Banner image: Ubisoft / Joao F. @itsmeERROR
As we approach the start of Stage 2, Ubisoft's most notable off-season tournaments are heading to their final stages. It's the case of the R6 North Rainbow Rumble, whose group stage will kick off tomorrow.
Keep on reading to know more about the R6 North Rainbow Rumble!
What's the R6 North Rainbow Rumble?
The R6 North Rainbow Rumble is an off-season competition organized by Ubisoft. It was initially open to any team in the old continent, as even Europe League rosters were allowed to compete.
Between Jul. 1 and Jul. 2, six Europe League rosters competed in a top-flight exclusive qualifier. Following victories against G2 Esports and Wolves Esports, respectively, Heroic and WYLDE became the first rosters confirmed for R6 North Rainbow Rumble.
Throughout July, two open qualifiers were followed by a closed qualifier. Eventually, the ten best teams joined Heroic and WYLDE in the R6 North Rainbow Rumble.
Today, the Rainbow Six Esports Europe Twitter account unveiled the groups.
Groups
Each group has one of the Europe League rosters qualified for the main competition. The groups have been completed taking into account the closed qualifier results as follows:
- One Europe League roster
- One 1st to 2nd seeded team
- One 3rd to 4th seeded team
- Two 5th to 8th seeded teams
- One 9th to 10th seeded team
The two best teams of each group will move to the final playoff. But how does the R6 North Rainbow Rumble work?
Format
The R6 North Rainbow Rumble will kick off tomorrow with the first group-stage matches. However, we don't know the format of the games yet. We expect the group stage games to follow a BO1 format. Each group will have six play days, and each team will get to play five matches.
After the conclusion of the group stage, the best four teams will play in the playoffs. Although it's not confirmed, we expect the games to follow a BO3 format, with the grand final likely being a BO5 match.
Dates
Here are the dates for the R6 North Rainbow Rumble:
- Aug. 2: Playday 1
- Aug. 3: Playday 2
- Aug. 9: Playday 3
- Aug. 10: Playday 4
- Aug. 16: Playday 5
- Aug. 17: Playday 6
- Aug. 26 and Aug. 27: Grand finals
Prize Pool
The R6 North Rainbow Rumble prize pool is valued at €40,000. It's still not clear how the prize pool will be divided.
Teams
The R6 North Rainbow Rumble has 12 teams. Here's a brief look at what to expect from each one of the rosters:
#flag@20:eu Heroic
Since the start of the off-season, Heoric have been improving their performances and confidence. They defeated G2 Esports by 2-1 in the Europe League qualifier, and their only defeat came in the hands of WYLDE.
#flag@20:eu WYLDE
Usain Bolt's organization qualified for R6 North Rainbow Rumble following a 7-0, 7-5 victory against Wolves Esports. Alongside Heroic, they are the favorites to win the competition.
#flag@20:it LookingForOrg
You may not know them under the name of LookingForOrg but you would surely know them if they were playing for their previous team, Mkers. Led by the highly-experienced Alesso "Aqui" Aquilano, the Italian roster finished in first place after defeating OkaCorp, Dunlimited, and Viperio.
#flag@20:uk Viperio
Layton "Layton" Goldring's squad qualified for the R6 North Rainbow Rumble following the team's victories against MNM Gaming Academy and Team 86. Despite the team's loss to the former Mkers roster, the British-majority squad got the second seed.
#flag@20:uk Team 86
Team 86 were undefeated in the group stage as they defeated LookingForOrg. After defeating Pats Pats Asleep, which included some well-known players like Jake "Sloth" Brown or Callum "Neonical" Humphreys, the team lost to Viperio by 5-7.
#flag@20:ru Dunlimited
The Challenger League 2022 champions finished in the closed qualifier Top 4 after losing to LookingForOrg by 3-7. Previously, the team had defeated Calories by 8-6.
#flag@20:uk Calories
We may be in front of one of the dark horses of the competition as Calories includes some former top-flight players, including Nathan "Grizzly" Harding and Jonas "Jonka" Kaczmarzyk.
The team also has some of Victus' former players, including Oscar "Oscr" Deacon and Sergey "Skiteyyy" Bolotskov.
#flag@20:eu MNM Gaming Academy
Including talent from all over Europe, MNM Gaming Academy qualified for the R6 North Rainbow Rumble after topping the standings of their group. Unfortunately, the team lost against Viperio in the seeding bracket.
MNM Gaming Academy finished in the Top 8 of the Europe League 2023 Stage 1 Open Qualifiers Playoffs, a very decent result for an academy roster. The Brazilian Matz and the Italian Reaz are the only different members from that performance.
#flag@20:fr OkaCorp
OkaCorp topped the standings of the group stage but lost to LookingForOrg by 1-7. Fortunately for the French roster, the result was enough to move to the next stage of the R6 North Rainbow Rumble.
#flag@20:uk Pats Pats Asleep
After finishing in second place in the initial group stage, Pats Pats Asleep fell to Team 86. The roster has three former top-flight players in Jake "Sloth" Brown, Callum "Neonical" Humphreys, and Adam "nudl" Hryceniak.
#flag@20:uk Class of 2022
To qualify for the R6 North Rainbow Rumble, Class of 2022 won the Elimination Stage. In the process, the British-majority roster defeated Sissi State Punks, which had the former Virtus.pro and Team Empire player Pavel "Amision" Chebatkov, KT, and Sked Esport.
#flag@20:fr Sked Esport
Finally, Sked Esport got the last seed after reaching the Elimination Stage grand final. There, the French lost to Class of 2022. Earlier in the semi-finals, Sked Esport defeated the Finn squad of Alex "SlebbeN" Nordlund.