Following the conclusion of an off-season packed with regional tournaments and the Esports World Cup, BLAST's top-flight competitions are now back. On September 2, the Europe League kicked off the second split of the season.
Only eight days later, Ubisoft deployed Y9S3 Operation Twin Shells to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. Unexpectedly, less than 24 hours later, it was announced that Skopós would be quarantined until further notice from the competitive scene.
With the regional top-flights being in action now, here's everything you need to know about the second international event of BLAST's calendar: the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
Teams
A total of 20 teams will compete at the BLAST R6 Major Montreal in what will be the last tournament of its kind in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege's Year 9.
Although it's too early to say who will compete at the BLAST R6 Major Montreal in November, here's how the BLAST R6 Major spots are distributed across the nine top-flight regions in the scene:
- Brazil League 2024 Stage 2: Four spots
- Europe League 2024 Stage 2: Four spots
- North America League 2024 Stage 2: Four spots
- Japan League 2024 Stage 2: Two spots
- South Korea League 2024 Stage 2: Two spots
- Oceania League 2024 Stage 2: One spot
- Asia League 2024 Stage 2: One spot
- MENA League 2024 Stage 2: One spot
- LATAM League 2024 Stage 2: One spot
Format
The BLAST R6 Major Montreal will follow the same format used at the BLAST R6 Major Manchester.
The tournament will be divided into three phases: Play-in, Swiss Stage, and Playoffs. Here's what you need to know about each one:
Play-In
The play-in stage is the first one of the three. It includes eight teams, one from each top-flight division except for the Asia League, whose only representative will move to the playoffs automatically thanks to Bleed Esports' performance at the BLAST R6 Major Manchester.
The teams that will compete in the play-in of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal are the following ones:
- Brazil League 2024 Stage 2: Last Chance Qualifier winner
- Europe League 2024 Stage 2: Last Chance Qualifier winner
- North America League 2024 Stage 2: Last Chance Qualifier winner
- Japan League 2024 Stage 2: Last Chance Qualifier winner
- South Korea League 2024 Stage 2: Last Chance Qualifier winner
- Oceania League 2024 Stage 2: Top-seed
- MENA League 2024 Stage 2: Top-seed
- LATAM League 2024 Stage 2: Top-seed
These eight teams will be put in a double-elimination bracket with BO3 matches, where the best four teams will move to the Swiss Stage.
Swiss Stage
The Swiss stage will be the second phase of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal. The four teams from the play-in will join the twelve teams that had directly qualified for the Swiss Stage.
In the Swiss Stage, teams must win three matches to qualify for the playoffs. All of the matches will be BO1s except for elimination matches, which will be BO3s.
After the first round of games of the Swiss Stage is played, teams are paired against other squads with similar results. For instance, after the first match of the Swiss Stage, a team that started with a win will only be able to face another team that began its BLAST R6 Major run with a win. On the contrary, teams that lost the first game will face off against a team that had also lost the first game.
Progressively, the best teams will secure a playoff spot while the ones at the bottom of the standings will be knocked out. After the conclusion of the Swiss Stage, the best eight teams (those with match records of 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2) will qualify for the playoffs, while those at the bottom half of the table (teams with match records of 2-3, 1-3, or 0-3) will be knocked out.
Playoffs
Last but not least, the best eight teams will compete in the BLAST R6 Major Montreal playoffs. The format used for the playoffs is a single-elimination bracket with BO3 games, except for the grand final, which will be a BO5 match.
Dates
The BLAST R6 Major Montreal will be played from November 7 to November 17. Here are the exact starting and ending dates for each one of the tournament phases previously mentioned:
- Play-in: November 7 to November 8
- Swiss Stage: November 10 to November 13
- Playoffs: November 15 to November 17
Following the conclusion of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal, teams will be allowed to make roster moves to compete at the Six Invitational qualifiers and the Six Invitational 2025, which will be played in February 2025.
Location and venue
As its name indicates, the BLAST R6 Major Montreal will be played in Montreal, Canada. The venue chosen for the tournament has been the Verdun Auditorium, an arena that holds slightly over 4,100 sits.
This will be the first international competition of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege played in Montreal, Canada, since the Six Invitational 2023.
From 2017 to 2020, every Six Invitational was played in Montreal. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the location was moved to France (2021) and Sweden (2022) before heading back to Montreal in 2023. It was then that Ubisoft announced the decision to move the tournament around the world, with Brazil hosting the Six Invitational 2024, United States the Six Invitational 2025, and France the Six Invitational 2026.