Elevate acquires R6S team, Onyxion 2.0
After going orgless at the beginning of 2020, Oceanic Rainbow Six: Siege team, Onyxian, have gone from strength to strength. Currently sitting an impressive second in the Pro League, the team is fully focused on finishing higher than their third-place finish last season. They’ve now been rewarded for their hard work as North American esports org, Elevate, announced today that Onyxian will fly the Elevate flag for the second half of the season and beyond.
Elevate Rainbow Six: Siege:
- Isaiah “Vast” Patterson (C)
- Jake "God Legion" Harris
- Trent "Worthy" Mitchell-Rose
- Luke "Redd" Cini
- Raine "Dgtl" Wright
Onyxian last played under Oddity Esports in 2019, but did not renew their contracts at the beginning of the year and have been orgless for the interceding months. They narrowly missed out on a slot in the APAC Qualifiers for last year’s Six Major in Raleigh, but have performed consistently in the Pro League.
On the other hand, Elevate hold a storied history in Rainbow Six: Siege. They first picked up a team in 2016, and while their last Premier win was in 2017 at the Six Invitational, they’ve been a consistent presence in the scene. Most recently, their LATAM roster was unable to qualify for the Brazilian R6 League, leading to the team and the org parting ways. Having never signed any Oceanic players before, this is a brand new venture from Elevate owners Justin Tan and Brandon Hatfield.
Justin Tan, Co-Owner of Elevate, said in a statement to us "Oceania has always been on our radar even before we decided to enter the LATAM region. Due to unfortunate circumstances and us wanting to compete at a high level in Rainbow Six esports, we decided to look into Oceania, particularly the ANZ region for a new team. We decided on Onyxian 2.0 for various reasons.
"We felt that they would be a good fit to the organization in terms of personality and our visions aligned on long term goals. This roster barely missed out on APAC finals last season and we are confident that they will make it not just to APAC finals but Pro League finals this season," concluded Justin.
When asked about what they plan to achieve this year, Brandon Hatfield, Co-Owner of Elevate, said "with this team, we know that they are one of the best in the APAC region. ANZ has proven to be a strong representative for the APAC region in major tournaments so this team is aiming to be one of the representatives for APAC."
Isaiah "Vast" Patterson, Team Captain of Elevate, gave comment on joining the organisation by stating "Elevate was appealing to me because our visions and goals were so similar. They want us to focus on our game and getting to the top."
"They aren't concerned about some of the other aspects to being a Pro R6 player that other orgs were expecting of us - we are able to purely focus on improving as a team and players which personally helps relieves a lot of pressure and stress outside of R6," concluded Vast.
The soon-to-be-former Onyxian line-up is the third Oceanic Rainbow Six roster to be picked up by an international organisation, following in the footsteps of teams such as FNATIC and Wildcard GG. Our region has shown a particular propensity for the first-person-shooter genre, with major international organisations like 100 Thieves and Renegades also recently acquiring Oceanic CS:GO talent.
Having the backing of an org like Elevate, the team should have a spring in their step for their upcoming matches against first-placed Fnatic and third-placed TBD.
It truly points to the growth of the Oceanic scene that our players, no matter their esport, are being picked up and representing our region on the world stage. The new Elevate roster is the latest example of what will hopefully be a long history of our players competing globally. The first opportunity to see the team under their new banner will be in two weeks against Wildcard GG, and they may just have a new wave of North American fans behind them.
Credits:
- Written by Alex Leckie-Zaharic
- Edited by Adam Taylor
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