The BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen runs April 24 and March 7; let’s take a closer look at Brazil’s qualifying teams.
The quest to repeat 2021
Since the LATAM region’s integration into the competitive Rainbow Six: Siege scene, Brazilian teams have always put on good performances, competing in four finals across five Pro Leagues between 2017 and 2018. However, despite this, the region hasn’t lived up to the expectations in longer competitions like the Six Invitational and Six Major. Achieving success at the global level is both the biggest dream and toughest challenge for the region.
An exception to this pattern was the year 2021. A magical year, where Ninjas in Pyjamas returned to the Six Invitational stage after losing 3:2 in the 2020 tournament, and managed to become the first Brazilian team to win the biggest tournament of Rainbow Six: Siege. But 2021 was a good year for the region in general, with the top three teams being Brazilian (Team Liquid in second place, MiBR in third place). It was also the same year, Team oNe won the Six Major Mexico against Team Empire, and in Sweden, Faze Clan beat Ninjas in Pyjamas in the final. The year ended with three international titles on Brazilian soil and two of those tournaments with a Brazilian final. The dream year. Could we see it repeat in 2023?
Let’s take a look at what Brazil’s bringing to the competition.
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FaZe Clan
FaZe Clan celebrating their qualification for Six Major Copenhagen, (Credit: Rainbow6br/saaymon)FaZe Clan arrived in 2018 to compete in the Six Invitational, and has participated in five of the seven majors that have taken place since. This year they enter Copenhagen for their sixth competition, boasting a runner-up finish (Berlin), one title (Sweden) and two losses in the playoffs (Raleigh and Jönköping).
The team has undergone quite a few changes from Jönköping to now; with the departure of world champions Gabriel “cameraman” Hespanhol, Leonardo “Astro” Luis, and José “Bullet1” Victor, making way for promising players “VITAKING,” “Handy,” and “KDS,” who had a brief stint with the team, so was already known by the organization. And with the changes, the team has returned to success on national soil, something that has only happened twice since Pro League S10; the season where the team qualified for five international tournaments, despite there being only two spots available for the region. And even taking into consideration the period of the initial Faze Clan lineup playing in Fontt and Santos DeX, as well as this season and Season 1 of 2021.
Despite finishing in second place (losing only to Ninjas in Pyjamas), the team managed to defeat Black Dragons and W7M in the playoffs and secure their spot in the Six Major. In addition, they also defeated Team Liquid in the grand final, just as they did in the group stage. Putting aside the negative streak of 12 direct confrontations with only two victories for Faze Clan, the achievement of those two consecutive victories, something that had not happened since Pro League S9/S10, is a promising look for FaZe.
Team Strengths
FaZe Clan has a very strong map pool that’s difficult to combat, with excellent Skyscraper and Kafe, as well as good Clubhouse and Chalet.
They’ve also got an excellent opening kill rate in the last 6 months, 293/254 (+39).
Team Weaknesses
Despite having two great players for clutch situations, FaZe still has a low clutch rate of 0.53 per map.
Line-up
- Jaime ‘Cyber’ Ramos
- Lucas ‘soulz1’ Schinke
- Victor ‘VITAKING’ Augusto
- Thiago ‘Handyy’ Sá Ferreira
- Eduardo ‘KDS’ Chiste
One to watch: soulz1 – 0.79 Kill per Round (2nd on team) / 37% SRV (1st on team)
Team Liquid
Team Liquid celebrating their qualification for Six Major Copenhagen, (Credit: Rainbow6br/saaymon)Team Liquid, an exceptional team, full of stars, arrived this season with another one. The highlight of W7M, Gabriel ‘volpz’ Fernandes. Volpz is one of the players who competed for the Rookie award last season. With the new addition and after so many international failures for the team, the fans’ expectation for titles, which was already high, became even greater.
This season the team qualified first in the group stage, with only one loss, to rivals Faze Clan. And in the playoffs, one win away from securing a spot in the Six Major, the team defeated LOS oNe 2-0. Despite losing to Faze Clan in the final, Team Liquid had secured their spot in Phase 2 of the international tournament.
Team Strengths
Liquid has two excellent and highly confident maps, Villa and Oregon, as well as a good Theme Park and Border. And they’ve suffered very few plants per defense (20%).
In addition to these strengths, Liquid also has a great opening kill rate in the last 6 months, 349/301 (+48)
Team Weaknesses
In contrast to the plants suffered, the team has difficulty planting, with a rate of only 22% of attack rounds including a plant by the team.
Line-up
- André ‘NESKWGA’ Oliveira
- Luccas ‘Paluh’ Molina
- Pablo ‘resetz’ Oliveira
- Lorenzo ‘Lagonis’ Volpi
- Gabriel ‘volpz’ Fernandes
One to watch: volpz – 0.89 Kill per Round (2nd on team) / 36% Opening kills per round (1st on team) / 59% Opening kills wins (2nd on team)
W7M
W7M celebrating their qualification for Six Major Copenhagen, (Credit: Rainbow6br/saaymon)After a dream season, rewarding the organization’s work and dedication to do something different, W7M arrives strong and with even bigger dreams. In their last three tournaments, they finished in the Top 4 of the Six Major Berlin and Jönköping, and as the runner-up of the Six Invitational.
As mentioned above, this season “volpz” left for Team Liquid, along with Julio “Julio” Giacomelli, who became coach of MNM. Which meant the team needed a good analysis of the market to continue acquiring results in the main Rainbow Six: Siege competitions.
With the arrival of “nade” and “FelipoX,” W7M managed to qualify for the international tournament, reaching Phase 1 of the competition, although somewhat lacking the same level of superiority they held in 2022.
Team Strengths
W7M also has a very strong map pool, with powerful performances on Clubhouse, Oregon, Villa, and Chalet, as well as other good maps like Border. Even if avoiding playing Theme Park, the team has a positive map record.
They have a great opening kill rate in the last 6 months, 394/313 (+81). And a very high elimination rate per round, with an average of 3.75 eliminated per round.
Team Weaknesses
The team has 3 maps with over 20 bans in the last 6 months: Skyscraper (25), Bank (27), and Theme Park (26), making it easier to predict their map veto, a fact which aids their opponents when preparing to face the team.
Line-up
- Gustavo ‘Herdsz’ Herdina
- Diego ‘Kheyze’ Zanello
- João ‘Jv92’ Vitor
- Felipe ‘FelipoX’ de Lucia
- Felipe ‘nade’ Sá Ferreira
One to watch: Kheyze – 0.90 Kill per Round (1st on team) / 29% Opening kills per round (1st on team)
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Ninjas in Pyjamas celebrating their qualification for Six Major Copenhagen, (Credit: Rainbow6br/saaymon)The first world champion from Brazil, and runners-up at the Major in Sweden and the Six Invitational 2020. Ninjas in Pyjamas have experienced moments well below expectations in recent stages. With last-place finishes in Stage 1 and Stage 3 of 2022, the team sounded the alarm for 2023. Despite Stage 2 being a breather that led the team to the Six Major Berlin, NIP were stopped in the group stage.
The start of the 2023 season wasn’t the best either, leaving fans with the impression the team was still struggling. NIP placed last in the group stage and possible tiebreaker, and last place overall.
But everything changed after that subpar performance, the atmosphere became favorable, and the team secured a spot in the Last Chance Brazil final against LOS oNe ‘ a rematch of the fateful Brazilian qualifier final for the Six Invitational 2023. Only this time, the win went to the Ninjas, who return to compete in an international tournament after missing the last two.
Team Strengths
After the negative results, NIP had an excellent performance at both Gamers8 and the Last Chance Brazil qualifiers. The change in attitude and confidence among the players is noticeable.
A 27% attack plant rate for NIP could be a good way to qualify for Phase 2 of the Six Major.
Team Weaknesses
A notable weakness, NIP has a very low clutch rate per map (0.35).
Based on the last 6 months, they have a very unfavorable map pool, with fixed bans on Oregon and Theme Park. Compounding this, they’ve had low performances on the Villa map, and difficulties on Skyscraper.
Line-up
- Gustavo ‘Psycho’ Rigal
- Murilo ‘Muzi’ Moscatelli
- Gabriel ‘pino’ Fernandes
- Gustavo ‘Wizard’ Gomes
- Raul ‘kondz’ Romão
One to watch: pino – 0.79 Kill per Round (1st on team) / 23% Opening kills per round (1st on team) / 32% SRV (1st on team)
The BLAST Six Major Copenhagen starts on April 24, on Ubisoft’s official channels on YouTube and Twitch.
