Where, When, How?
The event will be held offline in an actual castle in Magdeburg, Germany from the 10th to 11th of November. Eight teams will be participating, and will play for a combined prize pool of €7500 (US$8570) -- €2300 more than the Six Lounge Series #6 -- to make this the biggest German national-level Rainbow Six event yet.
The teams will be split into groups of four, and each group will play a double-elimination bracket, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the playoffs. Hold your horses, though, because in this double-elimination bracket, the upper bracket will only play Best-of-One (Bo1) series, with the lower bracket forced to play lengthier Best-of-Threes (Bo3). Once that is done, the four resulting playoff teams will play a standard Bo3 single-elimination bracket.
Who’s Participating?
Mock-it Esports
KS, ripz, Vale, BakaBryan, korey, Lazzo (Coach)
The first name will be immediately familiar to everyone who has been watching the Season 8 Pro League. With an all-German speaking roster, the squad will be luxuriating in the home support. Considered the favourites for the event, they will be reluctant to reveal too many of their strategies, however, with the Season 8 Pro League Finals just a week later. With the bracket relatively favourable for them -- with FaZe Clan, NORA-Rengo, and Rogue -- the team has a good shot at making it to the Grand Final.
PENTA Sports
Panix, Enemy, RevaN, Hungry, SirBoss, Jess (Analyst)
Another familiar name will be PENTA Sports, the team that finished in 5th place in Europe in the Season 8 Pro League. While the team looked somewhat shaky for a lot of the season, the addition of Jess as an analyst seemed to have boosted their strength, with the team managing to do what no one else could -- defeat G2 Esports. Comfortably second-favourites for the event, they will be looking to capitalise on any weakness from Mock-it Esports if the two teams meet, and secure the first title in Year 3 after a disappointing third-place in the Euro Cup.
T3H Esports
Oraghon, PrydzZ, Taiga, ShooTeX and Saviour
While not a Pro League side, T3H Esports is very definitely well-known in European circles with players such as Joghurtzz, PARAA, Falko, SirBoss and pannari playing within the roster in recent months. With this star-studded roster, however, the team achieved a disappointing recent result in Challenger League finishing in seventh place.
The org will now attend this event with an altered roster which sees Taiga, ShooTeX and Saviour sub in for PARAA, Joghurtzz and Falko which is sure to make the team a huge unknown quantity for the opposing teams.
Aquila
Jul1nho, Qujuqt, Babu, Acelele, Th3RealMC
This all-German squad is not an organisation, but has history in the competitive German Rainbow Six scene. FormerlyFormely Team Prismatic and DEUS, they came second in the Six Lounge Series #6, and fourth in the Euro Cup. As such, they saw themselves be the fourth team to be invited to Castle Siege.
DEUSPantherDynamics
DavE, slshr, Pieda, MadMouse, Drvn
Featuring ex-Pro League player DavE, DeusPantherDynamics features an amalgamation of players from the teams of DEUS, PANTHERS Gaming, and PlanetKey Dynamics. The team made it to LAN through the second round of qualifiers, and will be looking to give a good account of themselves.
FitnaBoyZ
FluchTw4geN, cCcaaNaVaR, Cry1NNN, Jesundheit, Piiine
Majority German, but featuring a rare pair of Turkish players, FitnaBoyZ may be familiar to followers of the European Cyberathlete Championship Series. Coming in fourth in Season 4, they have, however, only one member left from that lineup in the form of Cry1NNN.
PANTHERS Gaming
Snoop, Haze, Eastwood, Next1, Kuro
While the current players of PANTHERS Gaming are relatively unknown, this org previously had both the player-turned-analyst, z1ronic, and Millenium’s AceeZ on their rosters. They will be looking to give a strong showing for themselves as one of the qualified teams.
Turtle eSport
KurtXTRM, Exp0, Sla7k0, Torin, Furish, Cubx (Coach)
The Turtle eSport roster via @Turtle_eSport
With little known about this team, their strength will lie in being an unknown quantity at LAN. The only non-Pro League team at the event to have a coach, they will be relying on their mystery and coach-backed ability to spring a few surprises.
What are the Brackets?
The opening matches are slated as follows:
- Group A: Mock-it Esports vs FitnaBoyZ
- Group A: T3H Esports vs PANTHERS Gaming
- Group B: PENTA Sports vs DEUSPanthersDynamics
- Group B: Turtle eSport vs Aquila
The complete Castle Siege format via Liquipedia
Who’re the Talents?
Catch the trio of Verdi, ShatterXx, and DigitalThunder to bring you the casting, with AgOnY and Harris as analysts, and ZeR0089 as the observer.
The Castle Siege talent via @RainbowSixDE
Catch all the action from 10AM GMT +1 tomorrow, on the Rainbow6DE Twitch channel.
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Written by InfianEwok