Meet the teams competing at the Rainbow Six Invitational

The most important tournament on the Rainbow Six esports calendar is the Six Invitational, and this year’s edition takes place Feb. 8-20. After years of taking place in Montreal, last year’s tournament shifted to Paris due to COVID, and this year it will be held in Stockholm. Twenty teams will compete at the Six Invitational to determine the best R6 team in the world and who will lift the famous hammer. The teams will be competing for a share of a $3 million prize pool. The 20 teams have been split into four groups for the first part of the tournament, and that will be followed by a playoff stage. To get you ready for the tournament, here’s a little bit about each of the teams that will be competing.

Photo credit: Siege.GG

Team BDS

BDS enters the Rainbow Six Invitational as the best European team and second in the global points standings. They finished first in the 2021 European League Finals and picked up a top four finish at the Mexico Major last August.

DAMWON GAMING

DAMWON aka DWG KIA are one of two Korean representatives at the Six Invitational. They finished top four at the Sweden Major last year which was the best result ever for a Korean team at an R6 international event.

DarkZero Esports

DarkZero are one of five North American teams at the R6 Invitational. They might be the fifth best out of all the NA teams in Stockholm, but they also have R6 great Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski who led Spacestation Gaming to first place at the 2020 R6 Invitational and Evil Geniuses to multiple second-place finishes at the event. He retired briefly last year before returning to DarkZero.

Elevate

Elevate have been around since 2017, first competing in North America, then in South America. Now, they call the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region home and field a Thai roster. This will be the org’s first appearance at a major R6 international tournament.

Photo credit: Ubisoft / R6 Eports Instagram

FaZe Clan

FaZe won the Sweden Major last year with a Brazilian roster, continuing the trend of Brazilian teams dominating the R6 competitive scene last year. They picked up the core of that Brazilian roster in March after they had been released by Made in Brazil (MiBR). FaZe enter the tournament sixth in the global points standings.

FURIA Esports

Brazilian teams swept all the major R6 tournaments last year. FURIA come into the R6 Invitational as the lowest ranked of the five Brazilian squads among the top 16 in the points standings, but coming from such a strong region, they’ll certainly be contenders. Their best international finish last year was 5th-8th at the Mexico Major.

Natus Vincere

Na’Vi are the second-best of the five European teams at the R6 Invitational. They finished first in Stage 1 of the European League last year and third in the European League Finals. They qualified for the Mexico Major and finished 9th-12th.

Photo credit: Siege.GG

Ninjas in Pyjamas

NiP are the defending R6 Invitational champions. They are one of the longest-tenured and most successful rosters in recent years. Three of their players have been on NiP since 2018 and the other two since 2019. In addition to finishing first at last year’s R6 Invitational, they finished second at the 2020 R6 Invitational and second in last year’s Sweden Major.

Oxygen Esports

Oxygen are one of five teams representing North America in Sweden. They finished first in Stage 1 of the North American League last year, and their best international finish was 5th-6th at the 2021 R6 Invitational.

Rogue

Rogue enter the Six Invitational as the 16th and final team to make the cut based on the global points standings. After middling results at international tournaments for a couple of years, they broke through with a top-four finish at the Sweden Major, upsetting Mexico Major champ Team oNe in the quarterfinals.

SANDBOX Gaming

SANDBOX Gaming are a very new organization. They entered Rainbow Six esports in October with the acquisition of the orgless Mantis FPS roster. They made a splash with a 5th-8th finish at the Sweden Major.

Soniqs

The Soniqs were were one of the most consistent North American teams last year. They finished each of the three stages in the North American League among the top three and finished first in the North American League Finals. They qualified for each major but had disappointing results in both.

Photo credit: Siege.GG

Spacestation Gaming

Spacestation had a banner year in 2020 when they won the Six Invitational. They struggled early in 2021 before putting up much better results in the second half of the year. Perhaps it was because they needed time to adjust following the retirement of longtime star Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski in March. They finished off the year with first-place finishes in both the second and third stages of the North American League and 5th-8th finishes at both majors.

Team Empire

Team Empire have long been the premier Rainbow Six squad from Russia. They haven’t quite been as good lately as they were in 2019, but they did finish second at the Mexico Major last year. With three players on the roster since 2018 and one since 2019, this is a veteran roster.

Team Liquid

Team Liquid were the best Brazilian squad to not win a major tournament last year. They finished second at the Six Invitational following a close 3-2 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the grand final. They followed that up with a top four finish at the Mexico Major. TL are a good bet to continue Brazil’s dominance and become the fourth different Brazilian roster to take home a major trophy.

Team oNe Esports

Team oNe enter the Six Invitational as the global points leader in Rainbow Six. They won the Mexico Major and finished 5th-8th at the Sweden Major. Team oNe started fresh with a completely new roster last March that carried them to much success in 2021 and make them one of the favorites at the Six Invitational.

CYCLOPS athlete gaming

CYCLOPS are the only Japanese team at the Six Invitational. They reached both the Mexico Major and Six Invitational last year but failed to make it out of groups. They qualified for the Six invitational via the Asia Pacific Qualifier.

MNM Gaming

MNM Gaming are one of the biggest underdogs at this tournament. They competed in the European Challenger League last year and then finished first in the relegation tournament, so they will be in the top-tier European League in 2022. They qualified for Stockholm by winning the European Qualifier where they made a lower bracket run and beat big orgs including Team Vitality and Team Secret.

Photo credit: Siege.GG

TSM

TSM have been the best-performing North American team at recent Six Invitationals. They finished fourth in 2021 and third in 2020. They finished just five points behind Rogue in the global points standings which forced them to participate in the North American qualifier in order to reach this year’s Six Invitational.

MIBR

Made in Brazil made it into the Rainbow Six Invitational as the 20th and final team to qualify. They did so via the Latin American qualifier that included teams from Mexico, South America and Brazil. They won the final of the qualifier 3-2 over fellow Brazilian team Black Dragons.

Lead photo credit: Ubisoft