Due to the ongoing pandemic and associated travel restrictions and blocks, Rainbow Six has not seen an international event since the 2020 Six Invitational, where Spacestation Gaming has returned home with the title.
Now, a year later, the top 20 teams meet again in the most anticipated tournament so far.
With all the details about the format, location and date of the tournament now revealed, here’s what will happen next month at 2021 Six Invitational.
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A total of 20 teams will be present; the Top 16 for six Invitational points and four regional qualification winners.
Main 16:
BDS Sports – Shaiiko, Renshiro, RaFaLe, Elemzje, BriD and eaglemees (analyst)
TSM – Achieved, Merc, Beaulo, Geometrics, Chala, Pojoman (trainer) and Daeda (analyst)
Giants Gaming – Lunarmetal, Ysaera, HysteRiX, SpeakEasy, jrdn, Histoire (substitute) and GiG (coach)
Cloud9 – EnvyTaylor, Static, Nova, Harp3r, SyAIL, RechoTZ (head coach) and OniChan (assistant coach)
Ninjas in pajamas – Kamikaze, Psycho, Julio, Muzi and pin- DarkZero Esports – Mint, HotanCold, Hyper, Skys, Ecl9pse, BC (coach) and Grant (analyst)
- Team Liquid – Nesk, xS3xyCake, psk1, Paluh, HSnamuringa and Silence (coach)
- Spacestation Gaming – Thinkingnade, Rampy, Bosco, Fultz, Canadian, Lycan (head coach), Sov (assistant coach) and EkuL (analyst)
- ONe eSports Team – reduct, Faallz, LuKid, Rappz, FelipoX, Budega (trainer) and Vivas (analyst)
Wildcard game – EmoRin, Diesel, Gio, Pat, Vincere, Fluxx and syliX (two coaches)
Virtus.pro – wTg, Rask, Shockwave, p4sh4, m1loN, Toda (trainer) and Andreezy (analyst)- Team Empire – ShepparD, JoyStiCK, Scyther, Dan, Always and RayzerGM (trainer)
- FaZe Clan – Astro, yoona, ion, live, KDS and Ramalho (coach)
- Oxygen Sports – FoxA, LaXInG, VertcL, Slashug, B1ologic, HOP3Z (trainer) and Redeemer (trainer)
G2 Esports – Pengu, Kantoraketti, UUNO, CTZN, Virtue, Shas (trainer) and Sua (analyst)- MIBR – Cyb3r, soulz1, Bullet1, MKing, cameram4n and Guille (trainer)
Regional qualification winners:
CYCLOPS game athletes – Anitun, SuzuC, gatorada, BlackRay, Ayagator and Fuji3 (trainer)
Mkers – Lollo, Gemini, Scatto, Here, Sasha and Torok (coach)
Altiora – Spiritz, Sonar, Euphoria, Eskaa, P3NGU1N and Okward1HP (coach)- Esports FURIA – Bersa, LEGEND, h1ghs, Novys, Miracle, Twister (trainer) and TchubZ (trainer)
Together, these teams add up to six LATAM teams, five EU and NA teams and only four APAC teams.
Format
These 20 teams will be divided into two groups of 10 as follows:
- A group: BDS, C9, Liquid, DZ, oNe, Empire, FaZe, G2, CAG and FURIA
- Group B: TSM, Giants, NiP, SSG, Wildcard, Vp, OxG, MIBR, Altiora and Mkers
This division is done using seeds determined by SI Points, which means that there is no need for a seed show as in previous years.
Most notably, this means that four of the 10 teams in Group A are Latin American, while four of the five North American teams are in Group B.
The group stage will see each team play against all the other teams in its group once in the Best-of-One (Bo1) round-robin format, much like the APAC North and European League (EUL) formats.
After the initial group stage, the first eight teams will progress to the Playoff Top Bracket, while the next eight teams will progress to the Bottom Bracket and the last four will be eliminated.
These playoffs will all be Best of three (Bo3) with a Grand Final Best of five (Bo5).
This creates an event of approximately 111 games, including 90 Bo1s and a Bo5, designed to maximize the number of matchups for the first international event in a year.
Date and Location
The tournament will take place from February 9 to 21, in three weeks, with the following schedule:
- February 9th to 14th – Group Stage
- February 17th to 21st – Decisive matches
All of these games will take place in Paris, France, where the main European studio and APAC are located.
For this to happen, players will be subjected to a seven-day quarantine before the event, submit a negative PCR test before flying to France and maintain strict separation between the teams. This is to create a bubble environment where players are tested regularly, wear masks at almost any time and leave the bubble within 48 hours of being eliminated.
Thus, to keep security levels high, the event was organized with the help of the French government to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the teams during the event.
Also of note is that only six people per team can travel to the event for obvious reasons, which means that many co-coaches, analysts and managers will be unable to attend.
Showmatch
A $ 50,000 charity showmatch will also take place, with the following teams:
Big Brain Maestro Mains – MacieJay, FastAnne, Kitty, CoconutBruh and CrossArchon
All Aim Ash Mains – BikiniBodhi, Snedger, Jericho, NarcholepticNugget and Sasslyn
Particularly noteworthy about this match is the ESL logo in the graphics above, which means that they will be involved in the game. Since the Pro League ended last year, ESL has managed only the APAC region competitions, while FACEIT has managed NA and EU, making this an odd choice.
Prize pool
The Six Invitational prize pool is again limited to $ 3 million this year, with sales of the recent Battlepass increasing the prize pool. If it reaches the $ 3 million figure as expected, this leads to the following division of the prize:
- 1st place: $ 1,000,000
- 2nd place: $ 450,000
- 3rd place: $ 240,000
- 4th place: $ 170,100
- 5th – 6th places: $ 135,000
- 7th – 8th places: $ 102,600
- 9th – 12th places: $ 75,000
- 13th – 16th places: $ 60,000
- 17 to 20 seats: $ 30,000
Finally, viewers have a chance to get 13 exclusive charms, a series of R6 Esports Packs and a VIP Tachanka package watching the broadcasts over the two weeks:
- 4 amulets – Watch any R6 broadcast enabled for three hours between 21-23, 24-26, 27-29 and 30-31 January to see a unique charm for each period
- 4 amulets – Watch any R6 stream in partnership for four hours between the 1st and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th and 7th and 8th of February to see a unique charm for each period
- 1 Esports Package – Every eight hours of R6 streams in partnership watched between the 6th and 8th, 9th to 14th and 17th and 20th of February, as well as every two and a half hours watched on the 21st.
- 4 SI charms – Watch the SI21 tournament for a unique charm on February 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th
- SI VIP Package – An exclusive SI charm and Tachanka package will also be launched randomly on the 21st
As expressly stated on the ad blog, viewers do not need to enter anything into the chat to be eligible for charms.
Tune in in three weeks for the action to begin, as the fifth annual World Championship takes place and we finally see how the four regions fare after a long year.