The Best Players Not To Make The November Major
The Rainbow Six November Majors are right around the corner. With just four slots per event, there’s just not enough room to get all the top players into the competition. We have taken a look at the recently concluded regional leagues and have identified some of the best players to not make the November Major.
In the North American League, the same four teams that made the August Major will now reprise their roles in the upcoming November installation. The only difference is that DarkZero Esports and Spacestation Gaming have effectively swapped places regarding seeding. But as the teams haven’t made any line-up changes in the meantime, the exact same roster of players will attend this Major again. This is hardly a surprise, given that there is a considerable skill gap between these teams and the rest of the US and Canadian divisions. Still, there are two specific players who stand out even from the less successful teams.
AARON “SHUTTLE” DUGGER
With a 1.16 rating, Shuttle has been one of the heavy lifters in NAL and has even placed higher than every single DarkZero member. What sets him apart is his clutching abilities. He has successfully clutched six rounds for his team, as much as the rest of his colleagues combined. On top of that, he stopped the defuser a total of five times, making him the most successful retaker in all of NAL.
Maybe this shouldn’t come as a surprise, as he is one of the longest-standing professional players in North American Siege. He has competed for Elevate, Counter Logic Gaming, Spacestation, Rogue, and is now part of Disrupt Gaming. He is still just 21 years old and arguably has the biggest chunk of his career still ahead of him.
TIM “CREATORS” HUMPHERYS
The 19-year-old is one of North America’s hottest prospects right now. For him to be the fourth highest rated player in the US Division Stage 2 is quite an achievement, considering that his team, Tempo Storm, made last place and is heading into relegation to determine whether they will actually remain in NAL at all. In terms of kills per round, he shares first place with Jason “Beaulo” Doty and Bryan “Merc” Wrzek on a 0.9 KPR.
Being such a young player, this is obviously just his first step into the world of professional Rainbow Six: Siege. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him join one of the bigger teams for Season 2, especially if Tempo Storm are relegated into Challenger League.
Click to enlargeIn North America, most star talent is firmly planted inside the top teams, with the exception of a few players like Creators or Shuttle. In Europe, however, things are a little different. Following the conclusion of EUL Stage 2, the second and seventh places were separated by just three points. So a lot of talented players were left out in this upcoming Major installation, as there are quite a few teams who could have made the Major with just one additional map win. This is true in the case of Team Secret, for instance.
KEVIN “PRANO” PRANOWITZ
The German player was already one of the best in Stage 1. Back then, his team landed in second-to-last place, and he still managed to become the third highest rated player. With a 1.17 rating, he was ahead of most Major participants and got incredibly close even to Maurice “AceeZ” Erkelenz. Despite his team’s weak performance, he survived in 40 percent of all rounds and got 0.89 kills per round on average. In Stage 2, he secured a 1.15 rating and 0.88 kills per round. So he definitely has remained one of the mad-fraggers of EUL, but he hasn’t exactly stepped up his game after Stage 1. So where has Secret’s improvement in the standings come from?
PETER “PACBULL” BULL
This newcomer to EUL has already left his mark on the highest level of competition in Europe. Team Secret took quite a chance on this young fellow, considering that his most recent team didn’t even finish on top of Challenger League. But he has definitely proven to be worthy of being in the European League. As an in-game-leader, he has turned Secret around and has made them into a team capable of challenging most EUL rosters. However, his raw stats make it look as though he were one of the weak spots for the team. A 0.51 KPR and 0.5 entry ratio don’t necessarily scream ‘top talent’. But he excels in other categories. With five clutches and eight defusers planted, he has been one of the most effective supports in the league.
There’s very little reason for Secret to replace him with anyone else and apart from Rogue, there’s hardly a team looking for another fragger like Prano. With Secret’s recent success, there’s also no reason for the two to jump ship anytime soon. But there is one player in EUL who will most certainly be featured on a different team in Season 2.
Click to enlargePASCAL “CRYN” ALOUANE
Back in late 2019 and early 2020, cryn had a very brief stint with G2 Esports. However, he was deemed unfit to be their new fifth, so he was dropped in favour of the Jake “Virtue” Grannan and Ben “CTZN” McMiller duo. But now it’s the end of the year and his addition to the Chaos roster has definitely made him into a better player overall. Back in Stage 1, he secured a 1.09 rating, despite his team ending up in last place with zero map victories. In Stage 2, he reprised this performance with almost the exact same statistics. Ironically, he has managed to attain a higher placement than every G2 member. His 0.85 KDR is impressive, but he also manages to deliver clutches and defuser plants, making him quite a versatile asset to any team.
Most importantly, Chaos are now auto-relegated from EUL. This means that, unless he wants to play Challenger League for an entire year, he will look for new opportunities elsewhere. With Rogue ending their EUL Season 1 campaign on such an incredibly low note, they might be tempted to secure a competent and reliable German replacement.
The November Majors are set to start in just a few days. While these aforementioned players will not take part, their performances throughout this year have made it clear that, should they remain this powerful, they will definitely attend a tournament of this level at some point in their careers.
Images via SiegeGG
