After 6 intense days of top level Rainbow Six action, 14 teams were eliminated as the final two prepared to face each other in for the World Championship. The reigning Six Invitational champions Evil Geniuses (EG) took on the most successful Pro League team of Year 2, PENTA Sports.
Having come into this matchup from a position of strength -- with a group-stage victory over EG, and a two far more recent and dominant championships to their name -- and they drew first blood with a brilliantly executed flawless defensive hold on Clubhouse. Their opponents showed why they loved this map and won the next three rounds in a row before PENTA were able to answer back. Those would be the only two rounds PENTA would win, though, as Evil Geniuses won two more back-to-back, winning the map 5-3 to silence critics who’d expected far less resistance from them. The NA team’s momentum did not skip a beat as we moved to Oregon, where they immediately jumped into a 2-0 lead, and PENTA looked lost. However, they soon woke up thanks to Fabian landing 3 frags in a single round to put themselves on a hard-fought match point. Evil Geniuses were unrelenting, and led by a fabulous BC 3K (3 kills in a round) this time, tied things to force overtime. After a valiant effort by PENTA, it was EG who took a 2-0 map lead. It was clear that BKN’s strategies for Evil Geniuses were working, with the coach having previously helped PENTA on the road to their Y2S2 title. No longer were PENTA seen as the invulnerable titans many considered them to be.
Facing a humiliating 0-3 defeat, PENTA kicked off the third map, Kafe, in style thanks to a fantastic retake when defending. Necrox single-handedly answered back the next round with a superb 4k, bringing the score line to 1-1. The EU team was not done yet, and EG were looking cowed by the PENTA aggression. They struck back with a strong round, but PENTA finally got a map on the board as they closed out the map 5-3. On Bank, picked by PENTA, EG were feeling strong and won two of the first three rounds to put themselves in the lead for this map. It was back and forth but the Year 2 back-to-back champions were showing why they deserved to play in the Grand Final match. Having had nvK struggle in the last two maps, certainly had not been helping as PENTA won Bank 5-2 to tie the series 2-2, and give everyone a taste of a fifth map for the very first time in pro-level Rainbow Six.
On Coastline, the final stage for this titanic battle, Evil Geniuses started off strongly with a good attack, but PENTA responded in kind despite a fabulous post-plant 3K by Necrox, and this one round win cascaded into two, then, three, and then an incredible four, with that fourth round featuring a brilliant 3K by Pengu. PENTA was comfortably in the driver’s seat of the game. Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, looked unable to counter PENTA’s revitalized coordination, strategies, and gunplay. Facing three match points -- three series points -- Evil Geniuses refused to give up. A crucial roam by Necrox saw him clutch a 1v1 to keep his team alive, and against all odds, EG had forced overtime. However, PENTA refused to allow their own 3-map comeback story be denied, and won the first OT round. All eyes were on the EU team at 5-4, and Pengu got his 15th kill of the map to clutch a 1v2, thus crowning PENTA Sports as the undisputed world champions!
Having had a wonderful Year 2, with title wins in the first two seasons to win half of all Pro League seasons in total, the Invitational had been the one title they had built their team to obtain. Coming to Canada for the first time as a team, they cleared Group A with ease, defeating Evil Geniuses in an earlier Best-of-Three, before defeating regional rivals ENCE eSports in the Quarter-Finals. They then exacted revenge for the Y2S3 Semi-Finals loss against Black Dragons in this tournament’s Semi-Final, before coming up to the main stage today to win it all. Congratulations to PENTA Sports, and commiserations to Evil Geniuses who were unable to defend their 2017 Invitational title. We hope you enjoyed this game, and the entire tournament, for we will be back very soon with Season 7 of the Pro League.
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