Last year marked my first time attending a full-blown eSports event at the Rainbow Six Manchester Major, where I got to see some of the best teams in the world battle it out for a cool cash prize and more importantly, points to help them reach the Rainbow Six Invitational – the biggest event in the Rainbow Six eSport calendar. This year’s Six Invitational was held in Boston, Massachusetts at prestigious MGM Music Hall. Itself part of the legendary Fenway Park, home to the iconic Boston Red Sox.
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So, as venues go, they don’t get much better. The MGM Music Hall is worlds apart from a hall hidden in the back of an industrial estate that was home to the Manchester Major.
Like the Major, the event is run over a fortnight. However, most of the action is played behind closed doors, though watchable on Twitch and the like. Only the final three days are open to having a public crowd in the room.
This meant that, although there were twenty teams at The Six Invitational, by the time it got to fans seeing them live, it had been whittled down to just six in action. However, that small group can be seen as the very best in Rainbow Six eSports talent.
Fan View
From a fan’s perspective it was an different event compared to May 2024 Manchester. Gone was the ‘lads in a pub’ vibe, The Six in Boston was gentlemanly and a bit more civilised. Chanting was not really a thing until the final. The crowd, in general, was a lot easier going. However, I was told this is the nature of an NA crowd compared to the laddish football crowd nature of the UK.
Alcohol was available from doors open just like Manchester, so booze can’t take the blame here.
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It wasn’t just the crowd that was more gentrified. The venue itself was leagues above the BEC Arena, which was retro-fitted to a sitting arena rather than a dedicated seated arena.
Whereas the MGM Music is already a sitting venue, so the seats were a treat and everything else around that was just a cut above. Blast should look at a similar set up for UK-based events, and not just for the gold tier.
Opening Salvos
The event was open to the ticket holders from the 14th-16th February. And we saw more than a few upsets and surprises across the weekend, plus there was a developers panel too with its own shocks.
Creative Director Alexander Karpazis and Game Director Joshua Mills took to the stage to announce what we can expect in Year 10 of the game, and there are some big changes afoot.
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Firstly, a new operator called Rauora from New Zealand was shown as the latest attacker, who comes with a D.O.M. Launcher, a bulletproof smart cover system that will change the flow of gameplay drastically from the looks of it. Plus, she brings with her a brand-new Reaper MK2 submachine gun too.
There then was a lot of chat about banning and dealing with cheaters. This seems to be a cornerstone of the panels, where Ubi share stats of the bans and also explain how new tech is helping to level the playing field to be a fairer place for all.
Rainbow Six Siege X
But by far the biggest news was Rainbow Six Siege X which looks to be a ground up rework of the game both visually and audibly. There is no release date yet for this update, but there is a special showcase coming up in Atlanta, where we’ll get a three-hour deep dive into what’s planned on March 13th.
It sounds like year 10 will be the prep stage for X and has tones just now of how Operation Health was way back when a season was taken to work out a host of issues with the game.
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This also explains why there wasn’t much more spoken about at the panel, i.e. no roadmap, no membership content and oddly no elite skin reveals, though Aruni’s was shadow dropped during a break in the action a few hours before the panel.
We were also ‘treated’ to a live performance by rapper DDG of his song ‘Play By The Rules’, this year’s Invitational anthem. Each event sees a song being specially written for it, often features a few nods and winks to the game in the lyrics. This one was no different.
UnFaZed
All that was left was for the two best teams in the world to battle it out. A million dollars was top prize for winning the overall tournament from the very healthy three-million-dollar prize pot.
And what a final was in store, as last year’s runners up Brazilian FaZe Clan were taking on Europe’s Team BDS – who held the top bracket entry going into the final and with that got first pick of the maps to play, choosing Chalet (a map that FaZe Clan hold on their perma-ban list).
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But the boys from Brazil were out to prove a point. Event though, they didn’t win the first map, it ended in 7-5 to Team BDS, they did a lot better than most would have thought on a perma-ban map.
It also set the stage for what turned out to be an utter showcase of talents of FaZe Clan. Over the next 3 maps they pushed Team BDS into the corner, and told them to sit down. FaZe won round two, 5-7, on Consulate, quickly followed by round three, 5-7, on Nighthaven Labs. The Faze clan would end upsinking Team BDS’s dreams once and for all in the final round. A 4-7 on Clubhouse handed FaZe the win, cash and hammer at the Invitational with relative ease.
Boys from Brazil Jogo Bonito
It’s the Brazilian’s first international trophy since winning the Six Sweden Major, back in November 2021. Since then, the team has made multiple roster and staff changes. José ‘Cyber’ Ramos and Lucas ‘soulz1’ Schinke are now the only players from that winning team.
Most importantly though is that it’s the first and only time FaZe Clan has beat Team BDS this season. Indeed, FaZe had their revenge for Riyadh and Montreal on the biggest stage.
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This also marks the fourth time in a row where the lower bracket winners have ended up lifting the hammer. FaZe Clan join TSM, G2 Esports, and w7m (now known as Furia) on the list of overachievers.
As for Team BDS, this now marks the team’s third grand final loss this season. That is, after Beastcoast and w7m beat them both in Manchester and Montreal Majors, respectively.
Six Done Right
And with that, Rainbow Six Invitational 25, an epic weekend of world-class eSports, was over. For me, the 3,043-mile trip well worth it. If you’re a fan of Rainbow Six it’s a must-do at some point in your life. The Rainbow Six Invitational is the pinnacle event for the game. As such, players, casters, and fans are drawn it, fostering quite an atmosphere.
Boston in February was a cold, miserable challenge, but it was miles better than an industrial estate in Manchester. It felt like a major event and not some dirty little secret. The 2026 Six Invitational looks as though it’s heading to Paris. So, it’s all but guaranteed to be a hell of a show given the games French roots and all.