Given the violent division overhaul, Portland Yaomen are looking to make waves in RGL Season 6 Invite. Former Witness Gaming Scout Rio is at the head of the operation, originally naming the team Six Paths from ESEA Season 31 Intermediate. Also from that roster is Roaming Soldier Alexandros, who has been on a few Invite teams in recent times.
Everyone else is a new face, though most are not (too) new to Invite. Walrex had fun offclassing in Advanced last season but returns to shoot rockets in Invite once more. det played Demoman on HRTeam for the first half of last season before finishing things out with Portland Burnsiders, and is back for another shot at things. scarfs is technically new to Invite, but only in the RGL era. Back in 2013, they played for Vector Gaming during ESEA Invite Seasons 13 and 14. More recently, scarfs was fragging out with MILKIES in Div-1 and 2. The only true Invite newbie is Medic styles, who has quickly made the jump to Invite after debuting in RGL Season 4 Intermediate.
Portland Yaomen were one of six teams that participated in the Invite qualifiers, and were also the most successful of the bunch: dropping just one map to The Jug Dealers (though they elected to not play an inconsequential series against platypugesports). With all these new teams forming in Invite, Portland Yaomen's performance here can be a boost to their morale heading in to Season 6.
Leader Rio shared his thoughts on the teambuilding process and upcoming season:
After qualifiers I feel like I had to go through proving myself once again but honestly I knew once I assembled a team qualifiers was actually a pretty fun experience. Originally I was down to play whatever class my team needed this season. I wasn't assigned on any specific role but it became apparent that we needed a main caller and of my last two seasons of Invite I have always done it but not while leading a team myself. We went through a lot of tryouts that helped me put together a well thought out roster. Walrex and I have played together on Witness Gaming. Alexandros is also one of my former teammates and I'm glad to be playing with a Soldier duo such as this one. scarfs was apart of Milkies and she's taking on the flank role. det played on HRTeam in S5 for a bit after being replaced and I couldn't be happier with a different Demo as dedicated as he is. styles played on iBuyWinrar and is what I would consider as a very talented Medic coming up after a season of Advanced. In short I believe this team meshes very well together and our combo and flank are looking good too. Overall my thoughts on the season is that we will aim to be one of the best new Invite teams to enter this season. I am happy to be a leader of a team with a roster committed as this one. Good luck to all the teams this season.
The Portland Yaomen will be:
- Scout: Rio
- Scout: scarfs
- Roamer: Alexandros
- Pocket: Walrex
- Demoman: det
- Medic: styles