M80 heads to the Six Invitational 2025 with a lot to prove in Boston, Massachusetts, in what will be the organization's third Six Invitational appearance.
Right after picking up XSET's roster to join the Rainbow Six Siege scene, M80 achieved a rock-solid Top 8 finish at the Six Invitational 2023 as the Americans were knocked out by the eventual champions G2 Esports. One month later, the team instantly became a powerhouse in the region following the signings of William "Spoit" Löfstedt and David "iconic" Ifidon from KOI and Astralis, respectively.
While the team successfully proved so at a regional level by becoming champions in the first stage and finishing in second place in the second, the roster abruptly failed internationally after winning only one of their six BLAST R6 Major matches. Outside of the BLAST calendar, M80 saved the season with a second-place finish at the Gamers8 2023, which saw the team claiming USD$400,000.
Before the Six Invitational 2024, M80 made a tweak to the team's lineup as Leonardo "Kyno" Figueiredo was temporarily benched to add Evan "Yoggah" Nelson, who joined as a loaned player from Oxygen Esports. Unfortunately for the Americans, the change didn't work as intended and were knocked out in the group stage following defeats against Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, Bleed Esports, and the eventual champions w7m esports.
To get back on track, M80 kicked off the 2024 season with a huge investment as they brought Gabriel "cameram4n" Hespanhol, Ben "CTZN" McMillan, and Adam "nudl" Hryceniak. While the team had a positive start to the campaign with a second-place finish in the North America League 2024 Stage 1 and a Top 8 finish at the BLAST R6 Major Manchester, most of the fans thought the team performed below the roster's real potential.
In the summer, M80's lineup was shaken once again with the sudden departure of nudl, who was replaced with the signing of the formerly retired Paul "Hyper" Kontopanagiotis. The Polish player eventually revealed that BLAST sanctioned him "for the whole of Stage 2".
Later on, in September 28, it was known that Matheus "Budega" Figueiredo had temporarily joined CL4L as the Brazilian ended up qualifying for the BLAST R6 Major Montreal for the organization-less roster through the region's Last Chance Qualifiers – while M80 got knocked out in the qualifier's semifinals.
Almost two months after M80's sudden 0-2 defeat against Oxygen Esports, the team unveiled the roster that will compete at the Six Invitational 2025, which includes three new faces in Shaun "Gunnar" Pottorff, Ayden "dfuzr" Gabari, and Jaidan "Packer" Franz. While the first two joined the team after M80 acquired Beastcoast's esports and media assets, the latter player signed for the team after playing under Budega in CL4L.
Overall, since joining the scene in December 2022, M80 has already made ten roster changes, seven of which have taken place in the last ten months. With so many faces coming and going, the players could suffer of a lack of not just chemistry but also trust, especially when heading to the most important tournament of the season.
At the end of the day, every player and team is different. What can't be denied is that the team, which added three new players two months ago, will have to beat way more experienced teams with a stronger chemistry in order to lift the hammer.
To know more about the players' adaptation to M80, SiegeGG has interviewed the BLAST R6 Major Manchester champion Gunnar.
All in all, it's fair to say Gunnar's season has been a roller coaster of emotions. After being dropped from Soniqs in November 2023, the player spent three months competing in North America's Tier 2 with Karn & Co. His only achievement for the team was a second-place finish at the ELEMENT TWO as Karn & Co lost to Team Envy in the tournament's grand final. Curiously enough, Team Envy's roster included Gunnar's future teammate dfuzr.
Two months after the match, Gunnar and dfuzr were unveiled as Beastcoast players alongside Matthew "Hotancold" Stevens, Zachary "SpiriTz" Dionne, and Gaven "Gaveni" Black. It only took the team one stage to steal the show not just regionally but also internationally as they won the North America League 2024 Stage 1 and the BLAST R6 Major Manchester.
"2024 was probably the best and also most stressful year of my life. Beastcoast was my last chance at making people know that I am a top player in the region and we successfully did that," the American revealed.
Following Beastcoast's outstanding start to the season, the organization partnered with the esports powerhouse Cloud9 as the roster was rebranded as Cloud9 Beastcoast. Unfortunately, the team couldn't stay on the top for long as they missed out on the Esports World Cup 2024 and the BLAST R6 Major Montreal.
In December 2024, M80 unveiled the organization's decision to pick up Beastcoast's esports and media assets. This saw the BLAST R6 Major Manchester champions going different ways, as Gunnar and dfuzr signed for M80 while Hotancold, SpiriTz, and Gaveni started to look for an organization to represent at the Six Invitational 2025.
"Me and dfuzr have adjusted very well and fast, we both play our comfort roles and have quickly adjusted to the vision our coaches have," the American revealed.
With both players coming from the same team, Gunnar revealed that M80's coaches "wanted to use a lot of the ideas we brought from Beastcoast." Alongside the ideas the team already had, the American believes they team has made "a pefect mix and system."
However, Gunnar and dfuzr aren't the only players coming from a different lineup. The ELEMENT ONE and ELEMENT THREE champion Packer, who competed for CL4L under Budega at the BLAST R6 Major Montreal, was the third incorporation in M80's roster to compete at the Six Invitational 2025.
Although the American is arguably the least experienced player of the roster, he will be leading M80 at the Six Invitational 2025.
"Packer has suprised me with his confidence in calling and decision making. He is young and he has stepped up as a leader and is a extremely hard worker for this team," Gunnar explained.
The BLAST R6 Major Manchester champion also had words about Spoit. The Swed is known as one of the best players in Rainbow Six Siege. Across the last year, Spoit averaged the highest SiegeGG rating in North America's top flight: 1.20 in 36 maps played.
"Spoit's coms are some of the best I've ever heard. Along with his mechanical skill, he is easily the most talented player I have ever seen and played with," Gunnar said.
The North America League will be the division with the most teams at the Six Invitational 2025 as six rosters will compete on home soil, including M80, Unwanted, Shopify Rebellion, DarkZero Esports, Spacestation Gaming, and Oxygen Esports.
"I think the North American teams are all strong and have a great chance to lift the hammer this year, we just need to not choke," the 20-year-old admitted.
As if fate wanted it, Gunnar and dfuzr will play against their former Beastcoast teammates when they play against Unwanted in the group stage. Following the duo's departure, the team replaced them with Adam "Atom" Gutiérrez and Mitch "Dream" Malson.
"I'm not thinking of any group stage game differently, I am just going to take it one game at a time and do our best to make main stage. Over thinking games can make you play worse and we don't want that," Gunnar concluded.
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