Exploring seven of the new regions in the BLAST R6 circuit

The Regional Leagues are about to start next week, so to prepare for the action, come and find out who the favorites are in each region in Rainbow Six: Siege.

Following the arrival of BLAST, radical changes have taken place in the competitive scene to reallocate and reshape the competitive landscape. In the Americas, Brazil been given its own league separate from the rest of Latin America. Over in Asia, APAC North and APAC South have been retooled into five new regions: Japan, South Korea, Oceania, South Asia, and SEA. Finally, MENA have been given their own league, a first for the developing region.

The format has changed slightly as well. The Six Major now has two phases, some teams qualify directly for the second phase and others compete in the first phase, seeking a spot in the second phase of the competition.

Here’s how the slots for the BLAST Major are allocated:

Phase 1

• 1 Europe League
• 1 Europe Last-Chance Qualifier (LCQ)
• 1 North America League
• 1 North America LCQ
• 1 Brazil League
• 1 Brazil LCQ
• 1 Japan League
• 1 Japan LCQ
• 1 South Korea League
• 1 South Korea LCQ
• 1 LATAM League
• 1 LATAM LCQ
• 2 Asia LCQ
• 1 Oceania League
• 1 MENA League

Phase 2

• 8 teams from Phase 1
• 2 Brazil League
• 2 Europe League
• 2 North America League
• 1 Japan League
• 1 South Korea League

Now, let’s take a closer look at the various leagues:

South Korea

Mephi joined SANDBOX Gaming in December as a big coup for the organization. Credit: SANDBOX Gaming

The South Korean League features a number of strong names, including favorites DPLUS (formerly DAMWON) and SANDBOX, two teams who attended the Six Major in 2022. Sandbox now features Korean 2022 standout Park "Mephi" Ju-wan, as well as Kim "Demic" Dae-yeong, who formerly played with Korean Open Autumn 2022 champions Talon. The team arrives in full force to seek a spot at BLAST Major Copenhagen. In addition to the two standpoints, there are a number of squads who performed admirably in the Korean championships in 2022, such as Talon, Spear and Beyond Stratos.

South Korean League Teams:

• Dplus (former DAMWON)
• SANDBOX
• Talon Esports
• Spear Gaming
• Beyond Stratos
• PANTHERA
• LAVEGA Esports
• BossoM

The South Korean League starts on March 13 on Rainbow6's official South Korean League Twitch and YouTube channels.

MENA

For the first time in history, teams from the MENA region will compete for spots in the Six Major. And in this first competition, it’s Team Falcons who look like the favorites. The team was runner-up in Gamers8 against Team BDS, surpassing the likes of Wylde, TSM and MIBR. The Falcon’s excellent performance is in large part due to Fahad "P9". The team are also bolstered by the signing of the 25esports standout player from Saudi eLeagues Season 22- Stage 2, Hussein "Valantino" Shrara.

MENA League Teams:

• AGGRESS1VE TEAM (Egypt)
• AKATSUKI-TEAM (Iraq)
• EG5 (Egypt)
• Geekay Esports (Saudi Arabia)
• Mokey Spankers (Pan-MENA)
• Team Falcons (Saudi Arabia)
• Triple Esports (Saudi Arabia)
• Twisted Minds (Saudi Arabia)

The MENA League begins March 15, catch it on the official MENA YouTube channel.

SEA

Bleed Esports announced their entry in Rainbow Six: Siege on March 6th. Credit: Bleed Esports

With the balkanization of what was APAC South, SEA became one of the most balanced regions in the world. In addition to Elevate (ex-Gaimin), FURY, VARRIANX and Dire Wolves, the region now has another great team — Bleed. The team, made up of Patrick "MentalistC" Fan, Aldi "Hoven" Firmansyah and Wu "Reeps96" Weichen, arrives with plenty of potential to fight for one of the three vacancies in the Last Chance SEA/SA qualifiers.

SEA Teams:

• Elevate (Pan-SEA)
• FURY (Thailand)
• Dire Wolves (Taiwan)
• Bleed Esports (Pan-SEA)
• Wasted Potential (Pan-SEA)
• Devil Dog (Thailand)
• Champion (Thailand)
• VARIANX (Thailand)

The Southeast Asia League starts on March 12.

South Asia

The establishment of a South Asian region will do the developing region many favors as they previously struggled to qualify to events through the massive APAC League. In particular this season, South Asia will have a direct spot into the closed qualifier for the BLAST Major Copenhagen. Currently the top prospect for that closed qualifier spot is Monkey Hunters, the region's standout team in 2022.

South Asia Team:

• Monkey Hunters (India)
• MercenarieZ (Bangladesh)
• Shaheens (Pakistan)
• Dead3ye E-sports (India)
• DotDash (India)
• rnowned (Pakistan)
• STACC (Bangladesh)
• Wont Stop Peeking (India)

The South Asia League starts on March 11.

Oceania

Teams in the Oceania region have a chance via their league to claim a spot in Phase 1 of the BLAST Major Copenhagen. The favorites in this region are Homeless, as four of their player are Knights alumni, a team considered to be one of the strongest in the region in 2022.

Oceania Teams:

• Team Bliss
• Wildcard
• Homeless
• Keltons Knights
• Not Quite Sure
• BarBackStore
• MBAC
• The Troops

The Oceania League begins March 13.

Japan

Chibisu joined CYCLOPS on March 9th. Credit: CYCLOPS

(Presentation of "Chibisu" at CYCLOPS, Image: Twitter/CYCLOPS_OSAKA)

Like South Korea, Japan broke away from what was APAC North, and now have their own national championship which comes with two spots in phase 2 of the BLAST Major Copenhagen. Great teams will compete in this region, including SCARZ, CYCLOPS, Fnatic, Crest Gaming, FAV and NORTHEPTION. These are all squads that previously had strong results in the APAC North or Japan League throughout 2022. CYCLOPS, in addition to having the best international performance among Japanese teams previously, also signed former Fnatic standout player, Ryuya "Chibisu" Hamasita, making them clear favorites in the competition.

Japanese Teams:

• SCARZ
• CYCLOPS athlete gaming
• FNATIC
• Crest Gaming Lst
• FAV Gaming
• Varrel
• IGZIST
• NORTHEPTION

The Japan League starts on March 13 on the official Japan League Twitch and YouTube channels.

LATAM

LATAM is also a new region in the Rainbow Six scene, the name is old, but now it only refers to teams from Mexico and the rest of South America. With this change, teams in the region can start to be a little more valued; after all, until now, to compete in the Six Major they needed to beat teams who performed well in international tournaments, which was quite a challenge. With the current format, the favoritism lies with Atheris, who announced a lineup of the former Estorm squad who won two Supercopa Norte and qualified for the closed qualifying round for the Six Invitational 2023, highlighting the player "Ivan".

Teams competing in the LATAM region according to BLIX.GG’s sources:

• Malvinas Gaming (Brazil)
• Evolve Gaming (Argentina)
• Team Cruelty (Mexico)
• Reven Esports (Mexico)
• 9z Team (TBD)
• Atheris (TBD)
• Six Karma (Mexico)
• Knights (TBD)

The LATAM League is set to begin March 20.

Remember, you can catch the rest of the action from the World Leagues on Rainbow6's official Twitch and YouTube channels.