Kingzone earns CNL’s first international Bo3 win over Dplus

Kingzone defeated Dplus Kia 2-1 in the Phase 1 lower-bracket quarterfinal at the BLAST R6 Major Osaka on Nov. 6, eliminating Dplus from the tournament and giving a CNL team its first international best-of-three series victory.

Kingzone won the opening map, Border, 7-4. Dplus tied the series with a 7-4 win on Lair, but Kingzone closed out the deciding map, Chalet, by the same score.

Dplus was favored by 92.8% of voters in a community prediction poll before the match. Kingzone received 7.2% of the votes.

Dplus entered the Osaka Major after winning the APAC North Stage 2 title with an all-Brazilian roster operated by South Korean organization Dplus Kia. The team defeated Japan’s CAG for the region’s only Major qualification spot, leaving Japan without a domestic representative at its home tournament.

The result renewed debate about the regional competition format. CAG coach Sparky wrote on social media that the format had left Dplus prepared mainly for matches against CAG. “Not DK’s fault for losing. The format made them a team that’s only ready for CAG,” he wrote.

Sparky also called for a LAN event featuring teams from APAC’s subregions. He described the previous four-slot LAN format as better preparation against different opponents and argued that the current subregional structure had reduced that experience.

The official Rainbow Six Esports account referenced the result on social media, calling it “another victory for the hate watchers” and adding, “It’s time to learn Chinese buddy.”

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Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 7.