window has arguably come from the Soniqs. The team turned what could have been a crisis with both Yeti and the team’s IGL, Seth "supr" Hoffman, leaving, into a massive victory.

Shaun "Gunnar" Pottorff is without a doubt NA’s best rookie in at least a year, while Geometrics is a reigning world champion with experience on some of NA’s most legendary teams, including Elevate, Rogue, Evil Geniuses, and TSM FTX. 

Soniqs are the reigning NAL champions and have brought some serious reinforcements. The one question is, how much weight was supr really carrying?

18 rookies join the fray

While not all of them are confirmed, and more may yet come, it seems that we’ll have a record number of rookie players make a debut next week.

Most notable of these is BDS’ replacement for Adrien "RaFaLe" Rutik. Considering Wolves’ success and the dearth of other tier-one French players, RaFaLe’s replacement will almost certainly be from the national leagues. 

We also have Connor "Azian" Felux and "Doq" joining Parabellum, Lucas "Xeno" and "Ferda" joining beastcoast, Lorenzo "Dexter" and Jesse "Mohesse" Sheffield joining Mirage, and TSM’s two new players mentioned previously.

In Europe, there is also Jake "Leader" Fortunato and Edoardo "T3b" Treglia joining NAVI, Dawid "Gruby" Marciniak and Reece "ASTRO" Lambert joining Secret, and Marc "jume" Steinmann and Maxime "Meloo" Cahagnet joining Heroic. 

Meanwhile, Lucca "yektz" Wessler has joined TropiCaos (ex-INTZ) in LATAM. Hafiz "ShibeNuts" Al Fayyed Bin Yahaya has joined Tyde (ex-Invictus), and Harry "Tuhan" Wise has joined Wildcard in APAC.

W7m make a major gamble

W7m have a remarkable story. After finishing seventh last year, they signed two upcoming rookies and rocketed to the top. They’ve won both stages of the BR6 League and attended both Six Majors, finishing in the semi-finals in Berlin. They’re an inch away from the Six Invitational and are on the rise. 

So obviously, the move is to kick your in-game leader… wait, what?

While their reasoning behind the scenes is their own and Gleidson "GdNN1" Nunes’ replacement is reported to be the ex-World Champion and the fifth highest earning player in R6 history, Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli, this is still a gamble. If they fall short of the November Major or slump at the Six Invitational, it would be seen as one of the poorest roster moves to date. 

If it works, they’ll be Major champions.

USA and Great Britain finally team up… in Mexico

Finally, if the rumours are correct, Joe "Joe" Crowther, who’s best known for his time in Natus Vincere, has joined the seventh-best team in Mexico, Skull Cracker. 

Here, he could be playing alongside Brandon "wrath" Matousek, an American player. While we’ve had Belgian, Finnish, Australian, Italian, Frenchmen, Brazilian, and Spanish players all cross regions, this will be the very first time a British and American player would have ever competitively teamed together.