Rainbow Six Siege Invitational 2023 Recap
Written by Sebastian Rooney
The Siege Invitational is over and with a familiar name sitting back atop the mountain. After an impressive lower bracket run, knocking off almost every North American team in their way, it was G2 Esports who would go on to prove to everyone that the dynasty is not dead quite yet.
G2’s Journey
After placing 2nd in their group they would go on to play a fellow EU team in Wolves. They lost 2-0 and would have to fight for their lives in the lower bracket. In the LB they showed their resilience, refusing to go down and they would be the team responsible for sending 4 of the 6 NA teams packing.
Along their path to the Grand Final they would get revenge on Wolves by beating them 2-1. In the Grand Finals it would be G2 up against the odds on favorite of the event and upper bracket champs, w7m. Being the UB champs they received a map ban advantage, being able to choose any map before bans commence. w7m would start off hot winning their advantage map but it would be G2 who would not only win out but they were able to do so in such a dominant fashion.
A team that had lost such an important piece in CTZN would go on to win it all with their new addition, Benjamaster would win MVP and break the kill record for SI only 45 days after signing with G2. Congrats to G2 for making it back to the mountaintop after 4 years. But it was not just G2 that had some impressive performances during this event.
An Old Dynasty Turned Cinderella
Astralis, who had a rough time in groups and finished fourth, had themselves a mini Cinderella run of their own. Due to them finishing fourth in their group, their journey started in the lower bracket where any mistake would send them home. Their first opponent was fellow NA team and SI favorite Soniqs. Unfortunately for the Soniqs, CTZN was not enough for them to make a deep run and their time at SI was short lived.
Astralis on the other hand would pull off the first of their many upsets on this run. Their next three games were against LOS + oNe, BDS and KOI. Those 3 teams were some of the favorites for the event and they all were eliminated by Astralis. However their story came to an end as they would be eliminated themselves by G2.
Upper Bracket Kings
Oxygen, another NA team who had themselves a great event. Before Stage 3 Oxygen had made a roster change by bringing in Sweater to replace LaXing. This was the first major experience for the current group and they showed out. Opposite of Astralis, their run was in the upper bracket. They were able to run through a majority of their opponents. They beat Heroic and MNM 2-0 and dominated Wolves in map 3 to win 2-1 overall. With the win over Wolves, they secured their spot in the top 3.
The upper bracket finals saw Oxygen take on the Brazilian favorites w7m. After getting dunked on 7-1 on Map 1, Oxygen one-upped them in a dominant 7-0 Map 2 victory. Map 3 was an actual competitive map, however it would be w7m punching their ticket to the Grand Finals. Oxygen would go on to play G2 in the lower bracket finals but they fell like the previous NA teams did to G2.
Standing the Test of Time
The event overall was a huge success. This being the first in person Siege Invitational since 2020 and having Twitch view count surpassing 200,000, the claims of Siege being a dead game should be done away with.
Viewers were treated to magnificent performances from teams and individual players. EU is back on top, LATAM are professional choke artists, NA is on the rise and APAC is there. The next year of Siege should be a great one especially with the pro league changes being made.