Banner image: Ubisoft / João F. @itsmeERROR
After the conclusion of the second split, Knights became the first Argentinian-majority roster to qualify for a Six Major. If that wasn't enough, Richard "blk" Rodríguez will become the first Paraguayan player to compete at an international Rainbow Six Siege event.
Knights' feat was achieved after winning the LATAM League Last Chance Qualifiers, which allowed the roster to join their region opponents Alpha Atheris in Atlanta.
The Argentinian roster has been evolving throughout the whole season. In Stage 1, the team was one match away from qualifying for the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen after losing to Six Karma in the LATAM League Finals. Later on, Team Cruelty upset Knights in the Last Chance Qualifiers.
"When we lost the finals we felt so down," admitted Tomás "TomHagen" Freddo in an interview with SiegeGG.
The defeat against the purple squad kicked off a domino effect that ended up with the departures of Leandro "Meight" Duarte and Gonzalo "DirTy" Acosta, who were replaced by Bautista "AtlaS" Manuel and Richard "blk" Rodríguez.
Although the performances by the Paraguayan when he played for Malvinas Gaming and Furious Gaming are still in the minds of many fans, the Argentinian admitted a significant change in the way his teammate plays nowadays.
"He leans to what a normal entry is now, and although he sometimes stands out, he has improved in terms of giving calls and using his utility," he explained.
When it comes to the signing of the former 9z Team player, Knights chose AtlaS thanks to his high communication capacities. "It was, mainly, due to a call and IGL matter," the Argentinian admitted.
"We added a support that could speak more, AtlaS, and an entry like blk that also talks a lot and gives you the chance to find spaces in the enemy lines, that's when we had a more talkative team than compared to Stage 1," he elaborated.
Throughout the second split, Knights showed the level of its Siege team as they collected great one-sided victories during the group stage. The Argentinians went unbeaten with six maps won and a round difference of +19.
Unfortunately, Knights could show the same level in the playoffs, where they lost to Alpha Atheris after falling on Chalet and Kafe by 5-7 and 7-8, respectively.
"It was a reality check," TomHagen admitted. "The group gave us confidence but losing to Alpha Atheris made us change some things, it made us reach the Major, it was good to lose that match," he explained.
Eventually, Knights had to play their last card as the Last Chance Qualifier was the team's last chance to reach Atlanta. The team was initially surprised by Kova Esports, who won the first map of the first BO3 series. According to the Knights player, the team underperformed as they didn't want to "reveal strats" as, at that point, it was "unfeasible."
After the first map, the team improved and eventually won the series after taking the last two maps by 7-0 and 7-1.
In the following match, Knights redeemed themselves against Six Karma as they defeated the Mexican-majority roster by 2-0, precisely the same result that left the Argentinians out of Copenhagen. "It was a rematch, a very good game for our mentality," TomHagen explained.
Finally, Knights qualified for the BLAST R6 Major Atlanta after defeating Maycam Evolve by 2-1. "It was crazy, we all thought it would be a bit easier," TomHagen admitted.
"We started well on Bank but it got difficult, however we could complete a comeback and close the map, we don't know what happened on Chalet, it was our pick... then, Oregon was a comeback from all of the boys," he explained.
Knights' group includes the current Six Invitational 2023 champions, G2 Esports, the Six Charlotte Major winners, DarkZero Esports, and the Asia League first seed, FURY. Without a doubt, the Argentinian-majority team has been put in a very demanding group, which will be a hard test to pass.
Although the team heads to the tournament with nothing but realism, Knights look to the future with a positive mindset as reaching the Six Invitational 2024 is still possible. "We can sum it up with one sentence: 99% of faith, 1% of possibilities," the Argentinian concluded.
Knights' debut in Atlanta will take place today when the team plays against DarkZero Esports in Group C's first match.
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