A new Rainbow Six Siege world champion was sought and found in the Brazilian megacity of Sao Paulo at the weekend. Two Brazilian teams faced each other in the final
Tropical temperatures, monsoon-like rain showers – but that didn’t stop the Webedia Arena Sao Paulo from turning into a seething eSports cauldron. Last weekend, thousands of fans made the pilgrimage to the venue of the most important R6S event – despite the unpredictable weather. Two Brazilian heavyweights of the Rainbow Six Siege scene, FaZe Clan and w7m esports, faced each other in the grand finale, which drew cheers throughout. Every action and every move was celebrated frenetically, as if FC Barcelona and Real Madrid were facing each other in the Champions League final.
Brazil’s Finest!
The Grand Final featured the teams FaZe Clan and w7m esports, currently the most successful Brazilian teams, although it is fair to mention that FaZe Clan is an American eSports organization. Nevertheless, both teams are made up exclusively of Brazilian players, which made the final a double home game and also had an unusual feature to offer.
The duel was not only a clash of the Brazilian crème de la crème, but also a brotherly duel. Twins Thiago “Handyy” Ferreira and Felipe “nade” Ferreira were born on April 24, 2003 and discovered their passion for Ubisoft’s tactical shooter together. Despite their beginnings together, they parted ways early on. While “Handyy” joined FaZe Clan via a stint at FURIA Esports, “nade” moved from Black Dragons to w7m esports. Both brothers have been very successful in the past and have taken home a trophy or two. However, neither “nade” nor “Handyy” have yet been able to call the World Championship title their own. This weekend, at least one of them should be able to do so
FaZe dominates, w7m shows taker qualities
As exciting as the expectations for the duel were, at least the start was one-sided. On the first map, Oregon, FaZe Clan rolled over the players from w7m in a more than dominant manner and took a deserved 7:1 lead. However, as strong as FaZe started, w7m was able to strike back. Instead of the “US-Brazilians” building on their success in Oregon, it was the team from “nade” that took the lead and extended it. However, FaZe would not be FaZe if the team did not make it exciting once again. Round after round, the players around “Handyy” secured points and were able to close the gap to 3:4. However, they then pulled out all the stops when in-game leader Gustavo “HerdsZ” Herdina almost single-handedly dismantled the FaZe clan with an ACE (eliminate all five opposing players alone, editor’s note)
VOCÊ É MUITO BOM NESSE JOGO GUSTAVO HERDINA 🥵 pic.twitter.com/liuaw71vLk
– w7m esports (@w7mesports) February 25, 2024
Although FaZe would go on to win two more rounds, w7m ultimately refused to let the proverbial butter be stolen from its bread. Accordingly, the third map Skyscraper was played to the roaring cheers of thousands of fans with an interim score of 1:1.
At lofty heights, it was again w7m who initially set the tone here. With the score 5:1 at one point, it was a mere formality to tie the game up here. But once again, the FaZe Clan should not be underestimated. Turn after turn, round after round, the R6S powerhouse fought close duels with their domestic rivals, only to shoot more and more towards the equalizer. From w7m esports’ point of view, it finally came as it obviously had to. FaZe overtook the competition with first-class moves and also managed to secure the second map a little later.
🔥 @HerdsZZ is BACK UP.@w7mesports keeps fighting back!!! pic.twitter.com/1D2JMtmQic
– Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) February 26, 2024
Endgame
Let’s make a long story short: although FaZe was able to exude a certain dominance on Scyscaper, it was Border w7m who were able to outwit and defeat their opponents. As a result, there was a fifth map in the grand final of the Rainbow Six Siege World Championship for the first time since the Six Invitational 2018. But instead of the close match that all fans had hoped for, the action seemed much more like a dejavu of the first map, Oregon. FaZe always seemed to be one step ahead of w7m and was able to increase the score to 6:1 in the meantime. Accordingly, it was now “do or die” for w7m.
And as if the “script writer” of the match had heard the fans’ pleas: w7m began to win one round after the other. 2:6 … 3:6 … 4:6 … and when the final score was 5:6, everyone here was really up in arms. Was the World Championship really going to be decided in overtime?
Sometimes fairy tales aren’t just told, sometimes you have to write them yourself. That’s probably what w7m thought and made the impossible possible. Despite an interim score of 1:6, the players never lost faith in themselves for a second and ultimately and deservedly crowned themselves the new world champions in Rainbow Six Siege. The victory also comes with prize money totaling one million US dollars. Not a bad hourly wage for what was probably the best final in the history of Rainbow Six Siege Esports.
