Banner image: Ubisoft / @ericananmalay
LOS oNe, who qualified for the Six Invitational 2023 after first winning the BR SI 2023 Open Qualifier and the LATAM SI 2023 Closed Qualifier, defeated all their opponents to top Group C's standings.
Here's everything that happened in that group.
LOS oNe youth trumps opponent experience
Despite the team's lack of international experience, LOS oNe topped the standings of Group C in unbeaten fashion.
First, the Brazilians kicked things off with a 2-1 victory against CYCLOPS athlete gaming, who had defeated Team BDS just the day before. On Day 3, it was LOS oNe's turn to take the Frenchmen down, as they defeated the Jönköping Major champions 2-1.
If that wasn't enough, the team's third victory came against the Charlotte Major grand-finalists Astralis, who they also beat 2-1. Finally, the young roster topped off their group stage performance with a 2-0 win over Oxygen Esports.
After four games in the group stage, LOS oNe have already played 11 maps, going to overtime on five occasions. However, the Brazilians have won them all, which shows their skills in high-pressure situations.
Júlio "L0BIN" Gabriel, who made his professional debut in Stage 3 following Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi's departure to Team Liquid, is LOS oNe's best rated player so far with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.09.
It's also worth mentioning that LOS oNe are the first team at the Six Invitational 2023 to have three players with more than 100 kills, with L0BIN being joined by Leonardo "d4sh" Lopes and Gabriel "Maia" Maia.
Sloppy performances cost BDS first place
Team BDS have been highly inconsistent throughout the group stage, which led to them dropping important rounds that ended up in map losses.
Day 1 of the competition is the perfect example, with the Frenchmen inexplicably losing to later-eliminated CYCLOPS athlete gaming.
Two days later, against LOS oNe, the Jönköping Major champions started the third map of the series conceding three clutches just in the first four rounds, which momentarily put the Brazilians 4-0 ahead.
Despite the team's results during the group stage, Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu and Théo "LikEfac" Mariano went berserk to save Team BDS on countless occasions. Combined, the French duo secured 279 kills and an entry balance of 56-26 (+30).
Loïc "BriD" Chongthep has also had the fourth-highest number of defuser plants in the competition with 13, just ahead of his opponent today, Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli.
Oxygen can finally breathe after close fights
Oxygen Esports start to the group stage was great, as they imposed themselves over their regional opponents Astralis. Ethan "Nuers" James had a great showing in that game as he got a SiegeGG Rating of 1.46.
Unluckily for the team, Shaiiko won the fragging duel against Nuers as he pushed his team to victory. Nevertheless, Oxygen managed to steal a point from BDS after winning on Border in a 7-5 manner.
After a break on Day 3, Oxygen Esports eliminated CYCLOPS athlete gaming on Day 4, just before losing 0-2 to LOS oNe on Day 5.
While Nuers ended as the second-best player of the group stage with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.26, Mitch "Dream" Malson had the third-highest defuser plants with 14.
So far, Oxygen have already played Border four times at the Six Invitational, despite only picking it once. This has allowed them to hide other maps, such as their common bans of Oregon, Theme Park, and Skyscraper.
Inconsistency kills Astralis' upper bracket hopes
Astralis started the Six Invitational 2023 with an overtime win on Border against Oxygen Esports. On Bank, the teams changed sides with a 3-3 on the scoreboard. It was then when Astralis' problems arose.
The Danish organization had huge issues on defense after the conclusion of the first map, as they could only win one on Bank and zero on Kafe. In total, throughout the final two maps of the series, they only won one round on defense out of a possible 10.
Astralis went back to winning ways against CAG, as they defeated the Japanese roster by a 2-0 margin, just before losing to LOS oNe 1-2. Finally, against Team BDS, the team struggled again on Kafe's defense, winning one round out of a possible six. Despite winning the second map, Oregon, Team BDS ended up winning the series as they defeated Astralis 7-5 on Bank.
With this result, Astralis were pushed down to fourth place, which means that they will have to start the playoffs from the lower bracket.
CAG sent home despite first day upset
Unluckily for CYCLOPS athlete gaming, the Japanese roster was eliminated from the competition after finishing at the bottom of the standings.
CAG's start to the Six Invitational 2023 was promising, as they upset Jönköping Major champions, Team BDS, 2-1. However, it was all downhill from there, as their 1-2 defeat to LOS oNe was followed by two 0-2 losses against the North American sides of Astralis and Oxygen Esports.
While their highlight of the competition was their victory against the Frenchmen, Six Invitational 2023 debutant Takashi "Arcully" Ono was also one to watch. Coming from Crest Gaming Lst, Arcully was the team's first roster move in over three years and he performed well enough for his team -- but was not enough to drive them to a maiden playoffs appearance.