After barely avoiding auto-relegation in season nine, ReD DevilS e-Sports was forced to defend their Rainbow Six Pro League slot. Team oNe Esports snatched the Pro League slot away from YeaH Gaming—pushing YeaH into a marathon relegation match against ReD DevilS.
YeaH didn’t look up to the task of taking on ReD DevilS at first. Dropping their first match in the best-of-three series indicated that YeaH would have some issues moving forward. The Challenger League team had their work cut out for them, as ReD DevilS gave them little room to move in the first match of the series.
ReD DevilS sent paiN Gaming down to Challenger League at the close of season nine, but that’s the team’s only meaningful accomplishment in season nine. While ReD DevilS forced a back-and-forth round win pattern, it was hardly a showcase of what is expected of professional teams. Even with YeaH’s Guilherme “Guii” Puga disconnecting in round 11, ReD DevilS still struggled to hold a Basement defense on Oregon.
Broadcasters Robert Flynn and Ghassan “Milosh” Finge worried for both teams as the match slogged on with connection issues. YeaH brought the match into overtime at 7-6, but Vinicius “Vnx” Mello answered with a one-vs-three clutch that directly influenced the DevilS’ 8-7 victory.
The DevilS found themselves down 1-4 at the half in the second match. YeaH pushed ReD DevilS to the edge as they took match two of the series, 7-3. It was going to be yet another narrow escape for the DevilS if they hoped to cling to their Pro League slot.
Bank proved much kinder to them, taking a 4-2 lead at the half. It’s hard to imagine what YeaH must have been going through mentally at this point in the best-of-three. The Challenger team must have built up some confidence after match two, but the DevilS woke up to spoil the fun.
After an exhausting full overtime match, the DevilS narrowly wrapped the third and final match at 8-7—largely due to Vnx and Lucas “Zyon” Pisana fragging out in the final match. While the DevilS successfully defended their slot in Pro League, they’ll need to pick up the pace in season 10 to avoid sitting in relegation again.
For YeaH, this loss means another six months of Challenger League and another uphill climb. Although, it easily could have been either team to secure the Pro Leauge slot when looking at the best-of-three as a whole.
Related: Rise Nation falls to Soniqs in R6 Pro League NA relegation match
This best-of-three marks the longest broadcast in the history of online R6 Pro League. Both teams must be absolutely fried after their collective eight-hour ordeal. Even Flynn and Milosh wanted the broadcast to end.
Relegation matches close Friday, May 10 at 12pm CT with the European division of R6 Pro League. Fans can watch the official broadcast here.
