For the second year in a row, Ninjas in Pyjamas have cemented themselves as a top-two team in Rainbow Six Siege.
NiP’s 2-1 victory over MiBR today qualifies them for the grand finals of the Six Invitational for the second year in a row. In 2020, NiP were a few minutes from winning the title in 2020 but ultimately fell to Spacestation 3-2 after a deflating loss on Clubhouse.
NiP have made the grand finals again and are primed to win it this time. In 2020, they had to make a run through the lower bracket and, as punishment, had a one-map penalty in the grand finals. The map ended up being impactful, and this time around it’ll work in NiP’s favor. They made the grand finals this year through the upper bracket and will get the map advantage on their side.
Against MiBR in the upper bracket finals, it took everything NiP had to finish off MiBR. The final map, Clubhouse, saw NiP rocket out to an early 5-1 lead. MiBR came back and pushed the game to a 6-6 overtime, but NiP’s excellent attacks ensured their 8-7 victory.
“On the mental game, we are better than last year,” Gabriel “pino” Fernandes said in a group stage press conference.
NiP’s map advantage could make all the difference in a grand finals matchup. The team that comes from the lower bracket won’t just enter the grand finals down a map, they’ll have already played a difficult best-of-three in the same day.
Three of the final four teams in the Six Invitational are from Brazil. Should Team Liquid defeat TSM later today, there will be a guaranteed all-Brazilian grand finals for the first time at the Six Invitational.
