a new and improved tier 2 ecosystem across apac

In 2026, we are excited to introduce a new Tier 2 ecosystem for aspiring Asia Pacific League (APL) teams that will create a clear path to pro in each of our three subregions.

Historically, players in Oceania, Southeast Asia and Japan & Korea have competed in different tournaments each with unique formats. In our brand new APL Challenger Circuit, players will have the opportunity to compete in one of three similarly structured Tier 2 leagues that grant teams Challenger Circuit points on the road to the 2027 APL. Let's dive into more detail below.  

Our three Challenger Circuit leagues in the APL are:

• Rivals (Oceania)
• Bootcamp Community Series (Southeast Asia) 
• North Rebellion (Japan & Korea)

Leaning on the iconic names that players across APAC have come to recognise, our newly established tournaments will keep these titles but change their shape to follow the same format.

To best prepare our teams for the Tier 1 experience, these leagues will have 2 stages and a grand final over the course of the year. Below is an in-depth breakdown of Stage 1 for each of Rivals, Bootcamp and Rebellion.

stage 1 breakdown (april - june)

Each stage will have 3 phases, beginning with play-ins, moving to the regular season, and concluding with playoffs.

phase 1: play-ins

The Play-Ins are designed to give teams multiple chances to qualify; can't get out of that family commitment? Struggling to find a cover for your Saturday shift? No problems! The Play-Ins allow each team four chances to qualify to the stage, so you can try, try again until you find success.

Format

• 4x self-contained Play-In days
• Single-elimination BO1, with BO3 qualification games
• 2x teams from each day qualify to the regular stage
• All regions play on same days, with staggered start times

Dates

• Sat May 02 - Play-In D1 - 1PM local start time
• Sun May 03 - Play-In D2 - 1PM local start time
• Sat May 09 - Play-In D3 - 1PM local start time
• Sun May 10 - Play-In D4 - 1PM local start time

phase 2: regular stage

Once we have qualified our 8 teams from Play-Ins, we move to an accelerated round robin format for the Regular Stage. Teams will play across four playdays to seed our top 4 in each region, similar to the APL.

Format

• 8 team single round-robin
• 2 BO1s per night, per team, except for final playday
• Top 4 progress to Playoffs

Dates

• Mon May 18 - 7PM local start time - PD1
• Tue May 19 - 7PM local start time - PD2
• Fri May 22 - 7PM local start time - PD3
• Sat May 23 - 7PM local start time - PD4

phase 3: playoffs

This is what it all comes down to. 4 teams, 1 winner, and taking home a win means more than just earning the lion's share of Challenger Circuit points & prize money; the winners of each Stage will automatically qualify to their region's T2 Regional Finals at the end of the year.

Format

• 4 team, double elimination BO3
• 3 Playoff days, with 2x BO3 per day

Dates

• Playoff D1 - Wed May 27 - 7PM AEST start time (All Leagues)
• Playoff D2 - Sat May 30 - 7PM AEST start time (Rivals)
• Playoff D2 - Sun May 31 - 7PM SGT start time (Bootcamp)
• Playoff D2 - Mon Jun 01 - 7PM JST start time (Rebellion)
• Playoff D3 - Wed Jun 03 - 7PM AEST start time (Rivals)
• Playoff D3 - Thu Jun 04 - 7PM SGT start time (Bootcamp)
• Playoff D3 - Fri Jun 05 - 7PM JST start time (Rebellion)

This model will be replicated in Stage 2 later on in the year.

t2 regional finals

The Gauntlet. Elite Community Series. Rebellion Finals. Our long-standing year-end tournaments have become about more than bragging rights, as they will be the final competition in each region's Challenger Circuit and seed teams to the later stages of the Challenger Finals in 2027. More information will be revealed later about our regional finals, but you can see the complete roadmap of our circuit below.

challenger circuit points

Teams will earn points across the year based on their results in Stage 1 and Stage 2, which will then qualify teams to the T2 Regional Finals in their respective region. This will follow the same allocation as the Global Points System, and more information will be shared in the APL Challenger Circuit Rulebook at a later date.

coverage

The Playoffs of each stage, and the entirety of the Regional Finals, for each region will be broadcast live in-studio to twitch.tv/rainbow6 and twitch.tv/rainbow6bravo.

We will be working with costreamers to bring you all the remaining action over the course of the year - you can join the Discord for more information on costreaming here.

sign up now

You can sign up to the tournaments via Challengermode and get all the information in the official Discord here.

This year is going to be an exciting one for aspiring teams and players across APAC - stay tuned for more information on all our official channels!

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