In a weird twist of fate, the stagnating meta of Rainbow Six Siege could end up giving us one of the most unpredictable and interesting Majors in the recent history of that game, at least according to one of the world’s best players. Reigning invitational champion Niclas ‘Pengu’ Mouritzen took some time out of a recent stream to explain why, in his opinion, the lack of proper updates and DLC in R6S over recent months has made it harder for the top teams to stay ahead, leading to a levelling of the playing field.
In the video, Pengu explains that the reason the best teams are able to stay ahead (in his opinion) is the fact they simply learn the meta faster than the rest, and as long as the game continues to be updated, that will continue to be the case. According to the multiple world-champion, the hard skill cap in R6S means that there is only so far even the best players can take any individual operator or tactic, and if the game stays the same too long that advantage is lost, and the pack have time to catch up, while the best are stuck at the skill cap.
Wounded champions
Whether or not he is correct is of course up for debate, and there is probably a question about how seriously G2 have taken the first half of this season, with their place in Montreal already secure as defending champions, and some players spending a lot of time mucking around in ranked matches for their stream audience.
Those questions will be answered over the next few days, with the event kicking off today, but it is undeniable the G2 team has looked more vulnerable this season than they have at any time since Finnish death machine Juhani ‘Kantoraketti’ Toivonen joined them last year.
For the neutral it’s great news, though, even if it feels like Pengu might be getting his excuses in early, as it makes for the most interesting invitational in ages. The likes of EG, Rogue and Team Liquid are all strong in this game, but the Penta core that moved to G2 have dominated big LANs for some time, and honestly looked like most events were theirs to lose, such was the skill gap.
If Montreal 2019 bucks the trend and gives us a new champion, that would suck for Pengu and co, regardless of the reasons, but it could be great for a scene that has long been ruled with an iron fist by the European mix. How we get to that point is more debateable of course, and writing G2 off is never clever, but variety is the spice of life, and that goes for esports too.
