BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City Team Preview: Wildcard

David ViaMay 06, 2026

Between May 8 and May 17 twenty of the best Rainbow Six Siege teams in the world will take part in the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City. It will be the first international event of the season and the teams’ first big chance at qualifying for the Six Invitational 2027.

Since the start of Year 10, Wildcard have been one of the most surprising teams in Rainbow Six Siege—especially on the international stage. Last season, the American-majority lineup reached the final phase of every international event they took part in, including Top 4 finishes in RE:L0:AD and the BLAST R6 Major Munich, as well as a Top 6 finish at the Six Invitational 2026.

So far, Year 11 hasn't been much different. Despite being inconsistent in North America's top flight, Wildcard managed to qualify for Salt Lake City after finishing in second place.

Here's a look at Wildcard's Kickoff performances as well as a look at what fans should expect from the American team in Salt Lake City:

How did Wildcard qualify for Salt Lake City?

Wildcard qualified for the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City after a thrilling 2-1 victory against regional favorites DarkZero Esports. The series against the purple roster included a 7-5 win for the former Spacestation core, which were followed by back-to-back maximum overtime wins for Wildcard. Similarly, before their game against DarkZero Esports, Wildcard had beaten M80 after bouncing back from a 1-7 defeat with two consecutive 8-6 wins.

All in all, Wildcard were really shaky in North America's top flight; which shouldn't come as a surprise given the team's performances on home soil across Year 10. Keep in mind that, despite their international runs, the team finished in sixth place in North America's 2025 Regional Finals.

Here's a look at Wildcard's match results throughout North America's Kickoff:

Therefore, not only their playoff wins were extremely tight, but during the group stage they suffered to beat Cloud9 after falling abruptly against DarkZero Esports and Spacestation. Their only comfortable match so far was their debut game this season against Outlast, which had been the worst team in the initial group stage.

In total, Wildcard have played 12 maps so far, winning half of them. Sure, a second-place finish in North America's Kickoff is Wildcard's best regional result so far, but the truth is that if it weren't for their nailbitting wins against M80 and DarkZero Esports, Wildcard would have been pushed to the Lower Bracket—and, who knows, maybe they would have ended up missing out on Salt Lake City. Thin margins do the job, but aren't the way to consistently qualify for international competitions.

Individual performances

Unlike in other teams that qualified for Salt Lake City with one or even two stand out players, Wildcard's roster doesn't have that. In fact, four of their five players are very close on the standings, with SiegeGG ratings between 1.03 and 0.97 after 12 maps played. Rating-wise, Wildcard's best player has been Adrian "Adrian" Tryka, who joined the American lineup shortly after the conclusion of the Six Invitational 2026 after a successful career in Team Secret.

Surprisingly enough, Joan "bbySharKK" Benito was Wildcard's worst player with a SiegeGG rating of 0.83. Despite mainly playing Dokkaebi and Valkyrie, the Frenchman averaged a K-D of 79-106 (-27) and an entry balance of 15-21 (-6). Looking at the rest of players in North America's Kickoff, bbySharKK own the third-worst K-D and the seventh-worst entry balance. This is worth mentioning because his teammate Brady "Spiker" Lukens has the sixth-worst entry balance in the league.

For a bit more of context, Spiker was the second-best entry in the North America League 2025 Stage 2 whilst bbySharKK had also gone positive with the tenth-best entry balance. In terms of K-D, the Frenchman had held the tenth-best K-D in last season's second split. At the same time, it's also worth considering that he finished the Six Invitational 2026 with a SiegeGG rating of 0.97 (fourth-worst in the team) after also maining Dokkaebi and Valkyrie. All in all, it's obvious that he has fallen slightly behind individually speaking; however, he could bounce back in Salt Lake City.

Maps played

Wildcard have played 12 maps in the North America League 2026 Kickoff. Their current map record consists of six map wins and six map defeats.

Wildcard's most played map is Clubhouse (three times) followed by Chalet, Fortress, and Kafe Dostoyevsky, which have been seen twice each. The rest of games featured Bank, Border, and Nighthaven Labs.

Maps banned

Wildcard's most banned map in Kickoff has been Lair; their first ban in all of their games except for their match against Outlast, where they banned it in second place. Border (six times) and Nightahven Labs (four times) come in second and third, respectively. Meanwhile, it's worth mentioning that all opponents have banned Consulate when playing against Wildcard, a map they haven't been able to play since their 7-2 win against M80 at the BLAST R6 Major Munich.

What to expect from Wildcard at the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City?

It's always hard to set expectations for Wildcard when talking about an international event. On the one hand, you have their results in North America's top flight. On the other hand, you have their results abroad; and, considering they have been able to beat some of the scene's biggest powerhouses, it's hard to ignore their potential.

Overall, considering their past international finishes, we think Wildcard have the potential to reach the playoffs in Salt Lake City. Anything that's not a Top 8 finish should be seen as a disappointing result.

For more information about Rainbow Six Siege and its esports scene, make sure to check out Siege.GG.

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