Banner image: Ubisoft / @ericananmalay
Day 4 of the Six Invitational was a great day for Europe, but not so great for APAC. Here are the Key Takeaways from all that happened today.
APAC sent home
All APAC teams have been eliminated from the Six Invitational 2023 after only four days of competition.
Dire Wolves were the first team to be eliminated after a 0-2 loss against Team Liquid. Previously, the Taiwanese squad had lost by the same scoreline against MNM Gaming and Wolves Esports, collecting a total amount of zero points.
Elevate then followed Dire Wolves' footsteps after losing to G2 Esports 0-2 as well, though they were eliminated when they lost their first map itself. Just like yesterday against KOI, the APAC team were extremely close to a map win as the first went to maximum overtime, while the second had 12 rounds played.
Later on, CYCLOPS athlete gaming were confirmed as the third eliminated roster from the Six Invitational 2023. Unlike their fellow APAC teams, the Japanese squad was at least able to win one match, as they defeated the Team BDS on Day 1.
Here are our reports on the three eliminations:
#flag@20:tw Dire Wolves become first team eliminated from Six Invitational 2023 #flag@20:th Elevate second team eliminated from Six Invitational 2023 after losing first map to G2 Esports #flag@20:jp CYCLOPS athlete gaming become third and final APAC team eliminated at Six Invitational 2023
MNM Gaming top Group B standings
MNM Gaming have been the first team in the Six Invitational 2023 to be confirmed to finish top of their group, which has awarded the marshmallows with a direct spot in the Upper Bracket Quarter-finals.
They have stolen the show in Montreal, Canada, as very few people expected the Europeans to dominate in such fashion. After only having been promoted to Europe's top-flight last year, MNM have already qualified for two Six Majors and two Six Invitationals. However, they heretofore struggled to perform well at international competitions. Now, they are set on dismantling those expectations.
MNM's victory against the Soniqs came after two close wins on Clubhouse and Skyscraper, as they won both maps by 8-7 and 7-5, respectively.
Despite Soniqs' loss, Richie "Rexen" Coronado left us what will likely be one of the best plays that we will see in the competition, as he clutched a 1v5 round to force overtime on Clubhouse. Unfortunately for Soniqs, though, that only delayed the eventual map loss.
Heroic win against unrecognizable FaZe Clan
Heroic defeated FaZe Clan 2-0 today to confirm their qualification to the upper bracket.
Heroic's map victories against FaZe Clan came in strong fashion, as the Europeans won by 7-5, 7-3 scores. Despite the result, though, the Brazilians were better than Heroic in the early stages of the rounds, getting the majority of the entry kills in the game -- 14 for FaZe Clan, eigh for Heroic.
Marc "Jume" Steinmann struggled significantly when challenging the Brazilians. The German player, who is relied upon for his entry abilities, finished the game with an entry balance of 1-6 (-5). He was not the only one who found it tough on the entry, as Jake "Sloth" Brown finished with a balance of 3-6 (-3).
However, Heroic's newest signing Adam "nudl" Hryceniak and the highly-experienced Aleksi "UUNO" Työppönen led the team with SiegeGG Ratings of 1.34 and 1.27, respectively. While the Polish player was incredibly important due to his two clutches, the Finn's eight plants turned round after round in his team's favour.
After today's victory, the Europeans are tied at 10 points with M80. Heroic will need to get a better result than M80 tomorrow to finish at the top of the standings of Group D, as M80's victory against Heroic on Day 2 gave an advantage to the Brazilian-majority roster in the case of a draw in the standings.
Meanwhile, the loss leaves the Brazilians in a difficult spot as a fourth-place finish in the group wikl send the roster to the lower bracket. To avoid that situation, FaZe Clan must win against Team Secret tomorrow and hope that M80 win at least one map against DarkZero Esports.