Rainbow 6
The four European teams for the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen, taking place between April 24 and May 7, have been confirmed. We take a closer look at each of them.
European dominance
The EU region had a meteoric start in Rainbow Six: Siege, with several world titles between 2017 and 2019, but soon lost its impact. At the beginning of the game, top players were instrumental in the region's growth in the competition. Players such as Niclas "Pengu” Mouritzen, Fabian "Fabian” Hällsten, Olivier "Renshiro” Vandroux, Daniel "Goga” Mazorra, Joonas "jnszki” Savolainen, and others.
In the 2016-17 season, the scene had four international tournaments, with three ESL Pro Leagues and a Six Invitational, plus two EPLs for Europe. In the 2017-18 season, Europe won all the titles. Winning three titles for PENTA (two EPL and the SI) and one title for ENCE (EPL), making it a perfect year for the region.
In the 2018-19 season Europe remained on top with three titles. And with two EPL, one Six Major, and one Six Invitational, (including, an EPL, a Six Major, and a SI for G2). In the last season of European dominance, the region won two EPL and one Six Major (now between Team Empire and NaVi).
Virtus.pro
Credit: Virtus.pro
The team began its journey by defeating the current Six Invitational champions, G2. Then they then went on to demolish TT9 and Heroic. But in the last round, playing an atypical match, they lost 7:2 to Team BDS. A curious fact about this story — one round prevented BDS from qualifying for the Playoffs since, with a tie in round difference, the tiebreaker favored Heroic, meaning the Russians' second round eliminated the champions of the Six Jönköping Major 2022.
In the Playoffs, they had difficult games. The score was 2-0 against Team Secret, but they managed to keep it out of overtime. Against Wylde, the team was able to recover from a difficult moment in the match and secured qualification for the BLAST Six Major Copenhagen with a beautiful comeback. The Grand Final was a great game against G2, which only counted for points in the Six Invitational ranking, but it was a crucial game for the players' confidence.
Team Strengths
During the past year, the team lost a few maps, causing their opponents some doubts about how to play the map veto against them. Despite this, Theme Park and Border are the team's main vetoed maps.
VP have a defense that delivers few plants to the opponent, with only 21% of defenses having opponent plants.
Team Weaknesses
VP has a dangerous rate of clutches suffered per game, with about 0.75, the team already starts to sound the alarm if the procedures for numerical advantage are well worked out.
With two fixed maps in the ban veto, they’re susceptible to falling on Skyscraper, which they’ve lost twice in two games over the last 6 months.
Line-up
- Pavel “p4sh4” Kosenko
- Dmitry “Always” Mitrahovich
- Danila “dan” Dontsov
- Danil “JoyStiCK” Gabov
- Artur “Sheppard” Ipatov
One to watch: dan - 0.85 Kill per Round (1st on team) / 30% Opening kills per round (1st on team)
G2
Credit: Ubisoft/ericananmalay
The current Six Invitational champions need no introduction. G2 had a year of many ups and downs, but they appear to have found their ideal lineup with the arrival of Benjamin "Benjamaster" Dereli. And in addition to the title, they continue to perform at a very high level.
With only one loss in the group stage and three clean victories, the team secured their spot in the Playoffs in first place — with a lot of tactical plays and individual class. With just one Best of 3 away from the Six Major, G2 took a very convincing victory against MNM (another standout team from the last Six Invitational) and thus guaranteed their spot in Phase 2 of the world tournament.
In the grand final, as already mentioned above, they suffered a narrow defeat against Virtus.pro in an incredible match. Even still, the outcome of this match shouldn’t affect the mentality of the current world champions.
Team strengths
G2 has plenty of strong maps; Theme Park, Oregon, Villa, and Skyscraper, in addition to having good control over others like Chalet, Bank, and Kafe. It’s difficult to surprise them.
They also have a very high Opening Kills rate, with an incredible 273/239 (+34).
Plus, a dearth of eliminations per round, with a rate of 3.72.
Team weaknesses
G2s attack is very focused on quick eliminations, deciding outside the bomb. Their planting rate per attack proves it, with only 23% of the team's attacks having a plant in the last 6 months.
The team has a 0.82 clutch rate per map, G2 doesn’t handle these situations very well — an incentive for opponents at a disadvantage.
Line-up
- Jake “Virtue” Grannan
- Karl “Alem4o” Zarth
- Jack “Doki” Robertson
- Byron “Blurr” Murray
- Benjamin “Benjamaster” Dereli
One to watch: Doki - 7 Clutches (2nd on team) / 0.88 Kills per round (2nd on team)
MNM
Credit: Ubisoft/ericananmalay
The big surprise of Six Invitational 2023 also secured their spot in the first Six Major of the season. Thanks in part to the addition of the legendary Julio “Julio” Giacomelli to the coaching staff, MNM secured the 3rd spot and will play the first phase in Copenhagen.
With three wins in four games, the team qualified in 2nd place in the groups. They went on to face Heroic in the playoffs with a top-level performance — the team was one best-of-three away from the Six Major. But as resoundingly as they beat Heroic, they lost to G2. Leaving them to face Wylde, who left MNM in second place in the groups, in a grudge match.
With technical problems during the first map of the match, the game was postponed, but in the end, MNM won Clubhouse, (despite their earlier loss on the map to Wylde during the group stage) and secured the coveted spot.
Team Strengths
In the last 6 months, MNM have shown an enviable performance on Chalet, with an incredible 6-1 record on the map. They also have a good map in Clubhouse, making these two difficult maps for teams to face MNM on.
Like G2, the team has a great rate of successful Opening Kills, with a 233/202 (+31) record.
Team Weaknesses
MNM tends to struggle in rounds with an advantage, with an average of 1 clutch suffered per map.
Although they have an excellent map in Chalet, the team has many balanced maps, which can be advantageous in the first phase of the major, but might be a problem later on when facing top teams.
Line-up
- Josh “Yuzus” Pritchard
- Leon “neLo” Pesic
- Luke “Tyrant” Casey
- Fatih “Solotov” Türker
- Nathan “Nafe” Sharp
One to watch: Solotov - 8 Clutches (1st on team) / 0.90 Kills per round (1st on team) / 55% Opening kills wins (2nd on team)
Wolves
Credit: Ubisoft/itsmeERROR
After their great performances at the Six Invitational 23, Wolves entered the European League with changes to their lineup; the departure of player Valentin "risze" Liradelfo and the addition of Jimmy "DEADSHT" Vojtasik, a young promise from Europe. However, the team's performance was much lower than expected, with four losses and finishing last in the group stage.
Wolves were forced to play the first phase of the Last Chance Qualifiers due to their placement, but this didn’t prove to be a problem as they finished in 2nd place (losing the final to Team BDS). In the LCQ they persevered to defeat the three teams coming in from the Playoffs; Heroic, Team Secret, and Wylde, and secured their spot in the Six Major.
Team Strengths
Wolves have a high clutch rate per map over the last 6 months, with a rate of 1.03 per map, so adverse round situations can be reversed by the team.
They have two excellent maps in the map veto, Bank (5-1) and Villa (5-1). Although these maps are not often banned, they are played less frequently, and based on that, we can consider Bank and Villa as their opponent’s most feared maps.
Team Weaknesses
Wolves don’t have a very favorable map veto. Despite having an excellent Bank and Villa, they’ve had negative results on all other maps over the last 6 months.
The team has a rate of 0.27 plants suffered per defense, which could be considered high for the final stages of the competition.
Line-up
- Bastien “BiBoo” Dulac
- Yanis “Mowwwgli” Dahmani
- Nicolas “P4” Rimbaud
- Axel “Shiinka” Freisberg
- Jimmy “DEADSHT” Vojtasik
One to watch: Shiinka - 17 Clutches (1st on team) / 36 Plants (1st on team) / 34% SRV (1st on team)
The BLAST Six Major Copenhagen starts on April 24, on Ubisoft's official channels on YouTube and Twitch.
Feature Image Credit: Ubisoft/capturedbycyga
