With the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region split into four smaller subregions, each sub-region has thus developed its own domestic scene and meta. It is without question that the Australia-New Zealand (ANZ) subregion is the most competitive one, and that claim has been proven in Season 8 of the ANZ Pro League. Representing ANZ at the Season 8 APAC LAN Finals in Tokyo, Japan, will be Fnatic, and rising Athletico Esports.
Fnatic’s team is a familiar name in competitive Rainbow Six and in other esports as well. While the organisation is most known for its highly successful roster, their Siege players are no slouches either. They made their mark as Mindfreak at the 2018 Six Invitational, and were soon signed by Fnatic. Since then, they have made it to every international LAN event so far, and will be aiming to do so again through the Season 8 APAC LAN. While they famously took the scalp of Team Liquid at the Invitational, and Mock-it Esports at the Six Major Paris, their dominance in ANZ was challenged this season. For the first time since the Invitational, there was another team that rose to gave them a stiff challenge, and surprised everyone by pushing Fnatic down to 2nd place not only in the regular season of the Pro League, but also in the playoffs for the APAC LAN.
That team, of course, is Athletico. While the organisation has been around the ANZ subregion well before APAC was inducted into the Pro League, much of the roster has changed. The team made its first LAN appearance at the 2017 ANZ Invitational, but of that roster, only Todd and syliX remain. Athletico has come a long way since, then, though. After switching members in and out, team captain syliX has been very happy with their current synergy, and that has shown in their results. After constantly almost making it to APAC LAN events, his side finally broke its duck when Athletico qualified for the offline Stage 3 of the Six Major Qualifiers in APAC. Although the Australians lost both their matches in the double-elimination bracket, they bounced back stronger, and edged out regional titans Fnatic to claim the top spot in ANZ.
Asked about the changes they had made to get to this stage, syliX was effusive in his praise for his team: “We've got a great roster of players who are very talented individuals. From that foundation, we have built up solid team chemistry and coordinate well with each other. Having that instinct about each other's play helps with communications and our success.”
While their experience at such massive LAN events pales in comparison to Fnatic, they will definitely be up for it, and will seek to give their first opponents -- Aerowolf -- a taste of the bitter medicine they were forced to swallow at their hands in July. Fnatic, too, will be looking to make it 4 in 4 international LAN events in a row at Tokyo, and with their incredible strength and experience, achieving this feat is far from impossible.
Could we see both teams representing APAC hail from the ANZ subregion? Catch them in action from October 13-14, from 10 AM GMT+9 onwards, at the Rainbow6 Twitch and YouTube channels.
