Eight teams, including five Pro League teams, have travelled to the Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas to play in the biggest LAN in the USA ever. To qualify your team must first consist of five players with American residency - not nationality - and then compete in one of 14 qualifier events and 8 streamed “conference finals”. The winners of each of these conferences booked themselves a place at the Finals as well as guaranteed winnings of at least $3,500.
The Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada
The Teams
The qualifiers for these events were arbitrarily split into West and East “Conferences” with teams able to compete in whichever one they chose which ultimately decides which side of the bracket they reside in.
Western Conference
Spacestation Gaming - Chala, Redeemer, ThinkingNade, Rampy, Bosco and Lycan (their coach)
Fresh off of their DreamHack Winter appearance where they narrowly lost out on an Invitational spot to PENTA Sports, SSG will be hoping the new addition of Bosco to the roster will be what’s needed to push them into the top-2 in North America and at least the Finals of this tournament.
Rogue - Ecl9pse, Slashug, Easilyy, Shuttle, VertcL and Ranger (their coach)
The favourites from this side of the bracket and one of the most likely teams to take the whole tournament is Rogue, the consistent #2 team in North America. However, with the introduction of VertcL to the roster to replace supr, and EG’s very weak showing at Rio, they’ll be hoping that this is their chance to finally take the top spot.
Team SiNister - HolidayNOG, Oasis, awD, CookieZ and Yellow
While a very different roster than we saw at the qualifiers, this team inherited Vicious Gaming’s spot as the closest thing to the squad remaining. The lineup consists of 2 ex-Vicious and 2 ex-Motiv8 players which makes this a fairly experienced roster and a promising Challenger League squad hoping to make a name for the new team at this event.
Rise Nation - Beastly, vandal, Hyper, England and Ghxst
Finally, the roster previously known as mousesports will attend this event without their coach, morxzas, and without one of their star players, VercL, but with their new organisation and the new 5th of Ghxst joining the team. While seen as a major loss for this team making real growth in Season 8, this tournament is a chance for them to show the World that they still have promise even without VertcL.
Eastern Conference
Orgless - Yeti, Acid, Krazy, Bryan, Modigga and UnrealGS (their coach)
While a lot has changed for the roster previously known as Noble Esports, it is not yet certain whether it has changed for the better or not. After leaving their organisation, dropping their coach and picking up Bryan to replace breezy this roster is very different to the one that narrowly avoided relegation and it’ll be interesting to see how they fair, however, with Modigga standing in for zz, it’s unlikely that we get a real look at Orgless until NA Pro League starts next week.
Cloud9 - FoxA, Goddess, Retro, LaXInG, MarkTheShark and Robn (their coach)
While led by a Canadian born player, the newly acquired gaming house offered by their organisation in Los Angeles allowed the full team to compete at the US Nationals. This also shows a real level of investment by the organisation not seen by many other NA teams which will hopefully pay off for the team in tournaments such as this.
Evil Geniuses - Canadian, nvK, Yung, Necrox and Gotcha
As another one of the tournament’s favourites, EG will have high hopes resting on their shoulders, however, with their coach Gotcha subbing in for Geoo who couldn't acquire a visa in time for the event, their chances are certainly slimmer than they would’ve liked. Nevertheless, this will be a good chance to make a good showing for themselves and show that they’re still as strong as they ever were after their very disappointing performance in Rio.
Elephant Gang - Avian, Kanine, Neptunez, Trippen and supr
Finally, while they didn't actually qualify for this tournament, eGang were invited after the team that beat them in the Stage 3 Conference Finals - Obey Alliance - disbanded making them the logical inheritors of the qualification spot. This roster which narrowly missed out on a spot in Pro League will now be joined by their ex-player and the ex-Rogue player of supr in what will likely be the last tournament for the team before they officially disband for good.
The Broadcast
The games will be broadcast on the usual rainbow6 Twitch account starting from 10AM PST on Saturday with the grand final scheduled for 5PM on Sunday. The event will include a showmatch between the US Army and Air Force to start off the Sunday games which should be quite an event for players and spectators alike.
The casters for all these games consists mainly of North American talent from multiple games including the well-known names of Parker "Interro" Mackay and Rob "Flynn" Flynn casting alongside the Challenger League caster of Samuel “Stoax” Stewart and the newcomer to R6S from CSGO, John “BLU” Mullen. The full talent lineup can be seen below:
The Event
The tournament itself offers $50,000 to the teams involved with the eventual winners taking home $20,000, a to-be-revealed trophy and these exclusive US Nationals jerseys
As well as the games themselves, organisers have planned a number of free products and competitions for attendees. These include a gift exchange event, free goody-bags and a giveaway for the player’s chairs from the event. All information regarding this can be seen here with tickets still on sale right here for a minimum of $34!
---
Keep up to date with the tournament right here at SiegeGG!
SiegeGG is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about how readers support SiegeGG.