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With the Six Invitational 2023 kicking off tomorrow, it's time to have a look at the five teams in Group C.
Team BDS
Heading into the Six Invitational 2023 as Six Jönköping Major champions, the Frenchmen are one of the favorites to lift the hammer.
With the arrival of Théo "LikEfac" Mariano, the squad has now one of the deadliest duos in the game with him and Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu. While LikEfac finished with the best SiegeGG Rating in the European League 2022 Stage 3 (1.21), Shaiiko was named MVP of the Jönköping Major with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.16.
Although BDS is always a strong contestant at international competitions, the team always struggles a bit in the initial group stage. In both Charlotte and Jönköping, the French finished in second place of their group.
Despite their struggles in the group stage, BDS's deep map pool makes it up for it in the final stages of the competition. In BO3 games, the French know how to impose themselves over their opponents. Their last 0-2 loss dates back to May 2022, when they lost to Oxygen Esports 8-6 and 8-7 at the Six Charlotte Major.
Since their loss against Oxygen Esports, they are yet to lose a BO3 or BO5 match. In other words, Team BDS have only lost three maps out of 33 played in BO3 or BO5 series since May 2022.
EUL 2022 Finals | 3-0 vs MNM Gaming |
|---|---|
EUL 2022 Finals | 2-0 vs Heroic |
Six Jönköping Major | 3-2 vs Team Liquid |
Six Jönköping Major | 2-1 vs Soniqs |
Six Jönköping Major | 2-0 vs Wolves Esports |
Japan Invitational 2022 | 2-0 vs DWG Plus |
Japan Invitational 2022 | 2-0 vs DWG Plus |
Japan Invitational 2022 | 2-0 vs Crest Gaming Lst |
Gamers8 | 3-0 vs Team Falcons |
Gamers8 | 2-0 vs Team Liquid |
Gamers8 | 2-0 vs TSM |
Gamers8 | 2-0 vs Team Falcons |
Astralis
Astralis' start to the season was magnificent, with the team winning eight of their nine NAL Stage 1 matches. At the Six Charlotte Major, Astralis reached the grand-final, where they lost against DarkZero Esports 2-3.
In Stage 2, the team's 7-2 victory over Spacestation Gaming saw the team climb to first place in in the NAL again, though this time with 16 points -- just one more than fifth-placed DarkZero Esports.
However, the team's momentum vanished at the Berlin Major, where they only won one match of the six played in the group stage. Astralis, who three months earlier had reached a Six Major grand-final, were sent home by Elevate, MNM Gaming, and FURIA Esports, as none of them made it past the quarter-finals.
Astralis headed to the third stage with no changes to the team, with the roster finishing in sixth place of the North American League Stage 3, missing out on the Jönköping Major. Despite the team's end to the year, Astralis still had the sixth-highest number of SI Points and made it to the world championship with ease.
Heading into the Six Invitational 2023, Astralis made a change as they parted ways with Matthew "Dpfire" Macway to welcome Chris "Spiff" Park, who was part of Arial Arise Academy.
Oxygen Esports
The Six Invitational 2023 will be Oxygen Esports' first international appearance since parting ways with Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirélez, who joined Elevate as a coach until the conclusion of Stage 3.
They started with a second place in Stage 1, which was followed by a semi-final appearance at the Charlotte Major. After a third-place finish in Stage 2, though, Oxygen couldn't replicate their Charlotte run in Berlin and were sent home after the conclusion of the group stage.
In Stage 3, they welcomed Jacob "Sweater" Bravico to the team. It was not easy at first, as the team's record after the first five matches was a shambolic 0-0-1-4. However, the North Americans found the perfect formula to turn things around and won the final four matches of the stage. This means that, technically, their last defeat dates back to Sep. 28, 2022.
Ethan "Nuers" James was Oxygen's best player this season, obtaining SiegeGG Ratings of 0.96, 1.27, and 1.25, in Stages 1, 2, and 3. His first stage rating was only so poor due to a scintillating Franklyn "VertcL" Cordero, though, which ended with the latter getting an incredible Rating of 1.42.
CYCLOPS athlete gaming
CYCLOPS athlete gaming's year hasn't been great, despite two Six Major appearances.
The Japanese squad qualified for the Charlotte Major, where they initially set their group on fire with an unexpected 7-4 win against XSET. However, they would lose the following five matches, finishing the third day at the bottom of the standings.
After missing out on the Berlin Major, they successfully qualified for the Jönköping Major as they won five of their seven matches in APAC North. In Sweden, two overtime losses to Black Dragons and MNM Gaming were followed by two regulation defeats against Soniqs and regulation wins against the Brazilians and the Europeans. But, despite an improvement in the team's performances, the Japanese missed out on the playoffs yet again.
It was then that CAG decided to make their first roster change in over three years, with Hideki "gatorada" Nishida parting ways with the squad. The former Crest Gaming Lst player Takashi "Arcully" Ono, who was part of the roster that defeated CAG at the Japan Invitational 2022, will have his top-flight debut this week in Montreal, Canada.
Arcully's ratings in the Japan League 2022 have been very strong, with his best form seen during the first split -- a SiegeGG Rating of 1.24 with an entry fragging balance of 16-4 (+12) while largely playing Nokk and Aruni.
In the second season of the Japan League 2022, Arcully only played three maps, averaging a Rating of 0.86 while on Iana and Aruni. His Rating got slightly better in the third season, as he got a 1.09 while on Ash and Melusi.
LOS oNe
Since being crowned Mexico Major champions, much changed in the golden squad. Offers started to come in and different ideas started to flow inside the roster. Eventually, Karl "Alem4o" Zarth joined G2 Esports, with five of the six remaining members of the Team oNe squad joining 00 Nation's exciting project.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi decided to stay, where he assembled what's now the main core of LOS oNe.
LOS oNe is a very young roster with not much experience in the Rainbow Six Siege esports scenario. Despite the team's lack of experience, though, the results have been there, as they qualified for the first Six Major of the year. However, theu had a tumultuous run as the roster had to partially play from Mexico due to visa issues.
In Stage 2, the roster finished in fifth place, just one point away from the Copa Elite Six positions. A few weeks later, Lagonis accepted Team Liquid's offer to join them, making space for the newest signing of the roster, Júlio "L0BIN" Gabriel.
Finally, in Stage 3 Team oNe finished, once again, in fifth place. This time, the team missed out on the stage's Copa Elite Six after finishing at the bottom of a quadruple tie for second place.
Despite the team's lack of fortune at qualifying for international competitions, oNe's consistency is undisputed. On the overall standings, the roster finished in third place, just behind w7m esports and Team Liquid.
Later on, the team would qualify for the Six Invitational 2023 after winning the Open Qualifier and the Closed Qualifier, where they defeated FURIA Esports 2-1 in the grand-final.
Group C Storylines
Here are the main storylines of Group C of the Six Invitational 2023:
- Team BDS at the Charlotte Major: Team BDS faced Astralis and Oxygen Esports at the Six Charlotte Major, getting 2-7, 7-2 scores against Astralis while losing to Oxygen Esports 0-2 in the quarter-finals.
- LOS oNe vs CAG: Although LOS oNe's current roster has nothing to do with the players that were crowned champions of the Mexico Major, the only tiebreaker game in Siege was between both organizations. Team oNe won the match and, eventually, the competition.
- Astralis vs Oxygen Esports: Astralis and Oxygen Esports' last professional match was when they met in their final game in the NAL in 2022. Oxygen won the match on Villa, 7-5.