G2 Esports’ Fabian Hällsten entered the Rainbow Six Copenhagen Major on April 29 with a six-year streak on the line, but records are meant to be broken—and it would be Spacestation Gaming to end it with a stunning 7-3 victory in the Swiss stage.
This came in G2’s first cross-regional game since being crowned Rainbow Six Siege world champions in February as the team skipped the initial play-in stage of the Copenhagen Major earlier this week.
Fabian was previously the in-game leader of the G2’s dynasty roster from 2017 to 2019 before transitioning to a coaching role. During this time, G2 won almost every tournament going, including a record three Six Invitational titles while remaining unbeaten against North American opponents.
Now, after 17 wins in a row against NA teams—including three grand finals—his streak is finally over.
As G2 began their Copenhagen Major run as the home favorites, they faced the all-American Spacestation Gaming in the opening round of the playoffs. This team included two Six Invitational winners from SI 2020 and 2022, meaning a total of eight current or former World Champions were facing off against each other.
Despite being billed by many as the game of the day, Spacestation utterly dominated the match on Bank. Across the 10 rounds played Byron “Blurr” Murray managed just a single kill, while Spacestation’s Matthew “Hotancold” Stevens top fragged and Jack “J9O” Burkard won an impressive 1v2 quadruple kill clutch after the mid-game side swap.
By ending Fabian’s streak, Spacestation have done what the greatest teams in NA Rainbow Six Siege have failed to do for the last six years, with Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski’s famed Evil Geniuses roster—one of just three teams to win multiple international titles—falling to Fabian on four separate occasions. This included the most one-sided grand final to date at the Paris Major, and what is widely considered the best game of R6S ever played at the 2018 Six Invitational grand final.
Related: Rainbow Six Siege Six Copenhagen Major: Schedule, teams, format, and standings
This is especially impressive considering the team only officially came together last month after the massive North American reshuffle.
In March, the majority of the Spacestation Gaming lineup that won the 2020 Six Invitational departed the org, leaving just Hotancold and Alec “Fultz” Fultz remaining. Replacing them came Bryan “Merc” Wrzek, who joined from TSM after winning the 2023 Six Invitational, while Roman “Forrest” Breaux, J9O, and both coaches came from the 2022 Charlotte Major runners-up, Astralis.
With so many big names linking with a fan-favorite organization, hopes were high for Spacestation coming into the 2023 season. So far, they’ve made their fans very proud.
Since the playoffs bracket features a Swiss format, each team needs three wins to qualify for the Finals stage, or three losses to be eliminated. This means there’s still plenty of time for G2 Esports to recover in this tournament, even with Fabian’s unbeaten streak gone for good.
The round two matches will begin tomorrow, April 30, at 6am CDT, with G2 set to face MNM Gaming at 7:15am CDT, and SSG playing FaZe Clan at 11am CDT.
