PUBG Global Championship 2019 preview: Who will reign supreme?

The 2019 Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds Global Championship kicks off on Nov. 8.

32 teams from around the world will gather in Los Angeles and Oakland, California to battle it out for a massive $2 million+ prize pool. With an event this large, there’s a lot to unpack.

Format

Group Stage runs from Nov. 8-9 with two groups of 16 teams. Each group will play six games and earn points based on placement and kill totals. The top eight teams per group will advance to Semifinals, while the bottom eight head to the elimination stage.

Elimination Stage during Nov. 10 runs the same format as Group Stage but in one single group of 16. The top eight advance to Semifinals, while the bottom eight are eliminated from the PGC.

Semifinals last from Nov. 15-17 and features three groups of eight teams. Each group will play against the others in a round-robin format (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. A). Each team will play 12 matches. The top 16 teams overall advance to the Grand Finals, while the bottom eight are eliminated.

Grand Finals take place from Nov. 23-24. The remaining 16 teams will play 12 matches: six per day. The team with the most points at the end is the 2019 PUBG Global Championship winner.

The prize pool begins at $2 million. Fifty percent of the PGC 2019 in-game item revenue will go to the participating teams. Half of that amount goes directly to the prize pool, while the other half is distributed based on the number of votes each team received in the PGC Pick ‘Em Challenge. The winner of PGC 2019 will take home half of the prize pool, a minimum of $1 million.

Participants

From PUBG Korea League:

• T1
• OGN Entus Force
• Afreeca Freecs Fatal
• Gen.G
• DeToNator.KOREA
• OGN Entus Ace

With so many names to keep track of, the favorites in PUBG events like this are often unclear.

From the Korea League, OGN Entus Force and T1 have tons of momentum from their performance in Phase Three. Entus Force is also no stranger to international competition, having played in many before. Korea as always is a dominant region in PUBG, so all of their teams should be taken seriously.

From PUBG Europe League:

• FaZe Clan
• Team Liquid
• Natus Vincere
• Team SoloMid
• G2 Esports
• CrowCrowd

Europe comes in with the greatest number of strong teams they’ve ever sent to an international event. FaZe Clan, in particular, rose up this year to overtake the usual EU contenders in Liquid and Na’Vi. There are also many interesting newer rosters to track, such as G2 and TSM who picked up new players for Phase Three.

From National PUBG League (North America):

• Tempo Storm
• Lazarus
• Genesis
• Team Envy
• Ghost Gaming
• The Rumblers

From North America, Tempo Storm remains the most dominant organization ever to play in the region, but have yet to truly break out at a worldwide event. Their counterpart in Lazarus placed second at the FACEIT Global Summit earlier this year and look to find even more international success. Team Envy has also been a very consistent roster at events like this and shouldn’t be overlooked.

From PUBG Champions League (China):

• Four Angry Men
• VC Gaming
• Infantry
• QM Gaming

Due to lower placement at the Global Summit, China is only sending four teams to PGC 2019. The only one who has international experience is Four Angry Men. While they are the most recognizable name from China, Infantry showed great promise by topping the field at the China Masters qualifier event.

From PUBG South East Asia Championship:

• Armory Gaming
• Sting Divine  Esports

Of the minor regions, South East Asia fields the most exciting roster in Armory Gaming. Armory gained many fans at the Global Summit by finishing in fifth place. They’re no strangers to snaking their way into high placements. SEA was supposed to have three seeds at PGC 2019, but Sky Gaming Daklak withdrew last second due to visa issues. They were replaced with The Rumblers from the NPL.

From PUBG JAPAN SERIES:

• Rascal Hester
• SunSister

From PUBG Master League (Taiwan, HK, Macau):

• Global Esports Xsset
• ahq e-Sports Club

From ESL AU & NZ Championship:

• Vendetta
• Athletico

From ESL & GLL Latin America Leagues:

• WClick
• RED Canids

The other two minor region teams with international experience are ahq from Taiwan and RED Canids from Brazil, formerly known as the Brazilian Crusaders. While their placements at previous events weren’t anything special, the consistency to make it back to the worldwide stage is valued in battle royale esports.

The stage is set for an explosive three weeks of PUBG. With so many strong teams, as well as the recent addition of Sanhok to the competitive map pool, the championship is truly anyone’s to take.

How to watch

The PGC begins on Nov 8 at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) on Twitch. There will also be a dedicated map stream which can be used to keep track of every team’s drops and rotations. Caster and analyst Tobias “TheNameIsToby” Wiinblad created a fantastic map visualizing each team’s preferred drop locations. There will be tons of carnage early on, so be sure to tune in from start to finish.

Check back at Esportz Network for more coverage of PGC 2019 as the event goes on.

Written by Zakaria Almughrabi