Day three of the Rainbow Six Siege Six Invitational brought us back to Group A and back to the world of budding Team oNe star Karl “Alem4o” Zarth.
Team oNe are 4-2 after the second day of play and looking strong. In contrast to Team oNe’s rise, traditional regional powers DarkZero and G2 struggled. In G2’s case, the struggling continued. For DarkZero, the struggle came after a colossal win against Team Empire.
Here are some of the key takeaways from today’s SI 2021 action.
Remember the Alem4o
Alem4o is the latest in a long line of Brazilian mechanical talents and he’s making sure his name is remembered in the SI group stage. He’s led Team oNe to a 4-2 record after three matches and they have a considerably lighter schedule for the rest of the stage. On May 15, they’ll face the 1-5 CAG, 3-3 FaZe Clan, and finish off the stage with a similarly strong 4-2 Team Liquid.
Related: Alem4o on his overnight international stardom: ‘It’s a lot of emotion’
The youngster is second in his group in K/D plus/minus (+23) through six games and has a pair of clutches to boot. He’s gained international praise for his skill and looks to be one of the best players in the group. Alem4o’s star is only beginning to shine.
DarkZero’s collapse
The day started off great if you’re a fan of DarkZero or NA. They battled against the red-hot, group-leading Team Empire to start off the day and took home a massive 8-6 victory. Put simply, they made the Russians look mortal, something that isn’t easily done.
The surprise was what came after, though. DarkZero didn’t just look average against Team oNe and Team Liquid, they looked bad. They lost 7-2 in a game that they frankly should’ve won, considering the caliber of team they are. Apparently, their struggles followed them to their game against Liquid, who ran up a 5-0 early score in route to a 7-3 victory over DarkZero. Both FaZe and Liquid suffered embarrassing losses to CAG and Cloud9, who have been mostly overmatched in this stage, and definitely came into their match with DZ desperate and playing angry as a result.
Still, this isn’t what most expected from the NA team. The raw map count may have been predicted by some cynics, but no one thought they’d be losing in this troubling fashion. DZ need an immediate course correction if they’re planning on making a deep run at SI 2021.
What’s happening with G2?
G2 weren’t necessarily expected to be a dominant team in the group stage, but like DarkZero, we don’t think anyone expected them to lose like this.
G2 are getting slapped around by teams they shouldn’t get slapped around by. They notched a victory over CAG on May 13, an improvement from their 0-3 record on May 11 but not by much. After a 7-1 dissection by BDS, G2 looked better in a win over CAG and a 7-5 loss to a surging Team Empire. But overall, it still isn’t what many expected from the most storied organization in R6.
There’s simply too much talent on the G2 roster for them to be performing like this. Ben “CTZN” McMillan is a world-class player. There’s talent all over this roster and coaching staff. It’s a sad result that G2 will need to try to correct before their next match on May 15.
It seems unthinkable, but G2 are positioned to possibly be one of two teams out of the entire 18-team field that goes out in the group stage. It isn’t likely, as the team lower than them, CAG, has BDS, Team Empire, and Team oNe left to play. G2 have Liquid, C9, and DarkZero remaining, all winnable games for a team of their caliber.
