The first day of the Six Invitational 2025 was a dreadful one for both North American and APAC fans as all of their teams were defeated by Brazilian, European, and MENA rosters. However, it has been a great day for those who enjoy a good upset.
Here's everything you need to know about the Six Invitational 2025 Group Stage Day 1:
Group A
The first day of action in the Six Invitational 2025 Group A included the following matches:
- G2 Esports 2-0 M80
- Team Liquid 2-0 Team Joel
The first match of the day in Group A was the clash between Team Liquid and Team Joel, which ended in a 2-0 win for the Brazilians.
Although the Asian-majority roster had a promising start to the game with two successful attacks on Kafe, the Brazilians quickly figured out how to play against the fish roster. Following André "NESKWGA" Oliveira's 4K and 1v1 clutch on round three, the Blue Cavalry looked unstoppable as they won their remaining rounds on defense.
After swapping sides, the map got a bit more even. However, Team Joel couldn't find the consistency needed to make up for the rounds lost earlier and the Brazilians claimed the first map of the series, which was Team Joel's map pick.
Finally, Team Liquid closed out the series with a 7-4 win on Chalet. Once again, the game looked close as Team Joel had a temporary 4-3 lead after the conclusion of round seven; unfortunately for them, Team Liquid reaction's was imminent as they ended up winning the final four rounds, a run that included a Lorenzo "Lagonis" Volpi 1v1 clutch.
Despite Team Liquid's performance against Team Joel, G2 Esports was the side that finished the day at the top of the group's standings after securing a better round difference following the samurai's 2-0 victory against M80.
In a match where not many knew what to expect due to the changes made to both sides in the previous two months, the Europeans didn't hesitate and had full control of the game for most of the series.
The game began with a Rodrigo "Loira" Camargo 4K to give G2 Esports the first round of the match. However, his teammate and current IGL, Aleksi "UUNO" Työppönen, stole the show with back-to-back clutches including a 1v3 and a 1v1 with Hibana and Goyo, respectively. Shortly after, the Europeans closed out the first map of the series with a 7-2 win.
On Lair, M80 seemed to get back on track as they held G2 Esports in the first half of the map. After swapping sides, however, the North American roster couldn't stop the Europeans' playstyle as they planted the defuser thrice in six rounds. Eventually, the samurai's 7-5 victory was enough to get the four points.
Group B
The first day of action in the group of death included the two best sides at the Six Invitational 2024, FURIA Esports and FaZe Clan, as well as Shopify Rebellion and CAG Osaka.
Here are the results for each match:
- FaZe Clan 2-1 Shopify Rebellion
- CAG Osaka 2-0 FURIA Esports
In the first match of Group B, FaZe Clan watered down Shopify Rebellion's Rainbow Six Siege debut with a 2-1 victory. However, it wasn't an easy match for the Six Invitational 2024 grand finalists.
Initially, the North American roster grabbed a 3-0 lead after winning their first three defenses on FaZe Clan's map pick, Clubhouse. Fortunately for the Brazilians, they managed to stop Shopify Rebellion's momentum with three back-to-back successful attacks.
After swapping sides, FaZe Clan took the lead for the first time thanks to a Victor "VITAKING" Santos 1v2 clutch. Nonetheless, Shopify Rebellion would keep tying the score until both sides reached the five all on the scoreboard. It was then when the Brazilians made the difference thanks to a 1v2 clutch by Thiago "Handy" Ferreira. Finally, FaZe Clan claimed the 7-5 win after taking the map's final round.
On Shopify Rebellion's map pick, Nighthaven Labs, the Brazilians struggled as the North Americans quickly built a 4-0 lead. However, this one simply vanished as the Six Invitational 2024 grand finalists won five back-to-back rounds. Surprisingly enough, the tables suddenly turned as Shopify Rebelion got back on track with three consecutive defenses to force the third map: Bank.
For the third time in a row, Shopify Rebellion had the upper hand at the start of the map as they won Bank's first three rounds. However, FaZe Clan managed to come back from behind, again, after taking the team's last five defenses.
Later on, the biggest upset of the night took place in the final match as CAG Osaka took down the current world champions FURIA Esports.
Although the Brazilians had a rock-solid start to Kafe, CAG Osaka's map pick, after winning four of the first five rounds, the Japanese caught up after swapping sides. As both sides went to overtime in the first map of the series, the Cyclops ended up winning the first map after winning the final two rounds.
While Kafe was a close map, Chalet was just the opposite. On Chalet, the Japanese were in full control as they ended up securing a 7-2 win.
Group C
The first day of the Six Invitational 2025 Group C included the following matches:
- Team Falcons 2-0 PSG Talon
- RazaH Company 2-1 DarkZero Esports
Team Falcons kicked off the action in Group C with a comfortable victory against PSG Talon, who made a international return to the international scene after missing out on the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
The MENA League side had a strong start to the series after collecting a 5-1 lead following five wins on defense. Right after swapping sides, the Italian Roberto "Robby" Pintarelli put the team on map point after a 3K with Flores. Although the South Koreans survived to three back-to-back map points, the Falcons closed out the first map with a 7-4 win on Consulate.
Meanwhile, Chalet was quite similar as Team Falcons had the lead for most of the map. The MENA side reached map point on round eight, when they had a 6-2 lead over the South Korean roster. Surprisingly enough, PSG Talon managed to push the map to overtime after four back-to-back successful attacks, including a 1v1 Lee "Soldier" Si-hyeon in the twelfth round.
Right after Soldier's clutch, his teammate Jeong "Rider" Hyun-seok joined him with another 1v1 clutch. Unfortunately for the South Koreans, Team Falcons got back on track immediately and ended up closing out the series with a maximum overtime win.
However, the most surprising result of the group was RazaH Company's 2-1 victory against DarkZero Esports. The former E1 Sports roster was beaten in the first map of the series as the purple squad claimed a maximum overtime win on Nighthaven Labs, which included four clutches; two for each team.
The Brazilians got back on track with a 7-3 win on Chalet after winning all of their defenses on the map. Last but not least, they closed out the series with a 7-5 win on Consulate after winning four of their six defenses.
Group D
Last but not least, the first day of action in the Six Invitational 2025 Group D included the next two matches:
- Virtus.pro 2-1 Spacestation Gaming
- w7m esports 2-1 Oxygen Esports
The first match of Group D was the clash between Virtus.pro and Spacestation Gaming. Considering the Russians' record against North American sides since the start of the 2023 season, which included four wins and zero defeats, the Bears were the favorites to take the win.
Surprisingly enough, the match started with a Spacestation Gaming upset as the Americans got a 7-2 win on Chalet. However, after the astronauts' one-sided victory on map one, the Europeans got full control of the series and the team's 7-1 win on Bank was followed by a 7-3 win on Kafe Dostoyevsky. All in all, the Russians managed to clean their name after the team's slow start to the series.
Meanwhile, Oxygen Esports caught the BLAST R6 Major Montreal champions off-guard as the Six Invitational 2025 North America Finals winners defeated the Bulls on Lair. Although the Brazilians eventually won the series with 7-5 and 7-3 wins on Border and Kafe, the Americans secured a point that could be crucial by the end of the group stage.