Making it out of the group stage were eight fully deserving teams: Rogue and Evil Geniuses from North America (NA), PENTA Sports, ENCE eSports, and Supremacy from Europe (EU), Black Dragons and FaZe Clan from Latin America (LATAM), and Mindfreak from Asia-Pacific (APAC). The Quarter-Finals started off with PENTA dispatching their EU rivals ENCE with a score of 2-0, followed by Black Dragons’ 10-1 demolition of Mindfreak. After that, the incredible Evil Geniuses brought down the equally fearsome FaZe Clan and set up a date with the North American team Rogue after their defeat of Supremacy.
Missed the stream? No worries, here’s how the semi-finals went down:
Semi-Final 1: PENTA Sports vs Black Dragons
The match started off on a LATAM favorite map, Bank, but it was PENTA that struck first thanks to some smart playing by Pengu. Black Dragons struck back next round, making it immediately clear that this contest was going to be phenomenal. However, PENTA was not going down that easily and went on to gain a three-round winning streak, giving themselves a 4-1 lead thanks to some epic moves by Goga. In the end, Black Dragons attempted to stave off the power of PENTA as best they could, but only won one more round before PENTA pushed through to win the map 5-2.
On Border, Black Dragons finally took the lead for the first time, winning round one. Despite PENTA leveling the score next round, Black Dragons pulled ahead once more as Psycho managed a phenomenal 1v2 clutch to win. The defensive win pattern continued until the 5th round, where PENTA broke the deadlock thanks to a smartly played 3k from Pengu. Black Dragons won a very convincing defense next round but eventually fell on attack to a spirited PENTA hold that featured key contributions from Fabian and Goga yet again.
The NCSA Community Vote teams are as follows:
— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6ProLeague) January 15, 2018
It was clear that Fabian and his team did their homework and adapted their play since their 2-0 loss to the exact same team in the Y2S3 LAN Semi-Finals. Their win moves PENTA onward into the Grand Final of the Six Invitational against North American team Evil Geniuses.
The NCSA Community Vote teams are as follows:
— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6ProLeague) January 15, 2018
Semi-Final 2: RogueGG vs Evil Geniuses
For some members of Rogue, this match was a long time coming. Having faced and lost to Evil Geniuses (with the exception of BC) in the Grand Final of the 2017 Invitational, Slashug, Ecl9pse, and Avian must surely have been itching to strike back, and what better stage to do it at than at the Invitational itself.
Just like in the earlier matchup, defense reigned supreme, as the first five rounds all went to the defenders. However, we finally saw a change in the sixth round, where Rogue took the first successful attack round and a 5-3 lead over Evil Geniuses thanks to an epic one-tap double kill by Glaz.Evil Geniuses were absolutely dominant on the second map, Clubhouse, comfortably taking four of the first five rounds with exquisite strategies and gunplay. Players BC and nvK were instrumental in almost all of those wins, leaving EG feeling confident as they reached match point. Incredibly, Rogue wasn’t out of the fight yet, and turned the match around by engineering a 3-round comeback on the backs of some fantastic plays by all members of Rogue. In the final round, it seemed that Rogue was about to walk away with the win, having set the defuser down, but a phenomenal play by Canadian and nvK helped EG hang on to the series and force a third map.
The NCSA Community Vote teams are as follows:
— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6ProLeague) January 15, 2018
Bolstered by the 6-5 win on Clubhouse, Evil Geniuses started off strong on Consulate and went up 2-0 before Rogue fought back to win a round. The fight was short lived, however, as EG won the next two rounds with ease, the fifth round featuring four kills from them in the span of two seconds. However, Canadian and his team made sure that overtime didn’t happen on this map and locked out the win with a fantastic attack round, setting the score at 5-3, winning the series 2-1.
The NCSA Community Vote teams are as follows:
— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6ProLeague) January 15, 2018
Now, in the Grand Final, the top two teams from Group A will go head-to-head once more -- but this time in a best-of-five (Bo5) that is sure to set hearts racing. In the group stages, PENTA had come out on top with a swift 2-0 victory over Evil Geniuses, but since then EG has vastly improved their and will be gearing up to tie PENTA in number of championships won and defend their Invitational title.
Be sure to tune in – it’s going to be a championship to remember!For the latest updates, please visit the the Rainbow Six Esports Twitter page or Subreddit.
