Rainbow 6
Records, details, and comparisons to the previous year are crucial data points in assessing the year as a whole in Rainbow Six: Siege.
The arrival of BLAST as a new tournament organizer in Rainbow Six In 2023 brought with it many changes — the most significant being the shift in the global calendar. Let's dive into our first topic, the comparison between 2022 and 2023 in numbers.
2022 vs. 2023
The major demand from the community this year was the decrease in official matches and tournaments, even though the organizer reintroduced the accessibility for teams outside official competitions, similar to the ESL period, allowing them to compete in a Six Major. However, unlike previous years, there’s no longer a democratic qualification through an open qualifier for the Six Invitational. This won't be taken into consideration right now, but will be an important factor for consideration next year, in 2024.
In 2023, Rainbow Six: Siege had 40 official tournaments, including Gamers8 and its qualifiers—a tournament of great importance due to its high prize pool. In total, there were 411 games, 527 maps, and 5792 rounds played.
All teams mentioned are based solely on games with the main lineup, disregarding the numbers in the case of a female lineup or academy.
The team that played the most matches in 2023 was the North American team Spacestation, with 47 matches, followed by two other North American teams Soniqs (41), M80 (40), and DarkZero (40), and closing the top 5 with the two-time world champion W7M (40).
However, when making a comparison, the 2023 first-place team would be the 17th team in the 2022 ranking. Nevertheless, not everything was an improvement, including for the mentioned organizations. Only W7M and Soniqs saw a decrease in the number of games between the two years, dropping by 13 matches for the Brazilians and 7 for the North Americans, but the others saw an improvement:
SSG Media Day at Six Major Atlanta Credit: Kirill Bashkirov/Ubisoft- Spacestation 42 (2022) - 47 (2023)
- XSET/M80 39 - 40
- DarkZero 39-40
Regarding maps played, the difference is also impressive. The top teams in 2023 were W7M and Spacestation (both with 78), followed by M80 with 76, and closing the Top 6 with BDS, G2, and LOS, each with 70 maps. The leaders would be in 9th place in terms of the number of maps played, once again showing significant differences between one year and the next:
- W7M 96 (2022) - 78 (2023)
- Spacestation 58 - 78
- XSET/M80 - 47 - 76
- Team BDS 80 - 70
- G2 43 - 70
- Team oNe/LOS 71 - 70
Season Records - Players
Throughout the season, many players achieved unique numbers specific to different aspects of gameplay, better known as records. Let's analyze each of these records.
KD (Kill-Death Ratio)
In Best of 1, Taylor "Terdsta" Ching (Bleed) and "Bazoka" (AKATSUKI-TEAM) dominated with the best Kill-Death Ratio throughout 2023; with an impressive +17 against Dire Wolves and Triple, respectively, in their regional tournaments, which ended with victories for both players. The standout is Terdsta, from New Zealand, whose high KD was greatly influenced by finishing with only 3 deaths.
In Best of 3, the record also goes to Asia, specifically to Bleed, but now with Wu “Reeps96” Weichen, who, in the decisive game for a spot in the Six Major, achieved an incredible +30 KD against Elevate in a memorable match for the region.
In Best of 5, the record is held by Benjamin "Benjamaster" Dereli, who made history in his first major international final and was crucial in G2's title against W7M. With a beautiful KD of +30, the player became the champion and was also elected the MVP of the competition, being the absolute highlight of the team.
Kills
While KD considers survival, Kills are exclusively about players who made significant eliminations in a single match.
In BO1, Bazoka continues to lead for the same game in the MENA League, but now he is tied with Jack "Doki" Robertson, a player from G2, who also made 23 eliminations against Heroic in the Europe League.
In BO3, Reeps96 and his performance against Elevate remain at the top, as he accumulated 51 eliminations in a 3-map game.
Bleed Media Day at Six Major Atlanta. Credit: Kirill Bashkirov/UbisoftIn BO5, the French player Shaiiko had another incredible performance and also joined the list of record-holders in 2023, with 60 kills in the duel against Wylde, a match that determined a spot in Gamers8, ultimately winning the trophy.
OPK Diff (Opening Kill Differential)
In BO1, "Sironeko" set the record for the season in the first stage of the Japan League with +6 (6/0), despite losing the match, making a mark in the 2023 season.
In BO3, the Brazilian Jaime "Cyber" Ramos, one of the best entry fraggers globally, left his mark with an incredible +12 (15/3) against Team Secret in the biggest Rainbow Six: Siege tournament, the Six Invitational.
In BO5, "ShuReap" tried hard, especially in the final maps, but it wasn't enough. Despite his +8 (12/4) in OPK Diff, the team lost the Japan League grand final to SCARZ.
Clutches
Clutch is an award for players who excel in defensive situations and stand out in their rounds. In BO1, clutch awards are not possible since the record is 2 clutches in a single match, a feat achieved by 45 players during the season.
In BO3, however, there’s a clear leader; the legendary Russian player Artur "ShepparD" Ipatov, who made 4 clutches against the Italians from Mkers in the Six Invitational Qualifier. However, in the end, the team lost to Team Secret and missed the qualification for the tournament.
In BO5, in the game that determined the North American spot for Gamers8, the Brazilian Lucas "DiasLucas" Dias handled difficult situations remarkably, making history with 4 clutches and securing victory in the match, ultimately resulting in the team's runner-up position.
Plants
To conclude our analysis of 2023’s records, the most defensive and courageous function in the game is planting. In BO1, Peter "pacbull" Bull achieved a unique feat in the season—planting in every attacking round against KOI, playing all six rounds.
In BO3, there is a tie between four players: ShepparD (vs. Mkers), Aleksi "UUNO" Työppönen (vs. FaZe), Lachlan "MrB" Brown (vs. Oxygen), and Loïc "BriD" Chongthep (vs. Soniqs), each with 8 plants in their respective matches. In BO5, the French player BriD achieved 9 plants against Wylde, including in the same game as his teammate Shaiiko's record.
Season Records - Matches
Every Rainbow Six: Siege fan has their reasons for considering one match better than another, and sometimes these reasons can be quantified in statistics. Let's see how this plays out.
G2 and Bleed players greeting each other at Six Major Atlanta. Credit: João Ferreira/UbisoftMatches with a High Elimination Rate
Some fans consider matches with a lot of gunfights as the best, and with that in mind, here are the matches with the best elimination rates per round in the year:
In Stage 2 of the North American League, the BO1 between Wildcard and Luminosity provided us with a match with 67 eliminations and a rate of 8.375 kills per round. Despite the short game duration, the rounds were hotly contested in terms of eliminations.
In Stage 2 of the LATAM League, Alpha Atheris and Reven had 178 eliminations, and the rate of 7.74 kills per round took the prize for BO3. Finally, the match for the title of Japan League Stage 2 between CYCLOPS and SCARZ yielded 217 eliminations, a rate of 7 per round.
Matches with a High Clutch Rate
For others, a good match is one that features many clutches, showing that the match had many options and rounds decided in the details:
With a triple tie, the games between G2 and Heroic, Wildcard and Luminosity, Soniqs and Mirage all had 5 clutches in the BO1, making them the top games in this category. In BO3, the tie was double, with the games between Dplus and Talon, MNM and Wolves, both also with 5 clutches and a rate of 2.5 per map played. Finally, LOS and W7M in the grand final of Blast Major Atlanta, with only 2 clutches and a rate of 0.5 per map. All mentioned games were in the second stage of the season.
Matches with a High Plant Rate
But why would this be good? It's simple; in some analyses, this can indicate that the match featured good offensive strategies, well-prepared attacks, and could result in a potentially good game.
Fnatic and SCARZ, along with Wylde and KOI, tied in BO1 matches, with 6 plants out of 7 played. Virtus.pro against Wolves dominated in BO3, with 13 plants out of 24 rounds. Finally, CYCLOPS against SCARZ with 6 plants out of the 31 rounds played were the highlights among the BO5 games.
These were the main statistics for this year in Rainbow Six: Siege. Despite the decrease in the number of games, we still had great stories, and we look forward to experiencing more in 2024.
