Team BDS qualify for Six Invitational 2023 after Jönköping Major group draw

Team BDS have become the ninth team to qualify for the Six Invitational in 2023 today thanks to a lucky group draw.

While Rogue's loss to Heroic stopped them from qualifying earlier in the day, the Six Jönköping Major group stage draw has been beneficial to BDS. 

The three teams that must reach the playoffs to earn enough SI Points to overtake BDS -- Liquid, Sandbox, and Heroic -- are all in the same group. This means that one of them will fall short of that milestone and thus no more than seven other teams can overtake BDS's SI Points total.

With them in ninth place in the SI Points standings, a place at SI 2023 next February in Montréal, Canada is thus guaranteed.

Their qualification comes after a mixed year for them, which started with an early exit from SI 2022. The Frenchmen then had Europe's joint-best performance at the Charlotte Major, but then failed to qualify for the Berlin Major. This was the first event BDS missed in their entire history since they first started competing in the Challenger League.

In response, they made their first player change since Jun. 2020, replacing Adrien "RaFaLe" Rutik with Théo "LikEfac" Mariano and then qualified for the upcoming Six Jonkoping Major.

Team BDS will likely be one of the standout favourites to win the Major, considering the event will be in Europe, a European team just won the last Six Major, and BDS had the fewest losses of any team from Europe, North America, or Brazil. 

They will join Wolves Esports, Rogue, and G2 Esports from Europe, DarkZero Esports, Astralis, XSET, and Oxygen Esports from North America, and w7m esports from Brazil at the Six Invitational. Another seven teams are set to be determined over the next month. 

BDS will next be in action in the Japan Invitational next weekend against Crest Gaming Lst, who knocked out BDS's fellow Jönköping Major attendees CYCLOPS athlete gaming to get this far.