Twisted Minds' Hashom: "It's about time we finally get a big win for our region"

Twisted Minds was the second-best team of the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City Swiss Stage only behind FaZe Clan. Although at the end of the day both teams finished the Swiss Stage with 3-0 records, the Brazilians' better Buchholz ended up making the difference.

Some may think Twisted Minds' second-place finish may be a blessing, though, as the Brazilians will be playing against Team Falcons; whilst Twisted Minds will face off against ENTERPRISE Esports. Curiously enough, before the start of the BLAST R6 Major Salt Lake City, Twisted Minds had signed ENTERPRISE Esports' former coach Min "MinGoran" Min-geun as a loaned analyst from the Chinese team One Coin.

Be as it may be, Twisted Minds have been on the spotlight since before the tournament had kicked off. Unfortunately, Twisted Minds' Abdullah "Dov2hkiin" Alsaeedi couldn't fly to the United States due to personal reasons. Instead, the MENA roster decided to add Dov2hkiin's brother and former teammate Abdulrahman "Guardz" Alsaeedi. It's fair to say he fit the team like a glove, averaging a SiegeGG rating of 1.12 and being the team's best player in their final Swiss Stage match against G2 Esports.

The majority of people remember the two brothers playing together under Team Falcons, before the MENA powerhouse decided to drop their previous roster to sign the former Team BDS lineup. At the Six Invitational 2025, Twisted Minds' current core secured a Top 8 finish in the fight for the hammer. Since then, the roster had been competing in the eSaudi League 2025 and had been one map away from qualifying for the Six Invitational 2026.

However, although Guardz competed in the Six Invitational 2026 Last Chance Qualifiers, his brother returned to the squad before the start of the Europe and MENA League 2026 Kickoff. In fact, the team has plenty of experience rotating players; this combined with the fact Guardz had already been a player in the team probably made the transition easier.

"The good thing with Guardz is that we were already playing with him a couple months ago during the Six Invitational 2026 Last Chance Qualifier so adapting was pretty quick," Hashem "Hashom" Jafri admitted in a written interview for SiegeGG.

Twisted Minds' run in Salt Lake City so far has been highly impressive. In fact, the team has only played against regional champions; and all of their games ended up in wins, including FURIA, Weibo Gaming, and G2 Esports. According to Hashom, these results "definitely boost our confidence."

The last of the three was a heated one. After a one-sided victory for each team, Twisted Minds ended up claiming an 8-7 win on Kafe Dostoyevsky. Following the conclusion of the final round, Hashom ran to G2 Esports' room while shouting Karl "Alem4o" Zarth's name.

"Fans will get upset it's natural... but, at the end of the day, me and Alem4o troll each other on social media. This is a part of the competition... but going into a team's room shouting at them in their faces is crossing the line and it's something I wouldn’t do because you need to have good sportsmanship and treat your opponents with respect," Hashom admitted.

What's done is already done and it can't be changed. Looking at Twisted Minds' results, it's obvious that the team heads to the playoffs with plenty of confidence. "MENA has been competing for a while now and we have improved as a region and I think it's about time we finally get a big win for our region," he said.

Finally, we spoke about MENA's positive results on American soil. Under Geekay Esports and also playing with a stand-in (Jake "Leadr" Fortunato) the team reached the Top 8 at the BLAST R6 Major Atlanta. One year later, Team Falcons finished among the best eight sides at the Six Invitational 2025.

"Honestly, I don’t know why we always do good in the United States! But I am excited to see the North American fans because they always show us support," Hashom concluded.

For more information about Rainbow Six Siege and its esports scene, make sure to check out Siege.GG.