Key Takeaways from Day 3 of the Six Invitational 2023 Playoffs

Oxygen Esports and w7m esports advance to upper bracket final

Oxygen Esports and w7m esports will face off in the final match of the upper bracket for a spot in the grand-final. 

The Americans defeated Wolves Esports after a very close game on Chalet. There, the pack surprised Oxygen with their choices to ban Kapkan and Zero, with Oxygen going for the more standard bans of Iana and Azami.

Dahmani "Mowwwgli" Yanis and Bastien "BiBooAF" Dulac went berserk on Oregon as the French duo got a combined entry balance of 8-0 (+8) while obtaining SiegeGG Ratings of 1.34 and 1.32, respectively. 

But, after Wolves' dominance on Oregon, Oxygen responded in kind on Clubhouse and took a commanding 7-1 win. No one on the European side got a SiegeGG Rating of more than 0.75, while Davide "FoxA" Bucci and Franklyn "VertcL" Andrés led their team with map Ratings of 1.97 and 1.69.

Later on, another European roster fell to the lower bracket as KOI were crushed by w7m esports. Both sides had already met previously at the Six Invitational 2023, where KOI defeated the Brazilians in their final match of the group stage.

This time, w7m ran out easy winners after a very quick series, as KOI could only win three of the 14 rounds played.

Four of the five players on w7m scored Ratings of 1.20 or above, with Gabriel "volpz" Fernandes leading the bulls with a 1.56 figure.

After this result, Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli is just two matches away from lifting his second hammer, after doing it for the first time in 2021 for Ninjas in Pyjamas.

G2 Esports advance to the next round after defeating M80

G2 Esports' run in the lower bracket is still very much alive, as they defeated an exciting M80 roster by 7-5 and 7-4 scores. This was also Fabian "Fabian" Hällsten's 15th win against a roster based in North America, as the Sweds has yet to lose against the region in his entire career.

Villa was the closer map between the two, as the Brazilian-majority roster secured four of their six defensive rounds, including an Evan "Yoggah" Nelson 1v3 clutch in the first round of the series. However, the Europeans quickly stepped up after switching sides and closed the series out with five successful defenses. 

Afterwards, the close contest continued on Oregon as the first two rounds of the match decided the final result. Karl "Alem4o" Zarth and Jack "Virtue" Brennan's 1v2 clutches on round one and two of the match were crucial, as the Europeans took the second map of the series by a score of 7-5.

Jack "Doki" Robertson and Benjamin "Benjamaster" Dereli were the best players in the match, as both got SiegeGG Ratings of 1.27. 

Astralis beat Team BDS after clutching nine rounds

In the last match of the day, Astralis and Team BDS faced off for the chance to play KOI on Friday.

Astralis won the series against the Frenchmen by a score of 2-1, but their win was made bizzare by the fact that none of the Americans registered a positive SiegeGG Rating. Although Team BDS were the better side individually, their sloppiness at closing out rounds cost them dear.

Overall, Astralis clutched nine rounds against the Jönköping Major champions, which titlted the scale in favor of the Americans. Three of these came on Villa on the attack, as Astralis took the first map of the series. 

Astralis' clutching magic faded away on Clubhouse, where they lost in an eight-round match. However, on Theme Park, the Americans got three clutches on defense alone, heading to their attacking half with a 5-1 lead. Eventually, the series would be decided on the final round as Aaron "Shuttle" Dugger made the final clutch of the series.

With this result, Astralis advance to the next round of the lower bracket, where they will face KOI. Meanwhile, Team BDS's loss means the Frenchmen are out. It also means that Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu will not overtake André "NESKWGA" Oliveira's record of the most kills in a single edition of the Six Invitational.