Six Invitational 2021: Groups, schedule, format, prize pool, and more

The Six Invitational is back on track, now that Ubisoft has fully announced all its details including dates and group structure, after being delayed a few months ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 19 best teams in the world will face each other for the world championship, with the sole exclusion of Oceania’s Wildcard Gaming, who will not attend the international event in Europe due to Australia’s travel restrictions, however they will receive 1% of the prize pool as part of their qualification.

Now let's check how the seeding of the Group Stage has been, as well as the complete schedule of the tournament and what will be at stake.

Six Invitational 2021: Groups and Teams

(Picture: Ubisoft)

As part of the new format announced for the 2021 competitive season, the 19 qualified teams have been divided into two groups, with the Group A consisting of ten teams, while the Group B will consist of nine teams due to the absence of Wildcard Gaming.

Group A

• BDS Esport (France)
• Cloud9 (South Korea)
• CYCLOPS athlete gaming (Japan)
• DarkZero Esports (United States)
• FaZe Clan (Brazil)
• FURIA Esports (Brazil)
• G2 Esports (Europe)
• Team Empire (Russia)
• Team Liquid (Brazil)
• Team oNe eSports (Brazil)

Group B

• Giants Gaming (Singapore)
• MIBR (Brazil)
• Mkers (Italy)
• Ninjas in Pyjamas (Brazil)
• Oxygen Esports (United States)
• Parabellum Esports (Canada)
• Spacestation Gaming (United States)
• TSM (United States)
• Virtus.pro (Russia)

All teams will play against each other in best-of-one matches with a single round-robin format. The best four teams of each group will advance into the upper bracket of the Playoffs, with the teams from the 5th to the 8th place will move into the lower bracket. The remaining teams will be eliminated.

Moving into the Playoffs, these will have a double-elimination format playing in best-of-three matches, while the seedings of the upper bracket who failed will be put in advanced stages of the lower one. The Grand Finals will be played in a best-of-five match, with the upper bracket winner having a 1 map advantage.

Six Invitational 2021: Schedule and Prize Pool

The full schedule of the Group Stage has been revealed, which will be held on 11th - 16th May, while the Playoffs will be held on 19th - 23rd, May.

Group A matches

(Picture: Ubisoft)

Group B matches

(Picture: Ubisoft)

The prize pool has been set to an outstanding $3 million USD, with an initial fund of $500,000 USD by Ubisoft and the rest being funded by the R6 community with the 30% of all Road to S.I. 2021 Battle Pass sales.

• Champion: $1 million USD
• Runner-up: $450,000 USD
• 3rd Place: $240,000 USD
• 4th Place: $170,000 USD
• 5th - 6th Place: $135,000 USD
• 7th - 8th Place: $105,000 USD
• 9th - 12th Place: $75,000 USD
• 13th - 16th Place: $55,000 USD
• 17th - 18th Place: $40,000 USD
• 19th Place and Wildcard Gaming: $30,000 USD

The winners of the Six Invitational 2021 will also receive the high-coveted, custom-made Sledgehammer trophy, crowning its wielders as the 2021 Rainbow Six Siege world champions.

Six Invitational 2021: How to Watch

You can follow all the action of the biggest summit in Rainbow Six Siege history in the Rainbow Six Esports official Twitch channels for the Group A and Group B matches, and also through their YouTube channel.

Streams will also be available in Portuguese, German, Spanish, Latin Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese and South Korean.

The Six Invitational will be held from 11th - 23rd May, 2021, with its Playoffs streamed live from the Palais Brongniart at the very heart of Paris, France.