The final Rainbow Six Siege Pro League playday for Season 10 concluded last night for both Europe and North America. Both regions have experienced similar storylines, as the battle for the top two seeds and sixth place was not settled until playday 14. Throughout 2019, there has been a great shift in team placements, with the old guard faltering and new teams taking the reins. With the end of regular season Pro League in 2019, let’s take a look at the results.
DarkZero Esports will represent North America in the Rainbow Six Siege Pro League Season 10 finals in Japan. (Image via ESL)
Battle for Sixth Place
In EU and NA, each region has had one of their top organizations enter a new low.
PENTA Sports was the low-performing organization in Europe. Since selling their team to G2 Esports, PENTA acquired another prominent EU roster, who had success in late 2018 and early 2019, fighting high in the S9 Pro League and winning DreamHack Winter. Now, this team lost the fight for fifth place versus Chaos E.C. and now will face the EU relegation matches.
Meanwhile, Rogue was the second-best NA team in 2018, making constant appearances at international LANs. Rogue has slowed down through 2019, losing to up-and-comers and prominent teams alike. They did have a moment of success in DreamHack Valencia in July, earning them a path to the Six Major Raleigh. However, Rogue lost their battle against TSM on Pro League playday 14, sending them down to seventh place.
With these results, two top organizations in their respective regions are facing relegation matches. If anything, this is a sign of how much talent is developing in competitive Siege. Only time will tell if the teams still have what it takes to remain in the Pro League.
Old Guard Down
With the fall of Evil Geniuses and Rogue in NA and G2 Esports in EU, there is space for other teams to flourish. North America’s Team Reciprocity and DarkZero Esports spent 2018 in the shadows of Rogue and EG. Nowadays, they have excelled and found themselves as the top two teams. DarkZero is clearly a formidable foe, taking the first seed in Season 9 and 10. As for Team Reciprocity, they have had their ups and downs, just falling short at various stages in 2019. However, on the last playday of the season, their win over Luminosity Gaming and EG’s loss to DarkZero allowed Reciprocity to qualify as NA’s second seed. Finally, their narrative is completed, and a long-winded run has proven bountiful.
Europe’s Giants Gaming, who frequently fought for second place with several teams, has emerged as EU’s second seed twice in a row. The roster has clearly found their formulae in Europe, and it has made them a 2019 staple of the region. Giants Gaming still has a way to go to become a force at international LANs, but their consistency so far is a great sign. Like with DarkZero, 2019 has been their year, and the narrative shift for them is great for regional development.
Underdog Story
Over the last two seasons, Europe has had a fantastic tale of Challenger League hopefuls taking over Europe as their number one seed. In Season 9, Team Empire dominated the league, had a good run in the Six Invitation 2019, won the Milan Finals and then the Six Major Raleigh.
On the rise now is Natus Vincere, who is doing a similar run, although not as dominant. Natus Vincere will attend the Season 10 finals in Japan as Europe’s first seed after Giants lost on the final playday to Team Empire. This is another remarkable story for the region, showing how strong the European region is. Speaking to us last month, Luke “Kendrew” Kendrew expressed he has high expectations for his team, but I don’t think this was what he had in mind.
The question moving forward will aim towards Na’Vi’s ability to perform on LAN. The only LAN experience the roster has is from the ESL UK Premiership, where they took down Team Secret twice in two separate finals. They certainly have the caliber to beat teams seen as above them, both online and offline, but this an entirely different ballgame.
