Last but not least, let’s take a look at the four teams in Group D -- aptly named, for it is certainly a group of death.
ENCE eSports (EU):
“You call them ENCE, we call them champions!” said Parker “Interrobang” Mackay in Sao Paulo last season, and champions they are. Having attended every LAN event since the inception of the Rainbow Six Pro League, ENCE seemed cursed to never win it. Known as GiFu before Y2S2, their captain Willkey, and Bounssi had been two of the players with the team since the beginning, yet had never won a title. In the final Season of Year 2, everything changed. Shatte, Pannari, and Kantoraketti joined Willkey and Bounssi, and together they claimed their first LAN victory.
Often described to have been in PENTA Sports’ shadow before their inaugural win, the all-Finnish squad had always been lurking at the top in the EU region. However, the team went to Sao Paulo with a new mindset, aiming to do the best they could -- and it showed. Defeating a resurgent Evil Geniuses, they then took down Team FONTT (now FaZe Clan) before mounting a stunning six round comeback in the Grand Final against Black Dragons to achieve victory.
Since then, they have lost Shatte to rivals PENTA Sports, but have replaced him with up-and-coming talent Uuno, and will be looking to repeat what Evil Geniuses did last year and cap off a strong Year 2 with the ultimate victory -- the Six Invitational.
Time for the 2nd flight of our journey to #6Invitational back seat boys with @pannariR6 & @Kantoraketti Remember to follow my https://t.co/ZoGIw4YRDX to see my stories from the trip. pic.twitter.com/LgncLXji9l
— Willkey (@Willkey87) February 11, 2018
FaZe Clan (LATAM):
Known as Team FONTT until recently, and Santos Dexterity before that, GohaN and his teammates were recently picked up by their new org on the back of an extremely strong 2017. Comprising Astro, cameram4n, gohaN, mav, and HSnamuringa, these players are titans of the Latin American scene.
Tempo pra descansar, amanhã começam os trabalhos!!! #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/luyuNU7or5
— FaZe gohaN (@Guilherme_gohaN) February 11, 2018
Almost exactly a year back, the team, with the former three members, Panico and Silence took the fight to Continuum (now Evil Geniuses) in a closely fought Semi-Final of the inaugural Six Invitational. Since then, Panico has ended up at Team oNe, and Silence has become the coach for FaZe Clan.
The squad also made it to the Semi-Finals of the Y2S2 LAN, first defeating Millenium 6-4 / 6-4 in a series of crazy comebacks, before bowing out to the nigh-unbeatable PENTA Sports with the same round count -- the closest anyone had come to defeating the EU side until Black Dragons next season. Y2S3, too, was a good season as they made it to the Semi-Finals once more but were stopped by fellow Group D team ENCE eSports.
They were invited by Ubisoft to the Invitational and will look to establish themselves and move on to become the first ever LATAM side to win a title.
eiNs (APAC):
Having qualified to the Six Invitational after defeating mantisFPS (now Team Yetti) in the first APAC Pro League season in Y2S3, they have a mountain to climb if they aim to escape this group of death. Consisting of captain ShiN, Aroer1na, SuzuC, Papilia, and prototype1z, the Japanese team will kickstart their attempt to do so with a repeat of the Sao Paulo matchup against FaZe Clan.
A key factor that will aid them will be their relative obscurity, for the team has few VODs available for their Group D opponents to analyze. Having no lack of aggression and firepower, their ability to execute successful attacks onto the bomb sites with minimal time left is going to be vital to their chances of making it out of the group.
As Asia-Pacific champions, they will also be looking to carry the flag high for the entire region, having had faced and defeated Team CryptiK, Mindfreak, and mantisFPS in the Y2S3 APAC LAN finals. Their first international LAN experience also must have been invaluable, and they will be devoting every fiber of their being in an attempt to showcase why they are worthy of the regional championship title.
Ready for #6Invitational !! pic.twitter.com/k5WcjrCetH
— eiNs ✈ 🇨🇦 (@einsr6) February 10, 2018
eRa Eternity (NA):
The first team to qualify from the open online qualifiers, eRa Eternity from North America booked their place in the Invitational in style. In a phenomenal Best-of-Five (Bo5) series, they saw off the strong challenge from Challenger League team Reckless who themselves had overthrown the titans Rogue in the Quarter-Finals.
Their all-American lineup consists of old guards GurmyWormy and MahMan, supr, Kanine, and the latest addition of Bosco. While the former two have been on the team since Y2S1 (then known as Most Wanted), Kanine at the time was with the old eRa (now Rogue) roster. As it stands, the 2018 Invitational is going to be the first LAN showing of this roster together, though all members save for supr have at least one LAN tournament under their belts.
On their way to securing qualification, eRa finished 5th in the ladder, and started off the playoffs with a 2-1 victory against Not Yet Labeled. They followed it up with a decisive 2-0 win in the Quarter Finals against LFO (formerly Most Wanted), before defeating Ronin in the Semi Finals, and finally Reckless in the Finals.
This was me exactly a year ago going into the finals of the invitationals, i trust in my new team to do the same this year, and take it all this time. I can't wait to be playing at lan again. pic.twitter.com/Ul3AwW6x9u
— eRa K9 (@KanineR6) January 10, 2018
Be sure to catch Group D in action on the 13th of February ! For the latest updates, please visit the Rainbow Six Esports Twitter page or Subreddit.
