With the Rainbow Six Invitational already underway after being delayed, 18 teams are battling for their share of the three million dollar prize pool. Last year’s winner, Spacetation Gaming, is trying to defend their title, while Brazillian teams take the server by storm. Though 20 teams were supposed to attend the event, Covid-19 restricted both Virtus.pro and Wildcard gaming from coming to Paris for the invitational.
First Global LAN
The Rainbow Six Invitational marks the game’s first global LAN in over a year. Although North America played on LAN in Vegas, other regions stuck to online play in the lead-up to the Rainbow Six Invitational in Paris. Although there have been a few speed bumps in the process, players seem to be enjoying being back on LAN.
“It’s day one of being here and I’m already too excited to play,” tweeted G2’s Ben “CTZN” McMillan.
Several other esports are following suit with the COD Stage 4 Major and IEM Cologne for CS:GO.
Its day one of being here and im already too excited to play
— CTZN (@CTZNr6) May 8, 2021
LATAM teams Stun
On day one of the tournament, the Latin American teams in attendance looked completely dominant. First, Team One surprised the world when they took down Cloud 9. Team One and Cloud9 played on the Villa map, where Team One put up five rounds on the defensive side. A large part of this victory is due to Caio “Neskin” Szazi, who put up three trio-kills on defense to give his team the advantage they needed to win.
While many wrote their victory off as a fluke, Team One took down G2 with Karl “Alem4o” Zarth on top of the scoreboard. In the match, Alem4o dropped 20 kills which included an ace and multiple triple and double kills.
“Looks like I am getting every single prediction wrong on the B Stream today. LATAM Massive. #SixInvitational,” tweeted R6 caster Jessica “JessGOAT” Bolden.
Going forward, keep an eye on Team One and other Latin American teams.
Looks like I am getting every single prediction wrong on the B Stream today. LATAM Massive. #SixInvitational
— Jess 🐐 (@JessGOAT) May 11, 2021
NA teams continue to perform
Going into the Rainbow Six Invitational, North American teams already had an advantage because they played on LAN in Vegas. Despite DarkZero having a slow start, fellow North American teams Oxogyen, TSM, and Spacestation Gaming are playing great. Despite losing a few matches, North American teams are already adapted back to the style of play on LAN and therefore have an edge against their competitors going forward.
Team Empire surprise at the Rainbow Six Invitational
Despite being predicted to go 1-2 on their first day of play, Team Empire surprised with their play. They took down three opponents: Team One, European favorite BDS Esports and Team Liquid. This is mainly due to Artur “ShepparD” Ipatov and Danil “JoyStiCK” Gabov, who played above their normal level to push their team to victory. Not only did they end the first day 3-0, but Team Empire had the largest round difference in their matches, meaning their victories were the most dominant out of all matches. Going forward, Team Empire poses a large threat to any team that stands in their way and is definitely a contender for the top spot in the Rainbow Six Invitational.
Schedule
The schedule for the remainder of the tournament can be seen in the pictures below. All times listed are in CET (Central European Time), and you can convert to a local timezone here.
Trending
