The Six Invitational is Rainbow Six Siege‘s biggest event and it isn’t close. The qualification process is complicated and varies from region to region. All regions compete for “SI Points,” the allocation of which is different depending on your region of origin.
During normal times, the SI Points are simply awarded for coming in first in the regional “regular season” of sorts and for placements at the international Majors. Since international competition hasn’t been possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, point allocation was shifted around. Here’s a brief crash course in how the points were distributed during 2020’s competition.
In North America, points were awarded for placements during each “Stage” of the season. In Canada, only the first-place team was awarded points. In the U.S. Division, first through fourth were awarded points. Points were also available during the regional “Mini-Majors” and the Mini-Major Qualifying tournament, which combines the Canadian and U.S. teams.
In Europe and Brazil, points were awarded for both the regular “Stage” placements and the regional Mini-Major placements. In Mexico and APAC, you could only earn points during the Mini-Majors—the regular season wasn’t taken into account. Each region gets an equal distribution of possible points earned, the only difference is where they can be earned. In North America, it’s possible to be the best in the regular season but completely fall flat in the Mini-Majors, potentially costing yourself a spot. In APAC, all the points are from the Mini-Major, so the regular season placements essentially don’t matter.
As of Nov. 30, all of the Mini-Majors have been completed. A total of 16 teams have qualified, with four spots remaining. Each of the major regions (NA, EU, APAC, and LATAM) have one qualifying tournament left. The four remaining spots will be given to the winners of the qualifiers.
Here are all the teams that are qualified for the Six Invitational 2021.
Already qualified
BDS Esport: The all-French team headlined by star entry player Stéphane “Shaiiko” Lebleu is highly regarded coming into the Invitational due to their stellar performance in SI 2020 and EU League.
TSM: When does Jason “Beaulo” Doty play? Well, Twitch chat’s favorite NA player will definitely be at SI 2021 after winning the November Mini-Major convincingly.
Cloud9: This all-Korean roster made the grand finals in each APAC Mini-Major, winning the one in August. Don’t sleep on them in the group stage.
Ninjas In Pyjamas: This LATAM roster features the exact same lineup that they had during their incredible losers bracket run at SI 2020.
DarkZero Esports: One of North America’s titans returns to the Invitational with the hopes of setting themselves apart from the top-heavy region.
Team Liquid: Featuring one of the most exciting players in the world in André “nesk” Oliveira, Liquid’s streakiness can be a massive pro or con at any given time.
Vodafone Giants: One of APAC’s best squads returns to international competition with the hopes of performing better than last year. They’re fairly flamboyant and fun to watch as well.
Spacestation Gaming: The reigning Invitational champions failed to win a Mini-Major in North America, but their LAN-centric playstyle in an online world held them back. Expect this team to make the main stage.
Team oNe: A pair of losses to Liquid during the respective Mini-Majors hampered Team oNe’s chances, but they qualified on total points anyway.
Virtus Pro: This all-Russian roster came into their own during 2020 and has a wealth of LAN experience as well.
Wildcard Gaming: Another team out of the APAC region, Wildcard hope to improve on their disappointing SI 2020 performance.
Team Empire: The premiere all-Russian roster has seemingly found their way again after a series of disappointing results. Can they turn back the clock to their Raleigh Major era dominance?
FaZe Clan: If Fnatic don’t qualify, FaZe will hold the distinction of being the only roster to qualify for every single Six Invitational.
Oxygen Esports: Oxygen is another star-studded team out of North America that always seems to be primed for a run. Can they turn the clock back to their run to the SI 2019 semifinals as Reciprocity?
G2 Esports: At one point in time, this organization had the greatest roster of all time. Now that they’ve broken up and G2 has created a “super team” of sorts, can they finally put it all together and return to glory?
MiBR: This Brazilian squad is peaking at the right time, recently sweeping Liquid at BR6. Can they keep this momentum going?
CYCLOPS Athlete Gaming: This APAC squad made it through the qualifier.
Mkers: Mkers, a non-EU League roster, burned their way through Rogue, Chaos, Natus Vincere, and Tempra (All EUL teams) to win the qualifying tournament and the SI spot.
Altiora: This plucky all-Canadian bunch beat the odds in the NA Qualifier to snag one of the last spots in SI.
FURIA: This Brazilian team beat an upstart Estral in the finals of the LATAM Qualifier and secured a spot.
Qualifier predictions
North America: Disrupt Gaming
With all the questions and rumors swirling about the benched-or-not-benched status of four members of the Susquehanna Soniqs, Disrupt and young star players Nick “njr” Rapier and Jack “J90” Burkard appear primed to take this spot.
Europe: Team Vitality
Featuring several players from the once-dominant roster that played for PENTA and later G2, Vitality are chock full of excellent veterans. They were prone to ties during the latter half of the EU League but have far more experience than any other team in the qualifier.
APAC: CYCLOPS A.G.
CAG are set up to make a massive run through the APAC qualifier, and are peaking at the right time. There will be challenges from Xavier and GUTS Gaming, but CAG are more consistent.
LATAM: Estral Esports
It hasn’t come easy, but Estral have won everything there is to win in Mexico over the past year. We think they’ll sneak in and steal a spot from the more experienced Brazilian rosters.
The Six Invitational is set to take place in late February 2021.
