Rainbow 6 Jönköping Major: The Entire Story
The Rainbow 6 Jönköping Major is now done. A new champion has been crowned and the Siege Invitational has a few more teams confirmed. Although viewership on Twitch for the event was the lowest it has ever been, that did not affect the quality of games we were treated to. Throughout the Major plenty of games made their case for game of the year, but what else happened?
Group Stage
Each group played against the other teams in their group twice with the top teams advancing to the playoff stage.
Group A
Group A saw the Soniqs run away with 1st place as they only dropped one game in the group stage. Second place however, similar to group C, came down to the last day. It was between Black Dragons and Cyclops but due to round differential Black Dragons would go on to claim second.
Group B
Group B had second place up for grabs for most of the three days. TSM at the end of Day 1 were 2-0 tied with Team Liquid. Heroic would end the first day 0-2 but after Day 2, TSM and Heroic would flip their results while Liquid would go on to extend their lead. During Day 3, Heroic would go on to lose to Liquid, allowing TSM to control their own destiny. They needed a single point against an undefeated Liquid to ensure a spot in the playoffs. They would go on to not just get a point, but get 3 as they were able to ruin perfection for Team Liquid in the group stage.
Group C
w7m of group C would go on to sweep their group stage finishing in first with a total of 18/18 points. Second place in that group would come down to the last day where despite SpaceStation winning their last game, they would come up just short as BDS also won their game and had a better round differential.
Group D
Group D was yet again mainly a battle for second place. The Wolves were able to give themselves a nice cushion after the first two days of groups leaving FaZe Clan and Direwolves competing for second. On Day 3, Mirage were able to play spoiler to the Direwolves beating them and taking their playoff hopes out of their hands. FaZe would go on to win out on Day 3 securing them a playoff berth.
At the end of groups we saw LATAM fully represented, NA and EU with 2 teams making playoffs and all of APAC being sent home.
Quarter Finals
The entirety of the Quarter Finals was inter-region matchups. With one end of the bracket being all LATAM, guaranteeing a LATAM team in the grand finals, and the other side of the bracket having NA vs NA and EU vs EU. The drawings for the playoffs happened at the end of day 3 of groups so we can all blame Parker “Interro” Mackay for the playoffs looking like this. Regardless of the “rigged nature” of the playoffs, the games were relatively quick.
w7m vs Black Dragons
w7m vs Black Dragons was over in less than two hours. w7m swept the Dragons in fairly dominant fashion. This performance established themselves as the favorite of the whole major with what at this point was a 17 game win streak. There was not much to take away from the game as w7m just did not let up and showed their Brazilian neighbors no mercy in this series.
Team Liquid vs FaZe Clan
Team Liquid vs FaZe Clan was a tale of two games. Game 1 was very close. The game went to overtime after neither team could really create a big enough lead to get the win until the end. Liquid walked away with map 1 after a nail biting game. However in Game 2, FaZe must have used all their energy because this was over quickly. Liquid ran up the score in the first half 5-1 and that was just too much for FaZe to overcome. They would go on to fall to Liquid in less than two hours as well.
Wolves vs BDS
Wolves vs BDS was the EU vs EU matchup of the quarter finals and up to this point all the matches were over quickly. Although Wolves would put up the best fight amongst losing teams, the Tour De Force that is BDS was too much for them to overcome. They nearly brought BDS to overtime twice but unfortunately they were just unable to reach that point, allowing BDS to punch their ticket into the semi finals.
Soniqs vs TSM
Soniqs vs TSM. NA vs NA. This was the game of the quarter finals. Not only did we see a Map 3, the games were also close (mostly). Map 1 went the way of TSM. After trading the first 8 rounds, TSM was able to chain together three straight to secure the game. Map 2 was Soniqs as they were able to be fairly dominant. They would lose the first two rounds but then win the next six, putting them at match point. TSM would make the score look better for them as they were able to get two more rounds before losing the map all together. Map 3 was all Soniqs. They swept the first half putting TSM into an almost unwinnable situation.
They were able to scrape together two rounds but Soniqs proved that they are the team to beat in NA and moved on into the semi finals.
Semi Finals
Soniqs vs BDS
The day opened with Soniqs vs BDS. NA vs EU, a rivalry as old as time. Map 1 took all of regulation with the two teams trading rounds for most of the game. Soniqs was able to string together two rounds in a row giving them a cushion which would lead to them winning it 7-5. For Soniqs they probably wish they could forget about Map 2 and 3 as they were absolutely dominated. They lost Map 2 7-1 and then lost Map 3 7-3.
BDS looked great, seemingly unfazed by the fact that they lost Map 1. They punched their ticket to the Grand Finals right after punching the Soniqs in the gut, sending them home.
Team Liquid vs w7m
The LATAM vs LATAM matchup of Team Liquid vs w7m finished the day. Arguably the top two teams from the event facing off against one another. Map 1 saw Liquid give w7m their first map loss at the event with a dominant performance. Liquid was able to reach map point in seven rounds and although w7m were able to make the score respectable, the damage was done as Liquid secured it. Map 2 w7m clapped back, hard. They would go on to beat Liquid in what was the first 7-0 of the event bringing us to Map 3. In the third map we actually saw some competition. Liquid jumped to an early lead but w7m was able to even it out sending us to overtime.
Unfortunately for w7m, Liquid would go on to win OT and move onto the Grand Finals to meet BDS.
Grand Finals
BDS vs Team Liquid. EU vs LATAM. A best of 5 to determine who is King of Rainbow 6. Two of the most dominant regions to be represented in the final game before the Siege Invitational. This was hands down the game of the year. The entire game was back and forth. From the start of Map 1 to the final round, both teams fought their hearts out.
In Map 1, although the score may not show it, it was a close game. BDS took Liquid’s map pick in a 6-1 victory that was not as easy as the score would tell you.
In Map 2 Liquid was able to do what BDS did and take their opponents map pick. With a 6-4 win Liquid bounced back to even the series in another tightly contested map.
Onto Map 3. Here Liquid was able to win their pick in yet another 6-4 victory, putting them just one map away from being crowned champs.
BDS had other plans as they were able to delay that in Map 4. Here BDS were able to win in the final round of regulation, tie up the series, take us to Map 5, and put themselves one map away from being crowned champions.
Map 5 was a familiar sight for Liquid. They were taken to the very map they were 7-0’d the day prior. That must have lingered in their mind as they went down early 5-1. They were able to bring it back to 6-4 but it was far too late as BDS was able to win it all in Round 11 of Map 5 to be declared R6 Major Champions.