Multi champions in the past, the organization arrives needing to get back to the top and has a line-up confident in its work.
History at Six Invitational
The team arrived at Rainbow Six signing the PENTA lineup, which until then was the most successful in Rainbow Six history, with 3 Pro League and 1 Invitational, in addition to being runners-up in Pro League S7, the last one before the entry of G2. The first G2 lineup consisted of Joonas ‘Jnszki’ Savolainen, Daniel ‘Goga’ Mazorra, Fabian ‘Fabian’ Hällsten, Niclas ‘Pengu’ Mouritzen, and Juhani ‘Kantoraketti’ Toivonen. Almost the complete lineup of the last Six Invitational champions, just changing the Kantoraketti to the Ville ‘SHA77E’ Palola.
The 2019 iteration of G2’s Rainbow Six roster celebrates with the trophy after winning the Six Invitational 2019 Image: @G2esports
In the first invitational of the organization, a clean achievement, winning all 5 games, losing only 1 map to Spacestation (at the time the Clubhouse of the team was one of the best in the world, and even so they lost in overtime 7-8). An important curiosity is that this final had the longest map in Six Invitational histories, with infinite overtime, the coastal map (which was strong for both teams) went to the 22nd round, and G2 won by 12-10, but the other two maps didn’t need overtime. And so it was, the first and so far, the only team to win a Six Invitational (PC) final without losing a map.
For the SI’20, Goga and Jnszki were out and Ferenc ‘SirBoss’ Mérész (Loan) & Aleksi ‘UUNO’ Työppönen were in. The organization went through the first stage winning both games and thus achieved the longest undefeated streak in the history of the Six Invitational, with 7 wins (only best of 3), 15 maps won and 2 lost. But the joy of the G2 ended in the 2020 group stage. In the playoffs, the team fell to the Lower Bracket after losing to Fnatic (with a good performance from Jake ‘Virtue’ Grannan, now a G2 player), and then being eliminated by Ninjas in Pyjamas.
For the SI’21, SirBoss, Pengu, and Fabian were out, and Ben ‘CTZN’ McMillan & Jordan ‘Kayak’ Morley & Virtue were in. If the beginning of the Six Invitational 2020 brought a record for the organization, the beginning of 2021 also, but now negative: the longest streak of games without a win (6) in the Six Invitational. This year’s format helped the team that started badly to still seek the classification, and it was the case, but in the first round of the playoffs, G2 lost to Parabellum (NA) and was eliminated from the Six Invitational.
In 2022 the organization missed out on its first Six Invitational. From a team that only lost 1 game of international championships in 2019, with the most victorious quartet in Rainbow Six history, to a Six Invitational non-qualifier. Changes needed to happen, and they happened, and in 2023 G2 will play a Six Invitational again.
G2s Six Invitational Details including 53% wins over 19 games, 380 rounds and 33 maps.Present
The team arrives for this season looking to return to the Six Invitational, and with that it had changes in the lineup, being the first time that a Brazilian player plays for G2 in Rainbow Six. The lineup was: Ben “CTZN” McMillan, Jake “Virtue” Grannan, Kevin “Prano” Pranowitz, Jack “Doki” Robertson, and Karl “Alem4o” Zarth.
In stage 1, G2 qualified for Six Major Charlotte in the last round, even losing 7-1 to Team BDS, and with that getting 4th place in the region. In Charlotte, the team was grouped with the top 1 EU (Heroic), top 2 LATAM (W7M), and future Major champions (DarkZero). G2 managed to qualify but lost in the playoffs to Team Liquid.
Stage 2 saw more drama for G2. The team started with 4 defeats in 5 games (one of them by 7-1 for Rogue), but they managed a very good sequence of four victories without overtime (losing only 7 rounds in 4 games) and guaranteeing the classification for the Major in Berlin. At the Major, they managed to rank 1st against Faze Clan (LATAM), SANDBOX (APAC), and Soniqs (NA), but just like in Charlotte, the team ended up falling in the playoffs, this time to the champion: Rogue.
On Stage 3, Prano left to admit Byron ‘Blurr’ Murray. The change did not make G2 play what is expected of it, and for the first time in the season, the team is left out of the Six Major.
During the season, the team changed, either in players or tactically/mentally, Alem4o comments on the difference between G2 from the last 3 stages and the Six Invitational team: ‘The big difference is the environment, I think everyone is getting along with each other and we never have arguments bringing a bad mood to the team. Also, I would add that the whole team seems to understand way better the playstyle that I wanted to incorporate into the team…’ And even being a victorious organization, the player reassures about playing a Six Invitational for G2 after so long without a title: ‘I don’t think there’s any pressure.’
Alem4o is one of the stars of the team and has always been a fan of the legendary Pengu, and he even jokes when asked about the importance of having a legend on the team like Fabian: “I rather if I had Pengu.’
Alem4o slides down the banister of the stairs at the Six Major BerlinImage: Ubisoft
G2 arrives at this Six Invitational with another change in the Lineup, now it is the departure of CTZN for the entry of Benjamin ‘Benjamaster’ Dereli, who until then was one of the highlights of Heroic and arrives to help the team reach its second title of Six Invitational. Alem4o commented on the addition of the player to the team: ‘Benja is a great player and will definitely be a key piece to win S.I.’
With so many changes in the team, but with a very strong mentality from one of the leaders of the team, Alem4o once again reassures the fans and says that they are prepared for this Six Invitational: “I don’t think there’s any big obstacle for S.I. I would say the biggest obstacle in the past was to keep the positivity and the good vibes in the team but I think we pass that, and we are 100% ready for this tournament…’
The Six Invitational starts on February 7 in Canada, with broadcast on official Twitch and YouTube channels.
You’ll find more details and deep dives on all the teams attending right here on BLIX.GG.
Feature Image: Ubisoft/KonkolMichal
