After a year and a half of missed and squandered events since the Brazilian squad won the LATAM region's lone Pro League title in Season 7, it seems like Liquid are back on top after the team was finally won the BR6 title in July, finished second at DreamHack Montreal in September, and won its second piece of international silverware at the OGA PIT Minor in December to become the third most successful team in Rainbow Six history (behind just G2 and EG).
This streak of success comes off the back of three seasons of missed Pro League Finals, a first round exit at the Paris Major and a failure to qualify for the Raleigh Major. Nevertheless, with the team keeping a completely consistent roster for nine months now -- longer than any EU or NA roster bar Team Empire -- it has been able to consistently improve to a point where Liquid is now one of the outright favourites for the Invitational, quite an achievement for a team that was not even present at the last Major.
Team Liquid after their OGA PIT Minor victory.
Not only has Liquid been securing results, the manner in which the results have come have been greatly impressive as well. At the OGA PIT Minor, exciting new Pro League team BDS Esports was felled 2-0, while Luminosity Gaming also suffered the same fate -- although both games saw a map each go to overtime. MIBR then became the first team at the event to take a map off Liquid, but it was a rather unsurprising result given the two teams’ familiarity, and Spacestation Gaming was then next to do so, but did so due to strong gameplay rather than Liquid’s mistakes.
As it now prepares to prove itself as the top Brazilian team in the region and make it out of a group with Ninjas in Pyjamas, MIBR, and Giants Gaming, SiegeGG spoke to the team’s coach, Sensi, about the team’s recent rise back to prominence:
With two of three opponents in your group from LATAM, do you think you have a particular advantage or disadvantage?
Much has been said about the seeding process for the groups. Does your team have any gripes with it? Should there have been a cap on the number of teams from one region?
Only Giants Gaming is not from your region in this group. How are you preparing for their play style, if it comes to it?
How do you think that the double-elimination playoffs will change the dynamic of the event, and what is your opinion of the one-map advantage in the grand final?
Your team has been the only one to successfully bring home an international title -- two of them, in fact -- to LATAM. Could this be a third and the biggest?
Where have LATAM teams fallen short in the past on the international stage?
Do you have anything else to say to your fans?
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Team Liquid plays Ninjas in Pyjamas in Group C first, with matches against either MIBR or Giants Gaming scheduled afterwards. Check back here at SiegeGG for more Invitational Insights and full coverage of the event as it comes.