LIVE Charlotte Major Hub
All updates about the Six Major in Charlotte, North Carolina
DarkZero win the Charlotte Major
DarkZero best Astralis, 3-2.
Thank you for tagging along with my stream of consciousness. Goodnight, all.
Iconic makes crazy trigger discipline play, sends grand finals to map five
2-2. Map five. www.twitch.tv/rainbow6.
Hyper clutches 1v2 through a flash to send DarkZero to a 2-1 lead
Hyper just clutched a huge round, and are heading to their own map pick. If they win seven more rounds, it's over.
DarkZero clutch out Clubhouse following impressive play from Panbazou
DarkZero raced out to a 5-1 lead and knocked Astralis out with a 7-3 victory, tying the Major final at 1-1.
Astralis take home a stellar first map
Astralis took home Villa despite njr's 20 kills.
DarkZero were up 3-0 at one point before Astralis came roaring back.
IT'S FREAKING MAJOR GRAND FINAL BO5
I just wanted to be like the description of the main Rainbow6 channel.
Interesting DarkZero Factoid
If DarkZero defeats Astralis, they will have de facto eliminated the number one seed from every single region with a number one seed at the tournament.
Guess who the top two fraggers in the Charlotte Major are?
Panbazou: 119 kills
Iconic: 118 kills
Astralis obliterate Oxygen on map two, secure finals berth vs DarkZero
Astralis showcased a brutally efficient Oregon en route to a 2-0 victory.
Astralis takes home first map of series against OXG
Astralis took home their map pick -- and put the series on match point against Oxygen. They dominated the attacking half on the map and closed out enough defenses.
SI 2020 was the last event with a live crowd. Canadian appeared in that grand finals too.
Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski just has the crowd buff.
DarkZero rebound after poor first map, take down titanic Team Liquid squad
There will only be NA teams in the grand final.
DarkZero strike back, take Chalet
Team Liquid and DarkZero are now tied 1-1 in map count heading into the final map.
If Liquid win this, the LATAM dream stays alive. If DarkZero win, only North American teams are left in the tournament.
Masterclass from Team Liquid in map one
The 7-1 Funny Brazil Scoreline has gone in the Brazilian side's favor. They won the first map in a dominating 7-1, which included a devastating 6-0 defensive half on Theme Park. Map two up next.
Did You Know?
Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski was the first NA player to ever beat a LATAM team at an event, with Continuum at SI 2017.
Team Liquid v DarkZero trivia: when was the last time Liquid was knocked out of a Major-tier event by a non-LATAM team?
It was SI 2019, by ex-Empire.
Some statistics
Of the four teams remaining, three of them were in the top eight at SI 2022.
Of the four teams remaining, three are from North America.
Of the four teams remaining, there were only three total roster moves out of 20 total possible moves from the last transfer window.
Astralis come back, beat XSET 2-1
In one of the more intense matches of the day, Astralis and XSET dueled to two incredible close maps -- and one blowout in Astralis's favor.
Oxygen take two overtlime victories in 2-0 sweep of BDS
Oxygen's victory guarantees that the USA, the home country, will have a representative in the grand finals of the Charlotte Major.
Oxygen win thriller of a first map against BDS in 8-6 scoreline
Nuers notched a 4-0 Entry record on Oxygen's opening half on BDS's map. Oxygen's map, Oregon, is up next.
DarkZero rev engines on map three, take home 2-1 victory
NA is in the semifinals with DarkZero's 2-1 victory
DarkZero reverse map one fortunes, take series to map three
DarkZero sends us to Clubhouse against Team oNe by a 7-3 scoreline.
Team oNe tramples DarkZero on Kafe
En route to a 7-3 victory, Team oNe moved to 1-0 over DarkZero in map count. Second map up next.
Liquid 2-0 G2
Team Liquid are your first semifinalist after a 2-0 defeat of G2 Esports.
G2 looking like they're in a bit of trouble down 1-0 to Team Liquid
G2 didn't have the best opening map against Team Liquid. The European super-team is down 1-0 in map count, and it's looking grim with Clubhouse coming up. Clubhouse is one of Liquid's best maps.
Repeated rulebook violations: Budega suspended for 12 months & fined
Budega, the coach of XSET, has been suspended from all competitions for 12 months and fined for repeated rulebook violations.
Two rounds separate NAL from having four teams in playoffs
All XSET needs is two more rounds to go through to the playoffs.
MAJOR UPDATE: Three members of Team oNe to compete from Charlotte for playoffs
According to Team oNe's Dash on Twitter, three members of Team oNe will fly to Charlotte to compete on LAN.
Liquid might have just put XSET in playoffs
Liquid thumped FURIA 7-1, putting FURIA way behind XSET in round differential.
If XSET gets one point against CAG, they're in. If XSET loses to CAG, FURIA still has to beat CAG by a substantial amount to qualify for playoffs.
Oxygen have a decision to make
Oxygen can infuriate the entire nation of Brazil with one decision: if they save strategies and lose to Dire Wolves, Team oNe will be eliminated from the tournament. Dire Wolves, of all teams, would go through.
BDS vs Wolves was a match for the ages
What a ridiculous match that was. Shaiiko and Mowwwgli showed how powerful Finka is as the two French squads dueled to a maximum overtime match.
Astralis look shaky as BDS qualify for playoffs
Well, it's looking like Astralis won't be taking home the number one seed just yet after a devastating 7-2 loss to BDS, who qualify for playoffs from that victory. BDS has steadily improved as the tournament has gone on, and is looking substantially better than they did on a sluggish day one.
Two NAL teams qualify for playoffs on day two
A final dispatch from day 2 of the group stages: Astralis and Oxygen Esports, the top two seeds from the North American region, are the first two teams through to the playoffs phase.
G2 are almost through!
If G2 beat w7m in regulation time in the next game, they will punch their playoffs ticket. G2 are currently riding the wave of two victories over Heroic in regulation time, with six total points coming from Heroic alone.
Oxygen are first team to qualify for playoffs
With their victory over Team oNe, Oxygen have locked in a playoff spot in the truncated Group A. Team oNe are expected to defeat Dire Wolves to earn the final spot.
DZ/w7m match still not happening
The Bravo stream is showing a "BRB" message instead of a countdown.
Welp, back to VPN we go
An earlier decision to play the Charlotte/Mexico games online was reversed after taking feedback from the teams at the Charlotte location into account, according to the official broadcast.
It's a decision that's sure to upset LATAM fans -- who are furious that their teams have to play on 80 ping whereas the Charlotte teams get 1 ping on the LAN build.
There is not a good solution to this problem, unless FACEIT and Ubisoft can go back in time and not allow the teams playing from Mexico to play at all.
Astralis pummel Wolves, take number one seed in group for now
Astralis are still undefeated -- and if BDS don't have something to say about it, they could be effectively locked into the first seed of their group. Astralis defeated BDS yesterday 7-2, and still have two games to play against currently winless Chiefs.
It's a bit early to say for sure, but Astralis sure are playing like title contenders.
DZ/w7m match postponed
Sit back and relax a bit people -- the DarkZero vs. w7m match is being postponed.
Fun with numbers
Currently, in the "big six" statistics recorded by SiegeGG for the competitions pages (K/D, Entry, Rating, Plants, Clutches, and KOST percentage), a North American player leads every category but one.
Paluh leads the field in KOST, and the other categories are overtaken by iconic, FoxA (who only played one game yesterday due to Elevate not making the tournament), and Forrest. Been a solid day to be an NA fan -- though one has to wonder what these numbers might have looked like with Elevate, w7m, Team oNe, and FURIA playing in Charlotte.
Day 2 begins -- games of the day
Good morning from sunny Charlotte, USA. We're going to be going through some of the matches I'm most looking forward to today.
Wolves vs. Astralis -- This rematch should be an absolute banger, no further commentary needed. Wolves are playing excellently, and head coach Lyloun might have something up her sleeve. Astralis woke up for game two yesterday and blew BDS out of the water: maybe this is their time to shine.
W7m vs. DarkZero -- If a post from w7m's Twitter account is accurate, we might be seeing this take place on neutral ping. Last time around it was a closely-fought match, will it still be again?
XSET vs. FURIA -- XSET and FURIA are battling it out for what might be a playoff spot. The last bout was won by XSET 7-5, and another regulation victory for the North American squad would put them in the driver's seat in the group.
Day one complete -- What were the biggest surprises?
For me, I think that Liquid losing to FURIA was a big one, as well as BDS looking as bad as they did.
I am also deeply concerned about the viewership -- during FURIA-Liquid, it was a little over 14,000 on the main Twitch stream. That is not a good sign, and all the other various issues with the tournament might be affecting interest. Here's to hoping fans in the stands invigorates the viewership from home.
FoxA has great start to tournament
With one match played in the truncated group, Davide "FoxA" Bucci is second in SiegeGG Rating, has the most clutches in the tournament, and is +4 on his entry kills. Pretty solid start so far for one of the tournament favorites!
Matches to keep an eye on: Heroic vs w7m and Astralis vs BDS
Are you a fan of new blood in the Rainbow Six Siege scene? I am. Very obvious direction here: make some time in your day for Heroic vs. w7m and Astralis vs. BDS. You will not regret it.
Lagonis sports snazzy new hair color
If you look closely, you might notice that Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi is sporting a snazzy new look -- blonde hair. SiegeGG's David Via says that the reason he dyed it is because of a bet on whether or not Team oNe would make the Major. He looks great as a blonde!
CAG topple XSET with solid Clubhouse defense.
XSET's "action style" is going to have to wait a bit. A stellar Clubhouse defense from Cyclops led to a 7-4 victory -- the APAC region's first BO1 victory of the tournament. Cyclops have long had the skill to make deep runs, but always appear to fall short as the group stage wears on. Will this time be different?
Wolves vs Chiefs kicks off after technical difficulties
After technical difficulties on the Bravo stream, the match Wolves Esports vs Chiefs Esports Club finally started. The teams will face each other again on Wednesday during one of the last matches during the group phase.