We’re only one day away from the Season 7 Pro League finals! We sat down with the top seeded team in North America, Rogue, for an interview, asking them their thoughts on how they’ve prepared for this important event. Let’s take a look at what they had to say:
Being the top seeded team in North America is a huge achievement. What does it mean to you and the team?
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Ranger: It was big for us to show that we could be the #1 team in North America. I think it's something we already knew, but we’re used to people always saying that Evil Geniuses is the better team, especially after our loss to them at the Invitational. It was great to prove some of those voices wrong and beat them on the online season.
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What do you feel is the most important characteristic to have in order to be successful as a Rainbow Six team?
Ranger: Teamwork! Obviously personal skill is important, but teamwork is crucial. Skill definitely isn’t everything. Look at ENCE being relegated, or Vitality not qualifying for this LAN event. Especially with the META getting more complex, teamwork is highly important.
What was the hardest game of the season so far?**
Ranger: Our match against SK Gaming was a lot closer than expected. They brought out strategies that we weren’t used to or prepared for based on our past experiences with them.
Do you have a favorite team to play against?
Ranger: I’d say Spacestation Gaming. I think we are 9 or 10 to 0 against them. So that is always fun.
What advice can you give new players who want to go pro?**
Ranger: In general, fraggers get noticed a lot, as they manage to get a lot of kills. However, that is not what teams are mainly looking for. The hardest things to find are flexible players, IGLs, and support players. Those are the most important players to make a team work. Our advice would be to be flexible and not only a personal star.
If you could face any team in the world, who would it be?**
Ranger: If we’re talking about teams we’ve already played in the past - Spacestation Gaming. If we’re talking about teams we haven’t played, personally I think PENTA would be a great opponent. Although I think it would be important for us both to have our full rosters… that would be a very interesting match up.
Do you have a favorite LAN experience?**
Ranger: Making it out of groups at Invitationals this year.
How do you determine who plays what role on the team?**
Ranger: People change roles. You don’t always come to a team with a set role. You work on your team, and some people are naturally more comfortable with roles. Work on flexible players.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?**
Ranger: It’s unfortunate that GEO wasn’t able to make it. Glad we have Shuttle, we don’t think it will stop us from being successful. We’re in it to win the whole thing!
Best of luck to Rogue and all of the other teams competing this week! To catch all of the action live, be sure to check us out on May 19th and 20th on our official Twitch channel. The stream starts at 10:15 with the first quarter final match between Rogue and Nora-Rengu -- we’ll see you there!
