Six Invitational 2024: Teams, schedule, format and more

February 8, 2024

by Brian Bencomo

The Rainbow Six Invitational 2024 will take place this month in São Paolo, Brazil. The Six Invitational is the annual conclusion of the Rainbow Six esports season and the game’s world championship event. SI 2024 will be held in Brazil for the first time. With Brazilian teams dominating the top level of R6 esports over the past year, this year’s SI is shaping up to be extra special if a Brazilian team ends up lifting The Hammer. Before SI 2024 begins, here’s a breakdown of the qualified teams, schedule and format and a breakdown of the top teams.

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Qualified teams

Brazil

w7m Esports
FaZe Clan
LOS
Team Liquid
Ninjas in Pyjamas

North America

Soniqs
DarkZero Esports
Spacestation Gaming
M80

Europe

G2 Esports
Virtus.pro
Wolves Esports

South Korea

Dplus
FearX

Middle East (MENA)

Geekay Esports
Team Falcons

Asia

FURY
Bleed Esports

Japan

SCARZ

Oceania

Team Bliss

Schedule and format

Photo credit: Ubisoft

The first part of the Six Invitational will be round robin group play from Feb. 13 to 17 with the 20 teams being divided in four groups of five. The bottom team in each group will be eliminated while the top four teams will advance to the playoffs.

This is the group breakdown:

Group A: DarkZero, FearX, G2, Geekay, Ninjas in Pyjamas
Group B: Dplus, FaZe Clan, Spacestation, Team Bliss, Wolves
Group C: Bleed, M80, Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, w7m
Group D: FURY, LOS, SCARZ, Soniqs, Team Falcons

The 16-team double-elimination playoffs will commence Feb. 19. All teams will start in the upper bracket, but the top teams in each group will have the advantage of bypassing the first round of play. All matches will be best-of-three except the grand final, which will be best-of-five, and which will take place Feb. 25.

Breaking down the top teams

Favorites: w7m esports, G2 Esports

Photo credit: ItsKirillVision / Ubisoft

The two finalists at last year’s Six Invitational are favorites again at this year’s edition of SI. G2 Esports are the defending Six Invitational champions. It’s the same roster except for Aleksi "UUNO" Työppöne who rejoined G2 last summer after a couple years away with Heroic. Although G2 didn’t win any other big tournaments last year, they still had a solid year with a top four finish at the Atlanta Major after winning the European LCQ to qualify.

As for w7m, the runner’s up at last year’s SI got even stronger throughout 2023 as they won both the Copenhagen and Atlanta Majors. They’re even more of a favorite than G2 at SI 2024. Playing in front of a home crowd in Brazil could give them the edge they need to lift The Hammer in Sao Pãolo.

Contenders: LOS, FaZe Clan

Photo credit: João Ferreira / Ubisoft

Brazilian teams are definitely the ones to watch at SI 2024 -- not just because the Six Invitational will be held in Brazil for the first time but because they were among the best teams throughout the course of 2023. LOS and FaZe are two Brazilian teams that performed well last year but fell short of winning any international tournaments.

FaZe won both stages of the Brazil league in 2023 and finished top four at both Majors. They were the most consistent team globally besides w7m. They never faced w7m at an international event last year, but they beat them twice domestically. The team they had more trouble with was LOS, whom they lost to twice -- once domestically and once at the Atlanta Major. LOS finished second to w7m in Atlanta. Although they didn’t qualify for the Copenhagen Major, their strong finish to the year bodes well for them going into the Six Invitational.

Dark horses: Soniqs, Virtus.pro, DarkZero Esports

Photo credit: ItsKirillVision / Ubisoft

Virtus.pro is the sleeping European giant. Although G2 Esports is the European team that everyone will look toward as the team with the potential to go back-to-back as SI champions, Virtus.pro has the potential to lift The Hammer too. VP won both stages of the European season, but just fell flat at the Majors. Four members of this roster were part of the Team Empire squad that finished second at the 2022 Six Invitational, so they’re no strangers to performing well at international events.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention any North American teams. Alongside European and Brazilian teams, North America teams are always in the mix too when it comes to winning international events. TSM won the Six Invitational in 2022, and DarkZero Esports won the Charlotte Major that same year. DarkZero has Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski, who’s one of the greatest R6 players of all time. He’s a two-time Six Invitational champion and two-time runner-up at SI. DarkZero recently added Jason "Beaulo" Doty, SI 2022 champion, and Nathan "Nafe" Sharp, a British R6 player who was with MNM Gaming last year. We haven’t seen DZ in action since the roster changes, so we’ll see if the new players can elevate this team to greatness.

As for Soniqs, they were the best-performing NA team last year. Soniqs finished top four at the Copenhagen Major and won Stage 2 of the NA League. After a disappointing performance in Atlanta, Soniqs also made a move, adding 17-year-old Ambi, a former Arial Arise Academy player.

Lead photo credit: Eric Ananmaly / Ubisoft