(Photo by Adela Sznajder / Ubisoft)
North American esports organisation Beastcoast emerged victorious at the Rainbow Six Siege Blast R6 Manchester Major this evening.
They took fellow finalists, European side Team BDS, to a full five maps in the final, winning 3-2 in an extremely close and frenetic final full of emotion.
Beastcoast consist of North American players dfuzr, Gaveni, Gunnar, Hotancold and Canadian SpiriTz, while BDS feature French players Shaiiko, BriD and LikEfac, plus Turkish player Solotov and Brit Yuzus (with the latter two former players at now-closed UK organisation MNM Gaming).
Beastcoast were not expected to get this far in the UK’s first Rainbow Six Major, but they finished sixth in phase two, before sweeping aside Faze Clan and Team Liquid 2-0 in the quarter final and semi-final respectively.
In the latter stages of the fifth game in the final, it looked like BDS might come back into it, but Beastcoast prevailed to lift the trophy.
Gunnar, who was named MVP of the tournament, said: “They had everything to lose and we had nothing to lose. We were having fun!
“I don’t know what to say, this is the first time I’ve been at an event like this, it’s unreal. I didn’t think we’d win a major in two months, but we have! If you believed in us, I fucking love you.”
Hotancold added: “Fuck all the haters. I’ve been hated since day one, and now I’ve got a trophy, what are you gonna say now? We got it done, two months in.”
Beastcoast said on their Twitter page: “The R6 support has been UNREAL and we couldn’t have asked for a better community to celebrate our victories. Let’s keep this energy going.”
Blast R6 Major in Manchester took place in Manchester’s BEC Arena from May 16th to May 26th 2024, with fans watching the action live in-person for the final weekend from Friday 24th to today (Sunday 26th).
Over the past two weeks, 20 teams from nine different regions battled in a fierce competition seeing favourites fall including the former w7m roster, the reigning World Champions, being eliminated in the Quarter Final stage. 21 different nations were represented at the Manchester Major, with the Grand Final being a showdown between Europe and North America. UK esports organisation Into the Breach also exited the Manchester Major early.
As well as winning the Deimos themed trophy, Beastcoast also claimed the top prize of $217,000 as well as 350 Global Points which help in the quest to qualify for the Six Invitational in 2025
The upcoming season of content for Rainbow Six Siege was also revealed on the Sunday, giving the community a teaser for what’s to come in the next 12 months.
With Phase One of the Blast R6 Season 2024 complete, all eyes now turn to November’s Monreal Major where teams will be looking to lift the second trophy of the season and gain valuable Six Invitational 2025 points. Teams will have to battle their way through Regional Leagues to confirm their place in Montreal, which commence from September.
The Major is one of several big esports events taking place in the UK in 2024.
Blast’s next major event in the UK will be the Counter-Strike 2 Blast Premier Spring Final taking place in London from June 12th to 16th 2024.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
