Banner Image: Ubisoft / João F. @itsmeERROR
Historically, Team Liquid is one of the best organizations in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege’s esports scene. The team’s legacy in the esport and the individual quality of its players can’t be ignored. No matter the competition, the Blue Cavalry will always be one of the favorites to lift the trophy.
Despite Liquid’s undeniable quality, the Brazilians always fall short at international competitions. Since May 2021, Team Liquid has featured in three major international grand finals, and, unfortunately, all of them ended in tears.
Team Liquid’s most recent international disappointment came at the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen. After narrowly making it out of the Swiss Stage, the Brazilians defeated the Six Invitational 2023 champions G2 Esports and the Brazil League 2023 Stage 1 winners FaZe Clan before reaching the tournament’s grand final. There, the Bulls ran over the Blue Cavalry in the first Six Major flawless grand final since the Six Paris Major.
Since then, Team Liquid have been unrecognizable in Brazil. The team couldn’t qualify for the Gamers8 2023 after losing a two-map advantage over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the region’s qualifier and fell to the Brazil League Last Chance Qualifiers following defeats over E1 Sports, MIBR, and w7m esports. Finally, the Blue Cavalry missed out on the BLAST R6 Major Atlanta after a 0-2 defeat against LOS in the LCQ.
“Inside the server, we’re very strong, about strategies, I think we are playing Siege at least the way I think it’s correct,” Lagonis admitted in a pre-Six Invitational 2023 interview with SiegeGG. “In my opinion, this inconsistency is more about outside the game, the energy of the team.”
According to the Brazilian, Team Liquid were on a “honeymoon” during the first stage. With a new player in their squad, the team had “a lot of hype and energy.” However, the player admitted the existence of problems during the second split.
“We started having some problems, we wasted a lot of time that we could be practicing or reviewing and correcting things, we lost a lot of time needing to talk with each other to have a better day by day, a better coexistence,” Lagonis explained.
The Brazilian also mentioned the importance of the arena in the Brazil League. According to the Brazilian, the change of the venue between both stages had an impact on the team’s results. “It’s the same for every team but it was different, we weren’t that connected.”
Fortunately for the squad, the team’s second-place finish in Copenhagen was enough for them to qualify for the Six Invitational 2024, which they will play on home soil. The Blue Cavalry’s path to the sledgehammer will kick off in Group C as they have been drawn alongside w7m esports, Virtus.pro, Bleed Esports, and M80.
Regarding whether Liquid considers Group C the tournament’s group of death, Lagonis was clear. “It’s the death group, the results show that even Bleed Esports is strong, during Atlanta I sent MentalistC a message telling them how much I liked their style.”
“I started the preparation for the Six Invitational 2024 during the Atlanta Major, because I wasn’t in the tournament I was focusing even more on studying and everything that happened,” he admitted.
Starting from Group C also guarantees the fans an international rematch between Team Liquid and w7m esports. According to Lagonis, the team’s experience can be an important factor to consider.
“It’s a good point for us,” he explained. “Volpz was second place last year, Paluh and Nesk in 2021, that matters because the Six Invitational is a different tournament… w7m esports won the Major after playing 13 maps, it’s different and experience is important.”
Although the Six Invitational will be held in Brazil, the roster decided to have a bootcamp in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. While spending two weeks practicing against European teams doesn’t sound like the smartest plan, Lagonis believes this to be the right move.
“We came here because when we are in a bootcamp we can feel it, the team builds a better chemistry, does things much, much more together,” Lagonis explained. “We know how much it helps us come here and practice here.”
According to the Brazilian, the results speak for themselves. “When we played in Jönköping we had a bootcamp and we finished in second place, when we went to Denmark we did well and we could practice a lot here, we got that chemistry that we needed, second place,” Lagonis concluded.
The third time’s the charm. Team Liquid’s bootcamp in Amsterdam is the Brazilian’s third bootcamp in Europe since Lagonis’ arrival. Will the Brazilians improve their chemistry and solve their issues off the server before heading back to their home country?
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