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G2's Shas[O]Udas talks us through his Rainbow Six Invitational win
We chat to the record-breaking Rainbow Six Siege Six Invitational world champions G2 Esports' Thomas 'Shas[O]Udas' Lee after one of the best finals in Siege history.
Once again, G2 Esports roster are the Rainbow Six Siege world champions, becoming the first team to not only win multiple world championships, but do it back-to-back. That's an accomplishment that surely won't be broken for some time, if ever. If there was even a sliver of doubt before the tournament, no one could now argue that the G2 roster aren't the best team professional Siege has ever seen.
At the Six Invitational, which took place in Montreal, Canada, G2 were pushed hard by a few teams, but they always managed to come out on top, eventually taking out the Russians of Team Empire in a final that featured the longest match in Siege history. Their run will be remembered for years to come, and it's one the team themselves will never ever forget.
"It feels amazing," said Thomas 'Shas[O]Udas' Lee, head coach and manager of G2, just moments after they lifted the trophy. "It just really validates all the hard work behind the scenes, all the stress, arguments, and everything else. It just makes everything whole."
The G2 roster have a habit of creating memorable grand finals. Last year they reverse swept Evil Geniuses 3–2 to win the championship under the Penta banner, and after the first map this year against Empire, it looked like we could be headed for another incredibly close final.
Thanks to the introduction of unlimited overtime in the grand final, it meant that a team had to win by two clear rounds once they hit overtime. As luck would have it, both teams ended up trading rounds for quite a while before the map finally came to a close with a massive 12–10 score line in favour of G2, officially becoming the longest match in Rainbow Six Siege history.
"Stressful. In one word, stressful," Lee explained when describing that first map. "It was incredibly frustrating in one sense, because I took my timeout in round three. So, when the overtime and the slog really began, I couldn't have any interaction, and Empire never called a timeout. I don't think they called out a timeout once actually, so I never got the opportunity to use their timeout for my own means."
![A photo of G2 Esports' team manager Thomas ‘Shas[O]Udas’ Lee during the Six Invitational in Montreal, Canada.](https://img.redbull.com/images/c_crop,x_0,y_0,h_1280,w_1920/c_fill,w_400,h_267/q_auto,f_auto/redbullcom/2019/02/18/2272cb10-7bb3-4e43-9de7-cc89c6c7deae/thomas-shasoudas-lee-g2-six-invitational "Thomas 'Shas[O]Udas' Lee feels validated after an intense finals")
Thomas 'Shas[O]Udas' Lee feels validated after an intense finals
© Ubisoft/Rainbow Six
This was the first time we really got to see unlimited overtime in action, with most other matches in Siege being capped. However, when the world championship is on the line, you need to make sure the most deserving team walks away with the title, and unlimited rounds seems like the best solution to achieve that.
Despite the pretty stressful situation of that first map, it seems that the players and coaches are a fan of the idea as well, with Lee even saying that if scheduling wasn't an issue, it would probably be a good addition to the Pro League matches, which are played as best of one games.
As the coach, Lee may not be the one actually getting the important frags and making the big plays, but he does have an equally important job on that stage. He's there to manage the team, and make sure that if something's going badly wrong, he can intervene and change it. This is usually in the form of calling a timeout that gives him a chance to talk to his players, which can often turn the momentum in a team's favour if done correctly.
"Most of the time, it's just gut feeling. If there's something strategically wrong that we're doing over and over again, then I'll go out to try and correct the strategic mistakes," Lee explained. "There's also an element of the fact that you have your own momentum. The other team has their momentum, so sometimes I just won't call a timeout, because I trust my guys are experienced enough to be able to recover from some mistakes. If possible, I just hold onto the timeout for as long as possible, so it doesn't give opponents the room to use my timeout to talk as well."
The Place Bell in Montreal, Canada set the scene for a thrilling final
© Ubisoft/Rainbow Six
After winning that epic first map, things seemed to get a little easier for G2. They took the second map, Border, 7–4 before destroying any hope Empire had of a comeback with a dominant 7–1 win on Bank. Despite a few close moments on Border, it was clear that after losing Coastline, Empire were not at the top of their game anymore, and G2's aggression in the second map really put the nail in the coffin for the Russians.
"I was a little bit worried on Border, when our attacks weren't really getting any traction," Lee explained. "However, we adapted to that and recovered. As soon as we went into Bank, I was relaxed. I think the root of it, to give my awesome analyst Kevin 'Sua' Stahnke a lot of credit, wad that we really played a poker game on them in the actual banning phase. A segment of the game was won in the banning phase. That was an absolute slog fest on Coastline, which made both of us exhausted.
"However, I think the momentum really, swapped when we went into Border, which we hadn't basically played the entire tournament. We started winning those rounds on defence, with the hyper aggression. That's when I think Empire broke."
With one of the most dominant performances we've seen in a grand final on Bank, G2 took home the title, and have seemingly achieved all there is to achieve in Rainbow Six. They're back-to-back world champions, Paris Major champions, multiple-time Pro League champions, and without a doubt the title of the best team the scene has ever seen.
To outsiders, there may not seem like there's much left for this roster to do other than enjoy their winnings, but for Lee there is only one thing on his mind going forward. "Three years back-to-back world champions," he said. "That's what the challenge is." You wouldn't want to bet against G2 achieving it.
